Year 2, Day 18-19

Feeling a little worse for wear, Arad, Kaellana, and I proceeded deeper into Raver territory. I'm not sure what happened to Aramel and the hell guy, but we left them behind, presumably they'll meet up with us again at some point. Now that I look back, Aramel was probably digesting, in some way, all of the grappling ravers that just attacked us. Confident in the abilities of my companions, and still knowing that I needed to grow accustomed to my new form, we struck out, hopefully into danger.

After a while of wandering through the rubble choked alleys, our group emerged into a large open square that appeared to be filled with clumps of people that milled around aimlessly. In the center of the square, a squat reddish stone building sat, apparently pierced in place by the greenish glassed floating tower that had fallen into it sometime ago. From what Sister Fela had told us, the conjoined buildings must be Culrick Hall, supposed home of the Stonekeeper Ravers. Knowing that they might be watching us, in addition to the veritable crowd of people before us, I felt we needed to make an impressive entrance.

I quickly conferred with Kaellana and filled her in on my scheme. With a mischievous grin, she transformed into a brown bear and I leaped atop her back. Once settled, we charged across the square to the tower in case an waiting Ravers might try to take us down from afar with arrows or magic. Nothing stirred from the structure, as far as we could tell, and all we truly managed to accomplish, was terrifying the children and a goodly number of the scags living in this benighted district.

Now that we were closer to the building, the architecture struck me as familiar and I remembered reading about a group of dwarves that were known for their construction of squat, fortress-like buildings whose entrances were flanked by two statues of their ancestors. Filing that information away for the future, we ventured inside and found, to our dismay, that Kaellana would need to revert to her true form if she was going to explore the building easily. Shattered glass from the fallen tower had inundated a great swath of the interior, and it was only by the gift of my dastardly quick feet that I was able to scamper through without falling.

While my companions were making their own way to follow me, I was using one of the new gifts I had recieved from being turned into a deep halfling: darkvision. The rare, narrow slits, that the dwarven builders had included in their building were woefully inadequate for a normal human to navigate by, but I could now ignore that concern. The first door I opened led to a strange sight as what appeared to be a wooden wall sat not five feet in front of my, blocking my view into the room. I soon learned why as two brutish orcs wielding greataxes came charging out from their hiding places, roaring mindlessly. Now, while I'm always up for a challenge, getting accosted by axe wielding maniacs in the dark, in a room that could hide a dozen more for all I know, with my companions on the other side of a field of glass didn't seem like a winning proposition so I tred to extricate myself from the room as safely as possible.

This worked, to a degree, as I was able to make my way back into the hall and survive as my companions joined me. Then the orcs' true skills came to light as they chopped my greatspear in twain. Weaponless, I was perplexed as to what I could do given that I had recently lost all my possessions and back up weapons. Luckily Kaellana, who was loosing arrows and magic from the ceiling above me, dropped her quarterstaff and crisped the offending orc with a searing ball of fire. I scooped up her weapon, and in my rage at losing my former weapon, launched a devastaing strike that cause the last orc to gasp in shock as he crumpled in a heap of death.

What occurred next was dismaying, but as a group we managed to survive. The orcs had had more companions in the room and with their penchant for attack our armor and weapons, I lost the quarterstaff and Arad's spare scimitar over the course of seconds. Seeing what needed to be done, I raced back to the first orcs we had slain and lifted up their massive weapons to use against the rest of their compatriots. By this time, the druid's magic had taken a sever toll and while Arad lost an enchanted shield, his thick armor protected him from falling that day.

Afterward, weaponless as I was, I collected four more axes to carry around in my pack as I wielded one in my hands. Though they were ludicrously sized, I placed my trust in my ability to learn to use almost any weapon and after we had barricaded the room to heal and rest, I spent an hour learning how to effectively wield the cumbersome weapons with my diminutive frame.

With that out of the way, we continued our exploration of the first floor of the building, facing naught but disgusting rats that made one think that simply looking at them would cause some sort of contamination. Then seeing the way ahead of us sloping up through a jagged glass tunnel into the fallen tower, we took a moment to consider how to proceed.

-A.N.-
aka. Alton Goodbarrel

Year 2, Day 11-18

Having successfully recovered the schema, we confidently headed back up to Frellwit's waiting cart only to discover that he and the wolf pack had disappeared, along with Arad's undead horses and the trebuchet. Exiting the cave quickly revealed a possible explanation, though, as we were confronted by four four armed, four headed giant skeletons and their apparent cloaked master astride and undead looking dragon thing. Garos, as she called herself, demanded the schema we had just recovered but Aramel, speaking for all of us, quickly fireballed her and some of her minions while Arad's skeletons and i charged into melee range.

