kamap
2018-08-24, 02:54 AM
Varis Naïlo is the character I created for our new campaign.
He is an entertainer and likes to write down his parties exploits so they might be remembered trough time.
I'll be posting them here, I do have to warn you though, they can be quite lenghty.
So you want to know what made me go into adventuring.
If you can stay awhile and listen I'll tell you a tale about why I became an adventurer.
Let’s start with how my parents met.
It was a sunny spring day, my dad was taking a stroll through the woods looking for berries cause he does enjoy his berries.
It so happened that my mother also enjoys berries and she was picking big baskets full of them to make pie, jam and the like.
My mum was humming a little tune which my dad heard from a distance, so he followed his ears and nose.
By then my mother and the baskets she was carrying where giving of an enchanting smell or so my dad always tells us.
They got to talking and sharing stories and berries and from one thing came another and they got married.
Then I came along, together with some brothers and sisters, we were a rambunctious lot.
So to make this part of the story very short, my father was an elf and my mother smelled of berries.
Incidentally this is the answer I give when people are being annoying or asking stupid questions about my parentage, it leaves them puzzled and they stop bothering me.
Our house was always filled with singing or some instrument being played, both mother and father liked to sing and played instrument. Some of us enjoyed singing along and with time also learned to play musical instruments I'm good on the viol or so my dad always tells me. Musical talent apparently ran in the family cause both my mother and father remembered doing the same with their parents and siblings.
While we were growing up our parents regaled us with tales of our many greats grandfather how he was a wizard and did all these amazing feats.
About how he died holding his own against a shadow dragon that wanted to burn down an elven settlement.
When I got older strange things started happening around me, bullies who made fun of us because we were different, suddenly fell asleep or found themselves with soiled clothing.
If my younger brothers and sisters were scared or sad and needed comforting, a beautiful song could be heard but the source of it never found.
One time I came across some bullies who had cornered someone when I went to intervene, I came closer and noticed that they had cornered one of my younger brothers and had been beating him. They started taunting me that I couldn’t help my brother cause I was alone and they had us outnumbered and continued beating him right in front of me, while the leader kept me at bay and was laughing right in my face.
That got me so mad and pissed off I started kicking and punching him , it looked like one of my punches struck him with lightning, he jumped away from me with fear filled eyes turned around and ran.
This turn of events threw the others for a loop and one of them started advancing on me I picked up a rock and threw it at him, to my amazement a bolt of fire was following in its wake both missing him by an inch. After that episode me and my siblings where never bullied again.
During that exchange I also lost the need to blink.
One evening I was approached by my granduncle.
He wanted to tell me more about my so many greats grandfather.
Something our parents couldn’t tell us cause they didn’t know.
Because of my grandfather’s sacrifice his line was blessed with the powers of the dragon he helped conquer, the blessing was that in every generation to come, at least one shadow sorcerer would be born.
An enchanted tome that records every sorcerer born to his line was entrusted to his first son who became a sorcerer upon receiving the book. The book would be updated when one of his descendants started showing signs of being a sorcerer and my name had recently been added to the book.
My uncle gave me his necklace it had a gleaming crystal hanging on it which he called an arcane focus, it would help me direct my powers and told me that I should never take it off, till I had one of my own.
He showed me a few simple tricks to control and direct my powers.
For the first time I could deliberately do the strange things happening around me and I now knew why they had been happening around me, I was a sorcerer.
He told me that when I was older he would train me and if there were more sorcerers in my generation that we would all train together.
It was also made clear to me that I should keep all this secret to anyone except my parents and that if I ever do marry I should tell my partner cause there should never be secrets between partners.
I was cautioned though to not tell my parents right away but wait till I was older when I knew more about being a sorcerer and what it meant to me.
He warned me that something in us sorcerers calls to a lifestyle of adventuring and danger, it wasn't an easy lifestyle but it could be very rewarding.
He himself had experienced the call and had lead an adventuring lifestyle till he lost his lower leg and knee due to an infected wound from an arrow and had to retire from adventuring.
Next he told me that if I was serious about adventuring I should start saving some money cause he and the others could only help me so much and starting an adventuring life wasn't really cheap.
Over the years my granduncle helped to hone my skills and helped me prepare for that adventuring lifestyle he liked to talk about.
When I grew older I started realizing my granduncle was right and I felt trapped in our little town.
So I had a plan to make some money by doing something that I loved.
A few years ago when I was little Someone who was travelling through our town played music on the street and people gave him money to show their appreciation. No one but our family really knew that we liked singing and playing music, it was something our family did together.
So people who knew me where surprised to see me at the market square singing, playing music and doing little magic tricks or telling stories but they did enjoy it and soon I became a fixture there.
When the weather grew colder I was invited to set up shop so to speak at the small inn of our town.
It was a good deal, they had more clients, I was out of the cold and always had a free meal and drinks.
My parents loved the fact that I could make a living from something I enjoyed so much.
One evening I was heading home from entertaining the guests of our local inn when I was approached by a young lad who introduced himself as one of the servants to a noble that lived about a day’s travel away.
He was there to hire me to be part of the entertainment during a party the noble was throwing to celebrate his daughter turning eighteen.
I was thrilled that my name was known to a noble and the pay wasn’t bad either and it would help me reach my goal of having saved enough to start adventuring that much sooner, so I agreed and the next day we set off to the noble’s estate in an expensive looking carriage.
When we arrived I was told I could lodge with the servants and have my meals with them, the party was to be held in two days’ time so I could explore the estate a bit and get to know the rest of the people who would be entertaining the guests. There where, dancers, fire-eaters, jugglers, singers and musicians. I was the only one though that had some grasp of magic which I used to better my performance, like signing a duet on my own or instead of another voice another instrument could be heard.
When the day of the feast arrived a whole bunch of noble’s from around the country gathered most of them seemed rather normal people the only difference being that they were wealthy and had a title.
There was one though that I disliked from the moment I saw him exit his carriage, he acted like everyone else was dirt beneath his feet and weren’t worth his time, I noticed that most of the nobles avoided this man as well, a quick hello and a handshake or curtsey and they scampered away to somewhere else.
During the banquet a servant girl politely asked the pompous arse if he wanted some chicken, the prick started ridiculing her saying that chicken was for common folk and how she could be so stupid to ask someone of his standing if he wanted some chicken.
With all the noise and other distractions no one saw me cast a few simple spells when the next dish was served.
It was hard to keep from laughing when he took a bite and instead of tasting deer it tasted like spicy chicken, he spit it out on to his plate and hollered at the servant who had just served him, why he had gotten spicy chicken when everyone else had gotten deer, to wash away the taste he took his glass of wine and drank from it, which then promptly got spit back out cause that tasted like spicy chicken as well.
He demanded that the one in charge of the wine and food be brought to him so that they could taste what awful swill they were serving.
Little did he know that I would make certain that for anyone else it would taste normal and only for him everything would taste like spicy chicken.
When he was told that his deer and wine tasted like they should he again took a bite which he promptly spat back out and now he grabbed a glass from someone next to him, luckily I was quick enough to make sure that drink tasted like Spicy chicken.
People close to him where having a hard time schooling their faces trying to hide the fact that they found the fact that everything tasted like spicy chicken for the pompous bastard was hilarious.
I kept a close eye on him and every time he tried to eat or drink something I would quickly change the taste. He didn’t eat or drink much during the banquet.
When the tables where cleared away and the dancing began the people who took care of the entertainment could go eat in the kitchens.
There I came across the servant girl that got chewed out by the chicken hating noble and told her that he was in the wrong, not her.
I also told her that payback is mostly best served cold but it could also be served like spicy chicken. She got the hint and thanked me for putting that whiny pompous prick in his place.
Little did I know that our conversation was overheard by one of his servants who tattled on me. Since nobles have more money and standing and he was an important figure that the one hosting the party wanted to keep as a “friend”. I was unceremoniously sent packing with no pay and no escort home, the guards who escorted me out of the estate where apologetic cause they didn’t like the man either and had a good laugh but they had to do their job.
After an uneventful long trip home, everything went back to normal until a few days later the same servant girl that was serving the spicy chicken came by and gave me a money pouch, a letter and the recipe for the spicy chicken.
The letter was from her mistress who happened to be the mother of the birthday girl. She thanked me for my services and gave me a little extra for providing entertainment beyond the scope of my contract, she didn’t came right out and said that she enjoyed seeing that pompous prick getting some comeuppance but if you read between the lines that’s what it boiled down to, reading further between the lines, no one really liked him but since he was important for trade and the like he was tolerated, as token of her appreciation she included a shard of obsidian that always feels warm to the touch, so I could more easily remember how it warmed her heart to see someone defending a simple servant girl.
Not long after I had saved up enough gold and I told my parents about being a sorcerer and what that entails.
The talk lasted all day and went deep into the night but eventually my parents knew I just couldn't stay and had to go find my place in the world.
After a tear filled goodbye and with promises to stay in contact, my granduncle and I set out to our next destination.
When I voiced my concern that it would be hard for him with his one leg and all, he just looked at me hobbled to the shadow a tree was casting on the ground and he just disappeared, he reappeared out of the shadows some distance away.
