June 4th, 2023

Vita, Comitatus 24th, 1194 (Continued)

Farther in we encounter more ettercaps, one of which is a nightmare ettercap. Nightmare ettercaps have regeneration and DR (need good or silver), and they have a fear aura and some spell-like abilities. In their den we find a couple of crystals that Ralzer recognizes as a naturally occurring magic item that can be created in areas of strong magic. The battle was rough, so we rest afterwards.

Mare, Comitatus 25th, 1194

We find one tunnel that leads to the Underdark and we turn back. We come to an ominous hole, about 20 ft. in diameter, and we can hear some skittering coming from it. A giant whip-tail centipede emerges from the hole and it’s venom renders Graynor paralyzed. Sigmund attempts to use our scroll of restoration to heal Graynor, but fails spectacularly, destroying the scroll in the process. We’ll have to rest for a few days while Graynor recovers.

Forte, Comitatus 27th, 1194

After several days of Ty playing nurse, Graynor is better. We continue to explore the Cave of Unreasonable Ice and run into a trio of drow. Their wizard manages to escape via invisibility, but we dispatch the others handily. The drow had a cart, but it was empty so we can’t tell what they were doing here. In that same room Ralzer finds a fossilized white dragon egg.

Later, we find a room that has a bit of that same feeling as the purple haze. There are three piles of bones and one pile of bone and armor in the room, each with a faint evil aura. Each of the armor-less piles radiate a faint magical aura as well. When we approach, the four piles animate into skeletons that have a strange blue light and employ abilities atypical of skeletons. Once they’re defeated, we feel a strange energy enter us.

We find a long, winding passage that slightly slopes down and ends in a very large room. We feel a slight tingle of energy around us and Luna does not like this area. There are multiple statues of a slender hooded figure, with sapphires adorning the hood, which is likely Uunas. The highest priests of the Order of Agony wear gem-studded hoods. There are also gargoyle statues, which are Uunas’s favorite creature. Near the back of this very large, statued room, we find what we believe to be the calendar. The calendar has a large symbol of Nissa in the center and we use the sending stone to tell Nadal about it. He replies to stand by and later Victoria responds with more questions about it. She expresses concern that we didn’t respond to Nadal’s sending, but Ty received no such message. Nadal then sends to us that the calendar is an ancient relic of Nissa’s that was thought to have been lost. They are sending assistance that will arrive in two days.

Sigmund tries to read the calendar using Tolm’s notes and finds the parts about the Slence in Heaven. Sigmund thinks it also mentions that Angelique still has no contact, which is strange since Angelique followers can still cast spells; could Zandru be impersonating Angelique for all this time? The part about massive vegetation growth and diminished (arcane) magic is found, but he also finds reference to the calling of an outer god, which is not in Tolm’s notes. Future eras are much harder to figure out, since we have no frame of reference. While trying to find information on the ancient heroes, Sigmund believes he found references of us instead, specifically Graynor is easy to pick out.

Bellum, Comitatus 28th, 1194

Tharivol and his group will arrive today, he is accompanied by four Guardians of Destiny, a rank just below him. Ty and Ralzer will meet them at the entrance.

The lingering aura in the statued room should have dissipated after about a week. Tharivol tells us that the area was once protected by a mythic version of the guards and wards spell and unhallow, which were both made permanent. Tolm’s journal only mentions that he found the calendar while exploring, why was he all the way out here at all? Could Tolm be from this area?

In regards to Angelique still being silent, Tharivol says there are some people that already believe this; Mikail is one such person. Most do not actively talk about their beliefs, so little is known as to why they think Angelique is still silent. Nearly all of the gods have at least some people who believe that they, too, are silent, but Angelique is the most popular choice. Interestingly, only Avarra and El are never mentioned as being “silent”. Tharivol has some concerns about Zandru being involved–the amount of time is too long to be a joke or trick. However, it could be a very large payoff that keeps him doing this.

