Galinndan's Legacy Journal B

Tiban

11-6-1859

The Haraldic Library

Excerpt from Golian's Journal
Location: Two miles East of Nassis
Active party members: Avecin, Gheshtal, Golian, Mavrorgi, Theren

Our party, weary and bloodied after our fight with the ensorcelled, death-craving Efreeti within a pocket dimension of the Haraldic Library, decided to move forward. My companions had gained the benefits of a short rest after I cast Catnap upon them, and soothed their wound and minds with my harp, giving some healing and respite, but we were still damaged and no where near to full strength. After defeating numerous undead and floating horrors, we explored the full maze within room one, finding nothing but a few additional wandering monsters. Theren, the only member of our party able to open the doors of the Library, opened each of the other two in turn. In one, we found nothing but bodies – in another, the pale body of a local Bishop.

Here too we discovered the monstrous horror of the Library, a terrible psychic being of tremendous power, that may have been sucking the power out of the souls and creatures within. Knocking one of our party flat for ten rounds with his first blow, we engaged it while fighting off numerous minor minions that surrounded it. A cleverly placed wall of flame blocked its retreat and reinforcements, but all seemed lost when a terrible psychic spell appeared to turn Mav against us. As the maddened light rose in his eyes, a brilliant counterspell cast at the last instant broke the bond, and the horror reeled back in shock! We pressed the attack, and blades and magic missiles brought our foe down at last, burning to a heap of cinders. We bandaged our wounds, respectfully moved the body of the Bishop to the main chamber and continued our research into the mysteries of the Library.

We were confused by the symbols on the doors and how they related to our quest to find a soul to empower Mav's hammer, and learn more about this god of design. In frustration we attempted more contact with random soul jars, with the same effect as before – persons within the pocket dimensions looked at a light on the wall, saw that it was unlit, and hurled us out with psychic damage. We tried different symbols, and to our consternation found that the mazes were the exact same, no different – save the entry for the chamber from which we had removed the Bishop’s body no longer appeared. During discussions, one of the closed doors was blown open by a spell – but a search of that chamber revealed nothing of note as well.

Finally, after much thought, as we sat in the main chamber with weapons and instruments disgruntledly cast beside us, Mav had the brilliant thought that perhaps the symbols were more than designations. He was right! They were maps, showing the locations of the correct soul jar for the name we had chosen within the maze. Once the code was cracked, we quickly assembled the three jars from the three names and made our way to the anvil Mav had found earlier, where he forged the dark rapier Nustangaci for me, granting my earnest plea, with the help of 5,000 gold pieces provided by my friends. I will certainly repay the coffers with treasures I find. With his hammer now empowered and my rapier empowered with the soul of my old Mentor, Mav led us out of the Library, where we answered the amazed questions of the local clerics, assuring them that as long as no one entered the Library, no horrors would emerge, and that all could move forward in peace.

We return to our camp to take stock of our new-found knowledge, and I sit here by the water, writing, more awake than I have ever felt in my life. Energy burns within me, my passions somehow become a tangible force I can feel within my breast. My road has been one of whim and reaction long enough, since my life and family were torn apart almost a year ago – my resolve strengthens, bolstered by the new energy within me. I will no longer be pushed by fate and tide – I will create my fate, forge it with the metal of my soul on the anvil of this mad, dark world. The fisherfolk of the wastes I wandered as a youth had a saying, that saltwater cures all things – be it sweat, tears or the sea. Of shameless sweat I have had plenty, and of private tears I have had enough. My road, now, lies with the sea.

11-9-1859

Ruins of Apophia

From the journal of Sleyd Alaith
Location: Underdark, Tiban, Apophia
Active party members: Regianna (and Freddie), Roshan, Sceloran, Tenebral, Sleyd
Inactive party member: Oskar

We set out to discover, to rescue. Possibly for revenge. I knew it would be dangerous, but not how lucrative. Regianna's people had quite a nasty run-in with a group of druids, or was it demons? Her people fled at the time but we hoped to assess her homeland of Apophia and learn more; why is knowledge always so difficult to attain? The five of us set off for Apophia on a ship, landed near Nassis and caravaned down river until we saw Apophia up on the hill. Regianna seemed to take its appearance remarkably well... the destruction was great. A bit too familiar for me; if you stay away from cities, you don't have to see them be destroyed. Coming upon the hill from the back side, we saw a large structure that appeared to have tumbled (possibly been thrown? what could do that?) down the side of the hill from the city above. We recognized the structure, broken at the base of the hill, as a protective housing for the city's warding Fahrstone. At this point, Sceloran showed off his value as a detector of magic, seeking for more information about what happened. The Fahrstone was not inside, of course, but was dragged off towards the west. We needed Fahrstone, but we also wanted to discover more about the state of the city. We circled the hill to find a reasonable way into the city (I am not a fantastic climber).

