8th Of Toil
It’s been a few weeks since last I wrote. Since then, I have sought and earned a promotion in the Delver’s Guild. I’m now a Guildguard, responsible for administrative duties. I report to an administrator named Udalaag, a fascinating individual who seems to be a dragon crossed with a burrowing creature of some sort. But all this means I have to work a few more hours a week at the Guild.
Our shop hasn’t done too well this past month. Archinemus seems concerned and is trying to come up with some tactics to use, especially considering the competition the Emerald Eye is giving us.
Tharn, meanwhile, is home on the Plains for the Days of Memory and will return on the 20th. We decide that our next mission (when Tharn returns) will be to travel north of Ptolus to Ar-Nampur and meet the forest elves and inquire about my ancestors. Also in that direction, Barbatos hopes to discover more about the last known owner of Pythoness House.
9th Of Toil
Barbatos gets some unusual visitors this morning—well, unusual in that no one ever visits Barbatos. A man named Thavis Ro and his ugly friend come to demand the map to the aethel stones we had promised to give Methir Orth as payment for Spyncer Coil’s whereabouts. (The key to the location of the cache of aethel stones is a candleshop called the Fevered Moon. But we thought Methir Orth had mind-read that from us when we visited him…) Prevaricating, Barbatos instead gives the two directions to Myraeth’s Oddities. Well, we figured we’d eventually hear from Methir Orth or his friends.
Back at the shop, we debate how to proceed. I make a copy of the map to the stones and replace the original in the vault. Calista and I visit our skulk friends to ask what they know of this malevolent faction. Shim cautions us that there is a rift among the evil of their kind, and neither faction is to be trusted. One side, the keu, is willing to use the dark arts—in days past, they worked with the Fallen. But the other group, the harr, is no better; they feed on magic. These factions are no friends to other skulks, and no friends to humans either: They are killers. Shim says some of the keu have been following us all around the city. He advises us to lay low for a while, as the Shuul are also keeping their eye on us, perhaps out for revenge (but he thinks we need not fear in the immediate future). We agree to come see Shim again in a week.
We think the keu have Power and seek the aethel stones to activate it to get at the Legacy. We think the harr want Deceit, and they seek to learn its hidden (buried) location from crazy old Spyncer Coil.
We wonder why Asche wanted the Swords of Ptolus created now. We think back to the prophecy from Spyncer, and it stresses “this year.” Is something happening about the Legacy this year? Diethan concentrates on this idea while holding Insight and gets an unclear response. It’s all very puzzling.
10th Of Toil
A hairless man the color of ash dressed all in black meets us in the Ghostly Minstrel at breakfast and tells us our presence is required at Castle Shard. We arrive, are greeted by Kadmus, and are escorted by our strange companion to a dining hall where Zavere awaits. (The ash man bows to his master and dissolves into particles that blow away after we are delivered.) We learn that Menon Balacazar visited Zavere here last night to congratulate him on acquiring Spyncer Coil. The crime lord, thinking Castle Shard had dispatched us to find Spyncer on his behalf, offered Zavere a huge sum in exchange for the man. The Balacazars desire the Swords of Ptolus, and Zavere warns us that they will not give up their search. We should expect Menon’s minions to attempt to get Insight from us. He assures us that he will keep Spyncer for as long as we desire it. In addition, he says Castle Shard will cast an eye toward our shop for the two weeks we are out of town.
17th Of Toil
We’ve spent the last week doing research and the like, and now it’s time to meet up with Shim once more. He says he’s been watching the Shuul. He believes that certain radical Shuul factions have delved into advancements that incorporate forbidden magic—both illegal and immoral. They might be the ones we will face. Specifically, we should beware Nichala Golnath (human) and Buelan Silvertooth (elf). We have the advantage, however, because they have to remain secret. They might be seeking allies against us as they near readiness to strike at us.
As we discuss what we’ve learned back at the shop, we receive a visitor: Malkeen Balacazar (the crime lord’s son) and his vampiric bodyguard. They’re supposed to be dead, by the way. Rumor has it that Malkeen was assassinated by one of his sisters back on the day three years ago when magic disappeared; but though many of those who died on that day were unraisable, he somehow made it back for revenge.
Malkeen offers Diethan twenty thousand gold for Spyncer Coil. He claims to care not at all about the Swords of Ptolus—he wants Spyncer because his father wants him. He’ll give us a day to think it over. What does he want to do with Spyncer? Hand him over to Dad? Use him as bait to lure his father into a trap? But before his death, Malkeen and his father were very close. Nevertheless, Diethan’s connection to the sword Insight gives him the distinct impression that Malkeen is working against his father.
Well, we certainly aren’t in the business of selling people, so that’s not an option. But we hate to have to act without really knowing what’s going on. And when we say no, we’ll have to warn our employees and our families to watch out for the Balacazar vampire—he could come after them to get to us.
