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.-

Year 2, Day 2-4

The following day we descended from the airy reaches of Sharn's towers and headed to its port that serviced traffic on The Hilt. A for more pleasant journey than our previous forays through the fecal coated sewer systems when we had to enter the lower levels of Sharn. During our journey, though, the group learned that we were being watched. The press of people on the thoroughfare kept me from charging after our spying friends, whoever they were, and they had disappeared down a side alley. Resigning myself to the fact that we wouldn't be able to deal with them right now, we headed to our boat's slip, and boarded.

After setting out on our voyage that day, we relaxed. I particularly enjoyed the trip as it was the first time I had been on a water vessel since the Last War. Nothing scares - no, scratch that - concerns me more than falling into the water and having to seriously concern myself with the threat of drowning or being eaten alive. Who knows what beasts lurk in the depths of the aquatic abyss? As it was, our ship was serving as a cargo hauler and diplomatic transport, as several emissaries and noble family members were occupying the other available cabins on board.

On the second day, I headed to the stern of the ship to practice with my spear. Despite the seemingly tranquil trip I had learned my lessons all too well in a hard school and wanted maintain my skills. Towards the end of my session I heard mutterings coming from amidships where a crowd of passengers and crew were gawking at a shiver of sharks seemed to be swimming alongside the boat. They were bursting from the water in explosions of foam and almost seemed to be behaving like dolphins. Kaellana was nearby so I assumed she must have been communing with the creatures, or even controlling them. Noticing the group of spectators I realized I could probably use the diplomats and nobles to spread the tales of my acrobatics skills by bursting into an impromptu tumbling routine.

Needless to say, I was successful and rewarded with two whole gold pieces for a trifle of effort on my part. Meanwhile, I think Aramel had headed to the stern of the boat and was discharging magical energies into the sea for fun while Arad tried to start some sort of diplomatic incident with one of the other passengers by assuming someone's visage. More importantly than what they had gotten themselves into, I had been approached by middle aged gnomish lady and invited to her room later on in the evening for a further display of my skills. Knowing that the group was surely being hounded for our involvement with the Cannith didn't detract from my desire to entertain myself so I took her up on her offer.

Later that night I want to her chamber wearing my tumbling costume (skin tight and maroon with silver piping) and performed a few more of my routines, delighting her with my strength and flexibility. When she moved from her cabin's couch to her bed I knew things would be moving apace and wasted no time and delving further into my repertoire.

A satisfying time later we parted company, but before we did she pressed a small ring into my hands telling me that if I was in need of help, I should approach her family's house, Ixango, for assistance.Her boon had been completely unexpected but I recognized that it was simply my warblade appeal at work that had allowed me to amaze her so.

The following day would have been of no importance save for a singularly strange occurrence. I was walking along the deck on a constitutional when out of the blue, an octopus plopped down on my head! I quickly disengaged the wet creature and tossed it into the sea, but not before catching a glimpse of Kaellana glaring at me from down the deck. Realizing I had seen her, she spun around and ran off. It was truly bizarre behavior but the more I think about it, she must have summoned that creature onto my head for some reason, though what her motivations are elude me as she rarely speaks to me in any detail. I ignored the event as a random occurrence, after all she was a woman. And an elf.

The last night on board the ship should have been peaceful but we were awoken by a blood curdling cry. Leaping to arms we burst forth from our room, well save Aramel who was assisting his crusader companion with donning his armor, to be confronted by a swarm of skeletal fiends. Leaping into the fray we pulverized bone while Arad managed to assume command of two of the reanimations. Kaellana called upon her animal friends and with all of our attacks combined, we managed to defeat the skeletons. Rushing above deck we found the on watch deckhand slain, his blood spreading in a black pool under the moon's glow. We then eventually managed to awaken the captain who seemed oblivious to the entire attack, somehow our party had been the only ones to realize anything had been awry. Explaining the situation tersely, we showed the captain where the creatures had been fought, and where they had come from. Using quick thinking, Arad made his two skeletons lie on the floor as if they had been killed. Later on once we had the cabin to ourselves, we placed the skeletons in my bag of holding for when they might be needed later.

With our captain's assurance that a double watch would be set, we settled in for the remainder of the night as we floated to port, and the beginning of our next adventure.

-A.N.-

Year 2 - Day 1

It'd been more than a year since our group's glories in the subterranean bowels of Sharn but we found ourselves in the city of towers once more. We'd been working together on and off throughout the year, primarily for Lady E, our House Cannith connection, but we followed our own desires during the off times. For me that meant finding a job that paid me to get into fights, which I always won, of course. I'd also been able to get some practice in on my acrobatics maneuvers throughout the year so that I could pull in a few more gold pieces here and there. Everything helps after all, and if word of my exploits was spread by whispers of my acrobatics feats or combat prowess, then who was I to complain.

On that average day in Sharn, meaning it was pouring of course, we met up and headed over to the message post to see if lady E had left us word of any work. After our sewer venture last year we had suffered some mishaps. Rasnian, Alric, and Tam had all died shortly after our triumphant return with the schema which, I suppose, was a sad event, but I hadn't gotten to know them very well. It must have been especially tough for Aramel in losing a brother, but for an elf he doesn't say much so I don't know how he feels about the situation.

