Elaine Chandler
Relationships
Pretty and intelligent, Elaine, the youngest daughter of a well off retired knight dreams of discovering the worlds greatest mysteries. In search of knowledge she travels, trying to find a discovery, a mystery, that no one has yet uncovered or explained.
Character Location
The Village
Okay. SO. I left off at a bad place in my journal. Bad form if I ever want to turn this into any shareable resource I know. BUT. I needed to not write for a bit after that.
So I got drunk in the tavern in the Village of Barovia.
And now it’s the next morning.
Stars. It’s only been four days since we left Waterdeep and already so much has happened.
Fuck.
Anyways. I left off last night with the female vampire bitch taking my ear.
That wasn’t all she took however. She took some of Erkki’s beard as well.
Oh, we did some damage to her of course. But not enough to stop her. Even as I yelled at the others to run her down, there was no real chance.
She was too much for us.
I explained to the others that now they had some of Erkki’s and I’s ‘essence’ that they could scry on us with little to no difficulties, but I don’t think any of them grasp the magnitude of that yet.
Sometimes it’s hard being the only academic in the room so to speak…
After the encounter with the vampires – one dead and burning, the other long gone and with me one less ear and Erkki a couple inches shorter in the beard department – we gathered the needed evidence and made our way back to the gates.
Apparently our run in with the vampires was surprising. In that we survived.
But worse still was the guards reactions. Upon hearing that we had killed a vampire they had both paled dramatically and looked fearfully at the castle asking “You killed one of his?”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out then that Strahd was most likely some form of undead, most likely a vampire, but it was Bry who voiced it.
This caused the guards to flee in terror deeper into the Village.
We shut the gates behind us, ONCE MORE DOING SOMEONE ELSES FUCKING JOB, and made our way into the village.
It was a …depressing place. No music. No lights. Just dark windows and the sobbing of women.
It was extremely unsettling. But at least there were gates and we were on the other side of them. Not that the guards could do their damn jobs at them or anything.
The atmosphere of the place was getting to me, but a sense of paranoia pervaded the air and I couldn’t help but feel as if I was being watched. It was unsettling to say the least. At least by this point my head had stopped bleeding from where my ear had once been. Between Moira, Oswald, and Bry we had managed to clean it up, but I still felt extremely self-conscious about it.
When it started raining last night I was very glad of an excuse to put up my hood.
As we walked towards the only enjoyable sounds in the village we spied an old woman selling pies door to door. Watching her more closely I saw a family give a child in exchange for a pie. Extremely sketchy.
We heard a lot of weeping and wailing coming from one house in particular, but honestly I was so tired and just done at that point that I kept going. Oswald being Oswald went to check it out.
He told me later that he was tasked with finding the weeping woman’s missing daughter, Gertruda, and was given a doll of her likeness. He showed it to me and I can’t help but feel for the poor girl if the likeness of the doll is accurate, for the doll is hideous. Apparently it’s from a famous Barovian toy maker – Blinsky. Oddly enough I am not at all intrigued. More disturbed to be honest. I don’t know if I want to know someone who can make a human like doll look so…unsettling.
The tavern that we finally reached was warm but quiet. There were a LOT of people from Faerrun and Neverwinter here. I see several lesser noble houses here, not to mention the enormous number of adventurers as well. What’s more off-putting is the fact that they are all injured in some way or another.
A man came up behind us once we reached the counter and told the barkeep that our drinks were free tonight. A tall dark haired man, he introduced himself as Ismark Kollanavich.
The son of the Burgermeister who sent out the notice that we answered.
We sat together – Oswald thankfully returned at this point – and he told us why his father had sent out his desperate note.
I won’t lie to you the story both enthralled and worried me.
I already had faced two vampires and was one less ear because of it. How would we do against someone able to control other fell creatures?
Lord Ismark’s father had sent out notice for help as the Village of Barovia – where the Kollanavich family ruled – was under attack by fell creatures. Vampires – who apparently can travel by day or night as the valley has a grey half light with no visible sun – have been entering the village.
Their purpose: to take Ismark’s younger sister Ireena.
Two times in the past month they have attempted to take her. She is only 23 and never met the Count – who is the one controlling these creatures – and the entire family is at a loss as to why he is attempting to take her.
Three days before we arrived, the Burgomeiester, Ismark’s father died in his bed. From the stress it sounds like.
Ismark’s current dilemma is that he wants someone to take Ireena to the only metropolitan city in Barovia – Vallaki – to hide her away from the Count, but Ireena wishes to be present for her father’s burial.
