Xodus Creed
Xodus Creed (a.k.a. Alpha Wolfbane)
Xodus Creed is at first a monk with a silent demeaner that some find uneasy and tends to keep to himself. He is usually hired by individuals in desperate need, using his heightened awareness in taverns and walking the realm of Toril finding them in some dire situation .. but nobody will actually meet or know of him. He listens then watches, and finally comes to them in the shadows at night by sending Muninn to offer his services once he's deemed the cause just and in need of his skills. Then … he brings fear and death to those who deserve.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Xodus is an incredibly fit human with incredible speed and reflexes though not the strongest, he is slim at an average height and very toned.
Body Features
With fitted dark grey robes from neck to ankle & outer robes flowing down under the wide belt emerging to form a waist cape, stopping just at the ankle. Long sleeves that loosen towards the cuff covering most of the vambraces & wearing leather boots for ankle support, walking long distances & protection from the damp. He has a long dark grey cold weather cloak with a hood he usually wears to conceal his array of pouches & sheaths.
Facial Features
He is pale with long dark red hair single platted back with the sides of his head shaved & has dark green piercing eyes
Identifying Characteristics
Quite a resent addition, a scar on his left shoulder from a spear wound.
Special abilities
Sometimes someone might feel a chill when standing close and some have thought they saw his eyes glow an inferno orangey red with a terrifying dark mist emanating and falling from around Xodus for a split second, this visible amount of time is somehow increased the more power of Ki is used. Often people get the feeling of cold & possible feeling of fear to the core.
Apparel & Accessories
Usually wears long dark grey monk robes with two leather vambraces and a dark grey cloak, with a wide leather belt holding two pouches at the front right, three vial pouches on the back & a third pouch front left. Attached to the bottom of the wide belt are two sheaths for Xodus's staff that can split down into two ninjato plus centre section & wearing leather boots for foot protection he has weapons hidden all over. He can sometimes be seen with his raven called Muninn and his horse Alsvid.
Specialized Equipment
Currently owning the standard adventuring & survival gear with a few extras:
Xodus's Staff, Throwing Spikes, Disguised Garrotte
Nasty Shadow Fell Venom.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Xodus Creed, Raised by his father, Lincon, all his young life but unknowing of his mother, Ether, whether she is alive or dead & the mention of a sibling by the name of Laucien who he would meet later in his life, born in a town somewhere in Faerun with a fairly poor level of upbringing it did not matter as they moved from town to town, military camp to camp as his father was a soldier & as soon as he could, Xodus enlisted as a soldier in the military, he lost contact with his father soon after as he was posted all over the realm but he made the most of his life as a soldier & eventually became a CSjt but not before serving some years in the Dauntless Few as a master fighter. He participated in many battles & skirmishes, one battle Xodus fought at Port Llast where he met Sjt Hofferson & Soldier Battlehammer of the Dauntless Few, he came out unscathed but unfortunately for some of his friends he made, died from their wounds outright or lost. This made Xodus stop & think for a time but alas he shrugged his shoulders & carried on searching for enemy survivors only to slay them, he didn't really like people anyway. While engaged in another battle, so many he's lost count, he found himself diving for cover as a hail of arrows came storming down & then nothing but black, white & grey. Xodus thought he was dead for a minute but after looking around he saw a monastery of shadow before him, he felt an unease around him so he made for the monastery to find a number of dark elves who told him he was in the Shadow Fell & accepted him into their ranks as a monk assassin. After a time, who knows how long training to eliminate the corrupt & destroy the truly evil with fist, weapon & poison he was almost a different person... almost, he did not really care for the dark elves just their training as its always been his way to become a better version of himself & ever more lethal. He eventually learned of a way back to the natural realm & as soon as he had the opportunity he left the monastery, but not before taking the opportunity to steal a magic scroll as he passed the library & not without decapitating some dark elves, finding himself on the very battlefield he fought on though looking quite different, but still recognizable. Now out on his own he intends to cleanse the realm of the corrupt & evil putting his new skills along with his old fighting skills to use, & with his companion bound to him through the use of the scroll Xodus stole, a celestial in the form of a raven covered in runes known as Muninn, due to the amount of time in the Shadow Fell Xodus gained a kind of aura that makes other people feel cold & uneasy, some say they briefly saw a dark misty outline to him which lead them to sometimes fear him. Spending some time travelling & hunting, he received a retrieval contract for an individual called Dorian Grey, after tracking him to the War Masters Crypt, of the House of Odin, he saw a group exit the crypt & his target with them as he used the darkness to lay in wait ready to capture him. After revealing himself to the group an incident where the target turned & killed one other member before escaping while Xodus for some reason felt the need to help an initiate called Herja while she tried to save initiate Christian. As for Dorian, Xodus will hunt him down ... he will not escape again, nobody does. As a few months pass, Xodus still tracking Dorian, witnessed a visage of a Norse Deity which showed the way briefly to a location needed for another target, that has now strengthened his belief in all Norse Deity. Xodus believes in the strength of a unit which as skilled in combat as an individual, he knows that as a unit they can achieve much more.
Gender Identity
Identifies as Male.
Sexuality
Heterosexual
Education
With mainly a military background going through basic, & advanced training in the Dauntless Few over the years, then entering the shadow fell & training in the Monastery of Shadow known as The Lineage, for an unknown amount of time as a monk assassin before returning to the natural realm.
Employment
Self-Employed as a Soldier, Assassin, Spy, Saboteur for hire while disguised as a Monk.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Survived many wars, the Shadow Fell & became a CSjt in the Faerun army's Dauntless Few.
Failures & Embarrassments
Hanging around with Magnus.
Mental Trauma
Over the years of war & training Xodus has built up a very dark humour that might be very inappropriate most of the time, with that he can also be incredibly ruthless at times to the extreme excess. He has become very stubborn & will never admit he is wrong either.
Intellectual Characteristics
Quite the experience Xodus has gained through the military & assassinations that he knows about almost every combat situation possible from frontline combat to special operations behind enemy lines & targeted eliminations of particular individuals.
Morality & Philosophy
The philosophy of Xodus is- To become evermore efficient & lethal for the ability to eliminate the truly corrupt & evil.
Taboos
Borderline obsessed with becoming more & more powerful & lethal.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
To eliminate the individuals or groups of people that are truly corrupt in leadership down to the lowest form of society in the realm along with all the evil that resides in Toril with extreme precision.
Likes & Dislikes
Xodus likes becoming more powerful which means becoming a more efficient assassin. Certainly does not like most people but does value their use as a team & will defend the weaker. Hates individuals that violate his code:
-The mission comes first.
-Route out the corrupt.. the evil & eliminate, whatever their standing.
-Defend the weaker if necessary.
-Only kill if needed.
-Be as honourable as truly possible.
Also dislikes people that don't look after themselves or their gear, are selfish enough as to leave others to die, the dishonourable & those that steal from him.
Virtues & Personality perks
He is incredibly patient & uses logic & experience to overcome challenges physical or mental.
Vices & Personality flaws
Perhaps Xodus can be too ruthless sometimes & a borderline obsession to become evermore powerful.
Hygiene
As any soldier would know to be combat efficient you need to stay healthy by having the self discipline to stay immaculately clean.
Social
Contacts & Relations
(Faerun Army- Friendly)
(House of Odin- Friendly)
(Crimson Gauntlets- Friendly)
(Grey Cloaks- Friendly)
(Red Corsairs- Suspicious)
(The Lineage- Hostile)
(Son's of Ragnarok- Hostile)
Family Ties
Strong ties with his half-brother Lucian who he met before setting off on his travels with the adventurers.
Religious Views
Seen a visage of a Norse Deity so regardless in what he did believe he knows the Norse gods are real.
Social Aptitude
Not charismatic at all, speaks exactly what's on his mind even if it offends, & does not like talking to crowds or attention. He tries to keep a persona of a simple calm monk to keep out of anyone's interest but … he is prone to outbursts of aggression if irritated or annoyed by others too much.
Mannerisms
A slight smile when he gets the chance to do something brutal, ruthless or just awesome.
Hobbies & Pets
Has a familiar, a raven celestial called Muninn he can telepathically talk to & see as Muninn sees.
Like's to keep his gear in perfect condition.
Like's to practice his art of death.
Like's to learn new skills, stay fit & improve himself.
Wealth & Financial state
He does not care for reward or personal gain other then to become stronger & more efficient so Xodus has only little gold.
Ex soldier of Fearun & the Dauntless Few now trained as a Monk for his new purpose, using his skills in soldering, assassination & espionage he is ready to bring any quest or mission to a successful conclusion.
View Character Profile
Alignment
True Neutral
Honorary & Occupational Titles
From Dracus- Alpha Wolfbane- Wolfbane for protecting the group & slaying many wolves, Alpha for killing an Alpha Wolf.
Age
32yr
Date of Birth
10th of the 8th-Eleasias- 1375 2nd Era
Birthplace
A village only known to Xodus's father
Children
Current Residence
Basment of the Horse & Cart Tavern
Gender
Male
Eyes
Dark Green
Hair
Dark Red
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
White/Pale
Height
5ft 8
Weight
165lbs
Day 57, The Entity or the Family
6th of the 3rd-Ches- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke to our camp by the stables, we ate and the usual sorting ourselves out. We planned our recon of the family and the keep to bring in enough information as to make our decision to release the Supernatural Entity or kill off a whole family. As there should not really be any hesitation as to which choice should be taken we are really exploring this as Markus is imminently in danger of spending eternity sealed in the crypt with the many lost souls trapped inside. Another option is to kill off the horde of Skeletons and Undead inside, and deal with the Entity that cursed Markus. So as the plan to recon the keep we went to rent a boat, myself and Markus would row out with Athelstan under the Invisible spell. I would roll out of the boat once were close enough to the water as Athelstan disperses the spell and takes my place. I will then infiltrate the keep in broad daylight, a bit counter productive but it's overcast and nobody will expect it, plus I have a few tricks. Made the keep wall without detection and used a Gaseous Form potion to enter the stronghold as a black grey mist. I found nothing of relevance as to kill off a whole family but I did see Gambintine across the throne which was interesting because the last I saw of this daemon sword the Vampire Markus was in possession as he killed Magnus who was under some sort of influence while holding the sword, this was when Magnus became Vagnus when he awoke as a minor vampire thrall but that has been explained in a previous entry. Other then the sword there were a few trinkets and oddities around but none are ours to take. Markus and Athelstan entered the keep from the main door, not really the plan but ok I can roll with it so I dispersed my effects and appeared in the room with the others. There was some mild commotion with the guards but nothing overly exciting. I explained the daemon sword but it fell on deaf ears as we were escorted out the keep and across the bridge.
We decided on the third option to kill the horde because there was no viable evidence as to kill an entire family... obviously. We planned to use the gate runes stopping the Skeletons from leaving by turning them to ash as the main weapon of choice. I was to create a Darkness effect around the gate area so they would run right through chasing Markus and Baku, Baku with an incredibly long head start with Athelstan at the corner ready to give the signal. So Markus went in and soon after the signal was given by Athelstan and Baku started to move faster then previously. I cast the effect of Darkness and moved through and outside with Athelstan and Baku. Soon after Markus made an appearance with a load of ash following through just behind probably being the Skeletons, then the Entity appeared through the Darkness, a massive suit of armour with a sword just as big... a poop your pants moment if I was lesser of mind. It looked damaged as there was some ash moving around with the Entity inside the armour but it was still holding together so we fought.
Myself, Baku and Athelstan fought the Entity with fierce attacks but nothing damaged all while dodging out the way of his weapon or be cleaved in two, Baku discovered it's weakness to the weave through his Sacred Flame, so we regrouped, applied the weave and went right back at it. However I find interesting that I applied a sort of Heated Blades kind of ability to my weapon, haven't been able to recreate such an effect as of yet but I will keep trying. Markus was in some bush I think sending Eldritch Blasts down range but only a hand full of attacks hit their target, Athelstan kept trying to martyr himself .. again but with no such luck with Markus turning up from wherever he was and provoked the Entity into chasing him down. He lead the Entity across the river and over to the keep for the extra guards and support from the siege weaponry. The guards had already engaged by the time we got there and the Baron emerging from the keep to aid his men, he was a good egg like that. We moved into the keep to find something to use against the Entity with Mace discovering what was going on as the battle raged outside. Honestly I think we could have been a bit faster looking around but we didn't find anything useful bar Gambintine which Mace picked up. We moved up to the roof of the keep where the ballista was, as Mace moved out to attack the Entity who had just definitely killed the Baron. Mace swung and hit some strong blows but it seemed too strong for Mace and I knew where this was going so I reloaded the ballista and jumped on, the Daemon formed around Mace as an evil spirit, as he used more and more power Mace was tethering the Daemon to this realm, now was the time to act. I launched through the air on the ballista bolt, slipping and falling off almost too early but I hit Mace in the back downing him, forcing him to drop the daemon blade and setting myself up hurtling through the air. I landed onto the Entity, gripping onto the spearhead embedded in it's shoulder with the haft snapped off. I lifted the spearhead out of the armour and plunged it back in as an Eldritch Blast from Markus hit it's side, we killed the Entity with the armour collapsing on the spot.
We took a breath, those of us that breath anyway and dealt with the aftermath such as the ballista bolt through Mace's chest area. We cut him free after some hysterical behaviour from the Baroness, which was understandable but mainly focused at Markus for some reason. Anyway we left the village with some injuries on our way to the High Forest. We made camp far enough away from the village as not to be disturbed or attacked, we sorted what we could and bedded down.
Day 56, A Silver Tongue
5th of the 3rd-Ches- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke with everyone at the camp in the stable area, we ate well before heading to the crypt to see about these undead wandering around. We headed down and entered the main stone doorway of the crypt moving through a short narrow stone lined tunnel with runes of some sort across the walls. We entered a chamber with a mist sitting at ankle height, the chamber was lit with two fire basins and there were two walking Skeletons with rough and very degraded leather armour. They didn't seem to attack us right away or until someone attacked them first. We had a look around after the Skeletons were defeated and found a stone tomb with imagery on the top. We looked around some more and found some sort of puzzle to which we don't know what did once completed, it could open the door or do something else entirely. It opened a secret door to a chamber just off the big stone door leading to a room with well fitted furniture and a coffin that a Vampire would reside in but not after finding a few traps. I immediately set fire to the thing burning it to ash but with no creature inside. We left the room and sealed it shut looking for the key to the door, it wasn't around the immediate area so we looked elsewhere. The tomb... we opened it up as we thought the keystone for the big door at the other end of the chamber was hidden in there. We were right but the thing inside chased Markus out the chamber and into the tunnel leading outside. The creature turned to ash pretty quickly after getting too close to the doorway. We opened the big stone door which lead to more tunnel leading off left and right. We moved to the right tunnel quietly, we didn't know what was down here.
I moved through the shadows undetected with Markus and Athelstan, and a lumbering Baku. There were a lot of Skeleton in a chamber... a lot, there must have been around forty plus. Markus found some stones and went in to try and settle them once again, he did so with a very long tale of victory, their ancestors, Valhalla and some effects from the weave with a weighty amount of luck I think. Not sure if it was during or after it was over but he definitely turned his trousers from light tan to dark brown without using the power of the weave which is quite a feat in itself. We moved down to the left tunnel and Markus went in once again, only this time faced with a load of Skeletons as before but with a giant set of armour worn by a supernatural entity with a giant sword.
Markus talked his way out of being cleaved in half but he was cursed .. again and ordered to locate and kill the family who no doubt trapped them in here or face eternity in the crypt with them. Markus really had no choice but to agree to at least leave the crypt living. We moved up to the first chamber and out into the pouring heavy rain, myself and Athelstan talked about our options once we reached the camp in the stables while Markus went back to get the keystone but found another creature instead, from what he said he defeated it with the doorway rune stones once again. Markus retrieved the keystone to make sure nobody else wanders in there and came back to the camp. We bedded down after some discussion and agreed to find some more information on the matter in the morning.
Day 55, Undead Horde and The Scales of Justice
4th of the 3rd-Ches- 1407 2nd Era
We continued to Triboar after waking as normal and packing the camp down. But before moving off Markus wished to train in melee combat, possibly testing himself? We fought briefly and I knocked him out, we waited till he awoke then we moved out. Hopefully Markus learnt something from that, anyway we were on route and were attacked by some undead wandering in search of victims. We dealt with them though Markus was infected with something on his forearm. We'll deal with that incident later but as of now we made Triboar which looked burnt to the ground still smoking. We searched for surviving villagers but found none, they may have made stronghold in the guard keep. We found the main tavern in this traders town and moved to investigate, we found a lot of Kobold and an Ogre. We dispatched them but Ivar hit the floor unconscious and Markus luckily wore his brown trousers that day. We headed to the guards keep to see if the survivors were there, they were not, just a load more Kobold though the sounds of battle came from within. We defeated them inside on the ground floor with only a small trap door leading up to the first floor, with the Kobold at the top and no more battle sounds. Markus bravely went up and made a deal with the Kobold by cooking for them in exchange for our safety leaving the keep as about a few hundred turned up outside along with Herja walking through them. We moved out and retrieved the cart, loaded up and moved off.
We headed south towards the town centre but while passing through the wheel of the cart splintered and broke. The cart couldn't move and Telion spotted something in the distance, shambling towards us. It was hundreds of undead, to many for us, so Telion started holding them back with volleys of arrows. I went to find a replacement part for the wheel beam, there were carts abandoned everywhere so I looked for the part in best condition possible. Athelstan helped Markus with taking weight off the cart to make it easier to repair. I found a good condition beam and dragged it back to Markus's cart, the Undead were a lot closer now and Athelstan had moved to hold off the horde with Telion. I helped Markus repair the cart to the point he could finish by himself and I moved to help .. and save a very outnumbered Athelstan and Telion. I was pretty sure Athelstan was going or wanted to go down fighting but we managed to defeat enough in the area to escape to the cart and I jumped on Alsvid, we quickly headed up to the trades cart area and out the other side making sure the horde followed. I had an idea, we raced past the guard keep with the horde of Kobold inside and got their attention which quickly changed to the Undead that were behind us. We made it out of town and after a while down the road we stopped to take note of any injuries, Telion was bitten so Athelstan amputated his leg. Telion toughed it out before passing out but he was stable and the infection was stopped.
Though toughing it out Telion still made a lot of noise and attracted the attention of a creature who came out from the brush line, a turtle person of monstrously stacked proportions probably from carrying that massive warhammer around everywhere. His name was Baku and I believe by the look of him to be a Cleric of some kind. From his approach I believe he looked like an unseasoned adventurer much like Markus. We greeted him and he needed some traveling companions so he was welcomed to join us and he accepted. We moved out with an unconscious Telion in the cart and Baku walking by as he was too heavy to ride on it. We eventually reached Yartar but not before an incident along the road involving two humans and Baku's scales of justice, enough said. We headed down to the bridge entering Yartar, I crossed with Markus and the cart without incident but they didn't like Baku much and he ended up paying to cross. So after some mild racism at the bridge we looked around, Yartar was a quiet place with few guards and fewer people moving around. We dropped the cart off at the stable and headed to the in finding a Dragonborn trader, he deals in unique items, and finding some accommodation. We bedded down for the night.
Day 54, Chasing Daemons
3rd of the 3rd-Ches- 1407 2nd Era
We woke rested and we resupplied from town. Alister was recalled by the Baron back to Neverwinter probably because of the increasing situation in the south. We set off on to Triboar the next town on our route to the High Forest without anything eventful happening. We found a traveling trader at a camp site along route, we stopped to rest after a day of travelling ourselves and spoke to the trader browsing his wares. He had a lot of Kyber Crystals many of them quite dangerous in the wrong hands. Again this is just reinforcing the need that I should try to find as many as possible securing them away from those that would misuse them. We bedded down only to awake in the night, trader gone and most of the animals also gone apart from the horses and Muninn. Markus moved to try and find them, he did so he gave pursuit catching up to them. We moved in pursuit after Markus finding Markus in battle with a couple of Daemon type creatures disguised as animals, they were after Markus's cat for some reason. Anyway we destroyed the Daemons but only for a time as they'll probably reform at some point. We were also unlucky enough to attract some nearby Orcs who predictably attacked us downing Markus and his horse but they survived after we defeated the Orcs and helped them out. We headed back to the camp area for the rest of the night and bedded down.
Day 53, A Hunt in the Dark
2nd of the 3rd-Ches- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke as usual and moved on back to the town of Conyberry with the livestock in tow. We delivered them to a pleased Reeve and headed to to town tavern for a few hours, that's when we met a rather trying to hard to be mysterious type of individual of somewhat questionable intention and ability. After and awkward minuet the Reeve walked in to give us another quest to find and eliminate a beast that has recently taken to killing the towns people. Lots of legs and tentacles apparently so a possible dangerous job. We moved to the forest just north of the town with the new guy joining us, his name was Ivar. We looked around searching the forest nearby for the beast that attacks at night but nothing came up as Markus was on point but ultimately we lost our way because he didn't have a clue. I found our way out of the forest and we decided it would be best to hunt it while it was active so we went back to our camp at the stables to prepare for a night hunt.
