Bisera and Akiko - A continuing adventure

[I am saving this first post for my backstory, after I have officially completed writing it I will post it here... the rest will be an ongoing "journal" of Bisera's thoughts throughout the campaign]

We were flying over Smugglers Stone today, a small fishing village in Southeast Cormyr. We were continuing to follow the trail, though I fear it has gone cold. I saw an odd man with a donkey standing outside a Tavern/Inn, shaped like a ship run aground called the Drunk Duck, in the rain. He had called out to the Inn for "permission to come aboard" and then stood there waiting for a couple hours. I found this interesting and we settled to perch atop the mast closest to him. When he had persisted and still received no response he finally left his donkey and boarded the "ship" and then entered the building.

We flew down and landed atop the donkey, who seemed amiable to share body warmth in the inclement weather.

A short time later we grew hungry and decided to see what kind of food could be found inside. The door was shut, but we managed to squeeze through a cracked window and made our way below deck to see what we might find.

I am quite embarrassed to say we startled a serving girl when I took a piece of cheese off of her tray. The man at the bar -- bartender or owner? -- was delighted by our presence and gave us some cream and sausage. Being stuck with Akiko has some distinct advantages in Cormyr!

As we ate I listened to an interesting group of people discussing going West. The odd man who belonged to the donkey was among them. There was also a dwarf from south of the dragon, and an interesting woman who seems to have misplaced her memories of her past. We may be able to use their help in finding whomever is responsible for our condition. They decided to leave an hour after first light. We will be waiting on the donkey.

We had settled in and I was listening to the goings on around us as we ate when a very distraught woman rushed down the stairs into the tavern spewing nonsense about the mist and that she was from a land or realm called Berovia? She kept asking "what place is this?" over and over and had never heard of Cormyr or Faerun. She was quite histerical. She insisted to everyone that they should fear the mist. The odd man invited her to leave with them the following day.

I fear that I might have done her more harm than good when we approached her. She had obviously never seen a tressym before. I told her that all would be well. She tentatively scratched our head. Akiko liked it and her quite a bit.

Then the old men started telling tales of fishing dangers and hardships some of them were even trying to scare the poor dear with stories of disappearances into the mists on the dragon.

The woman, Mirelda, told an odd story as well. Her father was taken from her by the mist and his face was half melted away!

It is agreed that she is going to leave with them -- with us.

Just when it seemed everything was finally going to settle down for the night, three more strangers showed up, two men and a young girl. They were also brought here by the mist and spoke of lands that Mirelda recognized. Their names were Jean Pierre, Alex and Terra.

Everyone went around and gave formal introductions, the odd man is Sir Tobias Trueblade, the dwarf is called Glanin, the other woman they were with calls herself Willow the Wanderer. I introduced myself by flying into the center of them and telling them my name. They were all confused and perplexed by it. I really must think of some better way to introduce us. Perhaps an image of us as ourselves, but I think that they would not understand.

Seems the two new men were some sort of formal investigators of the creatures in the mist and had saved the girl when they found her five years before. The mist had taken their parents as well. They began speaking of a people known as the Vistani, of which the girl Terra is a full blood and the woman Mirelda is half on her mother's side. I know not what these Vistani are but they aparently can have special abilities. The girl can sense where these creatures of the mist have been. After listening to the Vistani being described I believe them to be similar to gypsies, Willow agrees.

The girl Terra has something known as "the sight". They had been investigating infants that had been taken from their cribs when the girl developed an avid repulsion to a bench and then they recognized her ability as they were outside one of the houses of the taken infants. These creatures appear as all types and forms, could be anything.

The men use odd weapons called pistols that somehow use a very small ball of metal to attack. They are unlike anything that Glanin, a weaponsmith, has ever seen or heard of. They promise a demonstration tomorrow.

Then, the mist came in, right through the walls! We could hear furious scratching at the door at the top of the stairs. First Sir Tobias and then Glanin went to investigate and eventually found a large beastly hound who barreled past them down the stairs. I wished for some barrier between us and it, as the dog attacked Willow. Glanin attacked it as did Willow. The hound was injured and a loud explosion went off from where Jean Pierre was standing. There was a flash of fire and smoke and a loud bang. At first I thought it magic but perhaps it was his weapon? The dog continued at Willow biting at her when Glanin threw himself at it and pinned it to the ground so that Mirelda could finish it with her blade. And then the dead creature just dissipated and vanished back into the mist!

I have never been so frightened since the day I fled with Akiko! I wish there was some way we could have helped our new companions. Terra was terrified of the area the beast had been and Sir Tobias and Glanin claimed to have seen the shape of a woman in the mist standing behind her but by the time anyone looked it was gone.

One of the local boys came in a while later, he had been in with his father and 2 brothers earlier in the night. They had been on their way home and heard giggling in the mist and he got away and came back to the Duck for help. Sir Tobias, Glanin, Mirelda, Willow, Jean Pierre, Alex and Terra left with the boy to find this spot, try to find the boy's kin. I remained behind with the rest of the locals. I am ashamed of my cowardice, but in truth there was no way for me to help them in this cause. A while later they all returned with the father and the eldest boy, the other two had perished.

Glanin told Sir Tobias to stand guard at the door, so he headed up the stairs. The rest of the people began discussing whether the mist was good or evil.

It occurs to me that "bad" mist didn't happen until Mirelda, Jean Pierre, Alec and Terra showed up. Perhaps they brought it here?

The mist are rumored to have been able to move buildings as well as people.

The group begins discussing these gold coins they found with the victims of the mist. Jean Pierre has never heard of this occurring before. Apparently he had shot one of the boys and a coin appeared in the wound and the other 3 were choking on gold coins - they saved 2 and the 3rd died. The coins showed images of gods Horace, Ra & Isis, gods from a land far away.

Jean Pierre takes off his hair and prepares for bed which is very intriguing to us. Akiko is particularly interested in it and I believe she thinks it is prey. We check it out but it appears dead. We are now very curious to see if anyone else's hair comes off!

Jean Pierre and Terra sleep while Alec watches over them. We sleep, Glanin sleeps, for a few hours. When we awaken we feel it must be morning, but the fog inside is even thicker than before!

Glanin, Jean Pierre, Mirelda and Tobias go to see what the mist status is and come back to report it is still dark out and very misty. While they were gone we went over to watch the father and son they had brought back from the mist. The Purple Dragon watches over them as well.

There is a yell from the bar and the bartender is quite upset. The food he had stored has all spoiled, it looks as if it has sat out for months. Mirelda says the mist can control time, Alec agrees and adds that it can stop it or make it go faster.

Glanin suggests it has something to do with Terra. Mirelda points out the mist has a purpose for us. Mirelda brings up the giggling from earlier and wonders if the mist could be trying to lead us somewhere. We go with Jean Pierre, Alec, Terra, Glanin, Mirelda, Sir Tobias and Willow to investigate.

We hear a little girl giggling in the mist. The group tries to head toward the town buildings to see if anyone is left there. We fly and lead everyone toward the town. The giggling continues. Coming into the town I smell a male sweaty smell. We come upon a guard who says he is the last. Everyone else is gone. He appears to be a soldier in Cormyr's army. He introduces himself as Penneir.

Penneir tells his story, he was on guard by the dock and then suddenly there was no noise except the ocean, all sound disappeared. He went back up to the fort but no one would let him in. He tried to make it to the duck but couldn't find his way and ended up back here. The people try to explain about the mist and ask if he has heard or seen anything in it any creatures. He asks what kinds of creatures and they tell him of the hound we saw and I show him the image in his head. He recognizes the hound as one of the captain's dogs. The rest of us hear giggling, but Penneir doesn't hear it.

Some of the group see a movement low to the ground toward the south. We hear giggling again from that direction and scratching/skittering in the dark, just outside our sight and trailing away. We all move to investigate. We move around to the front of the fort walls.

I feel it is leading us toward something, most likely a trap.

We make it up to the steps that lead both up to the keep and down to the dockway. Pennier says the fort gate is locked tight from the inside. We fly over the wall to see what the situation is inside the fort. We see nothing but more mist. We fly down to look at the door and see it it bolted with a heavy bar. I wish there were a way for us to lift that bar and open the door to let the others inside and the bar begins lifting! It thunks down to the ground and the door opens and the others come inside. I have no idea how that happened. I wonder even more now if the mist is trying to lead us and just what it has in store for us.

Penneir leads the way into the keep. The mist is inside the keep as well. Mirelda has a torch and lights the torches along the walls as we go. Penneir leads us up a stone stairwell to the next floor and then swings us around and up to the 3rd floor, the Lord's floor. Captain Sty Woodcrest is the Lord, and leader of the town. We go into the master chamber and find the bed looks to have been slept in but the covers are caved in as if the occupants were suddenly not there.

We hear "I see you" whispered coming through the shuttered casement window. Once again Penneir cannot hear it. Sir Tobias challenges the evil to select its champion and fight. There is no response.

