"Dench's Journal " The Hunted || Dench

Journal of Captain Darien Domine “Dench”, Army of the Southern Tip of Evermore
Day 7 - Dusk: The Catacombs of Graniteheart, World’s Edge Mountains, Eastern Kingdom Our journey continues to take us into even more strange and mysterious areas of Evermore. We now find ourselves deep in the catacombs of an abandoned monk temple in the World’s Edge Mountains. We arrived at these mountains after leaving the safety of the colossus with a group of western soldiers led by an old friend Grogg whom I knew from our days in Goodwill. These moonlighting mercenaries were looking to pillage this abandoned monastery they’ve heard about in these areas. Come daybreak and the colossus’ retreat into the Am-Aroush desert sands, we start making our treacherous journey on foot towards our destination. Through eight hours of harsh desert terrain and scorching heat, we eventually come upon the base of the monastery. On high alert after we detected beast-tracks,we encountered a small group of gnoll-men warriors. Pardus made first contact with these warriors and determined they were associated with the Crimson Fist resistance and busy with a quest of their own. Given our common ties to the Crimson Fist, we made our leave of Grogg’s group and lent our aid to the gnoll-men warriors in their search for their leader, Vago, who had gone missing 10 days ago. They’ve since tracked Vago to the subterranean catacombs underneath this monastery. Grogg’s group continued up the mountain towards the monastery. Our journey through the catacombs was full of traps and dangers. Some things that stood out more so than others were the strong monastic imagery and harmony between orcs and humans. in retrospect, a lot of the traps and pathway openings dealt a lot with the historical close relationship between these two races in this area. Back at the depths of the catacombs: We’ve slain yet another beast of similar attributes and more powerful than the ones we destroyed in Yeshari a few days ago. From within the catacombs, we seemed to have traveled through a portal. During our battle with the beast, the portal closed behind us, Tonight’s battle came at a cost: several ally gnoll-men warriors perished in the battle. Additionally, a strange magically-imbued green gem has lodged itself into Mavia. We’re not entirely sure of the long term effects on Mavia, but for the time being she seems stable. The image of King Rhexus appeared to us through the power of the gem. Rhexus summoned us to his court in the East; likely having to do with Mavia now being connected to this mysterious artifact. While Mavia continued to stabilize with her new connection to the green gem, the remains of the slain beast morphed themselves into a serpent-like naga. It offered to answer three questions for us. Sahlrek volunteered himself as a communication vessel and the naga proceeded to provide answers and images to the following questions: 1. Who do Rhexus and Draxus serve? a. The image of King Draxus appeared before us. Draxus seems to be looking in servitude towards the masses of people in the Western Kingdom b. The image of King Rhexus appeared before us. He seemed to be looking towards nine shadowy figures. Of these nine, we could only make out details of two of them: one of Vago and the other of Mavia imbued with the power of the green gem 2. How can we mend the rifts caused by magic between Yeshari and Evermore? a. My recollection is blurry here. From what i can recall, a gnome female appeared with a red gem in her chest much like Mavia now with the green gem. This is the same image of the gnome female which appeared to us in previous visions while Page 1 of 5 Journal of Captain Darien Domine “Dench”, Army of the Southern Tip of Evermore at the Witch’s Coven in the Lost Hills of Heggium. I have no idea who this gnome is, but i’ve heard rumors she may have been involved with yesterday’s destruction of the Am-Aroush gateway 3. What happened to us during the two weeks of faded memory after the red dragon attack on Goodwill? a. The image of Goodwill from back in that time appeared. As our group retreated from the red dragon, it became apparent that the red dragon did catch up to us. As it started to breath fire, the image of Rhexus appeared casting a protective field around our group. We then wake up in Maggie’s Attic two weeks later So in summary, we seem to be trapped in another land, Mavia has a strange green gem stuck in her chest and Sahlrek is possessed by a sentient naga. Pardus seems to know more than he’s let on about Vago and the portal from the catacombs. King Rhexus has also requested our presence in the East. On the positive side, Fump did not take as many hits as usual in this last battle. Overall I got to say, today was a good day. Day 6 - Dusk: Am-Aroush Gateway Outskirts, Am-Aroush Desert, Eastern Kingdom We have left the Coven of Witches in double-time. After the surreal experience we encountered, we did not want to prolong our stay in the Coven longer than was necessary. With little rest, we continued our trek towards the East. We traveled onwards for 3 days until we came upon the outskirts of the border town of Am-Aroush. The place looked well-fortified with what seemed to be a relatively large regiment detachment