This portion of the Journal chronicles our adventurers mission to assist a monastic order and it's leader. It's something of a mystery. A secret conspiracy. An enigma involving a bestiary, a meteorite, and the 'Books of Prophecy'. Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!

Real-world date: 07 Aug 2004
Game-world date: 30 Jularva - 07 Augot 1001
Written by: Thalidimar

Where we left off last session:
The party survived! Fighting their way past the Rusty Hinge tribe, the managed to flee with their lives. Later, it was discovered that Ashedyn had in fact recovered the legendary artifact, the Rondolim. They sent the axe to the head of the Dwarven army, and set out on their return journey. Minus Kagnythus and three other party members. It was a deadly quest - but a worthy cause. Without the Rondolim, the thin ranks of the Dwarves and Dalesman couldn't possibly stand up to the legion of Orcs assembled against them. Left behind are: Emrikol, Solindria, Nibori and Kagnythus.

The party is back in Willip now. They've collected reward, healed their wounds, split up the treasure, taken on some new party members, gotten some paper work out of the way, and signed up for a new dangerous adventure. Presented here, are Thalidimar's thoughts on the 7th of Augot, 1001.

Now that we are back from the magic axe adventure, and have split up the booty, it's near time to do some training. And what great loot it was! I got three magic items that will help protect me from danger: A small ring of protection, some super hardened greaves, and gauntlets that allow me such dexterity I can swing my mace twice as fast. I wish I had these when we battled those blood thirsty evil trolls, damn them to the netherworld.

I'm really looking forward to working with a high level cleric who can teach me something more about my chosen profession. Although, I know I'll be more than ready for another adventure after 12 long weeks of learning.

I went to the Temple today and met with the high priestess. I've been contemplating what special powers my holy symbol (from Misha Devi) will be imbued with. She was very straight forward and polite as always. I'm just glad she agreed to meet with me on such short notice. She said she was sorry to hear about our dead comrades. I appreciated her words, but it made me sad all over again. They will be missed, especially the beautiful Elven ranger. Perhaps it's better that I did not express my feelings out in the open.

When I asked the high priestess her advise on the symbol, she told me to seek out Telkan Nacklu. I thanked her for her audience and her comforting words. When I went to look for Telkan, whom I had just met on the way in, he had already left the building. Funny, both Favius the acolyte and Telkan gave me a coin, and I have yet to look at them. I will have to remember to empty out my purse when I get back to my room.

Favius took me to a cab that brought me to the "Smithy and Barding" building. Telkan asked to see my symbol. He put on these shimmering black gloves to examine the symbol, and asked what magic I favored. When I told him luck and healing, he seemed to know exactly what needed to be done. He told me to come back in a week. As curious as I was, out of respect for him, I did not ask him any questions about what he had in mind. I was truly hoping that Tymora would grant me greater powers of speaking and leadership, but I have the feeling the symbol will help me with the spell casting of my specialization. Perhaps I will have to find another way to battle the undead.

Now that I mention the word leadership, a curious thing happened when our group elected officials for the corporation. They elected me as the group leader. While I'm the best choice for speaking in large crowds, I wonder if my fellow companions haven't made a mistake. Ashedyn is the most intelligent friend I've ever traveled with... and our copper-top Duracell is every bit as wise and myself. I wonder if they wouldn't have made better leaders. Well... maybe he will lend me his quick mind when needed and she her caring heart, and the right decisions will be made. Please Tymora, I pray that I don't let down the only family I have left.

This night at dinner, we met two more traveling companions: A stuck up Sun Elf and a brazen Orog fighter. I have no doubt that both have good hearts; the Sun Elf said some things though that made me wonder if he really wanted to be part of the group. It's my job to make sure that each member will protect the other. Rezigrene will have a hard time in town where there are lots of Humans, but she seems to be warming to the group very naturally. Alcarenque on the other hand may never warm to the group. Heck, he wouldn't even stay in the same building as the rest of us. Perhaps if we offer him our friendship, he will offer his in return. I hope we can persuade him to see that this isn't a job, and that he will be a respected and needed member.

DM's note: The party has returned to Willip, split up their loot and rearranged their membership. Deceased are: Emrikol-Oz, Solindria and Nibori. Joining the group are Rezigrene and Alcarenque. The party is well balanced, trained, and resupplied They still need to train for next level, but they've already selected a new adventure. They're planning to assist a monastic order and it's leader. It's something of a mystery. A secret conspiracy. An enigma involving a bestiary, a meteorite, and the 'Books of Prophecy'. Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!

Real-world date: 07 Aug 2004
Game-world date: 03 - 07 Augot 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

Where we left off last session:
The party survived! Fighting their way past the Rusty Hinge tribe, the managed to flee with their lives. Later, it was discovered that Ashedyn had in fact recovered the legendary artifact, the Rondolim. They sent the axe to the head of the Dwarven army, and set out on their return journey. Minus Kagnythus and three other party members. It was a deadly quest - but a worthy cause. Without the Rondolim, the thin ranks of the Dwarves and Dalesman couldn't possibly stand up to the legion of Orcs assembled against them. Left behind are: Emrikol, Solindria, Nibori and Kagnythus.

The party is back in Willip now. They've collected reward, healed their wounds, split up the treasure, taken on some new party members, gotten some paper work out of the way, and signed up for a new dangerous adventure. Presented here is Ashedyn's Journal entry for the 7th of Augot, 1001.

3 Augot 1001
Onward

We brought the magic stuff that we took from the Kobolds to the Magicians' Guild to have it identified. The most important thing we found out was about the magic arbalest Nibori took. It's got this tube on it that lets you aim at things a lot farther away than you normally could when you look through it. It also does a huge amount of damage when one of the magic bolts hits. Best of all, though, is that when you say this special word, it shrinks down small enough you can carry it in your pocket. If we had had it instead of the Kobolds, we probably could have picked off Zhabovekh and the other kobolds from the woods outside Sharisthek and then just strolled right in.

I got this belt that can make everything around me dark, but I can still see. Also, if I tell someone the belt's secret word, they can still see too. And I got these sandals that let me jump really high or really far, and they can make it so nobody can hear my footsteps, even if I'm not really trying to be quiet.

Thalidimar decided he wanted to start wearing Nibori's armor. It might protect him better than the chain shirt he was wearing, but he looks really funny wearing a leather breastplate that was shaped to hold boobs. People stare at him wherever we go, but he doesn't seem to care. I think he's starting to lose it.

6 Augot 1001
Hafn'mor

Thalidimar agreed to trade me one of the new magic torches I found in Sharisthek for his light coin. I had an idea for it. I figured that if I found the right kind of hat or helmet, I could have the coin attached to its forehead like some miners do with oil lamps, and then I could have light when we're down in some tunnel but still have my hands free to work. Well, I found something even better than I was expecting. I was in Bron Arvo's Armory (an Armorers shop) when I came across this helmet. It has ears sculpted into its sides that are shaped kind of like elf ears, and they have holes in them that line up with your ears when you wear it. I can actually hear better with the helmet on than with it off, which is a weird experience. Anyway, one of the gnomes who runs the place offered to bang out the dents and shine it up. He also attached the light coin to the forehead with a little flap I can put over it to cover up the light when I need to. I thought I had come up with a pretty damn cool idea, but nobody even seemed to notice it when I got back to X's. Oh well, I like it.

When I walked in the door at X's, there were a bunch of people in the waiting room. There was an Elf looking like he wanted to be anywhere else, and some ugly Orc woman. Thalidimar was standing there talking to some guy wearing some kind of uniform, which I figured couldn't be good. I was right. He introduced himself as Darvin Hildecrest, and he was a tax man. He had been to the Mages' Guild, so he knew we had found some new magic stuff, so he wanted to make sure we paid our taxes for it. I hate governments. "You go out and work your butt off, risking life and limb. I'm going to sit here on my butt and boss you around. Oh, and you're going to pay me to boss you around, too." We told him we needed to get the information together about what we had found so he could figure out how much taxes we owe. He said he'd be back in two days. Thalidimar and I decided that tomorrow might be a very good time to register as an official adventuring group since they get reduced taxes.

The Elf's name is Alcarenque. So far, he's just like Lumiarti. He makes a point of telling us all just how beneath him the rest of us are. He wouldn't even sleep in the same building as us tonight. We need a magic user, though, so I hope he turns out to be more useful than Lumiarti was.

The Orc woman introduced herself as Rezigrene Adus. She said it like Ruzeegrinay Adoo!, and the g sounds like someone clearing their throat. In fact, the whole thing sounds like someone hacking up a loogie and then sneezing. She carries a really big axe, though, and she looks like she knows how to use it.

When Duracell got back from town, she had dyed her hair. Instead of black, it's kind of a rust-red color. She looks really different now. (Note to reader: if you couldn't guess already, Duracell is now a "Copper top." Get it?)

X joined us at dinner, and after we decided to let Rezigrene and Alcarenque join us, he let us know that he had four different people interested in hiring us. One wants to send us on an archaeological trip, another wants us to help get someone back from being kidnapped, the third wants us to go find some legendary magic weapon (deja-vu), and the last one is a monk that wants us to go on some kind of "astronomical" mission to save his order. We're supposed to meet with all of them tomorrow. We told X we would do it in the afternoon so we could get registering as a group over with in the morning.

We spent the rest of dinner figuring out the group's rules, etc. We also had to come up with a name so we wouldn't get stuck with something like "Adventuring Group #45687." We are now: Several Crafty, Resourceful, Enterprising Wanderers Out For Fun & Simoleans, or S.C.R.E.W.O.F.F.S. for short.

7 Augot 1001
Aprochen

As we were leaving X's today, there was a group of people waiting for us that had to be either a small circus or another adventuring group. The way they were armed, I'd say adventuring group. Their leader seemed to be this Halfling wearing armor that probably weighed more than he did. They seemed to be involved with whoever Emrikol had borrowed money from, and they wanted to know where he was. When we told them he was dead, they wanted to know where his stuff was. We told them that we had already given it to the collector that came last Nexsta'. That didn't seem to be the answer they were looking for, but they left anyway.

We went to Town Hall to get a charter for our new group. They wouldn't let anybody in with weapons, so everybody gave me theirs and I went around back to baby-sit them. Rezigrene's axe is really nice. I whacked a couple of rocks in half with it, and it didn't nick the blade at all. It didn't even make a mark. Some of the people that work in Town Hall were smoking and drawing in this book. I went and checked it out. It was a book that had pictures in it of a bunch of different people. I helped them draw mustaches and black teeth and beards and horns on different pictures until Duracell showed up and told me I had to go inside and sign the charter. Then we all went to the bank to open a group bank account.

We went back to X's to elect group officers. Thalidimar got elected group leader. Alcarenque is now the group treasurer. I'm not sure it's a good idea to let someone we met just yesterday be in charge of our money, but wizards are supposed to be smart, so he should do a good job if we can trust him. Since I write in my journal almost every night anyway, they tried to make me be secretary. I told them I'd only do it if they change the name to Group Chronicler.

As soon as we were done, Duracell made me hurry back to our room and help her take the bed out. Evidently, she bought a new one yesterday, and it was being delivered today. I wonder if she got this OK'd with X? The new bed is bigger, and it has big, carved posts at each corner. It also has this girly canopy thingy draped over it.

