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PREVIOUSLY - CAMPAIGN DIARIES 24 - INTO THE DRACOLICH LAIR
06 Elient - Day 68 - March Back to Yartar
06 Elient - Day 68 - March Back to Yartar
The Owlbear League, in possession of the Diamond Staff of Chomylla, which they had recovered from the Cult of the Dragon, marched long into the night to escape the cult and the clutches of Dretchroyaster the dracolich. They made their way through and well past the town of Woody Glen and camped for the night in the woods. Bit by bit the nights were getting colder as summer turned to fall in the north. It was hard to believe only one season had gone by since the adventurers had met and coalesced into the team they were now. Drifters and misfits traveling in a dangerous world and facing threats they never dreamed of. They stood watch, but slept peacefully in The High Forest, and nothing bothered their slumber.
The next morning, they broke camp and continued east along the sparsely traveled road out of forest, then north, crossing the Dessarin River, then marching north to the Calling Horns Inn. There they stayed and rested until the morning, and the two day travel to Yartar. They recovered their wagon and oxen from the stables there, having left them for their journey into the forest.
They spent the next night on the road quietly, licking their wounds and talking about little. Except for Clinker. The diminutive deep gnome continually asked about the gold back at the Vault of the Dracolich. The others did not want to return, happy with a massive haul of thousands of gold pieces, making them pretty rich, even divided among each of them. They talked Clinker out of a return, but the prospector seemed preoccupied with the treasure they did NOT gather, and his sleep was restless.
On the 3rd day of travel back, they arrived late in Yartar and returned to the public shelter at the Happy Hall of Fortuitous Happenstance, where a priest they were not familiar with guided them to cots. They informed the priest that they had returned from a quest for Bodal Barsk and needed to see him in the morning. The priest nodded gravely and carried off the message to the high priest's office.
10 Elient - Day 72 - Back in the city Yartar
10 Elient - Day 72 - Back in the city Yartar
Bright and early after a night in the shelter, the League is awakened by a priest of Tymorra and brought to the office of Bodal Barsk where their petrified companion, Immeral stood silently by the window, waiting for a prayer of greater restoration to return him to the living.
"By Tymorra's luck you have returned unscathed from the lair of the dracolich. I am happy to see you unharmed. Most happy indeed."
"It was not an easy mission you sent us on, the dracolich nearly had us." Nowhere frowned.
"Well that is why you are intrepid adventurers!" Bodal replies. "Tymorra would have it no other way. Did you recover the staff?"
Dain lowered the object he was carrying and unwrapped a blanket from around it's head, revealing the diamond top of the staff and handing it to Bodal Barsk.
"The die is rolled in our favor!" Bodal exclaims, and he takes the staff lovingly. "And now for payment!" he states. He reaches into his desk and brings out a small pouch of something. "Diamond dust" he tells you, and taking a pinch, sprinkles it over the frozen Immeral. Speaking the words of his deity, and gesturing somewhat wildly, Bodal invokes the spell. Within moments Immeral begins to move and a thin layer of stone begins cracking and falling off to reveal flesh underneath and all his apparel and belongings. Dust plumes around them both as the petrification falls away, and Immeral looks around.
"Who are you?" Immeral asks, bewildered.
"Bodal Barsk, just an insignificant disciple of Tymorra. Allow one of my priests to tell you about Tymorra some time, but right now I must take my leave of you all." he gently pushes Immeral to the door.
"Where am I?" Immeral asks, his companions smiling.
"Yartar young man, finest city of the north. We are blessed by the luck of Tymorra, but there is much work for me to do. Your friends will tell you of it all. Good day now. May Tymorra bless all your wonderful happenstance."
And the door closes behind them.
K'ronk gives Immeral a hug, something quite unusual for the pair. Dain speaks first. "You were dead, but we saved you. Now you owe us. We had to fight a dragon for you. An undead dragon."
"Dead? Again? I'm so confused, I thought I was in a forest, it was like a dream..."
Nowhere speaks up. "We'll hear about you dream later, but right now we need to go see Garaele."
"Wait, Garaele is here?" Immeral asks.
Seraphina clarifies, "Yes, but she has been worried sick about you, and she is busy caring for the sick, let's go."
