21st Day of the Fall, Year 862

I am going to start off with a list of things that I think need to be done. I have mentioned several things in my previous journal entries, but the lack of a tangible list, I think, is the biggest deterrent to accomplishing any of them.

1. Discuss guidelines for the distribution of items we accumulate.

2. Speak privately with Toryx about what he might have seen when he checked items for evil auras.

3. Make a copy of information about the Waking Death plague, and the ways to cure it, to give to authorities in King’s Crossing.

4. Question for the group: should Father Janin’s personal journal be given over to the Church as well?

5. Return to Atwood after King’s Crossing so Niesula can talk more with Parvati, and negate Parvati and I being tracked by Bannick and Marta.

6. Inquire about keeping the printing press, if the town doesn’t need it, as well as some of the books in Imperial found below the manor.

7. Discuss Lord Zoran’s offer of a reward with the group.

8. Talk to Parvati about ensuring that all food in Atwood is purified of the plague.

9. Stop by Shal’Arbena on way home, to return Jasko’s belongings to the Baroness and his family.

10. See if I can replace my destroyed lab kit with the one found in the manor, and see what else that was left in the rooms at the inn got destroyed, or can be recovered.

I’ve been thinking about the purpose of this whole Atwood experience, and our role in it. As much as I didn’t see it at first, I am now thinking that we were guided or sent here for a greater purpose. We have gained considerable knowledge about Seer activities in this area, as well as information about the Fey Nar. We have learned about Lameena being the Fey Nar of the Skunkmire, as well as a former student of Myrrath, and therefore unable to leave her realm, as it were, without becoming greatly weakened. This also leads to the fact that until Lameena is defeated, the Dona Kor will likely have little chance of being able to start restoring the Rosewood to life. We have defeated the attempts of the Cult of the Gray One to gain a stronghold in Atwood, and have learned of their plot to gain other strongholds throughout the realm. We have learned of Aven Way’s probable connection with the Cult of the Gray one, and his probable responsibility for falsifying the trade note for the Cutter’s Gap Freeman’s Tax. Aven Way was also responsible for introducing Natka and Velimir to Lord Zoran, who, in turn, were probably responsible for his death by poison. And that in turn made it possible for the priests of Ferron to raise him back from the dead, and gain a foothold in Atwood before they even arrived there in actuality.

Of course, in the process of learning all these things, we have also lost our companion, Jasko, and taken innumerable risks and damage to ourselves. Parvati seems to think that we have done more than enough, and that we have a duty to ourselves, as well as to others. She has a point in that; how much must we sacrifice to help others in need? I have wondered the same thing myself, these past couple days. I believe, however, that we set ourselves on this path when we first left Cutter’s Gap to seek adventure. I know that I had naïve expectations about these adventures. While I certainly pictured myself earning gold and items as rewards, I also just wanted to be out in the world actually doing something, rather than stagnating in Cutter’s Gap. Well, we are out in the world, and we are doing something. The fact that the reality of doing something is more difficult than I had imagined isn’t anything I can blame someone else for. Our realm is at war, and with that war comes more intrigue and political machinations and dangers than just one group of people bashing away at another group. This war affects the entire realm, in many different ways. There are evil people who will take advantage of this war to try to gain more for themselves. In this I see the Thorns, and the Cult of the Gray One, and the Fey Nar, most likely, and even the dwarves. While it may be surprising, as Cutter’s Gap is a fairly small and remote village, our home has an important role in all of this. In that respect alone, as representatives of Cutter’s Gap, we have a responsibility to contribute our share towards fighting this war.

I have to laugh as I think of Sharva’s “Lorak” asking us if we are do-gooders. I guess we really are, and I am glad to be reminded of that. I lost sight of that for a while.

I am jumping from topic to topic at random, I know, but I will get to the heart of what happened in a moment. I just remembered Toryx commenting on the fact that we shouldn’t be so fast to turn away the offer of a reward. He is right, I think, for purely practical reasons, but I think in this case (which was Lord Zoran’s offer of 7,000 gold pieces to make up for the lost Freeman’s Tax), I was right to tell Lord Zoran to wait. I didn’t refuse the offer outright, but I do think we have to consider other matters. The first one is that we will probably be able to clear Meroa and find the true culprit of the false trade note after we get to King’s Crossing. That should restore the 7,000 gold pieces to the Freeman’s Tax, and Cutter’s Gap won’t have to worry about that. The second thing, however, is that Atwood is a small town who has lost much of its population due to a plague, and much of its food stores as well. As tempting as the thought of that much money is (think of all the research I could do with my share!), in all good conscience, if it were going to deprive Atwood of much-needed resources to survive the coming winter, we couldn’t take it. When we are back from King’s Crossing, and the reinforcements from King’s Crossing have arrived in Atwood to help the people recover, their actual situation should be better known. If they can afford to uphold that offer without the town suffering, then I won’t feel guilty about taking it. If they can’t, then either a lesser fee, or perhaps the printing press and some of those books will suffice. Maybe not for the others, but I bet Evan and I would be content enough, and possibly Weasel, too. Well, we’ll see how things turn out.