On our way to the post I looked over my other three companions. Kaellana had definitely become more accustomed to displays of overt civilization, such as Sharn's towers, but I knew as one of her core beliefs that she hated all such vestiges with a passion. Why she put up with the surroundings I didn't quite understand, but she had been a valuable ally so I overlooked the inconsistency. Tara looked as happy as she always did when her thick arctic fur was completely soaked by the falling rain, but padded along silently nonetheless. Arad, the Traveller cleric, had eventually revealed that he was actually a changeling only recently. At first I had been suspicious and angry that he had hid his true self from us, but I grudgingly accepted his motives. His type is never really given much of a chance anywhere given their, frankly, unique appearance and the fact that they can change their appearance at will. If we had known what he was from the beginning would we have still treated him the same way? Probably not, and he too had proved to be a valuable ally.

I trusted these four more than anyone else I had met during my life, which was saying a lot, but it probably stemmed from the fact that we had all helped each other survive some pretty tense situations. As we finally got close enough to see the message post through the pouring rain I realized we were probably about to head into another. The front door had been torn off a hinge and hung askew so we readied weapons and magic as we prepared to enter the shop. There were no foes that we could see, but the carefully arranged message scrolls and shelves had been scattered and toppled in some sort of struggle. Ink footprints were scattered about the few exposed portions of the floor but whoever had done the ransacking had clearly departed. A groan from behind the counter revealed an injured female store attendant who had survived the attack and through some quick healing and questioning we learned that the attackers had arrived shortly after a message meant for us had been delivered to the store.

Intriguing.

We tried to follow the trail of the attackers, but the fierce Sharn rain had washed away any scent for Tara to follow. Soon after losing the trail, though, what had to have been some sort of magical owl delivered a sealed metallic tube to us. We questioned the message post attendant and resigned ourselves to the fact that the only way to determine the tube's contents was to open it, what a shock. Inside lay a message from Lady E, warning us that the normal means of communication were being watched and that she was being pursued. We hurried to the assigned meeting place, a halfling establishment on a lower level we had frequented last year, and found Lady E sitting alone at a table in the dark interior. Before we were given a chance to receive and explanation, a group that resembled the message post's attackers barged in and demanded the backpack Lady E had been in the process of giving us.

I shook my head as Lady E vanished and turned to face our foes. She always seemed to get us into the most interesting kinds of trouble, but that always meant we 'd have more foes to kill. Chuckling I turned to view the interlopers, a small horde of kobolds lead by a warforged. This brought back memories of our journey to retrieve the schema but for now I relished the possibility of combat. Muttering an activation phrase, my spear head became coated in an acidic coating that would be deadly to the enemies I struck. The kobolds mindlessly charged in and the spears reach allowed me to dispatch some of them before they managed to reach us. My compatriots added their own efforts and after but a few moments, the first horde had been decimated. A second group charged through the door and Aramel unleashed a fireball into their midst, crisping their bodies nicely as they fell to the floor in death. The warforged and a few of his kobolds remained, but we could only laugh at their audacity. Had they really thought that they could take us down? We'll never know I suppose.

Turning to the contents of Lady E's backpack, we found some money and instructions. After we left the only slightly signed halfling establishment we found that the only way to reach Rhukaan Draal, capitol of Darguun, was by ship.

Whoowee, we're goin' on a boat ride!

~ A.N.

Day 10 (ish)

It seems an aeon has passed since I felt the thrill of battle or the taste of death as an enemy's blade has tried to burrow into my gut. My compatriots have amused themselves with the entertainments of the magnificent Sharn but I am not so easily waylaid by pretty baubles. We have business to attend to and yet are forced to tarry by some otherworldly force that seems to dictate the course of our very lives. The druid and her friend seem eager to continue onwards but their restlessness may stem from the mass of civilization that has engulfed us all. Writing this has begun to tire me as well... maybe I can go find a fight in the bar...

Day 6-10

After finally being able to enjoy some uninterrupted rest we continued our exploration of the ancient tunnels we had stumbled onto beneath Sharn. Having no idea which way would lead us out we decided to see what lay behind the doors Tam and Raznian had been examining earlier. The same ones that had lead to the strangler attack and a further disruption to my sleep schedule. Raznian, being the most trusting rogue I have ever met, assumed that the doors were neither trapped nor locked so he simply tried to push them open. This time his luck held out and the doors swung open without dire consequences revealing a magically dimmed room with ritualistic emblems carved into the floor. These symbols surrounded an apparatus that lowered a chain into some sort of shaft that was filled with an impenetrable darkness. As we slowly advanced into the room, more of the strange statues representing aberration creatures that we had seen earlier came into view. We also saw two other spots of impenetrable darkness against the far walls.

We had spread outwards from the entryway to this room when we heard a shuffling, rasping noise that emanated from another passage. I immediately went on guard considering that almost everyone we had met in the depths of Sharn had tried to kill us. A commanding voice called out from the passage and inquired as to our purpose in its chambers and we replied that we were simply trying to find a way out of the sewers. As we conversed a procession of Sharn nobles emerged from the passage led by another noble who was clearly their leader. Oddly enough it wasn't his voice were hearing... the source remained out of sight which made me slightly suspicious, to say the least.