I feel for the siblings. I know that if something were to threaten Bry in such a way I would do whatever I needed to keep him safe. But I understand Ireena as well. It must be hard to be placed in such a position. And it is frightening I’m sure to be preyed upon by someone who everyone keeps referring to as either “The Devil himself” or “The Land.” An appellation I am not ashamed to admit confuses the hell out of me. How can a being be “The Land?” It makes no sense frankly.
Still. That’s what the people call him. And while I have no compunction about using his name, we were told to use it sparingly.
We took the job – what else could we do, but help them – and we were given an exorbitant amount of money as a result. 4,000 as we were originally promised plus more.
We were told that Bildrith’s Mercantile could help us.
We also met the Bard that the Vistani talked about.
She’s…not what I expected…
Marushka Dragomir. She plays violin. Although play is a weak term for it.
She’s good. Very good. Better than good to be honest, but I’m tired and can’t think of much more adjectives to describe it.
I’ll blame it on the alcohol or the blood loss now that it’s morning but I gave her some gold. Why I honestly don’t know. I just…did.
She’s also one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen quite a few women.
She seems wary though and slightly skittish, her tongue as sharp as any knife. I’m not that witty though, unlike my brother, so I can’t really cross blades with her. Or tongues. Stars even in my own diary I’m awkward as hell. I’m more…the stilted academic.
But at least I can still admire her and her intelligence.
Already she’s told us some information – common knowledge here, but good to know in general. Vampires can be staked through the heart or burnt. Their bite is fatal. The best way to hurt them is with silver or holy water, and as we learned yesterday radiant damage.
Good to know.
Now that it’s morning we are off…
Well. That was both helpful and frustrating.
So bad news. Bildrith’s Mercantile is a crook. Worse rip off than Fenri. Everything is priced at least five times the normal amount and the owner is an asshole. We learned that if Ismark hadn’t been sponsoring us than it would have been 15 gold a piece to stay at the inn.
Worse news. Moira is gone. She apparently left some kind of note that Trevor got very upset over – poor man might have had a crush there – and took before I could see. From what Oswald said, since he actually did see it, she’s planning on fighting alone? I am a bit confused about her reasoning to be honest, but she always has been stubborn.
Also bad. Apparently Erkki ate some of that weird ladies pies last night. And then had nightmarish flashes of a windmill in his sleep accompanied by a cackling woman. When he woke up he discovered that he had sleepwalked and purchased and eaten three more of the things. So they have some sort of hallucinogenic property and are potentially made of children.
Unsure news. Bertram finally talked with me. As in actually had a conversation rather than me asking him to help, him being rude, then flying away. According to my familiar he is bound to me and that this land of Barovia does weird things to him. And I quote “you need to get your head out of your ass.” Which I assume is his odd way of saying be careful? Then he flew away again before I could actually contribute more to the conversation.
Honestly don’t know how to take that.
But we also got some stuff done.
We learned that Mad Mary was the woman Oswald talked to and the town consensus is that the woman drove her daughter away with her smothering. Oswald hasn’t given up on the woman bless him, although I agree from what the villagers say that it seems more likely that the girl ran away. Unfortunately that probably means that she is dead now, given that the woods surrounding the Village of Barovia are…infested for lack of a better term.
We went to the Church and met a Father Donavich there. An anxious nervous man who constantly mumbled and prayed. I can’t blame him though as his Church was destroyed, claw marks everywhere and the altar damaged.
He still gave us some holy water though, which was quite useful. He sounded quite mad though. And as we were talking with him we heard from beneath the floor boards and shrieking croaking cry of “Father let me out. I’m starving.” Upon hearing this Oswald cast his senses out and realized that Father Donavich’s son was undead, most likely becoming a vampire, despite his reassurances that he “was a good boy, just sick.”
The Father then told us that his son had traveled with a mage to fight Strahd many years ago and was presumed dead until he came back to his Father’s church a few days ago. We promised to help him with his son – even if none of us said what we were all thinking, that it might involve us putting the son out of his misery.
We went to Lord Ismark’s house and finally met Ireena.
Although she is only a year older than me, being only 23, she seems much older. Perhaps it’s the eyes. They seem older, tired, wiser maybe, than one would expect for a twenty three year old.
And she is beautiful. Oddly enough she looks quite a bit like the ghost from the ship. Tatianna. Gorgeous red hair. Serious face, with classically aligned features. Green eyes that appear to pierce the soul.
Stars. I’m boned. Too many beautiful women who could kill me are around me right now. Might die.
Not to mention Ireena looks like she could kill me with a single swipe of her blade. She looks deadly. Carrying her silver sword over her shoulder, armed to the teeth. Not that a blame her what with someone called “The Land” being after her.
Unsurprisingly Ismark didn’t know about vampire underneath the church. He agreed however that we could deal with that after his father’s funeral.
Erkki proved himself a capable stone mason and fixed up the Church almost single handedly. We received more holy water as a thank you.