As we entered the city, wild vegetation grew thicker and thicker. We approached up the smaller western hill without trouble and came upon another Fahrstone enclosure. Apophia was large and well-defended, once. This ward was intact, and nearby Tenebral scouted out a dwelling containing farmers and some bards. The room also happened to be full of cows. More cows than you expect to find in a dwelling. They were Regianna's people and we agreed to help and protect them, to bring them back to Kier if no other better option presented. They told us of terrible nightly sounds of beasts from the east end of the city. Without its Fahrstone, it could have been anything. Since Regianna's keep was at the far end of the city, we set out together for that.

We had to fight our way to the keep. Druids had occupied the eastern end of the city and, given Regianna's last experience there, combat broke out almost immediately. I was able to keep my companions from being too badly injured, largely (heh) by turning myself into an enormous creature! Acid dripped from me and I interposed myself between hostile beasts and my new friends. Much of the cityscape was so transformed by overgrowth of every kind of plant, it was unrecognizable as urban. Nevertheless, we made it to the castle. Regi knew of a secret side entrance used by staff, and we made for that in an attempt to avoid the activity around the front of the keep. The party surprised a group of thieves engaged in divesting Regianna's royal coffers of their wealth.

We attempted communication with the tiger-like beings collecting treasure, but could not make ourselves understood. Even pantomime failed us as it became clear the fiery serpent leading the thieves harbored no interest in tolerating our continued presence. As we fought them, a disturbing grinding sound began from the other side of the far wall of the treasure-strewn room. Faced with the decision to rescue a bit of Regianna's wealth and leave, or stay on, fighting and learning in equal measure, we opted to strike further in, against Sceloran's better judgment. Then the far wall collapsed! That grinding noise stopped as Kruthik tunnelers burst out, on leashes leading back towards several more fiery serpents. I knew that much flame in an enclosed space could be a problem for us; seeking to separate the advancing snakes, I Slowed one and suggested a fighting retreat to the others. We managed to face off against only one of the flaming things at a time, until only 1 remained, with a contingent of those horrible biting insect servants. Again I spoke the words and transformed into a gigantic beast, and that time I was able to place the form I took, as it resembled the Kruthik tunnelers. I was a Hive Lord and, spewing acid and swinging claws, I joined my allies in securing the treasure room.

Once we'd handled the immediate danger, we split off to explore what turned out to be the bottom level of Regianna's old home. We found damaged altars that Regi recalled her father using for teleportation, and more valuable tapestries, silverware, currency and the like. I have to mention the terribly black door, if it even makes sense to call something that large and featureless a door. Sceloran had very strong misgivings about making any attempt to go through the door so we held back. Since I was still very large and strong in my Kruthik form, my companions loaded me down with Regianna's valuables and we made our way out the front doors of the castle and back across the city to where we had left the farmers. Night fell and so did my transformation just as we arrived, and we set watches for sleep.

Chasing the Fahrstone

From the Journal of Sleyd Alaith
Location: Apophia, Tiban
Active party members: Oskar, Regianna (and Freddie), Roshan, Sceloran, Tenebral, Sleyd

Something happened during the night, I think. Those druids were doing something, but we made it to morning. We had more of the keep to explore, more interesting trinkets and valuable objects to rescue so we took off to the east again after breakfast. The strange thing is: the landscape was different around us than it had been the day before. There were new, huge trees, and streams flowing through parts of town in which you do not expect to see streams. As we came to a small river running right across our path, animals bounded from the overgrowth and attacked us, including an enormous crocodile from the direction of the water. My allies and I engaged them in combat but more beasts approached, and we used large trees to fashion a makeshift bridge across the river.

We came upon the front of Regi's castle and found it transformed. Pieces of odd statues were set up around the entry courtyard, elephantine and humanoid. Some of the smaller ones were covered in spider webs. We skirted left around a water feature, heading for a small temple-like structure in the center of the courtyard. Roshan bashed in a door on the side and, exploring the inside, managed to summon a terrible visage. It looked like a tiger demon, likely what Regianna had described cursing her father, and it wanted our help getting at whatever was behind that large, blacker-than-black door we'd seen the day previous. I think it threatened us but it might have offered us something in exchange; it's difficult to distinguish. Either way, we thought helping it get in there would be terrible and politely declined. The tiger-demon cursed Roshan, summoned wolves from the surrounding area, and magically blocked the doors into the dilapidated temple to ensure we couldn't get away. Some of our group began scaling the walls to get out while the rest of us defended the flank and we slowly made a fighting retreat. Just as our strength and magic began to turn the tide against the rakshasa, it suddenly disappeared. Why do they always do that? Slippery... Still, it definitely could have been worse; we all lived, though Roshan did not look good. My companions quickly explored the courtyard a bit more and we eventually returned to the western edge of town.