I wonder if we will be able to negotiate a kind of peace between the Rona Kor and Atwood? I know there were a lot of misconceptions, probably fostered by the priests of Ferron, but still, the Rona Kor could do much to help Atwood recover.

Well, to get to the heart of what happened, we left Atwood for the Fey Nar realm late in the afternoon. Thankfully, we had no incidences on the way to the campsite, so we had a chance to talk a bit. There was certainly no lack of topics to discuss. One main concern was that Aven Way, or whatever cohorts Natka, Velimir and the priests had, was probably going to be warned of what happened here by one of the workers at the bee farm. A couple had escaped the carnage, and we had little doubt that one or both of them were probably running to King’s Crossing as fast as possible. There was nothing we could do about that, unfortunately, but be prepared for it when (if!) we get to King’s Crossing.

The sub-basements in the manor house, with the barrack-type rooms, and the tunnels, made us wonder how long they had been there. Some of the tunnels running from the manor to various places had obviously been freshly dug, but the actual sub-levels had to have been there for a long time. Who built them? For what purpose? And how long had that unholy altar been there? Was it simply a Reliquian altar that had been desecrated and changed over? As usual, we had lots of questions, and couldn’t be sure we would discover the answers.

Weasel did offer to use one of his cantrips to clean up the boots that Toryx had given me. I accepted his offer with relief, and a moment later, I was able to wear them. The difference was immediately obvious to me, as it more than doubled my ability to sneak around. I’ll have to be sure to let Weasel know that if he’s the one sneaking around instead of me, he’s more than welcome to use them, though. What’s the use of having things like that if they aren’t always put to the best use?

Hauling the boots out prompted a discussion of the things we had accumulated, and I completely forgot about mentioning that we needed to have some guidelines for those sorts of things. No doubt I will have plenty of other opportunities to bring it up. Plus, it’s on my list now.

Weasel commented on his belief that after all this mess is taken care of, and word gets back to Duke Finn, that he’ll send a stronger call for our presence with the army. I wonder how long Amelia will be able to keep us around without completely offending the Duke. Maybe after this is all cleared up, we will want to go, too. Anything is possible, I guess.

When Evan suddenly got a blank look on his face, I assumed that he had just received another message from Vidieya. It was actually from the friend he was expecting to meet up with in King’s Crossing, Theril Alister. Since this was the friend he had said could help with starting up the library, I’m very interested in meeting him. Evan says he is the Loremaster of his guild in the Sages, so I imagine he’s an excellent person to consult on this.

That is, IF we ever make it to King’s Crossing. Sometimes I have my doubts, especially since this Atwood thing is so much more complicated than we had expected.

We made camp around dusk, and I helped Parvati and Gray check on tracks in the area. When we were settled down, Sharva told us what she knew about the ogre village. We decided to do a general recon the next morning, and then decide on a plan of attack.

I asked Sharva for her help in making a copy of Father Janin’s herbal research book. I thought it important enough, especially with the information on the Waking Death plague, that we should have a copy to reference at home. Plus, that knowledge would also prove valuable in King’s Crossing. After some debating about the best way to get a copy made, Evan suggested that we take the book with us into King’s Crossing, and pay to have a scribe copy it there. His friend might even have a spell that could do it instantly. Magic is such an amazing thing.

We had just set up watches for the night when Jonathan reported a figure running down the path towards us. Wolves had started howling a few moments before this, and Gray had said that they were hunting. When the figure reached where we were, it became obvious that he was the prey. When he saw Weasel standing there, and recognized him, he told us that he was Captain Harton from the Eagleton Militia, and that he had wolves hot on his trail. We quickly moved to protect him and to prepare for a fight. The Captain was in sad shape, covered in bites and scratches, missing both thumbs, and his bare feet run bloody. He told us that he and his men had been on a mission against the harpies, but they had gotten caught by the Seers.