Trying to avoid another confrontation we decided to see how long we could talk to these people without them trying to kill us. Through further discussion with the leader of the nobles, whose name I forget right now, we learned that we had entered the domain of The Queen, the source of the voice from the passage. The nobles were worshiping her and had given up their lives in Sharn above for some reason. Upon closer inspection these nobles were all covered with the same fine cilia that the mutilated elf woman had been covered with. With a little enticing The Queen revealed her face to us and we were surprised to find that it was about four feet across and seemed like it might have been connected to some snake-like body. The elf woman had apparently not survived the transformation that the ritual room was used for and had been dumped there to die, which we had been all too happy to assist her with.

During this time a group of kobolds led by one with giant dragonfly wings had entered the room and taken up position next to us. They hadn't drawn their weapons and seemed confused by our presence but because they didn't seem hostile we did nothing. The Queen said that there was a way out but tried to entice us to transform and stay with her in her chambers worshiping her. All of that sounded pretty terrible to me so I continued to watch the nobles and kobolds for any signs of treachery. The nobles were still slowly entering the room and were forming into some sort of ritualistic formation when Alric excitedly decided to take The Queen up on her offer. I could only shake my head at his assumption that this transformation would be a good thing when we found out that part of the requirements were to enter the metal cage in the center of the pit and be lowered into the darkness for some indefinite amount of time.

If all of that wasn't enough cause for us to leave, while Alric descended giggling into the darkness the two survivors of the band that had tried to capture us earlier showed up outside the room glaring at me. I realized that they might not have been working for the Cannith wench and so we might just uphold our bargain after all. Sneering, I advanced on them and brandished my great spear forcing them to fall back. While I pointed out our additional guests, Aramel decided to join Alric in the pit. When the cage was raised to allow Aramel to join him we could see that Alric was unconscious and covered in a clear ooze though this still didn't stop Aramel. While we waited for the so called transformation to occur, one of the noble cultists completely lost it and cried out screaming, demanding to know why we allowed our 'friends' to endure so much pain. Apparently the pit darkness also blocked sounds so we couldn't hear any screams. A grimlock emerged from the side passage and and dragged the gibbering noble out of sight. I decided to further taunt our would be captors and apparently that was a bad move. The kobolds immediately drew their crossbows and were preparing to fire on us when Lia and Kaellana opened fire with their bows.

With everyone else in the room apart from out party designated foes we immediately leaped into battle. I charged our two friends from earlier out of the ritual room only to discover three more of their friends waiting. While this happened, Tam decided to use a slightly unconventional approach and threw our unfolding boat into our enemies, crushing them as it attempted to expand. During the next moments of the fight we tried to whittle down our enemies to level the numerical playing field. We were left with the winged kobold, cultist leader, and some strange aberration I faced that had two tentacles sprouting out of its upper back. Unfortunately Raznian had almost suffered another combat mishap by deciding it was a good idea to investigate one of the areas of darkness near the walls. More grimlocks appeared from the areas of darkness but the attacks that really concerned us were the magical multicolored blasts of energy that also emerged from the dark areas. We hadn't seen The Queen since the beginning of the fight so we assumed she was the one behind the attacks. Arad summoned some sort of magical weapon to aid in the fight against the new grimlocks and then commanded the flying kobold to fall. With his advantage neutralized the kobold was killed in short order, as was my tentacled enemy.

With the grimlocks, cultists, kobolds, and humans dead I gave the order to pull Aramel and Alric out of the pit. I figured whatever was going to happen down there would be bad and that we should vacate the premises before The Queen reared her gigantic head. Apparently this upset Alric in particular as he had felt the changes beginning and was sad that I had made him remain the same. We then gave a cursory examination to the room next to the ritual chamber and then tempted fate by plunging into the dark areas on the walls. We found that they functioned like one way glass. On the other side we were faced with a quickly rushing flow of water. Having no other real options, Tam unfolded the boat again and we were carried along with the flow. After riding the water for a time the flow started to lessen and we found ourselves drifting out on the Dagger River below Sharn. Having to row hard against the current to prevent being taken out to sea, we headed eastwards upstream. After a hard half day we were able to beach the raft and succumb to our exhaustion.

We spent the next few days making the trek back to Sharn, having had to row far upstream past the cliffs that lined the edge of the river. Those of us infected by the ghouls managed to recover on the way and upon reaching Sharn we decided to offload some of the items we had recovered on our expedition. With those matters settled, we headed to an inn where we could recuperate and wait for Aramel to identify the magical items we had appropriated. I also cursed our stupidity for not searching the rest of the area and corpses of those we had slain for anything valuable.

We obviously have to go back.

Day 5

After resting long enough for the spell wielders to regain the use of their powers we continued downwards and found that we had soon reached the bottom of the ramp. In the center of the floor at the base of the gigantic circular chamber, we were presented with a well made hatch that, despite Raznian's trusting nature, we had him search for traps. Finding none he opened it and I dropped a torch into the hole to see if anything useful was illuminated. Twenty feet below lay a chamber with odd looking mushrooms sprouting from the floor by the walls. Passages led off of the central chamber into the darkness beyond the torch's range.