Alec whispered to Terra, she moves toward the bed and places her hand on it. Alec says there was not a creature of the mist here. Sir Tobias looks under the bed.

Penneir says the dogs are kept in a kennel at the side of the building, there are about six of them. We go down to the kennels to check them. They are to the east of the keep. The kennels are empty and completely locked up. We hear giggling from the gate and when we investigate we see nothing. We head down the stairs toward the dockway and begin to investigate the topmost tier.

The top tier is mostly residences. We check out a home and see if the food is rotten. The house is small, one room. Glanin finds salted fish and we decide to take some for the people back at the duck. There is creaking on the dock outside, it seems to be coming from behind us and leads Sir Tobias (who gave chase) down to the second tier. He takes off after it and it stops. The rest of us catch up. The sound starts again only it sounds like rocks falling down the bluff and across the path, and then more giggling. Sir Tobias charges and cleaves a crow. We all move down the dock.

"This way" is whispered. Sir Tobias responds with "Ok".
I 'say' "That wasn't me!" and Sir Tobias respons with "What?"

We are led around and back up to the third tier of dockway. There is a house at the end to the right and we check it and find nothing. We begin moving toward the other end of the dockway checking each house as we pass it. We see a figure 5 1/2 feet tall in a faded gray cloak, the hood hiding the face, standing motionless.

Sir Tobias calls out "Hold! Are you evil's champion?" He approaches the figure and it moves in jutting blinks about 2 feet at a time!

Glanin attacks it but Penneir gets his throat slit! We hear running footsteps first as if time is out of sync, the audio and visual are at different times. Glanin went to check on Penneir and his wound sealed up and he attacks Glanin,filled with rage! Glanin manages to pin him against the bluff. Glanin, Willow, Jean Pierre and Mirelda were able to put Penneir down. I noticed that the blade wielded by the gray cloaked figure was the same type of double bladed weapon that Mirelda uses. This is further evidence that this is something to do with her and the other three.

Alec says mist creatures can sometimes control time the same as the mist can.

We decide to continue west to the last house at the end. When we arrive Mirelda notices the door is slightly ajar which does nothing to stop Sir Tobias from bashing it in. The inside is alight with lanterns. We notice there is no mist inside this building! What is more remarkable is that it appears to be the house that Jean Pierre and Alec found Terra at. After a look around they discover that there is a difference. The bottle on the mantle had a miniature ship in it. The one there now has a roll of parchment. This turns out to be a scroll of waterbreathing. The missing ship is found wrecked and water logged under a blanket by the chair. Around the room there are marionettes, wooden toys, an unfinished doll, fairytale books (the vistani fairy tales) and the table is set for dinner.

Willow begins playing with one of the marionettes and after she sets it down it attacks her and says "I can do that too!" Willow gets stuck with a pin from the doll and it begins to control her!

Once again I wish that there were some barrier between myself and this evil doll. The three other dolls begin to attack as well. Jean Pierre and Alec take one out, Willow fends off the one that attacked her and Sir Tobias killed another. Mirelda attacked one that was fighting with Glanin. We swooped down toward it and Willow finished it off.

After that excitement we once again resumed searching the room for there must be something else. On the chair by the wrecked ship in a drawing in blood, a drawing of a lighthouse. It is determined that this might be the lighthouse at Old Captains Rock.

The theory is that we are supposed to use the waterbreathing scroll to find the sunken ship and maybe retrieve something from it. We head down to the docks. Once there, we flew overhead while the people borrowed 2 skiffs to head out to the Old Captains Rock. Sir Tobias left a note on the dock saying we took the boats to the lighthouse and would bring them back. We led them to the lighthouse. Jean Pierre, Alec, Terra and Mirelda in one boat and Sir Tobias, Glanin and Willow in the other. Glanin was reluctant to go but was eventually persuaded.

I was embarrassed we got a bit off course half way out and had to correct, but the mists were just so thick it was hard to keep the bearing. We did make it safely to Old Captains Rock. This rock is about 100 feet long and shaped like a turtle shell, there is a 15 foot climb up to where the rock extends out a bit and then 30 feet to the lighthouse.

The people discuss about what to do next. They don't know exactly where the wreck is! Glanin doesn't want to go underwater, and neither do we! But it is decided not to split up! We really don't want to get wet!

We have another problem tho, no one knows how to swim! We tie the boats to rocks and prepare to go underwater, shedding excess clothing and armor, taking only what is needed. Glanin and Sir Tobias are persuaded to shed their armor. I do not know what help a wet Tressym could possibly be to this endeavor. Perhaps these people are more trouble than they are worth! We do not, however wish to stay out here in the mist by ourselves. We will go under the water with the rest of them.

We were preparing to go under the water when we heard the scrabbling of stone and rocks and a dwarf comes walking toward us. His name is Mournaxe and he is from "home", best we can discern is some mountain somewhere in Faerun.

The two dwarves get into a disagreement about gods which ends with Glanin proclaiming that Tempest is the best god the god of war and Mournaxe likes that. He has a very annoying laugh and a fascination with sour milk.

No one in the group has any idea how to locate the ship or what to do once we find it.They decide to go back to the Drunk Duck and ask the locals if they know about a sunken ship in the area. We lead them back to the Duck.

We are relieved to find that everyone at the Duck is as we left them. They don't know of any wreck near the lighthouse. They tell us the town used to be a smugglers town and pirates would raid it.

Mournaxe is confused and I show him what has been happening with the mist all night. He thinks it is neat and wants to keep us as a pet. I explain firmly and repeatedly that I belong to no one.

We head back to town and check out Seamus' Tavern. On the way I see a dark image of a figure in the window of a house as we pass by - no one else sees it - I alert everyone and show them what I saw. Sir Tobias kicks in the door shouting "Reveal yourself Champion of evil!" We all look around but see nothing.

Suddenly the dwarves go running out shouting and wielding weapons - Glanin shatters the window jumping through it with Mournaxe right behind him. Sir Tobias walks out the door, the rest of us follow. Mournaxe is weaving back and forth on the dockway, and then attacks it with his axes! "That's what I thought - run away!" he shouts.

Eventually he is calmed and we make it to Seamus' Tavern. Mirelda takes a map off the wall and food from the bar. We then head back to where we saw "Terra's house". When we arrive we see that it looks completely different and now is filled with mist. We decide to go back to Old Captains Rock and try going underwater.

We got a little off course but corrected and everyone starts, once again, to remove items they don't want or need to take with them. Once again Jean Pierre removes his hair from his head! We check it out again to make sure it is dead and Mournaxe is also very interested in it. Mirelda goads Glanin into coming with us suggesting he is afraid. Both dwarves strip down to nothing. Alec casts the spell with the scroll. We all go underwater and somehow I am not wet! Someone sees a huge fish over ten feet long and I can't help but think I could eat that and not be hungry for weeks!

Suddenly we are buffeted by these large fish creatures! They snap at me and Mournaxe and one gets a bite of Alec! I wish there was something to protect me from them. They disappear for a bit and then charge in again! I am so frightened and when one swims at me again suddenly there is this burst of electricity in the area! I don't know what it was but it hurt Mournaxe and Mirelda too, it could be a special attack of these sea creatures. Three times more they swim away and charge back in Glanin managed to hit one and Mournaxe got in a good swing and then he swam after it into the dark! We feared he wouldn't find his way back but he returned a short while later.

We are now at the bottom and decide to head straight out to the North away from Old Captain's Rock. We see the aft of a ship! It looks like two ships at first but then we see that it is one ship split in twain one part atop the ravine and the other angled down into it. The mast is laying down pointing towards us and as we approach we see it has been here a very long time, the sea has claimed it.

We "swim" down between the two pieces into the hold of the ship. There are many skeletal fish remains there. Glanin proposes it was a fishing vessel and he sees something in the water under the bones. There he finds a hole made into the hull from the inside out - and there is a tunnel on the other side of it, large like a cave entrance. Mournaxe opens the hole bigger with his axe and we go into the cave. After a bit it slopes down and we fall through into - air! Apparently the rock below is spongy and breaks everyone else's fall. We began to fly as we left the water. Alec cancels the water breathing spell so we can all breath and we discover that everyone is dry!

The tunnel continues North and we go about 40 feet and then there is a vertical shaft up and down, down and across there is another tunnel. Going through this tunnel one of them towards the front sets off crossbow traps! We move past them and the tunnel T's to the left it curves to the right it opens up. We go to the right first and Terra starts freaking out! There must have been a creature of the mist here. As the dwarves get close to the room it lights with an orange ow. We see the inside mimics the Drunk Duck but formed of coral, fish skeletons, dried crab legs and other crab bits, and there is a bloated dead mermaid body in the center. What is more is there are dead people posed around the room! They have wounds that have killed them, but they still appear wet with blood even though the decomposition has stopped. They are posed in celebratory positions as if they were frozen in a joyful moment! The bartender looks like the bartender from the Duck and appears to have been strangled, he has no eyes and his right thumb is covered in blood. The woulds all appear to have been made by an axe blade. Someone remembers that the bartender at the Duck had said he lost his ship - the original Drunk Duck - at sea with 4 crewmen and his brother.