In hindsight, given that we did have two copies of the schema AND these giants had four of everything AND Garos was riding a dragon, we probably should have handed the schema over without resisting, but that simply isn't our style. Ultimately the battle proved to be completely one sided as the giant skeletons shrugged off all of our attacks without faltering. After one exchange with the skeletons I was on my last legs and was thinking it was high time for a tactical withdrawal when I realized that I would have to contend with the black tentacles and web spell that Aramel had just cast to hinder the skeletons' progress. As Tara and Arad pulled Kaellana's unconscious form to safety, I heard Aramel call out, "Sorry", as they headed deeper into the cave. A moment later a skeletal hand clove into my side and I crumpled as darkness took me, but not before I had the pleasure of experiencing the burning sensation as another of Aramel's fireballs was unleashed in my vicinity, killing me.

-------------------------------------------

I'm not sure how long I wandered, though I was later told it was three days, as my soul was set adrift on ephemeral currents once it was released from my body's grasp. What I experienced is impossible to describe, and even harder to remember as the memories fade from my mind. I do remember feeling a tugging at my core as I drifted that pulled me back from the nether, back to Eberron. When I first opened me eyes, things seemed slightly off, though I was relieved to see Kaellana looking down at me with Tara prowling in the background. As I stood, I realized that something was drastically wrong, as my eye level only came up to Kaellana's waist... WHICH MEANT I WAS ONLY TWO AND A HALF FEET TALL!!!

I had conflicting emotions while Kaellana explained that the rest of the group had escaped the Mournlands and after reaching Ruuqan Draal, she had reincarnated me. Which was why I now found my soul in the body of a deep halfling... Feeling the urge to celebrate my renewed life, despite its height challenges, I asked Kaellana if she wanted to help me out... though she declined most rudely. Leaving her in the dust, I went around knocking on doors, whilst completely naked I might add, until I found Aramel and Arad. Though they were initially surprised, once they realized it was me, Aramel gave me some boots and a cloak, and Arad gave me his halfling identification papers for one 'Alton Goodbarrel'. Learning that Worsa and her pack were hanging around outside of Ruuqan Draal, I quickly sped off, careful to keep my cloak shut so that I wouldn't cause too much excitement at my passage.

I reached Worsa and struggled to get her to recognize it was me, though my new form proved quite a difficulty. All i really wanted was to let her know not to eat people and stick to the wilds where she and her pack would be the safest.. (teardrop on page) And then she sped off to the north, saying something about seeking colder lands.

After that I returned to the inn the party was staying at after picking up a small greatspear and chain shirt. I had the delightful experience of learning that Garos had returned to my body, taken all of my magical or useful belongings and then cut off one of my original body's hands, so I was forced to resupply with the funds I had remaining, which she somehow missed. We soon sought out a message post and found that Lady Ellandre had left us word telling us to look for a ship at the docks that would return us to Sharn.

We found it quickly enough and the bugbear captain led us to the elven historian that owned the yacht. We learned that she and Lady E were colleagues and that our names had been passed on because we were supposed to be good at obtaining items, though the whole returning with them was another issue altogether. Apparently her estate in Sharn had recently been burglarized and a marble hand had been stolen with her defenses and magical traps all skillfully circumvented. The only clue she had was the body of one of the supposed thieves, a Raver from the Fallen district, a devastated slum that had been mostly destroyed when one of Sharn's floating towers randomly fell out of the sky a century ago and crushed it. We had already failed at our other task and figured that doing this was better than nothing, and agreed to look into the matter.

The days passed uneventfully though I did befriend a hobgoblin general who agreed to spar with me on the aft deck. I think he underestimated me because of my size, but I still retain most of my attributes and abilities from before I died and managed to knock him out with our practice swords. Oddly enough I never saw him again after that first night and when I asked anyone about his whereabouts they became upset, saying that they hated hobgoblins and that one would never be allowed on the ship.

We eventually reached the Fallen district and met our contact, a sister from a Chapel of the Silver Flame, and I tried to be as civil as possible considering that I frelling dislike those zealots, though she actually seemed to be fairly sane and nice for a believer. With her direction, we headed towards Raver territory where we were quickly ambushed in a narrow alley strewn with barricades. There were only about a half dozen raves, but their annoying tactic of trying to grapple us into submission quickly proved to be extremely effective. Arad was pulled into a three way while everyone else had to contend with their own partners. Thanks to my size, I had considerable difficulty, though Aramel managed to save the day by polymorphing into a huge multi-limbed creature that could eat the ravers one by one.

With the way this past week has gone for us, things do not look well.