And with that, the Owlbear League make haste for the mercy camp on the south side of Yartar, and lead Immeral to the healer's tent, where Garaele and the other clerics tend to the sick and hurt after recent calamities. She looks concerned, but laughs with one of the needy she attends, and then she spots the Owlbear League.
Garaele excuses herself properly, then walks over to the group. She stops short of them and with bright eyes and a smile declares "I am very happy to see all of you." And after a moment, "Especially you Immeral." Then, almost second guessing herself, she steps up and hugs him, which he returns. It is much better than the hug from K'ronk he received earlier.
"I am very happy to see me too. I mean you too. I think." and he trails off, not knowing what to say.
The hug is brief, and then she steps back. "What are your plans?"
Nowhere answers. "We leave for Daggerford in the morning. We were invited by Sir Isteval to spend the winter at his home there."
"We were?" Immeral asks.
Orryn tells Immeral, "You have a lot of catching up to do."
Clinker asks timidly... "What about..."
The rest of the group joins in. "No Clinker!"
Garaele looks at them amusedly.
Immeral asks "And you, Garaele?"
"Our time here is running short, but the Allfaiths Delegation is next needed in Belliard, I don't know for how long. We expect to take a boat south in a few days, to Belliard, then have been invited as guests of the knights of Summit Hall. Then on to Womford and Red Larch. There seems to be much disarray in the Dessarin Valley." she tells them. "We are sorely needed."
"You will be careful, I hope." Immeral chastens.
"Cleric Arlor is securing extra guards for our travels. We will be safe, will you?" she asks.
"I plan on taking it easy for a bit. The last hour or week, I'm not sure which, has been a bit overwhelming."
"I will write you in Daggerford." Garaele states.
"I will write you wherever you go." Immeral replies, a hint of pink rising in his pallid cheeks.
With that, he turns and the League follows, with good wishes to Garaele.
"I think I need a drink." Immeral states as they walk back into the poor southern section of town.
"Hoo-ey! Now you're talking!" Clinker states.
"I think I have a story to tell you." Immeral says.
"We have stories to tell you too." Atlas replies.
"You fill me in first, I can share mine on the road Daggerford." Immeral replies.
"Red Larch first, then Daggerford." Nowhere states.
"Red Larch? I thought we were going to go rest through the winter?
"It's only the 10th of Elient. Harvestide is still two tenday away. Plenty of time to see if we can find anything out about weapons in Red Larch. That's what your note from the Caves of Chaos mentioned." Nowhere clarifies.
"It's not my note." Immeral says. "It was Lucern's."
"Even better." Nowhere replies.
"Can we go back to The Cointoss?" Dain asks. "We have a lot more coin now."
"More coin?" Immeral queries.
"I know where we could get a lot more coin..." Clinker clarifies.
"No Clinker!" they all declare and he droops from the chastening.
Nowhere continues, "Dain, you can have a handful of coins, but that's it. Clinker, can you count the coins tonight?"
"If we get a decent room. I'm not opening my bag in the temple! I reckon there is no place more likely for people to take your money than a temple."
"Sounds good, we'll split the coins and put it in the bank before we leave in the morning." Nowhere orders.
"The bank! I stand corrected, there is ONE place more likely for people to take your money than a temple." Clinker replies
With that, the spend the morning gathering their wagon and oxen, Lady D their Owlbear, checking into an inn with a stable for her and the ox, cleaning up at a bathhouse, eating a fine lunch, then going for drinks at The Cointoss, where Dain and Clinker waste more money trying to win booze than to just buy it. They have coin to spare though, and while Clinker and Dain play, Orryn, Nowhere, Atlas and Seraphina explain Immeral's rescue over several hours and several ales.
"I can't thank you enough my friends, I am very grateful, and somewhat glad I was not there to see the dracolich. I am almost petrified again!" Immeral says. I do have a question though. How did I get this scar on my leg, and this hole in my pants? Seraphina speaks "I am very surprised the restoration did not fix that. Unfortunately, Dain was 'curious' what would happen if some of you 'broke off' while petrified. We did not stop him in time."
Immeral looks over at the drinking dwarf with a smoldering gaze, but lets the incident go. They finish their drinking, turning in somewhat early, mostly carrying Clinker and Dain back to their rooms at the One Foot in the Boat Inn, where they had procured the finest rooms in the inn, which were mediocre at best, but none had any trouble sleeping, except Immeral, whose thoughts of the time while he was dead keep him up late into the night.
