Campaign Journals - 01/23/2010

[Greylen]

Amber's Journal:

Well, that is it for our 'rest'. Seems our success as an adventuring party is both a blessing and a curse. Because of our success, a grateful Wheloon was more than generous with their time and goods to get us outfitted again. But because of that same success, we are now asked to look into another troubling matter by a certain Rogue... in Shadowdale of all places.

I must admit to being intrigued about this Shadowdale, having heard so much of it's struggles with the Zhenterium and Myth Drannor's devils. Their heros are certainly some of the most recognized and respected names through all Faerun. But I am a bit worried that anything that might befall such a well defended place as Shadowdale might be a bit out of our league.

But I must put my faith in Mystra. While I have not seen her face directly again, her answers to my inquiries make it clear I am to follow this path that has been laid before me.

So we prepared. Mostly we prepared for the cold. The Dale lands at this time of year were not to be taken lightly. We purchased cold gear clothing and emergency spell scrolls, but I was confident in my lady to keep us all protected during the journey, using Resist Cold spells cast once each day.

Gladly this made our journey north comfortable and we quickly entered the boarders of Shadowdale, moving towards the town proper. Something was 'odd' though. I couldn't place what it was, but it something was not right with the normal order of things in Shadowdale.

That is when we saw the smoke coming from a small village on the road to Shadowdale. Rounding the hill and coming down through the woods, we came across a most horrific sight.

Bodies of what seemed to be the villagers were strewn all over the village streets, while a group of Ogres and Men argued with each other, it sounded like over loot. Looking at their markings, I realized these were mercenaries. Why they were sacking the village was anyones guess at this point.

After the argument was complete, with only one of the men getting himself chopped in two by an Ogre, we attacked. Rage fueled my first spell, meant to catch three of the large Ogres at once. A pinch of sulfer in my left hand, my right executing the precise pattern and my voice speaking the arcane words of power... my fireball exploded above their heads.

Expecting the Ogres to be reeling from the powerful spell, I was caught by complete surprise when it exploded at half it's normal size and a fraction of it's normal power. Now I knew the feeling I'd been having... a shadowstone was tearing the weave here in Shadowdale!

Luckily my companions did not seem to be suffering from the same diminished capacity I was experiencing and the battle was quickly won, with none of the murderous mercenaries escaping.

Moving from villager to villager, I was able to stabilize many, but far too few.

From these villagers we learned of the Zhent take-over of Shadowdale. Evidently they were consolidating their power-base and calling for any mercenaries to join them.

It had started snowing quite heavily by that time, so we accepted the villagers offer to stay the night. The morning showed us the wisdom of that decision, with 3 feet of new snow on the ground.

The snow proved to be quite a challenge for us, but especially the gnome, so our paladin called his bear to create a snow break for us and we rigged a sled behind it for the Gnome using a shield from the fallen mercenaries. Worked quite well, considering.

Traveling towards Shadowdale, the day was actually quite pleasant, despite the snow. About half-way there, however, we spotted a flying creature coming towards us. We couldn't tell what type of creature it was, even as it came closer, but it had a rider.

The man riding the odd beast was absolutely covered in Art. He held two wands and to my sight, showed many other items of power, including that held within himself.

He flew up to us and hovered demanding to know our reason for coming to Shadowdale. Thinking fast I told him we were mercenaries from the Moonshae Isles recently returned to the mainland. It was good we chose such a far away location, as he was suspicious of us, asking for names of those we worked with and for. But without a way to confirm or expose our story, he let us by.

We could probably take him, but it was better in this situation to be cautious.

Further down the road, another odd sight appeared. A silver finger appeared to us, pointing to a break in the trees. I immediately recognized it as a sign from Azuth, God of spells and directed my companions to follow it quickly.

The trees closed behind us and we found ourselves in a Grove. A voice came to us, sounding much like Azuth himself, stating a cryptic message. Definitely Azuth. Only the Gods could be so obscure when trying to give us a message.

However, despite that fact, the message was clear that we somehow needed to find and release Selune, the witch of Shadowdale. One of the seven sisters, chosen of Mystra. Someone who could bind her, especially with all the protection available in Shadowdale, was someone to be VERY cautious around.

Continuing on, we arrived at the bridge over the Ashaba river. It was blocked, of course, but our same story of being Mercs got us by and to a tavern.

It was good to get out of the snow and the Old Skull inn was a nice place to stay.

After a few drinks, we took rooms at the inn and stored our non-precious gear. A few inquiries later, we found ourselves heading up to the watchtower hill to Selune's gravesite.

The hill only had three things up there. A part of a old tower, a stone and an old tree. There was something odd with the tree, according to my arcane sight, so we started there.

Passing an invisible barrier, we found ourselves confronting a HUGE bone dragon, much to our surprise. Evidently the tree was an illusion. The dragon attacked.

I haven't felt this helpless in quite awhile. Any of my attack spells seemed to just bounce off, thier power greatly diminished. While we fought another human approached quickly and joined our fight. Together we all prevailed again, the dragon breaking apart with the mighty blows of my companions.

After that battle, the man who helped us saluted and disappeared again. A very odd occurance.

What a series of events... we must rest here and I must heal my companions. Next I must figure a way to make a difference without my main arsenal of attack spells. My lady has truly blessed me, so I do not doubt I will figure it out.