[Dusk Campaign] Story Thread

[Moondog]

Mathan's Journal: Entry #8

Pretty good day, all told.

Since we sliced our way through the sewers, and took all the soldiers we killed's stuff, I had a lot of stuff in my bag. I was loaded down to the point where even I was close to being forced to stagger around with it. So, not willing to be a mule forever, I took it upon myself to run about and find everyone I could and unload some of this stuff. First stop was the house at camp. I figured of all places, Dalton should be there. Lo and behold, I was right.

He was sitting in the middle of a little nest of twigs and grass and crap, in his weird furry animal form. Ok, whatever, I can deal with that. I tossed the bag at his feet, told him to take what he wanted, and waited. Wimp didn't take anything more than a single gem; Complained that he wasn't strong enough to carry much more than his armor and shield. Left me to schlep the rest of the stuff around.

Next stop? Finding Gran and Alarice, both of whom I intended to dump some stuff on. Rosery I couldn't find. I assumed she was in her temple, blabbering about Cuthbert and Mornings or something. Her business, really. Though, I will note that I may need her help shortly. I'll have to keep that in mind if she asks me for any favors....

I digress. Gran's a hard man to track; he's light on his feet and doesn't leave deep footprints. But on close inspection, I figured that he and Alarice were traveling together - her footprints were near his, and both headed in the same direction. It doesn't help that I'm not that great at following footprints. But what does help is knowing that the mage wears strawberry perfume. That stuff is easy to track.

So I followed the perfume, past a couple bears and a panther, all of which I summarily slew. Especially the bears. They got a good slewing. Then there were the small gang of bandits who got in my way. Now, at this point, I was getting tired of carrying thirty or fourty extra pounds of stuff I did not need, and was mildly miffed. So I killed them all without quarter, arranged their corpses in compromising positions, looted their bodies and went on my merry way without a second thought.

I tracked the smell of strawberries all the way to Innsmouth. Yeah. That place. This time, at least, I got to be above ground, rather than below it in those damned caves and sewers. It wasn't so bad this time. There weren't gangs out to get me.... which I must admit dissapointed me. The thought of walking through Innsmouth as strong as I am now, and putting those scummy little bastards in their place is appealing. I don't carry grudges often, but I owe that entire town a blood debt for what they put me through the first time I was there. When I get what I want... I will burn that place to the ground, and make sure not a single damn one of those fish-blooded freaks escape.

My malice aside, I found my way into a familiar tavern, where I heard Gran and Alarice's voices. I strolled on upstairs, and found them both... talking, of all things. Nobody had been lit on fire, and there wasn't even any blood on the floor. Well, whatever those two were doing in Innsmouth was none of my business... and I don't want to know. I gave Gran the sword I'd been carrying for him. Of everyone, he'd definetly earned it. He can unlock chests I can't even figure out, not to mention him being excellent to stand beside in a fight. I threw down the bag of stuff, told him to take what he wanted. He did.

That was my job done, so I was gonna go out for a stroll, right? Well, Alarice had been drinking (as usual) and quickly passed out. While I must admit that she's oddly cute when unconcious and snoring, it makes me uneasy for her to be so willing to fall unconcious, especially in a place as disgusting as Innsmouth. I took the chance to talk with Gran. Told him a few of my bigger plans. I wanted to see what he would say, what he'd think.

He's a reserved kind of guy, it seems. But... what I can't forgive, what I won't accept is how he seems to have nothing. No dreams, no great aspirations. I can't understand it - and I don't want to. If he really wants to be a mediocre person, so be it. I took the time to drop a few presents at Alarice's door-step, then sat down across the hall to rest and stand guard, just in case anything had the balls to TRY to bother her while I was there. Nothing did.

When she finally regained conciousness, we left the place. I found myself drawn towards a decent looking fishing boat on the dock. Something like that, I could use. Not for fishing, of course - I'm no fisherman. But it could go on the ocean... and I love the ocean. It's so vast, that when you look upon it, you can't help but realize how small you really are. Which is somewhat comforting to think about, at least for me. In short order, the boat's owner came out, and started to annoy me. He reeked of fish, something that I found mildly disturbing, considering the general look of the man... and the town. Fish are for eating and catching, not reproducing with. Ugh.

Apparently, the fisherman was a moron, as he didn't quite seem to understand what was going on. The boat was something I wanted. I know I've said this before - but it bears repeating. I WILL get what I want. By force if need be. I even said as much. But he didn't listen. I tried some strong-arm tactics. You know, the old curl-the-lip snarl and looming big? That didn't work either. He even said it himself: "I ain't a-scared 'o you, gnoll." This is where I dissapointed myself. I missed out on a great chance to say something cool.

But instead, I missed the chance to say "Good, you won't have to die frightened, then." Which is alright. Since it was obvious that words weren't working, I cut the man in half and kicked him off the dock and took the boat by force. Problem solved.

We (Alarice, Gran and I) shoved off for Lagash's docks, since they were closest. Dalton managed to show up just before we left (Dunno how he managed that), and off we went. 'Course, the fishmen off Innsmouth showed up. They took a liking to my new boat. I'm a nice guy, honestly. I'm pretty open-minded. I mean, I travel with a bunch of spell-slingers and a man with a rat-stache. But fish-men? On MY boat? I don't fuggin' think so. We made short work of those scaley bastards, and soon I found the ship's floorboards slick with their blood. I found myself thinking "If we're to fight at sea, well. We're gonna need a bigger boat."

After the fishmen were slaughtered, we docked in Lagash. Which unsurprisingly, was still under attack by General Asshat's mercenary troops. "Alright. I'm game" I thought to myself as I stepped off my ship to cut up a few fools while I made my next plans. Head to the temple of Procan, the sea god, and, if it was under attack, save it from the big bad attacking force. Nothing beats having a temple - and perhaps a god in your debt, right? Turns out the place was completely empty, nothing worth a damn in there. I sliced and diced my way back to my ship, avoiding the three units that somehow came out of nowhere, and the warpriests, one of which struck me temporarily blind.

Lucky for me, I don't need to see to kill people. It helps, sure. But it's not strictly neccesary. When I got back to the dock, it turns out the bastards had killed my boat. Now, sure, I didn't do anything other than kill a bunch of people for that boat... but I was starting to like it, you know? Stuff like that pisses me off. This General guy, he's gonna have to die. Painfully, and slowly.

Well, with that boat taken out of the picture, I had one other option. Get a new one. Lucky for me, there was one right across the way. Well, this one had a sailor already there, and we managed to make a deal with him before I had to kill this guy too. Which makes me glad, as I don't enjoy killing pe- ok, I can't even WRITE that with a straight face.

We sailed to the Southern continent, where Aral should have been. Sadly, the port town we landed at had been razed to the ground. Other than being hotter than a summer's day with no wind in full plate, three pounds of cloaks and being on fire, nothing worth a damn was there. There were a lot of scorpion...people...taur things there. Freaky bastards all of 'em. Killed 'em right quick, lest they sting me or something nasty like that.

After the razed place, we strode merrily into the desert. Which was even hotter. It is very rare that I find myself envious of the human ability to leak water from their skin to cool themselves down, and rarer still that I contemplate shaving or combing out my winter coat, but if I have to stay in that place much longer, I think I shall have no other choice. There were very large, one eyed men roaming about the desert. Savage, worthless beasts that got their jollies by hurling rocks at me. Those bastards.

It wouldn't bother me so much if they were, y'know. Angry at me for some good reason. Like say I had just punched their children, or taken their money. But these guys were just throwing boulders at me for shits 'n grins. Well, I can't have that. I, with Alarice and Dalton's expert help, quickly crossed the distance and hacked the giants down to size. It turns out that it's far harder to cleave through their thighs than I had expected. But boy is it satisfying to do so. I must have cut at least ten of them down. Then we went into the caves - in the hopes that it'd be cooler, and there'd be a way past the large canyon that our ropes just weren't long enough to get to.

Caves full of those giants. So we sliced and we diced, and we won... 'til we got deep in there, and we were pressed hard. I was alright for a good while. 'Til I heard "Run!" and saw Alarice and Dalton fleeing - leaving me alone with six giants for company. Said giants moved to block the exit and started flailing away at me. I barely managed to crawl away to relative safety while I patched up my wounds.

They left me there. Dalton, I expect that from. He is a coward who only fights because of some warped sense of 'duty' to his human friends who helped him escape from a mine. But Alarice I expected better of. I'll chalk this one up to a mistake- but if it happens again, the monsters they're fleeing from will be the least of their worries. I treasure my allies, I do. But if they prove to be unreliable, they are no longer allies: They're hinderances and dangers to myself and my goals.

