Entry for 7/20 and 7/27

Chapter 57: Unpleasant Surprises

The morning after Will got a new set of limbs, he received a letter.  It was from Lord Buckbean, thanking him for allowing him to reunite with his daughter!  Lilly was in his hands again!  Will and I immediately began to plan a rescue, heading straight for the merchant’s primary business headquarters, the coastal city of Aeylon.  We gathered in the inn’s common room but when we went to outside to get provisions a group of ten monks met us in the street.

They were from the same order as Fasa and had come from Stormguard to secure him and take him back to stand trial for supposedly impersonating the Stone Fist Order’s founding father.  Impatient to rescue Lilly and unwilling to allow Fasa to be taken away on baseless and ridiculous charges, I refused to let them take him.  I argued that he was under contract with me as a bodyguard and had been paid in advance for his services.  Forcing him to break that contract would be an unlawful act.

They were not swayed but they did agree to let us talk over the situation.  Fasa was very worried that he wouldn’t get a fair trial in Stormguard, but we assured him that we would make sure he had the best advocate for his defense that we could find, even if we had to ask the Lord Knight himself.   We planned to accompany the monks and when we reached the Parched Forest, to move ahead of them as quickly as possible to get to Aeylon ahead of them to find Lilly and get her away from her father. 

The monks did allow us to get provisions together and soon, we were on our way.  We reached the Mushroom Valley quickly and bypassed an apparent ambush by the local Myconids.  After watching the monk leader reduced a wagon-sized boulder to rubble using his bare hands, they decided against attacking our group.  Soon after that, we came to the rainbow waterfall and called out for the Whatsit.  As the group visited with the large furry creature, I flew up to the top of the falls to see if the scene there was the same as Buster’s painting.  I did indeed find a ring of stones which were inscribed with runes.  I found a wand of shooting stars and took it, but the massive emerald sitting in plain view was just too suspicious.  I may be impulsive, but I’m not stupid.  I left the stone and flew back down to the group.  Someday, I hope to go back there when I have time to really study the area.

After a refreshing dip in the Rainbow River, we left the Mushroom Valley and camped on the edge of the Parched Forest.  During the evening, Will and the Elf monk got into an argument loud enough to wake everyone (though I am embarrassed to say that I was the last one up).  I don’t know what instigated the altercation, but the ultimate result was us telling everything that was happening and the monks agreeing to help us rescue Lilly before exiting the region.

We spent a week travelling through the desolate landscape where our only encounter of any interest was finding the camp of a deceased adventuring party.  They had some interesting gear, including a shrinkable trunk that would hold a sizeable amount of supplies.  Something odd among their belongings was a cloak that would induce terrible nightmares and eventually insanity.  The person wearing it, however, also wore a headband that would reverse the magic of any items he possessed.  It could come in quite handy.

Nothing else of interest took place on our journey westward over the plains, other than numerous arguments with the abrasive Halfling monk who went by the name “Sniperbane”.  Yesterday, we came into view of the city of Aeylon and were shocked and dismayed to see a cloud of smoke and a quiet aura of death over the entire.  As we approached, we spotted a large army approaching from the north.  They would arrive in only hours so we quickened our pace so we could get inside the scorched and cracked city walls before they spotted us.

A mile from the city, we saw something else of note.  A funnel cloud appeared inside the walls and swept up what looked like a large collection of wagons, chests and some bodies into the swirling column of air before teleporting away.  I had never seen the spell, but I recognized the magic.  It was Oslo’s!  Pulling out my message ring, I contacted him.  He didn’t seem surprised to hear from me.  When I asked him what was going on, he told me that Lilly was safe and with him.  They had just finished looting a major portion of the ruined city.

When I told him of the approaching army and how we needed to get away, he agreed to help, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do the same spell again.  He told us to be at the highest point in the city at noon the next day and he would get us all safely away.  Without another word, he cut off our connection and we rushed into the ruins.

Destruction and dead bodies were everywhere, on a scale that was almost mind-boggling.  Clouds of flies and the ever-present stench of decay made moving through the streets more akin to a nightmare.  We managed to find some useful items among the slain including a new bow for Will and an enchanted harp and a book of tales from the corpse of a bard surrounded by dead demons.  The supernatural corpses were everywhere and that they were still present meant that they had been summoned forth through a planar rift of some kind. 