He laughed when he saw my awe struck face and told me that I would be able to do the same later on when I had some more adventuring under my belt.
We met up with some people which I soon learned where members of our family or trusted friends who knew about our secret.
They had horses for us and we continued our trek, while travelling we got to know each other and I learned I was the third sorcerer of this generation.
It wasn't unheard of but didn't happen very frequently, off course the more children there were the chances of there being sorcerers also grew.
After a few days we reached a mountain and were led to a cave that was hewn out of the side of that mountain.
It was explained that only relatives with the gift could see the entrance and come in here easily.
Others without the gift could be brought in trough the illusionary mountain wall and into an antechamber from here two tunnels led off .
One went to the guest quarters, the other connected to a circular room with a pedestal in the middle with a thick tome resting upon it, around the outer rim of the room where roughhewn stone seats.
The heavy tome on the pedestal contained all the names and some more information about every sorcerer in our extended family.
Passed this room we came to our quarters, there was plenty of room for all of us and enough food to last a while.
A few actually lived here and helped guard the cave and tome lest it fall in the wrong hands.
If we needed to reach other sorcerers in our family we could send messages here and they would be relayed to the right persons, if we needed help or a break from everyday life or just wanted to stop on by, we would always be welcome and have a safe haven.
For a while our days existed of training, talking and getting to know each other and when they thought we were ready, they told us it was time to go out and make our mark on the world.
As parting gifts we were all presented with a finely crafted staff and two daggers with focus crystals inlaid in their handles and a signet ring that could be used as an arcane focus thanks to the crystal that was worked into its design.
The staff resembled the one our ancestor used and made a fine walking and whacking tool, the daggers were off course easier to wield and were good backup weapons.
The signet ring would allow others that knew of us and family members that couldn't make the gathering to recognize us and if we ever needed to be sneaky with our casting this was the perfect tool for it.
The multitude of arcane focuses was so that we wouldn’t have to rely on only one like our grandfather.
I handed my granduncle his necklace back and thanked him for letting me have it as long as I did.
We also got a token that appears beside the book every time a new name is added. These tokens apparently come from the shadowfell, we don’t really know if they are gifts from the raven queen, another entity from the shadowfell, something else entirely or a combination of these things, we also don’t know why or how but this has been happening since the beginning and there no problems have arisen so far.
For some people the tokens do nothing and are just a keepsake, for others they morph into weapons, books or tools. Mine turned into a black leather bound book, which was filled with all kinds of strange symbols and some text that was hard to make out. The others told me that I could embrace what the book had to teach me or never bother with it.
After a good night’s sleep filled with peculiar dreams like something was trying to communicate with me I awoke with a feeling I should take a shield and armor with me.
So I grabbed some from the armory after asking if I could and then we all set out to make our mark on the world or go back to our normal day lives for the retired adventurers amongst us.
While traveling and looking for adventure I came across an old man that stood beside his broken down wagon.
When asked if he could use some help he responded in the positive but also mentioned that he couldn’t really repay me for my kindness.
I ensured him that payment wasn't necessary but if I could catch a ride with him into the nearest town I’d be grateful.
While working on fixing his wagon that had a busted wheel we got to talking and the topic of magic and wizards came up.
So I told him a little about my ancestor and that I was interested in magic in all its shapes and forms.
After fixing his wagon we set of to the nearest town, near evening after an enjoyable leisurely ride spent talking, telling stories or playing some music we reached the nearest town and we went our separate ways. I went searching for an inn to fix myself a free meal and lodging, for someone with my skill set it was rather easy to find free lodging and food, you only had to entertain the other guests of the inn with a song, some music, a daring story or a magic show, depending on the town you might even earn some extra coin as well.
Late in the evening sitting down to a free meal I had some time to study the book. The strange symbols and text still mean nothing to me, though I feel a connection to the book. Since then I have found a few more interesting things about the book.
It will always find its way back to me, I’ve lost it once during a scuttle with some ruffians. To my surprise it was laying on the bedside table when I woke up the next day.
Another handy feature of the book is that it has a few blank pages at the end that I can write on and the next time I open the book those pages are blank again.
So when I have nothing better to do I write down my thoughts and train my writing skills, so I can accurately report on my adventures.
It helps to keep my thoughts in order and lets me see where I could tweak a story I'm working on, change the lyrics of a song but enough it’s getting late.
So let’s close you up and go to sleep, you weird book.
During my travels I heard about a little village Wontabrook that seemed to be having trouble with marauders, so I made my way there to go lend a hand.
Upon reaching the quaint little village I noticed some hulking brute stomping around town lending a hand here and there, setting up defenses for when the marauders came calling again.
I went to have a chat with this fellow who looked like he had been on the business end of some or other weapon more than once but he also gave of the feeling that the ones that managed to land a blow on him weren’t around anymore to try it again.
We talked and from what I could gleam Borivoy had done some terrible things in the past and wanted to atone for them by helping others and get rid of the evil in the world small piece by small piece. Or so I reckon, the man hasn’t been very talkative on the topic.
After having a hearty meal in the tavern we went about patrolling the town and playing the waiting game, Borivoy told me that the marauders attacked every few weeks so that the townsfolk that didn’t have to means to leave had enough time to gather a stock of food or other things the marauders needed.
Some days later we were able to repel the latest attack and even captured some marauders for a nice little chat: very pleasant from our point of view, but the marauders would probably tell you otherwise. They should be grateful I convinced my new companion not to “set an example for the others”. They eventually made us a map of the surrounding area and where their little hideout was.
So Borivoy and I went to have some more talks with the marauders and their leader.
After a whole lot of screaming mostly done by the marauders we reached an agreement. When we asked them if they were still going to plunder Wontabrook no marauder spoke up and since silence is assent the matter was dropped.
Since there was nothing more to do in or around Wontabrook we set off in search of more adventure, travelling from town to town earning our keep by doing small simple jobs or I would perform on the street or a tavern to earn enough money for food and lodging.
Now here and there we came across other performers and I watched their act or listen to their music and stories in the hope I could pick up something useful to better my performance.
One evening we entered a tavern in the hopes I would be able to play some music or tell the patrons a story but someone else was already there performing, what struck me was the she was singing a duet on her own, which led me to believe that she at least knew some magic. I hadn’t come across many magic users and certainly no other performer who used magic like I did.
So I was intrigued and I wanted to get to know her better.
I knew the song she was singing and inspiration struck, I grabbed my viol and started playing the tune and augmented it with magic so it sounded like I was playing two violins at once.
She was startled at first but that quickly passed.
We had a fun evening playing for the crowd that came to watch our performance, we later heard that the bar had never been this crowded before.
Aora, as I found out was her name, and I made some good money and we decided that in this cruel and dangerous world it would be better to all travel together.
While travelling together we learned that Aora is a free spirit, she sees rules more as guidelines and finds people that follow the norm quite dull.
She noticed quite early on that she could do magic while she is singing or playing her lute, her performances bring out the magic in her.
The magic she uses is quite different though then the magic her mother used to make her do her chores or when her mother tried to bend her will to do what she wanted Aora to do.
Her overbearing mother means well but tends to forget that Aora isn’t a puppet that will dance to her tune and her father does support Aora but hasn’t got the backbone to stand up to her mother.
Since Aora had always been quite adventurous and didn’t want to be forced into marriage she packed up her lute and the few possessions she had and set out into the world to find where life would lead her.
She does miss her Parents but she is also happy to be able to do things her way.
Since Aora is a bard she is quite creative off course but the creativity she has for creating music and songs extends also to problem solving.
Something we noticed about Aora though is that she is quite clumsy but once she starts performing that clumsiness seems to disappear and she becomes quite elegant
Borivoy, Aora and I continued lending a helping hand where needed.
During our travels we heard about undead terrorizing some towns a few days travel away. That evening after having earned a meal and lodging by another wonderful performance we were discussing the undead. A group that was sitting close to us couldn’t help but overhear us and let us know that one of them was a follower of the raven queen and was duty bound to go and investigate.
So we got to talking and we were regaled with the tale of how our new companions met.
A messenger from the raven queen tasked Razael with retrieving a special weapon from a castle that was teaming with undead though before he could go fetch the weapon he needed to find Rinaya who herself is a follower of the raven queen. Razael found Rinaya in a nearby village. Rinaya was awaiting a sign from her patron deity, for more information about an undead menace. Intrigued by Razael’s tale of this castle supposedly teaming with undead and a special weapon sent for someone by the raven queen herself, she allied with him. When they reached the castle they found a halfling Paladin smiting the undead buggers. While “Katinka” and Rinaya provided a distraction, Razael was able to grab the weapon and he was suddenly filled with power granted by the raven queen herself.
They banded together and went looking for more undead to get rid of.
They heard about the undead terrorizing the towns nearby so they started making their way towards those towns and while resting in the tavern after a hard day of travelling they overheard us talking about the same undead they were after and here we are travelling together to rid the towns of their undead problems.
We started joking about a name for our group and “The conspiracy” was brought up cause we do seem to have an unusually connection with ravens and their queen.
After travelling from Montana village in Grimoire, past Bianji village in Wuling and hearing about a ghost town called Gui with a graveyard nearby, we knew we were close to our destination.