-A.N.-
aka ~ Alton Goobarrel

Year 2, Day 11

Heading down the dimly lit tunnel, we found ourselves looking at three doorways when a direwolf and two regular wolves emerged from two of them. To everyone's surprise, the direwolf spoke to us, while watching us cautiously. While I'm sure some members of our party may have been inclined to kill the creatures, I could only think of how amazing it was that I was talking to a wolf; awesome! Through polite inquiry I learned that Worsa, the direwolf, must have been some sort of Cannith test subject at one point, but she gained sentience, most likely, during the cataclysm that created the Mournlands.

Having moved closer to her, we found that the doorway that none of the wolves had emerged from seemed to be locked with an opening that would require an orange colored key rod. We decided to keep an eye out as we searched the facility and found that Worsa would be more than happy to help us if we agreed to kill a mechanical wolf that was keeping her separated from the rest of her pack. Searching the two rooms open to us, we found some weapons and pools of water, but the only thing of note was that Worsa's lick of Arad managed to heal some of his wounds. Setting off to confront the mechanical terror, we headed to the main rotator and allowed Worsa to guide us.

A familiar hallway with dim glow globes yawned before us before it angled out of sight. Moving forwards quickly brought us to the attention of our semi-lupine foe and Arad quickly sent his skeletons into the fray to ward off the large beast. Once it came close enough, we could see that it appeared to be a large wolf that had had metal plates and objects grafted into its body. We all brought our implements of choice to bear, weapon, magic, and bony claw, and while the creature seemed capable of slowing the movements of one of the skeletons, I resisted the effect and continued to lash out at it. The battle was over quickly, but Arad lost one of his most trusty followers, the undead thrall we called "Clumsy".

Alas, he shall be sorely missed.

We quickly set about freeing Worsa's pack and while they joyously reunited, we set about searching this section of the facility, keeping our eyes out for the schema all the while. Tucking away items of interest, I addressed Worsa and found out that what she wanted now was to escape with her pack from White Hearth and run free on the surface. I'm surprised by what I did next, but I think I understand why now. The wolves remind me... of myself, feeling this unspoken kinship, I couldn't agree to help them without trying to explain the realities of present day Cyre. I could tell Worsa didn't comprehend the dangers I tried to describe, but I managed to convince her to wait until we left before leaving White Hearth so that we could lead them out of the Mournlands. Following this, we manged to contrive a system for getting the wolves up the ladder into the caverns above and thanks to one of Kaellana's druidic spells, Worsa was able to run right up the walls somehow.

I led the pack to the cavern before Frellwit's cart and had to deal with more of his shystery antics while he hemmed and hawed about being paid and staying in the cave but though the simple application of addition, forced him to realize an error in his counting, the fool.

Before we descended into the depths of White Hearth again, I retrieved one of the regenerating bodies for the wolves to snack upon, and then rejoined my companions. In short order we proceeded to explore the rest of the facility, finding storerooms, laundry rooms, still magically automated, a study, a dining hall, and the fearsome firestorm room that Worsa had mentioned to us. Entering that room we knew we were going to be in for a serious fight as we saw the wet floor spotted with the severely charred remains of bodies. The firestorm soon emerged from the far doorway and the fiery combat that ensued was utterly confusing. Why does something so hot it can burn you also have to be in a perpetual state of rain? Once we were able to land some solid blows on the thing, it seemed to die, and having been engulfed by it, I know that its center was, oddly enough, comprised of ice.

We also found an incredible device in the kitchen area adjoining the dining hall where ten people seemed to be slumped over in their chairs. It looked like a cupboard, but had special compartments that contained spices, could keep food cold, and even cook things. Once we realized what it could do, we knew we just had to have it and spent the time to haul it back to Frellwit's cart, where we some how managed to store it. Then, using the key rods we had been discovering throughout the facility, we went and unlocked the locked room in Worsa's wing, finding someone's private bedchambers which we immediately ransacked. Taking everything of value, Aramel used something called a rope trick to create a pocket dimension where we found the oppression and restriction on magical use to have been completely nullified. If we ever make any other sojourns into the blasted lands we definitely need to remember that trick.

The last few things we found as we stumbled around the facility looking for the schema were a strange room that projected the illusion of another that just so happened to contain metallic, diamond shaped plates and a trap. We went down the last unexplored hall and plugged in the orange key we had just discovered hanging on the wall in the illusion room. This promptly caused this second rotator to angle downwards and jerk to a halt, throwing only me and one of Arad's minions off of the platform, down what must have been a thirty foot fall to crash into some water. Luckily no one else fell thirty feet and I was able to hold my breath long enough for the rest of them to drop a skeleton weighted rope so that they could lift me out of my predicament as I held my breath and hoped.