We moved out in the dark making our way up to the edge of the forest were the attacks were highest and waited for a moment. Not long and we heard something, Markus saw some glowing eyes in the tree line, it leaped over Markus and ran into the forest bush. We gave chase with the feeling this is what it wanted ... but so did we. We found the beast upon a rocky outcrop, so Ivar ran at it and two more appeared either side attacking at Ivar so myself and the others hurried to save another inexperienced and rash soul. We defeated them eventually because they had some sort of technique as to create a double vision type of effect making them a lot harder to strike. The six legs and two tentacles made it quite difficult aswell but we over came with little damage taken though Ivar nearly got dragged off into the forest with intended death by the beasts. After the battle we took evidence of our accomplishments and headed back to see the Reeve, he'll be happier knowing the towns people are at least safer tonight.
We moved to the camp and bedded down for the rest of the night.
Day 52, The Strategic Move and A Mace
1st of the 3rd-Ches- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke from resting and recovering to be somewhat combat ready so we moved back into the ruined area with a few extra items. We moved the tent over to near the well quietly and doused it in oil, we placed it over the well ready for the next move. We dropped some very heavy rocks on top of the tent causing it to fall through the well opening and down to the blackness of the well.. but not for long. We dumped ten flasks of oil down the well, we heard a scrambling ... then threw the lit torch down igniting the oil and everything else with it. The well was so hot we had to back off a bit as the spout of fire and heat shot up out of the opening. After the heat died down we made sure nothing was moving and we bought up the wagon as Markus found some tracks moving off away from the ruins. We followed them but we were ambushed by Bandits, possibly the same that stole the town livestock. We defended ourselves and ended a few of the attackers as the others escaped, we moved on following the tracks still on the same route which was a risk but we needed to follow them to find the pigs. As expected we were ambushed a second time but we dealt with them quickly splitting their fire and distracting them making it easier for our ranged members. We pushed forward finding a cave entrance without guard, we moved in quietly and slowly finding a few Bandits inside we dealt with the first few. Markus was seen in the entrance to the main chamber by the other enemy and took quite the hit causing him to withdraw outside, .. he's going take some time to mentally recover from that one.., as myself and Telion dispatched the rest the leader Judy fled when we inflicted heavy wounds on him. He left in a cloud of smoke to where I don't know as the only entrance was blocked by Telion. We found the livestock of the town and secured them along with some other items from the cave such as a pouch of jewellery I gave to Markus, he has a large need for profit in gold or valuable items, is he suffering from greed? It doesn't matter it's of no concern of mine.
I found Telion inspecting the statue with a piece of sword sticking out it's head. I saw him attempt to remove it without success so I tried and I managed to remove it. The statue started to make some noise and move .. so I left quickly as I have experience with Stone Golems in combat but the others stayed foolishly, because every moving stone creature wants to be friends. I waited for them where we were ambushed as I needed to make sure the creature wasn't hostile. Either they come along with it or they were killed and only the moving stone turns up, as it happens they all walked up to the area in one piece. We spoke briefly, it is a Warforged Construct called Mace, some research will need to be done. It wasn't currently hostile so we moved to the wagon, though I will not be so trusting so quickly and I will be watching Mace closely. Telion and Markus introduced Mace to Athelstan and a now awake Alister before moving to the camp site between the plains and the hills. We bedded down with a defence ready.
Day 48/49/50/51, The Reeve and the Ghouls
27th, 28th, 29th, 30th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We packed camp after the usual routine and moved off to the east towards Conyberry. We arrived in town after a few days and looked around getting to know the area. Markus found a hunter willing to train him so he went to train and return later, I went to train myself and hone my skills, meditate on our affairs for a while as Alistair tried to train himself aswell. We met a Dark Elf called Athelstan in the tavern in a spot of suspicion from the Reeve, the law enforcement for the town answering directly to the barons only. We spoke to them and as long as Athelstan was with us he would be fine and protected from the suspicion and scrutiny. We were able to speak more at the camp as we trained and rested getting to know our new companion. Later on we gathered together for the evening meal and we were approached by the Reeve just outside town. He wanted us to find the towns livestock as they were taken by a Bandit known for harassing the town. We went in search heading towards the hills to the south right away as the tracks and theft were fresh. We found an outpost ruin after some time tracking and searched the area to find a tent with one dead pig inside with a lot of blood around and some noises from the well. We inspected the well to find Ghouls, many of them, we fought them off but needed to withdraw to heal and regroup, mainly Alister took a hit but passed out so he was taken care of by Athelstan as we made a quick defended camp to recover.
Day 47, The Cave of the Bandit
26th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We sorted our gear in the usual morning routine and moved on towards the high risk ambush area and as expected we were ambushed ........ shock... We let them take what they wanted as they had their crossbows and the advantage at the time. They took Markus's wagon, to his much annoyance and anger, off to wherever they were based. Though not to worry to much as I had Muninn follow them to the location and so we moved towards the area. They were hold up in a rocky area with groups of trees nearby, they had the wagon outside with some horses in a makeshift paddock and no guards at the entrance to the cave. Not a smart move. We prepared for combat and made a few distractions to give us an edge when it all starts. Markus set up with his crossbow outside on the hill edge with some stone cover, Alister down in the trees waiting for the signal and myself sneaking into the cave to try and thin the herd a bit. There were about eight targets which quickly fell to seven then six after felling the two of them silently with Alister as he semi snuck up the cave as an amateur would but still nobody heard. He moved out distracting them as I struck killing one and injuring the next with Alister finishing him off quietly with his adamantine blade. We moved down the tunnel back towards the main chamber with two more raiders or bandits in the pool of water outside the chamber entrance. I moved through the shadows undetected and threw two darts of Shadowfell Venom into them, paralyzing them instantly in place. Alister tried to move but was seen by the other bandits who chased him outside into Markus's kill box. As they left the cave Markus fired off.. missing. I dealt with the two bandits in the water, now down to five and quickly four as I took their heads for their corruption. I walked out towards the entrance as none were left inside with the shallow stream following the path outside turning red with blood. As I left the cave I saw Markus and Alister had done an amount of usefulness but I finished the rest quickly as time was pressing. Markus searched the cave as Alister got onto the wagon readying to move off and I went to retrieve Alsvid for the journey back to the Phandalin turning as the bandit camp was in the opposite direction. We all moved off and made the turning by sunset, setting up and bedding down for the night.
Day 46, A Warning for the Southern Defence
25th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke at the traders oasis to Markus cooking the morning meal. I started to move and sort my gear as Alister woke doing the same. After we ate our food which was very good Markus cleared and packed the wagon, ready we set off heading towards the Phandalin turning off the High Road. We were stopped by two people in the distance shambling around, I moved forward on foot after dismounting from Alsvid and it wasn't long before I could see clearly they were undead. I engaged the enemy swiftly and Alister came running up as we dispatched them quickly. They shouldn't be past the southern defence unless it's fallen, I must check and I'll be faster on my own. I left on Alsvid fast heading towards the southern defence at Leilon as Markus and Alister headed on to the Phandalin turning. I made Leilon swiftly and found the defence intact with soldiers marching or running around everywhere with tents covering the ground, looks like a true war camp. I made my way to the command tent and greeted Capitan Ventris. We spoke about ongoing situations such as the Foundation and the Undead on the High Road. He said he'll move troops to plug any holes in the defence and increase the troops in the marshland. We said farewell for now and I went to see the front line from the wall top. The site was a vast amount of Undead falling upon the swords of the Fearun Army and notably the Crimson Gauntlets, an order of warriors that follow a knightly code, a very powerful handful of individuals that help the people of Neverwinter and Fearun. They were spread across the rest of the army bolstering positions that needed the extra force. As I moved back down I saw Sir Edmond and greeted him, we spoke briefly as he was heading out to engage the Undead once again. I gave him a Superior Health Potion and wished him luck, he nodded and left for the gate. I road out to meet with the others, Markus and Alister, I caught them up as they made camp for the night at the turning to Phandalin. I greeted them and spoke about the southern defence, Capitan Ventris and Sir Edmond then sorted Alsvid before bedding down.
Day 45, Prep for the High Forest
24th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke and ate a fine meal, Markus was proving his worth to keep around. Not in a combat sense but more support orientated. We packed and moved to Neverwinter with not much happening along the way but some conversation. We went to the markets and shops to supply ourselves for the journey to find this tree in the High Forest. We started moving off as Master Cavendish came up to join us once again, and we set off making the traders oasis in good time. We bedded down for the night.
Day 44, A Giant MF and the Boy
23rd of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke to a fine morning in Fearun along the bank of the river, not spring yet but almost with snow still on the ground on parts. We sorted our gear, Markus and myself, and packed our camp then headed down the edge of the forest. It was moments later Markus spotted a bear in the forest but this bear looked unnatural to the eye, exactly like the creature but didn't move like they do with a look of sentience on it's face. Anyway the bear moved into the forest and we followed leading to a rock formation with a small cave entrance. We thought to inspect the cave and soon we found a young boy inside trapped in webbing... of course there's spiders. We burnt the webs away with the torch and all the boy said was run, didn't need to tell me twice as my instinct said to listen to the boy so we ran fast. We ran fast and I ran faster as a tidal wave of spiders appeared from the shadows. We ran for the entrance burning and cutting webs as they shot them across our path and directly at us. The main event then came along as a giant MF spider charged behind us adding some extra effort to our running ability. It was just on us as we made the entrance and escaped into the daylight as it hit the spiders who withdrew screeching back into the cave. We made our way back out of the forest as the boy came with us and the bear re appeared. The bear moved behind a tree then a Firblog moved out the forest nearby. We greeted the Firblog, the druid we were looking for. He needed our help to retrieve a piece of tree from the High Forest to save his own, in exchange he'll research what will be needed to save Magnus from lycanthropy and petrification while supplying the more common ingredients. We said farewell and moved to the camp spot, the boy introduced himself as we had time to converse, he is Alister Cavendish a baron of Neverwinter's son. This can only go well... We were just setting the camp as a few bandits made their way into the area and threatened us, which was very stupid indeed because at this time I was scouting the area and appeared behind them, garrotted one. Markus attacked or distracted, was hard to tell if he had any combat ability at all, one that was interested in his wagon. One took Alister as a hostage but I hit him with some paralyzing venom from a throwing spike and killed the other Markus was troubling. I drew Alister's sword which was of a metal I recognised as adamantine, I used it to cut the arm off trapping Alister in place. There was blood everywhere which made Alister and Markus a bit nauseous I think. We moved and found a different spot to camp. As Markus made a meal and as I thought he expected a servant but the only person here that is willing or would even consider it is Markus. So Markus made Alister a makeshift table and prepared a place for him complete with napkin. We ate and spoke about the going's on with the Undead and Neverwinters situation. Markus was a good cook, almost a chef but some training could make that a possibility. We bedded down for the night.
Day 43, Three Descend the Darkness
22nd of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke in the lair with no other group members present, some missing, some deceased with others imprisoned by choice. Will probably need to check on the newest two upstairs. I moved up to the tavern bar to find Ahriman lying under a table so I used a bucket of water to wake him. Ahriman woke with his magical sparkles flying around the room, so he was awake and I moved out to find Taur already up probably because of Ahriman's noise. We moved into the Protector's Enclave to gather supplies and modify some equipment. I made some modifications to my vambrace by having a slot installed on the bottom of the forearm so to hold a Kyber Crystal against the skin so not having to hold it in the hand to use it and we picked up some potions such as the Gaseous Form and Health potions. We then moved to the grey cloaks tower to speak to Salazar as Minotaur's and talking bears aren't that common even in Fearun.
We headed to the Foundation to see what the situation is with the Undead. So it appears to have fallen to precarious as there is now something big on the inside trying to smash the doors through. We spoke to the Sgt in command of the situation and he asked us to solve the problem. For the need of the city we agreed to destroy this evil. We moved up to the top of the Foundation on the back wall looking down into the centre only to see a blanket of darkness. We discussed our tactics then on lowered rope we each descended through the darkness, though only for a minuet and we saw a horde of undead with a big MF at the back made of many body parts mangled together lumbering our way like a Golem. We quickly engaged the undead (could have done with Herja round about now) with Taur in the middle, Ahriman on the left flank and myself on the right flank. Our job is to make sure Taur is clear to destroy this Flesh Golem. We fought ferociously killing over half the horde but in the last moments Ahriman was overrun by the numbers and I did what I could but Taur eventually fell though it looks like he gave some serious damage to the Flesh Golem. I had a choice and a risk to make, escape to the rope or try to kill off the Flesh Golem before it possibly regenerates though I could be caught in the horde remainder.
I decided to take the risk because I don't think the Guard would stand much of a chance if it breaks through the doors and the city would suffer dearly before or if they could bring it down. I decided on my best possible manoeuvre to kill this serious abomination of evil and went for it. Moving at full speed I made my strikes with my spike blades severing a few vital points causing it to collapse in a heap on the dusty training ground. I had time to move so I escaped to the rope before being overrun and looking back I saw Ahriman with Taur vanish into a mist. This was probably because when we saw Salazar they signed a contract of study so on death there bodies will move to the Grey Tower to be examined for so long before True Resurrection. As the guardsmen pulled the rope up I moved through the darkness and into the natural light making it to the top. I explained the currently eased but not solved the problem and moved to the Horse and Cart Tavern to clean up. I ate after exerting a vast amount of energy to try and replenish myself ready for the rest of the day and when doing so a very persistent trader came in trying to pedal his items, and apparently never even thinking of leaving. He followed me to find this Druid I have been tasked with locating as they have the means to help Magnus's petrified state. We moved through the plains of Neverwinter after gathering our supplies for the journey heading east towards Thunder Tree but on the opposite side of the river. We made camp but were disturbed by three Goblins which weren't much of a threat, We dealt with them and bedded down.
Day 42, The Ghost of Thunder Tree
21st of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We moved on to Thunder Tree after a few days resting and training. As we made Thunder Tree we found the Orc hoard defeated from a centre point from the look of the bodies plus blood splatter. I strongly suspect the ghost of the little girl Magnus was supposed to free. Ahriman took it upon himself to accept helping the ghost girl who I believe is actually some sort of demon. Well we made Neverwinter after a time and I road ahead to make sure Ahriman and Taur aren't immediately set apon. I met a Lieutenant Felix of the Neverwinter Army, left to defend the city as most other rank has moved to the southern defence to prevent the Undead from gaining any further ground. After Taur and Ahriman made the city myself and Lt Felix spoke about many things, one being no change to Lord Bertran condition. The state of William Bertran who is currently missing with the ship, Telion recruited to train five of the Guard to then improve the Guard's archers. After leaving Lt Felix I found Dracus doing well with the Silver Fangs but Magnus's statue missing. I will head to the southern defence I'll need to see this for myself how bad it's become. We headed to Sturges place the Horse and Cart Tavern and bedded down with Taur out in the small shed and Ahriman in his tent.
Day 38/39/40/41, Resting and Training
17th, 18th, 19th, 20th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
Going to take this opportunity to train becoming faster and stronger, with better technique and get to better know my travelling companions. This is needed as we've been facing increasingly tougher enemies in this realm.
Day 37, A Great Axe
16th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke and sorted ourselves, today we retrieve the great axe of Taur. We left the camp site following the direction of Taur to his great axe stuck in the ground on the plains of Neverwinter, a fairly simple quest. We reached the axe after a time and Taur felt good to see his weapon once again. Suddenly the ground started shaking as from the tree line a formation of mercenaries on horse back rod towards us. Taur readied himself with extra confidence now he had his axe back, with good reason as this axe was nearly as big and as wide as he was. I readied myself for the fast approaching battle and I saw Ahriman try the same but the bear looked very out of depth for this situation. I took the opportunity to create a black mist of darkness using my Ki to blind the charge as Taur cleaved across the formation as they left the darkness meeting his blade defeating a swath of the enemy. As Ahriman met the enemy with a valiant Witch Bolt but the rest of the time was fire works and flashes but the intension was their. I jumped onto a passing rider killing him and riding after the others jumping from rider to rider defeating the enemy. We tracked their direction after we defeated the last rider and we took a short rest before tracking any further into the forest. I knew of a southern defensive keep in the forest around here but was abandoned by the Neverwinter Army for unknown reasons. We headed their and found it occupied by more of these mercenaries, Taur immediately attacked and killed four of them as I went in from the flank dispatching a few more. Ahriman behind Taur firing off Witch Bolt hitting a few others as we took the keep watching one man run from Taur into the forest, no matter as he is easy to track he won't get far. We followed the one man after a short time leading to their commander. They charged and so did Taur, their were only a few left so Taur mainly dealt with it himself impaling the commander with his horns. We headed out of the forest after the remainder died or fled and we came across a clearing with a strange door, it turned out to be a test from the witch that keeps harassing Dracus. In short we passed and moved to the tree line following it along up to the track that goes from Neverwinter to Thunder Tree to Brumhilde's house. We needed rest at this point so we set camp.
Day 36, A New Travelling Companion
15th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I woke in the tavern to an empty lair but Muninn still watching, after sorting myself I headed down to the House of Odin to see Isaac. I was well met in the house and spoke to Isaac giving him the spell scroll to commune to his line of deity. I left to meet Taur by the Thunder Tree path after retrieving Alsvid from the stables. He was sitting by the river kicking his hooves waiting quite patiently for a Minotaur and as I approached he got himself up. We met and started walking to the last known location of his battle axe along the main road as there was no carts or people heading in either direction. We kept moving through the day and made the common rest spot along the main road, a small lake with trees in the middle of the main road running through the plains of Neverwinter. As we reached the resting place for the evening we spotted a bear bathing itself, bears aren't uncommon but this one turned around and started talking. Who new... a talking bear with robes and a tent. He was called Ahriman, a wizard bear with a vague background. He didn't know too much of his becoming. We though it was safe enough to stay so we set up and joined our camps together. And as usual Muninn watching out for any possible hostiles as we bedded down.
Day 33/34/35, A Time with the Silver Fangs
12th, 13th, 14th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We moved on travelling to Neverwinter along the main path from Phandalin making good time and stopping to make camp each evening. We made Neverwinter after a couple of days with nothing really happening of relative importance. We headed into Neverwinter and Taur headed to the Thunder Tree road to wait for us. We prepped ourselves in the market district for the retrieval and journey of Taur's axe, we spoke to Captain Ventris with updates of the situation in Phandalin and the need for guard reinforcement. I took collection of Alsvid my new steed from the stable hand and transferred gear into the saddle bags so not to be weighed by too many items. We saw and spoke to Sturges to see how he was doing on the way through to the Silver Fangs. We approached the gates and knocked on the gates as any guards were absent. Nothing for a long time so Dracus and Magnus through me up to the top of the wall and using my grapple mid flight I managed to hook onto the wall, landing on its side with feet planted firmly. Below I saw the gates opening so I pulled myself up on top the wall and retrieved the rope. After a time of conversation Dracus and Magnus went in surrounded by Silver Fang, to their doom .. who knows. I watched and waited for a while then headed down to Vesimir the Silver Fangs leader. he said Dracus and Magnus are to be temporarily imprisoned by night and training with escort by day until they can control the lycanthropy change. I was escorted out after our conversation and headed to speak to the Baron Vincent to update him on the Phandalin situation, I couldn't do much for Magnus and Dracus at this time and they were at least in a position where they can learn to control themselves so to continue the mission on my own for now. I moved across town but felt like I was being watched and followed, and I was correct as I was attacked by the Lineage, still trying to capture me apparently. Some Manriki-Gusari wrapping round my legs causing me to stumble over onto my back. A monk jumped out to incapacitate me but I used my Ki to produce an imitation of the darkness spell on top of my location. I rolled to one side still in the darkness unwrapping the wire around my legs and getting up to my feet moving out of the black. I held the ball and wire from one end and swung it around myself running through the darkness but I made the other side without hitting anything. I removed the darkness and nothing or no one was there, I moved back into the shadow to conceal myself and watched for a time. Nothing appeared so I stayed in the shadows and headed to the Barons residence making the move without incident. I spoke to Vincent on various issues and took a short rest on his grounds before moving in the shadows to the Horse and Cart Tavern. I spoke to Sturges on the recent events of Magnus and Dracus and bedded down with Muninn on overwatch.