A little later we found ourselves in a dark and dreary forest, where we came across a split in the road with some post sings none of us could read and we decided to go right.
It was getting late, but since no one really wanted to camp out in this gloomy place, we continued on. Through the perpetual and oppressive mist, that had gradually become thicker over these last stretches of our journey, we saw some old grave markers and a dilapidated mausoleum and knew we had reached our destination and should be on our guard.
We did a quick inspection of the graves but nothing really stood out. Suddenly Rinaya cried out that she had been attacked by something that resembled a decaying hand. We all drew our weapons or readied our magic. The hand tried attacking Rinaya again by leaping from atop a headstone towards her but Rinaya’s keen senses and quick reflexes made it possible for her to shoot it down mid leap.
Borivoy cautiously approached the old mausoleum with its crumbling masonry, cobwebs and two cracked and weatherworn guard dog statues next to it.
Though it looked old and ready to crumble to dust there was an ominous presence about that mausoleum and though the guard dogs where old and in dire need of repairs they surprisingly still looked sturdy and fierce.
When Borivoy touched the door the two guard dog statues moved and took a few menacing steps towards him. One of the guard dogs then took a swipe at Borivoy but luckily they were chained to the mausoleum and Borivoy was just out of reach. We wisely didn't engage the guard dogs at close range but peppered them with ranged attacks. Willowdean “call me Will” drew her daggers and prepared to throw them at the dog, since she was striding passed me and I knew she was quite attached to her daggers. I opened my cloak and let her grab a few darts that I always carry around. With one fluid movement she removed one from my cloak and threw it expertly at the statue. After grabbing a few more darts she hefted her lance and strode towards the dog. Borivoy used his great sword to harass the statue, staying just out of range which enraged the dog statue.
Aora mocked the statue using the magic her words bring to bear. Rinaya unleashed arrow after arrow, Razael threw his signature black and white bolts of crackling energy and I tossed firebolts in its face.
The dog let out a howl of pain and frustration that resurrected one of the corpses buried in the graveyard as a zombie started clawing its way out of one of the graves. We first saw hands shoving the soil aside then two curled horns followed, when the dog statue stopped howling a zombie stood before us, he must have been a noble in his previous life cause we could still see the clothes used to be of good quality though now they were tattered and rotted trough we could also see some of its ribs and the skin was sloughing of him but his decaying look belied his movement speed. Before we knew what was happening the zombie has closed the distance to Will and got a good swing in before Will dropped her lance and in one fluid movement drew her rapier and skewered the bastard's head, taking out its eye. Rinaya then quickly disposed of the zombie by planting an arrow in its other eye. The zombie slumped to the floor but to our horror it raised again. Razael took aim and tossed his eldritch blast at it and this time the zombie was permanently dead.
While Will, Rinaya and Razael dispatched the zombie.
Aora, Borivoy and I were able to do enough damage to the guard dog statue that it crumbled to dust.
We moved over to the second statue and proceeded to pepper that with ranged attacks as well or in Borivoy's and Will's case attacking it with their weapons while just staying out of range. This one also let out a howl of frustration and pain, calling another zombie this one was dressed in a fine but old tattered and torn dress, she was also missing parts of her skin and hair like you would suspect from a corpse that had been laying there decaying for who knows how long. This zombie attacked Rynaya, who was able to dodge and while doing so circled low around the zombie, rending its tendons.
Will took two darts in one hand and flung them dead center in the zombie, her past as a knife juggler shone through.
Razael let fly with his magic, ending another zombies unlife.
We kept peppering the dog statue with ranged attacks until one of my firebolts took out a big chunk and it crumbled to dust.
After this grueling fight we wanted to know what these monstrosities where guarding so we decided we needed to get into that mausoleum. I took aim at the door and blasted it apart with a well-placed firebolt. Since Borivoy is the hardiest of us he went inside first. He found a richly decorated stone casket with a text engraved on it. Since it appeared to be relatively save we congregated near the door so as not to crowd the room and could get back out quick if it was necessary.
When Borivoy started reading the text out loud leaving gaps when there was a word in another language. The ones standing around the door noticed strange lights appearing on the backsides of the headstones outside. When we went to investigate we noticed that words were engraved there. While reading the text again, filling in one of the words that we found on the headstones, that headstone in question emitted a faint glow.
When someone then touched said headstone, it stayed lit. In quick succession we lit up all the correct headstones and Borivoy read out the entire text .
“Praise be to our tiefling lord, for his rule was as majestic as his horns.
Even in death, his wisdom guides us and keeps us from the world’s thorns.
As a child his talent knew no bounds, none could find in his sayings any wrong.
For he was born under the sign of our god, when the stars aligned.
During the onset of his rule, he united us as one, now known as tieflingkind.
Praise be to our tiefling lord, for his rule was as beautiful as the hummingbird’s song.”
After Borivoy was done reading we heard an ominous grating sound coming from inside the mausoleum, the lid of the casket had given away to a set of steps descending further. Down those steps was a corridor with alcoves set in its sides where skeletons clothed in some sort of guards uniform where laid to rest, we couldn’t make out anything distinctive about the uniforms though cause they were covered in cobwebs and dust.
At the end of this corridor we found ourselves with two possible ways to continue, a locked door or a blue magical barrier, since no one was keen to try the magical barrier we opted to try the door and hoped the key was somewhere nearby.
After a bit of searching we found out that most of the skeletons still had weapons and that one of the skeletons had a key hanging around its neck this probably was the captain of this guard detail his uniform was more decorated then the rest. Without thinking someone tried grabbing the key which in hindsight was a stupid move. We knew undead where around and we didn't dispose of those skeletons nor took precautions and now we found ourselves blocked out from the exit by five skeletons and without the key to open the door that was our way out of this predicament. So another fight ensued.
Rinaya made quick work of one of them but not before getting some nasty cuts.
Razael took out another one by shattering its skull against the floor with his morningstar.
While this was happening Aora was blindsided and hit so hard that she lay dying on the floor.
Will risked her own life getting to Aora and healing her with her divine magic.
The rest of us were lucky to get away from the initial onslaught with just some scrapes and bruises.
Then Razael was able to get close to the one with the key and with one massive blow of his morningstar sent his bones and key flying. He however was quick enough to grab the key out of the air, which made the rest of the skeletons turn to dust. We then took a quick breather to look after our wounds, have a bite to eat, drink something and discuss what we should do next time we find skeletons or other dead things lying around so we could avoid this happening again.
After a short break to catch our breath and tend to our wounds we decided to find out what was behind the locked door.
Borivoy opened the door a crack and cautiously peered inside the next room before walking through the door into what appeared to be a throne room. This room that from the looks of it had been richly appointed in the past but everything had given way to decay. In the room was a lavish throne with yet another tiefling skeleton on it, this one was wearing an elaborate crown that was inlaid with rubies. A few feet in front of the throne was a raised dais, on top of it a lectern with the shape of a hand hewn out of the slanted portion was standing.
After having a quick look around and tying the skeleton to its throne we tried the door but it wouldn’t budge. Rinaya chopped the right hand off the skeleton, Borivoy then smashed the skeletons skull in, after he was done he picked up the now slightly damaged crown that had fallen to the ground. Rinaya then placed the skeletons hand on the lectern, nothing happened so she threw the hand away and placed her own on it. A strange sickly green glow enveloped her and the lectern. She then spoke in an otherworldly voice.
“I look at you whenever you look at me.
You see but I see not, no sight have I.
I speak but I have no voice when your voice is heard.
My lips can only open uselessly.”
Razael uttered the word mirror but that was the wrong answer, we saw the sickly green light flare up and Rinaya turned pale and was clearly in agony. Borivoy then charged Rinaya and tried to knock her away from the lectern but it was like he hit a statue the light flared again and Borivoy was thrown away from Rinaya. Aora tried as well but to no avail.
While this was going on I was contemplating the riddle and after thinking about it I deduced the answer must be reflection. After stating my answer the light receded to Rinaya’s wrist and coalesced in a brass wristband with green half orb adorning it, from this half orb lines where flowing around the wristband in a beautiful design. The wristband was magical and would protect Rinaya from damage that was the same in nature she suffered while being encased in that sickly green light.
We proceeded further passed the door and came into a hallway there was a hall branching of left and we followed it eventually coming to a red magical barrier. Anything we tried tossing through the barrier vaporized on contact, so we backtracked and took the only path that we hadn’t followed yet. This led us to a large barren circular room that was filled with spider webs and we could make out a simple opening across the room. Borivoy took the lead and had just taken a few steps when he was barely able to avoid being hit by a crossbow bolt fired from a trap we didn’t spot, though when the bolt hit the ground a flash of lightning sped out from it, striking us all making our muscles cramp and spasm so we all ended up on the floor with tremors still wracking our bodies.
We heard some slow footsteps and a sinister voice telling us that he wasn’t expecting us to get this far, when the footsteps reached Borivoy the light from a torch fell on this person and we saw a black elf with his hair slicked back wearing dark robes. He bend low and made a gesture over Borivoy’s face and asked him how we came to be here. Borivoy just wore his trademark stony expression. The same gesture was made, silencing Borivoy anew. He moved over to me and now I could speak, so in my trademark snarky manner I answered that we walked here. He was not amused. So he silenced me again before I could tell him he was asking the wrong question that he should be asking why instead of how. When it was Rinaya’s turn he got a face full of spit. Razael then enlightened him that we followed some rumors.