Tharivol inspects Graynor and believes he, and the rest of us, have this mythic spark. The event with Graynor and the Mindstone dagger is found on the calendar.

Tharivol is concerned that Nadal’s sending did not arrive and Ralzer mentions the spellgorging areas we encountered on the way here as well.

May 27th, 2023

Mors, Comitatus 23rd, 1194 (Continued)

We camp in the ogre’s den.

Vita, Comitatus 24th, 1194

We find a room with four ice pillars and Ralzer notices evidence of something really big rubbing against them while moving. We continue to hear that scratching noise. We come across a pool of water and Ralzer is convinced that he saw something at the bottom. He’s insistent on getting in it, only to discover that it was nothing.

We later find, what Ralzer believes, is a white dragon nest. White dragons are immune to paralysis, sleep, and cold. They have DR, are able to move through ice and snow without issue, and are able to cast gust of wind and fog cloud. Inside the nest we find a snallygaster, which is a kind of bloodsucking beast with tentacles and a nasty beak, as featured in Investigator Vale and the Deadwood Altar. This one, however, looks to be undead; specifically, according to Sigmund, frostfallen–which are created by icy deaths.

There’s a mined tunnel that goes very deep and leads to a natural looking cavern. Tolm’s journal mentioned something something like this. In the cavern we encounter a pair of fungal crawlers. Ty recognizes them from another Investigator Vale novel, Shadows of the Subterrane,they’re like a fungus that has infested a small creature and takes it over.

While searching a room full of mining supplies we are ambushed by a choker, nasty grapplers that like to strangle people, and two balabra (tanglers), floating jellyfish-like creatures that should only be struck with bludgeoning weapons. In another section of the cavern we find a shriezyx, an aberration used by drow and derro as mounts and guardians. Ty recounts how, in The Road of Belladonna, Investigator Vale has to track a drow fugitive that rode one of these; they have a fear of fire and are venomous.

We next stumble into an ettercap den, which Investigator Vale dealt with in The Wickedly Weaved Web, one of Ty’s favorites in the series. In said novel, an evil cabal of duergar were using mutated ettercaps to milk their venom and poison the food delivers for local schools.

May 13th, 2023

Forte, Frigus 22nd, 1193 (Continued)

We rupture the remaining 13 akata pods without incident. While camping, Sigmund magically reads the rest of Tolm’s journal while the rest of us work on the tunnel.

Tolm seems to have had an apprentice for his gardening exploits. Past the gardening entries, his writing gets more and more disjointed. While he was exploring some caves north of Ironwald Downs he found, what he called, a predictive calendar; this sounds like it might be the same place that the ancient heroes fought the Heralds. Tolm deciphered enough of it to conclude that it predicted the Silence in Heaven, an era in which the gods warred and ceased contact with the mortal realms. One prediction is that our current era would have massive vegetation growth and stunted magic.

Tolm writes about about the “True Gods” and how our gods may not be gods at all. He found the akata pods in a far off land and had them transported to the fortress via the underdark. He met people from the western marshes of Halbrook, whom gave him that staff. They worshiped the “Star God” and were working to gain it’s blessing. They claimed that the marsh came alive due to this Star God.

Tolm also investigated the dwarves that were here and followed them to the Gannet Mountains. There should be enough details of the location to find it as well.

Bellum, Frigus 23rd, 1193

We continue to work on the tunnel while Graynor and Sigmund attempt to convince Queen Mozdrog to let use seal up their tunnel to the underdark. They speak with Thauglorauthamiir and fail to negotiate it’s sealing. After sealing the basement tunnel, we leave for Ironwald Downs.

Terra, Frigus 28th, 1193

We arrive at Ironwald Downs and inform Nadal of our trip (GM: I don’t think you talked to Nadal about the calendar) to the predictive calendar and buy provisions.

Iustitia, Frigus 29th, 1193

We begin the long trip to the northern caves, which will take about 25 days by horse.