The funeral will take place tonight outside in the graveyard. We will pay our respects and guard Ireena. Wish us luck!
The Valley
Well. I’m writing this. From relative…shelter…I suppose one could call it.
By no means do I feel in any way shape or form SAFE.
Anyways.
We arrived at the misshapen and delipidated dock in the morning.
Oswald, being the kind soul he is, attempted to see if there was anyway we could free the cursed Captain from The Gypsies Fury, but he told us that no one could help him.
We disembarked and as far as the eye could see, for an entire valley, there was nothing visible but woods and mist. Delightful.
The Captain told us that after eight hours through the woods we would reach a road and then four hours further, heading west, we would reach the Town of Barovia.
Apparently, there is only one road in the entirety of the Valley. Charming.
Mountains cup the valley and through the mist we got a glimpse of a spire for a brief second before it was obscured again. The Captain said that was our destination.
As he pulled away from the dock once more we discovered a badly bleeding dwarf in the shallows by the rotting dock.
He hailed us, seeming especially glad to see a fellow dwarf in Moira, and identified himself as Erkki. Apparently he had been hired to explore a cave system outside of Neverwinter and somehow traveled through them with his party only to end up here. Alone.
Suspicious.
Particularly with the claw like scratch marks that cover his face. But no matter…
But I figure that with five to one odds we probably don’t have anything to worry about with him and I’d rather have a potential enemy beside me than at my back. So with us he goes.
We began our long trek to the only town close enough to shelter at. Trevor naturally led the way, being a Belmont and all.
Surprisingly enough he seemed to do a fairly good job at leading us considering it was completely new territory.
I am a scholar, not a ranger or explorer, but even I could tell that there was something…unnatural about these woods. The trees grew too close together for one thing.
The feeling and tension in the air, like that of a graveyard, was another. Not to mention the mist everywhere. Not even quickly dissipating mist. It lingers…
Trevor stops us after a while saying grimly that he smells death. Bertram comes in handy then and I send him off to scout. Odd thing is…
Bertrams face is rotting. Well the left hand side is. There are maggots everywhere and he looks half dead. I won’t lie when I saw him I yelped a bit and asked if he was all right. He didn’t seem to notice, being rude, as is his wont towards me. I wonder why he looked so changed…
Anyway, Bertram said that there was a fresh body just off the path. When we reached it it was partially covered with leaves and claw marks.
We walked for some time. At some point we began discussing the scroll again and my brother pointed out that the scroll said “4,000 gold to whoever boards The Gypsies Fury.” Which my brother pointed out as having been completed, so technically we could leave after having gotten our money.
I sense a mystery though and if I have any failings, curiosity is my greatest. I want to know things! And the fact that there is a land that no one in Faerrun knows about is just too great a scholarly opportunity to pass up!
At one point we heard wolves and crows coming in from behind. I used my nifty spell, Mage Armor, to help protect myself. Stars only know that I am not as skilled in hand to hand combat as the rest of my siblings, though I am a fair shot with a crossbow.
Three wolves suddenly appeared in front of us.
Oddly enough Trevor seemed to be talking with them and the wolves seemed to be…listening? That is until Erkki swung at them like an idiot disrupting whatever Belmont-y thing Trevor was in the midst of doing. Fortunately despite his stupidity Erkki can fight and all of us survived the encounter.
Trevor told us as we walked that another Dark Wolf, larger than the rest, watched us from the shadows and followed us for some time.
The fight took some time though and dusk began approaching.
We heard voices in the woods, male voices, who appeared to be patrolling. They headed West through the woods, passing us by without notice. One of them mentioned a Lady Wachter? I have no idea who that might be, but all of us were glad to avoid notice.
At this point we finally reached the road. It was two carriages wide with pools of dark water standing everywhere.
According to the Captain it was now another four hours to reach the Village of Barovia, or Town or whatever it was. City? Fortress? Who bloody well cared at the time, for we sure didn’t!
We had to sleep at that point. Nothing of note really that night apart from the fact that Bry saw some weird glowing red light on his watch. Thankfully he was intelligent enough not to go investigate it like an idiot would.
As we woke the next day we saw through the mist a giant looming black castle, jutting out over a mountain. I still can recall the unsettling feeling of eyes watching us.
Fortunately by this point we finally discovered some – potential – allies.
A wagon came down the road manned by what look like Gypsies. They seemed friendly enough, introduced themselves as Vistani, and invited us to join them in their travel along the road. Safety in numbers and all that.
At one point we got another good view of the castle again. One particularly talkative man told us that it was called the Castle Ravenloft and was owned by the Devil himself – one Count Strahd von Zaravich.