We go back down the tunnel to the left and around the curve it breaks again to the left and right. Again we go to the right and follow it as it zigs and zags when it opens into a large cavern with a putrid stink and we see scraps of rotten fish remains. Mirelda hears something further in than our light shines and there are two large crab men that look like the furniture in the tavern room only brought to life and in working order! Jean Pierre, Glanin, Sir Tobias, Mirelda, Mournaxe and Willow succeed in killing the creatures.

In a small niche at the back of the cavern they discover a small silver chest with a smaller silver box set atop it. Mournaxe brushes the smaller one off and opens the larger one. Within we find a platinum ring with symbols on it, a pale gray wand with platinum nodes and a silver tip, a silver silk bag with an ivory drawstring that has bones inside, a circular mirror framed with a silver snake eating its own tail, a three tiered necklace with an amulet on the longest tier, and silver coins with markings like those from the gold coins that came from the townsfolk's throats! Mirelda takes the small silver box, hoping to find a key to unlock it at some point.

We go back the other direction. The tunnel bends to the left and continues on when it comes to an archway large and unevenly rounded with a rectangular door at the center. Though the door doesn't fill the arch we cannot see past it. Sir Tobias busts down the door. What we see inside is both familiar and haunting, it is the "Terra house" and the ship is back inside the bottle.

We hear a man humming to the right, his back is towards us, he is working on a doll, there are two girls at the rug and one is giggling. They are playing with marionettes. There is an older girl who goes to help her mother cut up some veggies and then the woman, the mother starts killing them all! She has a knife in her hand and kills first the older girl and then the two on the rug she moves toward the door and says "Soon we will be a family again." Then the man notices and cries out and begs for the life of the "last of my daughters" which enrages the woman, Jezebella he called her, and she kills him. She returns to the doorway humming the happy tune he had been humming and asks "Now are you ready to meet your real father?" Then the mist filters in and she writhes her body shattering into the mist. The bodies are gone all that remains are the objects and the mist.

Terra has tears down her cheeks, and Jean Pierre and Alec as well have tears streaking their dumbfounded faces. The mother, the woman Jezebella is the same woman that was seen in the mist standing behind Terra.

Sir Tobias enters the room - smashes the marionette at the mantle. The mist thickens at the center of the room and the gray cloaked figure appears. The cloak parts and the cowl comes down to reveal Jezebella standing there. She wants to know how we've brought forth these memories, and looks at us all with a pained expression. Sir Tobias challenges her and then she starts looking all around and exclaims "You have brought it with you! A thousand curses upon you!"

The mist goes momentarily corporeal and Sir Tobias attacks and misses, the woman disappears and the mist begins forcing its way into him, choking him from the inside! Glanin knocks him down trying to pound the mist out of him. He then drags Sir Tobias from the room, Mirelda tries to dislodge the mist and then cuts him with her blade in the throat to try and let air in to no effect. When he gets to the door the mist leaves him.

Meanwhile Alec, Jean Pierre and Terra haven't moved they are still staring into the mist, into the room. Willow rouses them and Alec and Jean Pierre claim the woman was each of their mothers. Terra indicates it was her mother and it was her family. Alec and Jean Pierre didn't recognize the others. Claim it was their mothers but that their mothers weren't Vistani, but the woman was.

Sir Tobias and Mirelda force open the silver box and find a bunch of broken vials and 3 still whole each containing a single drop of oil. The box smells of scented oil. Glanin removes the three intact ones and shoves the box into the room, nothing happens.

There is then more discussion about the Vistani and the mothers and who was Terra's father because the man in the vision was not Vistani and the mother was and Terra is full blooded Vistani.

Alec begins speaking, "It has been written... it has been written... that the mists can create, I do not know if it is ossible for the mists to father a child, but I believe it could be possible for the mists to create one. I believe that what we saw here... you said yourself that Vistani cannot remain in one place too long." They are driven mad. The theory is that Jezebella tried to settle down with this man and raise a family and then was driven mad, perhaps met a Vistani man and fell in love and had Terra, but that what we witnessed was a crime of passion. Mirelda points out that while the mists taking a Vistani is rare - it took Jezebella, she escaped it and it used us to get her back.

Theories include: Terra brings the mist with her. Her mother wanted her back? Mother has powers to become/control the mist as long as it isn't "The Mist".

The Mist made her cause suffering - she came here and did so. She escaped the mist but not her "job" so The Mist brought them (Jean Pierre, Alec and Terra) here to destroy her. Alec says The Mists are known to have weaknesses, it is believed fire is a weakness. We notice the fire in the fireplace provides heat but doesn't smoke.

Mirelda starts looking at the items from the chest. She examines the mirror and finds nothing special about it. She tries on the ring and feels no different. She slips the necklace over her head and it begins tightening on her and choking her! Everyone tries to get it off, trying anything they can think of but to no avail. We watch as she suffocates, lays down and dies right before our eyes. I have never felt so helpless in my life. We walk over and bite the cursed thing off her neck and it comes off easily now, but she doesn't waken. I ask is there nothing anyone can do? But I am met with downcast faces. It is decided that we should rest before trying to figure out how to get back to the surface.

We sit for quite a while beside our fallen friend. I have only known her for hours and yet I will miss her greatly and never forget her friendship and bravery. We curl up near her and sleep in our sorrow.

RIP Mirelda!

We rested beside our fallen comrade. When we waken Alec says he has found a way up and out of this place. Sir Tobias appoints himself in charge of Mirelda. Though her death has been shocking for all of us, I feel he truly feels he has lost a battle against evil this night. I hope he does not punish himself too hardly, there is nothing any of us could have done. That is probably what makes her death so bitter.

We prepare to head back to the surface and decide to check once more to be sure that Tara's "mother" is no longer in the "room" from the "house". After assuring ourselves that she is not there we make our way back toward where we entered the underground caverns. We see there is a rope hanging down and tied to a rock. We fly up wishing that we still had that water breathing spell so we wouldn't get wet! Wings are actually pretty useful in water and work sort of as fins, tho not specifically designed for the purpose. The others climb up the rope. Sir Tobias ties Mirelda to it and climbs up last. We "swim" and climb up to the surface, thankfully not coming into contact with any of those giant fish creatures again!

Once on terra firma again everyone reclaims their belongings. I realize that while everyone else is wet from their swim to the surface, we are still dry! I did not know of any such ability among Tressyms to be water resistant. Perhaps there is more that I don't know. Looking around we are still faced with unending night and unwavering mist.

We make our way back to the docks and from there decide to return to the Drunk Duck having no other course of action presenting itself. We can at least tell Todemy about what we found about his lost ship and brother. While we walk (or fly) conversation once again returns to Tara's mother. We believe she came here where fog is common when she escaped The Mist. The Mist wants her destroyed and sent Jean Pierre, Alec and Tara (and perhaps even Mirelda) here to do the job. There is a theory that a creature of The Mist that sees its own reflection is temporarily overwhelmed by it. That could buy us the time we need to make an attack. Willow notes that Mirelda's blades have a mirror-like side to them and intends to test this theory.

Jean Pierre believes that Tara's mother created the "Duck" tavern room out of the dead. That she designed the entire place as a representative of what is above.

We make it back to the Duck and Sir Tobias leaves Mirelda in the care of his donkey. We fly down and greet the donkey which Sir Tobias calls "Steed". He is a nice donkey. When we board the Duck it all seems strangely quiet below. As we enter we see bloody gore covers the stairs leading to more slaughter below. Those wonderful old souls we were dining and conversing with hours before are now murdered in hideous death poses. Upon finding "Nosey" in a death dance with the mermaid I can bear it no more and we begin retching uncontrollably.

We hear Todemy's voice telling us to leave. He believes he owes Tara's mother his life, he has survived because of her. We try to reason with him, to show him that she is just using him, but he refuses to see reason. Sir Tobias and Glanin charge into the mist. We see the mist churning and a feminine form begins to appear, then charges to attack Willow and stops, seeming entranced with Mirelda's blades held up by Willow. We fly at her back and as we swat at her an electric charge goes off! Seems even when her back is turned she has defenses we know nothing about! Alec attacks her and is hit hard flying backward into the mist.