Bellum, Comitatus 7th, 1194

The flora around us becomes suddenly very vivid in color with an unusually deep hue. Sigmund recognizes it as spellgorging, where the plants will absorb magical effects as they are being cast. The affected area is about 2 miles, which is far larger than normal for spellgorging.

Mors, Comitatus 9th, 1194

We see a small leafy creature cross our path that looks like it’s running away from a larger version of itself. Later, we are charged by what looks like a lion made out of leaves and thorns. Sigmund thinks it’s a kind of living topiary, which are usually created like a construct, but can emerge naturally in areas of the fae.

Iustitia, Comitatus, 22nd, 1194

We come  upon the ruins of a village, about a day away from the cave. Graynor says that the area kind of reminds him of the village in which his former group found the portal to a void realm. While searching the area, a band of Taers assault us– they’re pretty nasty, but we prevail. We find a nice-ish building to camp the night in.

Mors, Comitatus 23rd, 1194

We find a cave with an unreasonable amount of ice. While exploring we encounter 2 ogres.

May 6th, 2023

Forte, Frigus 15th, 1193 (Continued)

We gather for our meeting with Nadal and Tharivol and go over our exploits thus far. We learn that Glorfindel was a red dragon who was eventually redeemed by a gold dragon and that the fortress may have been a temple of Glorfindel’s followers. The Order of Thought may know more about the entombed dragonpriest. Durgeddin the Black, mentioned in our scrap of dwarven notes, was a famous smith who was fleeing with his clan from a marauding force from the west; they were probably only staying here briefly while searching for a better place. Tharivol doesn’t think that it’s related to the Grimstone/Kovar temple that we found. Korvar is a demigod of crafting, cursed by El, and worshiped by duergar. Grimstone was a weak king that was taken over by duergar Kovar worshipers. Tharivol tells us more about halcyon druids– they act like a bridge between the spirit world and the natural world, and it could have been that proximity to other worlds that lead Tolm astray.

The druidic book may have been Tolm’s notes and his staff is made of Frosting Iron, which was a favored material of a god that is no longer around. Tharivol suggests consulting Reverend Mikail, from the Parish of Everlasting Knowledge. He is a nosferatu, which is a kind of vampire that is more interested in knowledge than tyranny, and is well versed in the Architects, as he was “alive” when they were active.

Bellum, Frigus 16th, 1193

We head back to the Inevitable Order to try and ID Tolm’s staff, in which Nadal is successful. It has, what they call, Otherworldly Mind, that protects it; which means either the Architects made it, or Tolm found it. Under certain circumstances, it may cause slow effects on those it strikes. Reverend Mikail is available tonight for a meeting.

While we wait for our meeting, Sigmund will use magic to read Tolm’s journal. It contains lots of notes about his gardening, specifics about that fancy dirt and its effects, and twig blight creation.

We go back to the Inevitable Order for our late night meeting, where Reverend Mikail, a halfling, joins us. The lack of astrological equipment means that either Tolm was doing the carvings from memory or visions, or that it was there from before he arrived. Mikail can ID one of the akata that we encounted as being mana wasted and another as nightmare. He’s concerned that something from the Underdark could find the akata eggs and that if Sharwin is still unaccounted for, that could be bad. Regarding the Architects, he is confident that they are no longer around and that there is another group, the Celestial Attendants, that are doing something similar. This group is not known to Nadal or Tharivol. The Celestial Attendants, while not as focused, are still dangerous. It seems to be that they found something powerful and are messing around with it.

We confirm that part of the Architect’s protection was that their language would only be visible in their presence, which is a working theory about Ty’s book and why the passages aren’t always be seen. Mikail’s theory is that the dagger first marked Graynor and that the dagger’s purpose is to summon a god, so our purple haze effect may still be part of that god’s summoning.

Tharivol has news for Sigmund about Delanshire; the official report stats that agents of Neith tried to corrupt their well, but Tharivol believes it was actually followers of Zandru who were responsible. Zandru’s tenants often involve impersonating other religions to cause problems. Avarra, who tends to the well, has now sent armed guards for protection.