We made our way to the temple district where the concentration of demon bodies was the greatest.  The tallest building in the city was (is) the temple of Desna and though the ground was no longer consecrated, we still found it to be quite secure as well as providing and excellent vantage point to observe the city and the army which was now setting their camp outside the walls.  Scouts would be entering the city soon, but the sun would be down within a few hours and it was very likely that the dead would rise.  The horror and trauma inflicted on these people would not allow them to rest easy.

After getting settled, we all decided on separate tasks: Victor, Fasa and I went to the Bloodsong Guild headquarters in order to recover documents and tomes that the guild would doubtlessly wish to keep from being lost.  Will and Aeron went the temple of Irori, presumably to pay homage to their god.  (I don’t know exactly when Will devoted himself to the god of knowledge, but he seems to be on the path.)  Victor and I recovered a trove of books, scrolls and maps, thanks to my haversack and an ingenious bookshelf of gnomish design that collapses into a cart.  After being Enlarged, Fasa was able to carry and push the cart back to the temple before it got dark.

Victor, however, took a side trip and wasn’t with is when we arrived.  Aeron and Will got back looking grim, but piously satisfied.  Just as nightfall was fully arriving, Victor rushed in with a smug look on his face.  He had recovered a number of chests from the thieves’ guild, but before he could spend any time working on them, the dead began to walk.  Shuffling shadowy shapes stalked through the streets and Aeron came to a grim realization.  As time went by, more and more bodies would rise and more powerful forms of undead would join them.

The only solution was to leave Desna’s temple and go to Irori’s.  She had consecrated the ground there in order to lay the slain clerics and paladins of the order to rest.  It was the only place we would be safe from the restless dead.  We gathered our things, moved quickly down the street, and got into the relatively quiet temple before anything spotted us.  The night passed uneventfully at that point and we all got a relatively decent night of sleep.

As I write this, Victor is picking the last of locks on the guildmaster’s chests.  He gave me a few new wands including a matched pair of dueling wands that shot forth, I do not jest, pillows.  He also had two “women” stored in the chests.  They were some kind of construct that could be disassembled and reassembled at will.  One was blonde, lovely and docile while the other was raven-haired with a poisonous touch.  The guildmaster here was undoubtedly a strange, depraved man – nothing less than what I’d expect in a city under the control of Lilly’s father.

Speaking of Lilly, I am looking forward to seeing her soon.  It’s been too long and I really want to hear the tale of what happened to her.  Even better, I’ll be able to use the circle in Oslo’s tower to teleport back to Stormguard and finally be with Tal and leave this whole country behind.

 Chapter 58: New City, New Continent, Same Crap

I’ll admit, I am having a very hard time staying positive at the moment, as the title of this entry would suggest.  Oslo teleported us successfully away but we didn’t end up in Zakhara.   Instead of a desert, we were surrounded by an unfamiliar jungle landscape.   The tower was different too.  I examined the circle in the floor of the entry hall and found no magic embedded there.  Oslo confirmed that there was no connection to the other towers or the Archways as this was one of the towers he built most recently and he didn’t have the strength for such a powerful and enduring enchantment.

Grumbling to myself at the thought that I was still separated from Stormguard and Tal, I asked Oslo about Lilly but found that she had left already.  We travelled over 100 miles across the plains of Rolonia to rescue her.   She had been with my mentor yesterday when I contacted him through the message ring.  She had to know that we would be here and she couldn’t even wait to say hello.  She left no message.  She had simply gathered up all of the loot she had taken from the slaughtered city and disappeared.   I have no idea what her role was in the deaths of the people of Aeylon, but even though I trust her with my life, taking everything and running made her look very guilty.

I was angry (and still am) but we had to make a plan.  We still had to get Fasa and the monks back to his temple.   Oslo pointed off in the distance and told us that the City of the Jade Claw was only a few days in that direction and that the Stone Fists had a presence there.  The monks agreed that taking our friend there would be an acceptable alternative.  Of course in the process, Sniper’s Bane managed to show off what an ass he was.  Oslo performed a shrinking enchantment on the gnomish cart I recovered and “accidentally” hit the Halfling with an errant burst of magic.  He is now pixie-sized with bright pink wings.   This was the only thing that managed to bring a smile to my face.