Shortly, dripping wet, we fumbled around on the control panel and the rotator revealed a new hallway. Apparently, the orange rod did lead to a new section, it simply went to the trap the first time it's used. Heading down the new hall we could see glaringly bright light coming from ahead as the temperature started to climb. Aramel, thinking one of the potions we had found earlier might prove of use in warding off the heat, popped the cork and drank it only to discover he had unleashed a fireball in the middle of the group, buffeting everyone severely and almost managing to kill Aramel's familiar, Ku. We were sure it must have died, but somehow it escaped only severely singed. Pressing forward, we found that we had reached the illusion room and we going to start searching it for the schema when two fire elementals attacked, lashing out with burning fists. Teamwork and strength prevailed as we dispatched the elementals and laid claim to the schema we had spent so long looking for.

-A.N.-

Year 2, Day 10

We set off towards the devastated land and the horrors it surely contained with steadfast determination, knowing that we would surely overcome anything we encountered. Luckily for Aramel and his demon guy-friend, who we had been separated from since our tactical retreat the day before, we found them cuddling in a bush on the outskirts of Rose Quarry. The two had apparently fled in the complete opposite direction as us and had been hiding the entire time Arad, Kaellana, Tara, and I had been investigating our next move and fighting zombies. Once they had clambered aboard, Faelian continued towards the Mournlands and soon we were confronted by the towering wall of grayness that delineates the border of what was Cyre.

Sensing his fear, I urged Faelian onwards, knowing that if we never got started, he'd probably try to back out or charge us more gold, and I was becoming slightly aggravated with his haggling. Inside the mist, fog? I'm not really sure what it was but it had a clear effect on the entire party as our light sources were unnaturally dimmed. Depression and despondency seemed to wash over us in unending waves that set a bleak mood over the entire group. Knowing I had to boost morale somehow, I tried to tell some jokes and perform an inspiring tumbling routine in the back of the wagon. Neither were very successful, though I was utterly delighted by the fact that I was at least doing something.

Faelian the Frellwit, as I think he should now be dubbed, eventually admitted once we noticed that we should have been through the gray wall after only twenty minutes, yet he somehow managed to get lost. Kaellana, the only one in our group to have a feeling for which way we needed to go, directed Frellwit, and we eventually cleared the mist, feeling immeasurably better, but with our lanterns still dimmed. Using my map, she then proceeded to choose a new direction that would hopefully lead us to White Hearth.

The blasted and barren lands we passed through were devoid of any semblance of almost life, though the few "trees" and plants that we saw were twisted, thorny, perversions of their natural states. Considering Kaellana's background I would have thought she would have been more moved than she was by the sight, but I suppose her mind was on other things. We shortly came across what appeared to be a recent battle site, but as I inspected the soldier's armors, I recognized them as having hailed from Thrane, Breland, and Cyre. They seemed to have died while fighting around two wagons and a catapult and Arad saw this as a great time to add to his bag o' skeletons. I have to admit, I was disturbed by the desecration of the Thranite bodies as those men were once my own comrades in arms. I mulled this over but realized that they had no need of their skeletons any longer and since Arad wasn't actually binding their souls to the bones, there shouldn't be any harm to them.

Setting out to help him with this task, the rest of the party spread out in a small group around the front of Frellwit's wagon. Of course, just after Arad and I had ventured a short distance to collect the corpses, an eerie rumbling could be heard emanating from the unnatural darkness around us and everyone was attacked by a small herd of skeletal horses that interrupted Arad's preparations. Tossing an everburning lantern out, we helped illuminate a larger area around the wagon and set to our foes with magic and steel. Demon guy-friend used his magics to great effect and reduced two of the abominations to splinters while Aramel and his bodyguard worked on some others. Kaellana, Tara, and I held our ground on the other side of the cart while Arad attempted to force these undead beast to his will. Mere moments after the beasts had emerged from the gloom, more than half of their herd was obliterated, and Arad had 3 new undead mounts, clasping arms included.

Now that we had apparently cleared the vicinity of hostile forces, Arad continued with his animation while we searched the area for anything of use. We moved onwards and after a few hours we realized that we had to be off course, as we should have already reached White Hearth. Through some careful evaluations of our direction, speed, and possible lost direction in the gray mist, I'm sure I impressed everyone by deducing the correct course change we needed to make to reach the Cannith facility. Also, for some reason Aramel and demon guy-friend really wanted to bring the catapult so we attached it to the rear of the cart, and were forced to proceedat a slower apce.