Glanin returns from the mist charging at her with a lit torch. We fly at her again and miss her. She begins transforming her shape, solidifying and forming feathers and wings as arms, forming vulture like legs one wielding black blades with red edges in her clawed foot. She attacks Glanin but he is too quick for her. Jean Pierre is buffeted with a wing and Willow can't penetrate the barrier she forms with her flapping wings. The Bird/Woman attacks Willow and Glanin swings his torch at her but fails to connect. This is the distraction that Willow needs as she lands a hit. Once again we swoop in and fail to touch her flapping wings. Sir Tobias re-appears from the mist and swings a powerful blow, his weapon embedding itself in the rafters above. Jean Pierre's pistol weapon goes off and the retort is deafening! The sound following it is a thump thump. We turn and fly at her again and make contact with feathers and another electrical charge goes off. Glanin pokes at her with his torch. She turns her attack on Willow seeking to eliminate at least one of us. Alec's pistol fire sounds loudly but he doesn't appear to have hit her. Willow pulls back from this Bird/Woman's attacks. We all rally attacks on this foul creature but he defenses are strong! Sir Tobias lands a heavy blow on her, as Glanin pokes her again with the fire and she turns from the retreating Willow to focus on him instead! Jean Pierre drops his pistols and brings his rapier up to attack and he penetrates her defenses and strikes a hit! Glanin defending with his shield rushes at her knocking her to the ground. Sir Tobias stabs at the floor and we fly down to attack her and in a final shocking burst of electricity she is ended.

Jean Pierre informs us that Todemy had attacked him during the fight and he had reacted out of instinct and shot the man in the chest. The large hole there speaks volumes about the power of these pistol weapons the two of them carry. The mist begins to dissipate and with it the Bird/Woman's body. Jean Pierre, Alec and Tara disappear as well! We go out to check on Mirelda and her body is also gone. We look up and see the sun rising in the East! Morning has finally come!

Sir Tobias and I go to the keep to speak to the Lord, Captain Sty and inform him about what has happened here. Sir Tobias tells him of a great evil under the lake that corrupted the innkeeper and that he killed many of the townsfolk. I show him glimpses of the images to help his imagination along. A Purple Dragon comes out, mounts up and we head back to the Duck. Sir Tobias relays the events to the dragon.

We all are informed that our presence is required to speak to the Wizards of War and give testimony about the events that have occurred that we have been involved about. Well, except for Akiko and myself. We are, after all, just a tressym! We pass the time in the other tavern in town. Willow plays Mirelda's violin well and we fly (dance?) in the air to the music.

On the 24th the Wizards of War arrive. I am careful not to appear as anything but a simple tressym. I do not trust the Wizards, I do not know who in could be responsible for my recent misfortune. I keep my ears sharp listening for any mention of what has happened everywhere I go, but as such have had no luck.

The Wizards wisk away Sir Tobias, Glanin and Willow for questioning and when they all return they are free to go.

We set out from Smuggler's Stone heading West as previously planned. In the afternoon we come across a town the other side of a bridge. To the North there are rolling hills. This town has a dock with barges there. I feel we have had enough of the water for a while! This town appears to be a farming one and the hills to the North are peppered with fields.

Willow finds us a place to stay at the Coronet & Cabbage Inn. There is a sign on the post out front proclaiming a sideshow to take place that night within. Willow got us rooms prepared. We are staying with her. Glanin and Sir Tobias have their own rooms to themselves.

We get a table and sit around drinking and eating and discussing our travel options. A halfling named Warieth introduces himself. He gives us some ale on the table and we lap it up happily! He then asks if we are "history" folks. This town, Bluesditch is apparently home to a great mystery, approximately 2 miles away there is a very old graveyard. This town traces back at least 1,000 years and the graveyard has been around long before that. It is kept up by the townsfolk and walled in. He says we might want to wait till tomorrow to go see it though, as there was a family went up there yesterday to bury someone and they haven't come back yet. A couple sentinals have been sent up to check it out a couple hours ago.

After Willow and Sir Tobias left to speak with the local Purple Dragon, Maya, Glanin began speaking with a blue haired half-elf named Saedda. She appears to be a blue haired wizard from Calimport who has been traveling the last two years. I am immediately curious and cautious about her. Perhaps she knows something of what has happened to me or even was involved with it!

Willow returned sputtering about the missing people and the graveyard being legitimate. She runs up to her room and rushes back out clad in her armor and with her weapons. I think she said something about being hired by the Purple Dragon to look into the matter but I can't be sure.

As the show begins Glanin and I decide to wait a bit before following. Suddenly there is a voice from above us, something that I am entirely not used to happening, and we look up to see a tattooed man on the ceiling! He repremands us for talking and then he is introduced as a member of the sideshow! His tattoos seem to come to life off of his skin and he even rides a horse one out of the inn!

I am very curious about both the wizard and the tattooed man. He returns to our table after the show and introduces himself as Rodrick Silverhilt aka "The Freak". I do not know these two individuals and therefore leave it to Glanin to introduce me. I will need to be careful about revealing my abilities for now, at least until I know I can trust them.

Glanin discusses the graveyard situation with them and the four of us head out to find Sir Tobias and Willow and see what help we can be.

We arrived at the cemetery's polished black metal gates and saw no immediate signs of Sir Tobias and Willow. The woman with the blue hair and the tattooed man accompanied us. We entered and followed the gravel walkway past the gravestones, statues and trees to the mausoleum located in the center of the cemetery. We encountered Mournaxe in the cemetery, also approaching the mausoleum. When we arrived we saw the discarded corpses of sentries sent by the Purple Dragons as well as those of two wolves and a larger wolf like creature. We entered the building and could hear Sir Tobias shouting from below us and rushed to lend aid. We arrived just in time to see Sir Tobias and Willow fell two zombies, but there was not much time for more than "hellos" before we were l attacked by three skeletons. Yet again I found myself wishing for a barrier between myself and the danger we all faced. The skeletons shot at us and then fled and Mournaxe gave chase. We followed to see what was happening and relayed to Willow. Sir Tobias also followed. Mournaxe killed the skeletons. Rodrick and I hear screaming. It was coming from the first vault on the far left behind us on the North wall. Willow opens it and we see a little girl. She is terrified and says her name is Tyra. she tells us that she hid in there when the "tall furry and mean" "bad things" came. There were lots of them and she had been here with her mom and pop. Her parents are among the dead, one of them was one of the zombies. Rodrick sends her back to town on his horse that he calls from his tattooed body!

Near where Mournaxe killed? the skeletons there is a door and down through it a hallway. We find a statue of a human woman with fountains on either side and door on the other wall. Past the statue on the same side is an archway and past that more vaults and doors. The water in the fountains appears to be fresh and clear. The door says "Verdun (sp) and Gola Mikolos" and is locked tightly, none of the keys work so we decide to let it stay that way and head through the archway. This hallway looks different, the stone darker, older, the blocks forming the wall are much larger. We follow two small staircases down to a door. The door has a beholder on it with symbols and words in a riddle. Glanin tries to decipher them while Mournaxe forces open the door. We explore the three rooms on the other side and find stones with drawings that appear to match those from the door. Mournaxe lifts one and then tries to pick up another and falls asleep on the spot! This seems to be some type of puzzle but I worry what it unlocks! The others rearrange some of the stones and a beam of red light shoots into the "disappearing man" stone which then vanishes and there is a hole and ladder left in its place. We go down the hole and find a platform and stairs, another platform and more stairs until we reach a room with a door. It had two skeleton dogs and a zombie ogre but the others had defeated them by the time we made it down there. Sir Tobias steps forward and opens the door which leads to a stone platform 5 feet wide and narrows to 1.5 feet wide with a bridge of rope an dwood over a crevice with a 20 foot drop down into the water below. The wood is gray with age but looks sturdy enough. We fly the 30 feet across to the other side. Mournaxe bravely and somewhat foolishly charges ahead of the rest onto the bridge. He makes it about two thirds of the way before it snaps and he plunges into the water below! As I fly down to see if he is ok he is attacked by a creature from the water, some jellyfish like being. When I reach him our paws are glowing blue! Everyone comes to help and slay the creature. We get up to the other side but Mournaxe heads back to town. There is an oddly shaped chamber with two doors and nothing else in the room. Glanin healed those that were injured while Saedda sat reading a book. I believe that is a wizard thing? Sir Tobias opens one of the doors and inside is a room that has a rope ladder heading up through a hole in the ceiling and there is a pool of water to the east of the ladder. We fly up to look thru the hole and I see something, humanoid and like a hairless monkey with razor sharp teeth and a wide mouth. I think it to be about 5.5 feet tall with long limbs and hands twice the length of a humans. It starts coming down the hole towards us! Sir Tobias climbed up to attack it and it grabbed him and pulled him up! Saedda grabbed onto his legs and braced herself to stop him from getting pulled away. Willow pulled on Saedda and their combined weight pulled him free and they all came falling down. The creature spoke and Rodrick shot at it with arrows.