I patched myself up and went back to the where the giants had stomped me into the floor. I cut two down before the rest of them caught up to me and forced me to limp back. I patched myself up again as best I could, drowned out the pain with some ale and a potion, and headed back again. I will not. I can not. I will NEVER accept being beaten. Not by a bunch of rock throwers. In their favor, they are not fools. Realizing that they can't get by my guard without surrounding me, they did nothing but throw boulders at me. Boulders are far harder to avoid being hit by than their clubs. It took a while, and a lot of pain, but I cleared those bastards out, and came back just in time to take care of the chief before it ate Alarice and Dalton alive.


Dalton ran off somewhere, while Alarice and I sat and talked for a while, since we'd finished clearing out the caves. She suggested that I was somehow acting 'savage' and wasn't paying any attention to strategy. I'll admit, I was acting like a total fool at the time. But I was angry. They both left me alone to be surrounded. Were I a weaker man, I'd have died miserably right there. That thought took over. I shall not let that happen again.

I found myself curious about something. A minor thing, to me at least. When I look at the mage,  I can't help but notice how she acts sometimes. When she's fully rested, and has all of her magical powers ready to bear, she's confident. As well she should be; her magic makes my blade look subpar. But when she's tired, and has few to no spells left, she's different. When I look at her then, she seems to avoid my gaze - or maybe she just seems tenser around me then.

As if she were scared of me.

I'll say it once more. I WILL get what I want, even if I must take it by force. But there are plenty of things that I want that cannot be taken by force. Not ever. I told her as much - and after she got through huffing and puffing about not being scared, I think she understood what I meant.

Oh, and we shared some yummy candy.

[/size]

[Psyche]

Reserved

[Psyche]

Reserved

[Psyche]

I was still stuck on that damn ship.

After talking with Rosery, I went back to my room.  Mathan was fool to think that Rosery would stay if I told her the truth.  He doesn't need to know, anyway.

I slept, getting up the next morning only to discover that we were dead in the water.  What had been hidden by the dark of night was obvious at dawn: the sails had been damaged beyond repair, the rudder destroyed and all navigational equipment was nowhere to be found.

We had either been set up or the mercenary we had imprisoned had done a hell of a lot more damage then would seem possible for one drunk man.
Teach us to follow a "too-good-to-be-true" lead from a dead mercenary's to-do list.

We tried to figure out a way to get back to land - we finally decided to construct a lifeboat out of whatever we could find and the druid would go ask a shark, of all things, for directions.  I tried to point out some of the more glaring problems with that idea but I was ignored as usual.

So I made my way below deck to start tearing apart crates.  The gnoll had to follow and show off, of course.  Acted like I needed help.  As he cracked off a lid from one of the crates, something come out of it.

At the time, I was too busy trying to get away from the creatures to identify them, but as I think about it now, I believe they were Flesh Golems.  As to why there were Flesh Golems in the crates below deck, I do not have the faintest idea.

I cast up a Wall of Fire spell to keep them from coming after me, but after we had dispatched of them, the fire kept roaring, creeping up the wooden walls.  A crack in the floor opened and sea water poured in, putting out the fire but still steadily filling the ship.

Mathan, with surprising competence, managed to patch the hole, but we were water logged.  It only made the need for a life boat more obvious.

Rosery sat praying while Dalton dove into the sea to get directions, leaving Mathan and I alone together.  He used that moment to ask what I had said to Rosery. 

I didn't lie - I told him that I had told Rosery she could never have what she wanted with me... I just didn't add that when I had said this to Rosery, I had meant that I wouldn't be the 'true love' she wanted...  I had never said "no" to her advances, per say. 

He seemed to be suspicious and told me we would speak of the matter later, as Dalton pulled himself back onto the ship.

The druid had actually had some luck - I was shocked enough that he hadn't drown, let alone that he'd gotten any useful information from a fish.

We built our raft and Rosery pulled the mercenary, who said his name was "Bob", out of the brig and we were on our way. 

Unfortunately, while this new raft was at least maneuverable, it was not an impressive feat of craftsmanship.  Not at all.  I blame the druid.  He may be able to speak with invertebrates but he cannot craft for the life of him.

The gnoll rowed and scouted out a direction.  As we continued further East, Rosery started to be sick.  I thought it was just sea sickness and even as Dalton started to complain as well, it did little to change my mind. 

It wasn't until a shipwreck appeared on the horizon and Rosery started begging us to turn around did I start to wonder if there was something more to their sickness.  Still, I did not feel sick or sense any evil force myself.  Mathan ignored them as well and kept rowing.

As we came to be sidelong with the shipwreck, Rosery shouted to turn back, screaming that 'It' was there, whatever 'It' was.  She pleaded with me and despite myself, looking into her eyes, I chose to trust her. 
Mathan ignored us all and dropped anchor. 

The sea wreck was infested with black leaches, the corpses of humans and krakens alike scattered about on the deck.  The sucking leeches grabbed at our flesh and Rosery was dragged overboard, pulled into the shipwreck.

We went after her and pulled her out, but Mathan refused to leave.  I ran back to the ship and tried to cast off.  If he was going to risk his neck with hordes of leeches, so be it.  I wasn't going to become another sucked-dry corpse on the deck.  Beside, we could've come back after we re-grouped and looked for him then.

The others wouldn't leave, though and Mathan finally burst up from below deck, bringing a horde of leeches with him.  We cast off, kicking leeches into the depths and leaving the wreck ablaze.

I didn't mention that I had tried to leave Mathan behind and fortunately, the others had the good sense not to say anything as well.

We saw land a few hours later and docked at a rather familiar sandbar which led up to a small wooded area.  Rosery was exhausted and went to sleep almost as soon as we'd made camp and Dalton didn't last much longer. 

Which left Mathan and I.  I tried to excuse myself to go to bed, even though I was hardly tired, but he stopped me, just as I had feared.  He asked about Rosery, about what I had talked to her about.

Then, he offer one the most insulting deals I've heard from him yet.  He offered a trade - I tell me about the conversation with Rosery and he would give me information about the book, The Superhuman Gambit. 

I was livid.  He knew I had wanted information about that book since we had found it.  And to offer me a deal like that!  I had thought we had a more... intimate... business relationship.

I told him as much, but I agreed to his deal.  There's little I'd not do to get information such as he was offering, but I knew if I was forced to tell him what had transpired between Rosery and I...  Well, the end result would not be pleasant. 

Furious, I warned him that if he truly wanted me to tell him, I would answer - but he would lose all other 'privileges' he may have ever hoped to gain from our relationship. 

But Mathan was smart and backed down.  I will give him that - he may not be quick on the uptake but when push comes to shove, he figures things out pretty quickly.

I tried to catch my breath as Mathan apologized, explaining he had only wished to learn whether or not Rosery had spoken of protecting me.  I still cannot fathom why this mattered to him, but it seemed to. 
I wonder now if it was just a trick to get me to talk - start me talking about something safe so that he could learn more about something damning.  I would almost be impressed if it was.

Trying to save the situation, I told him that if that was all he had wished to know, he had need only asked me.  I carefully offered him more details of my conversation with Rosery. 

But he seemed to notice my evasion of certain subjects and subtly inquired further until, catching me off guard, I was stuck with either giving away all details or directly lying.  I couldn't even try to getting defensive again - I had answered all his other questions so easily.

Even as I write this now, I am annoyed with myself - to be so easily trapped in a conversation is rather irritating.

But I quickly realized there was another way to avoid the question and possibly even get the information he had on The Superhuman Gambit.  One that he would hardly refuse.

[Moondog]

To be honest, I hadn't expected him to turn out quite so mastermind-evil. But this is cool too.

On a boat, on a boat, look at me, everybody, 'cuz I'm on a boat.

Still on the ship. Falling into traps annoys me to no end, especially when they're ones quite... this stupid. It is, however, mildly redeeming to know that me rushing onto the ship in the first place didn't really matter, as it seems the entire ship was a trap.

Well, in the end, I suppose that doesn't matter either. The mage lit the ship on fire, because she couldn't be bothered to ask me to run over and keep the big bad zombie-things away from her. It's fine, really. So she burnt a hole in the ship, no big deal. I can fix that - and fix it I did.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. You see, Alarice, in a fit of boredom, decided to head down to the hold and try to pry open the boxes. OF all of my gifts (and there are many), raw physical strength is one of the ones I am particularly blessed with. Whereas she had to strain and groan and tug at the corners of the crates, I just walked over, grabbed the middle plank in one hand and opened the whole thing with a quick yank.

You know, I TOLD them all what was in the boxes (nevermind why I didn't remind the mage and myself before opening them) in the forest. They were, as I had so sagely predicted, full of bees monsters. Specifically, weird....walking. I think they were golems. Made of dead things. Ugh, I don't know why people spend time making the damn things. They're ugly, they smell, and they fall to pieces when I hack at 'em like everything else.