Of course, this then led us directly into the path of a house sized crab encrusted with spines and weapons from the Great War. It emerged, as the undead horses had, from the gloom and our only warning was when it toppled the wagon over on its side. We eventually managed to extricate ourselves from the wreckage and began to deal with the new threat.Arad's horses harassed it while Aramel, demon guy-friend, and Kaellana used ranged attacks. I charged in, using my acrobatic skills to evade the massive crab's claws and punched my spear through it's shell. It focused on the horses, possibly due to their size, unwisely deciding that the were the more serious threat. On my next attack I misjudged the creature's reach and received a punishing blow that sent me staggering back ten feet. I'm sure that if some of the other party members were hit that hard they'd have been toppled or killed. As it was, I retained my feet and readied myself for another attack, but it wasn't needed, as one of the magic casters took it out from afar. A quick search of its exterior yielded an impressive looking set of gloves that are probably magical, and we tucked those away for identification later.

As we continued forwards, we came across a mountain of corpses that looked freshly slain but considered how our encounter with the dead had gone earlier, we decided to press onwards and ignore it, despite the potential for wealth it may have contained. Shortly after this, we came to a large mound that had a well worn trail leading towards its interior through a clearly artificial opening. The house Cannith symbol was in evidence above the mantle and we knew that the we may have finally reached our destination. From atop the mound came a familiar form that I recognized instantly, the undead crow-thing that had been perched atop the chapel in Rose Quarry. Seeing it meant that we were either followed, or beaten to the facility, but my surmising was cut short as the creature attacked, swoping out of the sky to buffet us with its wings. I, in a moment of tactical error, decided to leave my spear int eh wagon and hop out with just my shortbow, as I assumed it would try to fly around instead of landing. Luckily the rest of the group quickly overwhelmed it, though Arad took a severe blow by standing in front of the catapult as Frellwit drove it into the cave.

After the fight, though, we were able to crawl through the wagon into the caves inside and saw that a path led deeper into the darkness. To allow some of our spellcasters enough time to regain the use of their magic, I took first watch inside the cave, watching the passage out of our chamber in case anything tried confront us. My watch passed uneventfully and once I had slept, we all headed into the cave, convincing Frellwit to wait until we came back. We were soon presented with branching paths and followed the first one to our left, as the other one led down. We found a metal hatch inset into the ground and sued the blue crystal tipped rod in the hole that had apparently been designed for it. I got a shocking surprise as a lightning bolt flow out and it me in the chest, knocking me off my feet. This was obviously not the correct entrance to the facility so we took the other path. Working through all of the branches, and using skeletons to open the hatches, we discovered that the lowermost hatch was the actual entrance to the facility... though that probably should have been obvious to us.

Climbing down the ladder that descended from the hatch, we found ourselves on a pedestal in a spherical room with a strange control mechanism with receptacles for spheres of different colors, brown, blue, and green. Through trial and error we stuck the one blue orb we had into one of the sockets and braced as the spherical walls shifted around us to bring the opening through which we had entered, around to reveal a lit hallway heading into the distance.

-A.N.-

Year 2, Day 9

Following our tactical withdrawal from Rose Quarry we had Faelian drive the cart an hour away from the ruined town, putting a good 15 miles between us and any pursuit. Knowing we had to return and investigate the town further, but wanting to be at peak levels, Kaellana and Arad used some of their healing magic to augment any strength we'd regain from resting. It was only as we were bedding down and trying to decide on a watch schedule that I noticed that Aramel and the strange demonic looking companion we had recently acquired were nowhere to be seen. Apparently in our flight they must have been split off from the group and gone to ground instead of returning to the cart.

Volunteering for first watch, I slowly patrolled around the wagon, peering into the darkness but failing to see anything of note, my turn on guard duty was over quickly. Tired from the day's battle and my turn on watch, I quickly bedded down in the wagon bed with Kaellana and Tara, taking a moment to admire the elven druid's face as it was nestled against the fur of her companion's back.

Seemingly moments later, my eyes were rudely jolted open by the two flares of light and fiery heat as unknown assailants targeted our wagon with successive fireball blasts. Arad, on watch, failed to notice the attackers, determined to be kobolds, but was a great help in healing our wounds and while Faelian and Burr were somewhat apprehensive about their personal safety, the promise of more gold always convinced them to hang around. We decided to change location and instead of camping out on the middle of the plains, got Faelian to take us to a depression he figured we could use as cover, though with his somewhat hazy grasp of its location, it took us the entire night to eventually make our way there.

After having rested and healed once more, we hired Faelian on again to take us back to Rose Quarry where we'd try employing more subtle tactics than on our last visit there. In hindsight once we noticed the glass covered dwarven zombies and camp of the Emererald Claw, we should have been more discrete as it was. This time we circled the majority of the town's depression to see if we could identify a relatively clear route in but a number of the zombies we had seen before were spread along the perimeter of the town. Deciding that entering the town and searching the two still standing buildings was our best bet of discovering information about White Hearth, we charged down the hillside from the west to bring us to the rear wall of the large, roofless building. A series of sinkholes and clumps of zombies seemed to be our only true obstacles at the moment and so we dove into the fray, trying to neutralize them as quickly as possible.