Day 32, A Mythical Creature
11th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I went into Phandalin town with Daxyl the Hobgoblin to get him fully equipped for travelling. We went to the general store for gear such as a mess kit, a warm cloak, rations etc. I paid over fourteen gold for all of it and we accepted a contract for the delivery of ore to Neverwinter. We met the others and went up to the stables were the cart of ore and our carriage were located. We had less horses then we thought because Jim took our now only horse to who knows where. So we decided eventually to buy some more horses and put the wagon and cart together to make a land train. We set off in the afternoon and we were at this time near the main road to Neverwinter when we saw a dark smudge on the horizon moving closer as time passed. We stopped and waited as I sent Muninn out to fly over to investigate. He said it was a moving combat between a mob of humans and mythical creature, a Minotaur. This interested me as Minotaur were mere myth in Faerun, I jumped on a horse with the heavy crossbow and road out. I found the Minotaur taking hits but also giving them back, the mob looked like mercenaries all in leather patched armour with random bits added and non uniformed. I found it acceptable to help the Minotaur after judging the situation and took action. I shouted for the leader and they all looked in my direction giving the Minotaur a brief time to act, I don't think the leader was in the mob at the time and quite possibly killed already as there were barely a dozen men left in chase. They kept at the Minotaur still so I loaded the heavy crossbow with grapple bolt and rope, took aim and fired at one man striking through his back. I cranked the handle on the crossbow to bring the man off his horse and reset the bow once again joining the back of the mob. As I caught up the Minotaur had reached the wagons and jumped right into the side of the carriage for cover but took the entire side out. He got out the carriage as the horses couldn't pull all the weight and started to help them pull as the mob started attacking the others aswell. As this was happening I fired again impaling another man and pulled him down. The others started to retaliate and Magnus managed to secure another horse with positive acrobatics and daring for such a large man. We killed and fended off the last of the mob though one escaped and the idea wasn't to kill all of them just save the Minotaur, he may come back with others again for the prize of the only Minotaur in Faerun. Anyway we needed to rest the horses and patch up again, we set camp and while the others tended to themselves I felt like I was stronger or more effective then before. We spoke to the Minotaur and his name was Taur and he was wandering the lands, he also lost his battle axe which we'll help him find after we've been to Neverwinter.
Day 31, A Band of Adventurers
10th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
After waking we sorted ourselves and moved out into the crypt from Gareth's room. We noticed a gap in the fallen rock into the entrance chamber and Magnus used his bow to lure them to us firing through the gap in the rock hitting a draugr. With no sign of Jim and a load of dead guards we needed to plan this attack so with our sorcerer gone we decided to use fire and oil. This was pretty effective and they started weakening immediately which made it easier for us to finish them off. We searched the coffins to find another key stone, we suddenly heard Jim running down the corridor with a massive draugr behind him. This draugr was as big as the stone golem in the reliquary in Thunder Tree.. so pretty big. We retreated to Gareth's room to protect ourselves and the draugr champion as Gareth mentioned just stood outside the room. He wanted something but I feel like it wasn't to kill so I suggested Jim follow the draugr. We left the room only for the draugr to pick Jim and Magnus up and carry them off, myself and Dracus with Gareth ran after them and into the main chamber, with the large stone door closing behind us and the chamber a sealed room there was nowhere to go now. The powerful Mage sat in a throne before us looking for a time, then spoke some rough sounding language to Jim and Magnus just before trying to steal Magnus's strong life force to, we assume, revive his companion in the coffin and at the same time drain Jim of his powers possibly to supply the weave to his companion also. ... Times were getting desperate for Magnus but I'm not sure if Jim would have been killed due to the power drain but still... I had a plan. This particular plan involves a certain red Kyber Crystal on my belt, I looked at the Mage, he looked at me as I took the Crystal from my belt and held it in my left hand as the Kyber Crystal took some life force in return for the power coursing through my torso, up my right arm and through my hand to my fingertips. As I raised my right arm up with my fingers position like clutching a ball, just above a Fireball manifested growing bigger as a few seconds past of surging power. It was ready.. I was ready... the mage was not.. He was but a moving corpse though I saw the terror on his face. He gave some sort of warning but it was to late as I lowered my hand down and pushed forward the Fireball screeched across the not so big room.. as the Kyber Crystal disintegrated through the power draw the Fireball flew straight into the Mage exploding with a torrent of fire shaking the crypt, cracking the walls creating a crater in the room and scorching Magnus and Dracus's buttocks leaving really nothing else. As the Fireball died down and in the aftermath of the explosion we saw the Mage was alive .. but only just so. Magnus summoned his strength of might and charged the Mage head on, the Mage was crippled and couldn't handle Magnus's onslaught as he delivered the final blow destroying him.
As I looked around I saw Magnus just on his feet with Jim and Gareth, Dracus was face down on the floor not moving much so I went over to check and found him still alive. I used a healers kit to stabilise him then started to look for a way out as the stone doors were sealed shut. The massive champion draugr was just standing in one spot unmoving but probably still aware of us. We couldn't see any exits so the only thing I could think of is to find some help to rescue everyone. Yes I was in the same situation as the others but with a slight difference in the potions I am carrying. I drank my Gaseous Form vial and turned into a black mist, I move through the cracks in the door, through the crypt, up the mine and out into the mine entrance turning back into human form immediately walking as if I just walked out of the mist itself. I made my way back to Phandalin and saw some new people in the village, adventurers by the look of it, though not the standard races you would expect. I figured they would look for a meal or accommodation soon enough so I went into the inn and greeted the remainder form of Nathaniel, I then took my place behind the bar after starting the fire up. They entered as I thought they would this band of adventurers though questionable weather they could do the job, they ordered some food and drink and as they consumed they asked if there was any work around the village. I said as it happens yes there was. This was in the form of a rescue, and I asked about their backgrounds to understand their capabilities, one of the three was a warrior, a Hobgoblin called Daxel, pretty big with well looked after weapons and equipment. He looked sturdy enough and he said he was in it for the challenge, the second was a tiny goblin called Sharkz, this goblin said he was an assassin once and would do anything for coin. The third was utter scum, a Lizardfolk creature, usually I would never judge those on their race but these creatures I fought in the Fearun Army. It's well known they eat other creatures, even their own.. even if their almost dead but not quite gone. Scavengers of meat. I don't remember his name nor do I care, he will certainly meet his fate at the end of my sword. But for now he'll be useful in the crypt to rescue the others. They all had their cost but weather they live to see it is entirely down to how corrupt or evil they may have strayed. We left the Inn and headed up to the mine entrance, with a few words to the guard on station we entered the mouth of the mine and I appeared to leave them to their quest of rescue. Though I would never leave such importance to corrupted individuals, and after the hour of walking listening to their stories up to the mine their fate was looking very dark indeed.
They headed down into the mine as I followed in the shadows, they managed to retrieve the keystones as required and I left the keystones I already had in the crypt easy to find. As they got the idea eventually they managed to open the door to the main chamber. This wasn't before the Lizardfolk devouring a deceased guardsman of the Fearun Army for a light snack, heresy of the highest order indeed. And their came to me the idea of such a thing, an idea of not just myself as I have learnt through the army and travelling with my fellow adventurers that in a team much more can be accomplished, even the Monastery where I was taught in the Way of Shadow they prefer individuals at task. So I shall create an order .. The Order. But more of that later I have a lizard to eliminate... They entered the chamber to find Gareth cleaning, Dracus hurting and Magnus running with the champion draugr chasing him around the crater with Jim in the corner thinking by the looks of it. Daxel immediately attacked his challenge, the champion, with the help of Sharkz. Jim ran and flew out the chamber door disappearing into the darkness with Dracus still trying to prop himself up as he took quite the hit earlier. The Lizardfolk was already eyeing Dracus as a main meal though now there use has expired. I quickly moved to the lizard scum as the others were distracted by the champion and dealt a few blows but it ran, and I chased heading it off, it headed back to seek help from it's companions as I was fired at though I caught the arrow it used a form of vine spell holding me in place ... but that didn't stop me much, Sharkz saw what was going on and tried to help his cowering companion but met his fate of death earlier then the lizard. Eventually the lizard was slain aswell and my attention turned to the champion as Dracus mustered some strength and threw himself in the air striking the champion with great force but took another hit putting him on the floor. Daxel was taking some hits but using his tower shield he mitigated most of the damage though eventually he also hit the floor as did Magnus.. I have one last trick for this situation.. I moved away from the Draugr Champion and pulled the wand from my vambrace, I whipped the wand towards the champion with all charges firing. The lightning from the wand was most impressive and caused the Draugr to explode into small chunks showering everyone in the room.
After the room had settled I helped Magnus and Dracus with the last of my healers kits but Daxel was on his own with no aid left to give. Fortunately he survived but with a broken leg which we splinted up. I saw Dracus was just as bad he was missing a finger. After some debate about the death of the others we moved on out to the crypt entrance with Gareth, the first time he's left the crypt in sixty plus years. We reached the area of the mine just after the crypt and it was quiet .. very quiet. There were dead guards everywhere, at least twelve, and we moved out further. The reason for the death of twelve guardsmen revealed itself, a horde of around one hundred plus skeletons... As Daxel internally pooped himself as his leg was broken and he could hardly walk without the aid of his shield. The skeletons charged down the tunnels at us, we needed to move and I had another plan, not a new one but an old one. I thundered up the mine shaft as fast as I could with the rest following, all I shouted back to Magnus, and he new what I was going to do, is Thunder Tree. I saw just before disappearing around the corner Magnus's face drop and naturally he started running faster picking Gareth up along the way. I reached the top and Immediately threw out some orders to the guardsmen and miners surrounding the entrance to the mine. A mine cart and all the black powder you can fit on it, a one minuet fuse and down the track it goes. Don't worry Dracus can take it.... A few second pass and Magnus comes storming out of the mine gasping for breath with Gareth. Then an explosion of some magnitude shaking the ground for a few seconds... then a few more. Dust poured out of the entrance covering everything close by in a thick dirt dust, I wrapped a wet cloth around my face and headed down through the dust to find Dracus. I found three skeletons still remaining and defeated them finding Dracus and Daxel just ahead under a large amount of rock and dirt. I went back up to the entrance and informed the miners who immediately moved to action, they ran down the mine digging them out and Magnus ran in to help out as I rested outside with Gareth, Don't need too many bodies in there or it'll become dangerous again. After a time they emerged from the mine quite wounded so we headed to Solomon's to see if we could rest and at least partially heal there. We arrived slowly and he helped Magnus, Dracus and Daxel in with a few health potions and rest we'll see how they are in the morning.
Day 30, The Key Stones
9th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke to a much better feeling Dracus but still not on top form. Alas Magnus was in danger again and we were the response, Herja was still passed out from the alcohol so we headed down to the stables to swap our gear around. Then it was onto the mine, it took about an hour to walk there and a bit of convincing but we made it another hour down into the mine shaft to the bottom. We saw the crypt entrance and approached carefully walking through the hallways the miners tunnelled into. We were ambushed by Skeletons with armour and weapons though before we left Solomon mentioned some creatures don't like bludgeoning damage so we dealt with them easily. We met an old man called Gareth who was the keeper of this crypt and he was old but knowledgeable, also the creatures down here don't harm him for some reason. Gareth told us of Magnus's location and I moved to him as Dracus and Jim were finishing off the last of the Skeletons, he was in good health and we went to meet the others in Gareth's accommodation. We rested for a time and Gareth asked us to help get into the main chamber as the key stone was missing and fragmented. We headed out to look for these key stone fragments searching the more ornate coffins, these were much more powerful types of creature. These were the Draugr, old norse warriors, but we prevailed and found a key stone fragment. So we figured the others were in some of the other ornate coffins guarded by the Draugr. There were coffins to the right as we came out of Gareth's dwelling in a stone walled chamber, so we opened one coffin up and the others came alive as well which lead to a tough but successful battle. Though Magnus and Dracus fell I managed to help them up with the use of the blue Kyber Crystal casting shield deflecting attacks as I used some healing kits to get them back into the fight. We could have used Jim but he went to get the guards to secure the rest of the crypt. We found another piece of key stone and they fitted together perfectly. The battle was long and we were I need of rest so we headed back to Gareth's room and slept.
Day 29, An Unnatural Fog
8th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We woke to Dracus gone, we sorted ourselves and left the tavern in search for the Goliath. As we moved outside we noticed an unnatural fog, as dense as it could be you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Though we know the village and we headed in the direction of the manor from Griff's tavern. As we ascended up to the manor the fog suddenly cleared and as we reached the manor we looked back to see a thick fog surrounding the village. Dracus appeared from the forest side, the east side of the manor climbing the muddy cliff face. We decided to skirt the fog around to the entry point to the village as it would be a more effective strategy being the blacksmiths is closer to the main entrance. We need to see if he'll bury Nathaniel with the rites so to calm this supernatural anger. We reached the entry after descending the cliff on the west side of the manor, we all made it down some more easily then others. I saw the stable hand looking out from his house with a face of cluelessness. We tied off to each other with Dracus first, Jim, myself and Magnus to the rear. Dracus had to put quite some force into entering the fog so as my time came I slashed up at the fog splitting it for a brief moment. I followed the rope and though we were attached it was as if I was alone, everyone sounded like they were in the distance barely making a sound at all and with strange noises and faces appearing from every direction trying to break our minds no doubt, though my mind is trained by monks from the Shadowfell the others have no such training, I hope they are able to cope with such horrors. Eventually the rope became slack and I reached Dracus and Jim hopefully at the blacksmiths house. They looked reasonably sane so we looked for the door and Jim found it and opened it with all of us moving inside just when Magnus caught up. We entered to see Nathaniel's farther praying, we eventually convinced him to bury Nathaniel though we needed some of his personnel items to take with him. We were asked by his father to retrieve some items from the inn so myself, Dracus and Magnus moved off to find them as Jim stayed to dig the grave. We made it to the inn and found the soul of Nathaniel still walking the inn, we were un effected by the sight and spoke to him. He told of the items location and we left for the grave site. We buried him with the full rites, that we eventually worked out as Herja wasn't here, and the fog cleared to reveal the village. It took awhile for the villagers to start leaving their homes and the miners came back to the village soon after.
We went to the tavern and spoke about the events as we decided to continue to investigate the man with the worm, so we moved to his house. We arrived to find the house turned over, someone was lying inside behind an over turned table, it was the man killed. We had a look around thinking if they didn't find anything we might, and we were right. We found a book of text up on the rafters as Dracus gave me a lift up, though I couldn't read the book as it was a jumbled mess of letters. Dracus found a secret hatch down into a layer of magic, alchemy and knowledge which we all moved down to investigate. We found a few items and text we think relates in some way as to this mage working with Xevana, it's a possibility but unconfirmed currently. We read around some more and I read something on these potions that show possible futures, I took one then another showing a few images of possible events. Magnus and Jim took one each aswell showing them the same possible events. We looked around some more and this time Dracus used his mirror showing a phased urn that looked as if it was Freya's urn. We found a blue coloured Kyber Crystal and a wooden stick we suspect is a wand after discharging a few times, I kept hold of both and gave Dracus another Kyber Crystal we found. Dracus found a second hatch but it wouldn't open so we used a magic stone we found that we believed teleports to a curtain location. Myself and Dracus teleported to a dark stone room, we looked around but found nothing important but another hatch that lead up. We headed up with lit torches to find a room dedicated to science and torture as there was a body on a table with surgical instruments nearby. We looked some more to find another hatch though this was to Magnus and Jim. We opened it and they came down to investigate and as we looked at the body the head burst open, the brain flung itself at Dracus. I caught it with a slash of my blades then Dracus finished it as Magnus and Jim continued their search. I went up the ladder with Dracus and saw the urn phasing in and out, we looked at each other and shouted down to Magnus to see what they were doing. Turns out the mirror on the lowest floor was the change switch for the ladder to urn shrine. Dracus moved onto and held the shrine of Freya and her urn, the urn was just an imitation. Magnus flipped the mirror and it with Dracus phased out with the ladder phasing in its place. Dracus said to give him some time so we did then Magnus flipped the mirror back revealing a charred Dracus, Dracus flopped off the shrine and Magnus phased it again. So Dracus held onto the ladder this time coming back to say he was in the Air Plane and the shrine goes to the Fire Plane. We found some clear parchment with indication they could be magical from Jim so we put them in the urn and phased them in and out. The heat produced hidden writings on the parchment, one read to be instructions for the creation of Mind Flayer worms which needed to be destroyed as soon as possible. The second parchment came back with nothing so we attached it to the ladder and sent it to the Air Plane, when we phased it back the parchment was gone. So we phased it again and it had appeared with more writings. I held the ladder and Magnus phased me to the Air Plane for a long time .. I do not know why and this now brings distrust between us. Though I think I saw the mighty god Thor himself as I was there and he granted an overcharge to the wand. We needed to get Dracus rested as he took quite the fatigue from the Fire Plane so we left for the manor with Herja who was waiting outside, and Jim with Magnus going to look in the mines. We got to the manor slowly and Solomon allowed us inside to rest and helped Dracus out. Solomon gave Herja some of his potent alcohol and she passed out while myself and Solomon went down to the training area to try and destroy the instructions but as I found out the room was magically impervious and so was everything that entered it. After that wasted overcharge on the wand trying to destroy the parchment we went upstairs to Jim informing us Magnus went into the crypt on his own, we had to rest as Dracus wasn't ready yet so we waited.
Day 28, Ghosts and Shadows
7th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke and sorted myself out then headed down to greet everyone though Herja was absent. I had some water and bread while we spoke some more on yesterdays events and while we were speaking about Celebrimbor and his sister Xevana as magic users Nathaniel left the inn oddly. We had a look around for the wine the butlers loved as we needed more information on Xevanas location and state. As we searched we found a trap or cellar door and Dracus opened it so we all went down to see as Jin had also sensed magical darkness. So we all investigated to hear a snarling and out from the darkness came two werewolves lunging at Dracus. We fought them off killing them with difficulty using silver weapons we just received from the blacksmith. I was moving, dodging and using my silver sickle that can be flung by the handle to strike at a distance by the blade extending on a wire from the handle and retracting again by the mechanism in the handle. Jin using her magic to electrify them while keeping distance. Magnus grappling one in anger holding it in place for Jin, and Dracus with myself using his war axe to smash, slice and chop them. Nathaniel came back after a while and looked in the hatch. He didn't seem to know they were werewolves but thought they were actual wolves as his pets. We asked about the darkness and if he could come have a look but he refused, and as he did Jin who had already climbed out pushed him down into the cellar snapping Nathaniel's neck ..... This was a situation we didn't think we'd be in. Dracus instantly became insistent she turn herself in or he'll do it for her as we all climbed out. As Dracus gave Jin time to think about the right decision he went to wrap Nathaniel's body and I went to clean myself up after that battle, we all took some injuries from claw and teeth but nothing serious. I went back down to hear Dracus had reported it without question, Dracus honourable to the core.. unlike Magnus... and now Jin. I hear Dracus made some sort of blood oath to the towns people to hand in Jin as Jin has now disappeared which I expected. Nathaniel was very well liked and respected in this village and the consequences will be harsh at best so I also understand why Jin fled fearing the worst but the honourable action would have been to take responsibility for the death or just not have forced Nathaniel into the hatch.
As we discussed our next step will be and taking reflection of ourselves, though I think Magnus took that to literally staring into a barrel of water, a dwarf entered the inn. This dwarfs name was Jim, quite short as a dwarf would be expected to be and after some time talking I noticed he had the look of an arcane focused ring, similar to Jin's ring. so I guessed he's a magic user of some sort which was spot on. I left to retrieve some wine as there was none in the inn, I tried the general store. The owner was shocked to hear of the news of Nathaniel's death so she didn't have the mental stability to serve anyone. I left and headed over to the blacksmiths and he wasn't answering so he must have heard aswell. As I stepped back I was attacked or restrained by a weighted wire called a manriki-gusari, one of my own moves, and I was being dragged backwards by the wire so I pushed off the ground flipping over the attacker and threw out a spinning kick while using a kunai to cut myself free. It was a member of the Lineage, the monastery where I trained in the Shadow Fell. This was troubling as it's extremely difficult to find your way to this realm through unstable portals connecting the two planes as the portals are very random, I was lucky in this regard or I would still be stuck in the Shadow Fell. He through a kunai at me as we exchange blows dipped in something, as he wanted me back to the monastery so probably something paralysing, I caught it and threw it back. He caught that and came at me, I dodged and through a few blows on him and he used some smoke to disappear. I used a black powder ball making a small explosion at the point of the smoke but there was only a scorch mark where he stood. I immediately put Muninn on overwatch looking for this member of the Lineage.