After lunch, we started the interviews. The first guy was this ancient Elf named Tatris Ahtseetee Mahritoufh, and his assistant, a Gnome named Kaldo. They were from the Sembian Fine Arts Council. They had sent an archaeological expedition to the Old Olmann Empire in Maztica. The trip was led by a 50 year old human named Galog Nentel. They had received letters from him on a regular basis. Some of his last ones described hearing rumors of demons and resurrected gods, and a legendary place called Tamoachan. The name is supposed to mean something like "The place sought after" or something like that. Then the letters stopped coming. Tatris wants us to go find out what happened to the expedition. The council will pay us 40,000gp as a group, and will buy any artifacts that we bring back and want to sell to them.

The next guy was a tall Human with black skin that introduced himself as Prince Kedris Peolant of Tashalar. He said he had traveled from that country's capital city of Tashluta to find someone to help him with a kidnapping. His younger brother Tehlus had gone hunting in some jungle, and not come back. After 3 weeks, a ransom note showed up from a group of Snake people. Kedris wants us to deliver the ransom and bring his brother back safely. He's hiring outsiders to do this so he can keep it very hush-hush because of some messy political situation he's in. He'll pay us 45,000gp as a group to deliver the ransom and return his brother safely. If his brother is already dead and we can return with his body, he'll still pay us 35,000gp.

The woman that walked in next was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. But what would you expect from an Aasimar? She said her name was Kraetia, and she makes magic weapons in Waterdeep. After decades of research, she thinks she has figured out where the legendary "Sword of Nth" is located, and she wants us to go fetch it for her. She would pay each party member that helped complete the mission 10,000gp plus our training costs after the job was done. She explained that Nth was a legendary celestial mage that had traveled to other planes, and had found the secret of immortality. After she told us about that, I remembered hearing something about this sword before. Back when Illakay was trying to take over the world during the War of Shadows, he had finally pissed Nth off enough that Nth made a sword that Illakay's enemies could use against his forces. A famous ranger named Segrid eventually killed Illakay with Nth's sword. Later on, some bad people got their hands on the sword, so Nth went and got it and then shoved both it and himself into the ground, making a huge rift in the earth where he did it. Nobody has seen either him or his sword since.

The last guy was a clueless ascetic monk named Darius. He represented a brotherhood that resides in the Tower of the Heavens. They guard and study the Books of Prophecy, trying to figure out the secrets in them. They also watch the stars and like to use spying magic a lot. All he could tell us was that their elder sage, some old guy named Shalfey, was in danger, and if anything happened to Shalfey, their whole monastic order would collapse. They wanted to send us on a mission that was "astronomical in nature." That's all he could tell us, 'cause he didn't know anything about it himself. He was carrying some kind of magic water that would give us the information somehow if we agreed. They would pay us 5,000gp each now, and anybody that's still in the party when we finish the job will get another 5,000gp and a magic item of some kind.

We decided against the first two missions right off the bat. Sailing off across the western ocean didn't appeal to any of us, and something seemed fishy about the whole Prince Kedris situation. It seemed way too easy for that job to get way too messy real fast. We decided to talk about the other two missions over dinner. X joined us, so we asked his opinion, but he didn't have any more useful information. I wanted to do the job for the Aasimar chick. With her paying for our next training costs, that 10,000gp each would be free and clear spending money, minus something to put in the party treasury. That deal looked almost as good as she did. We ended up deciding to go on the monk's mission, though. It just sounded more interesting, and we would each be guaranteed of getting another magic item, which is something that's harder to get than just more money.

After dinner, Darius "anointed" each of us with his magic water. After splashing it in our faces and over our heads, we each got a really weird experience. It was like dreaming, or fishing through someone else's memories. Everybody got different little bits and pieces, but after talking about it, this is what we've managed to put together:

Some guy says, "Hurry! Shalfey our master calls. He is afraid. We must find the falling star or die!"

There's a picture of the Tower of the Heavens, a large stone tower on an island just a few yards off some coast. There's a garrison at its base that covers the entire little island, and a stone bridge from the garrison to the nearby coast. There's a small army of Gnomes on the island, and a feeling of safety, and a feeling that the master is safely inside the tower.

We saw a black rock in a small depression in the ground. It looked like it had been in a forge or something. At the same time, somebody says, "You will not mistake it. A black rock seared by great heat. Only the falling star can help us. I implore you, do not return without it."

A voice says, "He said the ground trembled. The mountains, too. Tales of a great iron dragon, never sleeping."

A picture of a wooden pallet and some thin blankets in a very plain room with the thought, "I must have no distractions. It is discipline that focuses the mind."

A scene of the sun is shining on a beautiful, green valley in the mountains. There's an apple tree nearby, and forest creatures can be seen. Someone is thinking, "This is not for me. This life of ease - freedom. The brotherhood beckons me. I seek a more difficult path."

Another thought, all by itself. "This daily ritual is boring. We wait behind the curtain. The questions are endless. Finally our payment is received and we are free."

Someone is speaking. "Wild beastmen in the mountains? Nay brother. 'Tis only the tale of an idle merchant."

A voice. "Remember it well. Fair is the day, but fairer the jewels of evening."

We heard a scream. We see a man that we identify as our father, even though we know he really isn't. He's crying and swinging a sword wildly. There is also the knowledge that our younger sister has just been taken by the devil-men.

Someone's thought. "Piyarz never far away. Piyarz with shifty eyes and malicious tongue. His cursed shadow is always by his side."

We could see a table. On the table were plates that had fried fish and buttered herb bread. There were mugs of beer by the plates. We could smell the food. Someone is thinking, "One last good meal before we go. The fare will be much leaner on the road." I know that feeling.

A couple of voices. "Do you never covet the questioner's gold?" "Nope, nor all the magic in the world."

We saw someone entering a maze, with the feeling that he was a friend. Someone was thinking, "Mayrick, no!" But it was too late. Our fellow brother was lost in the maze. Then we see Mayrick's face. His body has come back from the maze, but his mind is gone.

Someone says, "Make haste to Derwyth's home in the green wood. Take care to harm no living things."

A father is speaking to his son. "Learn this well my son. Trust given in doubt honors the giver. Faith, once broken, can never be repaired."

We saw ourselves in a room where the walls were closing in and the roof was collapsing. Worse, the shadows seemed to be moving like living things.

A voice. "Go seek for Derwyth the half-elven — a star watcher. Give him this bestiary. Only he can tell you where the shooting star came to earth. It must be found, and soon."

And the last thing is that even though we've never been there, we could all tell someone exactly how to get to the Tower of the Heavens as if we had been there before.

The only things that make any sense to me are that some kind of rock fell out of the sky and we're supposed to go find it. Are we supposed to find this Derwyth guy 'cause he knows where this rock fell, or is it the star watcher that knows? We'll have to go to the Tower of the Heavens first anyway since we don't know which forest Derwyth lives in.

My head hurts, and it's time for bed. I've only got a couple more days left until training starts again anyway. Arach-Nid said he could fit me in starting Newday night.

DM's note: The party has returned to Willip, split up their loot and rearranged their membership. Deceased are: Emrikol-Oz, Solindria and Nibori. Joining the group are Rezigrene and Alcarenque. The party is well balanced, trained, and resupplied They still need to train for next level, but they've already selected a new adventure. They're planning to assist a monastic order and it's leader. It's something of a mystery. A secret conspiracy. An enigma involving a bestiary, a meteorite, and the 'Books of Prophecy'. Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!

Real-world date: 21 Aug 2004
Game-world date: 08 Augot - 22 Novius 1001
Written by: Thalidimar

Where we left off last session:
The party has returned to Willip, split up their loot and rearranged their membership. Deceased are: Emrikol-Oz, Solindria and Nibori. Joining the group are Rezigrene and Alcarenque. The party is well balanced, trained, and resupplied They still need to train for next level, but they've already selected a new adventure. They're planning to assist a monastic order and it's leader. It's something of a mystery. A secret conspiracy. An enigma involving a bestiary, a meteorite, and the 'Books of Prophecy'. Stay tuned to learn more about this new quest. Stay tuned to hear more about the newest party members. Stay tuned for adventure!

Augot 8, 1001
Longday

I started my training today with the beautiful Prentice Backend. She's a fine teacher with great patience. She often tells me that I have a true heart to serve Tymora, which translated means: I'm not very smart, but I try hard. I shall miss her when I am forced to find a new teacher at next level.

This evenings meeting was another interesting dinner. X told us that we owed him some gold for paying the tax man that apparently came around during the day. We promptly reimbursed him and thanked him for taking care of our debt. Duracell also told us a little about her day. She told us that she gave the priest, Daniel Ecobar, 1500 gold. 750 for her family back home and 750 as a donation to the church. After that we met two new adventurers, oddly enough, both of them are rangers. There's Zeddishous Zolander, or Zed, an Aasimar Male who boasts of excellence in archery and tracking. Perhaps Ashedyn and he can give each other tips on the other's bowmanship. And there's Eilownwy, or El, a Wild Elf female, whose sword arms appear to be finely tuned for carving up trolls. Both have a wealth of personality, and neither of them are lacking in the looks department. Rezigrene offered El a drink of her wonderful Grzk (A fermented alcoholic drink made of spoiled Yak's milk, partially digested snails, oils from a hot pepper, 100 proof grain alcohol, and a pinch of cinnamon). I tried my best to keep from laughing, but the strong Elf heaved her dinner on the floor after one swig. I can't say I blame her- the drink is amazingly awful. Our poor High Elf - Alcarenque, almost heaved himself, but he was able to keep it down. To say the least, he didn't seem very happy at all about the experience. I half expected him to make a crack about the Elf, but he was uncharacteristically silent.

After dinner Rezigrene and Zed arm wrestled. Rezigrene won left handed, and Zed won right handed. All night long, Rezigrene was eyeing my golden gauntlets. She finally asked if she could try them on and was astounded at how fast she could twirl her huge axe. Zed also noticed my ring of protection. They liked them so much they offered me market price for them. I surely needed to pad my bank account a little after helping the party purchase the arbalest.

Augot 9, 1001
Endsnear

In the morning before training, I stopped by the courier service and had Nibori's swords sent to her family.

Augot 16, 1001
Hafn'mor

On one of my training breaks, I was able to meet with Telkan Nacklu. He presented me with the greatest gift a priest of Tymora could ever hope for. It was a beautiful amulet, shaped like a gold and platinum coin with Tymora's likeness engraved upon it. Telkan said that the holy symbol would allow the casting of luck and healing spells with greater potency. I really didn't care what it did, just that it was a gift from my Goddess. I prayed the next morning for a very long time. I feel Lady Luck is with me more now than ever before.

Novius 22, 1001
Longday

We finally got started on our trek to save Shalfey the sage of the Tower of Heavens. In a magical ceremony, we spoke out loud some of the memories from the monks while we held hands in a circle. The magical circle transported us next to lake Icemelt, between the great Earthfast and Earthspur mountains. Moments after we appeared a stout war pony walked right up to El and nuzzled her as if it was waiting for her. El reached in the bags it was carrying and fed it some oats. There were also four dead monks lying at our feet wearing white robes that had embroidered symbols of the high tower of the heavens on them. Their bodies had been gnawed on by the local wild life, but we couldn't figure out what had killed them. We were able to purchase a map of the area for 50 gold before we left, and heard a rumor that this area was home to some creatures called Remorhaz — Giant reptiles whose bodies are so hot that they can tunnel through ice. Zed found a book on one of the monks — an illustrated beastiary. This must be the book that we're supposed to take to Derwyth the Half-Elven. We could see the tower from where we were, so we headed that way to figure out which wooded area this Derwyth must be in. We camped before night fall and will hopefully make the tower before noon tomorrow. I pray there will be no more dead bodies there.