11 Elient - Day 73 - The Long Road
11 Elient - Day 73 - The Long Road
The next morning, Clinker informs them of their haul. "There are 3857 coppers, 2003 silvers, 322 electrum, 2563 gold and 739 platinum. I might have lost some though, I rolled around in the tub in it with my naked body!"
"Clinker!" Atlas exclaims.
"I was clean, but I think a coin went up my crack! It's good luck though. Anyway, if we keep one share to keep on-hand, and there are seven disgusting bank accounts we are making, that is 482 coppers, 250 silvers, 40 electrum, 320 gold and 92 platinum in the bank. That is some nice coin, but it's not nearly enough!"
"Clinker!" they all yell.
"All right, to the bank," he mopes. He hands out several leather satchels he managed to get hold of somewhere. Spending money for everyone, 10 pp, 35 gp, 5 ep, 46 sp, 32 cp. That's after the rooms were paid for."
"Great job Clinker," Atlas remarks.
They stop at the bank they had seen, a new edition to the north - Sword Coast Traders' Bank. Nowhere walks in and a gentlemanly person steps up to her. "How may I help you all today?"
Nowhere states brusquely. "We are Owlbear League, we have just been on an important mission and need to get on the road to save some lives. We took a magic bag full of coins from a dead dragon and we want eight bank accounts drawn up quick as you can. I don't have time for delays." Pressing her intimidation skills to the limit.
"And I don't like banks!" Clinker adds.
"Good heavens. This will take some time."
"What is your name good sir?" Seraphina asks.
"Thaney Narder, mame." he replies.
Nowhere picks it up. "Well, Thaney Narder, you just get us say four barrels, quick as can be, and we will fill them, and you will count them after we are gone." With that, Nowhere shoves a platinum coin into his vest pocket, likely more than he makes in a tenday.
"Is there trouble here?" the group hears from a deep voice as pair of large soldiers come over.
"There is no trouble if you can watch this man count coins. Two platinum for each of you if you do." Orryn persuades.
"We can do that. If OK with Mr. Narder." one states, looking at the other.
"I wholly agree, we can take care of everything while you are gone. Gerund, Erert, four empty barrels, quickly!"
They run off while Thaney races to put together their paperwork. "Our bank sends messages magically to the other branches. Your funds will be available at any of our banks on the sword coast." Our vault is magically protected at each location with wards and the protection of a nearby wizard. We also curse the coins, so if they are stolen, the thief will bring them back the next day."
"Is there one of your banks in Daggerford?" Nowhere asks?
"Why yes, yes there is!" Thaney replies.
"Perfect." Send our paperwork to Daggerford, care of Sir Isteval. Here are our names." and Nowhere hands the man a note she made this morning at the inn. Now listen carefully. My man Clinker counted every coin last night. I will be very displeased if your count does not match his count." Then, looking at the dusty-blue gnome... "Give or take a coin or two. And if I am displeased, I will be back." With that she adds a touch of thalmatergical rumble for effect and intimidation as she stuffs several platinum into his vest pocket. "And I'll bring the owlbear with me," pointing a thumb behind her at Orryn, riding high on Lady D. just outside the window.
"Good heavens!" he says, and the League turns and departs, making their way west, out of town.
It is a long day march back to Triboar. Dain and Clinker are passed out in the wagon and Seraphina drives, so they still make good time, but mostly being on foot, it takes them just past dusk to make it into town. The town is now familiar to them, so they stay at the fine inn again, and even Dain, the dwarf barbarian, cannot resist the call of the hot baths at the Everwyvern House and a rest in luxurious beds afterwards.
12 Elient - Day 74 - Dying Dreams of Immeral
12 Elient - Day 74 - Dying Dreams of Immeral
Their next day is cool and rainy, but uneventful. They south pass to the Black Maw Bog, and are thankful that the rain is keeping the bugs away while they traverse the famous haunted bridge known as Ilikur's Bridge that brings the Long Road across the western end. Most of the league travel in the wagon out of the rain, but Nowhere walks the arched path and Orryn rides Lady D, who does not seem to mind the rain. The team is not entertained by any mysterious voices from the bridge. Perhaps the rain has suppressed them.
They pass several farms and a manor or two along the way, back from the road. Some settlers can be seen, some not, some wave and some withdraw, but there is little interaction with the locals. By midafternoon, they start to pass some wagons and horses coming from the south. They greet others with smiles, and get some in return, but once they see the owlbear, they tend to take wide berth.