So, I was just getting to the part where Alarice lit our ship on fire? Well, luckily, the ocean put the fire out. Unluckily for us, it did so by entering our ship. Through the hole the fire had put in our ship.

Well. Luckily for everyone else, I have been spending a lot of time developing my skills as a craftsman - lessons learned carving wood for bows, crossbows and shields, lessons bending metal for just the right strength can be applied to building a ship as well - with water rushing in, soaking me to the thighs (very cold water), and the threat of golems rising from boxes, I stood, boldly patching the hole in the ship. Luckily, I'm good at what I do - and fixed the hole in record time.

Fat lotta good it did, honestly. With the water already in the hull, it was a short time before the rest of the ship, damaged by fire, collapsed. So we went to building a life boat.

By 'We', unfortunetly, I mean everyone - even those without a damned clue how to craft anything. This is rather unfortunate, as I (and to a somewhat lesser extent, Alarice) had to constantly go back and patch up holes and fix mistakes made by the less skilled. Which took time we could have been using to build a semi-decent craft.

The result of our...efforts was, to put it in a single word "Ramshackle." It looked bad, but other than the occasional bailing of water, it worked well enough. While I hadn't had time to grab what I wanted from the ship before we bailed (Navigational charts, a sextant, or even paddles) I thought to grab a decent bit of food and water.

With the wood left over, I fashioned some oars, (Amazingly well crafted oars, I should add) and began to row. Row row row the boat - with the druid's help. Amazingly, he could almost keep up with my pace.

I did realize, after awhile of rowing, that I had no idea where to go. However, pulling on the many tales, legends, and stories that I've heard, bits and pieces from all around the world, I remembered that in that part of the ocean, the wind usually blew in from the West. Once you know one direction, the others are easy to get.

And so, I rowed, and rowed. Dalton and Rosery began to whine and moan about feeling awful, I assumed sea-sickness at first. I was wrong, as we began to edge closer to something...something very much like a ghost ship.

The two complained and whined as I pulled in closer - they didn't really get it. Being lost, adrift at sea with no navigational charts or ability can be tantamount to death. I do not know whether or not either can simply create fresh water from nothing, same with food, but I am not, was not willing to risk starvation and dehydration because of some vague feelings of 'wrong'.

Now, the fact that the ship was full of leeches and ghosts was bad - as I stand now, I've not the strength to go back on my own. I hate leaving things un-done, and, while everyone was willing to run away screaming, their tail- uhm. Well, ok. I'm the only one with a tail, but had they had them, they would have been between their legs.

Inside the ship, there were leeches and ghosts. Violent ones, not to mention traps that quite nearly ripped my soul from my body. Fine. Had I the blessings of a God, like Rosery, I'd have healed myself and kept on going. It turns out, there's a ghost. A ghost of a little, innocent girl in that ship. She sobbed, and pointed to the floor. I figured foul play - there's no reason why a little girl would be on a pirate ship willingly. Pirates rarely keep their kin aboard.

But, why, you might ask; "Why were you in a deadly ghost ship, Mathan?" Well, the answer to that is two-fold. A: I hate ghosts, and the ship was full of the smug little bastards. They think they're SO special, being able to ignore most forms of damage. Well, they can't ignore my sword, the gems I've forged into its steel see to that... then there's B. B is that Rosery got her god-loving ass pulled into the ship, so, like the brave man I am, I dived in to rescue her. Or take the valuables from her corpse, whichever.

As it was, I had no choice but to leave the ship, and that unfortunate child behind. As I was strolling out, a glimmer caught my eye. A sword, rusted and dirty and unkempt lay on the floor. How it glimmered, being as filthy as it was, I do not know, even know. But I grabbed it. I like swords, they're honest - they do one thing, and one thing only. Kill.

As I grabbed it, leeches oozed out from under a nearby bed. All alone, I was forced to contend with monstrous leeches, only one of which large enough to make me fear for my life. Weakened as I was, I barely managed to live through the encounter.

Beaten, but never broken, I made my way up to the deck. The cleric had ran long before, once we banished the ghosts. Poisoned, drained of strength, carrying enough steel to burden three men, wounded... even with all that, I made my way up the sea-water soaked, blood-slick stairs of that ship, and onto the deck. I leapt across the decks, barely scrabbling onto our ship, where no rest awaited me - only more leeches. I cut them to shreds, and then got to sit and row away from the Ghost Ship.

Rosery thought to ease my burdens, something I truly appreciate. With her blessings, the weakness left my body, and I rowed us outta there. Eventually, we came to a cliff - land, finally.

There, we made camp. Rosery and Dalton both passed out almost as soon as our camp was set. Which, as usual, left both myself and Alarice wide awake. I dunno what gets in her way of sleeping, but lately, I've found myself having difficulty with it. Things have grown...complicated in my head, at least.

I ought not to write this down, lest I be a dumb-ass and drop it for someone to read, but, perhaps it'll be cath- catheart.. ca- it'll help me feel better, and organize my thoughts.

I need three things for the biggest part of my plans; One, I've already figured out where to get. I simply need to get back there, and get enough help to accomplish it, two, I believe is on the ship I had to leave, and three, and most importantly, is now in the hands of our...employer.

I've not figured out how to GET any of them, but their locations I have in mind. So that's one out of three problems done.

But... those whom I travel with, save one, would undoubtedly rankle at my plans. The cleric is the only one whom I actually must take into consideration. When she's fully strengthened by spells, she can tear me to pieces, of this I have no doubt. Couple that with her penchant for good deeds and her unease at even the hint of demons, as I have noticed her reactions at Alarice's summons, and I have a very deadly recipe for trouble.

As it stands, I cannot kill the cleric. She is not only too useful, but she is my friend - and that is a bond I will respect for as long as I may do so. Despite her judgements, and her unpleasant habit of reminding me of my kin's flaws, I enjoy having her around. She's also not that bad lookin', really.

So, I've been thinking. How can I make sure she won't be a threat to my plans without killing her, or imprisoning, or otherwise doing anything outright hostile? This was plauging me for a long, long while. I reflected on where her strength came from. Her magic was her greatest strength, not her sword arm, not her weaponry, not her mind, but her magic.

"How do you keep a cleric from being able to cast?" I have heard of spells capable of killing all magic in a area for a time - but that wouldn't help me any, and if I used such a thing (or had it cast), it would be blantantly obvious what'd happen.

So, with that option out of the way, I turned my mind to other ways to do it. Then I hit upon it - The source. A cleric's magic comes from their devotion to a god. Shatter that devotion, and shatter the magic entirely.

That was the solution I found while thinking. Now, I simply had to figure out a way to implement it. So, seeking more information about Rosery, I asked Alarice about their conversations. First on the ship - she was evasive, and our time was limited, so I said I would ask her later. At camp, I seized on my chance.

I will not pretend to be a master of reading people, or even very good at understanding exactly how they think. But what I can do is spot, and then act upon weaknesses. Alarice's is raw knowledge, her thirst for it can push her to do things she would balk at otherwise. I hesitate to act on this, however - as one, it requires me to have knowledge she doesn't, valuable knowledge, which is difficult and often expensive to obtain.

Then two, she's smart - easily a match for me, if not outright my better. If I use that weakness of hers too often, or too flagrantly, she'll catch on quickly, and then I'll have nothing on her. She looked surprised when I offered her a deal. Some minor information on the Superhuman Gambit, in exchange for what she spoke to Rosery of. Not exactly a fair-trade. I tell her in effect, what I'll need to do, and in return, get answers to a particularly thorny piece of my puzzle.

Well, she dodged and skirted around the issue, eventually threatening me. I'm not so foolish as to blindly charge ahead in conversation, so I sent out feeling questions. She answered those easily enough - which told me that there was more.

...But I confess, it doesn't matter what she said, only that she eventually gave up, and decided to throw the entire conversation out the window. Her only real way to get out of it without seeming absurdly suspicious.

"Alright," I thought. "If she's SO willing to avoid the issue, fine. I can use this too."
So she pumped me for information, it didn't really matter at that point, see, I'm sure she hasn't thought of it yet, but when I carried Rosery to her room earlier, she said just enough for me to get it. If there was ANY way to shatter the cleric's faith... I had it sitting in my lap.


Note To Self: In future, check top of tent for pants first.

[Moondog]

Mathan's Journal:

Been a long time since I sat down, whipped out my quill and decided to write in this thing. Sorry 'fer the delay. Been busy.


Real busy. For example, take my stint in an Aslyum. Not as a patient, mind, but as the kind of person who goes into dangerous places, kills the inhabitants and takes their stuff. You know, an adventurer.