From our last battle we knew that when these zombies were struck, glass shards would be flung from their body. Luckily for me, my great spear's reach protected me from this effect, but Tara was not so lucky and Kaellana quickly removed her from the fight to protect her. Through brilliant positioning on my part, the first zombie that attempted to charge me lost its footing and fell into one of the sinkholes. Remembering how tough these zombies were, I realized that it would probably be faster to push them into the holes instead of taking the time to kill them all, and would decrease our chances of being discovered. While I battle with another zombie, Kaellana created a rolling ball of flame that went and engulfed a zombie, slowly charring it as it fought Arad's own minions which had occupied the other half of the first zombie group.

Arad, remembering that he could control the dead, to an extent, managed to force the zombies we were fighting to cower in fear of him, allowing us to begin the process of pushing them into the sinkholes. This process would have gone on perfectly until another zombie quartet decided to investigate our presence with their fists and teeth. Luckily Arad performed the same action and by using their inaction, we managed to neutralize them all by pushing them into the holes. My brilliant plan working flawlessly.

Now that we had created a breach in the enemy's cordon of the ruined town, we crept down the clear alley next to the roofless building we would investigate first. After deciding we couldn't climb the walls to investigate the picking sounds we heard before, Kaellana crept forward and scouted the front of the buildings for guards. Seeing none, we quickly hurried inside and same more of the glass zombies at work, chipping away at the glass that covered the floor. Just as we entered, a zombie carrying rubble came in our direction but we gambled on it being completely focused on its current task. Our luck held out and we proceeded to the main chamber in the building after it had walked by. Several zombies were mindlessly working on clearing the floor here and we saw that a large map seemed to have been engraved on the floor. On each of the other walls, a fireplace was flanked by two animal statues and each one was constructed from a different type of marble; white, red and black.

Taking our time studying the map, we realized that it portrayed central Khorvaire as it must have existed around the time of the Great War. Studying the boundaries on the map we could tell that there were many notations within the boundaries of Cyre, but none were labeled so we could not determine the location of White Hearth until we found out how to read the map. As we considered our dilemma, a low voice said, "Kill them", and we found ourselves under attack by the zombies. Having no convenient sink holes here, Arad stunned the zombies into submission and we whittled them all to death. Hearing and seeing no further response to our presence, we searched the fireplaces, certain that they must yield some clue about the map. Growing frustrated we decided to clear the glass from the two fireplaces that had yet to be uncovered and by happenstance, Arad either saw, or decided to look, at the back of the heads of the statues he was working on. Here he found, written in Common, a location's name, a number, and a direction.

We then worked out that by standing at the fireplaces and following the directions, they led to specific dots on the map. One of the statues bore the directions for White Hearth, and as its position on the map lay within the Cyre, we assumed it was correct. Realizing the value of the map I tried to make a copy of the map with the only materials I had on hand; a chunk of charcoal from the building's burnt timbers, and the back of one of Lady E's letters. Kaellana and Arad, wanting me to get the map right, helped point out locations and relative distances until I had a had a copy of the map inset on the floor.

I didn't know why the Emerald Claw was in Rose Quarry, but just in case they were after the same information we were I took a pick axe to the back of the statues' heads to obliterate the directions that could be found there. Seeing nothing else of interest, and having what we came for, we ignored the temple across the street from our building and departed Rose Quarry as quickly as possible, though Kaellana did notice a gigantic bird sitting on the building's steeple.

We made our way back to Faelian uneventfully and then had to haggle with him to convince him to take us into the Mournlands. Initially he wanted a fifth of whatever we found at White Hearth but we managed to convince him with a hefty sum of 2000gp to settle for that and leave us with the spoils of the Cannith facility. Of course, now that I think about it, we'll probably encounter warforged loyal to the Lord of Blades, who we've already run afoul of, death clouds, aberrant abominations, and an innumerable amount of ways to die in there. Putting some distance between us and Rose Quarry, we began to heal a final time before heading into the blasted ruins of Cyre.

-A.N.-

Year 2, Day 6-8

It took us a while to walk to the outskirts of Ruuqan Draal but after surviving our most recent battle I could care less. Receiving some healing from Kaellana and Arad had me feeling like I was fully hale so the short trip wasn't too onerous. Faelian led us to a small cave off of a road and we started to get suspicious as we realized that there was no wagon in the small cave. Before we could over react, Faelian told us not to worry and muttered some words at the back of the cave. I gem encrusted wagon slipped from the wall, sans any obvious means of pulling it, with its wheels smoothly flowing through the dirt as it sank in about four inches for some reason. Faelian also introduced us to his, as before yet unmentioned, partner, an half orc driver whose name I don't recall.