DM's note: The party has picked up two more members. Two more Rangers: Zeddishous the Aasimar and Eilownwy the Wild Elf. Both of these adventurers have been accepted into the group, and they hope to be valuable additions to the team. With everyone's training completed and the party re-supplied, it's time to set out on the next adventure. After a teleportation ritual, the party finds itself on the windswept shores of lake Icemelt. With the Tower of Heavens in sight, a new adventure has begun. Where did the falling star land? Who is this Derwyth? What of Shalfey? With dead monks paving the way, our adventurers set out on a path of mystery and danger. Join us as they follow the path ahead...

Real-world date: 4 Sep 2004
Game-world date: 23 - 27 Novius 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

Where we left off last session:
The party has picked up two more members. Two more Rangers: Zeddishous the Aasimar and Eilownwy the Wild Elf. Both of these adventurers have been accepted into the group, and they hope to be valuable additions to the team. With everyone's training completed and the party re-supplied, the party has set out on the next adventure. After a teleportation ritual, the party finds itself on the windswept shores of lake Icemelt. With the Tower of Heavens in sight, a new adventure has begun. Where did the falling star land? Who is this Derwyth? What of Shalfey? With dead monks paving the way, our adventurers set out on a path of mystery and danger. Join us as they follow the path ahead...

23 Novius 1001
Onward

We made it to the Tower of Heavens today. It was just a little bit different than it was in the memories. Instead of the bridge from the tower coming to the shore of the lake like we saw, it just spanned to another, smaller island closer to the shore. It's funny how people can remember things different from how they actually were. One of the reasons I keep a journal - to keep the important details straight.

Anyway, there was a ferryman living in a shack near the shore. He came out and greeted us by saying, "Fair is the day". It sounded really familiar, but before I could figure out from where, Thalidimar reminded me by replying to the ferryman, "But fairer the jewels of evening". We hadn't fully approached each other yet, and the ferryman asked Thalidimar, "Are you friends of Shalfey, Ma'am?" When he got closer, the ferryman seemed pretty embarrassed about his mistake, but it's not like it was his fault. It's going to happen when Thalidimar is wearing armor shaped for a woman.

The phrase seemed to be some kind of password, and since we appeared to be friends of Shalfey, the ferryman rowed us to the small island for free. He introduced himself as Hadley, and he is one of the monks from the Tower. On the way, he gave us some information. There's a rumor that Shalfey is dead, and his pupil, some guy named Piyarz, has taken advantage of Shalfey's disappearance to take over as Elder Sage. He says that Piyarz is very evil. He also says that he knows for sure that Shalfey is not dead. The night after Shalfey disappeared, he was walking along the shore of the lake when he got hit by thoughts and memories like we did after we were anointed by Darius's 'Waters of Memory'. One of the things in the messages he got was the pass phrase we exchanged with him. He told us that we should pose as travelers that have come to the Tower of Heavens to ask the sages a question. When we are granted an audience, we're supposed to rush through the red curtain and kill people there. I wasn't exactly clear on who we were supposed to kill, because he didn't think we'd need to kill any sages. He said we should avoid killing an old man in a white robe, 'cause he would be Shalfey (I thought he disappeared?). He also said that his brother monks are sworn to protect the sages, so we'd probably have to kill them too, so go ahead.

We talked it over a bit, and tried to figure out where Derwyth and the "fallen star" fit in. We decided that we should go find them before attempting Hadley's plan since one of the memories we got was to not return without the shooting star. We asked Hadley if he knew where Derwyth lives, and he gave us directions. We just have to follow the eastern shore of the lake until we come to a forest. Near its edge should be a river that we follow upstream. Derwyth's place is at the first fork in the river we come to.

We were going to have Hadley just turn around and row us back to the shore, but he pointed out that we would look suspicious if we did that. We decided to spend the night in the hostel on the small island and come up with some bogus question to ask tomorrow, and then leave and head for Derwyth's. When we had gotten set up in our rooms, we got together where nobody would overhear us and I came up with the perfect question. We could act like we had taken Prince Peolant's job, and we could ask if his brother is still alive.

24 Novius 1001
Forens

We didn't even need to come up with our question at all. They came and woke us up at dawn, and a small army of gnome guards led us across the bridge to the Tower. They led us to this room with red curtains around it, and then we had to wait. Finally, a voice said, "I am Lurg. The answer to your question will cost 3,000 gold." We didn't even have to act like we were shocked when we said that we didn't know it would cost that much, we didn't have that kind of cash on us, etc. The voice said we were wasting its time and we should leave. On the way out of the room I said out loud that we would have to go raise the money somehow and come back. That way things still shouldn't be suspicious when we come back with the fallen star. Unless they use their spying magic on us in the meantime, but what can we do about that?

Hadley rowed us back to the shore, and he asked if we would help him go retrieve his brother monks' bodies. We agreed, although Alcaranque has been complaining ever since about having to deal with dead bodies. On the way, we were attacked by whirlwinds. They acted like they were actually trying to catch us - like they were alive or something. After they dissipated, we asked Hadley about them. He told us that the Glacier of the White Worm should actually melt because the area is too warm for a glacier to exist. He said that it is kept cold by some kind of magic, and a lot of magic creatures seem to be around it too.

We've managed to recover the dead monk's bodies, and we'll take them back to Hadley's place tomorrow.

25 Novius 1001
Freeday

We still had quite a bit of the day left when we got back to Hadley's, so we decided to head out for Derwyth's.

We got attacked by some weird creatures. We didn't notice them at first, because they just looked like four skulls lying on the ground. When we got near them, though, they jumped up out of the little pits they had dug to hide in. They had two arms with claws, but their lower bodies just kind of narrowed down and then turned into coils that they bounced on. They didn't have any bones, either, kind of like a squid. They surprised us, and they knocked Rezigrene down on the ground before she could even react. That only seemed to piss her off, though. She took one big swing with her axe that chopped through two of them and most of the way through a third one! I'll bet she could have taken all four out if she hadn't been laying on the ground! It didn't take long to finish the other two off. There were a bunch of gems in their pits. Alcaranque was practically drooling while he tried to figure out how much they were worth.

After that, we decided that since we are in the wilderness, perhaps one of the rangers should be leading us instead of Rezigrene. Eilownwy volunteered.

When we set up camp, Duracell suggested that while we have it, maybe we should look through the bestiary and see what kinds of creatures it talks about. We haven't found the ones we fought today or a couple days ago, but we have read about some really weird ones.

27 Novius 1001
Aprochen

We got attacked by some kind of really weird cat last night. It looked kind of like a big leopard or puma or something. It had dark purple fur, and it looked like it was about to starve to death. It had six legs, and these two long tentacles growing out of its back. The tentacles had these flat pads at their ends that had all these hooks/barbs on them.

DM's note: A new adventure has begun. After a short trip to the 'Tower of the Heavens', and three encounters with hostile denizens, the party is still left with many questions. Where did the falling star land? Who is this Derwyth? What of Shalfey? With dead monks paving the way, our adventurers set out on a path of mystery and danger. Join us as they follow the path ahead...

Real-world date: 18 Sep 2004
Game-world date: 27 - 30 Novius 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

Where we left off last session:
A new adventure has begun. After a short trip to the 'Tower of the Heavens', and three encounters with hostile denizens, the party is still left with many questions. Where did the falling star land? Who is this Derwyth? What of Shalfey? With dead monks paving the way, our adventurers set out on a path of mystery and danger. Join us as they follow the path ahead...

27 Novius 1001
Aprochen

Ever since Hadley had mistaken Thalidimar for a woman, me and Duracell have been talking about how to get Thalidimar out of the spokesman position he's been in for our group.  We've had quiet discussions with Rezigrene and Zeddishous about it, and they agreed that our group as a whole would make a better impression with people we meet if the person that talked to them wasn't a cross-dressing weirdo.  In fact, Rezigrene was all for booting him out of being group leader altogether, but I think she just wants the position for herself.  People are starting to take that group charter thing way too seriously.  We only wrote it up because we had to so we could register as an "official" adventuring group and get less money taken away every time that tax guy comes around to rob us.  Right?

Anyway, we didn't need to worry nearly as much as we did about how difficult Thalidimar might make things when we asked him to let someone else be the spokesman for our group.  Duracell and I pulled him off to the side this morning while everyone was breaking camp and told him we wanted to make Zeddishous group spokesman to "involve him in the group more" etc.  Thalidimar thought it was a really good idea, and almost seemed eager to give over the job.  I think he's totally clueless about the real reason.

We reached the forest where Derwyth is supposed to live this morning.  The river Hadley told us to follow upstream was just inside the forest just like he said it would be.  Since it was frozen over, walking on it was the easiest path.  We had barely started out on it when the biggest damned eagle I've ever seen landed on a boulder sticking up out of the ice ahead of us.  Even weirder, it spoke to us.  After we had told it that we didn't plan on hurting Derwyth, it just flew off up the river.  Eilownwy said we should follow it, as if the river itself wasn't obvious enough.

About lunch time, we came to the fork Hadley had told us about.  There was a canoe on the bank next to a big boulder with a green circle painted on it.  The eagle landed on the boulder for a moment, and then took off again out of sight.  Our two rangers stood around looking confused for what seemed like forever, so I went and took a look behind a boulder.  There was a path from the river leading into the woods, and after I pointed it out, we all followed it.  It led to a clearing with a low hut and a couple of storage sheds in it.

There was smoke coming from the hut's chimney, so we decided to go see if Derwyth was home.  Before we got there, though, he called out from behind us.  When we told him we had a book he might be interested in, he invited us in.  He seems to have his own little zoo.  There was a really big cat-thing with huge fangs sleeping in front of the fire.  A huge gorilla served us all coffee.  The bestiary we had took from the dead monks turned out to be a book Hadley had been looking for for a very long time.  He wanted to know what we wanted to trade it for, as if we actually owned it instead of just being sent to give it to him.  We played along and explained how we were looking for the "fallen star" for Shalfey.  He said he had seen it, and had taken notes that would let him figure out where it landed.  He would do some calculations and tell us where it was for giving him the book.

Later in the evening, he told us he was done.  He said that the "meteorite" had landed in the Therno Pass.  He marked it on our map for us.  To get there, he said that all we had to do was keep following one of the river branches upstream until it joined a much bigger river on the north edge of the forest.  The we follow the bigger river upstream (it won't be frozen over, though) to the base of the pass.  He warned us that there are these people called the Derro living in the pass.  He described them like primitive, pale-skinned, under-sized dwarfs.  These must be the "wild beastmen" from the water memories.

28 Novius 1001
Longday

It only took us a day to reach the north edge of the forest and the bigger river Derwyth had told us about.