But I'll get to that later. First things first, I ought to recount my heroic exploits on Mt. Gotterdammerung, a horrible, horrible, horrible, terrible place full of giants, giant-kin, two-headed singing bastards and giant frost-breathing white wolves.

Why we were climbing the mountain wasn't all that important, raiding a dead man's home for clues and information. His home wasn't that big a deal though - it was the thrice-be damned mountain and the climb that led to it that hurt me in ways I never want to be hurt again. Namely, with very large rocks and swords and axes and bad singing. Especially the bad singing.

Through my many explorations, I had uncovered a passage from the Ogre lands and Castle to the base of Mt. Got- the mountain, and led everyone there quite efficiently. What I had NOT been fully aware of was the giant (Hah, puns. I am so witty) population of very large, very angry beings who inhabit the mountain, and were not at all happy to see us.

They expressed their unhappiness by hurling boulders, spells, deafening and blinding me with horrible singing, hitting me with very large sharp objects and very large blunt objects. I quite nearly died a number of times, but luckily, my friends, whom I love so dearly kept me  out of the reaper's grasp. The same could not be said for most of the giants, whom we proceeded to slaughter in a genocidal rampage.

We climbed and climbed, being pelted with boulders and giants - who all died -  and eventually found ourselves outside a small, barricaded village. Nice little place, under attack by really large white wolves with the ability to breathe really cold breath. We slaughtered the wolves with relative ease, and leapt over the barrier. Except for Alarice, who, for some reason, did not wish to do so.

Eventually, she climbed over, and we barricaded ourselves in. Get this: The place was under siege by wolves, and had NO WEAPONS what so ever. It made me twitch. The thought of not having weapons in a town was just... alien to me, and I quickly set about makin' a spear and a mace with the materials I had on hand. Simple, easy to use weaponry. I handed them over for free, even helped with a couple barricades, after chopping down a tree.

People may ask "But Mathan. You're not exactly a Good person, why'd you do all this?" Well, I would tell them that it was because A: The village was far more useful to me alive, rather than in a wolf's belly, B it would be remarkably easy to take over, what with the lack of able-bodied people, and C: I liked the place. It was up on the mountain, nice and cozy, if you like snow. It'd be a good place to vacation. Also, I got to throw snowballs at the Paladin.

I met the little elf woman I escorted away from the bandits a while back up here. Apparently, she's some kind of strange bounty hunter or something, I wasn't paying much attention to her. I was too busy wondering why Rosery was going on about slaughtering the villagers for their worship of Tharizdun. Yes, Tharizdun is a terrible, horrible deity who seeks only destruction, and yes, the villagers apparently sacrified people to him, but that didn't bother me any. I just considered it part of the local culture.

Apparently, they were being harassed by wolves because of an angry druid woman with a real wolf-fetish, and would have liked it if I slaughtered her. I had no problem with this. It's what I do. I kill things. And people. And trees.

So, into the cave I went, only to have beaten there by some of the others. They talked, I didn't pay much attention. When the crazy wolf lady was pre-occupied elsewhere, I took the chance to try and cut her to shreds. Somehow, through some supernatural madness, she managed to survive my assault and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran until she got outside the cave, whereupon I never saw her ever again, much to my dismay. I dislike leaving jobs half-finished.

Speaking of Half-Finished. I haven't mentioned Milli, a human woman (we have a lot of those in this group) who joined up. She's nice enough. Great shot with a bow. Gorgeous singing voice.

Well, when I got back to the village, a scene of carnage and mayhem awaited me, as Rosery had went ahead and, to a man, slaughtered everyone but two children who proceeded to run off into the wilderness where they would quickly be wolf-bait. Way to go, Paladin. Now, this made me quite angry. I had invested a lot of work into maintaining this village's safety. And she had gone and threw it all out the window, for such stupid reasons as "They're actually demons." I don't give a damn about them being demons! They're still useful.

Not about to stand for this bullfeces, I demanded that she put her sword down and face me like a (wo)man. I was fully prepared to knock her holier-than-thou ass right out, but she did not oblige me, instead gripping her sword tighter and muttering some trash about "I did what was right and will not say or think otherwise, no matter what you do."

I, of course, disagreed with her. With my sword. I was using the flat of the blade as, while I was quite angry with her, and do not in any way condone wholesale slaughter of villages that might be of use to me, I also do not believe in killing or seriously maiming my friends. She got a few licks in - with the actual blade of her sword (the nerve) but my strikes were faster and far more painful. Down she went, out cold.

Milli was there too.

...When nobody was looking, I took a moment to patch her back up, put a cooling salve on the bruises and what not. Then demons appeared, demons who, I, Milli, and Erikka (I think) slew.  They were rather difficult beings, but repeatedly introducing them to sharp bits of metal was as effective as it always is.

With the demons (and village, *sigh*) slain, there was nothing left for me to do, at all. And so I left the place, Milli kindly accompanying me. Rosery and Erikka did their own thing, whatever that was. And I was fine with that, as I was still quite angry with the Paladin. If any villages are going to be slaughtered for a dumb reason, I should be the one doing it. Not her.

Fighting through the occasional giant wolf and barbarian, we made our way to a compound, our destination. Where we fought lots of elves, halflings, and other mercenaries who were only too happy to die for a cause. I made an awful lot of money from those guys, which makes me happy.

There was the occasional crazy thing, such as a room full of tigers that very nearly ate me - but in my defense, they would NOT have ever gotten close, if one of them hadn't TELEPORTED behind where I had set up a bottleneck, so I could take them down one at a time instead of being mobbed and mauled. To this day, I will never know how it managed to teleport. There was an Iron Golem which, I, of course, was completely worthless against *sigh*. I hear in some places weapons capable of damaging those things are attainable, but I have yet to see any signs of such items of power here.

So I ended up being an abuse-sponge for the golem, luckily holding my breath when its horrible murder-gas-breathe oozed out of its mouth, while Alarice slowly whittled it down, magic missile by magic missile. When it fell, we all headed upstairs to meet with a mage by the name of Karl.

Karl, a fan of humor, said some things, and then animated Gran's pants, which ripped themselves off of his body (which must have hurt quite a lot) and proceeded to kick him, causing rather scary wounds for a pair of irate trousers.

Gran, not being a man to put up with such absurd things as pants-rebellion, slaughtered the sorcerous slacks, and Alarice flung magic at Karl, who just laughed at it and left, leaving only more questions behind.

We left the compound, and eventually, ended up raiding, of all places, an Aslyum.

I had spent a long time not paying attention, doing other, more improtant things, so I lost the reasoning behind WHY we were going to an asylum, slaughtering the inahibants and taking their things, but more on WHY later.

Inside was rather horrific. Screams, bloody writing, a lingering sense of madness, rats in the walls (walls walls walls), and worst of all. Worse than the demons on the mountains. Worse than the leeches on the ship. Worse than the rats. There were NURSES. Not the cute kind. You know, the humans and elves in their skimpy skirts and nice clean outfits. But angry, deadly nurses with bloody outfits.

I could not walk more than twenty feet in that place without running into three or four of them, who proceeded to, in the space of about six or seven seconds, strip all of the magic my friends had been so kind as to place on me, struck me blind, deaf, dazed, stunned, and paralyzed. So I got to basically be a vegetable for a few minutes while they bludgeoning me slowly to death. It was perhaps the worst time I've ever had.

If I had ever considered nurses to be cute, I think I will scream if I ever have to see another one of the horrible bitches again.

Well, fighting madness, which rapidly seized me and led me to see some of my companions as giant walking slabs of carvable beef and cursing my absurdly expensive, absurdly UNHELPFUL rings of Mind Shield, I, and my companions fought my way through the aslyum, killing nutcases and finding items and so on.

Long story short, we found a treasure-trove full of magical items. None of which I had any use for. *sigh* Aside from money, which I've been taking in DROVES from the bodies of my fallen foes, I've not found a single item worth the risk of wrenching them from their possessors in a long while. The elf found a fiery whip, which I have to admit is quite neat, though I wouldn't dream of using such a small weapon. Can't apply enough force to it.

Money is all well and good, but aside from the healing kits  I go through like a child through a bag of sweets, I have nothing to spend it on, and I am left carrying huge amounts of gold for no real purpose.

We apparently got what we came for in the Aslyum, a mirror and a portal shard, so we quickly left, carving through a ton of inmates who... seemed to appear out of nowhere, probably from a wing we hadn't gotten to yet.

We left and met up with an old acquaintance. The freaky blow-up doll guy! He wanted the mirror and the shard, and offered massive amounts of money for them, and so I was fine with that.

We came across a familiar girl, who demanded we head into a Derro mine-city to retrieve some crystals. Derro are a strange race of insane dwarves, tasty with citrus sauce who worship Diirinka, an equally strange insane Goddess who likes to dig for no real apparent reason, I've never figured out why.