When I heard this I couldn’t help the chill that swept through me even as I scoffed. How could someone be the Devil himself? And yet…
After seeing such strange things these past few days, with how my life has been going, I almost wouldn’t be surprised anymore.
These Vistani seem to be fairly open in regards to conversation. We managed to learn that the note we received gets sent out often as the Burgomeister needs help with his daughter. As they said this, several of them looked nervously back towards the Castle still present in the distance.
Upon seeing my curiosity they cryptically whispered “Never know who is listening.”
Unless this Count is some sort of master wizard able to scry for such distances I wonder at their worry. I hope it is unfounded.
Our conversation lasted for the entirety of the travel to the Village, so I shall summarize the most important points:
- The Vistani can travel the mists, which apparently kill you? I mean…okay…?
Which they claim sucks the life from you if you are in it too long. I don't particularly want to test it...
- The Vistani were apparently “given” this gift to serve the lord – this Count Strahd I’m guessing?
- Apparently there is a Bard who travels these parts like the Vistani but isn’t actually one?
This is apparently important as they seem to think she’d be willing to help be a local guide of sorts for us and can be found in the local tavern – “you’ll know her”
- The Vistani serve the lord by bringing people to Barovia – which is unsettling as that’s what happened and is happening with us – but what’s worse is that apparently we are “for the entertainment of the lord”
- Which led to us being told not to say his name too much, which I mean….that’s odd….
All of this added up together left me feeling both puzzled and completely worried.
Particularly about who this Lord was whose entertainment we were apparently here for…
We arrived at the gates of the Village at this point, which were guarded by huge warrior statues and 30 foot gates – huge for anything calling itself a village, maybe city would be more accurate? – that were apparently built in the year 431.
Which still throws me as we are in the year 738 right now. Perhaps they have a different dating system?
The chatty Vistani man told me before he left that the work was from before the mist came. Implying that it was not always this way…interesting…
He also said the Vistani could go back to Neverwinter and Faerrun through the mist, but that we would die by going through it. When I asked about how we were able to get there by ship the Vistani laughed at me.
Apparently according to them Barovia is landlocked – a valley – and The Gypsies Fury is apparently a wagon.
A mystery indeed. And a most perplexing one at that.
At this point the Vistani continued on through the village gates, while we were stopped.
Now I just wish that we had forced our way through and damned be the consequences.
But hindsight and all that…
The two guards who sent us claimed that we weren’t to be allowed in until we were deemed “safe” to enter the village and were basically made to go off and do THEIR jobs of finding two of their missing fellows.
I’m getting really sick of being made to do OTHER people’s jobs for them.
First Fenri and now these…buffoons.
But. There was no other seeming alternative at the time. We got a description and were told to bring back evidence.
Which we did. Unfortunately.
Trevor helped again. Bless the man, despite his foul temper and boozey odor.
We found them. What was left of them at least. Their throats were torn out. And standing over them were two…beings.
I will never forget them. Not as long as I live. Particularly the woman. That bitch.
They were tall. And pale, deathly pale. Oswald was the first to tweak onto it. They were undead. Vampires.
The fight was brutal. Brynden was hurt again. I’ll admit that I lost my temper and burned the male vampire very badly as a result. Which upset the female one. A lot.
She went after me.
Only good thing of the whole encounter was that we all survived. And we learned that radient damage affects vampires.
The male vampire died. We burned and beat him to death, then cut off his head.
The female vampire got away.
AND SHE FUCKING TOOK MY RIGHT EAR WITH HER.
The Ship
The day started off fine. I called upon my familiar again – Bertram is his name – and apologized for my rudeness. He made a rude remark then left in a hurry. Hopefully he will warm up to me. Eventually.
Given that the Belmont, Orc, Dwarf, and Bry all wanted to get on the ship and I honestly had no true objections either we got prepared today for an unknown length of time on a boat.
Upon reaching the ship it was…unexpected.
There was a lot of wear and tear on it, to be honest I don’t think I’ve seen a ship look like that before and not have something off about it. Whether it be crewed by pirates or smuggling something illegal, usually when a ship looks like that there is something not quite right.
The crew didn’t seem too off though. Mostly quiet rough men. Sailor types. The Orc, Oswald, helped them out immediately earning him some respect from them I think. Good he seems the type who deserves it. A good soul.
The Captain was on the secondary deck sitting there. Watching us. A curious man. I had so many questions for him. Where were we sailing? Why did the Burgermeister need help?
We were shown to our cabins though. Bry and I shared a bunk. He got the top of course. Although honestly I prefer it that way. Less likely to get to Bry before me if something goes wrong.
Heading back up to talk to the Captain – whose name is Edmond D Avinere, an interesting name – the group of us were told by a bald sailor that we shouldn’t go to the 2nd or 3rd decks. An odd warning, but I see no reason not to heed him at this time.