29 Novius 1001
Endsnear

We reached the base of Therno Pass this evening.  It's a dry streambed.  It probably has a stream in it in the spring and summer when more of the Glacier of the White Worm up in the mountains is melting.

30 Novius 1001
Godsday

We were attacked in the middle of the night last night by these really huge bats.  They had long tails with barbs they used to whip at us.  Alcarenque called them doom bats.

DM's note:
The party has met with Derwyth the half-elven. They gave him the bestiary, and he provided them with the location of the fallen-star. All the visions they saw when they were exposed to the 'Waters of memory' are coming true. Where will this journey take them next? Who is Piyarz? What is his goal? Is he holding Shalfey hostage? If so, why? What will the party do with the meteor once they recover it?

Real-world date: 02 Oct 2004
Game-world date: 30 Novius 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

Where we left off last session:
A new adventure has begun. The party has met with Derwyth the half-elven. They gave him the bestiary, and he provided them with the location of the fallen-star. All the visions they saw when they were exposed to the 'Waters of memory' are coming true. Where will this journey take them next? Who is Piyarz? What is his goal? Is he holding Shalfey hostage? If so, why? What will the party do with the meteor once they recover it?

30 Novius 1001
Godsday

We started up Therno Pass shortly after sunrise, and it didn't take very long to reach the spot where the meteorite had struck the ground. It had made a large pit in the earth, and all of the trees near the pit were laying on the ground with their tops pointed away from it. It looked just like the depression we had seen in the memory water visions, except when we looked into it, the black rock wasn't there. We could see where it had been, but it was gone.

The pit was about an arrow's shot across, and about half as deep. There were several openings in its walls. It looks like the meteorite crashed into someone's underground tunnels. We found rooms and passages leading into the ground from the pit. They all had collapsed ceilings in places, and all but one was completely blocked at some point.

We saw the bodies of what had to be the Derro that Derwyth had described to us, and we also saw naked Human bodies that had obviously been slaves to the Derro before they were killed by cave-ins. We took the money off the Derro bodies, and we also found some things that Alcarenque figured out were magical. One was a pendant shaped like a ram's head that Thalidimar says is the holy symbol of a cult that worships a Demoness called Roth-Kha.

We decided to go down the one passage that wasn't completely blocked by collapsed rock. We didn't go very far before we came to a door that was barred from our side. This seemed odd to us until we opened it and found ourselves looking over the edge of a short cliff with a narrow path running down it. Before the meteorite had smashed into this place, this must have been the door in.

We decided to try clearing out the passage that looked the least likely to fall in on our heads. After working for a while, Rezigrene found it was a dead end. After clearing out the rubble from the collapse, she said she was looking at the end of a mine shaft.

One of the openings in the wall of the pit was a room that looked like it used to be a meeting hall or something. One back corner of the big room was collapsed, and Alcarenque said there was a passage behind it. Rezigrene started clearing a path through the rubble again, and the rest of us helped as much as we could. As soon as she had cleared a way through to the passage beyond, we got attacked. I was all the way at the back, so I couldn't see anything, but people up at the front kept yelling that they needed light to see with. I thought Rezigrene and Zeddishous could see in the dark? And why didn't anybody pull out one of the magic torches we've got? I uncovered the light coin on my helmet and moved into the passage to see what was going on. The first thing I saw was this slimy creature that was shaped like a big letter "X" and smelled like mildew. I got a good shot into it before Eilownwy told us that she had created the thing and that it was on our side.

Something strange was going on with the light here. Normally, the light from my helmet kind of fades out gradually as it gets farther away. It wasn't doing that here, though. It went out for a little ways, and then just stopped at a wall of dark. It moved with me, though, so I had no problems seeing out to the wall wherever I went. Like I said, weird.

Anyway, when I moved forward enough, we could see that we were fighting some of the Derro. It was a small group, and they weren't very tough. Eilownwy managed to put a couple of them to sleep, so we tied them up to see if we could get any information out of them when they woke back up.

There was a room just down the passage. We found four Human slaves in the room: two women and two men. The men had had their tongues cut out, and they all had this glazed look in their eyes. In fact, one of the women was the only one of the four that responded to us at all. My first thought was to send them back to Derwyth's until we could come back for them and take them with us, but it was pretty obvious they couldn't even manage to walk back to his place on their own. Thalidimar and Zeddishous got into a discussion about whether we should take them along with us, leave them here, or take them outside and leave us. They quickly dropped the idea of taking them with us, thank the gods. They couldn't make up their minds, however, whether it would be better to leave them here, where the Derro could simply recapture them, or take them outside in the light where the Derro don't like to go, but where they'd probably freeze to death. While they were arguing, I released the slaves from their shackles. Then I told Thalidimar and Zeddishous that we could take them outside in the light and build a fire for them so they could stay warm while they waited for us. They didn't seem to notice my suggestion, so I decided to check out the two doors leading out of this room. Neither one seemed to be trapped or locked. When I got done, the arguing still wasn't done, so I decided to head back outside and start gathering wood for a fire. It was better than standing around yapping about doing something but not actually doing anything. Thalidimar joined me pretty quickly, and we started gathering up wood from all the trees laying around near the pit. At one point, Alcarenque's hawk started squawking around us and flapping its wings like it does when Alcarenque wants it to get someone's attention. We ignored it as best we could.

After we felt we had gathered enough wood and thrown it down in the pit, we climbed back down. The four slaves were outside in the pit, and so was one of the Derro we had tied up. Nobody else was around, and Thalidimar was busy climbing down the rope we had tied so we could climb down in the pit, so I killed the Derro while Rezigrene and the others couldn't object. The way they've obviously been treating the slaves, I'm sure he deserved much worse, but I didn't have the time give him a fitting punishment like Hoar would want. It took me longer than I expected, and Thalidimar saw me. He didn't say anything like I thought he would have, though. We built a fire for the slaves to keep warm by and stacked the extra wood nearby.

Eilownwy showed up about then and told us we were needed inside. Everybody else was back in the room we had found the slaves in. One of the doors was open, and Alcarenque was down a hall a ways beyond it with a Derro. They explained to Thalidimar and me that Alcarenque had charmed it, and it was helping us. It had told us that the meteorite was in a room behind a door just down the hall, and that there were five or six of its friends there. They had tried to have it escort them into the room to get the meteorite, but its friends didn't go for it and shut everybody out. Now we were forming a plan to go in and fight them for it if we have to. Zeddishous said he had some beads that blow up into a big blast of fire when they're broken. We considered having the charmed Derro take one of the beads into the room, close the door behind it, and have it break the bead on the floor after we had closed the door. His friends probably won't let him into the room now, though. Then we thought that maybe one of us could just open the door, throw in the bead, and close the door real quick to keep the fire in the room. Since I'm about the quickest among us, and I've got the barbed demon gloves to help protect me if I don't get the door closed quick enough, I'll do it.

DM's note:
The party is scouring a cave complex, looking for the meteorite from their visions. They've encountered the 'Wild Beast Men', and they're currently planning an assault on a group of Derro holding the meteorite. All the visions they saw when they were exposed to the 'Waters of memory' are coming true. Where will this journey take them next? Who is Piyarz? What is his goal? Is he holding Shalfey hostage? If so, why? What will the party do with the meteor once they recover it?

Real-world date: 16 Oct 2004
Game-world date: 30 - 31 Novius 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

30 Novius 1001
Godsday

I kicked the door, but it was locked. I was bending down to examine the lock when Rezigrene's axe nearly took my head off! In fact, I don't think I'd be writing this right now if I hadn't bent down! I jumped back out of her second swing, and the door splintered into the room. I went to throw the bead into the room, but my head went kind of funny for a second for some reason. The next thing I new, I was looking into the room, but it was changed. I must have thrown the bead, because there were about half a dozen dead Derro lying on the floor looking rather crispy, but I don't remember throwing it, and I don't remember any fire. I felt a really bad pain and realized I was hurt pretty bad, but I don't remember anything hitting me. I must have blacked out or something. I got Thalidimar to heal me and then followed everybody else into the room.

One of the Derro in the room had surrendered, so I tied it up. There was a chest in the middle of the room. It didn't look like it was trapped, but it was locked. We had the Derro that Alcarenque had charmed open the chest, and the meteorite was inside it. After that, Zeddishous said he wanted to keep exploring the Derros' tunnels for more treasure, but Rezigrene didn't want to. Thalidimar sided with Zed, and since he's supposed to be group leader, I went along with him at first. I didn't think it was a very good idea, though, after what happened to us in Orlane and Tunadholm's Keep. So when Rezigrene pointed out that we were hired to return the rock and should finish our obligations before trying to fill our pockets just for our own greed, I tried to help convince everyone to go along with her. Much to my relief, it worked. I don't think it will be very long before Rezigrene takes the group leader position away from Thalidimar. He's more of a group protector than leader, anyway.

We told the charmed Derro to stay here and "take care of your friend." Then we went back out into the pit. We climbed the rope back up out, carrying the four slaves we'd freed with us. By the time we'd made it back down the pass to where we'd camped last night, it was dark, but we went a little farther anyway so we could be in Derwyth's forest. If he really is some kind of leader or protector here, hopefully his animals will help keep a Derro raiding party out of the woods for the night.

31 Novius 1001
Newday

Some Moonfest this has been.

We got attacked last night anyway. Evidently, the animals that Derwyth "leads" only intercept friendly visitors. Enemies can come and go as they please.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the most bone chilling howl I have ever heard in my life. I scrambled out of my tent and saw Zeddishous running into the woods, so I decided to follow the ranger. It didn't take very long to get separated in the dark, though, and after a while I was pretty sure that whatever had been howling hadn't followed me, so I decided to head back to the camp and see what the situation was. I felt a sharp pain in my side, and when I looked, I saw I was bleeding pretty bad. I vaguely remember almost running into somebody in the woods. I think he said something like, "I WILL have the meteorite!" He must have stabbed me when I ran past him. It's all just kind of a vague blur. I didn't see him again on my way back to camp.

There was an ugly-looking dog-thing laying dead in camp when I got back. Thalidimar called it a Shadow mastiff. It must have been doing all the howling. Two of the slaves we freed ran off into the woods, too. One made it back, but we found the other one with his throat slit. The guy in the woods must have gotten to him. We buried him. He's probably better off now than he ever was in life anyway.

In the morning, Rezigrene told me that there had been three other guys at the camp last night, too. For some reason, they wouldn't come into the light of the campfire. The way she described them, they sounded a whole lot like the guy that attacked me.

We went back to the bigger river on the north edge of the forest and started retracing our steps back to Derwyth's. At one point, it felt like I was being watched. After a while, I looked over my shoulder, and I saw something that made me shake in my boots. Some of the mist over the river had shaped itself to look exactly like me. It wasn't just mist, though, 'cause my/its eyes were glowing red. It started moving toward me, but I couldn't seem to make my legs move to run away from it. It didn't help things when Duracell yelled, "It's going to suck Ashedyn's breath out of him!" I'm lucky my friends killed it before it could do anything to me. Duracell told us that it was called a breathdrinker. It stalks someone for a while, and when it decides to attack, it makes itself look like its chosen victim. Then it sucks the breath out of its victim until the victim dies.