As we prepared to leave, Oslo dropped another surprise on me.  He told me to seek out my half-sister in the city.  This caught me completely off-guard: a sister?  Who was she?  How old?  If she was travelling on her own, she would have to be another child of my mother.  My father only remarried a little over six years ago and I was not aware of any other children born before or after me.  Thoughts of who she could be rolled through my head all the way to the City.  They were the only thing that distracted me from my anger at Lilly (and for similar reasons - Shane and Rish and Mak).  They had all walked out of my life with barely a glance back; as if our time together meant nothing.  I discovered that Lilly’s tube was in range so I drafted a letter and sent it off to her.

I know that many of my feelings are childish, but I can’t help myself.  It doesn’t help that my mentor hasn’t made contact with me once in months unless it was at my request and even then, he always seemed distant and rushed for time.  I’m worried about how much he has changed since reclaiming his youth.  I want to go back to his tower in Zakhara to speak with Nico about the situation.  I need to make sure that everything is okay.

And in the column under “unsure” I also discovered that Lilly had Tal moved out of Stormguard “for her safety” and she was currently staying at the newly-remodeled and reclaimed Feldor Mansion.  I don’t know when this happened because Tal had said nothing of it during our last dream meeting.  To be fair, very little in the way of words were typically exchanged, but if there were something that important, I have to believe that she would inform me.  Our next meeting should be in three nights, the day after we reach Jade Claw.  I wish she was in range of my tube or my teleport spell, but for now, I can only worry.

As usual of late, Oslo teleported away abruptly and seeing as we had many hours of daylight left and no compelling reason to remain, we set out on the trail again.  A group as large as ours seems to have scared away any predators or potential ambushes and our camp is quiet. 

Chapter 59: City of the Jade Claw

As we approached the city, I was struck by how large it was, possibly even larger than Stormguard or the grand cities of my homeland.  The city gates were flanked by enormous statues of a humanoid tigers.  Walls forty feet high surrounded the city and guards patrolled the tops of the wall.  We were let in without any incident and after securing rooms, we immediately went to deal with Fasa’s situation.  The order of the Stone Fist was housed in a large ziggurat-like structure.

On our way there, we witnessed an attack on the wall as a large construct of some kind.  The guards managed to dispatch the monstrosity but when we asked some people on the street, they said it had been happening more frequently lately.  A few of the creatures had even managed to make it over the wall to cause destruction and mayhem because the guards were stretched too thin.

We were brought before the head master or guild leader or whatever he’s called to answer to the charges against Fasa.  The charges were quickly dismissed and the leader was displeased at the situation in Stormguard.  Our friend was directed to stay at the temple to train and much to our amusement; Sniper’s Bane was ordered to do so as well because of his erratic and rude behavior.  Before leaving I mentioned the situation with the constructs attacking the city and suggested that the monks could be invaluable in helping to bolster the guards defending the walls from attack.  The guild leader seemed pleased with the suggestion and said that he would speak with the guards about rendering assistance.

We left Fasa there (for now) and wandered back to the inn.   Asking around a bit, we learned of the Hollow Mountain and what was termed as the “golem factory”.  It had plagued the area for a long time and even been a site where Shane and his group had visited.  (I know, what a shock!)  From the few stories we heard, they had a great of difficulty there and since then, a number of adventurers had gone in to deal with the factory, to varying degrees of catastrophe. 

Eventually, we left the common room to get some sleep but before I could fall completely to sleep, there was a knock at my door.  Will waited there and beckoned me to follow to Aeron’s room.  After we had parted, Aeron spotted something strange.  A dog had gotten up and walked out of the inn, but something about it made her suspicious, so she followed it out into the night.  Alone.  Without anyone else to help her.  (Will assured me that he’d talk to her about doing such things.)

The “dog” was lying on the small table and it looked completely normal as long as you ignore the gaping hole in its side which exposed a clockwork skeletal structure and greenish-silver “blood”.  Upon further examination, it had a steam-powered heart and the flesh was stitched and animated in a fashion similar to that of a flesh golem.  Aeron said that she had seen a number of other animals like this, all heading for the city wall.  The others had leaped over the wall, easily forty feet high, and run off toward the woods in the direction of the Hollow Mountain.