The dwarves, who do not take kindly to stranges breaking in, killing them, and stealing their stuff, put up quite a fight, leaving traps, bizzare machines, and hurling fire at us in disturbing fashions.

I performed brilliantly, hacking commanders limb from limb, shattering a massive crystal with an adamantine hammer (I still have two left!), which somehow weighed fifty pounds (Hefty, but not outside of my capabilities).

Rosery somehow managed to out-strength me with the first crystal, and I shall never know HOW that happened, but oh well. She's good at what she does too. Still mad at her for the village nonsense. And the growing madness, and the lugging around a corpse. But whatever.

We got the crystals, raided their temple for treasure, which included a trio of things I have been looking for ever since I first picked up a smith's hammer and tongs. Bars of raw adamantine, the strongest metal in existence. The kind of stuff that can be forged into blades so sharp, they'd slice through even the strongest of the Great Immortal Chests, the kind of metal that can be forged into Armor able to withstand amazing amounts of damage.  Difficult to work with, but I believe I can do it. Perhaps, with a little bit of help from an item, and a bit of inspiration from Milli's song as I work. I found some clothing base as well. Given time and a bit of inspiration, I can shape the clothing into something beautiful, worthy of commanding an incredible price.

Worthy of a wedding dress for a noblewoman, perhaps. How better to get into the good-graces of nobility?

Leaving the mine behind, we handed over the crystals to the blow-up doll guy, got paid, and went about relaxing for the evening.

Alarice, Gran, and I all drank a bit, Alarice far more than everyone else as per usual, and then those two ran off somewhere. Milli and I did a bit of studying, with the aid of some Cat's Grace, Rosery and Erikka beat each other unconcious for some bizzare unfathomable reason, Gran went to bed early, Alarice passed out. And that was that.

[Kasumioji]

Erikka's Journal:

Day... 10? I have lost track of how long I've been with this group at this point. Possibly due to all that we've been through. Particularly myself, Rosery and Alarice. The others... Are a very diverse, confusing group of people. Mathan, the one whom I met first and who saved my life from bandits... He can be surprisingly helpful at times. And on the other hand, he can also be extremely frustrating. Particularly on two occasions... When he and the bard tried to kill Rosery and the night when he had a hooker in the house with us. The bard... I haven't seen or heard much of her in this whole time. She seems well enough... I've nothing against her. Alarice is... Well... Alarice. Gran... I still have the paper from the Asylum log that has his name on it. And I am not completely convinced that he isn't the one who is hunting me. The monk... I'm not getting into that right now. And Rosery... (there are several dots here in seemingly random places as Erikka tries to decide what to write) Alarice thinks I am in love with the paladin... It would explain why I try so hard to make sure the woman is ok. I do not know, though... I have not felt love before, that I can remember. So I don't know exactly what it feels like.

On top of everything we've gone through... Breaking into an estate, killing a village full of demon worshippers, chasing a child, entering an asylum and everyone but myself going insane... Going down into a cave to find crystals. And I've even died at one point. Not a good experience. But on top of it all... I've been poisoned. It seems like the worst of the poison is gone, however... I still feel weak. And I'm still not sure what to think about... The dafodils. I believe Rosery that she was sent to some icy hell... But who was posing as her? Was it the hunter in disguise? Can the person shapeshift? So many questions. Perhaps... As I get closer to Correlon and my faith gets stronger, some things will get answered for me? I would like to think so.

[Rook]

Where to start? My missing companions, the long journey? The bandits, the fateful arrival of a 'group' of 'adventurers'? I say fateful, for I am still unsure whether this is a good sign from Trithereon, or yet another test from the world. Let's see. A loudmouthed, poisoned, paranoid 'former' assassin, as if one would forget how to handle a dagger. A lecherous, instable, but surprisingly educated and knowledgeable gnoll. A no-nonsense mage with both a head on her shoulders and a flask at her belt, a paladin that should've been interned for 95% of the time she and I have been in contact and another thieving type whose only fault thus far was to witness my only mistake thus far. A soggy, muddy, embarrassing mistake. Oh well. At least I was not carrying a corpse around or punching random prostitutes for no reason. He also seemed to be looking for some sort of spiritual guidance. We'll see where that leads, now that people are freed from hallucinations, alcohol, and such...

[Rook]

<Earlier entry>

I did right by my god. A man died, but I did what I had to do given the situation. The crew still believes it was an accident, and
I fail to see a reason why I should break the illusion. I had climbed to the crow's nest, with the captain's approval. That bastard
Raendell, freshly freed from isolation after being caught, by me, spying on the female passenger quarters, probably thought he could even the score by following me up there. The wind whistling in my ears, lost in contemplation of the sunrise, I not once suspected I was being stalked. First came the subtle sting of the blade at the small of my back; just letting me know someone was there, and I was blindsided.

The rest is still a bit of a blurr for me, but I suspect moreso for him, however briefly. I felt my belt loosen and fall, and snapped my elbow back; knife-wielding opponents were a staple of our training, for one, and secondly, I knew my attire could cope with a minor wound in a short time. The half-elf's eyes were wild, as his nose, broken, disgorged blood all over his sea-stained outfit. He grabbed the front of my robes, from rage, for balance, we will never know. I struck again, before he could bring his blade to bear. He fell backward, starboard, while I too fell, against the mast. His eyes were already lost and lifeless as he plumetted, silent. I trailed my fingers on the weathered surface of the wooden pillar, steering and slowing my fall, as I had done countless times from the height of the monastery lookout to the ground below. With a sick, wet crunch, Raendell hit first the side of the boat, a few feet above a scupper, then the deck proper. The knife he'd used rolled in an arc, falling through another scupper a few yards away. His face and neck, when the crew turned him over, were a horrifying mess of broken shards of bones, brainmatter and destroyed tissues.

From the fall. It was the only explanation, was it not? The lasses were both shocked and, in retrospect, relieved. There is freedom. There is also, when one abuses it, holy retribution.

I did right by my god.

[Rosery]

Journal Of Rosery Ogers
Date: Multiple Dates
Location: Multiple locations

So much has happened...and I do not know where to begin writing..I suppose I shall begin where the worst of this began, the village atop that wretched mountain was inhabited by a bunch of evil cultists who worshiped the demon God Iuz who demands ritual sacrifices and cannibalism. I did the only logical thing and proceeded to cleanse the village in the name of the just and honorable to help save the children within the village before there parents could devour them. I managed to destroy the villagers and they did me the favor of attacking me first which means I need feel no regret, it was my life or there's and I was not about to be a ritual sacrifice for an evil God, surely even Saint Cuthbert would deny me entry into the heavens and peace. However once I finished destroying the evil ones and defending myself I might add, Erikka,Millie and Mathan arrived in the village, Erikka announced I was a monster and terribly evil despite the common sense that she saw the beginning of the battle and saw them attack me, she knew they were worshippers of Iuz as did the other two! Erikka rushed inside to check on the children whom I did not dare touch for Children are innocent until they commit sins and can always be saved...besides in the name of the child I had stolen from me I could never harm a child myself. Mathan and Millie were not so kind as to simply sling words at me...unwilling to harm my companions and one whom I had dared risk calling my friend...Mathan ran me through with a blade...I remember the feeling as it split the armor inwards and punched through me..cleaving into my insides, I remember my body feeling cold as a battle axe crunched into my back severing my spine. My allies had killed me...then laughing about how easy it had been they prepared to depart or so I am told..I lay dead in the snow. Erikka apparently rushed out and managed to use her random assortment of skills to use a ressurection scroll on me...or perhaps Saint Cuthbert saved me I do not know...I awaoke in a daze to find demons slaughtering my comrades. I was to weak to aid those who killed me or I would have for that is my duty to protect people even if they would turn on me the minute the demons were slain, they manage to slay them...the Gnoll and Bard kicked my barley alive body a few times and I remember one of them uttering a threat to me before leaving me to freeze to death in the snow.