The others came out of the inn with Jim and asked about the noise but I said there was nothing which I don't think they believed much. We headed up to the manor and Jim came to, he was to show us he's capable in combat as his wish is to join us for whatever reason. We trained and fought until we couldn't against the magical training construct and I was impressed as were Magnus and Dracus. So Jim joined us and we thanked the butler Solomon, he was very drunk with Magnus by the time we finished. We found out some information about Xevana headed down to a village outside Waterdeep with Celebrimbor but only Celebrimbor came back and he's looking for the same urn Virgil is, we will need to look into this more and try to find the village. We went back to the inn and spoke about the possible location as we got ourselves some food and water, though Dracus went to take the werewolf remains out of the cellar. As he lifted the door he felt a cold, not the nice cold he was used to but a chilling one he did not like at all. He used his mirror to look around and he said he was looking at the ghost of Nathaniel at the bottom of the ladder. This was interesting as ghosts or spectres will only stay on this plane of existence if they fell wronged and want to take revenge. Dracus invited Nathaniel up into the inn which then Nathaniel went full rage driven vengeance stance and shot up out of the cellar door screaming becoming visible to everyone, the fire went out and the windows and doors became blackened. Nathaniel frightened a decade off Magnus and Dracus, I saw them physically age by ten years. Jim looked like it didn't effect him and I was fine, I new ghosts don't harm those that have nothing to do with there business. I watched the chaos unfold as Magnus ran for the door screaming but found the window which was obviously good enough as he jumped through it smashing glass everywhere. Dracus jumped down the hatch and into the cellar also screaming, a continuous scream which held for the few minuets it took for Nathaniel to attack Jim, that was quite the hit, and for Jim to fly through the window Magnus ran through. Nathaniel disappeared after they left and everything was quiet apart from Dracus who was still in the cellar until I shouted down. He walked out from the magical darkness and climbed the ladder. As I helped Dracus out of the hatch I thought to give him some morale support... come on champ.. I said, not sure it helped as I'm not really the best person to ask for emotional support but I tried. We left the inn to regroup with the others outside and looked back to see a shadow at the window first floor looking in the direction on Jim. We decided not to stay at the inn anymore and went down the road to the tavern. We spoke to Griff the tavern keeper for a while and asked if we could stay in the bar area as it wasn't really an inn, we threw him some coin and he agreed though Dracus went to sleep outside.
Day 27, A Strange Dream
6th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke and had a strange dream, one with what looked as if it was the second piece to the necklace in the manor on a pirate looking man with strange ranged weaponry. I sorted my gear and went down to get some food meeting Dracus and Magnus already eating, we spoke about the dream and apparently everyone had the same as if we shared one interacting and battling this pirate. I greeted them and we spoke about gathering information. Nathaniel mentioned they love a specific wine so I paid for a case and Dracus with Magnus went up to the manor to see if they could find anything on Xevana. I stayed for most of the day talking to Nathaniel about the guy with the worm in his head. I need to see this man to find out what it was and where it came from or the outcome could be grave indeed for the realm. We discussed the issue and I believe I know where he lives which happens to be across the village. As Dracus and Magnus got back we sat and they updated me on the events up at the manor, there is mention of a highly magical training area and Xevana is very gifted in the use of the weave as Elves are but more so. We bedded down for the evening.
Day 26, The Wererats
5th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
I woke and sorted myself out checking my gear while listening to Magnus and his wererats scratch about, so i went to see what was going on. I looked through the door to see the wererats still tied but trying to break free and I decided to help Magnus out as he didn't look like his questioning was going very well. I stabbed one in the leg and it made little noise, being a monk is difficult so the soldier in me comes out now and then. As they say Waterdeep wasn't made in a day. So I cut its tail off and little again as if they were not able to transform back into a human or whatever race they were. As I turned to leave Dracus walked past, stopped, looked and then carried on as I left the room heading downstairs for some water and bread. I was sitting down eating with Dracus when I noticed blood dripping from the ceiling behind Nathaniel and as I made him aware he through down some wood chips and saw dust then gave me some bandages and alcohol for any wounds with an unhappy look on his face. I took the items to Magnus and he thanked me as I went back downstairs to finish my food. As I finished we heard Magnus's heavy foot steps run along the ceiling with a thunderous crash and as they were mid air myself and Dracus were out the back in the blink of an eye. Dracus immediately skewered on with the greatsword of Surtur he still carries as I see one running along the rooftops and I run parallel to it then jump up to slash at the wererat causing it to fall down a gap in the roof. I move over to the edge and have a look but it was gone so I moved down to ground level and spotted a hole in the ground, looks like it burrowed into a basement. I went round to the door and knocked, an aging gentleman opened the door and I explained quickly. He let me in and I opened up the hatch carefully, the wererat jumped out and slashed at me but I dodged the attack, I counter attacked with a manriki-gusari restraining it as it fell to the floor on its front. I took me opportunity to strike and with both spike blades I pinned it down by its shoulders face to the floor. As the wererat struggled and I struggled back it managed to get one shoulder up, putting in more effort I pinned it back down as Herja stormed in immediately punching it in the head decomposing it rapidly with some sort of magic.
I picked up my gear and headed back to the inn with the others and Virgil, Herja repaired the in with a mending spell as when Magnus speared the wererats out the window he blew it all out plus some of the wall. Nathaniel was a bit spooked by the use of magic as it wasn't the normal practice at all in Phandalin and he left the building without saying anything at all. So I cooked us all lunch, a steak with some bread and a beverage but water for myself. We assumed he'd be back at some point so we headed over to the blacksmith to see if the silver weapons were ready, they were and of good workmanship. We went over to the stables to check the wagons and horses that were fine then headed to the bounty board, their were two more bounties on the board so we accepted them, one was a little girl in need of help but not much detail and the other was a woman in need of assistance from more rats. Magnus, Dracus and Herja went to deal with the rats and myself with Virgil and Jin headed up to the manor. Jin used a fake identification so she could distract the butler and myself with Virgil quietly entered the manor when we were sure they moved into another part of the manor. I lead Virgil up to the book of old norse as I thought he would be very interested in the contents and he started taking rubbings, then we went to the door with no handle or lock. I had an idea and collected the sword downstairs and went to the door. The door opened as I nodded to Virgil and we moved in to a large marble room with a necklace of some magical potency, though we thought to leave it be for now and we left the manor waiting for Jin to finish up. We headed back to the inn and we spotted Magnus, Dracus and Herja walking up to the forest edge so I went over to them as Virgil and Jin headed back to the inn. They were on the tracks of the little girl and we headed into the forest, hearing some odd noises at first then finding the little girl calling for her teddy. Her missing teddy bear turned out to be an actual bear she had befriended somehow. Herja managed to make friends with it as to keep it from attacking us, as we were moving back with the child we were attacked by Goblins who we dispatched quite easily, especially with a bear on our side. We headed back to the town and the bear stayed in the forest, the child went home and we went to the inn to bed down.
Day 25, A Goblin Ambush
4th of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We woke to Herja and a horse missing but usually she goes on impromptu patrols so we weren't worried, we all got up and I found Jin at the end of my shelter basher I recently bought to protect my bedroll and myself from the weather when sleeping out in the wild. We packed down the camp and moved off , Herja knows where were going and she'll catch up so we moved on making good timing on the route up until we got to the turning off of the main road heading to Phandalin. As we turned off onto the Phandalin route we saw some carriages up ahead, they weren't moving so Dracus rode ahead to see what the situation is. We slowed our cart to give some space but as I thought, being a good ambush point, we were ambushed by about twenty five archer goblins on either side of the road spread along the tops of the hills. That's called skylining which isn't a good tactic but they had the numbers so we halted the carriage and some Worgs with their riders appeared behind us while some Bugbears with their leader appeared ahead of us. We all acted as the leader started his threats and Dracus launched his new axe hitting and clipping the leader, then using his ability to call it back to his grasp. And with Daedalus he ploughed through the front group of enemy as the archers fired apon the carriage,. Jin ducked into the carriage with Magnus rolling underneath, I stayed atop and got the wagon and got us moving because there was only death staying there. We got through the front group thanks to Dracus and as we made clear of the blockade I caught a bolt fired at me but took two more in my side. As I steeled myself I ripped the two bolts out and took a greater health potion I picked up earlier scaring but sealing the wounds. We were still being pursued by the Worg Riders nipping at the tail of Bill our pack horse attached to the back of the carriage by his reigns, I tied off the reigns to Thumper the horse pulling the carriage and I stood up moving onto the top of the carriage steadying myself while I pulled up the cracked Kyber Crystal from my belt unwrapping the cloth, channelling and giving the crystal my life energy to power it I cast its specific held spell. As I pointed up above my head with my first and second fingers slightly splayed in my right hand while clutching the Kyber Crystal across my palm with the remaining two fingers and my thumb, a ball of fire started to form just beyond my fingers getting hotter and larger until it was the size of a small buckler. When it was ready and charged I moved my hand down pointing at the middle of the Worg group firing off, luckily the crystal didn't shatter as using a cracked Kyber Crystal always is.
It screamed across the distance between myself and the Worg striking the ground exploding in a loud thundering boom with what felt like an earthquake sending parts from seven out of eight of the Worg and their riders everywhere. I kept my footing as the earth rumbled and I heard a thud from the inside of the carriage as Jin was being thrown around inside and I saw Magnus roll across the ground to a stop behind the carriage on the track as we were now making distance on the enemy, even more so as Thumper was running for his life dragging the carriage along with him. I turned and moved back to the reigns to try and get Thumper under control but not before running down Dracus, it wasn't for a while until he calmed down enough to stop, but he collapsed when he did exhausted and died. I moved up on top of the carriage to see what was going on and saw Magnus with Dracus killing some Goblins, then moving towards myself and Jin who was battered but alive. Herja made it through the ambush as she came running up on the other horse and with Dracus got to the carriage with Magnus running on foot behind them. We attached the other horse to the front of the carriage and moved off toward Phandalin as the other Goblins watched from a distance breaking off their ambush. We made it to Phandalin and moved the carriage with the horses into the local stables, we spoke to the stable hand and he told us a bit about the area then we moved to the inn and ate, drank water in my case and secured accommodation bedding down for the day.
Day 24, A Sentient Tree
3rd of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We headed down into the town to do our final prep before moving off to Phandalin, it's early morning at this time. We moved to one of the general shops and ordered a heavy crossbow some bolts with about three hundred foot of rope to combine it all and make a quick and long distance grapple launcher. We ordered some supplies in barrels including water, food and horse feed with the horses and cart to be delivered to the stables ready to go. We collected some of the health potions and antidotes he had, Magnus picked up his bronze battle axe aswell. A guard asked us about the death of another guard he was investigating but we new nothing more then what had already happened though we'll keep our eye's out. So we headed to the stables and mounted up beginning our journey to Phandalin. After some time traveling we had to stop to rest the horses and ourselves, Dracus went to get fire wood which for some reason as I looked over there was a battle between Dracus and looked like a tree. It took a moment but I ran towards this clash of giants attempting to aid Dracus though he didn't need it and they came to terms in the time it took to get most of the way there. Alas we walked back and set up camp bedding down.
Day 23, A Plan of Action
2nd of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We woke and sorted ourselves then headed out the tavern to see the guy at Exquisite Stones, hopefully we can get these gems identified and legitimised for sale. We arrived at the shop and had the gems identified into categories of value, which turn out my gems were worth around twenty one thousand gold pieces altogether. Reward from adventuring isn't the goal nor is becoming wealthy, it's defeating a never ending number of the corrupt and evil in this realm. Maybe in others too, perhaps like the Shadowfell but that's in a que as of now. Anyway we made a deal with the shop keeper and paid him with a gem, he was very happy about it as can be expected. We then headed to the best weapon artisan in the city to identify the mineral ore we collected from the mine, he said they were a rare type of bronze and he could make an axe out of it to Magnus's delight. We then had the crystals identified at the alchemy shop and had the process of turning them into health potions started, she also will try to make a potion to cure Lord Bertran too. We went to speak to someone at the Mages Guild at the request of Jin so we went, she introduced me to John the Mage an interesting character and we spoke about myself, the Shadowfell and I signed a parchment for a deal with the Mages Guild that in the event of my death, though I don't intend on dying, I'll be True Resurrected after a study of myself. I also gave them the Cure of Vampirism I collected from the cave to test and experiment on in exchange for teaching in the spells I need, as I can imitate some I think I can use my Ki to imitate others.
We moved on to the castle to see the Baron Vincent and we spoke about the health of Lord Bertran. We talked about something going on in Phandalin and received our reward for finding William and the sword which we accepted. I spoke to Vincent about a plan for the Red Dragon in the volcano, Vincent wasn't surprised he was there so I think he already new, and how to keep him content without any bloodshed. So the plan is in general to keep him happy with gold from Neverwinter and there's seventeen thousand in the Foundation just sitting there, in detail first we send troops to occupy Fort Pluto and rebuild it to maintain a presence while protecting the entrance to the cave system. Second is to retrieve the seventeen thousand gold from the Foundation and take it to the Red Dragon. Thirdly we exchange the gold for the gems. Next we start mining the dull and glowing red crystals to turn into health potions supplying the Faerun Army plus the excess can be sold for gold to supply the Red Dragon in exchange for more gems to fund our adventuring, Neverwinter and selling for more gold to give to the dragon to keep him at bay. We can keep this up for a few years at least and with the mineral ore supply the Faerun Army with a new array of weaponry. We said farewell and headed off back into town to place the reward in the form of a parchment with the lords seal on it in the city vaults. After the vaults where I opened my own lockbox aswell as the group's and left most of the gems inside with around eight hundred gold we went back to the tavern and I spoke to Sturges about permanently renting the basement and I gave him a gem I kept, I asked him to modify the basement to be more then just a room with a few beds but more of a home base to deploy from on our ever growing list of quests. He agreed and got to work as we went to bed down.
Day 22, Frederick & Sly
1st of the 2nd-Alturiak- 1407 2nd Era
We woke from resting in the forest tree line looking out onto the plains, I saw Dracus roasting the boar that attacked us in the tunnels, Magnus waking, Herja not at the camp but it was usually quite common for her to patrol the area and who we thought was Jin in her bedroll. As it turns out it wasn't Jin as Dracus moved to inspect the individual, it was a man named Frederick who thought it was an open camp. By this point I didn't really care, he was welcome to share and after talking to him he appeared to be a nice guy from Port Last. Dracus gave him some boar and threw some more wood on the fire as we talked, he was out hunting thinking it was easier then fishing but he came up empty handed after a few days hunting. Dracus was generous enough to give him some meat we were carrying and I gave him my water skin filled with brandy which he enjoyed very much, in return he gave a staff to Dracus that extended presumably with magic as there were no telescopic rings to it. It was pretty small in Dracus's hands and he's not really a staff kind of Goliath so offered it to Herja as she got back from her patrol, she accepted as it was like her spear and she could get one fitted to the end making an extendable spear which would be very useful. Magnus took a look and recognised the metal as adamantine, a very strong metal with powerful properties and there's only one place in Faerun to get an adamantine spear head fitted. That place was Burk, Magnus's home village on an island west of Port Last with some of the biggest and hottest furnace going though we needed to find more adamantine first. Frederick thanked again for the fire and food then moved off heading back to Port Last as we prepared to move ourselves.
Before we stepped off we heard what sounded like a familiar voice and as we looked over we saw Sly of all people following Fredericks tracks. It was Sly with some of his guys and a new addition which was a wizard of a unknown power level, looks like he's learning and taking some notes from our group. I moved stealthily into the darkness in the treeline and followed parallel to his group with Dracus walking behind them, Herja and Magnus walked behind me a few meters in the treeline as I conjured a Minor Illusion, a noise of an abnormal beast lurking in the shadows. This was to intervene Sly tracking Frederick giving him enough time to get away unknowing to him. Unexpectedly the wizard of his group let of a massive Burning Hands spell incinerating part of the forest as they turned to try and spot the beast, a little jumpy I think. As they stood trying to spot the beast I let off another noise and they looked evermore worried with each minute until I walked out of the shadows to mock their inexperienced group giving Frederick even more time. We stood in a standoff situation of Sly's group and ours at this point exchanging savage mockery until Sly had enough and he moved off away from Fredericks direction losing his tracks and heading off across the plains towards a part of the same forest that almost surrounded these plains completely, not sure if he knew about the Owlbears nesting out there that Frederick had mentioned to us.
We headed back towards Neverwinter and after a while of traveling it was getting dark but we were close so we chose to push on as an Owlbear swooped in to tackle a bison or cow of some kind. We couldn't see too much as it was dark but it was close enough as it tackled the bison rolling over the top of Dracus as he didn't move fast enough or that he could take it. We left the beast be as it was just feeding and wasn't too long until we made it back to Neverwinter's northern gate and through to the stable area. We heard a noise in the stables and even tired from the distance we covered we looked to investigate, Dracus looking through the window spotting a shadow darting across the stable making the horses worried. We woke the stable hand to get the key and as she knew us it was no problem, we searched the stables and I got a couple of guards to come along not finding much but one of the guards then went missing with the other looking up after a few drips of blood fell onto him. He found the second guard hanging upside down headless, he started panicking a bit as any normal person would but he steeled himself and followed Dracus around the rest of the time. The rest of us got all the horses out the main door and watched for this beast, which was spotted moving out breaking the back door open. The guards body was gone and we moved to the back door to search outside, we looked but found nothing more then a fairly large boot print and we searched the wood block finding the dead guard being cooked over a fire with no beast or whatever it was insight probably moved to a different part of the city. We left this situation in the hands of the guard as they turned up and went across the road to the tavern greeting Sturges at the door, we ate and sorted our gear out then heading down to sleep in our rented accommodation.
Day 21, Resting on the Plains
30th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
Not much to enter. Headed back to Neverwinter skirting around the base of the mountains next to the forest, the usual route for the march from Neverwinter to Fort Pluto which is a much easier way then the route we took to get there. We made camp on the edge of the forest next to the open plains for the day.
Day 20, The Sword & The Beast
29th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke in the tavern to the usual routine, I decided to finish my reading before heading out and this made me understand how to be more efficient in my movement therefore making me faster. As I was on my way out of the tavern I met with the others and headed to the stable to go out to Brumhilde's, as we were on route we came across Grees in the middle of nowhere. After some bartering we decided to head back as time was short and we moved to the house on the hill in the Chasm District, going into the tunnels following them through finding a submerged tunnel. As we made our way out of the water we were attacked by some spiders which weren't much of a challenge and we rested for a time before going back through the tunnel. We found several deep pools of water which Magnus searched and was quickly attacked by fish, as Magnus got out Dracus threw his ring to the Air Plane into the pool as we'll come back later to see what was at the bottom. We moved to the collapsed tunnel clearing some of it as Dracus was hit by a small bolt from a Kobold as it scurried away. We moved through the tight tunnels over and threw obstacles the Kobolds left behind to slow us down. We entered a low chamber and was attacked by snakes which we dispatched but it went dark as the torches went out and we had to fight blind which was quite difficult. After the combat we lit another torch and rested as Magnus searched the rest of the water tunnels with Jin turning up as Magnus just got back from scouting ahead. We moved into the next chamber to find nothing more then mostly black depths with a few towers of rock. Jin was paralysed from another trap the Kobolds left who was being now carried by Magnus who did the usual climbing across the celling as he was a vampire spawn while I jumped onto one of the posts the Kobolds used to cross which splintered into pieces but with quick reactions I just made it to the tower of rock infront of us.
While climbing across the celling Jin, facing away from Magnus on his back just had the pleasant view of the void beneath her, probably screaming her head off... I did chuckle. Then the rock in the celling Magnus was hanging onto gave way and they started plummeting into the depths of the cavern and if Jin wasn't screaming before she certainly was now. Quickly Dracus reacted to the celling giving way with enough time to grab his rope tie it round himself and tie a closing loop at the other, he ran and dived over to catch Magnus and Jin while throwing the loop over another post mid air..... ... the post ripped apart from the weight of Dracus as he just caught Magnus and Jin. Not sure what was going threw their heads but luckily Magnus got hold of something stable and with some rope I helped them up to the flat top of the rock tower in the middle of the void. We rested for about an hour after that excitement of which Jin was probably still screaming in her head until she could move again, we found a safer route threw this part of the chamber but there was a gap to jump which we were much more successful. There was a spider to kill along the way which wasn't difficult and finally made our way out of the tunnels into a forested area.
We followed some tracks leading threw the forest carefully, there was a squad of Kobold coming down the track from the front of us and we quickly hid deciding we didn't need to engage if it wasn't needed. We let them pass and continued to follow the tracks to find an abandoned fort which I recognised as Fort Pluto, one of Neverwinters northern defensive forts I did some time at in the Faerun Army. We scouted the fort and noticed it was occupied by a number of Orcs and the best course of action was to sneak in with a diversion from Magnus and Dracus as Jin came with myself then to leave as soon as we found the sword as we believed the Kobolds took it from William there would be a high chance it's here somewhere. Magnus and Dracus moved onto the top western wall of the fort and started a fight which pulled in all the others as myself and Jin moved quickly and quietly into the fort from the south-eastern wall where part of it was collapsed. The idea was to get in and sneak out but we ended up fighting the Clan Chief with his pet as Magnus and Dracus fought the horde of Orcs with the help of Herja who made an entrance by spearing an Orc through the back of one Dracus was fighting. They killed them all as the Orc got a lucky hit with his spear in my shoulder putting me on the ground, no idea where Jin was at the time though probably fighting the pet. The next thing i remember is Herja picking me up and going mad at this Orc Chief infront of me with my blades stabbing him in the side then Herja and Magnus taking him down.