I went and spoke to the Captain. He wasn’t very chatty with me and for some reason Moira kept trying to get me to stop asking questions, which honestly I couldn’t understand. There was something off about this whole situation and the easiest way to figure it out was to gather information. Honestly…
Going back below we talked to the cook, a halfling named Bori. He told us at mess that the sailors are superstitious.
Given what I’ve heard this afternoon I quite agree.
Over the course of the afternoon I’ve overheard or been directly told the following:
- Ghosts have cursed the ship
- All the sailors are trapped and cursed
- Captain Edmond cannot go below top deck for any reason as he is cursed
- There is a new crew every voyage and no one every survives a journey
Oh and apparently we are sailing to the MYSTICAL LAND OF BAROVIA.
Which is odd to be sure as no such place exists on ANY map. Particularly as this place is supposedly three days to the East, when any fool knows that if you sail three days East from Faerrun you’ll be sailing into nothingness. No land, nothing.
I wonder now whether this man is in fact cursed. Cursed with insanity perhaps.
By the time that it began getting dark I and the rest of our party had noticed several strange things. We had left the coast completely behind, not even attempting to hug it, and in the exact direction we are sailing – dead ahead – there is a fog rolling in.
Odd because everywhere else there is nothing but clear skies.
Bertram flew by at this point and agreed that there was nothing in the direction we were heading. Telling me that this Barovia was nothing but a fairy tale and perhaps I should see the ships doctor.
Well fooey on him.
As darkness fell the sea became rough fast. Terrifyingly so. Unnaturally so.
I wondered then if perhaps the ship really was cursed and ensured that Brynden was safely ensconced in the top bunk, hopefully away from it all, despite his routine annoyance of me.
I allow him to pick at me, trying to act normal, but can’t help but fear for him. He’s my brother, I’m supposed to protect him. What if I’ve led him into something dark and beyond my ability to save him from?
Later I found out that Oswald had also felt something wasn’t right and had gone on deck. I am not sure of the particulars – as much as I respect him a scholar Oswald is not – he seems to have confirmed that the Captain is indeed cursed and that undead flood the ship at night to kill everyone on board.
I can attest to at least the last part.
Moira and Trevor had bunked together and she had sensed some evil presence on board and gone out to investigate. She got Bry and me up as well so the four of us stood in the hallway trying to figure out where Oswald was, when we saw it.
Or rather Moira saw it.
From what she told us it was – it being the only word I can think of to describe this thing – the figure of a red haired beautiful woman going downstairs.
According to Moira it was obviously a ghost. Brrr….
Oswald came down around this point and relayed to us that Captain Edmond had been trapped on this ship for the last 87 years, with zombies coming every three nights to kill the crew, but that Edmond himself can’t die. He just wakes up every morning and is forced to endure it all over again. That their purpose is to ferry adventurers wherever…
I felt pretty unsettled by this. But nothing compares to what happened next.
With out any warning I suddenly froze, unable to move. A feeling like spiderwebs and ice spread down my back, as a voice sounded in my head.
I honestly don’t remember what the voice said, only that it scared me to death, even more so when I was forced to move on my own towards the stairs that the ghost woman had just walked down.
I woke up a moment later, Oswald having ridden me of my seeming possession. I almost wish he hadn’t though as the sight I came to in, was most unpleasant.
The screams and cries of the sailors and crew as they were being butchered and eaten by six zombies. The only one to survive was Bori – the cook.
We tried to get to him, but the ghost who possessed me, then proceeded to possess him and others, resulting in Moira unfortunately killing him.
After a hard pressed fight – stars I have never fought zombies before so it was quite nerve wracking – we survived and destroyed them all.
As we stood in the hallway the zombies bodies rapidly decayed before our eyes, although they’d looked fresh only a few moments before. The hallway around us had changed, seemingly becoming old and dilapidated.
I opened my room for comparisons sake and everything in there looked the same. Only the hallway had changed.
We theorized then that the curse – at least for the adventurers traveling – took place over 3 days and that if we died here we too would become part of the crew.
Despite knowing that the ghost still roamed free, able and willing to possess us unless protected, we all managed to get a few hours of sleep.
Upon waking we traveled together into the bowels of the ship.
Crew mates that we had seen butchered alive and eaten the previous night were now whole and unmarked, seemingly alive, although obviously uneasy. None of them seemed to remember what had occurred the previous night. All except Bori.
The poor halfling looked traumatized.
We did manage to learn from him that this had been happening for the last 32 years. We tried to see if he knew how to get out, but he shook his head somberly. He did give us some valuable information though.
Apparently the curse affects the 3rd level and parts of the 2nd level the first night, then the 2nd level the second night, before affecting even the 1st level on the third night.