in and around the border town. Not having much on us to guarantee our safe entrance, we offer to help out some soldiers we spot with a broken cart on the approach to the border town. There were three of them, John, Ben and Gillen. We help carry their cargo towards town and ensure we get an up-close look at their forces. As we approach the front gate of Am-Aroush, we give up the cargo to the entrance guards. We meet a paladin soldier by the name of Alternis who is in command of these troops. Simple exchange of goods and greetings and off we go into Am-Aroush without incident. This border town was very busy with a lot of visible activity. One of the businesses which immediately caught our eyes was a merchant shop. Within, we met the proprietor, a skilled dwarf bound to a wheelchair due to no longer having use of his legs. Regrettably, I did not catch his name. He was skilled and knowledgeable at his craft. In exchange for some coin, he made our party some useful upgrades to our arsenal. I obtained a special upgrade to my shield allowing me to Don and Doff it much faster within the heat of battle. Across the walkway from the merchant shop, we discovered a water generating facility. Fortunately, Mavia was able to establish a good rapport with Lily, the Druid Matriarch, after Fump and I failed miserably to make even the simplest of conversation with the Matriarch. I no longer feel as bad staining the entrance to the water generating facility with my blood. Mavia was able to receive guarantees from the Druid Matriarch for safe storage of our party’s heavier equipment. While in Am-Aroush, we learned that travel into the East required us to travel lighter, with Eastern dress attire and with plenty of water supply. Still in town and nearing the gateway, we discovered a nameless tavern. Walking into it, we immediately saw it served a more Eastern-friendly clientele. Our party felt a lot more at ease in this place compared to our brief experience at the Pendragon Inn. We got settled in at the tavern area and Page 2 of 5 Journal of Captain Darien Domine “Dench”, Army of the Southern Tip of Evermore started our reconnaissance with the locals. Fump approached the bar keep to obtain information and while in conversation, Fump flashed the Crimson First broach. Maggie had advised us that this broach would help us find allies on our journey into the Eastern Kingdom. Sure enough, the presence of this broach prompted the bar keep, Kazra, to magically transform the tavern. All patrons faded into dust . We were led upstairs to some quarters we could use while we develop a plan to cross into the Eastern Kingdom. Kazra was instrumental in helping our party obtain forged documents to guarantee safe passage past the gateway into the East. The following day, while discussing numerous options for how to get our party through the gate without attracting unwanted attention, we devised a couple of plans and set one in motion. Under disguise as regular townsfolk, we entered the nearby Pendragon Inn and took strategic positions within and outside the tavern while Mavia approached The Judicator asking for assistance in searching for a family member. Luckily, The Judicator seemed to be in a mood for not wanting to be disturbed that he quickly gave Mavia a pass to go through the gate. Later that evening, we coordinated ourselves as Mavia’s entourage through the gate and made it through without incident. Walking through the tunnel from the Am-Aroush border town into the open desert, a wall of heat instantly hits us. Above us are two very bright suns. Sure enough a very different environment compared to the one we just came from in the West. Wearing our Eastern robes and fully stocked with water supplies, we follow other travelers into the East towards rising mounds from the desert floor. As we near one of these mounds, a group of druids stop us as they start a ritual which brings these rising mounds to life. As we rise up into the sky, we notice that we’re on top of a giant colossus. As the sun sets and looking out across the desert floor, we see numerous sand worms begin their dusk activity of preying on the few unfortunate souls who were not able to obtain safe passage on a colossus. Our ride seems to be slowly taking us towards the world’s edge mountains where we can start seeing the outlines of several monasteries along the mountain peaks. Day 2 - Night Time: Coven of Witches, Swamps of the Lost Hills of Heggium, Western Kingdom We’ve been through a lot the past couple of days. We find ourselves now within Maggie’s Coven deep within a swampy area in Evermore. We arrived here safely after a long rest in the woods and with the help of a few of Maggie’s trusted compatriots including a goblin named Hatchet and his Halfling partner. An elvish ranger named Xen also helped with getting us here safely. We met Maggie’s friend, a woman witch whose true name best translates into the word “Despair” in common. With both of them being our spiritual guides, we learned more about the real dangers in our world. More questions than answers were discovered tonight. One thing I’m going to keep my eye on more closely is the tension between Maggie and Pardus. It has become apparent that Pardus’ blood hunter lineage is in direct opposition to the