After the fighting was done we had to rest up and interrogate the Orc Chief via Dracus and his hammer but not for long as Herja went to track some Orcs that ran off there was a screech from a Wyvern above us and we all ran for cover as it swooped down. Myself and Magnus made it to the main building of the fort and Dracus found an entrance to a tunnel I didn't recognise, the Wyvern destroyed the front of the building we were in as we ran to Dracus's location and in the door. Dracus was in the doorway ready to close as Magnus ran through then myself but just after I dipped a throwing spike in venom en route and hit the Wyvern paralysing it for who knows how long mid air, as it was still descending diving in I got through the doorway and down the tunnel partially turning to see Dracus standing in the doorway slamming the door shut assuming the weight of the Wyvern would just bounce off the door .. I don't really know but.. it came straight through landing on top of Dracus with most of the stone from the entrance way. It was still paralysed as the dust settled and we could help Dracus out and taking some Wyvern blood at the same time. After we were good to go we moved into the tunnel as it turned out it wasn't finished but it did continue on so me moved down finding a Bore and it attacked so we had to kill it. We searched the tunnels and set off a trap that Herja was caught by, a small boulder running over the top of her. We continued down a long corridor with hunting traps laid out along the floor which we then heard the release of a ballista bolt that shot straight past me and everyone else but Dracus who was hit square in the chest only just surviving thanks to Herja's power. I ran forward to stop them firing again killing two Kobolds and Magnus killing the third, we then continued to find a chamber with a higher celling and there was a statue of a dragon with a horde of gold beneath it plus the sword Honour Bound we believed stuck in the ground. We were attacked by six Kobolds with shields and a magic using Kobold leading them, I silenced the area making it useless and we killed him pretty easily but the shield ones not so easy though they ran off after we dealt with there leader. We picked up the gold though not one for reward gold is useful and we have little so it was deemed necessary, we moved through the tunnels fighting through more traps until we got to another chamber with some pools of molten rock that was probably getting quite warn for Dracus. We were then ambushed by Drakes which we fought and killed in spectacular fashion finding the entrance to a Dwarven mine just after. We went through the mine collecting blood stone like crystals which some were glowing and some pieces of mineral ore. Magnus goes forward to scout as what sounds to be crossbow bolt fire and a lot of it with a thud just after, we move to check it out finding a 60ft drop down this ladder into a large chamber. Dracus is first down and running as fast as he can following this trench leading away using the hot molten rock as a light source getting to the bridge over a lava flow as we get down to the ground. Quite fast I catch Dracus up and we kill three Dwarves hiding in the shadows ready to ambush us but Dracus gets to them before they realise what is going on and he cuts one in half as I hit one with a paralysing spike then making sure he was dead with a stab to the throat, as Herja caught up and skewered the last remaining Dwarf. We quietly moved through the web filled tunnel to see them giving Magnus a potion in some sort of ritual, probably to sacrifice him in some way. We moved quietly up behind the five chanting Dwarf and the one with Magnus didn't realise what was about to happen. Dracus ran past the chanting Dwarf with his warhammer to obliterate and smash the Dwarf sending what was left of him flying through the air hitting a statue as myself and Herja sneaking up behind the now distracted Dwarf striking, Herja impaling one with her spear lifting him up and tossing him to one side as I us my garrotte cutting the head and half the beard off the other. Three fled as Dracus told them to drop there weapons but ignored him so I span round using my spike blades to cut the closest head off as the other two ran off.
We helped Magnus up who looked surprisingly healthy, who looked human again. This would make sense as it would be useful to cure the vampirism first and kill the human after with the means making it much easier. But lucky for Magnus we got to him before he was killed, we rested and waited for Magnus to get recognise the situation but there were noises down the tunnel so we had to investigate as Dracus moved off I followed in the shadows. Turns out it was Jin finding his way, who knows how to us. Once Magnus could move properly we headed down the south tunnel while Herja stood guard for a time to make sure we weren't followed. We found another chamber with some higher levels to it and as we searched Jin found some more piles of gold which she fashioned pouches out of clothes to carry. Herja joined us as just we were attacked by the two remaining Dwarf firing their crossbows at Jin, I climbed up the side of the ledge lunging out as he took another shot pulling him over the edge as Dracus and Herja ran to intercept the other with the cover fire from Magnus's longbow. After Dracus killed him by pulling him over the edge and onto Herja's spear we moved through the tunnels over a bridge into the last chamber. It was littered with piles of gold, stones of all colours with chests in the heaps and Jin was in awe, we looked around to see the chamber had a raised platform in the middle back with three orbs on it and we had a look in one of the chests only to hear a roar and a Red Dragon appear through the large tunnel leading onto the main mouth of the volcano landing right infront of Dracus stuck in a pose emptying his gold pouch. There was nowhere to run but Magnus tried anyway and was struck by the Dragons flame before he made it to the end of the tunnel. The Red Dragon demanded we add the gold we were carrying to his piles of already mounting gold, we did for obvious reasons though we new some of what a Red Dragon is so we spoke as it was make a deal or die and he answered briefly, we were to retrieve more gold though it let us take some of the stones from the piles it did not care about. So we left quickly picking up Magnus on the way leaving the tunnels without too much incident. We rested at the mining cabins for a time before moving out to the fort and into daylight.
Day 19, An Illness and Some Very Bad News
28th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
As I woke I could see I was on my own once again and went into the standard routine of sorting my gear and going to the morning feast. As there was a knock at the main door one warrior opened to receive three letters, one from the Mages Guild the Grey Cloaks, one from Lord Bertrand and one from Vincent. The warrior bought them over to me as Dracus entered the hall, he came over to me and sat to start eating as I gave a nod to acknowledge his presence as I read the letters. The letter from the Mages Guild was to confirm there possession of Leucis's body, the one from Vincent was to Magnus so I read it anyway as I explained to Dracus how he was kind of alive again and the last letter on some very nice parchment from Lord Bertran requesting our presence. We finished eating and went to retrieve Dracus's new warhammer and I paid the rest of the cost with the gold I found on Leucis, we headed down to the town to pay off and retrieve my new weapon and sheath with the two new vambrace. We also spoke briefly to Magnus and we ordered him some new robes for day travel as we headed up to the castle to meet him once again and give Lord Bertran an update on finding the sword. We met with Magnus and eventually got into the castle as there was a rather irritating guard on the gate and made our way up to the bed chambers of Lord Bertran, as we entered we saw him laying in bed with Vincent, Balthazar and a few others around him. We asked what happened and they said he has an illness of unknown origin as my brother Lucian entered the room with his friend and news .. bad news, he said Waterdeep has fallen to a Lich which is an abomination of evil and needs to definitely be destroyed though very difficult indeed. Though he ruled out a connection between the Lich and the illness going around Neverwinter which made the situation now more complicated as there are now two severe issues that need our attention. We were ordered to continue our current quest to find the sword and Lucian received his orders as Balthazar, a very powerful wizard put Lord Bertran into stasis to stop the progress of the illness until a cure is found. So we left and went to the Horse & Cart Tavern to catch up before we part ways once again. I got some reading in with the book and bedded down in the tavern as night drew in and Lucian departed, tomorrow we must leave to find this sword .. hopefully quickly.
Day 18, The Hunt for Leucis
27th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke to an empty room, Dracus must have gone training or something, I went to the morning feast as normal after sorting my gear then came back to get the book of quickness out of my bag. I stopped for a minute as I thought this was the first time in eighteen days I've been on my own and it felt a little odd but nothing I wasn't used to. I spent another fourteen hours reading and training until Jin turned up, she mentioned we haven't seen Leucis or Amber since the battle in the sewer and Herja since a week ago so we headed to Isaac to retrieve the compass Leucis was attuned to as it would be the easiest to start with. Our party was looking a bit thin as Leucis, Amber and Herja were missing with Magnus dead there was just the three of us currently left. We followed the compass avoiding the Guard along the way until the compass started spinning which meant we were standing above him. We headed to the sewer entrance, it was getting a bit dark by this point as we approached the gate which Dracus sealed shut. Then there was a voice as we tried the gate, "Xodus" .. I heard with a quiet but screeching voice, I held up a torch to see a gaunt sickly looking Magnus... "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" I asked. We spoke until we were happy Magnus was of his own mind and not within the control of Marcus, though as it turns out he was briefly and Marcus is now free once more but apparently moved on to a new location.. we'll see what happens. We needed to get down into the sewer so we made our way to the Dwarf's house meeting Magnus there and clearing the way using a rope to lower myself down as Jin just jumped down then softly landed at the bottom using her magic. We went through the sewer avoiding any dangers such as the Giant Crocodile and we followed the compass till we found Leucis. We found Leucis.. dead.. clutching a gate with the room filled with claw marks and broken arrows but no sign of Amber, we collected any gear and Magnus picked up Leucis to bring with us to deliver his body at the Mages guild to honour their contract with him. We headed back to the House of Odin and spoke with Isaac who eventually agreed to let Magnus into the House, we also had Magnus attune to the compass to leave at the House as we did with Leucis so they can always find the new Vampire Spawn Magnus. Magnus headed back to his new layer and Jin to her house and I stayed at the House though Isaac mentioned the Horse & Cart Tavern was now reopened, we'll need to visit as the lockdown was also ending in the morning.
Day 17, A Training Day
26th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
Myself and Dracus woke, Jin stayed at her house, we sorted ourselves out then headed to the morning feast. As I sat at the table eating we spoke of Magnus's deeds with the warriors till we were done then went out to the training area to study this book of quickness I received from the Baron. Apparently it's supposed to increase your ability and understanding of speed techniques making you faster as a result, we'll see what happens. Dracus was testing out his new armour he was rewarded with, we were out there for about fourteen hours training as there was knocking at the door. An old Dwarf looking for help with a creature of some sort in his basement was at the door so we went over to take a look as it was just over the road. We went into the basement to find a Vampire Spawn, we thought we killed all of these, we quickly dispatched it using the Venom and some brute force from Dracus stabbing it in the heart with a stake then we dragged it outside and burnt it to ash. We blocked up the hole it came through from the sewer and blocked the trap door with a cast iron stove, we made our way back with the Dwarf asking Isaac if he could stay at the house until the repairs were done then we bedded down for the night.
Day 16, A Death in the Dark
25th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We woke early morning to start the search for the hive in the Neverwinter sewers and as I sorted my gear I noticed Magnus and Amber weren't here at this crucial time. I spoke to a warrior at morning feast and he mentioned they had gone to deliver tribute coin to certain factions for the aid to Magnus's penance quest. But we could not delay and myself, Dracus with Leucis prepared to move out without the others, we left a message with Isaac to make sure they know we've moved off and hopefully they can catch up in good time. We quickly and quietly moved out through the doors to the House of Odin making sure there were no guards patrolling the area as we moved west from the doors to the next block of residents just across the road. I moved quietly which I couldn't say the same for Dracus or Leucis as they made the most noise, not sure if we were hard yet but we continued through the block to the edge to cross the next road heading to the north. We moved to the next block and made the entrance to the sewer for the gate to be locked which was difficult to pick, and even Dracus had a hard time trying to break through the gate so much so he broke his warhammer, the only emotion I've see from Dracus as a result really. I eventually picked the lock and we moved in down the stone steps into the sewer which was the most foul smelling place I've ever had to endure as we lit torches, it was far to dark to see anything down here without them and it was very slippery as Leucis found out once we got out onto the main system channel. The walkways were about five foot across and it was about five foot down into the flowing waste also, Leucis walked down the walkway heading west and looked into one of the gated corridors when he saw something and was pushed by the gate swinging open and his foot slipped out from underneath him. As he started falling back I remember the look on his face in the torch light as he wondered what was going on exactly on his way down then hitting the floor with half himself off the edge causing him to roll sideways and into the river of waste. He was ok as we hauled him out of the flowing river and onto the walkway then he used his magic to clean himself off to then continue down the channel until we got to a bridge which Leucis wanted to cross to look around. We had a map and we knew nothing was over there but Leucis wanted to continue on so myself and Dracus waited for his return and as he did he had scorch marks across his face. Apparently he was attacked by something which need to be scorched, we made sure he was ok again before moving off to search for this hive though we know were getting close. As we were searching around we entered a room probably an overflow chamber with something towards the back of the room. I held my torch up to see a Gelatine Cube which started to move, I activated my sunshine bomb and threw it into the cube, it opened up and lit the room with the light of a sun but nothing else happened to it though at least we could see where we were going now. After Dracus hit it a few times we decided it best to leave it alone and retreated back down the corridor and round through a gate down the channel bypassing the creature.
We left the Cube creature behind us though we could tell it was following us as we could see the light from it sliding across the walls. As we moved down a walkway we saw ripples in the waste river going against the flow, then a wave before the monster emerged as a Giant Crocodile jumping out striking at Dracus. Though as if this monster couldn't have picked a worse target as Dracus caught its jaws before it could sink it's teeth in and Dracus was just holding this massive Crocodile half out the river in between its jaws in place. As we saw this myself and Leucis moved quickly out the way and as I had the chance used a dart with the Shadow Fell Venom paralysing it in place. Dracus made his way out the jaws and over to us as we watched the Cube come round the corner still following us, it stopped at the Giant Crocodile probably wondering if it could consume it. Though as we were hunting Vampire Spawn we thought it a good idea to have it continue to follow so Leucis fired off a crossbow bolt at it which made the creature move towards us once again. We headed to the west again opening gates and searching chambers, we did eventually find a chamber with heaps of flesh and bone which we thought might be the hive but there were two Giant Millipedes eating the remains. We thought it best to sneak past and let the Cube deal with them and in regard to Dracus's and Leucis's recant attempt at stealth they did quite well, nice and quiet past the creatures into a corridor round the corner. As we moved through the next gate we closed it behind us, we moved down the walkway and heard one of the Giant Millipedes battling while the other was trying to get through the gate as the Cube ate that one aswell. We saw the Cube stop at the gate, it probably didn't want to phase through and lose what it just consumed so we were safe from that for now as it started to slide back the way it came as the sunlight disappeared round the corner. We came to the main sewer channel and opened the gate, we rested for a time though a bit difficult to with the smell, creatures beyond the torch light and not being able to sit down as the walkway was covered in foulness. Then a message from Amber via the messenger bow which said they were in the sewer where we entered in the first place, Amber and Magnus wanted us to head back to guide them through so myself and Dracus headed back while Leucis wanted to stay where he was against reason.
Dracus and myself moved to collect Magnus and Amber heading all the way back where we came from without seeing anything luckily, as was the same to reach Leucis again. As we made it back to where we left Leucis he was in the river with a gangly green creature which looked to have pulled him in in combat. We fished him out the channel again to find him sick so Magnus had to reluctantly pass over his vitality potion and after he felt better we moved down towards the main west channel. We had to cross the channel at this point as the way was metal barred without a gate so we had to climb across the gated channel to a hole in the wall on the other side. Just through the hole in the wall we found a blood trail so we followed it, we found two guardsman with a morning star and standard equipment. We made sure the guardsman were definitely dead then moved through the sewer tunnels to a chamber with a third guardsman dead. While we secured the area I found a Vampire Spawn off in a small tunnel which as it didn't notice me I quietly backed up to the others to make them aware of our situation. I moved quietly over to Amber to retrieve her sunlight bomb, as I just got my hands on it the spawn rushed out on and across the ceiling jumping down on top of Leucis who decided it was a great time for an hour long ritual. It attacked him as I pulled the cored to activate the bomb and Magnus with Dracus charged the spawn battling till it was on the ground as we kept slashing and stabbing then Dracus stabbed it in the heart completely killing it. We gathered ourselves and an hour passes while Leucis does his ritual, as he summons a Devil creature who Leucis massively fails at convincing it to fight for him. The first type of convincing he tried was through asking .. a Devil politely .. then ordering.. then begging.. then trying to intimidate it.. and eventually promised his soul for the assistance, which took a while .. so sad. We moved out to the next chamber still on the hunt for the hive though I think were getting close. We did then find a stone bridge with a stairway up to the Foundation but with all the animated dead we wouldn't make it through, not all of us. We moved over the stone bridge to find a large chamber with three Vampire Spawn hiding at the back in the dark. A conversation between a voice in the dark, a full Vampire called Marcus. As the conversation broke down we got ambushed by three more Vampire Spawn as the three in the chamber already attacked and everyone started fighting a moving battle out onto the walkway in the sewer tunnel as myself and Magnus stayed to confront Marcus in battle as he revealed himself from the shadows.
A Fire Bolt screams past hitting Marcus in the chest but we couldn't see who it was, not that it mattered as Magnus and Marcus charged each other clashing claws and blade before grappling locking them in place. This opened an opportunity for me as I moved round for a good view and dipped my throwing spike into the Shadow Fell Venom. I threw the spike at Markus with a hit in his back, he stopped for a short time giving Magnus the chance to use his Sunlight Bomb activating it and throwing it into the middle of the room causing a beaming light touching everything in the chamber and from what we know of vampires now halting Marcus's regeneration ability. I saw Jin move through the gate into the room casting a spell at Marcus, a sickness of some sort. As this happened I was wondering how Jin even found us as I used a torch to start burning Marcus's coffin, as Marcus saw this I moved away as I saw his eye's widen rushing over to move the torch saving his resting place. I hit Markus with another spike stopping him for a short time again as Magnus once again grappled, I held up the petrification ring for Jin and she used her Mage Hand spell to try to slip it onto Marcus's finger. Marcus saw what was going on after slipping out of the grapple and destroyed the ring with the floating hand before it could be done and he moved towards Jin. I picked up the torch still alight and put it inside the coffin as Marcus stared at Jin for a time and as he moved out the way of Jin he moved towards Magnus as Magnus moved towards him drawing Gambintine. Jin with a clear view fires a Fire Bolt at me but misses and Magnus clashes with Marcus once again, Marcus moves over to the coffin to remove the torch and save his coffin once again with Jin close behind and as she reaches me I punched her in the mouth then move away to a safer position. It seems Jin was under some sort of spell because she looked a little confused as to why she had a bloody mouth for a minute before realising what was going on then she was back in the fight. As Marcus moves away from the coffin Magnus follows with a flurry of unrestrained attacks with Marcus giving as good as Magnus, Jin kicks the torch back under the coffin and at this time Marcus taking heavy damage from Magnus. Marcus probably in the heat of battle confused himself or was looking to irritate Magnus either way I don't know why he started chewing on Billy that doll Magnus was carrying around. Magnus let out a scream but it was too late as Marcus realised what he was doing and threw Billy aside then attacked Magnus biting down into him draining him of his life force and blood... Magnus was dead .. he collapsed to the ground and Marcus moved over to the Sunlight Bomb then destroyed it. Marcus moved over to his coffin again rushing to save it as Dracus outside fighting the Vampire Spawn activated his Sunlight Bomb causing the light to shine through the doorway. Marcus threw the torch at Jin as he didn't want to step into the light, I think he was too weak and needed to heal, and managed to bring Jin to the floor as the torch hit her in the head as I moved over to help and used a Health Potion on her Marcus went to put out his coffin again. I saw the chance to throw another spike with venom and hit Marcus, he stopped for a longer time which with the second petrification ring I got from Magnus earlier I was able to get it on Marcus's finger petrifying him in stone. We checked Magnus and he was definitely dead, we checked everyone in the room as there were a few corpses around and Jin went rapid fire with Fire Bolt on the coffin infront of Marcus destroying it completely. We destroyed the other bodies and Jin left a note on Marcus saying not to take off the ring as we collected any useful gear in the room, we left heading back through the sewer the way we came. We moved through and found Dracus with three Vampire Spawn bodies looking quite pleased with himself until we told him about Magnus then his face stayed.. the same, this Goliath only cares about battle it seems.. and his horse. We continued through the sewer back to the House of Odin with some relief getting through the door we briefed Isaac on what had happened and he with the warriors drank to his fall and ascension to Valhalla. As we rested during the middle of the night we were called to the main hall to meet the Baron to discuss and debrief him with locations and result of the quest. He gave us a few things as a reward for the trouble and completing the task, we went back to rest till the morning after the Baron left.