Real-world date: 30 Oct 2004
Game-world date: 31 Novius - 4 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

Since the guys that attacked us last night didn’t seem to like being in light, I suggested that we have a couple of campfires on either side of the tents tonight instead of just one.  Hopefully that will help keep them away if they decide to bother us again.

1 Detenday 1001
Newday

I guess we got attacked again last night.  I pretty much slept through it.  Eilownwy got bit by a Shadow Mastiff when she ran off into the woods.  Rezigrene ran off too, so I don’t have to put up with her teasing me anymore for being scared of the howling.  At least no more slaves died this time.

Alcarenque said that the “guys” we’re fighting are probably all just one guy.  He thinks that this dude is using a spell that lets him make copies of himself.

We made it back to Derwyth’s without getting attacked again.  Rezigrene fell through the ice on the frozen river once, which the rest of us found kind of funny ‘till she threatened to knock out the next person that made another joke about it.  No real harm was done, though.  I think she just feels embarrassed about getting scared and running off last night.

When we got to Derwyth’s, we asked him about this guy that wants to take the meteorite away from us.  He thinks that it must be either Piyarz or his student, Sion.  He said that he thinks Piyarz is a Shade, but he didn’t think Sion was, so this guy that’s been bugging us is most likely Piyarz since he’s a shade.  If Piyarz really has taken over the Tower of the Heavens and its brotherhood of monks, why is he out here trying to get the meteorite from us himself?  Why doesn’t he send some monks after us or something?  Maybe he isn’t totally in control yet?

Derwyth also described Shalfey for us so we could recognize him.  He’s an old guy with long white hair.  He’s got a scar on his chin.

Since he’s an astronomer, we let Derwyth examine the meteorite.  He did a bunch of boring tests on it and listed off a bunch of its properties.  Zed asked him a lot of questions about himself.  Derwyth is a Druid.  He used to study at the Monastery of the Yellow Rose.  He recognized one of the slaves we brought with us.  She used to be a cook there.  He agreed to take the slaves from us and return them to their homes.  He seemed pretty upset when he found out that the Derro have slaves.  He said we could spend the night out in his barn.  A couple of the giant eagles would escort us on our way out of the forest tomorrow to help keep us safe.

We had a discussion about what we should do next.  We realized that now that we have the meteorite, we have no idea what we’re supposed to do with it.  There’s nothing in the water memories except “do not return without it.”  Zed said he still needed to find some alcohol of some kind ‘cause he promised the old guy in the Tower of Heavens hostel he’d smuggle him back some since alcohol isn’t allowed in the tower.  Derwyth said that the nearest place we could get alcohol would be in Dunfee, a Dwarven settlement up in the mountains.  We decided to head up there and try to sell the ore Rezigrene had mined back in the crater.  After all, we may need to come up with 3,000 gp just to get back into the Tower of Heavens.  Then we’ll head back to the tower and talk to Hadley to try and figure out what we should do next.

2 Detenday 1001
Nexsta’

The giant eagles followed us out of the forest just like Derwyth said they would.  It wasn’t until the afternoon when we were out of the forest and walking on the shore of Lake Icemelt that we got attacked by something.  I was just walking along and then it got really cold.  It’s been really cold and windy the past couple of days, but this was different.  It was painfully cold.  This ice-crystal-thing jumped up off the embankment and hit me.  It was so cold that it burned.  I took a step back and shot an arrow at it, but my arrow just went right through holes in the crystal and didn’t touch it.  Rezigrene shattered a good chunk of it with her axe, but when Thalidimar hit it with his mace, suddenly there were two of them!  I had gotten so cold by this point that I just stepped back away from them and pulled out my magic torch for some warmth.  I activated my darkness belt so they couldn’t see me to hit me again, but then Rezigrene and Zeddishous started yelling that they couldn’t see.  I thought the guy who identified the belt for us said that my friends wouldn’t be affected by it?  Anyway, I decided to move farther away from the ice-crystal-creatures so I wouldn’t get in my friends’ way.  I must have slipped on a patch of ice, ‘cause the next thing I remember was waking up laying on the ground soaking wet.  While Thalidimar healed me, Rezigrene, Zeddishous, and Eilownwy kept asking me to turn off the darkness.  I told them that the guy who identified it had told me that anybody that knows its command word is “GOSFARNIK” is supposed to be able to see normally in its dark area.  They stopped whining after that.  Didn’t I tell them about that before?  I could have sworn I did.

4 Detenday 1001
Forens

Well, our streak of luck not getting attacked finally ran out.  It wasn’t too bad, though.  We were traveling up a narrow draw on the path to Dunfee when our rangers spotted a couple of creatures.  They kind of looked like a cross between a bull and some kind of deer.  The were all white.  Zeddishous yelled out something like, “They are intelligent and evil, and they can freeze you solid!”  A second later, he yelled, “They tried to freeze me!”  The fight was on, but it didn’t last long.  Alcaranque used his spell that shoots a stream of fire, and one of the two creatures dropped to the ground.  After we put a couple of arrows into it, the other one ran away.  Zeddishous told us they’re called rejkar.

DM's note:
The party has recovered the meteorite from their visions. They've since been attacked twice by a group of shadowy creatures. Someone (Piyarz or Sion?) wants the meteorite. The party has had numerous encounters with cold based monsters, and they still don't know what to do with the meteorite. All the visions the party saw when they were exposed to the 'Waters of memory' are coming true. Where will this journey take them next? Who is the Shade that stalks them? What are the goals of Piyarz and Sion? Is Shalfey alive, is he being held hostage? If so, why? What will the party do with the meteor now that they've recovered it?

Real-world date: 04 Dec 2004
Game-world date: 4-5 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Thalidimar

I have not the mind to even remember what day it is, but I must scribble this down so that I do not forget these past few days.

4 Detenday 1001
Forens

We arrived at the sturdy Dwarven town today. We found the alcohol and sold some of the things we didn't need to be carrying around. Most importantly, I spoke to a grizzled old Dwarf at the armor shop who said that he could refit Nibori's old leather armor without destroying the magical properties. Thank Tymora, because I've become very "comfortable" in my leather... perhaps for sentimental reasons. I will be glad also when others stop mistaking me for a woman. Will I miss those indents? The party has decided to travel back to the Dwarven settlement once we've completed our mission.

5 Detenday 1001
Freeday

My faith in Tymora has increased. I did not think this possible. The trek back to the tower brought us to a 'Y' in the road, where we were stopped by a massive ice creature. I keep wondering if there was something more I could have done. We almost lost two party members. Both are still recovering. The creature was defeated but determined to take one of us with it. I was sure Rez was gone, and without the prayer to our goddess of luck, she would surely have been. I reached out with all my heart, I felt the power surge
through me. More healing strength rolled through me this day than any I've ever felt in my young life. Do not mistake the tears in my eyes because I fell short, they are indeed tears of joy that Tymora is looking out for us. Praise her name.

Real-world date: 04 Dec 2004
Game-world date: 4-5 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

4 Detenday 1001
Forens

When we got to Dunfee, I followed Thalidimar to a blacksmith’s shop. He wanted to know what it would take to get the boobs hammered out of Nibori’s old armor, if it could even be done. I guess all the teasin’s got to him after all. The Dwarf put it on top of this bowl-thing that shined a light up at the armor. Then he looked at it through this crystal-thing for a while. He did some other tests, too, and then he told us he could reshape the armor, and it wouldn’t even lose any of the magic protections it’s got. Thalidimar seemed fine with how much it would cost, but it would take a couple of days to do, so we decided to come back here after we’ve finished our job at the Tower of Heavens to have it done.

Zeddishous showed up at the shop too, and we had the Dwarf look at a couple things we found in the Derro tunnels. There was a small shield that was magic that the Dwarf offered to buy from us for 3,000 gp, so now we have the gold we need in case the guys at the Tower of Heavens want us to pay before they’ll grant us an audience this time.

5 Detenday 1001
Freeday

We got attacked by a Chraal on our way back down the mountain from Dunfee today. We were coming up on where another trail joined ours to make a fork in the trail if you were traveling the other way, and it stepped around the corner from the other trail. I warned everybody about how it blows cold at you, and it explodes when you kill it. At least they hate each other as much as they hate everybody else, so we could be sure there was only one of them. Of course, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, it blew cold at us just like I said it would. I managed to weave into a warmer pocket of air as the cold it blew at us swirled past, but not everybody is as quick on their feet. I used my belt that makes darkness again (nobody seemed to mind this time) while most everybody else charged up to fight the thing, and Alcarenque used the spell that makes it look like there are a bunch of him. Then he used his spell that shoots a stream of fire, and the Chraal didn’t seem to like that at all. It blew more cold in the direction the fire had come from. It aimed a little high since it was downhill from us on the trail, and I was able to duck under the cold this time. Alcarenque wasn’t so lucky, though. He fell to the ground. Thalidimar was looking down at all of the Alcarenque's with this confused look on his face. Since my arrows hadn’t done anything to the Chraal yet anyway, I asked Thalidimar if there was anything I could do to help. He told me to start slapping at the Alcarenques to figure out which one was the real one. Then he went to help Rezigrene, since the Chraal had knocked her to the ground with a couple of solid blows. I started slapping at the Alcarenques, and each time I did, it would disappear. By the time there was only one of him left, the Chraal looked like it could go off at any minute, so I picked the Elf up and started carrying him back up the trail and away from the Chraal.

DM's note:
After departing Dunfee, the party has enough money to demand an audience with the sages of the Tower of Heavens. They encountered a creature called a Chraal, and endured a near deadly encounter that left them with two nearly dead party members. Vulnerable and exhausted from their battle they're on their way to the Tower of heavens. Their plan? So far they don't have one. Perhaps Hadley, the ferryman can help them. Perhaps the sages will help them?

Thankfully, Nicholis was able to attend this session. He had cornea replacement surgery during November, and he's feeling much better now. The most important result of the surgery; He can see again!

Real-world date: 11 Dec 2004
Game-world date: 5-7 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

After departing Dunfee, the party has enough money to demand an audience with the sages of the Tower of Heavens. They encountered a creature called a Chraal, and endured a near deadly encounter that left them with two nearly dead party members. Vulnerable and exhausted from their battle, they desperately need some rest and recuperation before they push on to the Tower of heavens. Their plan? So far they don't have one. Perhaps Hadley, the ferryman can help them. Perhaps the sages will help them?

5 Detenday 1001
Freeday

When I heard the explosion, I brought Alcarenque back to Thalidimar so he could heal the mage. After Thalidimar finished healing everyone as good as he could, we set out again. We made it to the bridge over the Icemelt River before we set up camp. We’ll cross it in the morning and we should make it back to the Tower of the Heavens tomorrow.

6 Detenday 1001
Hafn’mor

I had a nightmare last night, and it probably saved my life. I dreamed we were attacked by those shadow mastiffs again, and I could still hear their howling from my dream when I woke up. What I saw, though, was very different. Rezigrene was just entering me and Duracell’s tent, axe in hand. If my nightmare hadn’t woke me up when it did, we probably would never have woken up again! Rezigrene made some lame excuse about wanting to steal my helmet or something like that. For some reason I was very frightened, and thought that I’d be better off outside the tent where I had some room to move around, but when I tried to crawl out, Rezigrene grabbed me. I almost got away anyway, but then the Orc bitch smacked me upside the head with her axe! I woke up this morning with the worst headache ever. She said she knocked me out “for your own protection” and “to keep you from running off and getting killed”. Duracell says we really were attacked by the shadow mastiffs and Piyarz last night, but still, I’ve run off on my own with them around before and I didn’t come out of it half as bad as last night. I’d rather take my chances on my own.