Having significantly lessened the overall threat in Apophia, we prioritized chasing the slowly escaping fahrstone. Regianna could tell that humanoid tracks had approached the protective Fahrstone building we'd found at the base of the hill and that elephants had then dragged it, so we figured druids of the Autumn Grove, prior aggressors against Apophia, were using Wild Shape to steal the Fahrstone. The six of us left Apophia the way we had entered, found our way back to the Fahrstone tracks and began to follow them.

It ended up taking us a couple of days of steady march, following the tracks much more quickly than they were made. We found the last encampment the group of druids had made, and within it, evidence that there was also a military contingent from Thundermarl among the druids. We began to consider a more careful approach, uncertain as to what we were about to find, when a great baying of hounds, likely numbering over 20, was heard far off in the distance behind us! Around the same time, a fierce storm whipped quickly up head. Hoping to avoid ending up sandwiched between foes, we hurried to complete our chase of the Fahrstone. The Fahrstone lay there, in a large clearing right in the midst of a thick forest, unguarded. Tenebral went ahead and carefully scouted the clearing, and though tracks led off to the southwest from it, the area around the Fahrstone seemed safe so we approached. All the while the sound of the hounds grew closer. We recognized that we couldn't move the Fahrstone towards our boat quickly enough to avoid meeting up with whatever pursued, and since we also didn't know where the druids had gone off to, we sought to find them, heading in the direction of Thundermarl.

Leaving the radius of the ward kicked off one of the craziest days of my life. The forest around us became so wild. The storm raged around us, and we tried to chase down the druids, but we lost the tracks. Between the storm and the baying, I did not want to be out in the middle of nowhere. Everything felt just a bit safer standing near that giant piece of Fahrstone, so we turned back. That was when we saw the webs. Covering trees, the ground, everything around, huge sticky webs spread across our path back. Hastening to cut through and make it back to relative safety we found ourselves beset by all manner of spiders. Large spiders, really extremely large spiders, and a pair of ettercaps leading them charged out at us from the webbed forest. They offered us scant challenge, as fire and holy power smote spiders in a great cacophony, and Regi's weasel acquired a taste for arachnid. As I suspected, the webs grew thickest and most difficult to cut through right as we reached the outer radius of the Fahrstone's influence, and we returned to the chunk without further incident. From atop the piece we watched more spiders toil around us, building more web, as the sound of the hounds grew closer. Finally, a strange fire began to burn away the webs at the edge of the clearing, and a large serpentine head appeared just outside the clearing. From its mouth issued forth that sound, of twenty or more dogs furiously howling. It could only have been the mythic Wild Hunt, happening before my eyes! The questing beast passed us by and in short order, we saw the mounted huntsmen in pursuit. We recognized the danger outside the clearing growing steadily and waited out the fierce and wild storm near Apophia's stolen Fahrstone.

Eventually, the storm petered out and the forest around us returned to normalcy. Oskar and I transformed into strong beasts in shifts and used the sled and harness the druids had attached to the Fahrstone to gradually bring it back to the river beside Apophia. Mav brought the ship downriver from Nassis and we loaded the Fahrstone, the Apophian farmers, and their cows aboard. As we prepared to depart for Kier Island, concerns were voiced about Apophia's fate in our absence, and the other, larger piece of Fahrstone still atop the western hill. We hadn't managed to deal much with the Autumn Grove in a macro sense; we didn't have the capacity to bring the western Fahrstone with us. Sceloran, however, was confident he could burn away the white outer shell and get at the much smaller colored core. That idea made some people very uneasy but we did not want the valuable stone in druid hands again, and the power and research potential of whatever was in the middle was too good to pass up. Sceloran climbed the western hill again, with Oskar as a backup escape plan, and made his attempt and Fahrstone surgery.

It went so horrifically wrong. From down on the ship I felt the river and everything around shudder, shift, shake and fall. Up above, the hillside was rent in two and replaced by a hellscape. Just as suddenly, the ground around Apophia split open, and city and hellscape both were swallowed up. The ground closed and both were entirely gone. Oskar and Sceloran flew back to us on the ship, appearing shaken beyond belief, and I passed out.

Isamarch

2-18-1860

Lair of the Flow Beasts

From the journal of Regianna Kier
We have embarked on a journey to find a flow beast. They are paying top dollar for the heads of the creatures and we could use some money. Hopefully soon we can bring my people home. Well, to our new home... Apophia is lost forever it would seem... but we must keep pressing on We journeyed for some time, encountering people only going the opposite direction. They speak of horrible beasts and danger, but we've seen worse I'm sure.