Day 15, The Tournament
24th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
I awoke to Magnus getting himself up to eat as did I and we went into the main hall of the house. We sat at the table with the rest of the warriors and Magnus shared some more war stories, probably the exploding mage one again, while I looked at this compass that just span around and as we ate I attuned to this item after a time in the hall which then it just pointed right at me. I had a warrior hold it and I still pointed at me so I thought it best to have Leucis take and attune to it so we could always find him as he's old but yet new to the area or this realm even which could see him lost quite easily. I gave it to Isaac to look after with the statue then after we had done with eating we headed out to the Foundation as Magnus and Dracus had a tournament to win. Amber would have gone in aswell but we have know idea where she went so it would just be the two giants of the group. We left the house to move down the street to the Foundation to then split off as I was showing Leucis around and he wanted to get himself a new crossbow. So we moved down the busy streets as everyone was headed to the tournament and we kept to the sides of all the crowds of people huddled together going with the flow of everyone else unable to really stop. We get to the Foundation and were about to split off when someone starts attacking people, as Dracus catches a small glimpse of the hostile he starts moving towards them but there's to many people in the way and he has to start forcing his way through. Then this individual turns into a group of people attacking us as everyone else had run for their lives, who we put down pretty fast. They seemed infected with something as they were scratching and biting at us with wounds that would kill a warrior let along a normal person and as we did the last of them the Guard shows up. We try to explain but they would have none of it and charged us... But we all then woke up for the second time that day as the same events happened but we knew what was likely to happen so we sat at the Foundation as before but we waited and then secured the individual without killing him and one other as proof to the Guard this time. They came of course and took custody of the two crazed people and left us to carry on our business. Dracus headed into the Foundation for the start of the tournament but Magnus opted out for reasons I do not know. We went in to watch a bit and I ended up betting fifty gold on Dracus to win but there was some good competition on the field. With an unexpected twist we all ended up fighting anyway but it was short lived as more of the crazed people started attacking everyone else and within a few minuets their was chaos everywhere as the House of Odin warriors were in a formation on the field defending themselves stabbing and slashing moving towards the gate the Guard had made a checkpoint with making sure no people infected ran through. Their were some competitors still on the field to and they were getting over run so Leucis cast a Burning Hands spell to vaporise the infected saving the others. We all regrouped and fought our way out towards the gate, a bit battered but most were ok, we took rest under a tree looking around at everyone else relieved to be out and in a safe area. The Guard had barricaded the gates but they were still screaming and clawing through any gaps in the gate which were quickly sealed shut when we see Amber stroll up oblivious to what's actually going on though it took a while before anyone knew really. We went to the house to talk and it turns out she had felt the need to visit her family home in the Chasm District. I checked every one of the warriors of the house and ourselves of infection and couldn't see any threat which was good news as the Guard had declared martial law and confined everyone to their houses while increasing guard presence. We had some time to sit and sort ourselves out so I went to the blacksmith in the house to replenish my throwing spikes, did some training with Leucis and spoke him up to the warriors who now think he can kill dragons with his power. After some fun with that I did some research into people that have seen deities before but couldn't find anything that jumped out at me. The Guard finally came round to check everyone and I think this was related to the vampire spawn rather then the sickness because they checked for light irritation, moving water and sliver. Once most had bedded back down there was someone to see us and it was a Baron with a job. Apparently we were to find this hive of vampire spawn for a ancient coven of vampires hidden in Neverwinter somewhere, an odd turn of events to be sure. We needed some help with prep with this one as we couldn't get any supplies at this time so we used Ambers messenger bow to contact Salazar who gave us some specific gear to deal with the problem, and with that sorted I read some of the book and bedded down till dawn when we move off into the sewers of Neverwinter.
Day 14, Shadows in the Dark
23rd of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We'll its currently still dark but getting lighter and we needed to get back to Neverwinter quickly, we stabilised Leucis but he might start to deteriorate because that was a big ..Ooffffff.. from the Stone Golem hitting him over to slam against the wall so time was short. We headed back towards the town and saw a house in the shape of a mushroom down a track there wasn't before so myself and Dracus went to take a look and it was empty of occupants but still furnished so whoever lives here might be back soon but we weren't going to hang around to find out. We left but not before finding loads of small doors we found to different plans of existence which was odd indeed, we needed to go so we met the others and continued into town and entering we heard some noises so we quickly and quietly moved into the shadows to sneak past which was quite successful and hid in one of the fairly good buildings on the left side of town. We couldn't make much out just some shadow like figures which moved on thanks to Jin who distracted them enough for us to slip past to the horses. We made the horses but Dracus's horse Daedalus got a bit exited and was pretty loud which alerted the creatures, we got Leucis on to a cart and Magnus took the first cart with Jin on the reins for the second with myself disappearing into the dark. I moved round while the others moved off and as Dracus moved away to distract them three Orcs emerged from the long grass looking ready for an easy fight … but that is not my way so I used my venom from the shadow fell with two darts as I ran out of the darkness into the rising sun and long jumped with a side roll mid air throwing the darts at the two outer Orcs paralysing them instantly while landing on the back of Jin's moving cart. Looking back the Chief Orc I assume was not happy so much so he threw a hand axe at me which I caught with little difficulty .. then returned his axe to him as quickly as it came in it was flying back towards him striking him in the shoulder causing him to stumble along as he was running after us. I took the reigns from Jin as she moved to the back of the cart and fired a Witch Bolt at the angry Orc Chief that struck as Dracus from know where came charging out the long grass on Daedalus smashing him to the ground taking his legs out leaving him in a heap and moved down the road to us. Magnus stopped infront by the point where we camped out presumably to pick up the chest of silver, I would have just left it myself but it was a single track so I couldn't move past and had to stop myself. As Magnus and Jin loaded their chest into the front cart I checked Leucis and he was ok for now but the Orc was up and moving so Dracus charged him again .. he was ready but not fast enough to evade Dracus who put him down again though Daedalus took a crippling hit that caused Dracus to go flying through the air hitting the floor with his face first forming a trench in the floor of wet mud. As Magnus and Jin came round from other cart they saw myself running over to the horse while Dracus was standing above the Orc Chief over shoulder swinging his warhammer down onto his head one blow after another.. I looked back as Magnus got to me to help with saving the horse and said calmly .. Dracus is clearly upset.. didn't know they showed much emotion at all. As Magnus raised an eyebrow .. seems so.. he replied as calmly as I said, we new not to let emotion control us in these intense situations being former soldiers as we battled to keep Daedalus alive while Dracus continued his assault on the now mushed up area of blood, bone and mud. As we stabilised the horse Dracus came over to load him into the cart, with Jin on overwatch Magnus moved Leucis onto the front cart and we headed back to Neverwinter. As we made Neverwinter it was getting pretty light but still chilly with a wet ground from all the rain previously, we spoke to the guard who ran to get the stable girl up and ready to receive a wounded horse. We moved up to the stable and stopped finally back, we unloaded Daedalus but let Leucis rest as that's all he could do now to heal and I left Muninn on watch to alert me soon as Leucis is awake. We headed back to the House of Odin to recover from the adventures in the mine of Thundertree, the morning feast was out so we sat to eat and take on some water in my case and mead in others while sorting out some of our gear. I finish eating and head to the Horse & Cart Tavern to leave some gear in the basement in a crate, the beds were still there so I will rest till the afternoon.
Now the afternoon and I'm up and feeling better though still could do with some more time but Leucis is waking so I better head over to the stable. As I stepped out of the tavern I saw Dracus and Magnus coming up the road so I waited and met them. Magnus said how he intends to use the silver chest which was honourable, though how it was secured wasn't as much but that's Jin's honour that needs to be questioned, as he only kept enough to restock his equipment and the rest to other helping parties such as the Grey Cloaks and the House of Odin, I added he should give some to the House of Knowledge as a tribute to their help in the research of the quest and Magnus happily agreed. We greeted a groggy headed Leucis and he was pretty confused as to where he was though he handed out some gear and gold as a thank you for helping him escape the reliquary he was trapped in for several lifetimes. He decided it was best to stay with us as he has no idea on anything of this time or place and for teaching him he'll help in whatever is to come. He needed his coat fixed, which was partly my fault, and we needed to go to the Grey Cloaks tower anyway to hand over the tribute from Magnus so we moved in that direction after Dracus checked in on Daedalus who was doing ok. It was getting late and we got to the entrance to the Grey Cloaks main gates and asked the guard if anyone was about and he went off to see if anyone was around, there was and it was none other then the Grey Cloaks Arch Mage Balthazar the highest ranking mage, I looked at the guard and he shrugged as if to mean that's the only person he could find, so we spoke about the tribute and how we found Leucis in the mine, about Dracus too and identified a few of the artifacts we found. He offered Dracus and Leucis a deal on death and resurrection, also to help Dracus's horse recover. We asked him to repair Leucis's coat and we said farewell as we headed to the house, Magnus went to hand in some more tributes and will meet us later. We got to the house and sat to eat and talk with the warriors to recover some more from the quest for a time. Suddenly Magnus came rushing in shouting of some shadows in the dark to Isaac, about Vampires. This got the whole of the house's attention and they all rallied in the main hall ready for a quick brief then dispatched to the area of discovery to hunt them down and destroy them. We moved out aswell and myself with Dracus headed to the Bulwark to find Captain Ventris, we spoke and he after some convincing alerted the full Guard to mobilise in the city as Vampires could have made a hive somewhere which would bring all kinds of chaos with it. After that we went to the specialists, The Silver Fangs a group of monster hunters. We spoke to them and they agreed to help as the city will probably compensate them but also and mainly its in their best interests to defend the city they live in currently. They moved out to the point of contact and we went with them, we met up with Magnus and Leucis continue our patrol only to be ambushed by some of the Vampire Spawn, the lowest form of Vampire. We battled and I was bitten but no infection luckily, it was a tough battle to win as they had speed, strength and claws, they healed quickly aswell which didn't help much drawing out the battle until they broke off after some spell trickery from Leucis. We moved back to the house to recover from this patrol aswell as the penance quest for Magnus and we received some help from the Valkyrie too.
Day 13, A Tiefling and the Revenge of a Golem
22nd of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We prepared to move off this rock I was sitting on enjoying my small relief from a ration and water with the entertainment of Magnus and Dracus jumping across the rocks over a lava flow, then after Magnus picked up the suspiciously random longsword stuck in the ground and with Dracus's shambles of a demonstration of his skills in acrobatics though he did manage but barely and very charred moved over to the far side of the cavern. We headed south down to the only other exit to this cavern as Jin flew over to meet us after guarding the entrance for a while though she doesn't know where Amber has gone to. As we entered the next chamber we saw the lava flow coming down forming a fall on our left side running down from north to south in a ravine with a wooden bridge across the middle which had questionable boards at best in this heat, I have no idea how Dracus has managed to survive this long as he hated even a warm breeze let alone this blazing inferno deep underground. We saw a statue and some bones of what creature I don't know and a tunnel leading to the next cavern, we moved up to the bridge and I doused myself in water then moved carefully over each board till reaching the other side while Jin managed to move over part the way and flew over the rest. Magnus was next and he managed to get across slowly but without incident but Dracus took a running jump and went straight through some boards, luckily I knew what was going to happen before Dracus even left the ground and I ran back, dived and caught Dracus's arm with some help from Jin's Mage Hand we were barely hanging onto him then Magnus stepped on the board I was laying on, it snapped and splintered as we fell through Magnus used his talents to grab my legs and pull us up onto the other side. I would be more grateful to Magnus but we wouldn't be in this situation anyway if not for his previous actions which I am in no way salty about. As we recovered from that near death we got to our feet and took a closer look at the statue which looked like a Tiefling but also looked a bit different then others there was more demon or devil in the features and detail. We had a closer look to see a ring on his finger which was interesting because we've see one before, a petrification ring, while the everyone was debating its removal I didn't think we had the time for this it was too hot so I just took if off him and he started to return to life. We watched him regain some cognitive ability and asked for his name, he said it was Leucis, and we greeted him carefully as we knew he will be very confused and possibly hostile. We had a quick conversation and it turns out he is nine hundred and thirty years old so we were quite impressed he held his mind together for the nine hundred years petrified which would have driven most if not all insane but we'll see. We needed to move so for his best interests he came with us and we moved into the tunnel entering into a large chamber with lava all around below us as we moved along a short path of rock not far into the chamber, then the end of the path and what looks like we need to do some more jumping over some plates of rock protruding out of the lava which Dracus didn't look too happy about. I went first followed closely by Leucis and we managed to cross them but as we jumped onto the first it started collapsing so we had to keep going until we made the other side but the plates we did jump on were now down just above the lava. It was walkable but it was going to be very hot down there even more so then before. Magnus, Dracus and Jin made it looking very relieved to be up on the top of the ledge and we moved into the next tunnel moving out into a long passage of a chamber with a path of rock from one side to the other which we started walking down with Magnus and Dracus at the front luckily because two Fire Snakes jumped out of the lava on to the path infront of us that Magnus and Dracus immediately engaged. Two more Fire Snakes slithered up out of the lava behind us, Jin and Leucis started throwing down spells right away while I ran toward them and started cutting them to pieces. As Dracus and Magnus defeated their hostiles we defeated ours and join up at the end of the path once again though we all agreed it would be best for Jin to head back to find Amber, we move through to the next and last chamber which was pretty big with at least one hundred and twenty foot drop with lava at the bottom. This chamber had a massive plate of metal suspended over it held in place with large chains and there was the Aegis Stone hovering in the middle over a hole in the plate, there was a bridge made of what looked like fire .. shock. We moved up to the bridge and a Fire Elemental emerged infront of us, we attacked and Magnus managed to reach the other side just before we killed it and the bridge disappeared, though Magnus hit the floor unconscious which wasn't the best landing either and the metal plate would be scorching too so we had to do something, luckily there was a rumble and rock started to create a bridge across which we got over as quickly as possible to recover Magnus. By the time we got to him the side of his face was like an over done stake but other then that he was ok-ish and we saw Salazar transport in. We spoke quickly to him and he started marking out a transport ritual in runes around the Aegis Stone as two Earth Elementals formed infront of us which we started to fight with, it was a tough one but not impossible as Magnus used his apparent new found power and the longsword he found earlier. Salazar finished the ritual and transported it and himself out then the chamber started to tremor and fall apart which was our que to leave, we used the large chains to get back to the ledge and the lava started to rise so we needed to move faster.
We ran back as fast as we could in the heat without collapsing, jumping and running the way we came until we got to where we left the Stone Golem and it wasn't there so we moved back through the tunnel into the chamber with the alter and it looks like the Golem returned to its original point as a statue. I ran alone the left side of the chamber and jumped up onto a table then bookshelf and finally onto the higher walkway after the stairs where the Golem is and was now moving again though I was still relived to be out of that insufferable heat. The Stone Golem moved down the stairs to the others as they ran towards the stairs and the Stone Golem collided with Leucis batting him away with a sweep from his massive stone arm sending him flying across the room hitting the wall and landing in a heap unconscious .. luckily not for nine hundred years this time. Magnus picked him up and ran down the left side as I did and threw Leucis up to the stone walkway and caught by Dracus who got up first quickly followed by Magnus. We ran to the what was a water filled tunnel and we managed to close the doors that the Golem slammed against with a thud throwing a few punches at the door, we moved back down the tunnel with Magnus now carrying Leucis and Dracus moved forward ahead to meet up with Jin and Amber. We took a breath or two once we were out of the tunnel to process what just happened and see to Leucis stabilising him enough to keep going, Magnus had a look around and found the ghost girls rotten bones and stuffed them in a sack though not one hundred percent on if there the right ones we'll see I guess. We climbed up to the top of the mine barely after all the fatigue and an unconscious Leucis and retrieved all the rope we used, we got out the mine and took in the cool air which Dracus was very relived with and he started rolling in the snow which was totally out of character but it didn't surprise me after all that. It was the morning with the sun just appearing on the horizon but still quite dark, I'll date the journal once I know the day.
Day 12, Into ThunderTree
21st of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We woke early morning and lit a fire to get some food on for the day ahead and sorted the horses, then it was time to move off and into Thundertree a very silent and creepy place feared by most of the locals and the ones that do go in don't come out again … so this should be fun .. I laughed to myself with a bit of an odd look from Jin. We mounted the carts and moved into the town.. nothing much but heavy fog and silence, we saw something up ahead after following the track curving around some ruined buildings, it was the dwarfs cart and we dismounted to have a look. As we got closer to the back of the cart then moving to the front we saw the horse lying on the track and we moved closer to see the horse was dead with a lot of bits missing from it like something clawed at it desperate for food. We thought it best to leave the horses out of the town so we moved them out of the area and off to the left of the town as you entering so we don't loose those to whatever was here before us. We walked back into the ruined town and back to the dead horse and cart to find a blood trail leading off, this was lucky because we couldn't really see much at all, we followed it into a building not bad for a ruin and found the dwarf dead in roughly the same condition as the horse. We took some time in the building to make sure are gear was top notch as there was definitely something or someone here too, then this dammed …. ghost or spirit turned up and started to have words with Magnus.. who was.. at this time probably about to poop himself. I've seen some stuff but a spirit out of nowhere that just starts demanding we find her body is just up there with the weirdest stuff, well she disappeared as quickly as she appeared and we heard some footsteps coming from the back of the building so we got ready to fight but it was Amber tracking us. We greeted each other and decided to split into two teams to cover more ground faster, so it was Amber and Magnus to search the left side of town with myself and Jin to search the right side. We moved off and headed down the track to this building at the bottom right side of the town and had a look inside to see nothing but another room with a locked door at the end of the building, we had a look around the outside only to find the other door into the room locked aswell so we went back inside and Jin through a Fire Bolt at the door and we waited for it to burn enough we could kick it down. We waited long enough and entered the room only to find a weird two foot teddy doll thing sitting against the back wall which then Jin through a torch at it.. and it did nothing... as expected.. I looked at Jin and she shrugged her shoulders, we left and moved up the road a bit to the next building but then Jin wanted to retrieve her torch.. she went in and ran out shouting some profanity about how the … doll .. had moved and is holding the torch so that was a nope to staying around here. We moved up to the top and searched the fairly large building for this size town near the statue of the founder, we went in and had a look we couldn't find anything .. then .. the doll was in the last room.. we made some tracks out the door and to the meeting point, we waited for Magnus and Amber to finish there search and when they arrived they didn't have anything to report but the spirit guiding them back into town if they moved to close to the entrance. We headed to the middle of town the last area to search was top centre with what was their guard house, the door was open so we went in carefully of course .. or as careful as a barbarian can be to search the building. Myself, Jin and Amber took a look around the first room and we found some old rusty swords and some old papers which were of no use to us as Magnus searched the next room on his own, as I moved to the door I saw Magnus open a chest .. he reached for some parchment, he reached for a pouch but.. the doll was next to it and he put his arm to close to it and it attached itself to his arm .. which I offered to cut off but he was adamant he was fine, he wanted to keep it and tied it onto his front facing outward with some rope he had.. very odd and suspicious but it'll have to wait so we all moved to the southern track which lead to the mine entrance eventually as it was quite a walk to get there.
We found the mine entrance with a solid building on the left and a warehouse on the right, myself and Jin had a look at the building on the left which after some magic hands from Jin we unlocked the door and looked inside, we found a load of long shallow crates with some very old dynamite inside ready to explode if you looked at it in the wrong way and five barrels of dry black powder. We decided it would be safer to leave it here and see what Magnus and Amber found which was just some old food in crates and barrels, they came out and we looked at the mine entrance and agreed stealth was the way forward so we went in. I took the right passage with Jin and Magnus took the left with Amber, there were some torches already lit around the mine which was a massive round opening with a centre pillar that must have gone down seventy five feet or at least you couldn't see the bottom. Myself and Jin moved quietly to the right about fifteen feet to come to a drop to the track that spiralled around the cavern and down below heading underneath us, Jin used her Feather Fall magic on us and we stepped of the ledge and landed very softly, so far so good nice and quiet. At this point I had no idea what Magnus and Amber were doing so we carried on and saw further down the tracks there was an opening, we silently moved along tight to the wall on our left with the drop just on the other side of the tracks. We saw and heard some creatures moving around scurrying about and I headed past the opening first, easy, there looked to be a blockade so wont be getting in that way, Jin's turn and she tripped over on the rail with a thud... I helped her move into the shadow just before she was spotted by whatever they were and we moved down to the next opening. I stopped for a minuet and noticed a trap just ahead with a wire running at ankle height across the tunnel, I stepped over and headed in with Jin in waiting by the tunnel entrance. I found two what looks to be Goblins sitting at a fire facing away from me in a small cave area, now would be my chance to test this venom on an enemy and I dipped two of my throwing spikes in the solution, Through one spike and hit, with number two a little too fast and the spike went straight through his head, the other one could not move at all and it had taken on effect very quickly turns out its some sort of paralysis venom. So I moved in to cut its throat and retrieve my spikes, I also disarmed the trap so Jin could move up to me and we went to the entrance to the next tunnel through to another slightly larger cave. This time I saw another three of them reacting to something other then us, turns out Magnus and Amber were just up some stairs on the other side of the cavern area and had spooked the Goblin. We approached from their rear and they noticed us too so they dropped their weapons.. this was odd because they weren't making much noise and signalling for us to remain quiet, turns out their not hostile.. who knew .. anyway .. we were shown a female human in a cage and was told she was making too much noise so they had to knock her out as she would alert the Ghouls at the bottom of the mine. Always good to hear there's Ghouls in the area... but still no visual conformation on them so Magnus and Amber went to check on the caged human and myself with Jin went to scout ahead, we made it out to the track the way we came in … and that's when the proverbial turd hit the windmill .. we heard Dracus .. not just infront of us being super sneaky for a Goliath no .. he had bellowed out a very loud shout down to see if anyone was here and yes there were Ghouls here, we heard the Goblins scatter for cover and places to hide then from the bottom of the mine some very loud screeching which I didn't need a visual for to know what the Hel that was. I ran as fast as I could with Jin just behind me shouting to Magnus and Amber to get outside but there was no time to stop, we got to the top and powered past a quite confused Dracus to the solid building with the explosives in it. With not much time we got the dynamite into a mine cart at the top of the track and we also put four out of five barrels of black powder into it too and then had Dracus pull the stiff breaks off snapping the handle .. not what we needed but we managed to destroy the breaks on it and pushed it down the track towards the screeching (I must add this was a calculated risk as Magnus and Amber were still in the mine) We heard a couple of thuds were the cart must have hit some on the way down and then a massive explosion that shock the very ground so much we almost got flung off our feet, we let the dust settle before going to investigate again and see if Magnus and Amber survived with any luck.