The rain slows up the wagon a bit, and they don't quite make it to Westbridge that first night heading south. They camp for the evening under some trees by a grassy knoll, and after setting up camp and getting a fire started with some difficulty, Immeral tells them he has something to tell them...
When I was petrified, I had awareness. I thought when I was dying, I expected to see a bright light , many have said as much, but my experience was different. The light was gray. Dim and gray, almost serene.
I was in a world of ash, a colorless plain before a colorless forest with gray skies. I was walking, the ground made the normal sound like my steps had always made, my eyes blinked and watered like they had always done, but I knew deep in my "bones" nothing was the same. No birds sung, no wind blew, the air smelled of nothing. It was a dead place, and I was no longer part of the living world. I was dead, but I still had to journey to my final rest.
Surprisingly, I didn't have any fear. My emotions were gone, or at least so small, finding them was like trying to smell a faint scent on the breeze. I had no loneliness for the separation from all of you, my friends, my family. I had no pain from the loss of Garaele, I had no remorse for the mistakes I had made.
I caught movement out of my eye, and off in the distance, parallel to the forest, is a person. I'm not sure they see me, but I squint to see them in the weak light of the gray sky. They are dead, or they look dead, like a zombie, head tilted the wrong way, body lurching away from the forest.
I am aware I have no weapons, and I feel fear rising in myself. I try to figure where you should go - but I'm already already walking. I'm walking to the forest, and that is where I want to go for . There is something I want on the other side of the forest, and I think it is an ocean.
As I walk towards the sea, the sound of it increasing, I notice others walking through the forest. A human man many yards to my left, walking without a care. A woman dwarf closer to the right, also walking to the sea. She looks at me, but turns back away. Then I hear a sound, a caw, the cry of a raven in the tree just ahead. I meet its eye, and this time it does not caw, it cries "Come!" and flies to the left. "Come!" it calls again, waiting on the next branch for me. I turn to the it and start walking.
It's not clear how much time goes by, there is no day and night, and no hunger or thirst. Many people of all kinds pass me, all on their way to the sea, but none meet my eye for more than a second or two. When they do, they seem to hesitate, to second-guess their journey, but they keep going.
I follow the raven and leave the woods and before me stands a magnificent castle of black ice. From one of the towers, a conspiracy of ravens descends and the ravens fly around me. I shut my eyes, and am startled with a vision. Within the tower of ice is a maze, a maze of black ice, and many souls wander within the maze. There is a high ceiling and ravens fly over asking "why… why... why...". The beings in the maze cry out too, "why", "why" and some of them sit on the floor and weep, and some bang their heads against the icy walls, and some scratch their fingers bloody trying to escape.
When I open my eyes, there is someone standing before me, their back turned. They wear a long hooded cloak with black feathers on the fringe. I hear a voice, a soft female voice, soft but firm and deep, very deep. "They search the maze for their reason, their purpose. The most interesting souls have a purpose. Do you know your purpose Immeral Nailo?"
I am trembling, and before I can answer, the voice continues. "Our small friend searches for her purpose. It is in the maze. She must search for it. It will come with a battle, and then a war, and she will be tested, and horribly enlightened. If she fights through, she will find her way out of the maze, maybe you and your companions will too."
I start to ask a question, I can't remember what, but I shut my eyes again as I'm enveloped by ravens flapping. I hear her last words. "Stay near the Fortress of Memories. The dead who fear judgement will not approach. Your friends will come for you in seven days." Then it is silent, and when you I opened my eyes again she is gone.
I remember little of the time wandering the grounds outside the castle. It seemed long, in that there was nothingness, but it passed quickly without emotions. Thoughts seem to evaporate away and I slept some time on benches and against trees, neither warm nor cold. I bet it was seven days though, if "days" have any meaning there. Without any warning, darkness surrounded me then I broke through to the light, and I was with you all with the High Priest of Tymorra in Yartar.
I don't know what to think of it all, other than I think the little friend was Seraphina and I was talking to the Raven Queen, her deity. It all has me shaken up. I almost want to go home and see my parents.
The Owlbear League sits quiet under the canopy of trees and the falling rain. Distant thunder rumbles and rain patters on the leaves. Then Seraphina speaks...
