Whale, Hello There!

GM: Geokhan

Player Characters: Caslech, Cober, Gaz, Ogis, Tenfoll’at

Salutations,

However you obtained my notes, I hope you’re not the one who killed me. Despite the drizzling weather, a group of familiar faces and I wanted to help the old lady (Matilda) go watch her flying whales. Last time, we literally took her for a ride, I’m not sure if she’s upset with us. I’ve seen her do some magic tricks last time, but she never helped us during battle. If I die with her in the party, she would definitely be the one to have acted upon murderous impulse.

Not even a few hours in our adventurous trip, Cas noticed something in the bushes. Of course they would hide in the bushes. I tried to poke the bush from a very far distance, but unfortunately failed. However, Ateish the wise raven, pointed out where one of them was located. Another one appeared and then a Chimera showed up next to me? Should I be surprised at this point? I know they are after me, but were they creatures sent by HIM or is it the old lady attracting such abominable creatures? After a long fight, Cas grabbed his dagger and tore the chimera open to reveal the belongings of some less fortunate adventurers.

We kept moving towards our destination and Matilda told us stories about how she was frisky in her youth and got to travel around. She did defend herself pretty well during the battle though, at least she can pull her own weight unlike some creatures I’ve seen around. After a few hours of traveling, we heard the sound of wind chimes (250ft from us).

Adventurous Gaz went to check on it after having an intense discussion with Caslech. He found a gold piece in that area and tossed it at Cas. Ogis wasted no time and picked it up. We came across a tree with a huge crater close to it that formed a pool of liquid. You would never guess what we found, a group of animals that seemed normal; a giant seahorse in the water, a lion, a beetle and 2 giant centipedes. For once, I didn’t feel scared about being followed or killed…. There was a sense of happiness coming from the pool. The lake appeared to have healing properties. We suggested that Gaz should take a dip into the lake, but he was skeptical (if I may say paranoid) about it. Ogis stripped butt naked and started swimming in the body of water. Cober attached a rope around the half orc’s waist before he swam in the pool. Once we were sure the water was safe, we lovingly asked Ogis to fill our waterskins. Once we left the peaceful spot, we noticed that our waterskins were actually filled with wine. What in the world was that magic trick about? Turning water into wine, that’s a first! Or is it?

We had a pretty peaceful night and we set out in the early mornings. After a few hours of traveling, we reached a river. By the river bank we noticed a campsite; there was a stick attached to a white handkerchief. There were a few web tracked prints heading into the direction of the river. We found a rat skull, a drum with fishes drawn on it and some twigs that might have been used to light a fire. Ogis gave us the ability to walk ON the water. Another unnatural thing! Walking on water!? I wonder if someone has done such things before. The whole party crossed the river and we met a group of 3 humanoids. The man asked us if we were from Port Mirandia; how would he guess that? Does everyone know the town’s name? Do we have PM written all over our face? No, we don’t! He must have been following us!

He then proceeded by telling us his name is Darrell. Why would you tell us your identity without us asking? Sketchy!!! Gaz asked him why he was out here. Cas transformed into a BIRD! With so many weird things happening, I’m starting to question my sanity. Darell proceeded to tell us he’s on an archeological mission with Ms. Prensworth and Samenta. Ogis blurted out that we were looking for the flying whales and the lady pointed out the direction where she last saw them.

Apparently there was an ancient multicultural group who used to live here; humans, dwarves and some lizard folks. Count Poindexter III funded this expedition. We informed them about the tracks we found earlier and they mentioned that they believe that to the Northwest of the river there are some primitive merfolks living there. They asked us if we could check on their crew that went to check on the ruins, but haven’t heard back from them. Thank goodness Gaz is a careful fellow, he didn’t let the party fall prey to those unknown people. We told them that we have to take Matilda to see her friends, but we’ll check back on them on our way back. As we kept moving forward it started raining and we didn’t see any Flormiops yet, but we did get a glimpse of an abandoned mine 200ft from us.

We approached the mine and Cober sent Anhinga to check if there was anyone around and evidently there was a human in the North tower. Cas turned into his natural bird form and scared the life out of that individual…. Like who wouldn’t be scared. Being intimidated by Cas, the latter introduced himself as Greg. He ranted about a group that went into the mine to get some stuff, but they didn’t go deeper due to being scared. Ateish started tapping on Ogis armor and the naive half orc followed the birb; he then joined Cas and Greg. Caslech came back to the party and told us that the group that went into the mine were giants and that Greg was under the influence of some substance. Ogis was tending to him (is he a doctor? I’m not sure what the friendly half orc would help Greg with). Greg told us that the Queen is getting closer to what she desires. Some humanoid covered with moss, grabbed some diamonds from the mine and headed towards the Altis palace. Cober found a leaf from a journal and showed it to Cas only and the latter mentioned that we might want to come back to the mine at a later date.

Out of the blue, Matilda started exclaiming that they are here! My heart skipped a beat with all kinds of thoughts going through my head. Who could have been here? She pointed it out to the group that it’s the Flormiops and that we would make an old woman’s dream come true if we could get her closer to them. It seemed like the flying whales were retreating towards the mountains as it started getting later in the evening. The party agreed to set up camp and we’ll make Matilda’s dreams come true tomorrow!

As we set up camp, most of us felt that strange sensation I felt before where we were requested not to use any magic. However, Cober was able to cast his tiny hut without causing any havoc. Ogis created some food and water for us and yet nothing happened. I had a good night’s sleep that night, no one disturbed me or touched me during my sleep. 

The next day, we started approaching the mountain until we heard a metallic vibration sound. Cober asked Cas if he was happy to see him, not sure why this was the question to ask, but Cas replied that he was happy to see him, however, that wasn’t the reason why he was vibrating. The party came across a statue and it appeared that someone was in this area recently. A giant ant appeared in the shadows and tried to attack Ogis. It seemed like we stepped on an anthill. Needless to say, more of them started popping up out of nowhere. A few seconds later, huge ants appeared and would you take a guess where? Well of course next to me! And this time they emerged from the ground… Can we even trust the ground we walk on now?

After a long fight, Cas approached the statue with his vibrating pocket. The statue’s head turned around and gazed at Cas and he let out a yelp. Cas then grabbed his bag and pulled out some plate looking thing and stuck it in the back of the statue. Once he did that, the statue calmed down and stopped attacking us; however, burning black spots started appearing on our skin.

Cober moved forward and read the writings that were believed to be in Celestial; I had no idea what it was, it just seemed like scribbles to me. Our Yuan-Ti friend told us that we’re in the Altis temple, it is cursed and not to use the stairwell. I’m not sure what Cas did but the black burning spots disappeared and Cober informed us that he could no longer feel the abjuration magic. The party noticed three coffers; we opened all of them, but only one had some loot in it. We took a short rest and started heading back towards Port Mirandia, we had enough action for this mission; I wonder how Matilda survived all these perils over her lifetime of adventuring.

On our way out; we got the golden opportunity to admire the flormiops with Matilda and boy was she the happiest old lady I’ve seen around. As we reached PM, we met Poindexter and he mentioned that everyone he sent on that expedition, were found dead in a carriage wreck whilst being chased by ogres. If that was true, who did we meet near the mine? Was it someone or something trying to trick us? Is that some new intelligent species using deceit to kill me? Who can you trust nowadays? 

I will go rest now and hopefully nothing kills me whilst I’m asleep. You will see more notes from me if I am still alive, if not, this might be the last one.

Always vigilant,

Tenfoll’at