Explaining that the wagon used a harnessed earth elemental, we squeezed into the back and promptly zoomed off at ridiculous speeds as the wagon whipped along the countryside. It was an exhilarating experience and Aramel was so taken by the wagon that he tried to make the half orc driver an offer but realized he'd made a mistake when the guy quoted an amount of gold I doubt we'd see unless we found a hoard of treasure somewhere.

Anyway, the elemental seemed tireless and ended up pulling the cart the entire distance to Rosequarry in one long haul, Faelian and his friend switching off driving while we rested for the two day trip. We finally slowed to a stop at the top of the hills surrounding the former town and looked down on the old ruins. Some buildings seemed to have been destroyed, others crumbled into decay, and a few seemed to be covered in ice. The firelight of an encampment glittered from amongst some ruined walls and as we approached, Kaellana's sharp eyes were able to make out a number of warriors and skeletal creatures. from her, we also learned that the warriors wore distinctive open mouthed helms that Arad recognized as belonging to the Emerald Claw. Now all I knew about their group was that they were somehow linked to the Blood of Vol, some other group that was involved with death or some such and so I didn't necessarily assume that we needed to be on guard but that turned out to be a mistake.

Making our way down the old road that went through Rosequarry we were soon encountered a group of what appeared to be dwarf zombies with glass embedded in their flesh as they mined the shiny substance that seemed to cover portions of the area. Upon closer inspection, the clear substance scattered throughout the ruins was actually glass. Maybe a remnant of magic gone awry from the Last War or just strangeness due to proximity with the Mournland? My musings had to wait because once we got close enough to the zombies they turned out to be hostile and charged us with their pickaxes. The smooth surface of the glass proved to be treacherous footing and we all had to contend with it as we moved to engage our dead foe. I was soon joined in melee by Tara and Arad's skeletal minions and we lashed into our foes, learning that successful attacks caused razor sharp glass to explode from the dwarven zombies. Shortly after our battle started, a three man patrol from the camp came to investigate the sounds of combat and with a cry of "Intruders!", promptly joined the fray, though they didn't seem to pose as much of a challenge as their undead comrades.
We seemed to be holding our own for a while, but the numbers in the camp soon started to tell as more undead and guards emerged, made even more dangerous by the emergence of two spell casters. The first one to emerge drew my immediate attention as I knew he had to be taken down fast to prevent any of his ridiculous shenanigans. Leaving the fight with the initial zombie miners, I raced across the slippery glass, maintaining my balance, to the first caster's group. While doing so, Aramel cast a web spell at one of the entrances to the enemy camp to hinder their reinforcements. A few seconds later, three skeletons surrounded my but I managed to avoid all of their blows. I was not so lucky when my own blasted wizard hurled a fireball at my group, singing me with the damage, though it also brought down the three skeletons that had attacked me. Meanwhile, Arad was buffing our party members while Tara withdrew from the glass zombies and Kaellana called down lightning from the sky, sizzling into the ranks of the undead.

Time only seemed to add numbers to our enemy's ranks as undead skeletons bearing torches emerged to burn their way through Aramel's web. Warriors wielding bows started targeting him in turn as they too sought to bring down our magic user. Successive hits laid him low but Arad's divine healing allowed him to stand once more. We finally brought down the first spellcaster to emerge from the camp, a large bearded man, but a second one, a woman, appeared moments later behind the torch bearing skeletons. I changed positions once more, moving back towards the dwarf zombies as Aramel webbed the space I left and was lucky enough to receive another fireball for my troubles from the woman. The number of foes had started to daunt my comrades and while I was relishing the fight, I recognize that not everyone can stick it out as long as I can. Aramel was running low on spells and health and so they started to withdraw back towards our wagon. Just in case our enemies sought to attack the other while they fled, I tarried a few moments longer at the front of the battle so that I could strike our enemies if they sought to move past me. In short order we disengaged from the battle while Arad left three of his skeletons to occupy the Emerald Claw force and we made our way back to Faelian's wagon.

Looking back at the battle longingly I realized that we might have to utilize other methods if we wanted to explore Rosequarry for any information about Whitehearth, the secret Cannith research facility. It's not really my style, but maybe some circumspection and stealth are in order. Maybe if we move around the edge of the town and approach from opposite side as the Emerald Claw camp, though now they're aware of our presence...