We entered the mine once again to find the majority of it collapsed, Dracus and I moved down the track as much as we could until we found a Ghoul trapped from the waist down under some rock scratching at the floor, Dracus looked at the Ghoul in disgust.. Do It .. I said and Dracus lifted his warhammer up then straight down onto its head which didn't last long at all and it splattered everywhere. We moved back up the track to Jin and we had to abseiled down to the next level where there was enough of a ledge to stand on and start digging out to where they would have been. It took a while but we dug them out they had found shelter in the back of the larger cavern in a kind of storage area, they squeezed out the tunnel we dug out and sorted themselves out as best they can. We got some of the rope together and abseiled down to the bottom of the mine where we found a small cave Jin and Amber squeezed through to fined some raw iron ore and a shard as before the same Herja found but was glowing a different colour, they came back through to the main chamber and we had a look around to see a small tunnel mostly underwater with water flow so Magnus took of his backpack and dived in with a rope tied to him, he gave few tugs to signify it was good to proceed and we left our backpacks in the chamber to go through the water following the rope to a tunnel with a raising ceiling to create an air pocket. I came up to take a breath and saw Magnus waiting there with Amber for some reason holding onto his legs trying to swim on... odd but still she came up for air eventually and we moved down the tunnel to an end but the water was still flowing and pulling to the right through the tunnel wall. We checked the wall and found a doorway which Magnus and Dracus managed to force open with their raw strength against the water which went pouring through the door and lowered the water level. We had found a large chamber or more of a hall with carved stone walls and some cages to either side, there were some stairs heading down to a blue flame on an alter to the right and a small room on the left with a statue in the middle of where the stairs split off to the left and right sides. We saw Ghouls in the cages and killed them easily to make the area safer to search though there was nothing of interest, Jin headed back to support Amber guarding the rear and we collected our gear, Magnus did figure out his rune cypher to open the door by the alter, we had to touch the runes on the walls with fire which caused the rune to light up on the wall and the alter but this caused the now what we know as a Stone Golem not a statue to try and kill whoever activated a rune. We managed to activate all the runes in order but with the Golem chasing us it was harder then it should have been, I think Dracus had enough and jumped off the top of the stairs with hammer smashing down onto the head of the Golem .. which a tiny chip flew off... the Golem looked at the chip then Dracus .. luckily the door had opened by this point and we all ran through into what felt like an inferno the heat was almost unbearable but we had no choice either that or bludgeoned to death by a Golem. Magnus and Dracus ran through the tunnel and as it opened out to a massive chamber of flowing lava and heat they dived to the right as they saw the bridge infront was collapsed, they managed to jump onto some small bits of rock barely sticking out the lava and I used some of my Ki to jump the gap with a pretty good landing then went round to sit on some ruined stairs that lead to a random sword sticking out the ground but not my type of weapon so no interest to me I just sat and ate a ration with some well needed water watching Magnus and Dracus travers a shear cliff edge and loads of small rocks they had to jump between over lava.. it was quite entertaining to watch though I did give moral support from where I was sat, Dracus just about survived the ordeal having bad landings and lots of burn marks all over by the time he was done and Magnus had a bit of a time but he was relatively unscathed. Magnus saw the sword and had that away pretty quickly with a chest and some other stuff, I think we've been underground quite some time not sure what day it is so I'll leave it there for now and pick this up later before my pages ignite.
Day 11, The Road to ThunderTree
20th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We woke to the morning feast at the House of Odin and joined the warriors to eat, after they started their daily training we checked our gear before moving to the stables. Isaac handed us some health potions and the use of a horse and cart for the quest, we thanked him then myself and Magnus left to meet Jin at the stables with Amber and Dracus running some errands before they catch us up. We got to the stables to find Jin and the stable hand sorting two lots of horse and carts, one from the House of Odin and one from the Grey Cloaks with a couple of barrels of water and food for us, Jin secured some other gear aswell but we'll deal with that later. We mounted up and left for Thundertree, it was a pretty long road and took most of the day with some conversation from Magnus and Jin it didn't seem too bad then we came across a small dwarven man with a broken cart, so we stopped to help him out. We greeted and asked if he needed assistance which he was thankful for, we unloaded all the timber from the cart as it was too heavy even for Magnus at least at this time.. this penance must be getting to him he looked a bit stressed today. We also moved a chest down and the cart was light enough for us to fix the wheel, we loaded the cart back up and I moved to our cart to make ready to move when we heard animal noise from the field to the left of us and we reacted to whatever beast was lurking but we didn't see anything, I had Muninn move round to search the area but nothing was found and I went to see if the dwarf was ok which he was but a bit nervous to the point I had enough of his chattering so I made the horse move off and headed back to our own carts. As we were to move Jin called from the back of the cart for some help which I turned round to see Magnus and Jin trying to lift a chest onto the back... obviously not our chest.. not happy about Jin's light fingers at all... but we can always return it to the rightful owner if we can catch up to him but first we needed this chest on the cart and it was excessively heavy. We moved off toward Thundertree but it was getting dark at this point so we would have to stop before we caught up to the dwarf, we made it to the Thundertree area and stopped down the road to make camp, which then Magnus and Jin hid the chest off the track with some quite obvious foliage concealing it from view. We made a camp fire and bedded down, we took turns on watch till the next morning as per normal.
Day 10, Consequences
19th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
The morning of the trial and we headed to the Hall of Justice, myself, Dracus, Amber and Jin. Magnus was obviously already there and Herja was still elsewhere which we'll need to look into. We arrived and entered the Hall into the court room with everyone filtering in, Salazar sitting in the corner with Magnus nervously sweating up at the front not daring to look back at Salazar for fear he might just make him spontaneously explode and we know how much Magnus dislikes magic, he tends to get a bit funny around it. So as it started we sat down to enjoy the show.. then myself was called up to the stand, apparently Jin and Amber had already gone up but I must have missed that thinking of other matters. I moved up to the stand and sat down waiting for the questions, I was asked if I was there and there was no point in lying about it as I wouldn't anyway but Salazar was here for a reason and I think that he would have some sort of spell that could detect weather the truth was said or not. I said what happened exactly to the point I left the tavern and nothing more was needed of me so I moved back down to my seat and continued watching, which turned out quite short and the judge made and gave Magnus some options, probably because he confessed to it and blames the rage he uses in battle. He was given a few options that were death by the rope, quite a large fine which he couldn't pay or work for the Grey Cloaks on a highly dangerous mission, he took the mission and that was it for the trial and Magnus was handed over for a brief on the mission which was to start immediately. The rest of us were asked by Magnus if we could help him which we accepted as he was part of our group, he had some research to do so myself, Dracus, Amber and Jin moved off to see if we could find the sword Honour Bound in the Chasm District.
We left Magnus to his books and made our way into the Chasm District heading to the house on the hill as Muninn informed me that Sly was heading that way and I believe he might know where it is, we got to Ambers family home area to find some looters scavenging around so we confronted them with the intent on returning the items to their rightful owners but as the situation got weird and Amber lost here boots as she had to give them to the looters because they had a forest troll guarding them which was a bit much for even Dracus currently. We parted ways with no further conflict and got to the house and there was an better but still unstable bridge which we crossed and Dracus felt it best to stay on this side of the chasm, but before we crossed we were attacked by some Kobold which we dispatched quite easily but there were new types like a flying Kobold and a smarter spell casting one that Dracus got a face full of fire and lightning from which escaped.. for a time until Dracus got hold of him and crushed his head flat with his warhammer. We moved into the house with Dracus watching out from the other side, we searched the house again and down into the basement to find an incredibly long tunnel leading away from the city walls but we don't know how far it goes as we moved down into the darkness Jin lit the way with his light spell and as we moved down through some of the still water Jin started panicking as she felt biting on her forearms and blood started to colour the water a deep red, we rushed through to the dry part of the tunnel and I had a look at my arms to see a few bit marks on my clothing but nothing more, same with Amber but Jin was messed up as she looked to be missing her forearms for a minuet but it was just all bloodied. We moved on for a bit but the tunnel was too long to continue so we headed back but we didn't want to go through the water again so Jin let off a load of fire bolts to evaporate the water, that plan worked so we moved past the hostile fish and out to the house to meet Dracus at the bridge. We headed back to the House of Odin as the Tavern was still under guard to sort ourselves out and spoke to Magnus who retrieved the information he needed to find the location of the Grey Cloaks desired item, we were also informed by Isaac that Herja's backpack was found and we then had a look for any clues to a possible location. We looked over a few things and there was some that we thought might provide a bit more of a clue so we handed them out around the group to carry and investigate, Dracus had the mirror, Jin had the gem and Magnus a book though we left the ink for another day as we didn't think it was needed at that time. We all sorted our gear out as Jin left for his house and to get some supplies for this penance quest, we also asked Isaac for some supplies too, he said he would sort something out for the morning so we'll wait and see.
Day 9, An Unfortunate Event
18th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
The start of another day and Dracus, Magnus and Amber have gone for some training up at the House of Odin to test their combat ability and possibly improve apon it with Jin for... morale support. I headed down to the blacksmiths to have a grappling hook made up and while I was waiting Muninn was letting me know how the training was going, which was pretty close but overall Magnus, Amber and Dracus won the day. Apparently Dracus was using shear will by the end of it to remain on his feet and finished the skirmish. After some time the hook was ready and I left for the House to meet the others, I entered the House to a very worn out Magnus, Amber and Dracus at the table with a fresh looking Jin with them. We greeted and once ready left to see if we could find any information on these break in's, again nothing solid but we were not put down by this so we headed to the tavern and entered to find the place empty with Sturges behind the bar. Sturges said there were five people down the basement looking for something, ok .. so we went round the back of the bar to find a few of them climbing up which we immediately attacked, I knocked one out cold and Jin blew a hole in another's chest with a fire bolt as Magnus attacked some others coming up the ladder, Amber was also in combat with one of them in the corner. They didn't last long and they gave themselves up so we took them into the main area to interrogate and we found out there looking for an urn with a female figure on it, possibly connected to the House of Odin, we found out where the drop point is and that it's more then likely they are working for a High Elf by the description of him, also the BlackLake District has not been touched by any of the break in's which possibly indicates a noble pulling the strings. So we got this information quite easily as they saw how we were in combat, they were scared and didn't want anymore trouble, we let them go bar one to show us exactly where the drop is and as he believed we have the urn to go to the drop point but …. as the others left Magnus for some reason, possibly switched off during the interrogation, threw an axe out the door after them... a shocking lack of competence …. and as expected being he couldn't see the other side of the door as it was closing he hit a civilian square in the back. A massive eruption of screaming could be heard outside the tavern and it died down as presumably everyone ran for their lives, as this happened I left through the back door with Jin and Amber in tow then we split up to head to the House of Odin to regroup. I made my way there relatively easily without any problems sticking to main roads blending into the crowds walking the roads, I took my time getting back to the House and as I got there I meet with Jin, Amber and Dracus who informed me that Magnus had handed himself in and was sent to the dungeon, as I wondered when Dracus had appeared as he disappeared this morning after the training session, it was evening by this time and we bedded down expecting the worst for Magnus the next day.
Day 8, Two Goliath
17th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
The second day after the battle and some are still recovering from that day, I awoke to a few of the group up already and I sorted myself out as per ready to head back into town and then I left after letting the others know I'll meet them back here at the tavern. On my way into town nothing really happened it was still cold and wet but with my warm cloak I felt fine, I headed over to the alchemist first to get this decanter of liquid verified and she was quite helpful as she knew it was a venom of some kind not from this realm. Which I'll definitely need to test later on but she wanted me to hand it in to the Guard but obviously that wasn't going to happen so I convinced her I was an investigator with confiscated Items and I was heading over to Hall of Justice to hand it in. No.. but I did go their and pay for a licence to carry such items which will be useful in populated areas. After that I headed to the blacksmith to order myself a grappling hook for my rope, this will be quite useful and possibly a consumable item so I should order more later. I also got myself a thin piece wire that I have an idea for and as I walked over to the carpenter and greeted him I asked if he could make some beads for it, enough to cover at least a quarter of the wire and over to the textiles workshop to get some little scrunched up pieces of cloth so when on the wire looks like rosery beads .. but pull the beads apart and the cloth compacts down some what revealing a garrotte, a weapon hidden in plain sight. I waited around town to see if I could find out anything about the break ins but nobody really sees anything and the only evidence is broken doors with a ransacked house and nothing missing. The grappling hook was going to take a while as the blacksmith had other orders to craft first so I headed back to the tavern later that evening after looking around some more and I saw Jin at the tavern with Dracus, they informed me of the tournament they entered into apart from Jin and myself of course also Herja was still not to be seen which was beginning to become concerning though she did go off on her own most of the time before we came together and it's only been eight days so she might turn up again. Dracus also told me he found and spoke to another Goliath from his clan, now this was interesting as Neverwinter had no such race living here and now suddenly there's two of them. He said this Goliath was accused or the accuser of some clan drama he was having, something to do with Dracus being blamed for something by this other Goliath but it turned out another Goliath back at the clan village lied about that so Dracus would believe this second Goliath accused him but it was actually the guy back at the village that wronged Dracus, taken of faith that this second Goliath is telling the truth of course. I'm sure we'll see what happens with that soon enough.
Day 1, Over the Wall
10th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
As odd as this is to me I've decided to start writing a journal to keep note of events for future reference and this is the first day. Back in Neverwinter after a long time I found myself at the Horse & Cart tavern with my half-brother Lucian, we were discussing previous adventures when a call for help from a castle guard at the door and a messenger, a weasel of a man, for people to meet at the castle. After some debate and as I said farewell to Lucian who would be heading to Waterdeep I noticed a few others answer the call, a giant of a man known as a Goliath which was very rare indeed because they usually never leave their clans mountain range, a small Dwarve possibly a Halfling I recognised as Amber Battlehammer of the Dauntless Few a special forces group of the Faerun Army who's impeccable with a bow. Also a Human female magic user, a sorcerer I believe by the gold markings on her skin and a large man called Magnus Hofferson I also recognise from the Faerun Army he was a Sgt, a berserker from some islands off the Sword Coast and one other who I've met before, a Valkyrie of the House of Odin called Herja that was an initiate back then, mainly a healer but still fearsome in combat as all Valkyrie are.
We as a loose cluster of people made are way up to the castle passing an incident in the residents district, the River District, that has seen a mass population increase as the actual residents district, the Archanist district, which is now the Chasm District was evacuated following the ground it was built upon tearing apart but the Town Guard was dealing with it so no need for me to get involved. Into the castle main hall we went greeted by a large room filled with one main table, some banners and high callings. There were a few groups already waiting for a briefing from Lord Reginald Bertran a Human and a High Elf a Baron of Phandalin called Celebrimbor, pronounced as a K and as snobby as High Elves can get, briefed us on a quest to find the Lords son, William Bertran, and his prized family heirloom a sword called Honour Bound. We were to search the Chasm District to reclaim his son and sword, William as I know was a competent swordsman, I should I trained him in my time in the Dauntless Few as a Master Fighter, so he should be still alive somewhere beyond the wall a makeshift defence hastily built to contain the creatures in the district, but for how long I do not know.
We left for the Wall, Myself, Herja, Magnus, Jin, Amber and Dracus an odd group of mixed abilities and personalities to start the search for William. We thought to stop into a general items shop to prepare for the quest ahead but there wasn't much left after the Neverwinter Town Guard had to raid the place for supplies. So we continued up onto the Wall where we met a couple of people from the main hall, Veo a Tabaxi Rogue and Salazar from the Grey Cloaks the Neverwinters Mages Guild, a powerful Sorcerer indeed but his true power is unknown to everyone but himself. As we looked over the Chasm District we could not see much as the cloud was low and the snow was falling gracefully into that Helhiem hole of a district full of evil and darkness … and mud lots of mud up to the knee at least by the Wall anyway, it took nearly half hour to complete the dissent down the ladder and through the mud, painstaking indeed. That's when Dracus and three other Human men that were tagging along split off from us taking a different route to find William, perhaps foolish given all types of creatures roam this district now but as they wish, their choice is there own.
Making our choice to follow the river we found are way to an outpost of the House of Odin only challenged by some creatures called Kobolds which we dispatched quite easily, the outpost which by the looks of it had been desecrated by some truly brave souls indeed as the House would most definitely had killed anyone hostile that was to step upon their sacred ground. Herja was obviously not impressed by the defaced statue of a Norse God that I could not tell which one, and bloody trails leading to the back of the building that Magnus and Herja started to immediately follow and investigate, they found many dead men with some inspection had tattoos on the backs of their neck of two wolves, one chasing a sun and one chasing a moon. They also found two members of the House of Odin which obviously had some sort of effect on Herja as she went into an odd state for a few minuets then she collected their swords and burned them on pyre to honour them properly, which we promptly cleaned out the rest of the dead and let these ones rot outside, cleaned up the inside quickly as we could and locked down for the night taking turns on watch, it was safe enough inside but outside their were creatures lurking, waiting for us probably, that would be the most logical scenario in this district overrun with creatures of all sorts, how would the other groups and individuals fair I thought but then I remembered I did not care that much, they knew the risks and what they were getting themselves into.
Day 7, The Day After
16th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
Another short entry. We all woke up to aching limbs and some of us... Dracus … sore wounds from the battle then the push into the Chasm District, as good and magical as health potions are they still leave the area feeling a bit raw unless you've a better quality potion of course. Dracus stayed back in the Tavern to continue to let the healing potion set so his wounds don't re-open and start bleeding again. As for the rest of us we went into the Protectors Enclave to see if we could learn anything about the break in's while having some downtime. We split off to various different shops, I went to get some weaponry and new sheathes ordered, This was as special blade of my own design of two thinning double bladed shortswords with a simple rounded smooth grey stained wooden handle. Slightly longer handles then normal for the purpose of joining the hilts together so they lock to become a double bladed staff and a centre section used like a sheath to make it look like a simple staff when discretion is needed. I ordered the sheathes to go with them, a simple design of a hard leather top with a catch to make sure the sheaths and blades stay up right when needed to be hidden, going down to softer leather with a hard leather spine running down the top of the sheath, and a strap at the top and one at the bottom secured to the wide belt for flexibility. I must wait for them to be made and procure the payment on completion which is in the region of two hundred and twenty gold pieces, I'll need a few other things but I can deal with that tomorrow. Didn't really come up with much on the break in's at all or the disappearing people so I headed back to the tavern and bedded down, see what happens tomorrow.
Day 6, Assault in the Chasm District
15th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
It's the morning of the attack and were up at daylight going over our Strategy once more for the final time, everyone goes to the feasting hall to eat before battle as much as were using blunt weapons they will not be. Everyone eats and drinks, tells stories of previous battles and victories while they psyche themselves and each other up preparing their minds for the skirmish to come. As any soldier would have done their gear is already prepared the night before so only a quick check is needed, then it's time.. everyone don's their armour and weapons while war cry's and weapons banging on shields call out. The doors open and the House marches toward the Wall were we enter the Chasm District and head towards the Son's of Ragnarok, I think to myself that Captain Ventris should be on route to his position behind the graveyard wall ready to move through the gates after the initial attack draws their attention to the front of their area of control. Jin should be taking his place up high apon the graveyard wall ready to descend down apon the enemy while Herja and Dracus head towards the main entrance with ten warriors and the chemicals disguised as an ordinary water barrel. Myself, Amber and Magnus are marching with the rest of the House prepared and looking forward to this very much I thought trying to compose my monk persona. We came to a stop just out of range to their entrance guard and we could tell their not of military type as there were no lookouts or patrols to be seen, such a foolish group of people, as a few minuets pass we see the signal, which means Dracus used the chemicals and neutralised everyone in the underground cultists club house... well should have done or there currently engaged in combat. So we move to the barrier with war cry's calling once again ready to rush forward, they see us finally … I chuckled to myself, the cultists fall back looking quite shocked as any untrained group would react with an army suddenly at their gate. They fell back into a messy group rather then a formation as I called out for a shield wall, soon as the call was heard the warriors rushed into position forming a solid wall of wood and steel.. unbreakable. As the wall is formed Amber notches a blunt arrow and the warriors split the wall for a fraction of a second while the arrow sailed through and into the enemy lines knocking a man unconscious.
