DM: Calmseeker
Date: May 21- June 11, 2024
Level: 5-9
Risk: 6-7
Party:
- Galli: gnome, level 8 invention wizard.
- Alessio: human, level 9 multi class
- Killian: orc, level 5 totem warrior barbarian
- Beralt: bugbear, level 8 mutant blood Hunter
- Ardenn: kor, level 5 rogue
- Yvalyn: eladrin, level 5 archery warlock
- Grognag: dragonborn, level 7 barbarian
DAY1
Meeting at the tavern, we find a couple familiar faces and some new ones. We hear of a giant turtle that needs to be helped named Morz. Apparently there are some poachers taking things from this turtles shell, which obviously is just wrong! We head out on our way.
“It was last sighted somewhere on the southwestern branch of the Serpent River that flows from the Speckhome Mountains.”
Barkeeper
I show off my new found flute skills and along the path we go. At around afternoon time Alessio, scouting ahead of us, sees three fallen stone statues to the west.
There are statues of:
- A nobleman leaning on a walking stick. The man is middle-aged, clad in fine clothes, clean shaven and depicted in a dominant pose.
- A laughing halfling sitting atop a jovial dwarf’s shoulders.
Some of our stronger friends help each other lift them back to their original standing positions. They are beautiful statues that appear to have taken some time to carve. No one seems to remember these statues though some of our friends have journeyed this way before.
Location of three stone statues
Beralt and I looked at them a little closer. I noticed they do in fact look aged and eroded like they have been here for awhile. They also appear like they may have been buried at one point or another and then we’re dug up. I do faintly recall having seen these before but not in the state they are in. Very curious indeed. During Beralt and my watch, a strange 5 foot worm appeared. It was very friendly! It just wanted to chew some dirt and have some water!
DAY2
The days travel starts out rainy. Alessio spies ahead a dire wolf eating a githyanki corpse. We searched the corpse and found a note in Abyssal, which Beralt reads out to us:
“The giant turtle Morz seems to have been weakened. It may have something to do with the river looking contaminated. The lead hunter said to alert the others as this may be a good opportunity to pilfer a few turtle shell fragments to sell at the black market.”
Note
Location of Dire Wolf eating githyanki corpse
As we leave the uninterested wolf to his corpse, we happen upon a sign lying on the ground that reads “DREAD” in dried blood. We make camp for the night as well. Alessio fixes the sign on his watch.
Location of DREAD sign
As we progress down the pathway, Alessio scouts out giant round foot tracks he decerns as giant turtle tracks.
Location of giant turtle tracks
Location of floating turtle being spotted in river
Finally we spot what we’re looking for. An absolute beauty of a natural creature! He’s floating in a river. He looks very sick and we begin to really worry when we spot a group of poachers with bags of shell fragments. We decided to ambush them immediately. As we get closer we see that there are 5 people in total. There are 3 humanoids: a white male dragonborn in chain mail, a female tiefling wielding a chain and a male goliath wielding a heavy crossbow. What stands out among the remaining two is that one of them is a large female monstrosity with the lower body of a lion. She holds a dagger. We also see a tall male that almost looks like a pale humanoid but has the aura of something that is more fiendish.
the Lamia
Noitra the lead poacher
Dragonborn poacher
We overhear that they are planning on coming back and also killing the beasts that live on the turtles shell as well. Beralt recalls that the lion woman might be what is called a lamia. He thinks Lamias may be able to petrify people. They may also give riddles for travelers to solve but he’s pretty unsure about it. We really need to make a plan. We tried to stealth up to them and I casted slow onto as many as I could as we approached, revealing our locations. The battle pursued and honestly it was a tough one! Noitra was a hard opponent and turned into a legendary form, making him even harder. Eventually we came out victorious, but with several injuries.
Noitra’s Legendary form
After the fight was over we went back to Morz and checked him out, asking him questions. It appeared to me that he was living in polluted water of some kind. Morz does believe that it is magical pollution so he warned us to be careful on our journey to the source, which he believes is up the mountain. We helped him clean his head up and we were invited to camp on the island on his back. After some travel issues, we finally see that the river is coming from a southern mountain, we make our way to it.
Speckhome Mountains
On my watch that night in the mountains, I crafted a lovely clockwork toy of a dear friend of mine, the front desk attendant of the library we visited long ago. He turned out great! During the 3rd watch, Alessio notices that there is an eerie looking doll about 80 feet away to the west of the campsite. It is about 1 foot long and looks like a humanoid figure wearing a white furred robe wearing the mask of an ape. It has two right hands and the tattoo of a spider on its back.