Upon hearing that my hot-headed younger brother suggested that we take the fight to the 3rd floor and whatever abomination lurked there during the day, when we were prepared.
Although I deplore such reckless behavior, he is after all my baby brother, I couldn’t fault his logic.
Neither could the rest of the party. So down we went.
There was nothing visible at first except shadow. Oswald managed to tell us that there were zombies there though, as well as something else.
We took the fight to them this time, with some well placed fire spells on my part and a lot of cooperation as a group. Together we fought back the zombies only to face the hidden creation: a meat monster – some sort of Golem perhaps – made form the flesh of all of the adventurers that had come before.
To be honest I had to fight back a few retches at the stench and sight of the creation.
But I didn’t really have time for more as our not so friendly ghost had come back. We learned through magic that her name was Tatianna and got a cryptic message about her: she was the siren in the dark, the woman in the white dress, and not to invoke her name.
Brynden later told me he was tempted to, especially when I got hurt during the fight. For all that he likes to pretend otherwise, my brother is just as protective of me as I am of him.
We did manage to destroy the zombies and flesh golem, but we weren’t able to dismiss the supposed Tatianna. Apparently there was something on that ship that kept ghosts there. The flesh golem did get one good hit in: he smashed a hole in the bottom of the boat.
Oswald somehow – miraculously in fact – managed to plug the hole with the monster itself.
An unorthodox if ingenious plan.
By the time the fight ended we were all exhausted and bloody but alive. We had survived.
We returned to the top deck to speak once more to Captain Edmond and as we reached the top deck, the mist parted and we could see that we were fast approaching an enormous valley covered in vast forests with a small port.
“Welcome to Barovia,” Captain Edmond told us with a slightly nasty grin.
Damn. I wish I had left Brynden at home.
Waterdeep
Father said yes!
I finally got his and Mother’s approval to pursue my life’s work! Or at least going out into the world to FIND my life’s work. Mother has been insisting I “do something with myself” for years now, ever since I turned 18. Considering I’m 22 now it’s been a bit.
But now I can go to Water Deep! And maybe I’ll figure out what to actually do with my life. Theo wished me well and gave me some money for books and Rina was away but before she left she’d given me a new chain for my foci so I could turn it into a necklace. Bry sulked at dinner. I tried to talk to him but he walked away after dinner and went into his room. I hope he will come out to tell me goodbye tomorrow…
THAT ARSE!
HE FUCKING SNUCK AWAY AND JOINED US!!!!!
I. HAVE. NO. WORDS.
So my brother snuck away from home and joined the caravan that I was traveling to Water Deep with. He was intelligent and packed appropriately and kept his distance from me until three days into the journey – too far to turn around – which showed some forethought on his part. But it was a DUMB decision. He is 16. He is still a CHILD. Not only is leaving home at this point the utter peak of dumbass teenagerdom, he also didn’t tell our parents.
He joked with me about how he didn’t want me to have all the adventures. It makes me wonder how true that statement was. Maybe he didn’t want me to leave? Regardless it was foolish. But if he left for me than that is…sweet.
It’s not sweet. He’s flirted with every single woman in this caravan apart from me, including the married ones. I’ve had to head off THREE angry men from calling for satisfaction for his behavior. Fuck. Dammit Bry I might love women as much as you, but fuck at least try and pay attention to who you flirt with.
My brother is an arse. He flirted with the girl I found attractive. After I mentioned how beautiful I thought she was. I’m going to kill him.
We’ve been traveling about a week now. It’s not been so bad. The roads this side of Farrune are well traveled and don’t really have any problems. There were a few bandits, but nothing that our group couldn’t handle. I alone could have probably handled them to be honest. Father made sure all of his children could defend ourselves if need be. Particularly as in his words “all of his children were remarkably attractive and would one day have to fend off unwanted attention.”
He’s not wrong. Many women, and several men, have been eyeing Bry up over the journey – both amongst our group and at the places we stay at. I am sure that I must be receiving some of the same given the dark looks I’ve seen Bry direct at some men over the course of the journey. Honestly though I can’t be bothered. There is so much to see and record! And so many interesting people to talk to! I’m sure I’ve annoyed more than a few people, given the way that Bry has dragged me away more than once.
I’ve always been fairly bad about reading the room so to speak. I always like to know more. Knowledge is the most powerful tool in the world, the most powerful weapon, and I intend to use it for good!
I swear that I WILL learn something that no one else has and my discovery shall change the world for the better!!!!
Several ideas and notes in shorthand have been scratched through here.