He went into a tirade and told us some crap about an important mission to restore gender equality to the drows and that we were in his way. While he was monologuing we were finally able to speak again and move slightly. He called down an enormous spider with the name Malaya and made his exit. The freaking big spider could talk and called her children, from the webs above us, dozens upon dozens of smaller spiders crawled down.
We couldn’t move enough and I think we all feared that this was the end but then things got weirder. That book I got after the training with my family spoke to me in my head to open it up so it could save us all, it freaked me out but with the choices being between waiting for my dead or trust the book, I took it out of its satchel and opened it. A flash of fiery red and smoky black light shot out of the book and filled us all with energy which freed us from the paralysis.
Borivoy sprang to his feet and took a swipe at the small spiders swarming us, he splattered a few but it didn’t make any real dent in their numbers, with incredible speed he grabbed his torch from the ground and lighted the spider webs on fire. Killing a whole bunch and preventing the swarms from getting bigger. While this was happening Rinaya planted an arrow in mommy spider. Razael threw his magical bolt but it went wide and left a scorch mark on the wall. Malaya leaped at Borivoy with her mandibles dripping venom trying to bite him but Borivoy was able to deflect them with his great sword. A loud thunderous bang echoed around the room and a bunch of smaller spiders went flying against the wall painting it with green ichor, the source of this loud boom was Aora that had cast a thunder wave. A bunch of spiders where able to crawl unto Razael but some fancy footwork and swatting saved him from being bitten. Focusing my magic I made it sound like a conspiracy of ravens was coming to our aid but the simple eight legged beasts where too stupid to realize I was trying to give them an easy way out so they could go on to live another day but instead of doing the sensible thing and fleeing they kept fighting.
Borivoy was really getting pissed now, whenever he spits on the ground you know he’s pissed and someone or something is going to get hurt, in this instance the annoyingly big spider lost two legs for all her trouble. Then Rinaya put Malaya out of her misery by putting an arrow right between her eight eyes and trough her. This made all the little spiders rout. Razael, Aora and I peppered the retreating spiders with magical bolts of all kinds. Since there was nothing left in this room but a big ass dead spider and burning webbing we continued on to the next room.
There we found desks with papers haphazardly scattered around there were also where alchemical tools and vials to be found. Though the most prominent thing in the room was a great arc made out of bones with skulls attached to them that where crying tears of blood, it was recognized as a blood portal. It could be tied to only one person or a complete race it depended on how it was set up and which foul rituals where used to create it. We took a quick look through the papers to see if we could find out more about the portal, after finding nothing that could help us with it, we decided on smashing the portal so this abhorrent thing could never be used again.
We then proceeded in examining the contents of the room more closely, the papers where about creating undead it was very detailed and someone with little background in necromancy could easily learn how to go about creating zombies or raising skeletons to do their fighting . The vials all have some magical liquid in them but what those liquids do, we couldn’t discern. We sealed the vials with wax from the candles we found around the room and Aora stashed them in her backpack. We then made a pile of the remains of the portal, the desks, papers and anything that wasn’t of use to us. A firebolt appeared in my hand and I was just about to light it all on fire when Rinaya made a strange request for me to laugh maniacally. So I laughed my best villainous mad scientist laugh and let go of my bolt setting the pile aflame.
Aora tossed a vial into the fire hoping to find out more about the properties of the liquids inside of it but nothing significant was learned.
We then proceeded up the stairs that where leading out of this room, after a while we came to a ladder leading to a trapdoor. After ascending the ladder we found ourselves in a dark and dreary forest probably the same forest we walked through earlier. It was great finally being able to breathe some fresh air after having smelled nothing but decay and rot and having to breath dank and stale air for the time we were in that crypt. We couldn’t see the graveyard anymore but we could discern a little village through the trees. Probably the one that we heard rumors about.
Sadly there were still a few uncovered areas down into the crypts so we decided to go back down, have a rest and then proceed to those magical barriers. During our short break while others where tending to their wounds or just relaxing, Rinaya examined her brass wristband closely and found out that she could detach the green half orb and could probably slot in another that might give her protection against other kinds of damage.
Aora and Will who so far had been quiet, withdrawn and not really there went to the blue magical barrier while the rest of us waited at the red one. We heard some shouting and cursing, later we learned that it was a good thing that Will is a Halfling cause she narrowly avoided some traps by just being small, first she was able to dodge some spikes that would have skewered her if she hadn’t been vertically challenged but by dodging she stepped on a pressure plate that dropped her into a pit, after crawling out of the pit an axe that shot out of the wall and would have seriously injured a being of normal height passed right over her head. She passed all those traps with just some minor scrapes and bruises from falling into the pit. Aora then disabled the traps by pulling a lever that was conveniently placed in the room but couldn’t have been reached before bypassing or in this instance triggering the traps.
We started testing the red barrier by throwing all kinds of stuff at it, red pebbles, blue pebbles, all created by yours truly with some simple prestidigitation, it’s such a nifty little spell and keeps us and our gear clean and our bland food or drinks at the right temperature and I can make those taste like whatever we want as long as I have tasted it before. When we noticed that didn’t work we started trying some more powerful magic’s and also throwing some mundane items that were lying around at the barrier, like the skeletal hand we chopped off earlier, nothing got trough. After thoroughly having tested the barrier we decided to go test the blue one and started the same tests and the pebbles just flew through, so we took a gamble and stepped into the room except Borivoy who stayed at the red barrier and Razael who stayed outside the blue one. There where all kinds of slots into the wall and some kind of button on a pedestal in the middle of the room. While we were looking around the room the blue barrier turned red. Rinaya then pressed the button which triggered a hidden hourglass to reveal itself and turn so we knew time was running out. There were a bunch of strange words engraved into the hourglass but no one could read them. After I closely inspected the hourglass I found an inscription stating. “Retracing ones steps offers new insight.” So I tried throwing pebbles through the barriers when they struck the they disappeared but then flew out of the other barrier, incidentally I hit Borivoy with one of my pebbles he paid me back by giving me a light slap to the back of my head once I stepped back through the barrier. Once the hourglass ran out something appeared out of the slots but we could clearly see what cause the barrier tinted everything red and blurry, after a little while the hourglass disappeared and the barriers turned back to their original colors.
Rinaya and Razael went back through the blue barrier and pressed the button, waited for the time to run out while standing close to the barrier so they could jump back out quickly. When the hourglass ran out, demonic visages appeared out of the slots in the wall and started sucking away their life energy, so they stepped out quickly.
Since it appeared there was nothing more to do down here we set up camp in one of the safer rooms. Since there was a lot of grime and dust on the floor we decided a bit of cleaning was in order so I turned to my favorite spell, have I already told you how much I love prestidigitation, no more manual cleaning just tossing a simple spell around and everything is dust free and spotless I also use it to warm up my bedroll before I go to sleep. We relaxed and talked for a while ate some of our rations, spread out our bedrolls and setup a guard rotation. I volunteered for first watch and while everyone got ready to sleep I played a calming song on my viol, Aora took out her shawm and played along, our calming song relaxed the rest of our party and they soon where in the land of dreams.
The next day we traveled back to the outpost to fetch Aora’s sheep, cart, donkey and the minder of those animals that Aora was teaching all kinds of things to. After fetching them we set out to the little village we saw out in the woods. While traveling we came across a weird reddish pink tiefling sitting on a big cart that made a strange tinkling sound, the cart was being pulled by white owlbears who had horns attached to their heads by pieces of string. Big garish letters where painted on the cart proclaiming it to be “Demonium’s emporium”. Razael the fool he sometimes is, stopped the person by asking if he bought stuff. The man jumped of his seat and threw open a shutter that was built into his cart and what we saw where trinkets upon trinkets, most of it seemed to be junk though. Borivoy spotted a beautifully crafted glass eye, when he asked Demonium about it, the annoying weird guy started making puns about Borivoy’s missing eye. So I was pretty certain that Borivoy wouldn’t be buying that eye or trading for it so I decided to enact some revenge for Borivoy and I would be stealing that glass eye. No one makes cheap puns about any of us and gets away with it scot-free.
Rinaya then showed the wristband she got and the little **** got excited, rummaged around in his wares and produced a similar red half orb. It seemed like Aora wanted to enact some revenge as well or just play him for the fool he is and offered her “magical scarf of warming” in exchange for that half orb. Kazimir Gilbert Demonium as apparently the guy’s name was fell for it and they traded, Aora then handed the red half orb over to Rinaya. Borivoy got a bit mad because of the puns the guy kept making about seeing and having both your eyes and the annoying way the pinkish tiefling talked, he scared Kazimir a bit then walked away as not to start smashing things. Razael provided the perfect distraction by offering his vials and starting a discussion about the liquids being magical or just dirty water, I used that distraction to quickly swipe and pocket the glass eye then took my leave and went to stand besides Borivoy. Rinaya took a look at some kind of paper then walked over to the owlbears that where painted white but Kazimir kept insisting they were unicorns. Finally the haggling was done and we travelled further towards the little village.
