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.-