And besides that swine snout ruined my helmet! The thing reeks! Did she wear it or use it for a chamber pot? Do I smell sweat or piss? Is there a difference for an Orc? Worse, though, the glowing coin I traded Thalidimar for and had that Gnome fix to the forehead of my helmet doesn’t glow anymore! She’s been good up ‘til now, but really, how long can an Orc pretend to act like she’s civilized anyway? Her true nature’s gonna show eventually, like last night. Still, unless my payment for this whole mission is something that lets me see in the dark like a Dwarf, she’s gonna pay to replace the glowing coin she wrecked. On second thought, she’d owe me anyway.

Nobody else seems to give a rat’s ass that there’s an Orc traveling with us that’s decided to start smackin’ us around. Oh well, when she starts hitting them, they won’t get any sympathy from me, either.

Even with a headache, I was the only one that managed to walk across the bridge this morning without falling on my ass. Rezigrene was the last, and she just sat and held the end of a rope while Zeddishous pulled her across. She looked like a dog trying to wipe its ass on the grass.

We got to Hadley’s place about midday. He said that Piyarz is still in the tower, but Sion left right after we did. So it’s been Sion, not Piyarz, that’s been pestering us. Still, Piyarz didn’t act against us in the open, so maybe his position still isn’t as solid as he would like.

Duracell must have known how mad Rezigrene made me ‘cause when we got to the hostel on the island, she pulled me into one of the rooms and spent the whole afternoon trying to make me feel better. And she succeeded, too. At dinner, we found out that me and Duracell weren’t the only ones, either. I guess Eilownwy had gotten the staff to set up a bath in another room, and then invited Thalidimar to share it with her. Of course Thalidimar took her up on it. He’s no dummy. After dinner, Duracell and I decided to copy them, and had a bath of our own. When we were done, I did my best to wash out the lining of my helmet. It still stinks, but it’s tolerable now, so I can wear my helmet again.

Zed decided it would be a good idea if all of us crammed into two of the bedrooms together. He also wants us to keep our watch to see if Sion comes back sometime tonight.

7 Detenday 1001
Aprochen

They took us to the question room right after lunch. Duracell had her invisible servant pull back the curtain in front of the sage so we would know right where he was. He had two monks with him. They attacked us right away, and so did the two Gnome guards in the room. I activated my darkness belt, and it didn’t take very long to defeat them.

Real-world date: 8 Jan 2005
Game-world date: 7 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

The battle has begun. With the defeat of a small contingent of guards, the party has put its foot on a difficult path, one that surely leads to many deaths. Will it lead them to Shalfey in the end? What will they do with the meteorite now? Why did they need it in the first place? Will Piyarz confront them? What of Sion and his Mastiffs? Nothing but unanswered questions lay ahead. Hopefully Shalfey will offer answers. Provided he's still alive...

7 Detenday 1001
Aprochen

The battle continues...

More gnome guards tried to come in the room where we had entered it. And a moving statue stepped into the alcove where the sage and monks had been. I didn’t think my weapons could harm the statue much, so I moved over to the other end of the room to help Duracell fight the gnomes. A couple of sturdy hits from Thalidimar’s magic mace dealt with the statue, and then Zed hollered for me to look at some door that was in the side of the alcove. I told him to help Duracell, and traded places with him.

It was a large stone door with stars carved into it in a pattern around the niche that the statue had been standing in. On each side of the niche, there was a recessed handle that could be turned. There was a pressure plate in the floor of the niche, and since the statue wasn’t standing on it anymore, the door was locked. If the handles were turned together in the correct manner, the door would unlock and slide into the floor. However, there was a ring of blades hidden at the openings of the depressions that the handles were in, and if the handles were NOT turned together or in the correct manner, the blades would close and cut off the hands that were doing the turning. I called Thalidimar over to me to try a couple of ideas. First, I had him stand in the niche, but of course he didn’t weigh nearly as much as the statue had, so the door didn’t unlock that easy. Then I had him use his mace to bust open the stone panels that were concealing the lock/trap mechanism just above the handle recessions. I got a quick good-luck kiss from Duracell while he was at it, and it didn’t take long for Thalidimar to bust things loose and expose the door’s innards.

I was just starting to examine the mechanisms when Zed yelled for me to hurry up. Thalidimar went over to them and did some healing, but the gnomes could only come into the room one at a time, and Zed, El and Rezigrene would smack each one down before he could take more than two steps. They were at a stand-off, and I was probably in more danger than any of them were with this trap. I offered to let Zed take over for me if he thought he could do better, but he just ignored me.

Anyway, the first thing I did, of course, was to disconnect the blades from the rest of the mechanism so that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting my hands cut off. Then I started looking at the lock itself. There was a gear at the end of the axle the handle rotated around, and it meshed with the first of about half a dozen or so gears, all different sizes and in a line toward the center of the door. There, a plate with teeth along its far side was raised or lowered in a track by the last gear. When the plate reached the very top of its track, it pushed the end of a lever, and the lever pulled back the locking bars that went out the side of the door and into holes in the walls beyond the doorframe. The door, doorframe and all, would then descend through a hole in the floor. The two plates for the two handles were side-by-side in the center of the door, with barely enough room between them to slide a hair into. From the sizes of the gears, it looked like one full right turn of the right handle would raise the right plate fully, while just a half right turn of the left handle would raise the left plate fully.

When the statue was on the pressure plate, a separate system of levers pulled the locking bars back even from the doorframe, which would allow the door to swing open normally. Some kind of mechanism I couldn’t see below the floor must keep the door from descending when there’s enough weight on the pressure plate.

A series of linkages was attached to the blades surrounding the openings to the handle depressions to make them all cut toward the center of the circle they formed at the same time. A strong spring was always trying to pull the blades closed. A rod extended from the linkages, and its other end butted against the plate in the center of the door. This rod is what held the circle of blades open. There was a series of holes cut in each plate along the line the rods would travel as the plates moved. The holes of each plate were arranged precisely so that the spaces between the holes of one plate exactly aligned with the holes of the other plate. If one of the plates was moved without the other plate moving, or if the movement of both plates was not perfectly synchronized, the holes in the plates would line up with each other, which would allow the rods holding open the blade circles on each side to slide through, and the spring would close the blades. Bye-bye hands! Of course, the plates would also then be jammed in place with the rods sticking through them. Also, anyone trying to feel the correct “combination” would get clicks, pauses, etc. caused by the rods slipping into and out of the holes (but not all the way through because of the other plate). This would lead to a false perception of tumblers or some other type of mechanism that just wasn’t there. The holes were irregularly spaced and sized to encourage the confusion. Until, of course, they had monkeyed with it enough to align a couple holes and lose their hands. It’s a good thing I had Thalidimar smash it open so I could SEE what was what. I disconnected the spring on each side from the blades, and then jammed open the blade circle linkages. I couldn’t get the springs separated from the last couple of linkage arms attached to the rod, though, so the handles still have to be turned at the same time or the plates will get jammed by the rods and then the door can’t be opened.

I opened the door, and there were a couple of monks waiting on the other side. I yelled to everybody that the door was open and that there were monks coming into this end of the room as I backed up a couple of steps. The monk followed me into the room and bitch-slapped me. Obviously, my belt wasn’t making darkness anymore, but since I can’t see it anyway, how was I to know? I put the monk down with my rapier, but when I tried to use it on a gnome guard that had followed him, the damned thing broke! The room was flooded with gnomes now, so I activated my belt again. It didn’t take long to take out the rest of the gnomes in the room after that, and there didn’t seem to be any more coming.

We closed the door we had come in and barred it. Then, just to make sure nobody would be getting through, Zed used this magic thing he had that made a stone wall across our side of the door. We examined the stone door I had managed to unlock. After descending into the floor, it paused for a brief moment, and then rose back up again. There didn’t appear to be any way to open it from the other side. We decided that this room would now be a fairly safe place to rest up. Everybody who could cast spells had cast nearly all they could for the day, but nobody was very badly hurt, either, so we decided to do a little more exploring before coming back and resting up. Before we left, though, we separated the dead gnomes from the ones who were just beat unconscious, and then bandaged up the ones that still breathed. After all, we’re here to rescue Shalfey, not to kill everyone if we don’t have to. We also didn’t want them causing any more trouble for us, either, so we tied them up for now. We’ll come back and let them free after we’re finished.

We placed the crumbled remains of the statue on the pressure plate in the niche of the door, and it completely unlocked the door like I thought it would. Now it could be swung open freely from either side, so we could easily return, close the door, and remove some of the statue chunks to lock the door again if we need a safe place to retreat to. The passage beyond was a staircase that spiraled down. We had barely gone beyond its bottom step when I heard someone shout for us to surrender. Everyone rushed forward to help fight, but I ran back up the stairs and got ready to shut the door if there was a retreat. There was. They told me that they had gone into a library where there was no sound. I know you’re supposed to be quiet in a library, but I guess it’s REALLY enforced in that one. Anyway, they had defeated another sage and a few more monks before coming back. Also, some of them saw Piyarz himself in the next room over! And he didn’t look too happy to see them. We’re going to rest up now before going any further. Any element of surprise we had is gone now anyway, since Piyarz himself knows we’re here. We just need to be ready to be ambushed when we head out again tomorrow.

DM's note:
The battle has begun. Our group of adventurers has defeated a large contingent of Gnomish guards, and defeated an intricate and deadly door trap, only to retreat upon encountering a group of monks and Piyarz himself. The party has put its foot on a difficult path, one that surely leads to many deaths. Will it lead them to Shalfey in the end? What will they do with the meteorite now? Why did they need it in the first place? Will Piyarz muster the towers defenders and attack the party when they attempt to leave the secure shelter they've built for themselves? Nothing but unanswered questions lay ahead. Hopefully Shalfey will offer answers. Provided he's still alive...

Real-world date: 22 Jan 2005
Game-world date: 7 - 9 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Mud

7 Detenday 1001
Aprochen

We heard someone chopping through the door we had come into the question chamber through.  I’ll bet they were pretty surprised when they saw the new wall blocking their way after they got through the door!  They got to work boring through it right away, though.

We had about a dozen Gnomes tied up, plus Lurg and one of his monk bodyguards.  Lurg and the monk were obviously mad at us, but the Gnomes just seemed to be resigned to being prisoners once they saw we weren’t going to kill them or torture them or anything.  We tried explaining to them who we are and why we’re here, but they were totally convinced Shalfey is dead and wouldn’t believe anything we said.  They just decided we’re here to steal their Books of Prophecy, and that’s that.

By evening, the Gnomes on the other side of Zeddishous’s wall had managed to burrow a hole all the way through at the bottom.  They hollered through the hole to our prisoners for a bit, and when they found out we were actually treating their friends halfway decent (we even fed them some of our food), they decided things would turn out better if they just waited us out.  Which is fine with us.  But they won’t believe why were here either.