Not wanting to risk Tara's health, Kaellana had us lower her into the chamber with some rope the cleric was carrying. We found out that this may have been unwise when Tara suffered a grievous bite from an invisible assailant. As we rushed to pull her from harm's way two grimlocks emerged from the shadows to attack. Pulling quickly, we extricated Tara from the hatch and the wizard then cast feather fall on the cleric and me. Faced with the knowledge that the path ahead was filled with monsters we did the only sensible thing and leaped into the hatch to kill the beasts.

Once on the chamber floor we could make out about half a dozen grimlocks hiding in the shadows of the passages that connected to the chamber. They immediately rushed us, but they were far less impressive foes than the mechanical constructs that seemed to have plagued us on our current venture. I had to have killed at least half of them while everyone else, save the cleric, fired ranged weapons at the foes from above. I concentrated on the foes I could see and called out the direction of an attack when one of the invisible enemies struck. Soon enough the grimlocks lay dead and while we were initially uncertain as to whether the invisible attackers were dead, two strange plant creatures with fanged maws became visible after a short time. Apparently the ranged attackers had killed them with their efforts.


Having fended off the foes in the immediate area, the rest of the party descended into the chamber and we gave the grimlock corpses a quick once over by torchlight. They had nothing worth taking so we stepped over their bodies and headed down one of the corridors that branched off of the chamber. The narrow passageway was dark and with the everyone moving along in a group our light did not reach very far. Luckily someone managed to spot the form of a body lying on the ground further ahead. We moved forward cautiously, not sure what to expect, and I readied my spear to attack whatever we came across. Our journey into the bowels of Sharn had encouraged me to be even more suspicious than normal.

Under the illumination of our torches the figure's form was revealed to be a severely mutilated elf woman. I don't know about how everyone else handled the sight of her ripped skin and spilled guts, but having seen worse on the battlefield I was more concerned with determining if she was faking her condition. We debated what to do for a few moments and that allowed someone to notice that all of her exposed skin sprouted cilia that seemed to be pointing in our direction and that her left arm looked like a tentacle. We closed the distance to her and her eyes opened as she looked at us, though it didn't really seem like she saw us. We tried to question her as to what she was doing down here, her noble class clothes seeming somewhat out of place, but she only responded with what seemed like insane ramblings about how "it is glorious" and "you have to try it too". Once she proved less than useful in yielding any further information I thrust my great spear into her chest, I mean we had to ensure that she couldn't attack us as we stepped over her body. For added effect Tam swung his mace and crushed her skull. The cilia sprouting from her body drooped so we assumed her to be dead.

As we moved to pass her, Alric decided to give the tentacle arm a closer inspection and as he leaned in it quivered towards him, reaching for his arm. We were all surprised yet he thought the thing to be entertaining and allowed it to twine around his arm. The rest of us shared concerned looks and moved to rip it from his arm when it exposed strange looking hooks but Alric waved us away chuckling. When the tentacle then burrowed those hooks into his arm a flash of surprise and worry crossed his face but nothing else happened as the tentacle relaxed into what looked to be its new home. He giggled, sweat beading his brow but assured us he was fine so we headed down the hall.

Our light spilled into a medium sized chamber that seemed to be some sort of mausoleum as two sarcophagi came into view. We also noticed two strange looking statues in the room, one of which happened to be some goblin god of death and consumption that looked like a pile of snot with teeth and eyes. We would've examined them more closely but a pair of ghouls came shambling out of the darkness and attacked us. Given our numbers we managed to fend them off, but not before two more emerged from behind the second sarcophagus. The additions did not prove to be a problem but Tara, Raznian, and I we were all struck by the ghouls and it seems like we may have caught something from them.

With the ghouls down, the rest of the room appeared clear and after examining a set of double doors at the opposite end of the room and observing a small alcove with doors next to those, we decided to rest and heal our injuries. Raznian and Tam, however, decided to continue to fiddle with the doors and explore the other chamber while the rest of us were trying to sleep down by the sarcophagi. Of course Tam, who had wandered into the other room, got attacked by some strange creature with barbed tentacles for arms that moved abnormally fast. Raznian, coming to his aid, set off some sort of blade trap in the floor. It was only after all of this commotion that the rest of us, who had been sleeping or trancing, managed to rouse ourselves and rush over there. Everyone who went into the room had to deal with attempting to avoid the blade trap but once we reached them we knew we had to kill the creatures before they strangled the life out of our comrades.

The speed of the abominations was a severe challenge but after a while I managed to place myself between the two creatures that had emerged from the darkness so that I could hit both of them with my spear. Using Steel Wind, I channeled my strength and swung the spear head in a wide arc so that I could hit both of the creatures. Maybe it was luck, or just my supreme skill, but my spear struck the first foe so hard that it literally ripped the top of its torso off. In the blink of an eye the spear continued on its journey and completely crushed the second creature's skull. With them dead, we roused everyone that had been rendered unconscious and demanded that Raznian and Tam come and rest with the group, instead of exploring alone.