The wolves chasing him soon came into sight. Three of them were regular wolves, but two were werewolves. One was a regular size, but the other one was very tall, probably around 10’, with the accompanying massive muscles. Since I was closest to the smaller werewolf, I started shooting at that one. When it ducked down behind a fallen tree and started casting, I called out a warning to the others, in case they hadn’t seen them. There was a moment when the smaller werewolf spoke with Lucill in the druid language, that I thought we might be able to avoid the fight. That hope was dashed when Lucill told us to kill them all! He called them a name, and even though it was in Elegaic, I figured it had to be the word for werewolves. It took a few moments, but in the end, all the wolves were killed, and both werewolves. Captain Harton had been attacked and knocked unconscious, but he was stabilized soon enough so he didn’t die.

The bodies of the werewolves changed to the naked forms of an elven female Rona Kor, and an ogre. Lucill recognized the Rona Kor woman, and said she had gone missing five years earlier. He said that the Fey Nar used these creatures as spies and messengers, so it was a good thing we hadn’t let any of them get away. I know Lucill was sad to see the fate of the woman he had known, and I felt bad for him. I hope her spirit has passed on to a better place now.

Captain Harton, pretty battered, but safe, at least, told us that he knew us from when we captured Azem. He and his men had been captured less than a ten-day ago, and brought to an ogre village in this area a couple days ago. His men were being sacrificed to some creature in a pit. Harton had been released just to provide some sport for the werewolves. There were a couple more ogre werewolves, and one more Rona Kor werewolf, but they had left the camp earlier this morning.

When Harton started talking about the Seers that he had seen, Toryx recognized the names. The leader who had come here was apparently a hideous elven-looking fellow called Vyock. Everybody, even the other Seers, were afraid of him. When Toryx mentioned the fact that he was an assassin, and overly fond of poisons, I understood why. The second in command was someone named Gunnel. Toryx said that he was honorable, so perhaps he is a Seer like Sureka. The third in command, Barshaw-Thul, apparently wasn’t very fond of Toryx.. It was Barshaw, naturally, who was still at the camp. Gunnel had apparently left for someplace to the south or east of the village.

Lucill asked for my help in burying the Rona Kor woman, so after we picked an appropriate tree, we started digging. Parvati came over to help, and it didn’t take too long before the hole was deep enough. The ogre and the wolf corpses we left as they were, and we simply moved our campsite further away.

Captain Harton said that Vyock had left the camp to go visit with the Fey Nar, and was due back in about a ten-day or so. Despite his wounds, he wanted to help us, since he still had men back in the camp. He said there were about 15 ogres left in the camp, including the three witches Sharva had told us about. Some of the ogres had gone with the Seers. The timing of our arrival was pretty lucky, in that we could have been facing more than double that number.

The presence of the Seers in the ogre camp pretty much banished the slim chance we had of being able to barter or buy some mandragora. Since we figured we would have enough time to rest, we decided to do just that. We could relearn our spells in the morning, something that was desperately needed, and then proceed on to the village.

22nd Day of the Fall, Year 862

The night passed uneventfully, and I was relieved to be able to study my spells again. I’m not defenseless without them, but they certainly do help. Toryx thought it would be a good idea to see if any of the equipment we had gotten was evil enough to present a danger to us (especially the things that we were already wearing). This probably wasn’t the best time for me to practice this, but I thought I would try out something that Armon had taught me. Toryx cast his spell, and when he looked at me, I saw him start a bit in surprise. He said nothing, though, so I decided to speak with him privately to let him know what I had tried. Can’t have him thinking I’ve turned to the dark side, after all.  Of course, I forgot to do that, having gotten caught up in everything that happened, so I need to add that to my list as well.

I’ll blame that oversight on Evan’s antics. Sometimes for an intelligent man, he can be amazingly stupid. He pulled Natka’s bracer out of the pile of things, and put it on. I suppose he thought it would be a good way to test whether it would give him any protection, because he told Lucill to attack him. Lucill seemed doubtful at first, but when Evan insisted, he complied. With his bleeding dagger, naturally. I wasn’t quick enough with my warning about that, although it would seem logical to use a less lethal weapon on a companion. Sure enough, Evan got stabbed, and the wound immediately started spurting blood. He at least had the grace to be sheepish as he asked Sharva if she could heal him up. I rolled my eyes in exasperation at Sharva, and bit my tongue before I made any sharper comments. I suppose we all have these moments. I just pray that none of mine are as stupid.