Seeing nothing else that we could do tonight, we went back to our rooms for sleep and in the morning, we gathered together to form a plan.  Will and Aeron were going to seek out information from the local woodland experts.  I suggested that Victor seek out alchemists in the city to find a way to neutralize the golem’s blood.  It could lead to an effective method of disabling the creatures.  I spent the morning studying the clockwork and steam mechanisms and taking detailed notes.  Tonight was my weekly dream meeting with Tal and though we had other things to talk about regarding the situation in Stormguard and our usual non-verbal communication as well; I could get some input from her about how to disable the constructs.

I decided to take a break from my research and go see about finding my “sister”.  Will had mentioned a foreign merchant in town so I figured that would be a good place to start.  I was directed to a caravan that was definitely Zakharan in origin and when I approached I found that the merchant was none other than my own father!  He didn’t recognize me at first (it had been more than 6 years since I’d seen him) but when he realized who I was, he greeted me with enthusiastic affection.   He had been very successful in recent years, but that success brought some notoriety that got him into trouble with a merchant’s consortium and he had been temporarily banished from our homeland.

He introduced me to his three wives, one of which I had already met when I left my father’s household to begin my studies.  I also met my little sister.  Her name is Loashia and she is adorable.  She asked to see my scimitar and though one of the wives disapproved, my father allowed it and I showed her.  She dreamed of becoming a Sword Dancer and as I showed her some routines, she picked them up quickly and easily.  She is quite skilled and not even six years old!  She was so impressive that one of the weapon merchants gave her a well-made blade for practicing.

During her family’s travels, she had been asking about me at every city they went to.  Since learning about me, she had been very eager to meet me, the big brother “wizard”.  I realized that asking for me could put her in danger so I told her that we would use a code.  I would leave messages for her at taverns I visited but under the name “Ackbar”.  (Thank you Alphonse!)  It feels really good to have contact with my family and having a sibling is definitely a new experience.

My father expressed concern about the golems in the area and was considering relocating his business.  I assured him that my friends and I were going to handle that situation and that he and his family would be safer in the city.  I had more research to do but assured him that I would return for dinner that evening.  I looked forward to a “home-cooked” meal, the smell of my father’s pipe, and good conversation.  I wished more than anything that Tal could be with me to meet them all.  I know she and Loashia would get along very well.  (And I was right, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

I went back to the tavern where we were staying, but none of the others had returned just yet.  I went to my rooms and was greeted by a sight that was both unexpected and breathtaking.  Tal stood there, topless while cleaning off grease and oil from her clothing.  I rushed inside to sweep her into my arms and she reacted with surprise and delight.  Our reunion was a lengthy one and we got cleaned up in time to go to my father’s tents for dinner.  They were shocked to see that my lady was a gnome but there is no taboo in that regard in my homeland.  Tal and my sister did get along very well and spent at least an hour playing with swords while I talked with my father.  I told stories of my adventures but eventually we had to part ways and go back to the tavern.

There we met up with everyone.  And I do mean everyone.  Will, Victor and Aeron were present but also, Shane, Lilly, and Rish!  (who was accompanied by the half-dwarf Dwyer.)  I was overjoyed to see them all; though the circumstances were less than ideal.  Shane had been inside the Hollow Mountain years ago and knew how dangerous it was.  Rish had communed with Irori and had essential information to pass on.  The only sour note was receiving a return response from my letter to Lilly, from her associate managing her business affairs.  It was rude, insulting and harsh, but I didn’t care.  I was overjoyed to be reunited with my friends once more.   I did show the letter to Lilly; however, and she didn’t seem pleased with her lieutenant’s “tone”.

I would have liked to talk with everyone but it has already been a long day and we’re planning to go into the mountain tomorrow after we share our information and settle on a plan of action.  I was so anxious that I stayed up to write everything down but now I feel it is time to sleep as well.  Unless I meet my untimely end at the claws or jaws of some artificially animated abomination, I suspect my next entry will detail the results of our expedition.  Until then, good reader!