Erikka decided however that I was not so evil and healed me...still injured I pushed...we had to find Alarice and save her from those two for if she did anything that they didn't instantly agree with they would cut her down and no way am I going to allow them to slay the woman I love. It seemed like an eternity as Erikka assisted me through the woods...we finally arrived at some...estate or dungeon place I think it was Redoraks at a time...and managed to find Alarice...there was an argument but I have decided that the attempt on my life was simply a...mistake in communication and let it go...sadly most of what occurred in that place I cannot not recall except..that I am obsessed with finding the mage named Karlos...I believe he can answer my questions. My mind is so fragile lately...I fear what it means. We managed to get out of there and the next thing I recall was the puppet demanding from Alarice to go into an Asylum...I was ready to kill him for daring to bribe Alarice to go into some place so dangerous but it appears we are all still under the effects of the Geas. The Puppet can kill myself,the Gnoll,Gran and Alarice instantly though the Bard and Elf are safe from it as they were not part of our happy group at the time, we made the trek to the insane holding pen and found that there was a riot..it had become even madder and the first thing we noticed was that both the staff and the patients were attempting to kill us and the nurses are rather skilled at debilitating magic such as blinding and crippling our muscles. We struggled into the place only to find something inside was beginning to affect us...Alarice suddenly began to mutter about us being against her and went as far as to attack me! I tried to help her but she ran and we chased but then Gran came under it as well and began trying to kill me and then the Gnoll though the elf seemed immune to it. I was immune to it as well we were separated and I found myself alone with the elf fighting an army...she was totally debilitated and I had to protect her. I barley managed to slay the nurses and the head doctor...I nearly met my end with the elf, I managed to get her to Gran where the spells finally wore off and we told Gran about apparently being a patient. He was...angry and demanded the sheet...when he got it Erikka demanded it back...the two argued and I was more or less apathetic..until we burst into the main room and there was a semi sane individual, a doctor who called Gran a doctor as well. This meant much to Gran and little to me..I was still looking for Alarice...if I didn't find her then all would be for naught, what is horrible is I did find her in the same room as that man...he had killed her claiming she was insane, I went into a blind rage swearing at him demanding he hand the body over...I could've saved her but..I had failed she had died and I had failed, she would never forgive me for it, I abandoned my Priestess position to become a Paladin soley to protect her and now she was dead, the man ran off and I swore to Gran I would help him find answers if he helped me find Alarice.

When he agreed he suggested we split up and meet at the stairs, I agreed...Erikka had vanished I do not know where she went, I was exploring frantically trying to find Alarice when suddenly a voice came from behind me and it is something I never expected to hear "Mommy...Mommy is that you" "Mommy...Mommy.." over n over and as I turned I saw her..red hair..gold eyes it was my baby it was my Nalia! She was so old...it had only been nine months but the only logical option was that they had experimented on my baby, damn Father McRyan! erikka came upon me a few moments later as i was kneeling down checking over my little Nalia, ensuring she was unijured...but besides being dirty,scared and mal-nourished I could not see any major problems and was thrilled to have found the child I had failed to protect nine months prior to this little...adventure through the lands had begun. Erikka was less than pleased however and begun to yell and howl at me, demanding I leave the child behind and accusing my little baby of being some kind of monster or some nonsense, the little bitch...she even attempted to hurt Nalia and I, she claims to care but then tried to kill us...then again for now I will chalk it up to this...place. I departed on my own after a brief encounter with an insane Gran...it was unpleasant for I feel a pang of sympathy for Gran due to this place seemingly having ties to him, now that I have found ties of my own. The elf is delusional however for if there was something becoming a child to trick me..how would It know of my Nalia or how much she meant to me? I would know if it violated my mind. We made our way through the asylum after Gran came out of it and into the basement. we had to fight through a host of insane nurses and other inmates before finding the dangerous cells...but the doors were cursed and we very nearly got trapped within them forever. We managed to escape the cursed doors and make our way deeper into the basement where we found a vast treasure trove of items and gold pieces, I took my share of the gold but in the terms of items there was nothing of use for I, a paladin. I took a handful of scrolls and a short bow that takes some considerable strength to pull back I am trying to learn how to fire a bow after all. The Elf got a very powerful whip that was forever engulfed in searing fire, I have no doubt it shall suit her well, with her tactics of striking from beyond the range of honorable combat. However I do not condemn her that much for this as those we fight are without honor as well...at last we fled the Asylum and I spent the night tending to my Nalia...loving upon her. I took her to bath her in a nearby stream and she told me of the sleepless nights where she endured the howling and the screams of the asylum...I cannot believe I left my beautiful daughter to suffer such horrors all alone, I shall never betray her again.

We have moved on from the Asylum and I dutifully tend to my sweet daughter...but the most strange events are happening, the Gnoll,Bard and thief are proclaiming that my Nalia is naught but a rotten corpse that smells, I do not trust them they are fools and always seek to cause me some kind of pain, I am sure they saw the happiness brought to me by Nalia and merely wished to condemn that very happiness because they remain in loneliness. Yet..now Alarice and the Elf both say the same thing and while the Elf is likely just jealous that I do not pay all my attentions to her, Alarice is different she said she loved me once and has tried to prove it to me on occasion so I cannot see her wishing to hurt me for the sake of it. The puppet has once again approached us and demanded we venture down into the depths of a mine inhabited by hostile very angry dwarves to attain a crystal for him..apparently whomever retrieves the crystal will be granted the answers they seek. The cavern was unpleasant to say the least the dwarves had a very impressive defense set up with artillery and cross bowmen lining the walls to which we could not access without going deeper into there maze of tunnels than we wished, at least those of us with competency and a wish to see the next dawn. We delved deeper and deeper into there mines cutting through vast hordes of them and fighting through traps, I admit they are quite intelligent, they had designed the doors to lock after us and send these machines at us meant to hack and slice us up, weak however when faced with the Gnoll and I's mighty cleaver like blades, we made short work of them and the Elf's fire whip and Alarice's fireballs assisted greatly. As we descended into a rather large chamber with a large amount of scaffolding standing up I noticed a purple glow, I was not the sole person as many of my companions cried out that we had found the crystal, it however was more heavily guarded than the remainder of the caverns thus far and a swarm of the dwarves rushed us. These were led by a rather powerful Dwarf who had the look of a brutal torturer upon him, Mathan,Erikka and I charged head long into the first wave followed quickly by Gran and Alarice, I know not where the bard was...possibly cowering in a corner. All I could hear were screams around me I could not even hear my own voice above the din of the dwarves as my great sword cleaved them apart and hacked off limbs or whilst the Elf's flaming whip flayed them alive or while Mathan took them in half with a single powered stroke...it took us almost twenty minutes but soon I was pushing the final wave of them back through a doorway with the aid of Gran...we had to find the bodies of the Bard and the Elf both of whom were badly wounded. While I tended to the Elf as she recovered Mathan examined the crystal with the bard....the Bard foolishly attempted to destroy the scaffolding and nearly brought the crystal down upon all of our skulls. The Gnoll must have taken a shot to the arm because when he went to take a chunk from the crystal his blade simply skittered off of it and did no serious damage. The elf tried moments later and failed too and then using my sword I thrusted into it and managed to crack and snap off a healthy chunk of glowing crystal. With the Crystal in hand I voiced my wish to leave and much of the group agreed with me but unfortunately the Gnoll and one of the others wanted to find the treasure vault...so we continued to delve deeper, both Gran and I voiced our anger at not having left once we had the crystal in hand. We entered yet another room where the dwarves lay in ambush for us but this time they had animated treasure chests waiting to kill us...yes flying treasure chests never before have I seen the like! I found it slightly ironic that normally they are lethal just sitting there with there traps on them but now they could fly and attack us. We rested in that room for a few minutes, Alarice and I recovering our spells along with the bard, quickly enchanting everyone with added armor and better weaponry Alarice prepared herself while the rest of us investigated the nedxt room, we found the Dwarf leader and a large number of his troops...we cut past his guards and found that the leader himself was a powerful mage...after a long and difficult battle we defeated him and looted his temples remains...I found myself feeling..disgusted and horrible at having defiled a temple...How far have I fallen? Thankfully I took only a small gem and some minor scrolls...if I took anymore I do not recall it but my mind is so focused on Nalia..I worry so for her. We left the miens after that...and ventured to speak with the Puppet...though my companions more so the elf and the woman I love continued to tell me my daughter was a corpse..I found my rage building and my...worry that they were plotting something growing. When we reached the surface I rushed to grab Nalia and after a brief encounter with that brat Shia, I bribed her to take me to the puppet where I used my crystal to ask him of Nalia and of my mental state...what he told me chilled my bones, his exact words escape me but it was along the lines of osmething having invaded my mind and that my mind could not handle the strain....of being a traitor and it was breaking under that tension. According to him it wouldn't be long before I lost it completely...A traitor...am I such a thing..?