He is an entertainer and likes to write down his parties exploits so they might be remembered trough time.
I'll be posting them here, I do have to warn you though, they can be quite lenghty.
So you want to know what made me go into adventuring.
If you can stay awhile and listen I'll tell you a tale about why I became an adventurer.
Let’s start with how my parents met.
It was a sunny spring day, my dad was taking a stroll through the woods looking for berries cause he does enjoy his berries.
It so happened that my mother also enjoys berries and she was picking big baskets full of them to make pie, jam and the like.
My mum was humming a little tune which my dad heard from a distance, so he followed his ears and nose.
By then my mother and the baskets she was carrying where giving of an enchanting smell or so my dad always tells us.
They got to talking and sharing stories and berries and from one thing came another and they got married.
Then I came along, together with some brothers and sisters, we were a rambunctious lot.
So to make this part of the story very short, my father was an elf and my mother smelled of berries.
Incidentally this is the answer I give when people are being annoying or asking stupid questions about my parentage, it leaves them puzzled and they stop bothering me.
Our house was always filled with singing or some instrument being played, both mother and father liked to sing and played instrument. Some of us enjoyed singing along and with time also learned to play musical instruments I'm good on the viol or so my dad always tells me. Musical talent apparently ran in the family cause both my mother and father remembered doing the same with their parents and siblings.
While we were growing up our parents regaled us with tales of our many greats grandfather how he was a wizard and did all these amazing feats.
About how he died holding his own against a shadow dragon that wanted to burn down an elven settlement.
When I got older strange things started happening around me, bullies who made fun of us because we were different, suddenly fell asleep or found themselves with soiled clothing.
If my younger brothers and sisters were scared or sad and needed comforting, a beautiful song could be heard but the source of it never found.
One time I came across some bullies who had cornered someone when I went to intervene, I came closer and noticed that they had cornered one of my younger brothers and had been beating him. They started taunting me that I couldn’t help my brother cause I was alone and they had us outnumbered and continued beating him right in front of me, while the leader kept me at bay and was laughing right in my face.
That got me so mad and pissed off I started kicking and punching him , it looked like one of my punches struck him with lightning, he jumped away from me with fear filled eyes turned around and ran.
This turn of events threw the others for a loop and one of them started advancing on me I picked up a rock and threw it at him, to my amazement a bolt of fire was following in its wake both missing him by an inch. After that episode me and my siblings where never bullied again.
During that exchange I also lost the need to blink.
One evening I was approached by my granduncle.
He wanted to tell me more about my so many greats grandfather.
Something our parents couldn’t tell us cause they didn’t know.
Because of my grandfather’s sacrifice his line was blessed with the powers of the dragon he helped conquer, the blessing was that in every generation to come, at least one shadow sorcerer would be born.
An enchanted tome that records every sorcerer born to his line was entrusted to his first son who became a sorcerer upon receiving the book. The book would be updated when one of his descendants started showing signs of being a sorcerer and my name had recently been added to the book.
My uncle gave me his necklace it had a gleaming crystal hanging on it which he called an arcane focus, it would help me direct my powers and told me that I should never take it off, till I had one of my own.
He showed me a few simple tricks to control and direct my powers.
For the first time I could deliberately do the strange things happening around me and I now knew why they had been happening around me, I was a sorcerer.
He told me that when I was older he would train me and if there were more sorcerers in my generation that we would all train together.
It was also made clear to me that I should keep all this secret to anyone except my parents and that if I ever do marry I should tell my partner cause there should never be secrets between partners.
I was cautioned though to not tell my parents right away but wait till I was older when I knew more about being a sorcerer and what it meant to me.
He warned me that something in us sorcerers calls to a lifestyle of adventuring and danger, it wasn't an easy lifestyle but it could be very rewarding.
He himself had experienced the call and had lead an adventuring lifestyle till he lost his lower leg and knee due to an infected wound from an arrow and had to retire from adventuring.
Next he told me that if I was serious about adventuring I should start saving some money cause he and the others could only help me so much and starting an adventuring life wasn't really cheap.
Over the years my granduncle helped to hone my skills and helped me prepare for that adventuring lifestyle he liked to talk about.
When I grew older I started realizing my granduncle was right and I felt trapped in our little town.
So I had a plan to make some money by doing something that I loved.
A few years ago when I was little Someone who was travelling through our town played music on the street and people gave him money to show their appreciation. No one but our family really knew that we liked singing and playing music, it was something our family did together.
So people who knew me where surprised to see me at the market square singing, playing music and doing little magic tricks or telling stories but they did enjoy it and soon I became a fixture there.
When the weather grew colder I was invited to set up shop so to speak at the small inn of our town.
It was a good deal, they had more clients, I was out of the cold and always had a free meal and drinks.
My parents loved the fact that I could make a living from something I enjoyed so much.
One evening I was heading home from entertaining the guests of our local inn when I was approached by a young lad who introduced himself as one of the servants to a noble that lived about a day’s travel away.
He was there to hire me to be part of the entertainment during a party the noble was throwing to celebrate his daughter turning eighteen.
I was thrilled that my name was known to a noble and the pay wasn’t bad either and it would help me reach my goal of having saved enough to start adventuring that much sooner, so I agreed and the next day we set off to the noble’s estate in an expensive looking carriage.
When we arrived I was told I could lodge with the servants and have my meals with them, the party was to be held in two days’ time so I could explore the estate a bit and get to know the rest of the people who would be entertaining the guests. There where, dancers, fire-eaters, jugglers, singers and musicians. I was the only one though that had some grasp of magic which I used to better my performance, like signing a duet on my own or instead of another voice another instrument could be heard.
When the day of the feast arrived a whole bunch of noble’s from around the country gathered most of them seemed rather normal people the only difference being that they were wealthy and had a title.
There was one though that I disliked from the moment I saw him exit his carriage, he acted like everyone else was dirt beneath his feet and weren’t worth his time, I noticed that most of the nobles avoided this man as well, a quick hello and a handshake or curtsey and they scampered away to somewhere else.
During the banquet a servant girl politely asked the pompous arse if he wanted some chicken, the prick started ridiculing her saying that chicken was for common folk and how she could be so stupid to ask someone of his standing if he wanted some chicken.
With all the noise and other distractions no one saw me cast a few simple spells when the next dish was served.
It was hard to keep from laughing when he took a bite and instead of tasting deer it tasted like spicy chicken, he spit it out on to his plate and hollered at the servant who had just served him, why he had gotten spicy chicken when everyone else had gotten deer, to wash away the taste he took his glass of wine and drank from it, which then promptly got spit back out cause that tasted like spicy chicken as well.
He demanded that the one in charge of the wine and food be brought to him so that they could taste what awful swill they were serving.
Little did he know that I would make certain that for anyone else it would taste normal and only for him everything would taste like spicy chicken.
When he was told that his deer and wine tasted like they should he again took a bite which he promptly spat back out and now he grabbed a glass from someone next to him, luckily I was quick enough to make sure that drink tasted like Spicy chicken.
People close to him where having a hard time schooling their faces trying to hide the fact that they found the fact that everything tasted like spicy chicken for the pompous bastard was hilarious.
I kept a close eye on him and every time he tried to eat or drink something I would quickly change the taste. He didn’t eat or drink much during the banquet.
When the tables where cleared away and the dancing began the people who took care of the entertainment could go eat in the kitchens.
There I came across the servant girl that got chewed out by the chicken hating noble and told her that he was in the wrong, not her.
I also told her that payback is mostly best served cold but it could also be served like spicy chicken. She got the hint and thanked me for putting that whiny pompous prick in his place.
Little did I know that our conversation was overheard by one of his servants who tattled on me. Since nobles have more money and standing and he was an important figure that the one hosting the party wanted to keep as a “friend”. I was unceremoniously sent packing with no pay and no escort home, the guards who escorted me out of the estate where apologetic cause they didn’t like the man either and had a good laugh but they had to do their job.
After an uneventful long trip home, everything went back to normal until a few days later the same servant girl that was serving the spicy chicken came by and gave me a money pouch, a letter and the recipe for the spicy chicken.
The letter was from her mistress who happened to be the mother of the birthday girl. She thanked me for my services and gave me a little extra for providing entertainment beyond the scope of my contract, she didn’t came right out and said that she enjoyed seeing that pompous prick getting some comeuppance but if you read between the lines that’s what it boiled down to, reading further between the lines, no one really liked him but since he was important for trade and the like he was tolerated, as token of her appreciation she included a shard of obsidian that always feels warm to the touch, so I could more easily remember how it warmed her heart to see someone defending a simple servant girl.
Not long after I had saved up enough gold and I told my parents about being a sorcerer and what that entails.
The talk lasted all day and went deep into the night but eventually my parents knew I just couldn't stay and had to go find my place in the world.
After a tear filled goodbye and with promises to stay in contact, my granduncle and I set out to our next destination.
When I voiced my concern that it would be hard for him with his one leg and all, he just looked at me hobbled to the shadow a tree was casting on the ground and he just disappeared, he reappeared out of the shadows some distance away.
He laughed when he saw my awe struck face and told me that I would be able to do the same later on when I had some more adventuring under my belt.