We have come to an abandoned town. There are few dead but no one living. We continue to search for clues. We looked all over the village and found a field with cows. Using speak with animals, we discerned that there were creatures that came out every couple days to feed some livestock. They seemed human sized but the cows could not help much more than that. They directed us towards a cave and we stumbled upon a lair. We will have to see what dangers are within.

It turns out that inside was a heavily booby-trapped kobold den. We were crushed by rocks into a pit, poisoned by flowers, attacked by giant crocodiles, and burned by secret fire traps while trying to balance on logs. We made the great decision to split up, and we nearly paid for it with out lives. Parts are still fuzzy as I fell unconscious in the mouth of a great crocodile, but I was stabilized and we all made it out. I still don't know how, it all happened so fast. But we retreated to the town and barricaded ourselves in a house over night. We will hopefully get a long rest and regroup.

Luck is not on our side! Overnight we were surrounded by Kobolds and burned out of the house! We fought valiantly as we could despite our many injuries sustained in the cave that day. We took out a number of kobolds, but there was a flow beast as well! The stench was horrific and it took all we had to fend it off. But we succeeded! And now we have a head to claim the prize! we just have to survive long enough to turn it in... We have a horrible dilemma: run as fast as possible to put as much distance between is and this horrible place as possible but risking exhaustion, or rest and recover but risk being attacked again. We must run for now!

We made it back to town! We ran through the night, hearing enemies following us. We left the road and hid in the forest but were still being pursued. With Sleyd's quick thinking, we hid and left a false track leading back the way we had come. It must have worked because we made it back to town and we all survived. Now for some rest, relaxation and recovery.

We are all refreshed, and we have decided to go back and finish the job. We have one head, but there is so much more to explore. This time, we will stick together and we have an idea of what is coming.

At the cave entrance, we started a fire and blew the smoke in, trying to smoke the kobolds out. They claimed they had hostages so we relented. Once inside, there were many of the same tricks but we were better prepared. We stuck together, going through the room with fire, but avoiding the traps. We found a room with a large pit and logs laid across. Sleyd, Oskar and I were able to transverse this in pursuit of the kobold insurgents. Tenebral was not able to make it when the logs were knocked loose. She explored other parts of the cave with Freddie. We have not had time to check in with all she found yet.

In the pursuit, we found 4 poor hostages the kobolds have been holding, locked in cages along side livestock. We fought through this room, fighting 5 kobolds at once and trying to keep the hostages safe. Once we drove them back, I had to go fetch Tenebral and Freddie from across the gorge as I fear we will need a full team to fight what comes next. We were finally able to speak to the hostages at that point.

One man alone appears to have any semblance of sanity left, though he appears to be on the edge of losing it. The other 3 lay there, silent and eerie. The man informed us that they have been tortured beyond what can be believed. The kobolds lock these poor people in a room with livestock and remove farstone - waiting for them to lose their minds and become horrible monsters. The other captives hear this transformation, hear their friends and family scream and can only wait for their turn. My heart weeps for their suffering.

We do not know what lies beyond and there is no way out behind us. I fear we may be trapped and may be as good as dead. Unfortunately, the captives are safer locked behind a protective fence at this time than free. I fear that there is a horrible battle ahead and with all that these people suffered, I believe that they are a greater danger to themselves that we can imagine. How can we fight while having to carry the wounded? Who knows what torture has done to the mind. Their behavior will likely be erratic and dangerous, for us and them. To free them, just to have them be murdered is not justice. I feel cruel leaving them behind, but I fear for their safety too much to let them out until we know there is a better place for them to go to. We must push ahead and return when we can actually save them. I swear to them that we will not leave without them. There is a great deal of debate about this but we do not have time to argue further.

At the end (I hope its the end) of the passageway, we found 2 enormous flow beasts. They have the ability to kill with just a glance. I succumbed at first, but somehow held on at the last second. Sleyd transformed into an enormous snapping turtle and was able to deal a huge amount of damage while distracting their eyes! Tenebral and I fired blindly but managed to hit the creatures with arrows. Oskar bravely cast moonbeam, bringing the beasts to their knees!

In the midst of it all, the kobolds removed the farstone from the room with the captives! There were too many people and Tenebral frantically tried to free the prisoners. Oskar screamed out that dead creatures will not count towards the transformation of living into a flow beast. As painful as it was, Tenebral and I had to kill the livestock off to prevent another flow beast from forming. We were successful and the transformation processed ceased, though one bull survived and ran towards the flow beasts. We much carry more farstone with us, this was way too close for comfort.

Oskar has fallen to the beast. Despite exception valor, he was killed by its evil eyes. Sleyd was able to kill the beast only after becoming a giant scorpion. We have won but lost a dear friend. We must hurry to have him reincarnated after all he has done for us! We have killed 2 more flow beasts, but at such a high cost!! We will take the captives back with us and try to get them help as best as we are able. I fear it may be too late for their minds.... We are not out of here yet....