We decide to check the other door and find ancient frescoes decorating the walls of the room beyond it. Images of men and women carousing in a tavern, red and gold dragon fighting, statues of princess and knight ready for battle. A hobgoblin zombie comes at us attacking and is defeated but then a live hobgoblin appears! It shoots arrows and we charge for attack. Our tressym body is glowing with electricity as we attack. This has happened several times now and I do not know what causes it. Is it some tressym ability that I am unaware of? Is it somehow magical? Sir Tobias and Glanin take the creature down. Willow and Rodrick attacked another one and killed it. Searching the room the others find sleeping pallets, water bucket and chest which Rodrick opens finding meat. Sir Tobias tried to open doors on the far side of the room but they are locked. We decide to rest, eat and drink before continuing on. Glanin sets wards.

We had camped down for the "night" tho we had no actual way of knowing if it was dark out. Saedda sits down and begins notating things in a book. We sit beside her and she absentmindedly scratches our head. Suddenly she flies up into the air and there is an interaction with Willow and Sir Tobias, who then leave. She follows and when she returns I mind-speak with her about the blue glow I just saw around her hand. Similar things have happened to me and she believes that I may be doing magic! Could this be some tressym ability? Is this something of Akiko's I have tapped into? I admit I am not that familiar with what other tressyms can or cannot do. After a while I go and speak with Rodrick about his magical abilities as well.

The following "morning" or more like several hours later... Rodrick tries to pick the lock on the double doors but cannot get them open. Willow forces them open and we continue on. Beyond the doors is a corridor which angles and narrows to an end with 2 doors. Sir Tobias tries to open the one on the right, but it will not open, he says it feels like something is blocking the other side. They cannot force it open. Rodrick opens the door on the left and finds a ladder which goes down. We all follow and it feels very cool in here and damp as well. We come to another corridor.

We encounter dead hobgoblins and then a water snake creature forms up out of the water. Willow engages it in a discussion and it tells us it was summoned to guard the bridge against those who seek to plunder the treasure. We talk with it and convince it we don't want the treasure, as we didn't even know there WAS any, and just want to kill those that it hasn't already. It lets us pass. We go through a door on the other side into yet another corridor. This room has statues and vault doors, a single door on an angled wall opposite the vaults and a door with black statues on either side.

Sir Tobias opens the single door in the slanted wall and finds stairs leading down, a corridor, more stairs then a platform and opening into a chamber. He sees a statue and flat stone door. Upon entering the room he is attacked by a rat man. Sir Tobias strikes at the creature whose wounds heal right back up! Rodrick summons forth fire at the creature and we move toward it and fire shoots from our paws! Willow sticks the rat man with her swords and holds him. Sir Tobias slams his shield at the sword driving it clean through the creature. We question the rat man, who is a wererat and he says he and the hobgoblins were hired by a magic using man with the purpose of looting the mausoleum. He tells us under prodding and intimidating looks from us that the hobgoblins have gone into the room with the black statues at the door. Rodrick sees words on the statue base and we go back up to look at the other statues in front of the vaults.

Rodrick twists the blade in the elven statue's hand and hears a click and the vault door cracks open. Back down to push open the vault door and inside is a small chamber with a sarcophagus with a small walk area around it. Willow pushes the lid and it swivels open and we see there are 4 objects inside -- a quiver, bracers, a rapier and efod and a scroll case with a scroll inside. The efod has a woven pattern on it. Beneath the items is a body.

Saedda claims the magic rapier and passes it to Rodrick. Willow gives him the quiver. Sir Tobias and Saedda get the north door open. We see four statues with vault doors. They get the vaults behind the four statues open and inside are sarcophagi. Further on is a statue of a minotaur!

Suddenly Glanin calls out to his god and everyone else goes to assist him. We stay here to watch the rat man. After the other have done battle and slain the hobgoblin cleric, we help Willow question the rat man some more. He says that Zeren is the human magic user who hired him/them -- he claims to not know who FK is (the initials signed on a contract found on the cleric's body).

We go down a ladder that was past some rubble in the room into a dark area, a 15 foot by 15 foot platform. We see water 100 ft below us. There is a rope down to another platform oval shaped with another rope, this one taunt across a 10 foot chasm to another pillar that is 10 feet down as well as the 10 feet away. Saedda and Glanin make it to the next pillar. There is a 3 foot long piece of sinew with eyeballs at each end whirling in the air. Its eyeballs shoot beams at them! Willow and Sir Tobias slide across the rope. Saedda kills the eyeball thing.

We make it down into a room with a door, into another room with a door, and another room and another... It seems like the same room over and over again, occasionally there is a room with more than one exit door. Eventually we make it through them.

We follow everyone through corridors; in and out of rooms. The group comes across a half elf in a hole and heals her. She tells us more about the human magic user the ratman told us about and his expedition. She and her companion came to learn, she is ready to leave because she fell in a hole and they left her there.

We find ourselves in a room with 2 bodies, one hobgoblin and one human, and 2 statues. Our companions examine the bodies and the statues start to move! Their chests open up and creatures burst forth from them. Suddenly the floor drops out and Willow is left hanging on the edge! I wish desperately for a way to help pull her up, but apparently she didn't need help because she climbs up easily.

We fly in and see Sir Tobias being attacked. We attack the dog like beast and an electric charge goes off at it. We swoop back to attack it again and I notice that our paw is glowing blue like Saedda's hand was! We attack it again and hurt it. We swoop back around but someone has finished it off. We fly over to the other beast and attack it. We are so proud that we were able to help destroy these creatures that attacked our friends! Glanin had been fighting a swirl of wind, probably an elemental.

We move on past the rubble to stairs that go down. At the bottom is a 4 foot tall wall of stacked stone slabs. We fly over it hearing the roar of water from the next room. It is very damp and moist here. Down stairs. There are mummified corpses within sarcophagi stacked against the wall, three statues of warriors leaning on swords, a fissure in the floor and fresh wet straw on the floor.

We fly in with Willow and Rodrick. I see hobgloblins with bows by the stairs at the far edge. Willow and we charge and flames shoot out from my paws at them! Magical shots fly from Saedda and hit at one that attacked me and Willow takes down a second one; only one remains. We all take it out.

We continue down the stairs. The way narrows and curves to the right with a waterfall along the left wall flowing across the stairs and into the cavernous abyss on the right side. Sir Tobias leads us down and Willow brings up the rear.Saedda floats across the water and ties off some rope to connect the two pieces there to guide them across. We make it to a ledge and door engraved with a coat of arms formed by a scepter, crown and dragon. The door is closed but the upper edge is cracked and broken.

Sir Tobias pushes the door open into a cloud of dust. Webs cover the area and walls and a figure of a man on a throne. We see tracks in the dust. Sir Tobias, Willow and Glanin lead into the room. The wall to the right is all web and it looks to be moving, undulating as if it is alive! Then from the bottom spiders start pouring out the size of human fists! Once again flames shoot out from my paws at the spiders. With a blue glow on my paw we fly after the spiders and see a webbed mummy like creature. Glanin and Sir Tobias are fighting it. We fly at it but miss it. Before we can fly back around someone takes it down but now Sir Tobias is being swarmed by the spiders and we fly over and begin knocking them off. Glanin did something to Sir Tobias's armor because he started yelling that it was getting hot! I think he was trying to cook the spiders, but was cooking the knight too! Sir Tobias passes out. I think the spiders were poisoning him and Glanin can't heal him until the poison is gone. I stay with him to see if we can determine when it is gone.

After they were killed, Willow and Rodrick explore the sarcophagi area. While distracted we are attacked by a giant spider! We stay with the fallen knight to protect him and keep monitoring him for signs the poison is gone. The rest defeat the giant spider and eventually the poison is through so Glanin can heal Sir Tobias. We make sure it is safe and rest.

26 Eleasias 1374
We awaken and check the balcony above where the giant spider came from. It was littered with bodies; we are glad we can fly and don't have to walk over the nastiness. We continue along the way that Willow scouted while we slept. We follow along in a series of rooms each with a vision as we enter. They tell the tale of a knight who turns on his king and seeks to replace him.

In the second room there are 2 doors with skulls on a black field. Open the first and there are 2 statues and 4 standing sarcophagi with the 2 in the middle open. A bloated thing and a skeleton creature burst forth to attack us. Sir Tobias attacks one. We engage and Glanin hits the poofy one and it explodes damaging us all. We fly in to attack the other one and then Saedda finishes it off. Rodrick loots rubies from the sarcophagi.

The second door has 4 sarcophagi as well as a large mirror. We examine it but find nothing special and move on to the stairs and down to a third room. This room has a door and they check it and then open it. Beyond it is a corridor that turns left to stairs that lead down. There is a weird light that seems to come from nowhere... the walls are intricately designed - no dust or webs or sign of age. The stairs are gradual and smooth. Purple and gold curtains cover the opening at the bottom. Hisss... We hate curtains, they tangle in our wings. The bad knight is in a painting wearing a crown and looking mean.