When we were all ready to go, we headed out. Sharva said the best way to approach the camp was via an old riverbed. When we got there, we could see smoke from the village ahead. Lucill refused point blank to do any scouting, so I went, with an invisibility spell and Jonathan for company.

I have to say, even though I was moving fairly quickly, with those boots, I barely made a whisper of sound. I love those boots. I was circling the pit, when I saw a group from the village approach. It was one of the witches, along with a couple slaves, a prisoner, and four guards. The witch started chanting at the opening of the pit, while the slaves threw flowers down. After a few moments, she ended the chant, and the prisoner was shoved forward and down into the pit. His screams were horrible.

Just as I realized that I should have notified the others as soon as I saw them approaching the pit, I saw movement in the grass. I figured Jonathan had told them what was happening, so I moved into a more likely position to cut off any retreat to the village, and waited for them to get close enough.

The appearance of a web spell over and around the pit heralded the start of the fight. Parvati’s entangling spell soon after the web spell provided an excellent mess for the ogres to struggle with. Unfortunately, the witch managed to escape back to the village, and while we were finishing off the rest of the ogres at the pit, she was gathering reinforcements from inside the village. I was shocked when the fighters came out, hiding behind a bunch of female slaves, half of them pregnant, wielding flimsy, makeshift weapons, like sticks and pots.

What in the world were we supposed to do against that? If we ignored the women in favor of the fighters, the women could overwhelm us simply by numbers. Plus, despite the fact that they were obviously slaves, their demonic screams and shrieks seemed to indicate that they were fairly willing to defend the only home they knew. We had little choice, really, and as repugnant as it was to fight a bunch of pregnant women, I didn’t see any other option. Once the fight was over, and we faced all the dead bodies, I thought (belatedly) that we might have been able to use the flats of our blades, rather than the edges, against the women, at least. Parvati might have been able to concentrate her arrows on the fighters, but with the women as shields, some of them would have died anyway. And what would we have done with all those women as prisoners? One was still alive when the fight was over, because she had been caught in the web. I didn’t speak any language she spoke, and in the end, I left her run off. I just didn’t have the heart to kill her in cold blood. There was one fighter left alive as well, and it soon became apparent that Weasel had a new pet. The one witch who survived answered our questions, but obviously couldn’t be trusted. Toryx spared the rest of us from the unpleasant task of killing her, and took care of it in his usual efficient manner.

The fact that we had killed a bunch of basically defenseless, pregnant women didn’t sit well with any of us. We’ll have to figure out how to deal with that, and maybe we will also figure out what we could have done to avoid that. It could be a lesson learned for the future, although such lessons leave a bitter taste in my mouth, and lead in my stomach.

We found out after the fight was over, from Weasel’s pet, Garak, that all of the prisoners had been given to the Gatherer to take to Zursula. Lucill seemed somewhat familiar with this Zursula, and said that she was fond of poisons and drinking the blood of babies. To top off those charming little traits, she apparently had tough, greenish scaly skin, and was the half-spawn of an evil creature from the Hellock Mountains. Our assumptions from what we learned from Garak and the witch, was that Marl was a dragon. He came down to the village once a year to impregnate the witches. This Zursula was probably one of Marl’s children, and had her palace, or stronghold, underground.

Naturally, we had to debate about what to do next. The mandragora is what we were after, and since it grew in the dark, it was probably down in the pit somewhere. Sharva and I had searched the entire village, and only come up with a little bit of old mandragora in a vial, along with 6 vials of a healing salve. We had expended most of our spell power in this fight, so we had to decide whether or not we should go down in the pit now, or wait and risk this Zursula finding out about what happened up here. We were discussing several options, when Parvati simply walked off, and climbed down into the pit with the help of Evan’s spider climbing boots. When she came back, she told us that the pit opened up into a large cavern, with most of the bottom being covered by a deep hot spring. She hadn’t seen any mandragora, unfortunately. Despite Toryx’s fear… um, aversion to water, we decided that we had to take advantage of the Gatherer being gone, and try to find the mandragora. We would hopefully avoid contact with Zursula altogether, but if it came to a confrontation, and we were victorious, we would have rid the world of another evil creature.

There are a lot of ifs in our plan. There usually are, but it seems to me that sooner or later one of those ifs is going to whomp the snot out of us, and laugh while doing it.

Oh well, I suppose this is yet another adventure of the Cutter’s Gap Town Protectors and General Do-Gooders.