21st Of Toil (Late At Night)
The Viridian Lord inspects the stable and tells us that the horses were dead already, even before the fire. It seems the creatures we just fought killed them three or four hours earlier (the horses would have made noise and given away their presence). We tell the Viridian Lord that Archinemus saw them while he was outside and called us to help defend the inn. A note on one of these mechanical creatures’ body said to wait till one hour before dawn, then kill us at the inn. These must be instructions from Nichala and Buelan, the Shuul who are after us.
There is also a note with the same instructions regarding the inn in Farris (one town up the coast from Balleton here). That’s interesting to know—clearly the Shuul don’t know we plan to veer away from the coast road before we reach Farris.
I inspect the mechanisms on these construct creatures and determine that the creatures were merged with machines at the time of their creation. These mechanisms seem to run on negative energy. They rely on the fact that they are installed upon an undead creature in order to work. Meanwhile, Calista casts a spell on one of the bodies and discovers that their secret mission was to find and kill us. She also learns that it laired in the Necropolis in Ptolus.
The Viridian Lord says he’s heard that the people in the airship have gone farther north, looking for mercenaries to hire. He doubts the craft could go into the Moonsilver Forest. We offer the innkeeper recompense for the destroyed buildings and retire for the rest of the night. I keep watch.
22nd Of Toil
We sleep in and rest today, then help with repair efforts at the inn.
23rd Of Toil
We leave at dawn, heading for Ashenburg. It’s overcast and chilly. In midafternoon, Tharn feels an unusual wind that seems to be isolated on us—just for a moment, then it’s gone. Hmmm….
We arrive in Ashenburg around sundown. It seems to be a little larger than Balleton. The tree cover is much thicker here than in Balleton, too. We get two rooms and dinner at the local inn, Vanity’s Mirror. The clientele here is equally divided elf and human. One elf guy seems to be giving me the eye but won’t acknowledge that he was looking at me. I wonder if he’s seen other Hu-Charad. This is so exciting! I feel very close to finding some answers about my heritage on this trip.
Calista spends a little time this evening at the inn teaching me some basic Elvish phrases. It might help when we meet Sael Wintersong and I need to ask the way to Ar-Nampur. (I think I got “thank you” and “goodbye” mixed up when I tried it out on the waiter. Not cool.)
The night is uneventful. During my turn on watch, I sketch some of the strange Shuul mechanism from the undead creatures. Perhaps one day I can design something this brilliant, and use it to good ends….
24th Of Toil
When we ask about local customs, the innkeeper suggests that when we see a shrine to Tashandra, elven god of the road, we should stop and make an offering in thanks for a safe journey. He tells us the airship was here three days ago; Nichala and Buelan were looking for sellswords. He also suggests that Barbatos can make contact with the Blueflight (“Vaenaris” in Elvish) clan in Faelasith, our next destination. He’s hoping to meet Naelyn Blueflight to ask about the ownership of Pythoness House. I think our wizard friend actually believes he can buy the place!
We set off into the thickening woods, warned to keep to the path. After a few hours’ walk, we’re about to cross a stream when Tharn spies a humanoid hiding in the trees and cries, “Ambush!” A giant cougar leaps up and claws at Barbatos. Another one runs at Tharn. Meanwhile, arrows fly at us from across the stream. An elf tries to sic us with magic from the other side of the bridge, and a water sprite giggles from a rock by the stream after catching Diethan in a swell. A five-foot squirrel, conjured by some spellcaster in the trees, leaps out at Archinemus. Meanwhile, the now-invisible Barbatos runs afoul of a dragon! Another one appears on the other side of the stream, and they both clearly see him. And they’re bronze colored. Why are they attacking us when metallic dragons are supposed to be good guys? As no one seemed to have told them that, I open fire on them with my hand cannon.
A massive fireball sways us all, and an elf woman spellcaster comes into view. Barbatos attempts to hide in some magical fog, but a dragon follows him. When he offers to pay the dragon twice what the Shuul were paying him if he’ll switch sides, the creature seems intrigued. But he hears my shot and a squeal from his brother and takes off after me, crying “Treachery!” in Draconic. Even though I merely winged the dragon with the gun, he flies off.
Archinemus continues to be plagued by magically overgrown fauna—he’s only just dispatched the squirrel when a huge robin swoops down from the trees and attacks, amid elfin giggles from the trees. Never have we had such an unusual band of assailants.
The elf woman, whose name is Jaera, lays Barbatos low with a magic wand, and Archinemus falls to a sleep spell cast by his unseen assailant (not the overlarge robin). When another wildcat fells Tharn, Calista races forward, heedless of danger, and heals him back to consciousness.
