Campaign Journals 01-23-09

[Greylen]

Day 11:

The brief rest was a welcome one after the conflict at the temple was resolved and the lovely woman at the local temple was gracious enough to allow us to purchase her wares at a reduced price, for our 'services' to the community.

(aside: I MUST find out how she braids her hair down her back so it hangs out of the way. It would sure make travel a lot easier)

I spent a lot of time going over things to make sure I was better prepared for the days ahead. Who knows when we might be able to get back.

While I love shopping and am a bit of a spend-thrift when it comes to sales, I was proud of myself for sticking to mostly practical items... though I DID splurge on one item... a beautiful, Lustrous Pearl that just called to me. It does have a power, allowing me to recall a single spell I've cast, but I would have bought it anyway. I must get it set into a broach as soon as we get a long enough break.

They were also nice enough to take the 'starrynosis' off our hands. That artifact simply radiated evil and while I would love to examine it's magical properties, it just makes me shiver to even be around it. So good riddance.

Day12:

We started out at Dawn today and after leaving Wheloon, the road was quiet as we rode to the standing stones. Approaching the stones on the hill, we took precautions to remain unseen in case a group of enemies were camping there. Funny when we found two men, well a man and a halfling, using the place as a campground.

Not detecting any evil, we decided to share their fire and their tales. Their tale of a crypt in the forest where they 'cached' their goods being overrun with some creatures caught our attention. There was a crypt on the map we'd found and it was our next stop.

Day 13:

Thi morning was a bit chilly, but as the sun rose above the trees, it was actually quite a pleasant day. Following our map and the traders directions, we soon came to a low hill with a building seeming built into it.

Unfortunately, there was movement at the entrance and we knew we'd been spotted. Throwing caution to the wind, we quickly ran to the entrance and after a quick look inside with some dancing light cast by Dalvar, we started in.

The place was definitely a tomb. It had all the makings of a nasty trap, with a short corridor and a small wooden rope bridge over a 50' pit. The other side of the pit sported a face carved into the wall, with holes for the eyes and nose.

As we reached the bridge, Thain and Elian in the lead, Hu decided to try the bridge, trusting in his skills should the bridge destroyed. Sure enough, half-way across, he suddenly lunged for the side as a hidden rope pulled out one of the rope bridge stakes on the opposite side. At the same time, two arrows came flying out of the eyes at Hu.

The dwarf was quite amazing, deflecting one of the arrows, taking one in the shoulder and still catching the side of the pit on the other side. I quickly pulled out a bit of dust from my spell pouch and chanted the words to a sleep spell, casting it into the area behind those eyes, hoping to give ourselves and Hu a chance to get up.

Unfortunately, it seemed to just make me the target of the next few arrows. One hitting my arm penetrated my chain, making me bit my lip to keep from crying out. These enemies were very good shots and accordingly, I mouthed a quick prayer to Mystra, feeling her power flow through me as I was granted a temporary sanctuary. Pulling out the arrow, I quickly bound it up and seeing the bridge now mostly reconnected, I ran across and to the left, following Hu.

Thain and Dalvar were head to the right with Elian crawling on the ceiling above, so I quickly moved around the corner, and looked into one of the wide arrow slits just in time to see Hu engage two kobold like creatures.

Hu struck one down and I pulled out a wand, hissing the activation, a force missle slammed into the other, they both were down.

Just then a brown and green clan man ran past me yelling he was sorry to be so late, but it's taken some time to track us down... evidently we'd found our new comrade from the Purple Dragons, assigned to help us out. I didn't catch his name, so I have to remember to ask later.

As I reached the back area, it was mostly filled with a heavy, thick fog. Thick enough to hide an army 10 feet away with no clue there were there. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to dispel it, but I saw that someone had also cast a web in there.

Grinning, I grabbed a torch and lighting it, quickly threw it into the web. I was hoping it wasn't one of my companions in there. The burning web quickly dissipated the fog and I was just in time to see the final blow against a black leather-clad assailant.

Having expended a lot of firepower in a short time, we quickly decided to camp at the tomb for the night to recover our spells and recuperate. I l must get into revery quickly, to replenish my mental energy. Magic demands much of the caster.

Day 14:

Again it was a chilly morning today. The morning found us again on the road, headed to the swamp and the ominous sounding 'tree of skulls'. We made good time and the sun was hardly past the zenith when we entered the swamp.

The trail was fairly solid, but at least two foot deep water bordered the trail on both sides. The water was extremely placid, hardly a breath of wind to disturb the fetid air as we slogged along. All-in-all it was a very depressing area.

Eventually we came to a clearing. In the clearing was a tree lined in skulls made up of many races. Fearing another trap, we send Hu and our new PD friend up head to scout.

Then all hell broke loose around us.

On all sides, scaled beasts of various sizes rose up and threw nets at us, as we were standing there watching our scouts up ahead. I quickly dodged the two thrown at me, and gasped out a quick spell of sleep over on one side.

Again I had mixed results, but one less is always good. My companions also fought hard around me, dodging nets and clubs as the lizard creatures closed with us.

Suddenly an arrow caught me in my leg, just as I started another spell. I reached down to yank it out, but found I couldn't move.

Poison. It was the only explanation. I could still move my eyes, but that was it.

Helplessly, I watched as my companions were overcome one by one, then as some of the larger creatures were killed, they suddenly grabbed us and withdrew back into the swamp.

I waited with terror for the water to close over my head, but the creature was quite gentle and kept my face above the water as he moved swiftly through the swamp. We were headed to their village, but somehow I felt they didn't mean me any harm anymore.

I hope that feeling is truth.