Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant…

Wonderbringer International Division

Katashaka Mission Report XXIX

On the continued acquaintance and travel assistance rendered the retired adventurer Matilda in an effort to observe an airborne variety of megaptera novaeangliae colloquially known as Flormiops leading to a long awaited discovery of historical significant and other encounters had en route

Prepared by: Cober Snek, Seeker of the Eleventh Order

Prepared for: High Holy Crafthouse of Inspiration Record Keeping Department

Prepared on: The Twenty-Fifth Day of Eleint in the Year of our Lord 1495

Local time is now 1927

Setting our sights once more on the Flormiops of Matilda’s aged dreams we returned towards the place of their last observation. Not long into the journey, Caslech spied movement in some bushes ahead and after some humor of watching Gaz attempt to use a Fireball scroll by hurling the paper itself at the bushes we were set upon by aberrations most foul. In addition, a Chimera joined their onslaught and nearly finished Ogis by itself before we brought the monstrosity down had his orcish heritage not stayed the hand of the death. Matilda later relayed these shadowy humanoids were called Dark Wraiths and hailed from the Far Realm despite their undead appearance and the ease with which the radiant judgement of Gond reduced them to nothingness.

A few hours and many miles away, Gaz suddenly realized he had neglected to retrieve his scroll of Fireball. Sad to say such lapses in judgement are typical of the fellow, but he really would not have gotten much use out of the scroll just throwing it at as he’d attempted earlier. Writing off the loss and continuing on our way, Matilda regaled us with tales from her past with some being of a nature most salacious. The chief of these came to light during a discussion of her time spent in the City of Brass with an individual named Steven who she enthralled with her womanly wiles and used as a means to travel both to that fabled metropolis elsewhere across the plans. It seems their relationship ended rather suddenly after the poor fellow fell in too deep with a succubus and Matilda struck out on her own. Cutting off the fascinating tales came the sounds of wind chimes in a grove of trees ahead. Pushing through we soon came upon what appeared to be an impact crater filled with water and surrounded by all manner of creatures, some of the local fauna, but at least one of a more alien aquatic nature. After some experimentations both magical and of a more practical nature with Ogis wading into the pool, we determined it was a site blessed by a Wish spell that granted those with emotions a feeling of quietude and peace. In addition, the waters whether bathed in or ingested seemed to provide the same restful qualities of a good night’s sleep. Even the generally more confrontational members of the group could not bring themselves to any true bickering while at the location. Matilda mentioned this area reminded her of the Fountains of Peria, but not having been acquainted with that legend it is difficult to offer comment on the validity of the comparison. Having drunk our fill and amused ourselves in various ways we pushed onward with skins full of water. I fully expected the waters to lose their potency once out of range of that consecrated area, but behold the water was turned to wine. Quite a nice surprise and we were able to enjoy a decadent evening repast as a result.

Setting out at first light the next day we soon came to the river and a recently abandoned campsite marked by the passing of many creatures webbed of foot. Picking quickly through the castoffs, we located a drum with petroglyph styled art depicting vaguely humanoid fish creatures on the outer rim, a rat skull, and a bundle of twigs. Collating all the evidence we concluded there may be merfolk about in the region and courtesy of Ogis walked over the river and headed towards the mine worked by giants. Before reaching that location, we were hailed lustily by a fellow named Darrell who introduced the two females with him as Samenta and Ms. Prensworth. All of these individuals claimed to be in the employ of a Count Poindexter III on a sort of archeological expedition sent to research a nameless ancient culture of humans, dwarves, and lizardfolk indegenous to the region. So far they had no luck finding the pottery shards, arrow heads, and knife blades they sought, but were hopeful their labor would soon bear fruit. They sought our aid in locating and ascertaining the safety of their workforce who had gone into a nearby cave and yet to return. In a flyby Anhinga noticed some lizard creatures near the mouth of the cave, but no other activity and indeed no footprints of what such a large workforce might have caused shuffling back and forth over the loose earth. Gaz gave voice to the groups unease with assisting such individuals who would apparently tell a falsehood with little provocation and remaining true to our missions purpose pressed on leaving the trio a bit perplexed, but neither side worse for wear from the encounter.