It...has been awhile since I wrote in here..I now sit in the upper story of a house in a small village in Ghennova's borders and wonder what in the world has been going on with me as of late, the puppet it seems was somewhat right there was something within my mind that I couldn't fight alone, It nearly caused me to attack Alarice and I apparently injured Erikka quite badly as well. Nalia...was indeed dead, nothing more than a half goblinoid corpse not that I would have ever discovered that upon my own, my sense of smell and touch and even taste was disillusioned, when I kissed her forehead it tasted like a clean baby. Alarice combined with the Efforts of Erikka managed to break the curse though in the end it was the woman I love, the mage of our little group that used a powerful scroll to break the strange spell cast upon me. When I came out of it...I was dazed and confused and have only now begun to realize where I am, the trek through the dangerous swamp, the distance of my comrades the injuries inflicted upon Erikka...I am guilty of much in the name of that corpse. The trip to this city was apparently not overly dangerous save for the Monk who wandered ahead and was eaten by a group of extremely large, fanged cats something like Lions but..far larger, more muscled and with far bigger teeth and claws, we managed to save her...though I do not know why..I still cannot remember exactly when she joined us but she is quite...rude. Erikka has been poisoned we know not by whom or by what only that it was before I was cured...but apparently I attempted to trick and lie to her...this is not like me...lying is against my tenants, I am going to pray throughout the night to discover what is wrong and hopefully on the morrow...things shall be clearer....


((Insanely long, I apologize I really must write more often...)

[Moondog]

Mathan's Journal:

I write this as I lay in an open room in a piss-ant, worthless village in a worthless swamp full of worthless beasts. But I'll get to that shortly.

After waking up from a pleasant night's study, I joined the group, who all decided that, now that they're quite thoroughly paid, would do well to head to Ghennova.

I have business there myself. Business with the Mago, perhaps the Luna. Either family should be more than capable of procuring or producing both the information -and the item I need. In addition, I believe that the rather nutty mage we encountered in the manor, who animated Gran's pants is of the Mago family. It might be worth-while to follow up on that lead. He doubtless has information worth far more than any temple's gold stores.

But I digress. We headed to Ghennova, going towards a swamp road, only to find a bunch of bandits harrassing a somewhat attractive human women. I am not exactly a 'good' person, nor am I a 'kind' person. But even I have standards - and I absolutely hate bandits. People who hold others up for money, getting in their way? Reprehensible scumbags.

Real men don't waste their time harrassing random peasants. They plan and stalk nobles, waiting for them to leave town and then ambush them on the road. Take their carriage, then hold them for ransom. It's quite simple - and far more effective, and less offensive.

That... and she had the calm look of someone who wasn't concerned with the bandits. Judging from her clothing, which was loose in the right places to allow for freedom of movement while fighting, and the grace she moved with, I guessed her to be a 'monk', or as I like to call them 'Those really fast bastards who run up to things and punch them'. I've always wanted to try my hand at being a monk, but I lack the self-introspection for it.

People like that don't come around every day - you always want to watch them. They're dangerous. To that end, I decided the best thing to do would be to walk up to the bandit leader and stab him in the face with my greatsword.

Which I proceeded to do. Amazingly, he survived, and managed to get in a few hits. No big deal, really. I'm rather used to it. He died quickly and painfully, while the rest of the group just stared at me as if me killing people was something new.

The woman introduced herself as Tane. Tane... something or other, I stopped listening past Tane. She was, as I had guessed, a monk. Not an initiate of the Sun Soul, nor of the Long Death, or even the Yellow Rose, despite her making use of the Long Death order's equipment. "Interesting" I thought at the time.

As often happens, she ended up traveling with us. Another woman with... frankly, terrifying powers. I'm starting to feel quite... isolated.

But, as I don't know her - nor her agenda, if she has one, or even the full extent of her abilities, I am going to tread carefully around her. To that end, I've decided to play up the 'I'm a crude thug' angle.

As he always told me, 'Nobody expects brilliance from a fool.' To that end, nobody plans for them to do things aside from foolery.

My plans are... if not delicate, than precise. They require no interruptions, and entail a great deal of danger. Far better if, when I'm knee deep in ritual, they assume I am knee-deep in prostitutes instead.

Again, I digress. The monk accompanied us through the swamp, which was full of crocodiles (handbags for everyone!), a couple large serpents, and even a pride of massive, saber-toothed cats. Tane, who is able to move at speeds that would make a coffee-infused kobold who had been lit on fire jealous, managed to get surrounded by the whole pack before I could get there, and... well, it wasn't pretty. Luckily, she lived.

Through the swamp we went, 'til we could went no more. Water got in our way, and there was no way in hell I was going into that mess. Leeches, giant eels, crocodiles, you name it. There's no knowing what lurks in swamp-water.

So, I found a tree and pushed it over, straining my massive muscles. We crossed.

This was repeated, though, this time the tree proved more than I could manage alone, and everyone pitched in quite handily. With that section of the swamp handled, we strolled into a small little village. An old woman greeted us, and I busied myself with tossing a dart into a nearby pirate's skull. He never saw it coming.

With lodging secured, we went our seperate ways - in as much as we could. It was getting late, and it turns out that the bridge we needed to cross had been washed out by the constant rain.

Unable to progress, and with little in the village to occupy my time, I did the only reasonable thing. I hired a courtesean. I escorted her upstairs to our room, which, for some painful, ungodly reason, had no doors - and the only room that was 'private' in any sense was occupied by one passed out mage.

So she and I talked a bit, mostly about Ghennova. I grilled her for information, that kind of thing. Among other, infinitely more interesting activities. Well. They didn't reaaaally have the time to get properly interesting, as Rosery and Erikka came into the room. Erikka, who I had helped deal with a rather nasty spot of poisoning earlier, I could understand. But dammit, she could have at least had the decency to pass out after she got into the room, not sit there talking with the paladin.

It's hard to ignore those two when they get started with their hacking and wheezing and "Ugh, this poison hurts so bad" and whatever else they were talking about. Let me tell you, it is not easy to ignore that kind of thing, especially while paying attention to not hurt the poor woman too much.

So, anyway. They kept talking, I kept doing my thing, and then Gran and Tane showed up. Gran, my man, my best friend ever, did the only proper thing and stood in front of the door to my room, so as to keep some of the distractions outside away.  Tane stared for a moment, then shook her head and walked off.

Alarice, somewhat to my surprise, didn't even comment.

Eventually, we concluded our business transaction and I walked on downstairs to see what was going on. Gran and I chatted a bit. Then I hit the ale, as there was absolutely nothing else to do. Erikka threw some teeth at me, I don't know why. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I recall sleeping.

I woke up! Then we all, after a bit of delay, headed down into the sewers which I believed to lead us to Ghennova. Or somewhere else, anywhere but that terrible little village. We sliced and diced our way through bandits and soldiers. I don't know what in the 9 Hells of Baator they were doing down there, but we killed them just the same. A few archers, all of whom were apparently loading poisoned arrows got in some lucky shots, and quite nearly brought me down.

Bastards.

Those same archers were all able to cast spells. They all cast Entangle. I. Hate. That. Spell. I've never been the most agile person - so I can't bob and weave through the shit like Erikka and Gran can. I can't do anything from far away like Milli and Alarice can. Rosery... hell, I don't know how she manages to avoid the crap. Probably some divine power from being a palading. I'm not immune to it like Dalton was.

Bastards.

With that spell in place, I'm essentially made worthless in the fight. I can't get to them, since they all center the spell in the same place. I avoid one strand, four others get to me. Even if I manage to avoid all of them, miraculously, I'm slowed to a crawl, while they all shoot me. Repeatedly. With poisoned arrows.

I'm getting tired of it all, to be honest. I'm all but useless in anything but a straight fight. If there're entangles, auras of madness, particularly supernaturally frightening things, I can't DO anything. I end up stuck, confused, or horrified beyond belief, while just about everyone else can fight on and ignore it.

I hear there are armors, rings, bracers, necklaces, belts and boots all enchanted with various things that would let me simply ignore all of those horrible spells. But I've never seen any. Not for sale. Not in treasure hordes. Nowhere. Ah well. At least I'll remain useful for as long as there are straight, no magic using fights.

Bastards.

We sliced those damn archers to bits. And they deserved every one of those cuts. Then we found a corridor full of traps. Horrible, deadly traps. Traps so powerful, even Alarice's most potent spell couldn't hope to match the amount of sheer, outright destruction they were capable of unleashing. One of them nearly disintegrated me.

Hextor stepped in, and saved me for once. I was, and still am amazed and grateful for this. With that done, I decided to leave the absurdly deadly corridor alone and go the other way.

Long story short, we found a room full of bad guys, whom we quickly slaughtered. I kicked down a door and found a bunch of money - nothing else, save a want I can't use, a suit of armor that, while it resists magic, has poor protective abilities and is therefore useless to me, and a bundle of enchanted arrows. I stuffed them all in my pack. I'll give them to whomever wants them. No real reason for me to haul them around. About nineteen thousand pieces of gold, all told.

Well, we also had to slay some manner of insane mage-shape-shifter-golem-demon summoner. It was quite thoroughly disturbing. First he summoned these absolutely gorgeous winged women who, much to my dismay, decided it would be a good idea to kill me.

With a heavy heart, I cut the bitches in half, and then went back to counting my gold - but I was swiftly interrupted by large, vulture-like demons. Vrocks, they are known as. I slew them too. Then the Dretches, then the Glabrezu, which proved quite a challenge.