Through the west curtain there is a large chamber that has an opening leading around into another chamber and back around to the other curtain in a corner of each room stands a statue of a mounted man. At the back wall just through the opening into the second chamber is a dais with a throne and the dark haired knight sitting on it, feigning sleep, wearing a crown. As we approach, he "awakens". He asks who dares to disturb the sleep of the king. Sir Tobias answers him that we didn't mean to disturb him but that we were looking for an evil mage, had he seen him? The "king" invites everyone before the throne so he can see us.
Sir Tobias's conversation with the king doesn't go well - and as he rises up his "prettiness" falls away revealing his true nature. We hear a sound like crumbling stone and the two statues start to charge at us, they are skeletal horse and riders! Rodrick takes one down with grease on the floor. Saedda and I attack the other. Willow charges the "king" with Sir Tobias. Chaos ensues and we attempt to attack the "king" and one of the horses. One of the horses goes down. The "king" controls Willow but Rodrick disarms her before she can hurt Sir Tobias then Glanin takes control of her from the "king". We continue flying between the "king" and the remaining horse. Sir Tobias takes down the "king" and Willow the other horse. The skeletons turn to dust.

They find coffers along the one wall and find a gold and diamond necklace and a lot of gold and platinum coins. Rodrick finds a secret door and we all go through it, down stairs that have landings and alternate in direction and come into a room. We see 4 statues: a tall male human with a beard, plate shield, brown eyes and black hair; a female elf wearing metal leaf armor, crouched; a red haired woman wearing a silver circlet with a diamond, white and gold robes and a staff with a dragon head; and the true king with blond hair and blue eyes holding a purplish silver hand and a half blade. Beyond them are sarcophagi being opened by a hobgoblin. Glanin casts Sir Tobias with silence and he charges in. We fly in to attack the mage!
Glanin shield charges the mage and knocks him down. Willow suddenly turns to flee! We swoop down but miss him. Sir Tobias pushes to join us attacking the mage. Rodrick attacks the hobgoblin. Glanin head bashes the mage and we fly in and claw and bite at him too. The hobgoblin attacks Sir Tobias, but Saedda and Willow attack the hobgoblin from a distance. Sir Tobias turns and kills him. Glanin and I continue attacking the mage and Rodrick joins us. Sir Tobias has the mage at sword point and Rodrick ties him up. They begin heading back toward Saedda and Willow and Rodrick kills him.

The four statues then look at us and a translucent figure steps out of the king's statue. He thanks us and calls us heroes. (Imagine, me a hero!) He has something for Sir Tobias who returns the kings blade he had borrowed. He walks to the sarcophagi and pulls out a hand and a half short sword the blade radiating a purplish hue like moonlight. Merthuvial. He gives it to Sir Tobias and returns to his statue. The hobgoblin and mage had dug a hole in the floor and we examine it and find 3 bags of gold. The cavern is magical and a magic totally not recognized by Saedda. Rodrick looks for a way out, suggests Sir Tobias take the sword into the hole and a door way opens up in the wall with stairs leading up.

We return to get the half elf girl and go up the stairs with the girl, the ratman and the bodies of the human friend and mage. We come up into the woods. Sir Tobias and Willow return to town with the bodies and the girl and ratman on mules from Rodrick's body. The rest of us stay with the hoard.

(That ended that part of the adventure, this was on our all day game session, the rest will be a new post... cuz this is freaking long.)

When Willow and Sir Tobias return they tell us of a man they met in the tavern at the inn. They need to testify on the morrow about what happened and the totality of the crypt. We need to take paperwork to the next town to the north to a magistrate to get our charter certified. We stuff as much as possible in the bag of holding and head back to town. Glanin goes to the local forge to repair armor. Saedda begins identifying magical items we found.

1 Eleint 1374
Heading to the north to Wheloon to get the charter signed and look into the Mystra temple for the man in the tavern.

2 Eleint 1374
Arrive in Wheloon around noon. The man came with us. They take the ferry across the river to the Moothouse to see the magistrate. We get our charter and head to the temple. Willow approaches the preist, Shanthar. We discuss and clear up some of the misunderstanding and plan to tell the cleric about it and that he is welcome back. Shanthar invites back Saedda for the midnight ritual when he learns she uses magic. Saedda and the others leave. Willow speaks with Shanthar, and we wait for our turn.

I mind speak with Shanthar and he confirms that other Tressym mind speak, though not so elequently and none have initiated contact. I ask him to look for my body and he says he's not seen/heard of me but could likely find out. I explain what happened to me and he says that I have formed an arcane link - a bonding - with Akiko and she is my familiar! Mystera has touched me and given me arcane gifts. Sometimes those with certain blood lines are given these gifts. I am coming back for the midnight ritual with Saedda and Willow.

Willow says her discussion with Shanthar went well too! She wishes to speak with me and Saedda soon. I do as well. I feel I can trust these women with my secret. I can't believe that after more than a month with no news I might be able to find out about my body! Willow and I return to the inn. We find Saedda and talk with her, Willow first, then me.

Willow doesn't know who she is. She woke up with no memory a few years ago and is now in search of her past because she is in love! It is quite romantic and tragic at the same time.

We decide to head back to get Glanin when Sir Tobias comes back to the inn saying that some guy is missing 2 days and his wife is worried something has happened to him and there is a tie to the temple as well.

5 Eleint 1374
We retrieved Glanin and arrive back in Wheloon again around noon. We find the cleric had checked out the previous day. We have the clue of a pamphlet advertising the temple that has "Do they really hold Mystra's sacred trust?" written on it in the missing man's handwriting.

We decide to attend the midnight mass at the temple. We are all a bit suspicious because of the words of Amnil written on the pamphlet. There are 2 guards walking the byways of the walls and a small hut outside the courtyard walls on the South. There are 7 people besides Shanthar. We see a man with a grayish cloak and dour appearance and expression who has a short spear on his back standing by one of the altars. Shanthar greets us enthusiastically. We are all asked to gather in the center of the courtyard. Shanthar explains a bit of what is going to happen.

We learn about stars of significance, the two dawn heralds, five wanderers and the seven most sacred stars.

Dawn Heralds - last to disappear at dawn. Kohler is higher, larger and brighter. Anatia is closer to the horizon and gray and white hues of oceans and clouds.

Wanderers - don't follow a given path in the sky, Mystra provides the ability to locate them, they hold special significance as they only appeared 16 years ago the same time as wild magic, embraced as symbols of chaos within the weave
Carpri - sapphire with white caps at poles
Chandis - brown/green color, shifts every night
Glith - orbited by 3 stars of its own
Gawdin - speck of green, rarest
Hikatha - Great Diamond, largest?, closest?

The Seven - most sacred stars, represent schools of the art (magic)
Carpathious - manipulation/seductress - red
Norber - creator - green
Cheribol - protector/negator - violet
Thone - death star - black
Hecklighter? - destroyer/finisher - orange
Estive - far seeing - white
Luctidean - fashioner/changeling - ever changing colors
Gibbeon of Ghost Light - vanished prince, the cloaked, believed to exist, never been seen by living eyes

The answers to all questions, the power of everything magic in Faerun can be found amongst these stars. He implores us to learn about Mystra - donation required - and solve the mysteries in our lives.

Willow inquires of Shanthar and is told if she commits herself she will have all answers within three days. Sir Tobias questions about Amnil. Saedda, Willow, Rodrick and I make the 25g donation (each) and we go to the door of the temple. We will be here for three days.

We enter into the massive room that is closed off to the sky but there are tiny points of light in the black ceiling. Lots of columns stand in rows and there are two doors to the left and three to the right and double doors at the far end. A younger man with black hair and goatee introduces himself, but I am too excited to retain his name. He wears blue robes of Mystra with her symbol over his left breast and a medallion bearing her symbol round his neck. The guard at the first door on the left opens it and two more individuals enter to join us. Goatee speaks to us and tries to intimidate us. We follow the other two back where they came from into the petitioners quarters and find rooms with cots and wood chests, and black robes for us. We sleep.

6 Eleint 1374
We are woken at dawn by the guard and taken to the middle door on the other side of the temple room. Inside are many black robes hanging on hooks, through an archway at the back and to the left is a room with a metal disk in the ceiling that rains down water. We are told we must bathe ourselves each morning and don new robes and then meet at the altar. I am not amused and quite frankly insulted. Granted bathing is one of the less desirable situations I must deal with by being in Akiko's body, but we keep our self very clean! We stand at the edge of the water and make an appearance at it but our tail gets very wet and we are not pleased.

We are introduced to the day guards Nathal and Goln. Goatee reads to us from a large black book with 7 white stars on it open to a blue and black ribbon, reading to us from the "sacred trust" of Mystra. During breaks we are schooled to repeat the words "knowledge lies between the stars". This goes on for 4 hours, then he preaches at us for another 4 hours. We are then given a half hour to ponder and eat before returning for another 4 hour sermon and 4 more hours of chanting. I admit, we dozed off a bit. It was very dull and very repetitive and we haven't let Goatee know we can speak in heads so we just "mew" along when the others chant.