18th Of Toil
We spend a difficult day wrestling with our decision, and all too soon night falls. Malkeen and his vampire bodyguard arrive for our decision (the bodyguard pulls down our “No Vampires Allowed” sign and breaks it in front of us). We respectfully decline the offer, explaining that we know he is working against Menon and we have no wish to run afoul of his father’s organization. Malkeen coldly accepts our decision, but holds us to a promise: that Spyncer Coil not fall into anyone else’s hands. Then he pulls out a brass plate with arcane markings and four attached leather straps. “There’s an oddity for you,” he says dryly. “One of you should be wearing that the next time Hadrien Runihan comes to call.” Then he turns and leaves.
A present from the dead heir to a crime family? Calista and Barbatos think it’s a ward that one wears over the heart. The runes seem to suggest something about blood.
I guess Hadrien is coming for us. We mend our sign and put it back up.
19th Of Toil
Taevel tells us the item from Malkeen makes the wearer immune to the special powers of a vampire. But not just one vampire, a particular group of vampires: The Covenant of Blood. I put it on, just in case. And we agree that it’s probably time to buy some potions of protection from evil.
I stock up on supplies for our trip from Ebbert’s Outfitters. Ebbert asks us to drop off a package for a guy named Turgis Nullid in Larth, the first village north of Ptolus, four or five miles from here. We should ask for him in the Mud Hen, Larth’s only tavern. (People from here refer to Larth residents as “mud farmers”—low-class.)
20th Of Toil
Tharn has returned from the plains, where he had gone visiting for the Days of Memory festival. He said his brother Charnoth is well and wanted him to stay with the tribe. “But I love the city,” he said. Funny, he’s arrived just in time for us to pack up and leave in the morning.
I tell Dad that we’re leaving town and warn him to be careful—there may be someone watching him.
We decide on a plan to increase sales at our shop: to sponsor a series of dungeoneering lectures here in conjunction with the Delver’s Guild. I spend some time today lining up speakers from the Guild. I plan to do a session on dangerous beasts.
21st Of Toil
As we set out in the morning, it’s a little cloudy. Some of us—including me—have never even left the city before now! We pass through the shantytown surrounding the city walls and then some outlying farms before turning onto the main road north. After a couple hours we turn off toward Larth. It doesn’t smell too good here: like part fishing village and part livestock farm. And there’s mud EVERYWHERE. Barbatos is very unhappy to be here. We meet some locals who aren’t very helpful. A youth named Carvel made some reference to “flying things” in the area lately—he figured we came from Ptolus in one of these airships, but the fat barkeep hushed him up quick. We have to deliver Ebbert’s package, but there’s no sign of Turgis in the Mud Hen. We search the docks where we’re told he’s fishing, but no sign of him there either. So we have to wait till he comes in with his catch. While we wait, we learn from Carvel that the Shuul were here in an airship not long ago. He thinks they left something for someone. Carvel says that someone called Sethirk is the most important man in town—he might know more about the visitors.
After a bit of time spent goofing around on the docks, we see Turgis approaching through the mud carrying a heavy sack. He’s confused about the package—he wasn’t expecting anything. It’s a warm cloak with a message inside it—he said it was payment for an old debt. “Did anyone know you were coming?” Turgis Nullid asks. He asks because the day before yesterday a human and an elf in an airship were here looking for travelers. Ah, these must be Nichala Golnath and Buelan Silvertooth, the Shuul that Shim warned us about. Turgis confirms that they did talk to Sethirk and may have left something behind before they moved along.
He takes us to Sethirk’s barn, where we see a couple deep depressions in the mud, as though from an airship’s landing. Inside the barn are oily spots and footprints leading out: one from a human, one from a skeletal human, one from square-toed boots, and one from some spiky metal animal-like object. From our investigation, it appears that some constructs were left in the barn for some time, then taken away. We’ll have to be on the lookout for Shuul constructs wandering around here.
We make it back to the main road, and by the time we reach the next fishing village, Balleton, it’s almost dark. The two-story stone building with its warm fire and lamb stew is a welcome change from the cold, dirty road. We see a couple Viridian Lords in the common room, recognizable by the vines that wind all over (and into) their flesh. We ask one of them for advice on dealing with the local elves. “Stick to the road,” he tells us. If we run into trouble, we should keep in mind that the elves don’t recognize Imperial law. They have their own rulers and their own law. He urges us to keep to ourselves.
While on watch that night, Archinemus spies a strange hunched armored figure glowing in the starlight. The flesh not covered by armor appears to be dead, greenish, and mottled. The figure’s head is a bare skull. Archinemus comes to warn us, and we all go down to confront it. We spot the creature, in addition to a metal-shod skeleton. Battle ensues, and in the melee we accidentally catch the stables on fire. More of the armored, steam-driven undead emerge, as does a decayed human encased in a metal platform with insectoid legs. But Archinemus blasts the undead to pieces with his Destor-granted lightning bolts. And then come the horned and armored dog-constructs…
When the smoke clears, the constructs are all dead, and Balleton is short one oak tree, one outhouse, and half a stable. A Viridian Lord comes rushing out. Looks like we’ve got some explaining to do.