Ridiculously enough, we only managed to get a little more rest before the people on watch heard whispers coming down the passageways connecting to the sarcophagi room. The closest hallway yielded a group of humans while further down the room, a group of hobgoblins could be heard clumping around. As far as we could see, all of the humans were wielding saps and as battle was joined we heard one of them, who we assumed was the leader, tell them to take us alive. I only had a second to think about it but I frowned in anger at the thought of that double crossing Cannith wench. She probably sent these fools after us to see if we had gotten the schema, and if so, why it was taking so long for us to get back. Surprisingly, the humans, and hobgoblins who joined them later, were surprisingly easy to defeat. These guys clearly had no idea who they were up against and seemed completely outclassed. We managed to kill all but two them, as they fled into the darkness. A few of the group gave chase but the cowards managed to reach the spiral ramp chamber and fled out of range.

It's possible that if the Cannith factory cavern hadn't flooded with sewage, we indeed might have given the woman her schema no questions asked, but now I know I'm definitely against it. If we can screw her over somehow, excellent. If we can piss the Cult of Blades off even more than we have, delightful. Let them all come, we'll face them down and be the last ones standing. I'm sure of it. Maybe before that we can actually get some frelling rest.

Party Members

Avegnum Nor - Warblade

Kaellanna Virindil and Tara - Druid

Arad - Cleric

Aramel Xiloscient- Wizard

Alric "New Born" - Psion - DECEASED

Tam Teslav - Warlock - DECEASED

Raznian Xiloscient - Rogue - DECEASED

Lia Xiloscient - Druid - DECEASED

Day 4

Following our rest, many of us had recovered much of our strength and some of us seemed even stronger than before we had begun our descent into the sewers. Oddly, though, the artificer and ninja had disappeared during the night and we had been joined by his psion brother Alric and the elf rogue, the elf wizard's brother. Having these new members join our party so far underground was strange but I'm not one to discount help when it's given, as long as they don't get in my way.

We left the shrine to Onatar and given our experience with the rats and beetles in the area, prepared torches to help illuminate our surroundings. The muted rustling we had been able to hear from outside the shrine only intensified as we began to exit as three more of the armored, acid dripping dire rats emerged from the shadows. Immediately drawing my great spear and falling into a combat position, I waited for my companions to ready themselves. Given that I'm the real combatant in our party, it always behooves me to charge into battle and occupy as many of our foes as possible. With that stated, I, of course, charged in and attacked one of the rats while Kaellanna's snow leopard companion, Tara, charged another. The remainder of the party slowly spilled forward from the shrine, firing spells, bolts, and stones to aid the real warriors. Setting himself apart from the rest, the cleric managed to occupy the third rat as it struggled to deal with his thick armor. Steady perseverance and deadly attacks eventually ended the rats and we moved on.


Through the dim lighting we began to make out thick ruined columns and eventually came upon the crumbling wall face of some sort of building. Further exploration revealed only a single engraved door that bore the same ancient House Cannith symbol as the old man's journal. While we might have been able to climb the walls of the building, our rogue decided to check the door for traps. The imbecile found none and nonchalantly tried to open the door. The trap he missed then shot out several globes of energy that struck some of the party. Realizing that he probably couldn't disarm, let alone find the trap, Kaellana thought of bringing the House Cannith journal close to the door. Given how Cannith items seem to reveal special abilities when in close proximity to one another, it was worth a shot and it paid off as we heard the door unlock.

I led the way into the Cannith building, sure we'd face some sort of surprise, and was proved correct. Four mechanical guard dogs immediately charged those of us that had entered the building, ignoring those that remained outside. Through some tough fighting we eventually managed to subdue the creatures, but I had to be healed after falling unconscious during the fight. As a side note, I need to focus on getting better armor, becoming more nimble, or finding some of those magical rings or amulets that could help me defend myself. During the battle after rendering the constructs inert, metal rods with geometrical shapes on the end would emerge from their skulls.

We collected these and moved further into the building, noting the bookshelves that lined the walls and the forge that the constructs had been guarding. Our rogue moved to the forge and noted four slots with the same geometric symbols as the rods we had collected. Sure that he would set off another trap, I was surprised when he slid the rods in, triangle, square, pentagon, and hexagon and was rewarded with the forge opening and revealing armor, weapons, gold, and the schema we had been sent to retrieve. We did hear the rumbling of some thick liquid far above us which was a cause for concern so we decided to find a way off of our level as soon as possible.

Upon exiting the Cannith factory we were greeted by a hail of bolts flying out of the darkness at our party. Weakened after our fight with the constructs I was unsure if we would survive the battle but we readied ourselves to fight nevertheless. Lighting torches and cracking sun rods, we threw them into the darkness, trying to illuminate whoever had shot at us. I tried to charge after my torch throw but a bolt caught me and in my weakened state from the previous battle I fell unconscious again. I gathered afterward that the others had been moving throughout the cavern attempting to locate our attacker. Around the same time that someone bothered to heal me the others had determined that our foe was hiding in the shadows behind a column.

The gnome ninja that had disappeared from our party some time before came down a side passage and with her presence we moved to surround the enemy. It turned out to be another member of the Cult of Blades, the warforged group that seems fairly intent on obtaining the schema for themselves. It was wielding a heavy repeating crossbow and had a falcion; no easy prey, just my type. After resuming my charge towards the warforged I passed the cleric and he cast a spell on me that increased my size and strength. For some reason I felt like I was a four armed giant monster chicken, but that feeling passed. Now that we had all managed to close with our foe we made short work of him, even managing to disable the bug like soul piece that all the warforged we've encountered have released upon being rendered inert.