We are returned to our quarters and Saedda goes to talk to the other two petitioners. We go to sleep.

7 Eleint 1374
Same as yesterday. It sounds like he is telling us that "the stars are the holders of magic and the magic is born between them" whatever that means. Mystra only reveals that (between the stars) knowledge to those who show special promise.

8 Eleint 1374
Same routine again, except 15 minutes before the final 4 hours of chant is over Goatee closes the book. He says we are ready and we follow him through the 2nd set of double doors and they open as we approach. We enter.

There are two thick square columns with torches on them and two large stone figures in alcoves at the rear of the room. There is an altar set back from the columns in dim light. Goatee goes to the opposite side of the altar and we kneel before him. He pulls out a sphere of crystal with a dark center and holds it out and looking at it we can see the stars twinkling in the center. We are bade to repeat the chant. Somehow the four of us manage to resist the spell Goatee tried to cast over us, but the other two petitioners are enthralled. I tell Willow, Saedda and Rodrick to play along and we are all led to dungeon and down steps and we pass by two dark statues carved of a coal like stone depicting the same female human. Down more stairs and into a larger room with a statue of the woman in the center, rubble of broken statues, burned scrolls and smashed pottery are scattered around her. We continue around her to a door and into a hallway with six statues along the walls flanking the path, to and through another door which locks into a room with darkness at the end and through it into yet another room. This room is larger with human skeletons piled up! Goatee leads us left along the wall and we see a haze between the pillars that we are skirting around to go to a door. He opens the door into a passageway which continues and then turns leading to another door He opens it and there is a dim cold chamber which echoes with running water. There we see rusty cells and two guards near a cell with a human female on the floor, we learn her name is Vera. Goatee talks with the head guard in charge of the other two.

We are positioned in cells, Saedda and I are next to Vera, Rodrick at the far end and Willow on the other side out of view. The two guards remain, one outside our cell and one outside Rodrick's but they turn invisible. We are told to be quiet and sleep. There are no doors, we are obviously expected to just comply due to the "spell" we are under. The head guard disappears, presumably to a room beyond our line of sight.

Thankfully with Akiko's Tressym abilities I can still "see" the guards. I find it difficult tho to convey the guard's precise location to Saedda. I try to distract the guard by concentrating on a noise for him to hear but he doesn't become visible. Saedda is unable to get her spell off on him. Rodrick asks to use the facilities and our guard leaves to go down to his end, he then lets out a swarm and both guards come back our way. Willow tries to come to our aid and a large creature comes up from the river of sewage as she tries to cross the bridge to our side of the dungeon.

I shoot flames at the guards and one goes down. The head guard comes out and attacks Willow. I try to do the electrical shock at the remaining guard but it doesn't happen so I fly to try and help Willow. Saedda rolls fire toward the sewage beast and Rodrick swarms bats at it. I fly in to attack the head guard and shock him! Willow gets his spear from him and he clubs her. The sewage beast submerges back beneath the water. Saedda downs the other guard. I fly at the head guard again shocking him again and ripping at him with my claws. He swings back at me and hits me but Willow punches him in the face. I shock him again as he knocks Willow out. Saedda rolls her ball of fire toward him to try and attack with it. I shock him again and he grabs his spear and dives into the water.

We look around and I note that the guards had an odd grayish complexion. They look around the head guard's room and find a map of southeast Cormyr, a kayak, a desk. The desk has a secret compartment that Rodrick finds and picks open finding a bag of holding! They try to awaken the two others and Vera but all are enspelled, Saedda ties the guys to the bed. After some discussion about whether to follow the water to where it comes out or go back up the way we came, we decide to go back the way we came.

We plan our way to retrace our steps and get out of the underground hole we are in. I concentrate on help to open the doors for us. Saedda calls what I am doing the unseen servant. Our plan is to stay at the top of the high ceilings and have the unseen servant open the doors for us, this way trying to stay above and hopefully unnoticed by any guards we come across.

Saedda levitates herself horizontally with the unconscious Willow on her back. Rodrick climbs the wall and stays on the ceiling and we fly. We make our way back to the evil altar room and I see what appears to be a bunch of human hair twisted into a nest... two dots like purplish eyes looking out at us. I mind talk to them and show them what I see, "Something bad, something evil. Lets get out of here fast!"

We flee through the black circle and enter a hallway with doors all over, two on the north wall large double doors at our left and the second set a small ways from them, three on the right toward the halfway point of the hallway. We see two guards one on each wall. At the far end is our goal, the door leading to the way out. We float to the door at the end and I send the unseen servant to open doors on the south one at a time. One guard goes invisable the other investigates. Snakes come through the blackness and speak to the guards! We fly through the door to the next room, I hold the bell so it doesn't ring and command the unseen servant to hold the door shut behind us as we fly through the next corridor (with six statues along the walls) and through to the next. When I get most of the way through the hall the unseen servant ceases to be so I summon up another to continue on.

We are now back in the room with the large statue and rubble, past it two stairways leading up... and two guards. The guards come for us (one turning invisible) and we flee for the stairs, up and turning to ascend the single stairway that zags back upward the other direction. Saedda greases the stairs below us and Rodrick lights it with burning hands. One guard calls out, "Starweaver, escapees!"

All the guards we have seen down here have had the same grayish appearance and Rodrick alters his appearance to match. I have the unseen servant unbar the door at the top of the stairs and we are now in the back temple where Goatee tried to ensorcel us. We try to see if the altar has the Starrynosis. It appears flat, but Rodrick and Saedda explore it further. I see two guards with bows and warn the others, dropping a flaming sphere on one. The other attacks but his arrows go wide.

Saedda feeds Willow a potion and she wakes up. Rodrick sends forth a swarm after the other guard! I continue rolling the flaming sphere at the first guard and he drops his bow and charges with a sword but succumbs to the flames as he approaches striking distance. I roll the sphere over to the other guard and it disappears just as it reaches him. Saedda is plugging him with arrows. She shoots back at Willow. Saedda flames him to death with a sphere of her own. We loot the bodies and Willow drinks two more potions.

We use the unseen servant to open the door and when we go through there are four guards in the room, they look surprised and say we aren't supposed to come back this way. Rodrick says something went wrong and a swarm of bugs flies toward them, right out of his mouth! I'd never seen that before. Every other time he has summoned them forth Akiko and I had been focused elsewhere. It was truly astounding and revolting at the same time!

I wish for extra protection for myself and Akiko. Rodrick greases two of the guards as I register what I am seeing... I recognize these guards and they do not look as the others have, they are healthy and normal looking. They are innocent, I am sure of it and we are about to fight them. Thinking quickly I shout into their heads, "STOP! These are my chosen and they have uncovered a great evil here. Listen to them." And it works! They stop, believing they have been spoken to by their deity, Mystra!

We explain to them about Goatee Starweaver Fembris and the evil he is doing, the gray guards, the will-less victims below. When we are finished we hear pounding at the front door to the temple. I command the guards to "Protect my chosen," and the others get their gear. Rodrick opens the door and Glanin and Sir Tobias come charging through. Our rescuers...

We convince Shanthar and the Purple Dragons that Glanin and Sir Tobias brought about the farce that this temple is, Starweaver Fembris is evil Goatee and controlling people and sending them to a dungeon. The Purple Dragons come with us to help the three victims we left below and to clean out the underground room by room, find Fembris and a Lady Arthis who is supposed to be in charge of this temple. We are very relieved that Shanthar is innocent of the wrongdoing!

We go back through and down the stairs and start to investigate the four doors in the room with the dessicated statue when from the rubble by the statue, shadows start swirling up and congeal to form with rubble and stuff into wormy creatures. Starweaver Fembris and a guard come out from the door by the South stairs, the guard goes invisible.

Goatee holds the Purple Dragons, and as Willow attacks one of the worms Sir Tobias attacks the other one. The invisible guard goes after Saedda and hits her and she levitates away so we attack him and claw him twice as he turns to attack Rodrick. Rodrick attacks him back. Sir Tobias destroys his worm thing and it falls to pieces. Saedda focuses her attention on Goatee, casting a spell at him, I recognize the spell she was elated to learn and had tried on Willow. Rodrick attacks the guard again and so do we with a claw. Glanin and Sir Tobias team up to go after Goatee. Willow is still fighting the worm thing and kills it. The guard hits Rodrick but he and I continue our attacks and the guard goes down. Glanin and Sir Tobias take down Goatee!

After we defeated Goatee, we continued exploring the underground beneath the temple. We opened the door on the North that we had been heading towards. We found books and tomes on shelves and piled in heaps on the floor. Glanin found 6 magic scrolls. The books appeared to be instructional books of Mystra.