Well we finally arrived in Water Deep. Bry and I are staying at the Dancing Cyclops. The innkeeper on discovering that we were brother and sister asked – quite amiably I might add – if we would be sharing a room. Brynden rather rudely put the man off, saying “No way in hell am I sharing with my chatterbox of a sister.” While I am in agreement about not sharing a room with my little brother, it wasn’t necessary to be rude to the innkeeper. He was after all meaning well. After we got our room keys, Bry immediately ran off – probably to bathe and change knowing him – but I stayed behind to apologize to the innkeeper. He looked oddly pleased by it, but waved off the apology saying he was used to some mild rudeness from young men particularly young nobles. I almost asked him how he knew we were nobles but then again the name Chandler isn’t exactly common and Father was fairly famous. Plus I suppose our money and clothes give us away…
AARGH! This is so frustrating!!! You would think after days of exploring the book stores and shops and libraries in Water Deep that I would have found SOMETHING for my trouble. But NOTHING. ZIP. Zilch. Nada.
I am going to get drunk tonight.
I am nnever drinkng agn
A LEAD!!! Finally. I met a dwarf book broker named Fenri. He promised that he would get me a spellbook that would teach me things “I had yet to learn at that fancy wizards school you intellectuals go to.” While I am quite doubtful of this as well as his exorbitant charges, I am honestly at a loss as to what else I can do. It’s been two weeks after all now. And while I’m not exactly impatient, I would like to at least get started with…something…at this point.
Well haven’t heard in Fenri in a few days I- well I just heard Bry’s voice. Better check on him. Last time he almost started a bar brawl.
Well. That was…unexpected. To say the least. So. Many things happened just now. Let’s list them shall we.
1. My Father hired a hunter to follow me and protect me – not just A hunter. A Belmont. What the hell Father?!
Addendum 1: Still part of the above but an addendum – Father knew that Bry went with me. Why didn’t he stop him? Bry is a danger to himself not to mention a pain in my arse. Although he would argue that it’s the other way around.
Addendum 2: Also there was a Half-Orc who apparently got hired by the hireling? Is that, is that even allowed?
2. My book broker – SOLD ME A BOOK THAT HE DIDN’T EVEN FUCKING HAVE!!!!
So it’s the 2nd one that actually is where it gets interesting. In short order after discovering this my brother, two protectors, and I shortly learned the following:
- The book had been stolen by a gang called the Seven Claws that’s turf is down t the harbor
- Fenri is a cowardly sack of lying shit
- He wanted US to go get the book from the gang rather than get me the promised product himself
- Fenri has a wife named Moira that he is terrified of and wants killed
- So Fenri sent us to get Moira to then go get my book
Moira Hammersong is an attractive dwarrowdam and very intelligent. I like her way of speaking, it’s very lyrical. I don’t appreciate how she is constantly rude and insulting towards me however. I somehow get the feeling that she thinks I’m foolish. Which I suppose in a certain light I am. I however prefer the term driven.
I liked the murals in her house at any rate. Maybe if we stick together long enough I’ll have enough time to ask her about them?
Anyways. We traveled to where we were told the Seven Claws were staying. I got hold of some information that said where a potential location was of the items that I needed. We scouted it out and saw men standing guard. The Half-Orc - apparently named Oswald? – said that the Seven Claws were a nasty group of bandits that had moved into Water Deep a little bit ago and mainly just controlled this area of the docks and shipping. But that they were trying to break out into bigger things. Which honestly explained why they were stealing magic and arcane items…
Bry asked if I had any gold left – because of course he used his – and without really thinking about it I gave him some of mine. He fucking gave it to the men on guard!!!!
Which I mean it worked, which is what we wanted, but that was MY money!!!! Dammit.
Then Bry did something weird and kept making faces but then suddenly knew where the book was and how many men there were. Suspicious…I wonder if he’s been dabbling with my spellbooks again…
Regardless we came upon the entrance just as their leader – a fellow named Anslow it would seem – was saying something about a Sangron? And not letting him out? It wasn’t particularly clear as just then the Belmont – an older man than I going by the name of Trevor – walked in saying he had to take a piss. Rude.
But what was more rude was the reaction of the men inside. Very crude they were. Said some right nasty things to myself and Moira. We – naturally – ended up taking them on.
It was quite the battle I must say. Moira had some extremely brutal spells in her arsenal, melting one man’s face off. I burned quite a few men myself, with Trevor and Oswald being the skill and brute strength respectively. It was Bry that surprised me honestly.
I wasn’t expecting him to start using spells like he did let alone bring out AN ENORMOUS SPIDER that apparently he can communicate with. A familiar I learned afterwards.