Stripping its corpse of anything we could and stuffing the soul bug into our packs, we headed down one of the nearby passages in an attempt to flee the rising sewage that was filling the area. Hopefully we'd evade a most noisome end.

Hurrying down the passage it seemed as though we soon outpaced the oncoming sewage, a conclusion I reached after only smelling the sewage that still encrusted our clothes and armor, and not that of the gigantic pool that filled the cavern we left. We trudged down passageway for about an hour and a half and were slightly concerned to note that the tunnel's condition improved as we walked onwards, and that all of the side passages were blocked with rubble. Everyone was disinclined to attempt to force our way into one of the side passages so we ignored them. If we were being herded, I wanted to find out why and by whom, in case I needed to kill them.

More time passed and we noticed that we were actually heading deeper beneath Sharn when we eventually emerged at the top of deep cylindrical chamber with a downward sloping ramp that wound its way around the interior of the cylinder. Our torches and sun rods failed to illuminate the bottom of the chamber and considering the rising sewage behind us we felt we had to press on. The ramp continued downwards into the darkness for another hour. Honestly, the entire process was mind numbing, though I am grateful that my fellow, I guess I can call them comrades, for now, were paying more attention than I was. By the illumination we were producing they pointed out a strange shimmering volume where that filled the width of the ramp and was slowly creeping its way towards us.

There was some confusion as to what we should do with regards to the thing. Pretty much everyone thought we should attack from afar and try to kill it while one of the druids suggested we try to befriend or communicate with it. Considering it had no definable anatomy I doubt it had any real intelligence either but my first instinct was to kill it and move on, we'd been stuck in Sharn's bowels for far too long already. Most of the party began the attack with bolts, arrows, and javelins while I charged in and prepared to use my great spear and make use of its reach. The ranged weapons simply stuck into the creature and seemed to have little effect, but we could tell that the attacks were damaging it. I had judged my placement to keep myself beyond the jelly creature's movement range, but I was slightly surprised to find that it could charge faster than usual when presented with prey. The two attacks I made against it were devastating but after it engulfed me I found myself paralyzed. Luckily it only took a few more attack to destroy the creature's cohesion as it broke down.

During my paralysis I could only watch as another jelly creature came up from the lower portions of the ramp and the party attacked it, once again, from afar. Things were going fairly well when Tara suffered a mishap. The snow leopard tried to leap across the chasm at the center of the chamber from one portion of the ramp to another but the wild cat misjudged its leap and landed a ledge further down, in another jelly creature. Raznian, my rogue compatriot thought he could swing down behind the creature engulfing Tara and attack it but while he was hanging from the ledge, the jelly beast the rest of the party was attacking brushed over his hands, paralyzing him. Needless to say with three out of the fight, myself amongst them, things were not looking good. My lack of faith was unfounded, though, as the two remaining creatures were dealt with and the others gathered the items the jelly beasts had released from their puddlish corpses. At the time all that Tam, the warlock, could tell us was that many of the items were magical. Ahh, time to rest and gaze at the riches whose powers are completely unknown to us.

-A.N.-

Day 3

We met outside the inn, apparently Halfling run, the following morning and were directed to the woman’s table. As we approached we could tell that she was clearly affiliated with one of the dragon marked houses by her garments and the fact that she had a whole room of the inn cleared for her to eat in. As we sat by the table the woman asked us if we were involved in the fight near the body of the old man and we admitted that we were, though apparently I was the only one to remember that we had been clearly told to distrust her. I gave up on my efforts at secrecy given that they were meeting with little success at eliciting more information from the blasted wench. We handed over the journal in our possession and in conjunction with a House Cannith ring she was wearing, she was apparently able to read the journal. It turns out that she and the old man who was a scholar at the Sharn University, were both members of the same house. It dealt primarily with the creation of the warforged at one time, and now the two were pursuing some silver schema that sounds like it was used for part of the process.

She then proceeded to hire us to go search for the schema. Unfortunately our search would lead us into the bowels of Sharn, into the deep sewers and abandoned floors that Sharn had forgotten, built upon and forgotten yet again. Who knows what we’d find in the darkness below our feet? Hopefully monsters to kill, and new foes to face.

Following the limited directions she was able to give us, we made our way to the lower levels and came upon the goblin merchant Rat and his collection of wares. After buying some rope and other items, we bargained for direction to EC-213, the next marker on our journey that would lead into the sewers proper. Rat was only too happy to help us given the money tendered and we soon found ourselves facing a river of crap. Along the wall, valves would randomly open to spew more feces into the stream. Footing was to be treacherous, to say the least.

I confidently waded into the filth as the others followed behind me, of course, and noticed that one of the valves was partially open and completely dry. To my detriment, I decided to investigate the malfunctioning valve, though I saw nothing. The druid who had disappeared from our group that first night at The Tavern joined me, though she also saw nothing of interest. During this time the rest of the group had been making its way forward along the raised edges of the walls adjacent to the spewing valves, careful to position themselves between the valves when they had to pause so that they weren’t swept into the fecal morass. While everyone’s attention was diverted, a scimitar connected to a warforged arm emerged from the malfunctioning valve and treacherously stabbed me in the gut, the sneak attack dropping me to the floor.