The break is called while the enemy is concentrating on their men hitting the floor and the House warriors rush forward to meet the enemy in close combat, we knock cultist after cultist down and out as I see Jin, the Valkyr Sigrun and the House Champion Merek jump from the top of the wall hurtling down until Jin cast her magic to then float gracefully to the floor at the entrance of the cultists clubhouse. After the landing they immediately start defending the entrance stopping them from leaving or entering the building. As this is in motion I fight toward the entrance to the building to help those inside, while Captain Ventris marches through the walls gate from the graveyard trapping the cultists in between the warriors and the Guard, noticing there situation they start to panic but at this point they can't do very much to stop it. I get to the doors passing Jin, Sigrun and Merek battling, I'm with Amber and Magnus as we burst through the doors to a simple room with a large hole in the floor which we head towards and move down to meet Herja and Dracus in combat with a few cultists, Surtur their leader by the looks of it a large Tiefling with a great sword and a magic user of some type, a sorcerer or wizard. As we battled Surtur summoned a demon of some sort, Jin entered the room and threw lightning at the demon while I beat down some cultist with the others. Dracus went toe to toe with Surtur and I moved round swiftly with an opening caused by Magnus jumping onto the back of this demon I plunged my sword into it's chest then with a swift upward slash I cut its head clean off, it vanished as quickly as it appeared with a gurgling scream this time. We moved towards Surtur after finishing the demon with no other cultists around and the magic user dealt with by Herja and Amber now it was just him, he put up a decent fight wounding Dracus and only by his stone endurance he survived but in the end our teamwork was to much and I had the final blow, I new we weren't to kill anyone … but.. to me he was far to dangerous to let live as corrupting as he was and their prophecy for mass sacrifice, so he alone I would believe wouldn't achieve this ..so I cut his head off too with another swift slice right through his neck. He was dead before he hit the ground and when he did hit the ground he turned into smoke and dissipated into nothing, the others were a bit shocked but I made my choice and acted. We looked around a bit for any intel, I think Herja found a few things we'll look at later, then we moved outside and found the warriors of the House and the Guard binding the cultists preparing them to be taken away. We headed over to the warriors celebrating their decisive victory and I spoke to Captain Ventris along the way, he said this would take a while to sort out and they had the area under control so we then said farewell for now and parted ways. We met with the warriors and headed out to the entrance where we split form them to head further into the Chasm District on the hunt for William, Dracus headed out with the warriors to heal himself and meet with us later.
We moved to the east heading along the bottom of the Chasm District with not much trouble and came across the Black Bear Tavern which was obviously empty but pretty much intact, we searched the place and found a hidden trapdoor in the back room with a secret lever to unlock the hatch. They entered the room and a surprise, it was pretty lavish down there but a small space so I'll have a look later and we'll need someone to keep watch. So myself and Jin waited up top then Jin went down eventually getting the need to search for something shiny no doubt, and they all searched for a while picking up bits of information as they went. They found some useful books, a sword, some clothes and solutions in the globe which Jin took a couple of Vials. I went down after they came up and picked up a book on Faerun Beasts and a decanter of solution that was dark in colour, in my experience to me it resembled a type of poison of some sort that I'll need to get identified but that'll be later so I'll store it for now. We headed out but not before Jin befriended a retarded pigeon which promptly flew off, we were leaving the Black Bear Tavern when a door flung open and Magnus went to have a look. Suddenly a Kobold jumped onto Magnus face, disorientated Magnus stepped back into the room and turned around only for Amber to lunge at the Kobold with her short sword... and missed .. going straight into Magnus chest, almost defeating Magnus on her own Amber withdrew her sword and sheathed it promptly... then Herja helped Magnus to his feet with the help of some healing spells unknowing to him, of course or he'll have a meltdown again, We stood for a bit just looking at each other then silently moved out, I don't think Magnus knew it was Amber and more thought it was the Kobold which dismounted Magnus's face and ran off. So we headed to Ambers family home as it was along the route, we found the place and had a quick look around the open room with half the wall missing and Ambers grandfather or someone like that dead on a chair over the other side of the room. Anyway they went into the basement and found themselves covered in mini spiders, hundreds of them, and they used the water to get them off until they got attacked by the larger spiders as big as a halfling, which got my attention so I went down to the basement to lend a hand and we killed them quickly. We heard a crashing from upstairs and they rushed up the ladder to confront whatever it was so I decided it was a good distraction to set the beds downstairs alight, which went up pretty quickly, a lot faster then I thought, so I moved up the ladder to and found Dracus had dived through the rest of the wall and onto the kitchen table collapsing it covered in Kobolds and now parts of Ambers grandfather too as they placed him onto the table before going down, it made me chuckle to myself, that and as I also new the remainder of the house was burning down beneath us aswell. I see Amber move into strike the Kobold with her short sword … again.. this is hilarious but she hit the kobold this time and took it right off Dracus's back, he then killed the one he was laying on and we quickly moved outside with enough time to turn and see the house go up in flames. Didn't really see Amber react much, was probably an internal thing, as her house was burning after all and her grandfather was violated by Dracus.
We moved on as time was pressing to find William heading east still, I was in contact with Muninn at this point, he was telling me about a prominent house on the hill so we'll have a look there first. We got to the house without further incident but there was a chasm in the way but we found a very unreliable rush built bridge, which we decided to cross, myself, Amber and Jin moved over the dodgy bridge to find Sir Edmond hauling William out of the back room of this house. We greeted Sir Edmond and had a look at William then Sir Edmond got him across the bridge with such grace, ten out of ten for that bridge crossing, so Herja could stabilise him just as Sly of the Red Corsairs turned up and tried to talk us into giving up William so he could possibly ransom him back for more money no doubt, he literally said he was going to ransom him back which then I thought he could try only to be dangling on the end of a rope soon after. It was going to kick off, we were ready, but then Salazar of the Grey Cloaks turned up through a portal. Sly and his men stopped for a minuet then one of his men moved toward Salazar only for him to flick his finger to create several lightning strikes in between them and him for a few seconds, Sly's guy stopped promptly fearing for his life, as he should as he's one of the Grey Cloaks top mages, so we asked Salazar to take William back to the castle for medical attention and he did so without hesitation creating another portal with ease. After that demonstration of power we were left with Sly and his guys who said a few things, but I wasn't really listening, and left soon after. We headed back to the castle taking our route the same as we came, Sir Edmond meeting us at the castle moved off as if he wasn't wearing any armour. We didn't have any incidents along the route so we made good time to the castle and found Bertran with his advisor and Sly, which I quickly pointed out that Sly threatened to ransom William which I believed he should hang for, and Bertran said he'll look into it. Bertran thanked us all for saving William and he'll contact us when he figures out who saved William exactly but he looked at the sword we found, as it turns out wasn't Honour Bound, so we still need to find the sword to receive this reward which I don't really need but I know it'll be useful for supplies and equipment. We spoke to Bertran a bit longer about the break in's and the missing people while we were there then he thanked us again and we left, on the way out Jin gave me some vials that I might put to use but needed identifying too so I put them aside with the decanter. After all that we headed back to the Horse and Cart Tavern to rest and sort ourselves and gear out, had some food and water in my case then bedded down after that really long day.
Day 5, Back to Neverwinter
14th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
This is probably going to be a short entry today. We woke at Brumhilde house ready to get back to the city and ready our plan, so we sorted our gear and ourselves the horses to. We were ready to go and I could see as everyone was mounting their horses that those who didn't buy warm cloaks were cold, it was still bitterly cold and myself, Herja and Amber had warm cloaks while by the look on Jin and Magnus's face they were pretty chilly but Dracus looked quite happy as a goliath would be in this weather. We set off toward the city firstly headed around Thundertree again, we took the same route back with no problems to mention. As we entered the city we headed to the stable and dismounted the horses, then unloaded the cart of our cargo and headed to the House of Odin. After that there's not much else bar each faction, the House and the Guard, preparing their warriors and we headed into the Protectors Enclave to prepare our gear and try to source some health potions. Then it was just bedding down for the night at the House.
Day 4, The Wolves Den
13th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
After our standard routine of waking, sorting gear and eating we spoke to Brumhilde, she asked us that for this amount of resources and time we tackle a job she needs doing in exchange which we agreed, this was to clear a wolves den not far from here but the track was not wide nor suitable enough for horses and a cart so it was going to have to be on foot, not a problem, but this does take time though we would have to wait for the potion to be made anyway so we might aswell. We sent off on foot to this den walking through the forest following tracks which were quite clear and easy enough to follow, we eventually came across something rather odd.. I'm pretty used to odd I've seen enough of it for a few lifetimes, mainly coming from Magnus. This was about a nine foot doorway with door, looked pretty sturdy, no walls just a door and doorframe, we took a long look as this felt like a strange place for such a thing, very random indeed. Magnus, Jin and Dracus took a closer look at this door and they eventually opened it, and inside oddly was a man trapped under a log. I say inside because there were no walls but looking through the doorway was another area, location somehow and obviously magical which I saw Magnus take note of with a shiver. But regardless of this strangeness Dracus obviously felt the need to jump right in through this magic door with no regard for consequence to save this individual, then Herja and myself as I saw nothing currently happening to Dracus move in to back him up with Amber flying through the door after us, assuming as I heard Magnus .. yeet .. this was an involuntary action from Amber and Jin stayed back outside. It then happened, one of the most irritating and honourless things happened, Magnus felt it funny .. of all things at this time.. to close the door on us which promptly disappeared at which point we noticed the three hundred odd people standing in perfect rows with long hooded robes on in front of us. I obviously as anyone in this situation would do was to be ready to fight and it was unnecessary, thankfully Jin opened the door allowing us passage back through from whatever this place was to our dimension or realm. As for Dracus he, as this was all going on, lifted the log off this individual only for him to disappear leaving Dracus holding a fairly big log in the air quite confused as to were he went. After a very short time, about two to three seconds in this strange place we made for the door and went through with no problems. We decided it was best this wasn't left here to trap anyone else so Dracus and Magnus ripped it out the ground and we buried it for our return to destroy it properly.
We left the area with the door in and made our way through the forest some more till we found a large cliff face going straight up with a cave entrance at the foot, this is were we found the wolf pack. Time to fight I thought and we moved up to the entrance where we saw a few wolves charge out to meet us which didn't take long for Magnus, Myself and Dracus to dispatch with more running out to help their pack. It was Herja, Jin and Amber that killed the next wave with ease, but then the alpha wolf, the pack leader moved out to attack Dracus. Though he put a hunting trap down before and caught up the alpha, then a blow from Dracus's warhammer but it was still standing strong .. but not for long as I glided around Dracus with my short sword I made two moves, one across the alphas throat and the other piercing into the side of the skull. Down the alpha went into a pile on the floor, Dracus look quite impressed. Though it was not the end of the combat, we moved into the cave clearing out a few more of the wolves until nothing left to fight. We had a look around the cave and something glowing in the corner caught Herja's eye, but also Jin's who by the look of it has a weakness to shiny things, they got into a bit of an argument after Jin tried snatching the glowing gem from Herja but she was having none of it and intimidated Jin to back off. After everyone had finished sorting their gear Dracus, as goliaths do, gave an extension to the Wolfbane nickname he gave me before, now Alpha Wolfbane and Amber mentioned something about seeing a figure upon the top of the cliff though nothing there when I looked up and I'm pretty perceptive. We left back for Brumhilde stopping along the way to break apart the strange door and throw the remains in the river, just as we were leaving we heard someone call out and we saw this old lady appear from the woods looking for help, which Herja answered as expected and Magnus with an unhelpful reaction to tell her to leave with no help. This must have irritated the old lady as she gave Herja a few things and she, I believe, cursed Magnus in some way which he bought on himself that I found quite amusing. A few hours pass and we make it back to the house where we find our potion ready to go so we loaded it onto the cart and bedded down for the night as before in the weather bubble.
Day 3, Into the Forest
12th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
As morning approaches we awake to the sound of the House training as usual and the smell of the morning feast ready for the warriors, we packed our gear and moved to the main hall to sit with everyone else and started eating bread, roasted pork, cheeses and drinking mead, but only water for me as I believe an intoxicated head will only stifle logic and ability. As we finish the feast we talk to the Master of the House to discus strategy for this dilemma as Surtur's belief means if they are slain it could achieve there goal so it was decided capture was the best option, but how will we do this? We spoke for a while until we decided a chemical to knock them out would be the most effective and Dracus will deliver the chemical to the Son's of Ragnarok hideout, with Herja and ten other warriors for a fake sacrifice. Everyone inside will be incapacitated and we'll deal with the rest outside with blunt weapons and the help of the Guard after I talk to my old colleague Captain Ventris commander of the Guard, a stern faced individual with a chiselled face. We also need a chemical to incapacitate the cultists which we'll need to venture out of the city and into the Neverwinter Wood, calling in on an alchemist called Brumhilde hopefully she'll have what we need but first we'll need to get there. We headed for Ventris first as he's in the city Guard training area close by, I head for his location while the others prepare themselves for the journey ahead and find him doing what he does best aside from dispatching the enemy, and that's training new troops as his experience is second to none. As I greet Ventris I give him a firm soldiers handshake and ask how he is then down to business of this cult he was concerned to hear about, he agreed to lend the troops needed and we discussed the strategy of capture. We parted with a firm handshake and a nod, I left for the House and met with everyone else ready to move off to the stable where the House has given us a symbol of acquisition for the use of some horses. We left with our gear to the stable where we found the horses ready with one cart, which Jin was chosen to ride and Dracus horse also ready to go.
We left for Brumhilde's house in the middle of the forest which was going to take a while. It was a long road and talking to a Goliath was only entertaining for so long, there very straight to the point with little general talk. We were approaching Thundertree an old mining town on the route with a mysterious rumour that its filled with an empty street and plenty of spirits of the dead, but I had no reason to believe such rumours but the group wished to skirt the edge anyway adding time to the journey so that's what we did. Coming up after quite the detour we saw this vast forest ahead of us, miles wide and deep with lurking creatures of all manner further into its darkness, then as were almost to Brumhilde we were ambushed by bandits, obviously not very intelligent bandits as we still outnumbered them with bodies, weapons and even magic. Even though we could have ended them then and there which I will be doing later on as their corrupt as they could possibly be, which means death for them. We reached Brumhilde house a small cottage in the forest with an ingredients patch by the looks of it, it was snowing at the time but this patch still looked like the middle of summer, magic of some kind I quite expected. We knocked on the door after dismounting and she opened the door obviously a bit weary of a random group just turning up and she was happy to help though it was going to take time to produce the quantity needed for the number of cultists and room size. So this means waiting on time sensitive quests, yes we have three days before Surtur can't do anything I chuckle to myself, but William is fast running out of time. We bedded down for the evening and waited with a bit of help from Brumhilde magic weather bubble, it was snowing but we were warm in its area of effect and the horses enjoyed the break from the bitter cold.
Day 2, The Son's of Ragnarok
11th of the 1st-Hammer- 1407 2nd Era
We awoke middle of the night, not a sound .. to quiet I think .. then a hammering at the door and everyone jumps up ready for combat. Magnus heads over to the door as it flies open and there filling the whole double doorway is Dracus carrying an unconscious man by one hand, one of the party of three from the castle main hall that was totally unequipped for the given quest, he was bleeding badly but we had other concerns as once Dracus entered the small hall we heard a pack of wolves moving in. Magnus barred the door quickly with himself while the wolves tried to force their way in probably crazed by hunger and the blood trail left by this individual pooling blood all over the floor. Herja instantly moved to the bleeding man tending to his wounds and stabilising him saving his life, while she did that Magnus moved away from the door.. enough holding them off it's time to bring death. The first wolf runs through the door as Magnus brings a stop to it by punching the wolf on its nose and knocking it back flying through the door, as I move quickly to the side of the door on the right and wait I hear another wolf try to charge through but I was ready and slammed the heavy door shut on the wolf, the impact was a very loud thud and crack, the wolf was dead with it's neck crumpled and broken at the foot of the door. We charged out, Magnus, Dracus, Amber and myself with Jin in tow, not the bravest of people but she was here and she was a magic user so potently quite powerful we'll have to see. Outside was dark and bitterly cold with an icy wind but Dracus looked pleased with himself, probably for a goliath the cold was a pleasant reminder of home way up in the mountains and soon the combat, as we looked out we saw the bloodied wolf from Magnus's blow and three others approaching ready to attack. They charged us but we were ready for them, as they came we stabbed and slashed in a vicious combat eventually killing all the wolves, looking around taking note of the aftermath I couldn't see Magnus but Jin then informed me of her use of magic triggered something in Magnus, we found him inside sweating and shaking, I think it's something to do with the incident at Port Last where a mage infront of Magnus overdid his magic spell and exploded causing a huge explosion that you could see for miles, there was death and fire everywhere Magnus could see and only because of his strength of a golem he survived.
After Herja saved the wounded man and the combat over we took him to the wall as it was just a short distance from here and headed back in, back past the House of Odin outpost searching through the Chasm District we came to an end, we couldn't cross the chasm from here but then a crash, out of a top window of a semi ruined town house a giant man in full plate dived through with a kobold infront of him. With a very elegant landing for which I can see is a very large and heavy man known as Sir Edmond of the Crimson Gauntlets, he composed what he needed to before introducing himself and telling us he to had not much luck finding William or the Sword. We exchanged any relevant information and he left to search some more, and we headed back along one of the only routes which we were inevitably ambushed by kobolds which were no match for us but Dracus was caught out by a trap left by the sneaky kobolds and Dracus got two bolts in the chest, and by some goliath miracle he survived. Herja healed Dracus and we again left in search for William, this time we found a tavern called the Rats Nest which was obviously empty though we searched the place anyway and surprisingly we found a hatch that lead down to a basement that was very warm for some reason. We searched the small area and found a diary containing information of disappearances from this hideout we believed and a mention of the wall the diary was found next to, so Magnus, Dracus, Amber and Herja immediately broke through the wall but not after the sneaky kobolds made off with Magnus and Dracus weaponry through a small hole in the wall they made before breaking right through. Behind the wall which we think is a hidden door there were several small tunnels the kobolds used, we followed them only to find a medium sized chamber with cages and bones which we think was the kobolds food supply, we were attacked again in the tight spaced chamber but we dealt with them easily enough. After looking around we decided William wasn't amongst the bones so we left the hideout to continue our search of the rest of the district, we eventually came across a very unprofessional barricade off to the corner of the district at the other end of the Wall by the high city walls that back onto the graveyard.
We were approached by some people acting as some sort of guardsman but these were not soldiers nor were they just your normal civilian trying to survive, they invited us in without any attempt of intimidation you would normally find from a hostile group of people and they didn't ask for any disarming at the entrance either. As we walked through we could see it was about midday but it was still cold though not raining, we noticed there were quite a few people here about fifty plus in this makeshift courtyard, walking through escorted by a handful of people we came to a house at the end of this area and we entered, there wasn't much inside but an empty room with a hole in the floor you could walk down. Herja and Magnus went inside while myself, Amber, Jin and Dracus waited outside as so were not totally trapped in this tiny house and we waited for the rest of the group to exit, they did eventually and we left the area unchallenged. Outside the barricade I asked what happened and Herja said it was the Son's of Ragnarok, a cult under the belief they could bring around the end of the world by sacrificing anyone that believes in their cause or religion lead by a radical Tiefling called Surtar with another twenty five cultists inside, she said they let us go because we were to get ten warriors of Odin … which is insane because Herja would never sacrifice anyone from her own order at the minimum, this was more important to Herja then our current quest to find William so against my advice to continue to find William because we don't know how long he'll last out here we were to head for the House of Odin to report and devise a strategy to stop this religious army from achieving it's goal for the end of the world as we know it. We left for the House heading over the Wall back through the more civilised districts, … only slightly more civilised though, reaching the House in good time and we needed to as William won't survive much longer and we have three days from now to deliver the ten warriors, but then what? I don't think Surtar really thought that plan through as we all left and there's no leverage to use against us or consequence of not returning, without the sacrifice of people that truly believe nothing can be achieved. We entered the House of Odin for the first time for some of us to a massive hall with high ceilings and a long feasting table down the centre that was being prepared with all sorts of meat, bread and mead for their evening feast, we could hear the training area being well used and coming to a stop being early evening they'll want to clean themselves up before they eat. We were invited to join them as they knew Herja and they traded with Jin for years, but before setting down to eat we spoke to the Master of the House and gave him all the information regarding the Son's of Ragnarok and their plans, he said not to worry about it for now recover and eat, we do have three days to prep and they can't do much until then. So we did and bedded down for the night and tomorrow we'll develop a plan, I thought to myself for me this was irritating because we need to find William that's the current mission, I believe it should take priority over something that might happen rather then will happen. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly.
Comments