Party: Cade, Ogis, Sixer, Tingork, Valorean, and Zoren
Leader: Valorean
Scout: Zoren
Trailblazer: Tingork
I enlisted for another road building mission yet again… Given my past track record with road building missions, I was admittedly very nervous. We were building a road south from Ruined Oak.
Day 1:
Saw woolly rhinoceroses. Sixer tried to talk to them with some success using his druidic abilities.
We heard noise coming from a mysterious obelisk but could not find anyone.
We later found an abandoned ruined structure. There was a placard saying “The Refreshment Inn.” Decided to stay there for the night.
Tingork foraged for food, and Sixer cooked the meal. It was satisfactory.
During my watch, I heard a sound similar to branches cracking to the east of the building, so I notified the others and went to check it out. Something that looked like a gathering of branches rushed out from the trees at Tingork.
- Sixer used his moonbeam.
- Valorean used his icy cold breath as a dragonborn.
- They seemed like they weren’t affected by the brightness Patrick Star, Cade’s familiar, due to the fact they did not have eyes.
- A dozen or so of the plant creatures swarmed around me, so I used my Channel Divinity: Radiance of the Dawn. The light obliterated them all! I felt immensely satisfied. Sixer congratulated me on my success. I thanked him. It was my greatest Channel Divinity to date! Praise be to Lathander! Ahahahahahaha!
Day 2:
We reached the end of the road built so far and continued onward until evening came. We met a band of dwarves going to the Swollen Tooth. They were coming from the east and reported seeing a large winged beast. Similar to a wyvern but not the same. They were planning to go to New Hope at the Citadel that was trying to develop a burgeoning trade industry.
During my watch, Tingork reported that he found a stone slab among the trees. The stone slab was of Dwarven craftsmanship. The magic coming off it that I could detect way abjuration magic. Perhaps to protect something? Or to seal something in? I could not say for sure.
I was woken up in the night by the sound of shouting. Ogis and Cade were fighting against large creatures that looked like spiders. I cast a fireball at one of them that was still remaining, but it did disappointingly little damage… It seems the monsters came out of a hole that opened up only when moonlight hit the surface of the entrance.
Sixer cautioned Cade for the future, do not go off on your own during the night. I also decided to take that caution.
Day 3:
The workers continued to work on the road. I saw a pack of wolves darting about, possibly for food. They were wary about leaving the forest due to our numbers.
I heard a cry of pain coming from ruins and then maniacal laughter. It came from a stone structure that had drag marks and footprints. It seemed something was dragged inside. Tragically, there were bodies inside of a couple and children. As we were investigating the scene of the crime, a ranger came up to us and asked what was going on. I tried saying “It’s not what it looks like,” but he ran away. Ogis cast a spell on him, which caused a scene for sure. I was able to convince him we were not the ones that killed these people. Serendipitously (that’s a funny word), he was also a follower of Lathander, so my words enhanced by a spell managed to convince him. His name was Lilyfoot. He was very distraught over the deaths of these people, which was understandable.
From what we could find, the people had come to the island to escape persecution. A journal entry mentioned how they had stayed here for 2 seasons. They were growing herbs that could be used for medicine. It didn’t provide much clues to whom their attacker could have been. I detected some necromancy magic coming from a blade on the table. The weapon itself was not magical, but it had been cast with magic recently.
The plant creatures were called blights. Perhaps the same necromancer was the cause of these issues. We buried the bodies outside. I made a short prayer over the bodies that their souls may return to the light. Sixer seemed to mumble something about not having evidence for deities, which I chose to pass off given the mood of the situation. I detected faint necromancy magic coming from the south for a moment, but it passed away quickly.
Ogis somehow was unintentionally holding onto the knife emanating necromancy magic from the blade. He swore he knew nothing about it. We wondered if it was cursed. I buried the knife into the ground to be safe.
A few minutes later, suddenly Ogis cast Spirit Guardians around himself. A shadowy figure stepped out from Ogis and spoke in a foreign language. It held the knife and spoke in Abyssal, which Cade understood as saying we will all pay. The figure disappeared into the ground with the knife. Once he disappeared, Ogis’ Spirit Guardians seemed to have cured him of it. I tried to recall what the figure could have been. I remembered that the monster was an enemy of dawn and light. They can only exist in the Material Plane by possessing other people. They exist in the Ethereal Plane. They are called Ougmuns and are called forth by necromancers. Perhaps they were associated with demons due to the figure speaking Abyssal? Lilyfoot went back to his travelling companions and informed them of this threat.
Day 4:
I cast remove curse on Ogis. Just to be safe. Nothing happened.
The workers found a pile of metallic cylindrical tubes, but we couldn’t figure out how to open them.
Later, we were walking along a snowy path when we heard a piercing roar to the south as a creature made of molten earth attacked us. It packed a fiery punch. Patrick Star blinded it twice, giving us a fighting chance. It left a trail of molten rock when it rushed at us. Valorean finished it off with a holy halberd. After the lava cooled off, we searched the body. It seemed that it was a lava guardian for a storage buried underground that head much wealth inside.
5 workers died…
We headed back to Ruined Oak.
Day 5:
We relayed information to a patrol from Ruined Oak what we had seen. We returned to Ruined Oak, 5 workers fewer than we had headed off, but at least no one in the party perished…