Then eventually the crazy mage, whom Alarice turned to stone, I think. He blabbed on about being given power. Apparently, he had some Black Dust. Erikka swiped that, much to my amusement.

We found some fool who had been taken hostage in the sewers. With him in the entourage, we came back up into the town and relaxed a bit. I tried out a new trick of mine, chatted with Gran, Rosery and Erikka, and retired to bed shortly.

[Kasumioji]

Most Recent Entry in Erikka's Journal:

I guess I do not write in this journal enough... It is amazingly empty. Our party is falling apart... Rosery and the Mage are parting ways. The Mage is becoming a fairly large pain in the ass. Mathan is much more bearable lately. Gran... I don't talk to him much, so he is pointless to mention here. And the monk... I'll opt not to say anything about her. I tried to follow Correlon, but... I do not think he was a wise choice for me. I cannot completely follow his word, considering my situation and personal set of skills. However, I have been talking to the gnoll in private about the different Deities... I believe Heironeous will be a better choice of gods for me. I plan on searching for a Church of Heironeous when we get to Ghennova. And I hope that Rosery will help give me guidance on the path of a god's Champion. Being a paladin, she would know, right? And Churches won't be readily available for me to go to on our quest.

As for the quest itself... Our most recent trip into a dungeon, which we are still on, has been... Interesting. There isn't much actual fighting in this one, which is a pleasant break. Some living furniture here and there, but that is about it. The puzzles and riddles, though... They are very troublesome. Though, again, it is a nice break from fighting for our lives left and right. I did find some amusement in the Guantlet chamber... Though it was short lived, as Mathan answered a riddle that Rosery was trying to finish, taking her chance away from her. And he was hit by... Something. I'm assuming the room could sense cheating or whatever. I do wonder what the rest of the dungeon has in store for us?

[Moondog]

Mathan's Journal - and a doodle of what looks like a shark.

Tricks, Traps, and the most painful punch I've ever felt!

FINALLY out of that pissant little village, and none-too soon. I was running out of things to do, and I fear what I may have had to start doing if we weren't able to make any more progress.

The bridge had finally been fixed, so off we went. Through swamp, past snakes, past goblins on large wolves, you name it. I even had the chance to stab some orcs. My chance was short-lived, however, as my luck with spellcasters of all varieties held. As soon as they came onto the field of battle, they took one look at me and all lobbed a paralysis spell my way. Bravely, I fought the first one. Valiantly, I shrugged off the second, and the third. But the fourth one got me.

Then it was business as usual. Being pummeled with magic missile swarms that I had no chance of ever defending against. Luckily, I was with friends, and they slaughtered the orcs, leaving me standing around stiffer than a teenaged boy in a brothel. Like a jackass.


After the orcs, we found our way to a gate that led to the community of Agral, a rather nice place, all told. A minor theif problem, but we handled that rather quickly. Well, that is to say, I handled it. By breaking into the theif's place of residence and punching his accomplish until his arm broke off.

Don't ask me how I punched his arm off, but I did, and it flew off and began spewing bones and blood. Pretty neat, to tell the truth.

I continued punching the man, as he was insistent on putting up a fight, and, well, it was amusing. I punched his OTHER arm off, and he proceeded to try to kick me.

I punched his torso off, and he died like any decent person would have. I ought to punch things more often.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

It turns out that we met up with Milli again, and she brought us to this one guy that could have been, and I swear, Gran's uncle or brother or cousin, the face-fur was uncannily similar.

He wanted us to retrieve a crown, so we could plunder a tomb, so we could bring back some artifacts and other nice things, including the Rod of The Riddle King or something, I wasn't paying much attention. I was busy listening to the sound of money in my head, and somewhat surprised I met a werecat in the city.

So, I grabbed the teleport ring, and off we all went into a maze-labyrinth full of riddles, traps, and mind-puzzles.

Well, in we were. I hacked up some beetles, got bitten by a spider, whose venom somehow bypassed my horse-like constitution and slowed me down considerably. No big deal. Shortly, we came across a woman made of metal! She only budged when the correct answer to a riddle was given.

Despite appearances, I'm rather clever so I answered the riddle swiftly, and the door opened. This repeated, with us taking turns on the riddles as we went.

Eventually, we split up, each of us going to tackle seperate riddles. Alarice and Thane, both of whom have far greater ability with numbers and patterns than I ever shall, dealt with the Sphinxes, while I walked off to deal with the Cross of Lights.

I spent a good half hour just staring, somehow managing to completely over look the point of the puzzle - but once I got it, it moved along pretty swiftly. I had to surround a red core of light with a yellow, to form a cross of light. With that done, I collected a pair of rings - rings that're very important.

Milli went to deal with the Zen room, which was, uh. An interesting matter. We had to come back to that one later, as everyone needed to be together for it.

Myself, Milli, and Erikka went to a trio of rooms, solving puzzle after puzzle without too much issue. In the last, the 'Gauntlet' we had to solve more riddles. I solved the first two without problem - and the third one had me puzzled for a bit. Erikka found the right solution, she just forgot to implement it all the way through.

The fourth or third, I've lost count, I was going to leave to the Paladin to solve, but while reading it, I thought aloud, and ended up solving the riddle accidentally. The words 'When reversed, we are worshipped' were what clued me in. Still, with just one line, I hadn't expected to hit on the correct answer.

The second to last door, however, was far beyond my abilities. Give me actual words to play with, levers to pull and what not, and I'll deal with it. But cyphers and code and numbers, no thank you.

Eventually, we grabbed up to ten or eleven rings. We opened up the last door, found the King's Sarcophagus. I realized that adding two more rings to that, and then closing it would trigger something, so I did so.

I'm neglecting to mention the massive death golem that nearly splattered me against the wall. Just thinking about it makes my ribs hurt.

Either way. Putting the rings in the box triggered a portal - I know not where it leads.

inside the sarcophagus were some interesting things. A staff, which Tane took, I believe, a Suit of Armor, which I grabbed, as mine had slightly fewer holes than a slice of swiss cheese, an enchanted Kukhri, I know not who grabbed that, and some scrolls, which I nabbed since nobody else seemed to want them. I'll pass those out when I get the next chance.

This was, perhaps once of the most interesting places I've been. I had feared that, in a place where one's mind was far more important than one's brawn, I would be made rather useless. It makes me glad to know my brain works just fine.

Though, I fear I may well have displayed a bit more smarts than I ought to. I wouldn't want to lose my 'thug' image.

[/size]

[Kasumioji]

Most Recent Entry in Erikka's Journal:

This... This time things took a slightly more confusing turn. First of all, Mathan got the staff thing we needed from Kamu... Only to find out that doing so was some sort of loophole for the demon, who then had a contest of wits with the rest of our group. Mathan with the help of the others defeated the demon. I, unfortunately, was unable to contribute anything to these efforts. After we escaped that... Odd confrontation, we happened upon a Shrine to the Goddess of Fate, Istus... Or something like that. I do not believe that telling the future is possible, personally. If a seer predicts the future and then tells others about it, those others will then be able to change the events using the new knowledge. The future is ever-changing, thus making it impossible to fully predict. However... The woman said she knew we were coming and knew things about us that we ourselves did not know. And... She said that I would break my own personal oath and kill again in the future... She also said that the people I am being hunted by are enemies the danger of which no one has ever made before. I had hoped she was wrong. Of course, this was not the end of the events for today, as we confronted Karlos Mago. Of course... I had to kill many of the guards. However, this did not mean the seeress was correct... The guards and consorts and mages attacked us... I killed them to defend myself and the rest of my companions. I only hope I am not compelled or forced to kill someone who does not deserve it... I hope I am not forced back into the title of "Assassin" later. After fighting his minions, we were confronted with Mago himself... For mere moments. He somehow made us fall for hours through a hole... Or what seemed like hours. When we landed and awoke, none of us were in our own bodies... I woke up in the body of a goblin. Rosery was in that of a dwarf. Gran and Alarice seemed to get lucky... They merely switched bodies, though Alarice's body's skin color was lighter than usual. And Mathan... Mathan turned into a Cow. Milli merely gained weight. This bothers me quite a bit... I miss my own body... And I much prefer Rosery's usual beauty to that of the dwarf she has turned into. Rosery is, of course, more worried about the mage's loss of her own beauty, though I highly disagree. I imagine all involved are worried about the return to their normal forms as opposed to these new shapes. I hope we change back soon... (The writing is much more scribbled and less elegant than it usually is, due to her being unused to the hands of a goblin)

[Moondog]

Moo.

Moo.

[Kasumioji]

Moo.

Moo.

((OMG *laughs and coughs maniacally (damned cold)* Best story thread post EVER.))