Next we move to the door that Fembris came out of. We enter into an ante-chamber with chairs and a table and there are two doors leading out of the room one of them ajar. We find a bed, desk and wardrobe. The wall has heads mounted on it! Within the wardrobe is taxidermy equipment. Saedda investigates and Sir Tobias finds a note from the Lady to Goatee about the latest petitioners, and he shouldn't use them (us?) for his sick hobby.

"The latest set of petitioners awaits disposition down in the river dungeon -- Don't steal any of these for your sad hobby, Fembrys, or you'll find your own head on a wall. ~Arthas"

Willow kicks in the other door. Dust covers a rumpled bed. There are robes in a wardrobe. We believe this to be the former priest's rooms.

Out to the room in the south corner. We smell the foul stench of excrement. The other corner room has a passage that curves to the south and we find a door around the corner that is locked. Sir Tobias kicks it down. Another stinky, but this time octagonal, room. It is much filled up with water and a trickle of sludge falls down onto a dias in the center. We lose it and vomit. Neither Akiko nor I can handle the odor with our stronger feline sense of smell.

After a bit of discussion we leave and go to the hall with six statues and door to the west. As we open the door the bell rings. This hallway has the three doors on the left to the South and two doorways to the right on the North wall. At the far end of the hallway is the black portal to the unholy altar.

We go into the first door on the South and find a small room with three cots and three chests. It appears to be guards quarters. I look for any secret passages and Willow checks the chests and finds mostly clothes and a little money, and a diary.

In the hallway the seargent and Sir Tobias are being attacked by three snakes and three archers! Following behind is a woman, perhaps Lady Arthas? Sir Tobias charges thru the snakes and men to get at the Lady. Saedda stops her from speaking with her silencing spell. Willow and the seargent take on the snakes. Saedda throws chakra at the guards. Willow takes out one of the snakes. Sir Tobias holds his own with the guards and the Lady. The seargent and Saedda attack the snakes.

I keep trying, but no matter what I do nothing happens. My magic has abandoned me. Perhaps Mystra is insulted at my portrayal of her earlier and has withdrawn her blessing from me. I panic, frozen in fear as I watch my friends do battle, unable to assist them. In my mind's eye I see them defeated, broken and bleeding and all of it my fault.

The snake attacks Willow and she kills it and moves to help Sir Tobias leaving the seargent to deal with the last remaining snake. I look and see that Sir Tobias has felled the Lady and is turning his attentions now on the guards. Willow arrives and takes one down for him. Sir Tobias finishes off the other two and leads the charge on the last snake killing it as well.

I am relieved that everyone is well, but the terror of my visions of their demise still grip me holding me frozen to the spot.

Willow and Sir Tobias find me in the catatonic state and I begin raving about not being able to do anything to help. Willow asks Saedda who suggests that I might have exhausted my energy for the day. Willow offers to protect me. I pray that she is right and that Mystra has not turned her gifts from me.

They continue to the next door on the South and find it to be a supply closet. The third door is locked but a key from the Lady unlocks it. A foul odor emits from the room as the door is opened and within we discover rotting bodies in a torture chamber. Three bodies, all headless. Saedda tries to identify Amnic. A pile of clothes are in one corner and Saedda digs through them and finds a small wooden box. Willow opens it and finds several identification papers of those used in Cormyr, three papers including Amnic's.

We move across the hall to the first door on the North wall and find a good sized chamber with an open archway into another. There is a big bed, large enough for a giant! Chairs, a nightstand and fancy womens clothes complete our survey of the room.

Through the archway we find a table covered with papers, shelves with books and scrolls. One letter on the table says:

"Starweaver Bestra,
We've had some trouble out here. Some suspicion. A cleric of Mystra named Tunaster Dranik came to the temple but escaped us. We can only hope we find him and kill him before he can summon help. Therefore, with the next shipment west, send"

It cuts out there unfinished. Therefore Starweaver Bestra must be to the east. Saedda finds slippers in a hidden compartment of the desk, magical.

We leave the Lady's rooms and continue through the black portal into the evil altar room. Saedda indentifies the area between the columns as a shadow gate that is not properly working.

We go down the hall and into the jail chamber. We try once again to waken the victims, they don't respond except to pain and then not for very long. I try to speak into their minds with Fembrys' voice but they don't respond to that either. We bring them back up with us. Shanthar is back with healing potions. We explain everything in detail. The three unconscious will be taken to the temple of Shantou. Shanthar says he will be heading back to the previous temple he served at.

We head back to the inn to sleep. We awaken around 3 pm. Sleep. Ahhhhh. I awoke chilled. As I opened my eyes I saw the reason for this. The sun had moved and my sunbeam with it. I streatched out and rose up to move the few inches to recenter myself in the warm bath of the light.

10 Eleint 1374
In the morning the seargent arrives at the inn and requests our presence. The Constole wishes to speak to us. He leads us to the Old Stone Hall. Constole Maximanus Thole and Lord Redbeard question us about what was happening at the Temple. Redbeard is sending us to fix the problem we "stirred up" as he put it. Paying us $500gp to find these people, learn what they are about and destroy them.

I go shopping with Willow to sell stuff off and buy her some new armor. We come home with less than we starte with. I don't think she understands the concept of "shopping" very well.

11 Eleint 1374
Saedda hears about a mage come into town. Staying at the Wyvern Inn. She seeks him out.

12 Eleint 1374
Practice with magic during the days in Wheloon. We plan to head out and follow the map we found in the dungeon office in the morning.

We set out to follow the map heading up the Hullack Path and find the trail to the East. We follow it and find the unknown Shrine. We see the smoke from a fire and fly over to investigate. Within is a small fire with 2 people a human and a gnome with a horse and a pony. They seem very desolate and preoccupied. They say nothing and do nothing and they have a rabbit on a spit that is completely charred but they have not taken it off the spit. After a brief discussion we decide to pass them by. They had come from the east. We decide to find a place to camp. Willow and I hunt and we both find some rabbits to roast for dinner. We set up watches.

14th Eleint 1374
Mid morning we come across a long narrowish hill. A heavy stone lintle at the base of the hill has strange symbols on it carved in deep. Willow gets closer to investigate. We fly above. Saedda sits down to memorize a spell to read it.

As we approach, Willow gets struck with 2 arrows from the doorway. I wish we weren't so easy a target as we fly over to see if she is ok. Sir Tobias charges at the doorway and crashes into the lintle with his face. His steed continues on but Sirt Tobias lands flat on his back. I look in and see worked stone that goes 35 feet inside and looks to be the start of a wooden bridge for 5 feet over a 15 foot pit. At the other side there are openings to the left and right of a huge statue of a frowning face with horns that makes up the wall. Saedda casts her spell and reads the symbols on the lintle, it says "chonis".

We go in. I bring up my shield. We approach the bridge. As we cross a volley of arrows comes flying out of the face statue's mouth. Glanin lights up the mouth with fairy fire showing arrow slots. We can see the images of three creatures through the slits with our infravision. They aren't usual, just dark not bright. I place a flaming sphere in the mouth through the slits on the other side of the wall and two of them go down.

We go to the right and find a hall leading left with burial niches on the right side wall, the left wall has openings. We continue around being hit by arrows. Saedda does a flaming sphere behind the slots and rolls it back and forth. We get to the corner and fog starts coming from the opening cutting off Sir Tobias and Willow. We fly through and find them fighting a creature. Willow runs back into the fog after she is shot with an arrow. Glanin dispells the fog.

In the room we find a sarcophagus that had been disturbed. We see a human sized guy at the back with a bow, dark cowl and eyes slightly glowing white. We place a flaming sphere on him and he dodges out of the way. Saedda launches two magic missiles at him and darkness billows out from his skin and encompasses him. Willow and Sir Tobias box him in and I bring the flaming sphere above him. He succumbs to the heat of it. We examine the dead for anything useful. Willow searches around and finds a secret door. We explore where it leads and find another sarcophagus. We find Utterdark (wine from Cormyr made from Braysburg) minted at 4 years.

We continue on reaching the edge of the swamp mid afternoon. We head through until we come to the Skull Staff which is a 30 foot tall log sticking out of the water with skulls around the base and stacked up to the log. Shrieks come out of the surrounding the area after Willow touches the tree. Reptile like men come out of the water! Willow goes up a tree. Saedda gets netted by one and I use shocking grasp on it dropping it. We get snared by a net but manage to escape and shoot flames at the one that ensnared me killing it. Saedda was ensnared again and We fly in and electracute him. She gets free and I get caught again. We continue shocking him as he winds us and his hand up in a net.

One lizardman is draging Glanin off and shouts out something that Willow understands. Willow and it begin speaking to each other and it wants us to stop attacking, too much bloodshed already. Willow talks with it and it wants to take us to the Chiefton. They thought we were "dreamwalkers". We assume they mean those ensorceled by the starrynosis. The Chiefton can release them. We decide to go with them to their camp.