We met up with some people which I soon learned where members of our family or trusted friends who knew about our secret.
They had horses for us and we continued our trek, while travelling we got to know each other and I learned I was the third sorcerer of this generation.
It wasn't unheard of but didn't happen very frequently, off course the more children there were the chances of there being sorcerers also grew.
After a few days we reached a mountain and were led to a cave that was hewn out of the side of that mountain.
It was explained that only relatives with the gift could see the entrance and come in here easily.
Others without the gift could be brought in trough the illusionary mountain wall and into an antechamber from here two tunnels led off .
One went to the guest quarters, the other connected to a circular room with a pedestal in the middle with a thick tome resting upon it, around the outer rim of the room where roughhewn stone seats.
The heavy tome on the pedestal contained all the names and some more information about every sorcerer in our extended family.
Passed this room we came to our quarters, there was plenty of room for all of us and enough food to last a while.
A few actually lived here and helped guard the cave and tome lest it fall in the wrong hands.
If we needed to reach other sorcerers in our family we could send messages here and they would be relayed to the right persons, if we needed help or a break from everyday life or just wanted to stop on by, we would always be welcome and have a safe haven.
For a while our days existed of training, talking and getting to know each other and when they thought we were ready, they told us it was time to go out and make our mark on the world.
As parting gifts we were all presented with a finely crafted staff and two daggers with focus crystals inlaid in their handles and a signet ring that could be used as an arcane focus thanks to the crystal that was worked into its design.
The staff resembled the one our ancestor used and made a fine walking and whacking tool, the daggers were off course easier to wield and were good backup weapons.
The signet ring would allow others that knew of us and family members that couldn't make the gathering to recognize us and if we ever needed to be sneaky with our casting this was the perfect tool for it.
The multitude of arcane focuses was so that we wouldn’t have to rely on only one like our grandfather.
I handed my granduncle his necklace back and thanked him for letting me have it as long as I did.
We also got a token that appears beside the book every time a new name is added. These tokens apparently come from the shadowfell, we don’t really know if they are gifts from the raven queen, another entity from the shadowfell, something else entirely or a combination of these things, we also don’t know why or how but this has been happening since the beginning and there no problems have arisen so far.
For some people the tokens do nothing and are just a keepsake, for others they morph into weapons, books or tools. Mine turned into a black leather bound book, which was filled with all kinds of strange symbols and some text that was hard to make out. The others told me that I could embrace what the book had to teach me or never bother with it.
After a good night’s sleep filled with peculiar dreams like something was trying to communicate with me I awoke with a feeling I should take a shield and armor with me.
So I grabbed some from the armory after asking if I could and then we all set out to make our mark on the world or go back to our normal day lives for the retired adventurers amongst us.
While traveling and looking for adventure I came across an old man that stood beside his broken down wagon.
When asked if he could use some help he responded in the positive but also mentioned that he couldn’t really repay me for my kindness.
I ensured him that payment wasn't necessary but if I could catch a ride with him into the nearest town I’d be grateful.
While working on fixing his wagon that had a busted wheel we got to talking and the topic of magic and wizards came up.
So I told him a little about my ancestor and that I was interested in magic in all its shapes and forms.
After fixing his wagon we set of to the nearest town, near evening after an enjoyable leisurely ride spent talking, telling stories or playing some music we reached the nearest town and we went our separate ways. I went searching for an inn to fix myself a free meal and lodging, for someone with my skill set it was rather easy to find free lodging and food, you only had to entertain the other guests of the inn with a song, some music, a daring story or a magic show, depending on the town you might even earn some extra coin as well.
Late in the evening sitting down to a free meal I had some time to study the book. The strange symbols and text still mean nothing to me, though I feel a connection to the book. Since then I have found a few more interesting things about the book.
It will always find its way back to me, I’ve lost it once during a scuttle with some ruffians. To my surprise it was laying on the bedside table when I woke up the next day.
Another handy feature of the book is that it has a few blank pages at the end that I can write on and the next time I open the book those pages are blank again.
So when I have nothing better to do I write down my thoughts and train my writing skills, so I can accurately report on my adventures.
It helps to keep my thoughts in order and lets me see where I could tweak a story I'm working on, change the lyrics of a song but enough it’s getting late.
So let’s close you up and go to sleep, you weird book.
During my travels I heard about a little village Wontabrook that seemed to be having trouble with marauders, so I made my way there to go lend a hand.
Upon reaching the quaint little village I noticed some hulking brute stomping around town lending a hand here and there, setting up defenses for when the marauders came calling again.
I went to have a chat with this fellow who looked like he had been on the business end of some or other weapon more than once but he also gave of the feeling that the ones that managed to land a blow on him weren’t around anymore to try it again.
We talked and from what I could gleam Borivoy had done some terrible things in the past and wanted to atone for them by helping others and get rid of the evil in the world small piece by small piece. Or so I reckon, the man hasn’t been very talkative on the topic.
After having a hearty meal in the tavern we went about patrolling the town and playing the waiting game, Borivoy told me that the marauders attacked every few weeks so that the townsfolk that didn’t have to means to leave had enough time to gather a stock of food or other things the marauders needed.
Some days later we were able to repel the latest attack and even captured some marauders for a nice little chat: very pleasant from our point of view, but the marauders would probably tell you otherwise. They should be grateful I convinced my new companion not to “set an example for the others”. They eventually made us a map of the surrounding area and where their little hideout was.
So Borivoy and I went to have some more talks with the marauders and their leader.
After a whole lot of screaming mostly done by the marauders we reached an agreement. When we asked them if they were still going to plunder Wontabrook no marauder spoke up and since silence is assent the matter was dropped.
Since there was nothing more to do in or around Wontabrook we set off in search of more adventure, travelling from town to town earning our keep by doing small simple jobs or I would perform on the street or a tavern to earn enough money for food and lodging.
Now here and there we came across other performers and I watched their act or listen to their music and stories in the hope I could pick up something useful to better my performance.
One evening we entered a tavern in the hopes I would be able to play some music or tell the patrons a story but someone else was already there performing, what struck me was the she was singing a duet on her own, which led me to believe that she at least knew some magic. I hadn’t come across many magic users and certainly no other performer who used magic like I did.
So I was intrigued and I wanted to get to know her better.
I knew the song she was singing and inspiration struck, I grabbed my viol and started playing the tune and augmented it with magic so it sounded like I was playing two violins at once.
She was startled at first but that quickly passed.
We had a fun evening playing for the crowd that came to watch our performance, we later heard that the bar had never been this crowded before.
Aora, as I found out was her name, and I made some good money and we decided that in this cruel and dangerous world it would be better to all travel together.
While travelling together we learned that Aora is a free spirit, she sees rules more as guidelines and finds people that follow the norm quite dull.
She noticed quite early on that she could do magic while she is singing or playing her lute, her performances bring out the magic in her.
The magic she uses is quite different though then the magic her mother used to make her do her chores or when her mother tried to bend her will to do what she wanted Aora to do.
Her overbearing mother means well but tends to forget that Aora isn’t a puppet that will dance to her tune and her father does support Aora but hasn’t got the backbone to stand up to her mother.
Since Aora had always been quite adventurous and didn’t want to be forced into marriage she packed up her lute and the few possessions she had and set out into the world to find where life would lead her.
She does miss her Parents but she is also happy to be able to do things her way.
Since Aora is a bard she is quite creative off course but the creativity she has for creating music and songs extends also to problem solving.
Something we noticed about Aora though is that she is quite clumsy but once she starts performing that clumsiness seems to disappear and she becomes quite elegant
Borivoy, Aora and I continued lending a helping hand where needed.
During our travels we heard about undead terrorizing some towns a few days travel away. That evening after having earned a meal and lodging by another wonderful performance we were discussing the undead. A group that was sitting close to us couldn’t help but overhear us and let us know that one of them was a follower of the raven queen and was duty bound to go and investigate.
So we got to talking and we were regaled with the tale of how our new companions met.
A messenger from the raven queen tasked Razael with retrieving a special weapon from a castle that was teaming with undead though before he could go fetch the weapon he needed to find Rinaya who herself is a follower of the raven queen. Razael found Rinaya in a nearby village. Rinaya was awaiting a sign from her patron deity, for more information about an undead menace. Intrigued by Razael’s tale of this castle supposedly teaming with undead and a special weapon sent for someone by the raven queen herself, she allied with him. When they reached the castle they found a halfling Paladin smiting the undead buggers. While “Katinka” and Rinaya provided a distraction, Razael was able to grab the weapon and he was suddenly filled with power granted by the raven queen herself.
They banded together and went looking for more undead to get rid of.
They heard about the undead terrorizing the towns nearby so they started making their way towards those towns and while resting in the tavern after a hard day of travelling they overheard us talking about the same undead they were after and here we are travelling together to rid the towns of their undead problems.
We started joking about a name for our group and “The conspiracy” was brought up cause we do seem to have an unusually connection with ravens and their queen.
After travelling from Montana village in Grimoire, past Bianji village in Wuling and hearing about a ghost town called Gui with a graveyard nearby, we knew we were close to our destination.
A little later we found ourselves in a dark and dreary forest, where we came across a split in the road with some post sings none of us could read and we decided to go right.