 Darrell

Ms. Prensworth

Samenta

Finally arriving at the mine we noticed the sound of silence and only through the aid of Anhinga did we locate the stirring of a creature in the north tower. After using Atiesh to gain the towertop, Caslech rousted out an unsavory individual called Greg who appeared to be addicted to the hallucinogenic Moon Dust as evidenced by his twitchy demeanor and blue stained lips. Despite this handicap, Greg was able to provide us with seemingly useful information that the Shadow Queen was close to obtaining her desired aims whatever that may be. The addict also mentioned there was a goodly supply of valuable gems left in the mine, but was frightened from exploring deeper than the mouth after seeing a humanoid covered in moss grab a gem from near the entrance and slipping back inside. Whether these were just the ravings of a deranged duster who can say, but exploration seems warranted even on the chance of valuable gems, which fuel some of the most dynamic spellcasting of the arcane and divine alike. Taking a quick look around the mining structures I located a leaf from a journal that somewhat surprisingly was written in Common and spoke thus:

“The great dragon Felurivaax terrorised the lands for years before he retreated underground with his treasure. His hoard is vast, fruit of the scouring of dozens of cities. Felurivaax has not been seen since he went underground and many think he is now dead, his treasure unguarded. Others say that the dragon sleeps, dreaming, on his hoard, and if any treasure seekers disturb his rest, he will awaken to plague the surface world once more. I think he slumbers below.”

Whether this was related directly to the mining efforts here or an underground complex elsewhere it is difficult to be certain. Any notes from the High Holy Crafthouse of Inspiration Record Keeping Department relating to this matter would be very much appreciated, particularly (as you can imagine I am sure) anything relating to a drake by the name of Felurivaax. Taking our leave of Greg (but not before Caslech relieved the fellow of an odd tri-cornered hat) we pressed on towards evening and in the failing light Matilda was just able to sight the first Flormiops she had seen in decades moving further into the mountains.

Despite a spike of wild magic in the area, the night passed mostly uneventfully and we moved ever closer to the mountains in hopes of a more substantial look at the glorious flying beasts after such a difficult journey. In the midst of this endeavour however, the symbol of Gul’tra Mes carried by Caslech began vibrating in a most unusual way and the Raven Queen champion was able to plot a path towards the source of this activation, an ancient temple mostly intact, but overgrown with foliage and plant life to the extreme. What caught our eye immediately as being out of place was a rough hewn wooden plan laid lengthwise across a stream running through the outer court of the temple. We took it as a sign of recent activity by intelligent life, but before we could investigate further we were beset by all manner of formicidae and only after a pitched battle were we able to defeat them all and some sort of winged insectum that focused all attention on the carrier of Gul’tra Mes. Conferring with Caslech after the battle, we might have been wise to utilize the symbol of Ophila to reduce the size of these formicidae, but as Moonsue says, “If you are depressed you are living in the past.”

After the battle, Caslech recognized a likely slot on the statue in the middle of the temple that seemed to fit the symbol of Gul’tra Mes and attempted to place the symbol there. After the statue stirred to some state of activity and harmed the warlock the stone was placed and the statue ceased attempts at causing injury. However, a curse was spreading to all in the area and after some guidance from on high, both Caslech and I recalled the red ferns Garden of Flowers had procured for us to ward off just such a curse and sanctify this very temple of desecration. Using the ferns as incense the curse lifted as smoke wafted through the sanctuary and even removed wards from the stairwell to the northeast corner. Spying a door there, Caslech, Ogis, and I descended and before us lay seven doors each seeming to indicate some further trial of the Altis and a use for our remaining symbols.

However, having our primary objective still to complete and wanting to see Matilda escorted safely to Port Mirandia to begin writing her memoirs, we returned quickly to the surface and ventured further on to a vantage point with excellent view of the Flormiops. The grand old woman was most excited and pleased by this most nostalgic of sights. Once her eyes had drunk their fill of the creatures, she flexed her magical might once more teleported us to the base of the Road to the Shinies allowing for very swift and uneventful travel back to Miranda. After our farewells the gentlewoman, we paid a visit to Count Poindexter III to inquire about the odd individuals on the road who claimed to be in his employ. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the count looked shocked to hear of the tale of these folks exclaiming all three had died in a carriage wreck while being chased by ogres. Perhaps they were spirits coming back to haunt the land of the living or been returned to life of sorts for some nefarious purpose? Once again any information you can provide on any related matters would be most helpful.

Ever a Seeker of The Holy Maker of All Things

Amen