Sigmund stays behind a little bit to talk with Reverend Mikail about his oracle gifts.

Iustitia, Frigus 17th, 1193

Our supplies are provided by the temple and we set out again; it will take about 4.5 days of travel.

Terra, Frigus 21st, 1193

We arrive in Westermoor and speak with Laurel and find out that they were able to trace the black scour to a section of crops, in which she does not suspect foul play. We stay the night at the inn.

Forte, Frigus 22nd, 1193

We arrive back at the fortress and find that there are many more kobolds here that have red scale insignia. The kobolds also have a passage to the Underdark that they’re guarding.

We check on the akata pods and find that there are 18 unmolested. We force open five of them and kill two normal, a nightmare (need good [regeneration] or silver), a psychoplasmic (need magic), and an unknown variety. If we find more mana wasted akata we will need cold iron to bypass it’s DR. These pods are too heavy to move without great effort– how did they get here?

April 30th, 2023

Bellum, Frigus 9th, 1193 (Continued)

We move farther into the natural cavern and fight a lot of the plant creatures. There are remnants of many broken buildings here and it eventually leads to another large area. Carvings can be seen on the ceiling, but they are difficult to make out. We find strange cocoon-like pods scattered about that are a little larger than Ty. Down another tunnel we find several ruptured pods with Akata nearby– Akata are alien creatures that can spread a disease called Void Death. During our fight, they exhibit appearances and abilities that Akata are not known to possess.

We get a closer look at the largest broken building and find what looks to be Sir Morvant tending to some of these pods. He does, indeed, claim he used to be Morvant and turns aggressive. He is joined by Tolm, a spellcaster with long tentacles protruding from his back, wearing a wooden mask and wielding a staff with a strange metallic glint. During the fight, Graynor breaks free of his captivity and joins our side; it was a tough battle, but we emerge victorious.

Graynor also has a purple mark very similar to ours and confirms that he got it when the Mind Stone dagger was activated. He also tells us that the dagger is a tool for summoning a god and that the serpentine person that activated it looked a bit like Tolm’s mutations. He says that his group found celestial navigation tools that belonged to the Architects, and also mentions about going through some portal to a “Void Realm”.

According to Sigmund, Tolm’s mask is a symbol of a Halcyon druid and we may be able to use it as evidence to find out where he came from. Halcyon druids use masks as a bonded object and cast a mixture of divine and arcane magic, similar to Theobald’s description. Graynor identifies the plant creatures as twig blights and thinks that Tolm may have created them. Graynor also overheard him talking about Outer Gods. Sigmund takes a closer look at the carvings on the walls and ceiling and they look to be very detailed diagrams of our moon and other celestial bodies; perhaps Tolm was tracking something with this.

Behind a secret door, we find the rest of Graynor’s party– cocooned and stuck against the wall, all dead. We tell Graynor about the dragonpriest tomb and he expresses his concern about how we made it easier gain access to now that the traps are disarmed, so we lock the dragon door that leads to it. We spend the rest of the day moving our gear topside.

Later that evening, Ty gets a sending from Nadal regarding her appointment, “Prophet Tharivol will be available on the 15th”. We then camp for the night.

Iustitia, Frigus 10th, 1193

We begin our journey back to Ironwald Downs. On the way, Ralzer attempts to identify the rest of our magic items; the staff reacts to this and harms him. The Nightcaller whistle was created by ancient dwarves as a way to create undead– we may be able to sell it based on historical significance. We spend the next several days traveling.

Forte, Frigus 15th, 1193

We arrive in Ironwald Downs. Graynor visits his temple for guidance regarding the tomb of the dragonpriest, in which they advise him to visit the Inevitable Order about that. He also asks about Nightcaller and finds out that the transparent iron is called nephelium, which is a very rare iron ore that has been infused with magic. They say that the whistle should be destroyed or to at least have the magic removed from it, to which Graynor agrees.