Doll of Narak the necromancer
On watch with Beralt, we do see a well nearby. I try to convince Beralt of going to check it out but he’s not into getting into mischief at this time of night. In the morning, we go and check it out. The water looks absolutely pristine and clear. According to my arcana sense, it appears to be magical, in the school of illusion, but not particularly harmful in any way. Though drinking the water would have some kind of effect on the drinker. How interesting! Killian volunteers to drink the water and goes through a series of different effects including the surroundings becoming filled with fey and draconic effects. After resisting a couple of the effects, he suddenly smells apple pie and is charmed to Yvalyn. He then starts to laugh uncontrollably while running southbound for a few seconds. After the effects have worn, he returns to normal. No one else volunteers to drink the water. We continue east to the source of the river.
Source of the river
Alessio spots that the purple pollutant is coming from a cavern, we proceed. Along the path into the cave, we find a total of 6 corpses. Beralt and I investigate them, finding some money and a note on one of the female bodies, a half-elf. Her cloak has the name Karin sewed onto it, there is a note written in Elvish.
”It took some time, but I managed to finish the other rangers to enter the cave tomorrow where the polluted water seems to be coming from. More than that though, my focus is elsewhere. I saw him. Igumo. Or at least, someone that looked like him. For a moment, it almost appeared like he had no face, but the next moment, I knew who I had seen. I tried calling out to him, but he entered the cave without a response. It’s been decades since he left the town of Kanhoku and disappeared, but it’s possible that it is him. If there’s a chance to locate a lost comrade, I have to try…”
note in Elvish
We go deeper into the cave. The appearance of the cave begins to change, showing blue and red lines like veins and arteries down the walls, a sudden thumping like a heartbeat can be heard. We see a figure standing on the side of the water, looking very pleased.
Igumo’s Remnant
Legendary form of Igumo’s Remnant
He claims he can’t remember his name and as he gets out of the river, a spider tattoo is visible on his back. A white figure with an ape mask descends from above.
“The consolidated remnant of the heart that was expelled from mine. Once belonging to the human Igumo… How curiously strong you have grown.”
Doll of Norak
Along with him comes a giant primate creature with tentacles covering its limbs and a polluted water elemental emerges from the stream. This is very shocking.
Polluted water elemental
Tentacle monster
The fight is on as the polluted water embodiment dives into the purple polluted river and disappears. We never like a monster that disappears in a fight, very hard to get a hold on that way. Igumo’s remnant swims in the river using tendrils that appear on his lower half. They glow, and blood spurts out from the tentacle monstrosity and flows into the tendrils, healing some of his wounds. Just what we need. A self healing monstrosity!! This Igumo creature is really giving Grognag the once over and nearly kills him right there. We managed to pull ahead and defeat them all together. Victory is ours!
“I would have liked to have seen your face one last time, Mikoto…”
Igumo’s final words, in Elvish
We search the bodies once the fight is over, before making camp. A note was found written in Elvish
“A bittersweet memory came back to me last night after killing Karin. Or should I say a memory from when I was Igumo? It matters little. It was the night when I performed an experiment of combining myself with a demon and a devil. A necromancer named Crayman assisted in that endeavour. He called me brother out of kinship, but I felt little for him. Ultimately, we used each other for our own ends, providing research materials for one another.The pain was indescribable, waves of agony, but such pains of the body were not worth much. The experiment would forge a new being that could bring an end to this meaningless kingdom. When society crumbles, would its inhabitants see that their bonds are pathetically fragile and share the embrace the emptiness of meaning as I have? The being that emerged chose a new name for himself: Narak.”
note found in Elvish
DAY 3
In the morning, it’s drizzling slightly but we make our way back to Morz. He is looking much more healthy and focused on the river. There are two figures next to the river, studying the water.
Triton named Kawamatsu (Yvalyn and Killian have memory of) he is a druid
Human woman dressed in merchant’s robes named Yangdan
They have settled themselves to helping the ecosystem recover from the poison. Yvalyn hands off the note for Lady Kanade, we say our goodbyes, many thanks from Morz, and continue back to town.
DAY 4
The morning was beautiful and we had a peaceful camp. We continue on our way to town. We push through even though it’s night, to get to town.
That’s all for now!