8 Detenday 1001
Longday

Thalidimar was able to heal us all up this morning, but we decided to wait until tomorrow so he can have all his spells available again when we head out.  I’m BORED.

9 Detenday 1001
Endsnear

The Gnomes on the other side of the wall tried to offer us a deal this morning.  They said that if we came out, they’d just escort us from the tower and let us go.  We said we weren’t leaving until we’d seen Shalfey, or his body if he really is dead.  They said they could arrange to have his body on the shore at noon, which got us worried.  If he wasn’t already dead, he soon would be now.  We decided we needed to go find him right away.

When I opened the door with the handles, the hall beyond was stuffed from floor to ceiling with furniture that had lamp oil or something poured all over it.  There was a monk on the other side of the barricade holding a torch.  He told us to go back, but I just took out my own torch and lit the furniture.  Then I let the door close.  It took a couple of hours for the furniture to burn down, but when I opened the door again, the hall and stairs on the other side were empty.

We didn’t meet anybody down in the silent library, either.  I checked out the door they had seen Piyarz through the other day, and it was locked and trapped.  The trap was a simple little poison needle on a spring that I got undone pretty easy, but I couldn’t get the lock open.  Rezigrene was able to just bust it down, though.  She’s definitely a good replacement for Kragus in that way.  The room beyond was a lounge.  There were a couple of card tables and some couches and easy chairs.  There was a podium in the middle, and a piece of paper hung over it on a fishhook.  It said, “By reading this, you are cursed.”  It was signed by Piyarz.  So now everybody calls me mud.  My name is Mud.  Ha ha, very funny.  I never got the chance to return the favor, though.

There were two doors in the wall to the left from where we entered, and just a single door in the opposite wall.  We decided to see what was behind the single door.  It was a small room with totally black walls.  There was a bed at one end, and a writing desk at the other.  In the center was a large chest that didn’t quite look like a coffin.  The only candle in the room was burning on top of the chest.

Floating directly over the fancy chest was this weird creature.  For one thing, it was all head and no body.  And I don’t mean that like people usually mean it, where something has a big head and a small body.  This thing had no body at all.  It was just a floating head.  It only had one eye where there are normally eyes on a face, but there were four more at the ends of short stalks sticking out of the top of it.  It’s mouth was all fangs and drool, and it faced straight down.  It said that it was guarding Piyarz’s treasure, which was in the ornate chest.  We decided to leave it alone for now, except to ask it some questions.  We asked it where Piyarz was, but it would only say he was “nearby.”  Standing right there in the room, it turned out, but we didn’t see him, and didn’t find out until a few minutes later.  We asked where Shalfey was, but it claimed it didn’t know.  We asked it who/what it was, and it said its name was Illzuick, and that it was a type of beholder.  It said that there are a lot of different kinds of beholders.  It didn’t come right out and say it, but I got the impression that it wasn’t guarding Piyarz’s treasure because it wanted to.

Anyway, we decided to leave it alone, like I said, and I went and started looking over one of the other two doors.  And that’s when all hell broke loose, or rather froze over.  At first I though the ceiling had collapsed on us, but it was chunks of ice that were hitting us on our heads.  The whole lounge was full of it falling from the ceiling.  And then, just like it started, it all disappeared like it was never even there.  I knew it had been, though, because I was hurt so bad I could barely keep standing up.  I backed myself into a corner, and when I looked over into the room Illzuik was in, there was Piyarz!  Just then, three monks came through the door I had been getting ready to open and started attacking me, Duracell and Thalidimar.  I used my belt, and Solindria helped us take down the monks.  Thalidimar ran around healing everybody, which we all desperately needed after the hail.  Rezigrene ran over to the beholder room and threw something in it.  The whole room was filled with black tentacles that grabbed Piyarz and Illzuik.  It didn’t take very long for them to pop Illzuik like a melon, and they twisted Piyarz up tighter than a climber’s knot soon after that.

We decided to see what was behind the third door in this room.  Turned out to be a hallway with three guys in grey robes trying like hell to melt into the walls.  I noticed they kept skirting around this one corner, though, so I got out my bow, sighted down an arrow at the corner, and asked them what was there.  A guy in a yellow robe just kind of appeared there.  He was a Sage named Poro.  We tied him to a chair and let the other guys go.  He didn’t know where Shalfey was, either, and he wasn’t too happy to see Piyarz was dead.  He said that Lurg would be in charge now that Piyarz is dead.

We went down the hall the monks had come out of to attack us.  It came to a room with a big gap in the floor running all the way across.  Down in the gap, lake water was rushing through like a fast running river.  Carved into the wall was, “I am real - have faith and pass safely.”  Zeddishous went back to the lounge and grabbed one of the rugs there.  He used it to find an invisible bridge that crossed over the gap right in the middle.  Zeddishous tied one end of a rope around himself in case he fell into the water down below, and then crossed over the bridge to the other side of the room.  Then we tied the rope to the hinges of the doors on each side of the room so we would have something to hold onto as we crossed over.  It was a good thing, too.  When everybody else crossed over, they were rock steady as they walked across.  But when I crossed, the damned bridge started bucking and heaving like an earthquake.  I probably would have fallen off if the rope wasn’t there.

Next we went up a flight of stairs with a locked door at the top.  I got it unlocked, but it still wouldn’t open.  I figured that it was nailed shut from the other side like one we had come to before, so I told Rezigrene to bash it down.  She threw herself against it a couple of times, and then decided that it should have popped open.  She ended up just whacking it with her axe a couple of times and it fell apart.  And on the other side of the door was Shalfey, looking very much alive.  He was burning some books, but he told us that they weren’t important, and some were even just blank.  He wanted to know who we were.  We explained that Darius had hired us to rescue him.  No matter how hard I tried, I still ended up introducing myself as “Mud.”  He said that without the paper that the curse was on, he couldn’t break the curse.  He recommended that I find Archmage Newhon when we get back to Whillip.

Shalfey said that he had found some obscure legend about some dark smiths that guarded some library.  Supposedly, they would trade the books for a particular black rock.  A few months ago, information he had gotten from staring at the stars showed him that a shooting star was on its way.  After some more study, he decided that the shooting star was the black rock the smiths would trade for the books.  So he sent his personal bodyguards to fetch the rock.  Piyarz took advantage of the situation and locked Shalfey away while he was unprotected.  So then Darius came and hired us to retrieve the rock and rescue Shalfey, etc., etc.

In other words, we could have saved ourselves a couple of weeks and rescued Shalfey the first time we came to the tower.  The rock had nothing to do with setting him free.

Shalfey wanted to hire us to go trade the rock for the books.  He said that in addition to paying us what Darius had promised for rescuing him, he’d double our reward to go make the trade.  I suggested that perhaps we should conclude our first agreement before opening up another one, so he went into this glowing globe thingy in his room, and when he came back out, he paid us the money we were due and gave us each something magical.  I got half a dozen arrows that he says won’t ever break unless they get burned or something.  Duracell got a ring that lets her see in the dark like a Dwarf, which is just the type of thing I thought just the other day would be great to get.  Now I’m sure that these guys use spying magic.  But why did he decide to tease me like that?  Oh well, we’ll get another magic item as well as another 10,000 gp when we get back from trading the rock for the books.  Maybe mine will be another ring like he gave Duracell.  Then we’d have matching rings.  Women are such suckers for stuff like that.

He told us we need to go to where the Kagu-Svirfnebli are.  They’re the ones that have the forge and the library.  He marked on our map where they should be up in the mountains.  They’re a tribe of a race called svirfneblin, which are a type of Gnome that lives deep underground.  Unlike surface gnomes, they tend to be dull and drab.  They’re also pretty reclusive.  They sound a lot like gnome versions of the Derro.

Rezigrene had gotten a scroll that would let her summon a powerful fighter named Khoronach the Storm trooper of Death.  She couldn’t decide if she should summon him now or later.  We suggested that maybe now would be a good time so we could figure out ahead of time if we could depend on him or not.  It would suck big time if we were in the middle of some desperate fight and she summoned him just so he could decide he didn’t like us and attack us too.  So she used the scroll, and this human guy almost as ugly as she is appeared.  He looked pretty buff, though, and carried an axe almost as big as hers.  He wouldn’t give Rezigrene a straight out promise about how long he’d help us or anything, so she decided it would be better if he just left.  We convinced her that help for a little time would be better than nothing, so she chased him down and convinced him to hang out with us for a while after all.

Shalfey came with us back to the hostel so the monks and Gnomes wouldn’t attack us anymore.  They all seemed pretty happy to see him.  Somehow, “I told you so” just didn’t seem very satisfying, and they just ignored me anyway.  So now we’re going to rest up in the hostel for a couple of days and then head out to find these Kagu-Svirfnebli people.

Real-world date: 29 Jan 2005
Game-world date: 7 - 9 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn (Formerly known as "Mud")

9 Detenday 1001
Endsnear

Player’s Note: “Vengeance must be sought for all injustices, and all punishments must fit the crime. Revenge is sweetest when it is sharpened with irony. All attacks must be avenged. Those who do not respond to attacks against their person or that which they hold dear only invite future attacks.” - from the Dogma of Hoar, Faiths and Pantheons.

To celebrate Shalfey’s return, Auberge actually broke out some meat for dinner, and not just any meat, either.  He called them “demon steaks.”  Eilownwy decided to stick to the usual vegetarian dishes they serve here, and of course Alcarenque turned his nose up at the steaks like he turns his nose up at everything, but the rest of us had one.  They were very tasty, and a bit spicy.  They’ve made everyone rather sleepy though, especially after our long day, so we’re all off to bed early.  Nobody really felt like we needed to set up a watch since we’re still in the hostel and Shalfey is back in charge, and Thalidimar agreed.

Which made this the perfect night to get back at Rezigrene for clubbing me with her axe the other night.  I snuck into the room she was sleeping in and took her damned axe.  I’ve got it rolled up in the tent that Jeeves (Duracell’s unseen servant thing) is carrying for me.  I doubt Rezigrene would ever suspect another party member.  I’ll “find” it later and give it back, after she promises not to use it on another party member again.

10 Detenday 1001
Godsday

Rezigrene exploded when she couldn’t find her axe this morning, of course.  She’s had all of us running all over the hostel trying to find it, asking everybody if they’ve seen it, etc.  The Gnomes had these smug little grins of their faces, so I suggested that maybe they had taken the axe since she had killed so many of them with it.  Anything to deflect suspicion away from me even more.

Of course we’re keeping watch tonight to make sure nothing else disappears.  Somehow, I don’t thing anything will.

11 Detenday 1001
Newday

Damn it!  She found out.  Oh well, maybe it worked out better anyway.

First thing this morning, Rezigrene went to find out if Shalfey could help her find her axe.  When she came back, she had my helmet.  (She had borrowed it day-before-yesterday with a promise to give it back, and now I found out why.)  When I lifted up the little flap over the coin, the coin was glowing even brighter than before.  I wonder how much that cost her?  I decided to give her back her axe soon, but I didn’t get the chance.