Ty goes to her meeting with Tharivol, who has come all the way from Vallyn. He finds more passages and believes that the passages are being revealed because they are being activated by some sort of magic coming from Ty. The Architects somehow protected their language and anyone trying to magically decipher it would get hurt; perhaps this is like Tolm’s staff? He wants to meet with the rest of the group.

April 22nd, 2023

Terra, Frigus 7th, 1193 (Continued)

Other than the pit full of vines, we can’t find a way down to the basement, so we climb down it. The area below is also illuminated by the violet fungus and we find two skeletons shoveling dirt and two of those plant creatures. The don’t seem to mind us being there and we take a southern hall that leads to a fissure, which looks to be the result of an earthquake. Ralzer identifies a lot of thoqqua holes.

At the end of the hall we find a room that no one has entered in a very long time. Within is a rusted pedestal in the shape of a dragon with a stone tray set in its mouth. There is no magic in the room and we find nothing remarkable and leave. We explore a few more rooms and return to the dragon pedestal room to camp for the night.

Forte, Frigus 8th, 1193

We find an area that looks like a series of workshops, one of which has some goblins repairing armor. Another workshop contains a dire rat, tied to a bench spread eagle, and covered in tumors. Sigmund puts the rat out of its misery. In the corner is a crystal phial and Ralzer notices that the liquid inside looks similar to the diseased water in Short Rock Pass. The goblins seem to be distilling alcohol in one of the other rooms.

A natural cavern to the north has its floor stained with blood. A big goblinoid creature and two well trained dire rats lie in wait– we manage to kill them. While exploring we find an underground courtyard type area with a lot more violet fungus and draconic murals. On a gardener we find some really top tier compost, which Sigmund believes he can replicate with the right materials.

The next room has another draconic statue and we are attacked by a shadow while investigating, The statue is inscribed with “Let the sorcerous power illuminate my mind” in draconic. When spoken aloud, Ralzer feels more charismatic. We search a few more rooms and kill more gardeners.

Bellum, Frigus 9th, 1193

We find an office that has a lot of violet fungus and dirt, which looks like it has been placed here. Within are two books, one in draconic, which is magical, titled “Treasures of the Fire Lords”, and the other in a language that Sigmund believes might be druidic. The next room has more goblin gardeners and leads to a large natural cavern.

April 15th, 2023

Vita, Frigus 5th, 1193 (Continued)

Ty shares her opinion on the dragonpriest–we don’t know what the other group was looking for and decided to save investigating this for last and continue to explore the goblin area.

A wyrmling black dragon lies in wait in a room with poorly taxidermied trophies; it looks to have been imprisoned here and attacks us. Sigmund robs the dragon of an honorable death and wants to give it to the kobolds. We find a scroll case with ruined parchment inside that reads “[…] the remaining few. By order of Durgeddin the Black, we have created a secret dwarven redoubt. None shall find us; however, […]”, with the remainder being illegible.

Our guide is happy to see the black dragon, Thauglorauthamiir, whom was stolen from them. He takes us back to Queen Mozdrog, who is glad to have him returned and tells us her plans to raise it into a mighty dragon of unfathomable evil, so that they can kill goblins.

We continue our exploration of the goblin area and find a circular room with hobgoblins, goblins, and some kind of wooden plant-like creature. One of the hobgoblins is sitting on a makeshift throne with his feet on a chest. It’s a rough fight, but we end up victorious. We then head back to the kobolds to rest and celebrate.

Mare, Frigus 6th, 1193

We need more rest and take the day off.

Terra, Frigus 7th, 1193

We continue exploring and find another fountain room; this fountain has “Let there be death” inscribed on it in draconic. When spoken aloud, gas begins to pour out of the fountain, but we don’t feel any ill effects. Next to that is a room full of refuse, dead bodies, and a really fat dire rat, which we kill. We search the bodies for the other group, but it’s not them.