lineage of magic users of which Maggie belongs. I don’t understand all the details entirely, but it seems Pardus’ hunter lineage, over a span of multiple generations, was trained specifically to hunt down and eradicate magic users such as Maggie. Sigh. I do miss the simplicity of solving problems with my trusty war hammer. I don’t know what it is about Maggie, but my trust in her makes me feel safe in this place. This sentiment was not shared by most of our party as I noticed most of us were skeptical of Maggie’s and her friend’s true intentions. I don’t blame them. Such use of magic would normally put me on alert, yet I find Maggie’s presence reminds me of home a bit. I sure hope I’m not wrong about her. Page 3 of 5 Journal of Captain Darien Domine “Dench”, Army of the Southern Tip of Evermore Now for the really interesting part. Within Maggie’s Coven, the two witches offered to share with us more information about the real dangers before us. They performed a type of magical circle ritual and with the help of a substance we drank, we traveled into what I can best describe as another plane of existence; a world we now know as Yeshari and a type of Purgatory. The circle temporarily protected us from the spirits of what seemed like children just outside the circle. As it became apparent the children’s spirits were in danger, we eventually stepped outside the circle into this new world. Physically it looked like the same coven, but the energy and light around us was very different… grey, dark and without light; eternal dusk in a way with two stagnant moons in the high night sky. The children pointed out the danger within the edge of the forest of which they feared; this huge hulking 10 foot tall beast which consumed these youth. Given a cooler head and more time to prepare an attack strategy, we quickly jumped into battle. We learned that the use of some particular magic in this world caused rifts to open out of which more of these beasts appeared. Our party fought efficiently and bravely as we slayed three of these beasts, every one of which was carrying a spirit of a child within its chest cavity. Once each beast was defeated, the spirit of the child was able to escape and run off into the woods. One of these children in particular was a young blonde human girl. This was the girl that convinced me to step outside the circle and the very same one who’s lifeless body we saw under a tree just prior to our battle with these beasts. Hanging from this same tree was the lifeless body of what seemed like a younger version of Maggie. I’ll want to explore further this connection between this young child and Maggie. So much has happened the last two days. My head hurts, but I’m in good spirits. It could be worse: I could have taken more hits in battle like brother Fump. I’m thinking I’ll soon want to work with Fump and Pardus on some battlefield maneuvers while we’re in combat to help spread out the offensive focus of the enemy. Come morning, we continue to the Eastern Kingdom. Day 1 - Late Afternoon: Outskirts of Goodwill, Western Kingdom As the gods would have it, I now find myself in the company of a formidable adventuring party which includes a brave young monk “Fump”, a troubled yet highly skilled blood-hunter “Pardus”, a mysterious cleric by the name of “Sahlrek” and an equally maternal and vengeful cleric by the name of “Mavia”. We are leaving behind a chaotic scene within the town of Goodwill after fighting off King Draxus and a small military force. King Draxus’ force had entered the town with the intent of executing all magic users. When it became apparent that the motives of King Draxus were not of sound mind, we entered into battle and defeated a shield breaker, a crimson guard, a cleric in disguise and a small party of foot soldiers. Many innocent townsfolk were murdered at the command of King Draxus. Our magic users discovered an evil presence within King Draxus’ force. Our blood hunter is currently tracking the movements of this evil entity westward towards what seems to be the Western Kingdom’s capital. We met a tavern keeper by the name of Maggie. We were able to save her from the slaughter in Goodwill. She has, up to this point, shown herself to be very resourceful and has been very helpful to our party. We were able to meet up with her after helping her get out of harm’s way during the battle in Goodwill. Page 4 of 5 Journal of Captain Darien Domine “Dench”, Army of the Southern Tip of Evermore One troubling set of thoughts haunt me: I’ve lost track of the series of events that have occurred between today and two weeks ago. I am drawing a blank on all events. The last thing I remember from two weeks ago was a situation where someone in a broken mask stood outside Goodwill and through some magic force, a red dragon appeared in its place. I remember military personnel scrambling at the appearance of this awesome beast. Next thing I know after this red dragon attack on Goodwill was waking up in the attic of Maggie’s tavern. I have no recollection how I got there or how I got out of a brutal battle with the red dragon. I have been in many battles. I am proud to say that my new party fought bravely and effectively today! I look forward to more epic battles with this brave troop of adventurers.