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DM: Seph

Party Members: Zoren, Kita, Irondan, Gax, Gregory, and Luther

Leader: Kita. Scout: Irondan. Trailblazer: Zoren.

Day 1:

We headed east towards the Istah Plains, which lies southwest from White Moon Cove.

We came upon a group of merchants. One of their wagons had broken a wheel due to a battle, according to them.

Luther bought cold weather clothes from them due to the cold season. A merchant offered us a deal, but Gax was doubtful about it. We discussed and thought that the merchants were lying as there was no damage apart from the broken wheel. Raiding the merchants was considered but declined by the majority, including myself.

That night, Irondan found a bag of doorknobs. It was rather bizarre. He mentioned that he had come out here recently and entered a labyrinth filled with doors. I wonder what such a structure would look like. Not much happened during my watch with Gregory.

How I imagine the labyrinth looked like.

Day 2:

When we woke, Gax was looking for something, but he did not reveal much about what he found. Upon hearing mention of the door labyrinth, the lizardfolk’s body turned pale. He seemed traumatized by the experience.

Symbol of Lathander.
Symbol of Umberlee. Not as good as Lathander’s.

We found an old church and decided to look around. As we got closer, we heard a loud sound. The church was collapsing and restoring itself in a cycle of destruction and repairing. It seems that the destruction of the church was its greatest tragedy, which it was repeating. Inside, a ghost was sitting inside and turned to look at us. The ghost did not seem hostile and was disinterested in us. Gregory tried talking to it but had no great results. There were 2 iron golems as well guarding the church. It seemed that the church was meant for worshiping Umberlee, goddess of the sea. It reminded me of the Water Temple that also was made to server the goddess. From experience, the goddess was a malicious, austere deity unlike Lathander, but it seems she was venerated at the church, so I did my best to be respectful. She is a malicious god, but she is an infamous one as well among adventurers. The church was well off from the coast, which made it strange that the church was here. Kita picked up a tome and tried taking it to a spot where multiple arches intersected. A bright flash of light enveloped the church, and the ghost disappeared. Hopefully that means that the ghost can now rest in peace.

A group of flying reptiles flew above us. Gax tried digging down into the ground. The lizardfolk Gax had a habit of doing that. We tried hiding under trees, but due to the poor stealth of those among us wearing heavy armor, the dinosaurs swept down aggressively, and we engaged in combat. I managed to take down one with my spiritual weapon, which takes on the form of a longsword, by managing to hit a weak point. Gax managed to cast animal friendship on one and studied the winged dinosaur for an hour or so to study it for its wildshape. I almost hit the charmed dinosaur, which was a close call.

The flying dinosaurs!

During my watch with Gregory, we were approached by a band of adventurers, including a gnome in heavy armor and riding a horse. The rest were humans. The gnome wanted to spend the night with our party before heading back out on patrol. He hailed from a kobold village west of WMC. After inspecting whether they were trustworthy, the party mostly agreed. Gregory had a thick accent from a distant land called Russia? He was initially inquisitive then more welcoming towards the band. The gnome’s name was Snaggletooth on account of the gnome having one tooth only. He had a distinct whistle in his voice. They were tasked with building homes for the kobolds.

Kita managed to find out that the creator of the door labyrinth and likely the one who left the sack of door knobs was an old companion of the gnome Snaggletooth named EZIEKIAL Slowden. It seems Snaggletooth had not seen him for many years, almost a century! When I woke up due to Gax’s calling, the band was gone. Gax had woken us up due to men wearing leather armor almost ambushing us, but when they saw that we were awake, they retreated. We decided not to give chase in darkness. We agreed overall that it was a good idea not to give chase as they might have been trying to lure us out and separate us.

Day 3:

Kita decided to track the bandits that escaped last night. It wasn’t too difficult due to the snow on the ground. They headed west. We arrived at a cave that the tracks lead to eventually. Most of the group were against moving stealthily, so we decided not to bother trying, though I was slightly apprehensive. Luther unfortunately triggered the bell alarm, and the bandits were awakened.

Bandit
  • I managed to take out one with my spiritual weapon again. It made short work of the bandit!
  • Irondan enjoyed “educating” them with his greataxe.
  • Gax turned into a brown bear and wreaked havoc.
  • Gregory used magic that resulted in a cascade of worms and tentacles tumbling out and attacking the enemy, which were disconcerting but effective.
  • Kita used her sorcery to blast out firebolts and shocking grasps.
  • Luther raged and chopped them up swiftly.
My handy spiritual weapon.
It served me well for this adventure.

We fought 3 bandits in the entrance. After looking through the cave and finding only 3 beds and no more bandits, we decided to head back.

A dead body whose upper body had been melted was discovered. Perhaps it was the work of an acid spraying monster? Gregory checked to make sure it wasn’t undead. It wasn’t. Gax suggested it could be the work of an enemy ooze such as a gelatinous cube. I’ve heard of them. Perfectly shaped clear cubes that dispose of corpses clean with acid. It must be quite the bizarre sight to see.

We stopped by to meet Broc Lee, a bugbear who Kita and Gax helped by stopping harassment from a halfling, who was making advances on Broc Lee’s dog. The stench of blood was lingering strongly around Broc Lee’s cave. We saw 2 ogres playing outside smacking a tree. Broc Lee asked us to play with the 2 ogres. Near them were the bodies of three dead humans and a gnome. He mentioned that the last game they played was called “Throw the Gnome,” which involved throwing around a gnome’s skull.

Tweedle Dum
Tweedle Dee

Gax surmised that the gnome was Snaggletooth, and that the party had been attacked and killed by a monster. The dead melted body suggested that it might have been that of the 4th human with them, and that the band had been attacked by an acidic monster like an ooze or a cube. Tragic.

Rest In Peace, Snaggletooth…
Broc Lee the bugbear. Turned into a bugbear from a human by the sorceress Chariese.

The ogres were called Tweedle Dee and Dum. Luther tried playing wrestling with them but ended up failing rather miserably and almost got clubbed in the head. It was slightly funny.

Broc Lee’s human face that appeared in an astral form.

We managed to convince Broc Lee to stay for the night at his cave for 5gp. There was fresh water in the cave from the stalactites. He asked us not to spread this idea too far as it would attract visitors. Hence, if you head to the Istah Plains, don’t count on staying at Broc Lee the bugbear’s cave. He told us that he used to be a human but turned into a bugbear due to a magical mishap. He projected his astral form and showed us an image of a human with blonde hair, small mutton chops, glimmering eyes, and a toned physique. It was an ability that I had not seen before. Kita asked who the sorceress was that enchanted him. Her name was Chariese.

Day 4:

We saw a farmer asking us if we wanted to help shuck corns. Darrell Walter was the farmer’s name. We helped peel off husks of corn. They were raising mostly chickens and a few cattle at their farm. Darrell was haggling with a customer about selling his cattle. Gregory helped haggle for the price of the cow, but it looked like it didn’t work out as well as he had desired. Then again, the accent made it difficult to understand his emotions sometimes. Still, the party persisted and managed to get the cow named Bessie for 8gp. A few people mentioned a person by the name of Darcy. I wonder who that is. I’ve heard of Darcy a few times around town as well. We were ambushed by gnolls that shot at us with blow darts. One used its horn to call out to its comrades that cackled like hyenas in the distance. Rather than sticking around for the cavalry to arrive, we dashed up the road and got away.

Bloody gnolls. They’re never good news.

Day 5:

We managed to get away thanks to the road helping our movement. It seems the gnolls were planning to attack the farm, so at least we managed to lead them away. It was a very close call though…