Goblins have prepared a couple of ambushes for us in the fortified halls. We follow them back to their “village”, which appears to have once been a cathedral, but to whom? It’s lit with the same violet light we’ve previously encountered and the source is some fungus. We rout their remaining forces and convince the rest to leave.

April 8th, 2023

Vita, Frigus 5th, 1193

Sigmund meets a guy named Oly during breakfast. Oly is also looking for the people that previously spoke to Dodd and is familiar with our exploits in Westermoor. He mentions another strange thing happening in this area–disappearing trees. Sigmund returns from his morning constitutional with a tiger named Luna; a cub that he rescued from a circus that passed through Delanshire that somehow followed him here. Oly meets the rest of the party and will join us as we search for the other group.

We depart for the ravine with the cart and about half a day later arrive at what looks like an old campsite. Oly figures that it’s been about a year since it was last used, but it has a lot of ash built up. We climb down into the ravine and at the bottom find some worked stone stairs that lead into a courtyard. Oly finds small, clawed footprints down here which look to be from kobolds. Ralzer notices that the debris down here is unstable and we need to be careful. We encounter a pit trap with a goblin corpse in it that doesn’t seem to be very long dead. After some time the trap resets itself. We find a room with several dead goblins and “Glorfindel” written on the wall in draconic–we are not sure what that means.

There are several locked doors down here that have strange dragon motifs and an ornate, draconic themed, dry fountain with an inscription in draconic reading “Let there be fire”. Once said aloud, the fountain begins to flow with a warm red water. Ralzer drinks it and says it has a strange taste, but is otherwise okay. Ty fillers her waterskin with it to save for later.

We find a prison room with three kobolds and a gnome. The gnome, Theobald, pleads for release and state’s he’s been here for over a year. He hasn’t heard of who we are looking for, but does mention other people; a knight, Sir Morvant and a woman, Sharwin. He says that the goblins are working for someone in the Twilight Grove, which is some kind of garden down below. We lead the gnome to the exit and the kobolds will introduce us to their leader.

We meet with the kobold Queen Mozdrog. She knows of the other group and said she loaned them a guide, but they got caught. We negotiate free passage through the kobold quarters and gain a guide of our own. She has a cool looking dragon key which we buy for 200gp, much to Oly’s chagrin.

The dragon key unlocks a room with several orbs; three of them are broken and one is still whole. The unbroken one emits a strange humming that makes Ty, Oly, and Luna leave. It gets louder and then none of us can stay near it. Ralzer notices it’s on a one minute timer, so he carries it to the rest of us and Sigmund smashes it. In the next room is a marble statue of a dragon that asks us a riddle; Ty answers it and a new door opens. Within that room are six alcoves with five elven marble statues. At the end is a 20 ft. pit blocking access to a room with a violet hue and a stone sarcophagus with a dragon motif. The sarcophagus has metal straps bolted to it keeping it shut.

Ty jumps the pit and a quasit attacks her–we kill it. In a hidden crawl space Ty finds a missive in draconic, “A dragonpriest entombed alive for transgressions of the Law still retains the honor of his position.”

April 1st, 2023

Bellum, Frigus 2nd, 1193

We arrive at the dwarven ruins; most of the masonry outside is in bad shape, except for one statue of a dwarf. We search the tower and find that a giant spider has made it’s home here–we kill it. Inside another room we find a mummified dwarf holding shards of a broken vial and parchment. The parchment reads, in Dwarven: “Forgive me, dark father of the forge, my toils shall never be enough”. He also has a silver light hammer with a symbol of a forge wreathed in flames.

Ty sneaks into a room with a trap, which she disarms, and then another room with someone small sleeping next to a bunch of bird bones. She sees some sacks on the ground and takes them and leaves. Inside the sacks are a magic ruby and masterwork stonemasonry tools. In a room with a lot of stagnant water we find one book that hasn’t been ruined; an illuminated book of El hymns, worth 100gp.