-A.N.-

Year 2, Day 5-6

It was just past midmorning when we finally made our way up the Ghaal River to Ruuqan Draal. Before us spread the goblin metropolis, its buildings made up of neighborhoods of canvas tents, mud huts, and older structures in various states of repair. In the distance we could make out the tower of red stone, Khaar Nbar'ost, the seat of Lesharok the hobgoblin leader but we turned our attention away as our mission probably wouldn't take us there. Bidding farewell to our marginally competent captain, we headed down the gangway and got the attention of the first goblin to pass us in the city's busy press.


The blighter ignored me when I questioned him, showing a surprising amount of nerve, but was coaxed into talking with us when someone addressed him in goblin. Our contact here was someone by the name of Faelian, supposedly located in the Bloody Market, and we eventually got our less than helpful goblin to give us directions to it. Merging in with the city's foot bound traffic we were surrounded by goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, our group clearly standing out out being comprised as it was with humans and elves, though Arad quickly turned himself into a hobgoblin so that he could fit in.

The Bloody Market's section of the town was filled with muddy canvas tents where every ware imagined was sold. We walked by tents full of weapons, some selling what looked like trash, and some whose tent walls were clearly stained with blood. The incessant babble of the goblin tongue as traders competed with one another, crying out their prices started to grate as our search for Faelian turned up nothing. Turning our attentions to a random goblin merchant, those fluent in goblin managed to find out that our contact was probably located in the Muddy Dagger Tavern, an establishment that catered to those of the non-goblinoid race.


Of course, as we headed back towards the dock front it became clear that the goblin had given us less than useful directions as the tavern was impossible to find. Frustration building, we continued to scour the blocks around the city near where the tavern was supposed to be as the hours trickled by. The only thing of note to mention was that we made the acquaintance of one of those Talenta halfings, the dinosaur riding kind, who introduced himself as Yeroff. Aramel, seeking to add to his number of companions, hired the halfling on but had to pay for the fellow's stable fee. Incredibly enough, Yeroff knew where the Muddy Dagger was and led us to it in short order. Of course, it turned out that we hadn't been able to find the tavern because it didn't have its name on the sign hanging over its door and the image of the "muddy dagger" was anything but, just a splotchy blur on rotting wood.

Heading inside, Yeroff opted to wait outside with his raptor, we saw that the tavern had few customers. A group of elves sat at a table in a corner and a few other patrons we scattered amongst the tables and the bar, apparently non goblins weren't all that common in the city. Heading over to the barkeep, we learned that Faelian was one of the ones sitting alone at a table. Not wanting to startle him, Arad and I went over to him with a mug of ale to give us an excuse to talk to him. After introducing ourselves we could tell that he was nervous about something but he readily agreed to provide us with transport to Rosequarry, an old Cannith mining town where they used to mine rose quarts before the Great War. It was located fifteen miles from the borders to the Mournland and the entire area was enough to bring up some unpleasant memories, but I managed to ignore them for now.

Telling us that he'd have everything ready tomorrow, we got some rooms in the Muddy Dagger and finished buying supplies for our journey. We were awoken early the next morning when Faelian came to our rooms and I was so excited that I decided to tumble up onto his shoulders in the hallway as he led us outside. Taken by surprise, he collapsed to the floor under my weight, apparently halflings aren't used to carrying a human's weight on their shoulders for some reason. Kaellana was one of the only ones who also appeared to be amused by my antics, smothing I'll definitely have to keep in mind for the future. Apologizing slightly, I was still quite entertained, Faelian led us out of the tavern and down some back alleys. While the little fellow didn't seem like the type to double cross us, we soon found the source of his nervousness the day before. Several Bugbears with wings and fire breathing dogs promptly swarmed us from the adjoining side alleys, muttering about how Faelian had double crossed them. We didn't care what he had done since we could cross that bridge after we dealt with the attackers. We needed Faelian alive so these guys had to die, no skin off my nose and I'd never gotten to kill a winged bug bear so I relished the opportunity to charge into battle.

I charged into the fray and found myself contending with the enemy creatures who were also wielding pole arms, a situation I have rarely encountered. Baring my teeth in an anticipatory smile I headed to the front of the alley where they seemed to be coming from in an effort to slow them down so that my party mates could bring their magics to bear. What ensued was a frustrating trial of my body's ability to endure damage as a only managed to hit the enemies a handful of times. The lack of skill I displayed in the battle was shameful, but my training allowed me to survive it while Kaellana called lightning from the sky, Aramel used his magic to hinder the enemy with web spells, and Arad charged into the fray with his skeletal minions. In short order the bugbears were dispatched and we confronted Faelian about the... inconvenience. Using the fact that we had saved his life, we managed to haggle down the transportation fee he was charging us, and not wanting to meet any other disgruntled customers, had him take us to his wagon.

-A.N.-