While the rest of my party decided whether or not to heal me so that I could fight for them, a group of skeletal rats emerged from downstream and proceeded to attack! The warforged that two of us had missed in the valve demanded that we give him the journal or that our assailants would kill us. Luckily the party was apparently thinking along the same lines as I would have been, and proceeded to attack. The friendly druid, Kaellana, revitalized me so that I could get back into the fight. It seems more and more that I only like to fight when I’m hovering at the edge of unconsciousness and death, but never mind. The rest of the party was actually performing well against the skeletal rats, though many of their attacks were missing, so I proceeded towards the rat nearest to the druid that had healed me. Working together we managed to destroy it, but during this time the warforged had emerged from the valve and submerged himself in the sewage. He apparently used the cover of the waste to move close to us so that he could surface and attack. Luckily his attacks missed.

The artificer then made his only real contribution to combat so far by blasting the warforged with some fiery burst of magic he had prepared on a scroll. With the warforged’s death, the skeletal rats that remained and not been swept downstream by the sewage bursts were easily dispatched.

Following our instructions to follow the sewers after the valve, we continued onwards and eventually navigated the filth river to a door that lead to crumbling tunnels. A short journey later, we emerged in a large cavernous room strewn with rubble. Hopping down the six foot drop to the floor, I threw two torches into the room to cast some illumination. We proceeded to search our immediate vicinity but saw nothing suspicious, which was immediately contradicted when three gigantic swarms of beetles emerged from the rubble piles around the room and proceeded to attempt to swarm and kill us. The artificer used a flask of alchemist’s fire that we had acquired in our first fight and set one of the swarms ablaze while everyone else tried to think of something to do. Through a number of fumbling attacks, it was finally determined that burning torches swung or thrown at the swarms could actually damage them significantly and cause them to disperse. This, of course, occurred around the same time that the artificer fled away from the party where he was immediately attacked by what looked like dire rats. Someone actually managed to get one of the swarms and rats to fight amongst themselves, which allowed the rest of the party the time to disperse the other swarms.

At the end of it, most of us were almost dead on our feet and stumbling around. All we wanted to do next was rest. We staggered around after the battle and were going to make the long trek back when we decided to investigate the bluish green glow emanating from a side passage. The light led us to a small room, eerily quiet and soothing. The elf cleric inspected some symbol carved above the doorway leading to the room and determined that it was actually a shrine to Onatar. This was a good sign because it meant we must be getting close to the old Cannith factory where the schema would be found.

We decided to rest in the shrine and discovered a small pool of water in a back corner being fed by a trickle of water that flowed out of some sort of gold ring embedded in the wall. The thought of prying that ring out of the wall passed through my mind and was voiced by the others but we decided to let it be. We didn't need to risk any divine displeasure that night so we drank from the pool, finding that it cured some of our wounds, set watch, and went to sleep.
-A.N.-

Day 2

Only two thirds of our group returned the following morning, obviously the others had no sense of dedication. Before we managed to reach The Tavern we were accosted by a Human with a House Cannith ring. He asked us to meet some woman who was making inquiries into the dead old man at a well-to-do inn on a higher level the following morning. We then proceeded to spend the day disposing of the arms and armor from our bridge battle at a local weapon dealer after hiring a goblin guide for 3 cp. He was fairly informative but we had to keep reminding him that he couldn’t leave until we were done.
-A.N.-

Day 1

I got to The Tavern and met the fattest gnome I’d ever seen, the son of the owner of the Korranberg Chronicle, seated around a large table for the others that had answered the singles ad. Introductions were rocky at best, the atmosphere was very strained. I should have realized that on this front, preparation would be required if I was to gain anything. Lucky for me, I’m always up for a challenge.

For some reason the gathering had attracted an inordinate number of elves and while some of them seemed nice enough, notably the druids, the others seem to be fairly shady characters. That isn’t a problem for me, I can deal with them as long as our goals align and they don’t cause me problems but I’ll have to keep my eye on them at the very least. I also met a gnomish ninja of all things. Our host was clearly taken by her but she seemed unaware, or unreceptive, to his advances and while he talked about his mother far too much, I knew that I needed to be the center of attention. I have some minor skill in tumbling and so I thought I’d try to entertain everyone present and lighten the mood.

I failed, barely managing to regain my seat after toppling off of the table while trying to climb on top of it for my performance.

Silence and tension once again descended on our gathering and the attempts by our host to learn more about people was met with little help. Another elf, a cleric of some kind, would barely give us his name and had no reason for even answering the singles ad, clearly wasting our time for his own amusement. The delay from my previous tumbling excursion had bolstered my courage so I once again stormed the table to entertain the meek gathering that I had joined. This time my skill was with me and my provocative tumbling performance awed and inspired those who gazed upon me, exciting them. Unfortunately, upon regaining my seat once more I realized that most of the gathering was male and that while my skill had been beyond comprehension, I had just made many males very uncomfortable with their own sexuality.