In a room with darkwood pews there is an altar, a large ceremonial anvil, which is defaced and has 5 small depressions; the ruby that we found fits perfectly in one of them. Once we place the ruby, we hear a chorus of dwarves singing hymns and it makes us feel really good. Then, the room gets really dark and 2 darkmantles appear and attack.

In another room we find a worg guarding the mushrooms and it asks us to kill the darkmantles, the spider, and some bats. When we return with the evidence, he turns on us and attacks–we kill him and gather the prized mushrooms. We find a dwarven prayer book of Kovar (a god we do not know of); within is a note: “El is no longer worthy of our devotion. Only Kovar can deliver us from the failings of King Grimstone”.

Ty finds a secret door that leads to a prison room with 3 dwarven skeletons that attack us. There is another skeleton that didn’t animate; it has a Ring of El. Ralzer recognizes the ring, they used to be gifts from Captains of the House of Waters Deep (top ranking priests of El).

Before we leave, we give the place a good search. We wake up the sleeping person, who turns out to be a kobold named Gurtlekep, and Sigmund strikes up a conversation. That wandering zombie shaman was from the same tribe and they were left here. According to Gurtlekep, the shaman drank poison, died, became a zombie, and Gurtlekep put the sign on him. Sigmund gives him back the gem, which is no longer magical. Now that it’s safer, we decide to camp here for the night. We make some repairs for Gurtlekep and chat with him; he is from the western edge of the Gannett Mountains and his tribe abandoned him here.

Iustitia, Frigus 3rd, 1193

We bid our goodbyes to Gurtlekep and make our way to Koldun’ya’s cottage; he gives Sigmund a throwing knife as a gift. While on our way a wyvern passes pretty low to the ground overhead–it must be hunting something.

After a few hours we find a cottage and it is not an inviting scene. No one seems to be home, so we let ourselves in. There is a large wicker chair with a similarly sized corpse wrapped in linen on it. Upon closer inspection, it’s just a bundle of branches made to look like a body. While searching, her cauldron starts attacking us. It takes a long time, but we manage to break it. Sigmund finds what we need in the “kitchen” and a shrunken head that can be used to deliver a message. He leaves a short blurb about how we’re sorry we had to take this and how to reach him at Westermoor. We quickly leave.

On the way back, a really big mosquito sticks Ralzer and then gets killed.

Mors, Frigus 4th, 1193

We arrive at Westermoor and Laurel is ready to get to work. Her and Sigmund craft enough poultices for the rest of the town, which is noticeably less populated. According to Laurel about 30 people have died. Ty shows Laurel the flaming hawk signet right and she recognizes it as belonging to Caleb Thorne, a hunter who moved to town and went missing. She isn’t sure where he’s originally from. We talk to her for a while about our adventure and then head to the inn to sleep.

March 25th, 2023

Bellum, Dolorem 25th, 1193

A messenger arrives at Ralzer’s; the Inevitable Order can see Ty about her follow-up meeting later today– Expounder Victoria will be her contact. Ty meets with Victoria, while Ralzer and Sigmund will meet with Nadal about going to Westermoor. Nadal gives us a Citrine Sending Stone to stay in contact and will provide basic provisions for travel such as rations and a cart and mule.

During Ty’s meeting, Victoria finds a few passages in the language of the Architects– an obscure language that has existed for a long time, but has never been translated. The Architects worshiped celestial beings called the Outer Gods. The Outer Gods have yet to be proven to exist and are said to be beyond good and evil; they have been deemed too foreign to ascertain their motives.

The Architects attempted to contact these beings over 1200 years ago, which is the last that Victoria has heard of them. It was at this time that a group of adventurers fought the Architects in some kind of ice cave in northern Ironwald Downs. She is uncertain if the cave, or the inner structure, still exists, but she pointed out it’s location on a map. The adventurers were of great power and renown: Rocalder, a powerful spellcasting archer, Lament, a serpentfolk bard with a commanding tongue, Volcasious, a lizardfolk bastion of defense, Maelthorne, a dwarven cleric of a god that no longer exists. The Architects were attempting to use the Scepter of Ages, a powerful artifact that deals with time travel, to summon the Outer Gods to our world.