Since I was a little girl, dreams and omens of ravens have come to me, and I have searched for answers to what these portents mean. I began praying to the Raven Queen for guidance and understanding and she gifted me with the powers of a cleric, yet left me without true understanding. Strangely, that is not uncommon for the clerics in our world.
As near as humankind scholars can tell (but nothing is certain)…
Almost 130 years ago, in the year 1385 DR, the Spellplague befell the world. Mystra, goddess of magic, keeper of The Weave was assassinated by Cyric, the Prince of Lies and Shar, the goddess of darkness.
During the decade that followed (a time known as the Wailing Years), arcane magic failed to work, or if it did work at all, it was inconsistent and unreliable. Some say the magical powers of The Weave were corrupted with Cyric's madness, but it may not matter. Many things powered by magic were destroyed. Whole floating cities fell to the earth and were obliterated.
Shar, the goddess of darkness, had miscalculated. She believed she could replace The Weave with her own shadow magic, but both fell when Mystra died. Across our world of Toril a massive blue flame grew from the Mhair Jungles, encompassing whole countries and transferring them to our sister world Abeir and vice-versa. Our very reality was mixed with that one, and most do not remember the world before as it was.
Even the higher realms were affected by this cataclysm. During the Spellplague, Shar's realm, the Plane of Shadow was transformed into a new realm... The Shadowfell. It is believed that after a decade, Mystra came back, and with her the stability of The Weave and the magic of our world, but The Shadowfell and it's opposite, The Feywild remained.
These are two reflections of the mortal world that exist beyond our own. The dark reflection - The Shadowfell and the light reflection - The Feywild. Sometimes the barrier between the Shadowfell and our world is weak and allows easy passage, other times wizards and sorcerers travel there with the power of spells or artifacts.
They say that when mortals die, they pass through an area of the Shadowfell called Letherna on their way to their final plane of afterlife - it has many names though, like "Limbo". It is a place of decay, absent of natural color - gray and dreary. It is mostly populated with undead, those who have tried to escape moving on to judgement and their final plane of existence and have withered in the afterlife.
It is not clear how, but The Raven Queen claimed Letherna as her own, and resides in a fortress of black ice within a vast frozen forest through which the deceased souls had to pass. It is said she somehow defeated the demon lord Orcus for the seat, and the lesser deity Vecna, but nothing is for certain, although their disciples claim they are sworn enemies of the Queen of Ravens.
There are many rumors and theories about this place. Some say the Raven Queen cleanses the souls. Some say she guides them through the forest. Some say the Raven Queen drives them insane. Others say the Raven Queen is mad herself, but nobody really knows. I know my actions are good and the Raven Queen blesses me with her power, so she too must be good, but she is maddeningly mysterious.
Most other gods want evangelists - those who speak about their god to gain more followers, but I have no evidence of this. I have researched a rumor that the Raven Queen was once a high elf, but even the oldest elven scholars have no understanding of her. My quest is to let the Raven Queen guide me, with her guidance I will understand her mystery and become her greatest disciple.
I am appreciative that you shared the story Immeral, it tells me that I am on the right path, that my time with you is the right time, and if there is a battle and a war, I will be fine under the Raven Queen's wing with friends like you all by my side.
It is quiet for a while, then Clinker says. "This is some deep shit. I need a drink." He takes a big sip on his flask of Ol' Death Whisper, squinting one eye as it goes down. "Me too", says Dain. There is little talk, and they all turn in for the night, Seraphina asking to take the first watch, which she spends in prayer to the Raven Queen.
13 Elient - Day 75 - Through Westbridge
13 Elient - Day 75 - Through Westbridge
The morning travel is uneventful, the day clearing and drying, a bit humid from the rains. They come to Westbridge by afternoon, but only stay long enough for a hot meal at Derry's Tavern and Eatery, which was very good after a wet night on the road. They want to make time to Red Larch. Westbridge is another farming village, usually a day's travel from neighbor towns like Triboar. The folk seem pleasant enough, but there are the usual odd glances.
Quickly finishing their meal, they continue on, south on the Long Road, towards the Sumber Hills. As the afternoon passes, they start to see travelers from the south, having left Red Larch that morning. They continue on a bit weary from their walk, and the uneventful day ends with them just in the shadow of the Sumber Hills.
NEXT - Campaign Diaries 26 - Lance Rock
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