Little more developed past that worth mentioning save that our patron departed to pursue an arrangement with a serving wench while leaving us with the bill for the reserved table. Some quick talking on my part persuaded the waiter to reveal that out host did this regularly and that he would seek recompense from him instead of getting the money from us.

Having no more reason to remain in The Tavern, we collectively headed for the door and entered the pounding rain that soaked the night. I noticed that one of the druids had broken off from our group and disappeared in our departure but she was lost from my mind as I noticed two bodies lying on one of the sky bridges near the tavern by the light of one of the few working ever lights. A short, hooded figure was moving away from the bodies and while the situation was highly suspicious, the thought that I heard uttered around me was, “let’s go see if they have any loot”. Frankly, I didn’t care one way or the other. The single’s meeting had been a bust and if I helped these guys search the corpses I might be able to find some valuable trinkets.

As I ran over to the bodies I could see that one was an old man clothed in robes, and the other was a very shiny warforged, appearing inert. My inspection of them was interrupted by an unintelligible command from the shadows across the bridge which caused me to search for the source of the voice. I could barely see through the darkness and rain, but something that did cause me concern was the pink blood leaking from the short scurrying creature, and the fact that it had turned around and was coming towards me with weapons and shields held in four arms! My training and instincts took over as I fell into a fighting stance with my great spear ready. The creature tried to close with me but a few devastating attacks was enough to see the creature off. That’s when I noticed more of its fellows emerging from the shadows across the bridge.

A set of these four armed, two mouthed creatures came at our group and while the rest of the party was fairly ineffective, the cleric and druid were at least capable of healing me after these goblinoids swarmed me, clearly identifying me as the real threat they faced. The fighting was fierce and a number of our group were knocked unconscious. Thanks to my skill I personally managed to dispatch five of our foes, and some stranger and his three war dogs interfered in the battle before I could kill the rest.

Strangely enough, the man departed after telling us not to trust a woman who was going to come looking for the blank journal we had found on the old man. He then left before the town watch came across the remains of our battle, well picked of any valuable items of course. We answered a few questions and the watch allowed us to leave seeing as how we had clearly acted in self defense. Our group decided to meet at The Tavern the next day to discuss the strange blank journal we had found on the old man.

-A.N.-

Avegnum Nor Background

I was born and grew up in Sigilstar, a fairly large trading hub in Thrane. Seeing as how the city is connected to the Orien trade route, the lightning rail, and the Thrane River, there’s plenty of work to be made dealing with sensitive cargoes that merchants would prefer the city watch not knowing about. I always knew I liked to fight and if I was going to be getting paid to fight anyone who got in our way, all the better. The way I figured it, having the city watch and rival armsmen would only serve to improve my chances of facing tough foes and getting paid to do it.

While that was fine for years as I honed my skills during my teens, as soon as I hit the age of enlistment, I ditched that work to join up with the army of Thrane. While I don’t like the religious slant of the Silver Flame that you’ll hear being preached throughout the kingdom, who wants to follow some mystical light show anyway? It was pretty obvious that the best place to learn more about the art of fighting was to get some formal training. I could put up with the ridiculous regulations and religious propaganda as long as I continued to learn, and that I did. After a few brief weeks of drilling about with a horde of inept fighters, we were sent to the front lines with Cyre and thrust into combat.

The thrill of the fights were glorious and each battle only served to bolster my confidence and battle lust as I vanquished foe after foe and managed to come out on top. It didn’t really matter to me that my “comrades in arms” didn’t manage to survive due to our commander’s idiocies, but I had enough of a challenge keeping myself alive, let alone those around me. Anyway, I managed to hang on there for another two years before what was left of my regiment was redeployed to the western border with Breland.

I have mixed feelings about that move. The fighting with Cyre was always vicious given the history between the original monarchs of Thrane and Cyre, but it always led to the best battles and the toughest foes. Of course, less than three months after I left, the Day of Mourning occurred that ended up destroying Cyre and the forces battling there… I have no doubts about facing foe’s with a weapon in my hand, but I loathe to admit that a cataclysm of magic and destruction might just have overwhelmed even me.

The war continued for another two years of course, before the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold, and that’s when my service for the army of Thrane ended. With the façade of peace, battles would change to become more secretive and I wouldn’t get to enjoy the massive battles that the war provided. Ironic as it sounds, the order and discipline the army provided, to those willing to learn, allowed me to attain the mental discipline needed to focus on improving my combat techniques beyond those of the common soldier or fighter. Looking back, I’m surprised that I stuck with the army for so long; though they were paying me to fight and I got all the fighting I wanted so I guess it really just suited my purposes at the time.

After that I pretty much just wandered looking for situations where my talents could be best applied and where I would be well compensated, one way or another. I managed to live that way for another two years, but now I’ve come to recognize that I should not be limiting my battlefields to those just of the sword. The peoples of Eberron come into conflict over commerce, ideologies, theology, magic, and love. While a blade can be used in all of those fields, who’s to say that that is the highest form of conflict for the respective fields? Not I, I realize that now. I will continue to play to my strengths but be on the lookout for ways to improve my style.

Well I’m off to Sharn. I’ve answered an ad in the Korranberg Chronicle for a singles’ meeting at The Tavern, the first of many new battlefields, hopefully. We’ll see who and what I can best, and where that takes me.

-A.N.-