Victoria asks about who wrote this book; Ty is uncertain, but the founder of the Hallowed Cliff monastery is Hoarse Blackstone. Victoria recognizes that name as General Hoarse Blackstone, a famous adventurer of days past. She can find someone to attempt to translate the passages, but it may take a few weeks for them to arrive in the city.

We will leave for Westermoor on the morrow.

Iustitia, Dolorem 26th, 1193

We start our journey to Westermoor, which will take four and a half days.

Terra, Dolorem 30th, 1193

We arrive in the afternoon at Westermoor, a lumber town. On the approach, Sigmund notices darkwood trees which are quite expensive. We establish lodging at the Old Boar Inn. We hear from Lucas, the proprietor, that the town is having an issue with it’s food supply for the last three days. When we ask further about this, we are directed to Lady Cirthana at the Courts of Justice (church of Angelique) or Laurel, the local herbalist at Roots and Remedies. When we ask about the other group that we are trailing, Lucas remembers them and that they spoke to the town drunk, Dodd. Dodd frequents this inn in the evenings and we should be able to meet with him then.

At Roots and Remedies there are a couple dozen sick people waiting outside. Laurel believes the source to be a fungus called Black Scour, which is not native to this area. Laurel and Sigmund discuss possible remedies, and she consults a book left to her by her grandmother. Within there is a recipe for a cure, but it includes three items Laurel doesn’t have; a pickled root called rats tail, elderwood moss, and ironbloom mushrooms. She says that elderwood moss grows on very old trees and there are likely some old enough in the Southwood Pines, the forest around the town. The mushrooms. which grow in darkness near iron, are not known to be around the town, but there used to be a monastery of dwarven crafters at the edge of a nearby crag that could be a likely spot for them to grow. Laurel remembers a hag named Koldun’ya, whom her grandmother had dealings with, that lives somewhere in the forest and may know about the rat tails.

We next go to meet with Cirthana, who complains that the lumbermill consortium has a very strong hold on this town; the townsfolk seem okay with working to death for them and they pay well. The consortium is headquartered not far out of town, Jarlben Trookshavits is the foreman. Milon Rhoddam is a lumberjack, and what they call a wanderer, who may know more about the hag.

We head back to the Old Boar and meet with Dodd. He babbles about talking to stars while camping deep in the woods. He says the stars literally came down from the sky to talk to him; they spoke into his mind with images. After which, he drew a lot of maps and gave one to Tinley. He has since gotten better. He gives us directions to where he thought the last group of investigators went.

Forte, Frigus 1st, 1193 Winter Solstice

We look for Milon in the morning at the consortium and have a brief meeting with Jarlben, who directs us to Milon. Milon is very helpful and his nephew is afflicted with the taint; he gives us directions to the old trees and the hag’s shack. It’s a long journey, since we need to go around the river, and we immediately set out.

Near the lake we find a fox in a trap and, while freeing it, are ambushed by a hobgoblin. About an hour later we encounter a large camouflaged pit trap, but avoid getting hurt. We set up camp not far from the pit, in case something comes to check on it. During third watch a kobold zombie wanders into camp from the southeast and stares at our fire. It’s wearing a sign with “shaman” poorly written  on it in Draconic.

Bellum, Frigus 2nd, 1193

We find a really big darkwood tree with several bodies hanging in it’s branches. A really large snake with arms and a draconic mouth attacks us; we kill it. Sigmund climbs the tree and releases the three bodies. Amongst their gear is a signet ring with a flaming hawk on it. We recover the elderwood moss and continue on towards the monastery.

While on our way to the monastery, two wolves ambush us.