It gets even stranger after that. Following an ill-fated attempt at a truce, battle continues, and the awakened Archinemus charges in, his head having been turned into a big yellow ball bearing a clown face by the giggly spellcaster. The water sprite nails Barbatos with a spell that sends him off in peals of uncontrollable laughter. Then Tharn charges the sprite and bites her head right off. (The action seems to surprise him as much as it did all of us.)
In the aftermath, we are able to heal most of our elf attackers and the water sprite enough to stabilize them. We’re told that the Shuul told Jaera we were evil and out to attack the town of Faelasith. So naturally they lay in wait for us.
24th Of Toil (Later)
Well, now what do we do? We let the water sprite (name of Aestra) go and awaken one of the elves. He fears Shuul reprisals for the failure of the ambush, but we try to reassure him that they won’t find out—their airship can’t penetrate the forest, the Viridian Lord told us a few days ago. We explain that we are merely seeking Sael Wintersong or elven lorekeepers regarding the way to Ar-Nampur.
A tiny sprite named Phial appears and undoes the enchantment on poor Archinemus’ balloon head. Eloias (the remaining lead elf) agrees to accompany us to Faelasith to explain the situation to the Sisters of Vaerimor; apparently they run things there. We resume our journey and arrive at Faelasith just before nightfall.
The village is made up of clusters of buildings in a couple clearings. The branches of the ash trees merge with crystal lattice to form a dome over the top of the village. Eloias speaks for us, and some guards escort us out of the dome and into a round stone tower to see the Sisters. The tower’s top seems to disappear into the sky! We arrive in something of a throne room near the top of the tower. Seated here are two seemingly identical elf women whose gaze lingers a little longer on me than on anyone else.
One of the sisters, Iokaelis Vaerimor, asks us our business. After hearing our story, the other, Iapheramon, welcomes us and offers us a fine meal. Then they tell us they will help us if we perform a service for them: the ruined elven city of Kaelist has been overrun with bugbears and goblins, and they want us to reconnoiter: find out why they’re there, how many there are, and what they intend (kill them if possible). We are to find their leader, Swordthrasher, and question him. Oh, and it seems Kaelist also is haunted; its inner sanctum was sealed by magic long ago.
A woman named Lyosa the Hivemistress (a hostile elf who lives in a hive with giant bees the size of horses) can tell us how to get into this sanctum. They don’t know how the bugbears and goblins got inside. She orders Eloias to take us there. He does not look happy about this.
25th Of Toil
After a good night’s sleep on pillows stuffed with flower petals (which Tharn refuses to use), we’re ready to face the bees. We walk quite a ways until we see running water and hear a droning noise. Looking up, we see a lake and waterfall. Across the lake is a gigantic hive somehow affixed to a stone cliffside. A boat is waiting to take us across. But before we can all even board, two very large bees approach us, their stingers as long as lances. And—Great Kint!—Diethan decides to ride one of them! Miraculously, he gets it to cross the lake toward Lyosa the Hivemistress and we watch, stunned, as he gets it to fly him right into the hive. The rest of us in the boat battle our way across the lake as well. (Barbatos falls out of the boat twice.)
After flying through various honeycomb chambers, the bee deposits Diethan in a chamber before Lyosa, an elf druid wearing a gossamer gown and a headband with an amber stone. Giant bees are everywhere. “What, exactly, do you think you’re doing?” she demands. He offers her a gift in turn for help reaching the inner sanctum of Kaelist (a Shuul-made spyglass). Eventually, we all manage to join Diethan in the honeycomb chamber. Impressed with his bee-riding skills, Lyosa tells us of the Quill of Illustraya. There were once a dozen such quills; now it is the only one left. She explains that the sanctum was sealed one hundred twenty summers ago during a time of war with the dark elves who had come up from their vault. The dark elves’ victory was short lived, however, and they were driven out of Kaelist again. The dark elven items that were left behind corrupted the city and those who came to live there. Those elves turned to darkness and slew themselves, lingering on as undead remnants of their former selves that haunt the city. Once we reach the great red stone on the shore of the lake, we must use the Quill to write our own true names on the stone. Only then may we enter the inner sanctum. She thinks the goblins and bugbears were able to enter the inner sanctum from beneath, same as the dark elves did. She loans us not only the Quill, but also a silver necklace called the strand of Aestor, which will allow Diethan to sense undead creatures, become invisible to them, protect himself from their horrid touch and slaying effects, and restore one who has been drained.
Thanking her, we return to the boat and depart. I don’t know what the Sisters were talking about, I thought Lyosa was great!