It was getting late, but since no one really wanted to camp out in this gloomy place, we continued on. Through the perpetual and oppressive mist, that had gradually become thicker over these last stretches of our journey, we saw some old grave markers and a dilapidated mausoleum and knew we had reached our destination and should be on our guard.
We did a quick inspection of the graves but nothing really stood out. Suddenly Rinaya cried out that she had been attacked by something that resembled a decaying hand. We all drew our weapons or readied our magic. The hand tried attacking Rinaya again by leaping from atop a headstone towards her but Rinaya’s keen senses and quick reflexes made it possible for her to shoot it down mid leap.
Borivoy cautiously approached the old mausoleum with its crumbling masonry, cobwebs and two cracked and weatherworn guard dog statues next to it.
Though it looked old and ready to crumble to dust there was an ominous presence about that mausoleum and though the guard dogs where old and in dire need of repairs they surprisingly still looked sturdy and fierce.
When Borivoy touched the door the two guard dog statues moved and took a few menacing steps towards him. One of the guard dogs then took a swipe at Borivoy but luckily they were chained to the mausoleum and Borivoy was just out of reach. We wisely didn't engage the guard dogs at close range but peppered them with ranged attacks. Willowdean “call me Will” drew her daggers and prepared to throw them at the dog, since she was striding passed me and I knew she was quite attached to her daggers. I opened my cloak and let her grab a few darts that I always carry around. With one fluid movement she removed one from my cloak and threw it expertly at the statue. After grabbing a few more darts she hefted her lance and strode towards the dog. Borivoy used his great sword to harass the statue, staying just out of range which enraged the dog statue.
Aora mocked the statue using the magic her words bring to bear. Rinaya unleashed arrow after arrow, Razael threw his signature black and white bolts of crackling energy and I tossed firebolts in its face.
The dog let out a howl of pain and frustration that resurrected one of the corpses buried in the graveyard as a zombie started clawing its way out of one of the graves. We first saw hands shoving the soil aside then two curled horns followed, when the dog statue stopped howling a zombie stood before us, he must have been a noble in his previous life cause we could still see the clothes used to be of good quality though now they were tattered and rotted trough we could also see some of its ribs and the skin was sloughing of him but his decaying look belied his movement speed. Before we knew what was happening the zombie has closed the distance to Will and got a good swing in before Will dropped her lance and in one fluid movement drew her rapier and skewered the bastard's head, taking out its eye. Rinaya then quickly disposed of the zombie by planting an arrow in its other eye. The zombie slumped to the floor but to our horror it raised again. Razael took aim and tossed his eldritch blast at it and this time the zombie was permanently dead.
While Will, Rinaya and Razael dispatched the zombie.
Aora, Borivoy and I were able to do enough damage to the guard dog statue that it crumbled to dust.
We moved over to the second statue and proceeded to pepper that with ranged attacks as well or in Borivoy's and Will's case attacking it with their weapons while just staying out of range. This one also let out a howl of frustration and pain, calling another zombie this one was dressed in a fine but old tattered and torn dress, she was also missing parts of her skin and hair like you would suspect from a corpse that had been laying there decaying for who knows how long. This zombie attacked Rynaya, who was able to dodge and while doing so circled low around the zombie, rending its tendons.
Will took two darts in one hand and flung them dead center in the zombie, her past as a knife juggler shone through.
Razael let fly with his magic, ending another zombies unlife.
We kept peppering the dog statue with ranged attacks until one of my firebolts took out a big chunk and it crumbled to dust.
After this grueling fight we wanted to know what these monstrosities where guarding so we decided we needed to get into that mausoleum. I took aim at the door and blasted it apart with a well-placed firebolt. Since Borivoy is the hardiest of us he went inside first. He found a richly decorated stone casket with a text engraved on it. Since it appeared to be relatively save we congregated near the door so as not to crowd the room and could get back out quick if it was necessary.
When Borivoy started reading the text out loud leaving gaps when there was a word in another language. The ones standing around the door noticed strange lights appearing on the backsides of the headstones outside. When we went to investigate we noticed that words were engraved there. While reading the text again, filling in one of the words that we found on the headstones, that headstone in question emitted a faint glow.
When someone then touched said headstone, it stayed lit. In quick succession we lit up all the correct headstones and Borivoy read out the entire text .
“Praise be to our tiefling lord, for his rule was as majestic as his horns.
Even in death, his wisdom guides us and keeps us from the world’s thorns.
As a child his talent knew no bounds, none could find in his sayings any wrong.
For he was born under the sign of our god, when the stars aligned.
During the onset of his rule, he united us as one, now known as tieflingkind.
Praise be to our tiefling lord, for his rule was as beautiful as the hummingbird’s song.”
After Borivoy was done reading we heard an ominous grating sound coming from inside the mausoleum, the lid of the casket had given away to a set of steps descending further. Down those steps was a corridor with alcoves set in its sides where skeletons clothed in some sort of guards uniform where laid to rest, we couldn’t make out anything distinctive about the uniforms though cause they were covered in cobwebs and dust.
At the end of this corridor we found ourselves with two possible ways to continue, a locked door or a blue magical barrier, since no one was keen to try the magical barrier we opted to try the door and hoped the key was somewhere nearby.
After a bit of searching we found out that most of the skeletons still had weapons and that one of the skeletons had a key hanging around its neck this probably was the captain of this guard detail his uniform was more decorated then the rest. Without thinking someone tried grabbing the key which in hindsight was a stupid move. We knew undead where around and we didn't dispose of those skeletons nor took precautions and now we found ourselves blocked out from the exit by five skeletons and without the key to open the door that was our way out of this predicament. So another fight ensued.
Rinaya made quick work of one of them but not before getting some nasty cuts.
Razael took out another one by shattering its skull against the floor with his morningstar.
While this was happening Aora was blindsided and hit so hard that she lay dying on the floor.
Will risked her own life getting to Aora and healing her with her divine magic.
The rest of us were lucky to get away from the initial onslaught with just some scrapes and bruises.
Then Razael was able to get close to the one with the key and with one massive blow of his morningstar sent his bones and key flying. He however was quick enough to grab the key out of the air, which made the rest of the skeletons turn to dust. We then took a quick breather to look after our wounds, have a bite to eat, drink something and discuss what we should do next time we find skeletons or other dead things lying around so we could avoid this happening again.
After a short break to catch our breath and tend to our wounds we decided to find out what was behind the locked door.
Borivoy opened the door a crack and cautiously peered inside the next room before walking through the door into what appeared to be a throne room. This room that from the looks of it had been richly appointed in the past but everything had given way to decay. In the room was a lavish throne with yet another tiefling skeleton on it, this one was wearing an elaborate crown that was inlaid with rubies. A few feet in front of the throne was a raised dais, on top of it a lectern with the shape of a hand hewn out of the slanted portion was standing.
After having a quick look around and tying the skeleton to its throne we tried the door but it wouldn’t budge. Rinaya chopped the right hand off the skeleton, Borivoy then smashed the skeletons skull in, after he was done he picked up the now slightly damaged crown that had fallen to the ground. Rinaya then placed the skeletons hand on the lectern, nothing happened so she threw the hand away and placed her own on it. A strange sickly green glow enveloped her and the lectern. She then spoke in an otherworldly voice.
“I look at you whenever you look at me.
You see but I see not, no sight have I.
I speak but I have no voice when your voice is heard.
My lips can only open uselessly.”
Razael uttered the word mirror but that was the wrong answer, we saw the sickly green light flare up and Rinaya turned pale and was clearly in agony. Borivoy then charged Rinaya and tried to knock her away from the lectern but it was like he hit a statue the light flared again and Borivoy was thrown away from Rinaya. Aora tried as well but to no avail.
While this was going on I was contemplating the riddle and after thinking about it I deduced the answer must be reflection. After stating my answer the light receded to Rinaya’s wrist and coalesced in a brass wristband with green half orb adorning it, from this half orb lines where flowing around the wristband in a beautiful design. The wristband was magical and would protect Rinaya from damage that was the same in nature she suffered while being encased in that sickly green light.
We proceeded further passed the door and came into a hallway there was a hall branching of left and we followed it eventually coming to a red magical barrier. Anything we tried tossing through the barrier vaporized on contact, so we backtracked and took the only path that we hadn’t followed yet. This led us to a large barren circular room that was filled with spider webs and we could make out a simple opening across the room. Borivoy took the lead and had just taken a few steps when he was barely able to avoid being hit by a crossbow bolt fired from a trap we didn’t spot, though when the bolt hit the ground a flash of lightning sped out from it, striking us all making our muscles cramp and spasm so we all ended up on the floor with tremors still wracking our bodies.
We heard some slow footsteps and a sinister voice telling us that he wasn’t expecting us to get this far, when the footsteps reached Borivoy the light from a torch fell on this person and we saw a black elf with his hair slicked back wearing dark robes. He bend low and made a gesture over Borivoy’s face and asked him how we came to be here. Borivoy just wore his trademark stony expression. The same gesture was made, silencing Borivoy anew. He moved over to me and now I could speak, so in my trademark snarky manner I answered that we walked here. He was not amused. So he silenced me again before I could tell him he was asking the wrong question that he should be asking why instead of how. When it was Rinaya’s turn he got a face full of spit. Razael then enlightened him that we followed some rumors.