Shalfey said that for 500gp, he could perform a “ritual of veracity” that would make anybody that Rezigrene wanted to interrogate have to tell the truth.  Then Thalidimar told Rezigrene to give him the 500gp (that part was a joke), and he would cast a spell he called “Zone of Truth” (I wish that part was a joke, too).  He said that the spell would make everyone nearby have to tell the truth.  As soon as he started talking about it, Shalfey went back to the tower since he’s really busy there right now.  I was just sitting there thinking, “Shut up Thalidimar.  Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!”  But I couldn’t think of anything to do that would get him to stop without making me look suspicious, so I just sat there with my own mouth shut.

So Rezigrene had Auberge and everyone that works for him in the hostel brought into the common room.  Khoronach noticed that one of the scullions was missing.  Auberge said that he had sent the scullion up to Dunfee with a Gnome guard at daybreak.  Rezigrene almost looked panicked at that, and I was hoping she’d just give up on this and start out to try and catch the scullion before he could sell the axe in Dunfee, but she had Thalidimar cast his spell anyway.  Of course Auberge and his help didn’t know where the axe was, but then Rezigrene started asking the Thalidimar and the rest of us if we did.  I tried to resist Thalidimar’s spell at first, but I got this feeling just like I do whenever I try to tell people what my name really is and it comes out “Mud”.  So I ended up telling her that I knew where her axe was, that Jeeves has it.  I didn’t know where Jeeves was, but Duracell did.

So then Rezigrene went into one of the bedrooms and threw all our stuff Jeeves was carrying all over the place until she found her axe rolled up in the tent with the tent stakes.  Of course she wanted to know why I did it.  I told her about some of the stuff the Cleric of Hoar had taught me about his teachings, about how all attacks against yourself have to be paid back and stuff.  She said, “But I got your helmet fixed.  Didn’t that fix things?”  I told her that it made up for ruining the helmet, but not for hitting me over the head with the axe.  I said that I was going to give it back, eventually.  After all, why would I have kept it if I wasn’t going to give it back?  If I just didn’t want her to have it, it would be at the bottom of Lake Icemelt right now.  I don’t know if she accepted my explanation, but she did say something about taking my point.  At least now she knows that she can’t just go smacking the rest of us around whenever she feels like it.  We may not be as strong as her, but we can hurt her just as bad in other ways.  And that’s true of any of us against anyone else.

We set out right after all of that settled back down.  We’re going to Dunfee, first.  I need to replace my rapier (and hopefully get this annoying curse taken off me), Thalidimar can get his armor reshaped, and we can stock back up on some other supplies.

When we got to that bridge that’s all covered with ice we have to cross over the river, I volunteered to go over first since I’m the only one that hasn’t fallen on his ass crossing it so far.  So of course I fell down halfway across.

We’re camped a little ways into the mountains right on the trail to Dunfee.

12 Detenday 1001
Nexsta’

I barely got to sleep last night when we got attacked by another Chraal.  The damned thing was standing right in front of my tent flap, so me and Duracell couldn’t get out until it had been beaten up enough it was almost ready to explode.

Today has been very pleasant for traveling, though.  The weather was clear and calm, and it warmed up a lot.

13 Detenday 1001
Onward

We almost got wiped out by an avalanche today.  Duracell used her flying belt to get most of us out of the way, but Zeddishous, Eilownwy and Khoronach got caught in it.  We started digging down to them right away.  To be honest, I figured we’d just be recovering their bodies so we could bury them (isn’t that kind of messed up - digging up someone’s body so you can bury it?), but they turned out to be alive!  Zeddishous had found a small cave to hide in, and Khoronach used a magic thingy that he could turn into a boat and turned it upside down for him and El to hide under.  They were all digging their way up when we came across them.  Traveling around with a Cleric of Tymora has been really useful.  I’ll have to have Thalidimar put in a prayer of thanks on behalf of all of us for today.

We made it into Dunfee today.  Everyone else went right to the shops.  I knew from last time we were here that there wasn’t any kind of mages guild, so I started asking around where there might be a temple.  Maybe a priest could break a curse.  Unfortunately, the temple’s in the mines, and we’re not allowed in the mines, but they said they would have one of the priests come out to see what I wanted.  He introduced himself as Theradyne, and asked if I followed Moradin.  When I said I didn’t, he wanted to know what I wanted him for.  I explained about my curse and asked how much it would cost for him to get it off me, if he could.  He said he could, and it would cost 500gp.  I paid him, and he chanted something and I felt something change.  I tried saying my name, and it came out as “Ashedyn!”  Theradyne says he’s going to use my money to build another shrine for Moradin that visitors can use without having to go into the mines.  Of course he is.  Make things more accessible for visitors, and they’ll spend more money.  I made sure to thank him very pleasantly, though, which wasn’t hard to do as good as I was feeling.  It is so nice to have my chosen name back.

When I caught up to everyone else, they were in the general store.  They still called me “Mud” out of habit, but dropped it pretty quick when I let them know the curse was gone.  Then I went over to the weapon smith’s shop.  They didn’t have any rapiers, so I settled for a longsword.  Then I joined everybody again over at the armor smith’s shop.  Thalidimar was selling off some of the stuff we’ve found to make room in his purse for the library we’re supposed to carry back to the Tower of Heavens.  It’s a good thing it holds a lot more than it looks like it should.

Real-world date: 13 Feb 2005
Game-world date: 13 - 18 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn and Rezigrene

Ashedyn's journal entry

13 Detenday 1001
Onward

We're camped in Dunfee, and Rezigrene is paying a couple of the town guards to watch over our campsite a little more closely than usual.

15 Detenday 1001
Freeday

There wasn’t much to do yesterday, so I got drunk at a place called "the Petrified Onion".  Thank the gods that today is Freeday so Thalidimar can’t go pick up his armor, ‘cause I really don’t feel like traveling.  I’ve got to remember about that Dwarven ale in the future.

I did find out that Damara keeps spies posted here pretty much constantly.  Dunfee is officially in Impiltur, but it’s pretty close to the border, and it sounds like Damara might be rather interested in both Dunfee and the Tower of the Heavens.

Khoronach decided he was bored was going to leave, but then he kind of exploded into a cloud of smoke.  He left behind the scroll Rezigrene used to summon him in the first place, so it looks like she can call him back whenever she wants.

16 Detenday 1001
Hafn’mor

Thalidimar got his armor first thing in the morning, and we left Dunfee.  We’re going to travel back down to Lake Icemelt and then stop by Derwyth’s on our way to the Kagu-Svifnebli since we’ve already traveled most of that way before instead of going around the mountains the other way.

We got stopped by some creatures that everybody else seemed to know were Feldrakes.  They’re like a small cousin to some kind of dragon.  Since they’re supposed to like Elves, Eilownwy and Alcarenque talked to them and threw them some food, and they let us down the path past them without bothering us.

Rezigrene decided she wanted Khoronach’s help again for watches tonight, so she summoned him back.

17 Detenday 1001
Aprochen

We’re camping by the bridge again.  Now that we don’t have to cross it, it’s not all covered with ice since it’s been so warm and rainy the last couple of days.

18 Detenday 1001
Longday

Duracell woke me up at some god-awful hour this morning.  Sion had attacked our camp.  There were a lot more bloody Shadow Mastiffs scattered around the camp than I remember him using before.  He ran off when things got difficult for him again, and the rangers were trying to track him down.  Rezigrene and Alcarenque were with them.  Me, Duracell and Khoronach packed up our stuff and went to follow them.  Alcarenque kept sending his hawk back for us to follow, and we caught up with them about dawn.

The rangers managed to follow Sion’s footprints all the way back to Hadley’s dock.  Hadley’s ferry was over at the Tower’s dock, and Hadley seemed pretty surprised to see it over there since he was still in his shack.  Duracell flew Hadley over to get his boat, and then he rowed everybody over to the hostel.  Zeddishous and Rezigrene were acting like a couple of hound dogs that think they’ve just about cornered their prey, and wanted to tell Shalfey that Sion was here and then search the whole tower right away.  I figured it was pointless for one of two reasons.  Whenever Sion has attacked us before, he just disappears, and there’s no footprints to follow.  So why would he leave a trail back to the Tower of Heavens, the last place it would seem he would want to be?  Either he’s not here at all, or else he knows secret passages in the tower that not even Shalfey or the rest of the sages know about so he can hide from them.  Either way, we sure as hell wouldn’t be able to find him here.

So I took a nap until it was lunchtime, and then I spent the afternoon bullshitting with Auberge.  He seemed kind of bummed that we didn’t bring him back any more whiskey, but I explained that we hadn’t been planning on coming back at all yet, so we hadn’t had a chance to get him more.  Zeddishous did get him to break out one more Demon steak that we all split for dinner (except Eilownwy and Alcarenque, of course).

DM's note:
The party is on the second leg of their quest. A horrendous battle with the elusive Sion has led the party back to the Tower of the Heavens. After losing the trail of that evil shade, it's time to get back on the trail. Join the group next time as they set out to encounter the Kagu-Svirfnebli.

Real-world date: 26 Feb 2005
Game-world date: 19 - 22 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn and Rezigrene

Real-world date: 12 Mar 2005
Game-world date: 24 - 26 Detenday, 1001
Written by: Ashedyn

Real-world date: 26 Mar 2005
Game-world date: 26 Detenday, 1001 - 5 Janus 1002
Written by: Ashedyn

Real-world date: 9 Apr 2005
Game-world date: 6 - 9 Janus, 1002
Written by: Ashedyn

06 Janus 1002
Hafn’mor

We made it do Derwyth’s last night.  We’re going to hang out here for a day.  Alcarenque and Thalidimar want to refresh themselves on their spells, and the rangers would like to take another peak at the bestiary we brought to Derwyth.

Speaking of Alcarenque, I don’t think he’s going to be part of the group anymore after we get back.  He keeps bitching that we’re not finding enough gold or “interesting stuff.”  If he doesn’t leave on his own, I think the rest of us are fed up enough with his constant whining that he’ll get booted out of the group anyway.  I just really hope he doesn’t steal too much of the group gold when he leaves.  Making him group treasurer was a really bad idea.

08 Janus 1002
Longday

We passed that wreaked boat again today.  More snow had melted off of it, and there were more dead animals near it.  We decided to stay away from it again.

09 Janus 1002
Endsnear

We stopped a couple hours short of the camp by the bridge this morning.  We’ll camp here on the shore of Lake Icemelt for the day and push on to the Tower of Heavens this evening.  If Sion decides to attack us again today, it won’t be where he has had time to set up an ambush, and it’ll be during the day.

Additional - Sion did attack us again.  Our plan worked, too.  Alcarenque’s hawk warned him that Sion and the shadow mastiffs were on the way while they were still far enough away that we all had time to get our armor on and get ready.  He had shadows with him this time, though.  I haven’t seen any of those since they got Barnaby that one night when we snuck into the graveyard back home.  Thalidimar was able to drive them off this time with out too much trouble, though.

DM's note:
Shalfey is rescued, and Piyarz is dead! The visions have all come to fruition. With Shalfey freed from his tower prison, Piyarz's treachery is finally revealed. The party has collected the promised reward, and they've accepted Shalfey's request to complete a second quest. The party has traded the meteorite for a set of new books of Prophecy, and they're now on their way back to the Tower of the Heavens. With the quest nearly over, Sion hounds their every step. As the encounters escalate, what further menace could thwart our adventurers in the home stretch?

Real-world date: 7 May 2005
Game-world date: 9 - 13 Janus, 1002
Written by: Ashedyn