And then not so surprisingly Bry went down. I saw red of course. I will not let anyone mess with my little brother, they would have to get through me first. I killed the man who hurt him in my rage. Honestly didn’t intend to do that, but he hurt Bry and I was so afraid that well I lost my temper. The last bandit killed himself rather than face us. I have a lot to think about with that…
Anyways, by this point it was Oswald versus this Anslow person – who surprisingly enough turned out to be a half-Orc himself but much less cultured than Oswald appeared to be. Oswald eventually won, with the rest of our help, and it was at that point that the…Sangron? The box containing whatever it was began to glow. Might I add that this was an 8 foot tall box and the glow was intermittent like flames. And with Anslow dead it began to shake. Then a flaming sword erupted from the top of the box.
Well.
We decided to get the hell out of there after that, took the two boxes and fled.
Inside the first box we found 75 gold – 15 a piece – and my rare spellbook. Which turned out to be not so rare after all – only containing 2 spells within it that I did not know. One of them was very interesting to me: a find familiar spell. I’ve been looking for this one for some time. Something Fenri must have heard about and suspected I wouldn’t come after him for cheating me of my money and nearly killing me, if I received it.
Surprisingly he thought right.
The second box was the interesting one though. Inside it was full of dirt with two pieces of parchment: a deed to something called The BoneGrindr – an ill omened sounding name if ever I’ve heard one – and a writ of passage.
The writ of passage was what intrigued me. It was addressed to Anslow and/or company and it offered 4,000 gold pieces to whoever came to the Gypsy’s Fury, presented the writ there, and took the Gypsy’s Fury to whatever it’s destination was. What was fascinating was it’s signature. It was signed the Bergermister en derovitch.
Now I might not be the most knowledgeable about family trees and the like, but as far as I know there is no Derovitch family in all of Farrun. Nor do I know of any one Bergermister that could afford to pay 4,000 gold pieces to any one group of travelers. There is something interesting here, some mystery to uncover. I want to discover it but Bry is with me. I’m nervous about him going into the unknown with me.
But in the end it’s Bry who insists. He wants the 4,000 gold pieces and I must admit that amount of money is extremely tempting. I just worry about the cost.
We all decided to return to the Dancing Cyclops. Moira while there gave Fenri quite the scare – well deserved in my opinion. We all began to prepare to travel tomorrow and I went upstairs to use the spell.
Find familiar…didn’t go exactly as I thought it would. Oh it found him all right. He’s a raven and his name is Bertram. But he’s a lot…different than I expected. I don’t know, I guess I thought my familiar would be an extension of myself, an automatic close friend and companion. He was actually quite sarcastic and rude to me. Claiming I was a foolish girl when I tilted my head to the side like he did and saying that his hobby was making little girls like me their puppets. Quite rude if you ask me.
Although to be fair in my excitement I did immediately after dismiss him, which was in turn quite rude of me. I hope I can make it up to him…
Before Waterdeep...
Elaine Chandler
Discovered by Brynden Chandler upon the death of his sister
Entries from her personal diary
First entry early in the new year
Dear diary,
That feels so odd to say! But Rina says that you need to address the diary when you get a new one. At least at first. I think it’s foolish but she insisted that it was bad luck to not do it. I think she’s just messing with me, but to be honest there is no harm in it regardless.
But this diary was a gift from father. The leather bound pages and blue st0ne in the front draw me in, but it would never have been something I would have bought for myself. It’s obviously costly, but I think that father is right that having such a thing is necessary.
My studies do require me to have a place to keep my thoughts.
I’m worried what going away will do to Bry though. Rina and Theo like him – he’s their younger brother for God’s sake – but Bry always seems to believe the worst of them. I wonder if it’s the last vestiges of his issues from before coming to our family. He doesn’t like to talk about that time. Maybe I was a bad sister, because I never made him when he first came to us. I was just so excited to finally have a younger brother that I didn’t want to make him think of the time before – before us.
Maybe that was a mistake.
He doesn’t like talking about emotions anyway, but me never forcing the issue might have made it worse. I’ll have to think on this…
I am in love! Alissa of Luskan shines like the sun, her intelligence and vivacious wit brightening every conversation. Tomorrow I shall gift her some flowers and see which way the wind blows.
Tragedy! Alissa is betrothed to a man from Luskan and is only here for a few weeks. But once did her perfect lips touch mine before we were parted forever! Alas!
I shall now drown myself in the pond in the backyard.
Drowning was too much trouble. But there was a very interesting turtle living at the bottom of the pond. Bry made fun of my sodden state so I threw a mudpie at him. Father laughed so hard he almost pissed himself, although the scolding we both received from Mother made it much less entertaining. Rina braided my hair before bed tonight and had a long talk with me. I have determined that it wasn’t love, but just an infatuation. Maybe one day I’ll find love.
Some unintelligible scribbles that appear to be a mix of several different languages version of shorthand and some hastily scratched out notes on various ‘mysteries’ of NeverWinter that have been solved.