He went into a tirade and told us some crap about an important mission to restore gender equality to the drows and that we were in his way. While he was monologuing we were finally able to speak again and move slightly. He called down an enormous spider with the name Malaya and made his exit. The freaking big spider could talk and called her children, from the webs above us, dozens upon dozens of smaller spiders crawled down.
We couldn’t move enough and I think we all feared that this was the end but then things got weirder. That book I got after the training with my family spoke to me in my head to open it up so it could save us all, it freaked me out but with the choices being between waiting for my dead or trust the book, I took it out of its satchel and opened it. A flash of fiery red and smoky black light shot out of the book and filled us all with energy which freed us from the paralysis.
Borivoy sprang to his feet and took a swipe at the small spiders swarming us, he splattered a few but it didn’t make any real dent in their numbers, with incredible speed he grabbed his torch from the ground and lighted the spider webs on fire. Killing a whole bunch and preventing the swarms from getting bigger. While this was happening Rinaya planted an arrow in mommy spider. Razael threw his magical bolt but it went wide and left a scorch mark on the wall. Malaya leaped at Borivoy with her mandibles dripping venom trying to bite him but Borivoy was able to deflect them with his great sword. A loud thunderous bang echoed around the room and a bunch of smaller spiders went flying against the wall painting it with green ichor, the source of this loud boom was Aora that had cast a thunder wave. A bunch of spiders where able to crawl unto Razael but some fancy footwork and swatting saved him from being bitten. Focusing my magic I made it sound like a conspiracy of ravens was coming to our aid but the simple eight legged beasts where too stupid to realize I was trying to give them an easy way out so they could go on to live another day but instead of doing the sensible thing and fleeing they kept fighting.
Borivoy was really getting pissed now, whenever he spits on the ground you know he’s pissed and someone or something is going to get hurt, in this instance the annoyingly big spider lost two legs for all her trouble. Then Rinaya put Malaya out of her misery by putting an arrow right between her eight eyes and trough her. This made all the little spiders rout. Razael, Aora and I peppered the retreating spiders with magical bolts of all kinds. Since there was nothing left in this room but a big ass dead spider and burning webbing we continued on to the next room.
There we found desks with papers haphazardly scattered around there were also where alchemical tools and vials to be found. Though the most prominent thing in the room was a great arc made out of bones with skulls attached to them that where crying tears of blood, it was recognized as a blood portal. It could be tied to only one person or a complete race it depended on how it was set up and which foul rituals where used to create it. We took a quick look through the papers to see if we could find out more about the portal, after finding nothing that could help us with it, we decided on smashing the portal so this abhorrent thing could never be used again.
We then proceeded in examining the contents of the room more closely, the papers where about creating undead it was very detailed and someone with little background in necromancy could easily learn how to go about creating zombies or raising skeletons to do their fighting . The vials all have some magical liquid in them but what those liquids do, we couldn’t discern. We sealed the vials with wax from the candles we found around the room and Aora stashed them in her backpack. We then made a pile of the remains of the portal, the desks, papers and anything that wasn’t of use to us. A firebolt appeared in my hand and I was just about to light it all on fire when Rinaya made a strange request for me to laugh maniacally. So I laughed my best villainous mad scientist laugh and let go of my bolt setting the pile aflame.
Aora tossed a vial into the fire hoping to find out more about the properties of the liquids inside of it but nothing significant was learned.
We then proceeded up the stairs that where leading out of this room, after a while we came to a ladder leading to a trapdoor. After ascending the ladder we found ourselves in a dark and dreary forest probably the same forest we walked through earlier. It was great finally being able to breathe some fresh air after having smelled nothing but decay and rot and having to breath dank and stale air for the time we were in that crypt. We couldn’t see the graveyard anymore but we could discern a little village through the trees. Probably the one that we heard rumors about.
Sadly there were still a few uncovered areas down into the crypts so we decided to go back down, have a rest and then proceed to those magical barriers. During our short break while others where tending to their wounds or just relaxing, Rinaya examined her brass wristband closely and found out that she could detach the green half orb and could probably slot in another that might give her protection against other kinds of damage.
Aora and Will who so far had been quiet, withdrawn and not really there went to the blue magical barrier while the rest of us waited at the red one. We heard some shouting and cursing, later we learned that it was a good thing that Will is a Halfling cause she narrowly avoided some traps by just being small, first she was able to dodge some spikes that would have skewered her if she hadn’t been vertically challenged but by dodging she stepped on a pressure plate that dropped her into a pit, after crawling out of the pit an axe that shot out of the wall and would have seriously injured a being of normal height passed right over her head. She passed all those traps with just some minor scrapes and bruises from falling into the pit. Aora then disabled the traps by pulling a lever that was conveniently placed in the room but couldn’t have been reached before bypassing or in this instance triggering the traps.
We started testing the red barrier by throwing all kinds of stuff at it, red pebbles, blue pebbles, all created by yours truly with some simple prestidigitation, it’s such a nifty little spell and keeps us and our gear clean and our bland food or drinks at the right temperature and I can make those taste like whatever we want as long as I have tasted it before. When we noticed that didn’t work we started trying some more powerful magic’s and also throwing some mundane items that were lying around at the barrier, like the skeletal hand we chopped off earlier, nothing got trough. After thoroughly having tested the barrier we decided to go test the blue one and started the same tests and the pebbles just flew through, so we took a gamble and stepped into the room except Borivoy who stayed at the red barrier and Razael who stayed outside the blue one. There where all kinds of slots into the wall and some kind of button on a pedestal in the middle of the room. While we were looking around the room the blue barrier turned red. Rinaya then pressed the button which triggered a hidden hourglass to reveal itself and turn so we knew time was running out. There were a bunch of strange words engraved into the hourglass but no one could read them. After I closely inspected the hourglass I found an inscription stating. “Retracing ones steps offers new insight.” So I tried throwing pebbles through the barriers when they struck the they disappeared but then flew out of the other barrier, incidentally I hit Borivoy with one of my pebbles he paid me back by giving me a light slap to the back of my head once I stepped back through the barrier. Once the hourglass ran out something appeared out of the slots but we could clearly see what cause the barrier tinted everything red and blurry, after a little while the hourglass disappeared and the barriers turned back to their original colors.
Rinaya and Razael went back through the blue barrier and pressed the button, waited for the time to run out while standing close to the barrier so they could jump back out quickly. When the hourglass ran out, demonic visages appeared out of the slots in the wall and started sucking away their life energy, so they stepped out quickly.
Since it appeared there was nothing more to do down here we set up camp in one of the safer rooms. Since there was a lot of grime and dust on the floor we decided a bit of cleaning was in order so I turned to my favorite spell, have I already told you how much I love prestidigitation, no more manual cleaning just tossing a simple spell around and everything is dust free and spotless I also use it to warm up my bedroll before I go to sleep. We relaxed and talked for a while ate some of our rations, spread out our bedrolls and setup a guard rotation. I volunteered for first watch and while everyone got ready to sleep I played a calming song on my viol, Aora took out her shawm and played along, our calming song relaxed the rest of our party and they soon where in the land of dreams.
The next day we traveled back to the outpost to fetch Aora’s sheep, cart, donkey and the minder of those animals that Aora was teaching all kinds of things to. After fetching them we set out to the little village we saw out in the woods. While traveling we came across a weird reddish pink tiefling sitting on a big cart that made a strange tinkling sound, the cart was being pulled by white owlbears who had horns attached to their heads by pieces of string. Big garish letters where painted on the cart proclaiming it to be “Demonium’s emporium”. Razael the fool he sometimes is, stopped the person by asking if he bought stuff. The man jumped of his seat and threw open a shutter that was built into his cart and what we saw where trinkets upon trinkets, most of it seemed to be junk though. Borivoy spotted a beautifully crafted glass eye, when he asked Demonium about it, the annoying weird guy started making puns about Borivoy’s missing eye. So I was pretty certain that Borivoy wouldn’t be buying that eye or trading for it so I decided to enact some revenge for Borivoy and I would be stealing that glass eye. No one makes cheap puns about any of us and gets away with it scot-free.
Rinaya then showed the wristband she got and the little **** got excited, rummaged around in his wares and produced a similar red half orb. It seemed like Aora wanted to enact some revenge as well or just play him for the fool he is and offered her “magical scarf of warming” in exchange for that half orb. Kazimir Gilbert Demonium as apparently the guy’s name was fell for it and they traded, Aora then handed the red half orb over to Rinaya. Borivoy got a bit mad because of the puns the guy kept making about seeing and having both your eyes and the annoying way the pinkish tiefling talked, he scared Kazimir a bit then walked away as not to start smashing things. Razael provided the perfect distraction by offering his vials and starting a discussion about the liquids being magical or just dirty water, I used that distraction to quickly swipe and pocket the glass eye then took my leave and went to stand besides Borivoy. Rinaya took a look at some kind of paper then walked over to the owlbears that where painted white but Kazimir kept insisting they were unicorns. Finally the haggling was done and we travelled further towards the little village.