Dear Diary:
Today was the coolest day. Ever.
After getting chased out of Almernae, Barnabus and I ended up on the road to Okolona on foot, hoping to arrive for a small audition that was going to be held by the mage's guild. They were looking for an intrepid group of adventurers for some poorly explained, well paying mission. We were clearly their guys.
On our way, we managed to thumb a ride from a hooded blind woman who introduced herself as Erashi. She said we seemed nice enough, so we climbed into her caravan. Apparently she was a mask saleswoman. Creepy, is all I have to say about that.
Anyways, she was super nice, and even led us to the guild hall where auditions were being held. There was a crowd gathered outside, full of would-be adventurers. Apparently the auditions were over.
We disembarked from the caravan, gave an impromptu party invitation to Erashi (who absently accepted) and headed towards the doors. Erashi ignored our departure, and instead opened the windows of her caravan and began selling masks.
We hammered on the door, and with a combination of intimidation and sweet talk, managed to worm out way inside. We exchanged words with the wizards there, and managed to coax some details out of them.
Apparently they had given the contract to a group of celebrity adventurers, Lance and the Gallants. I'd heard of these losers. Lance Penndragon the paladin, Woeton Thunderton, the dwarven fighter, and Astrid Everglade, the elven cleric. Some digging and coaxing from Barnabus gave us the info that we needed - there were bribes involved. We struck a quick deal - that if we were to beat Lance and his blonde prissy gallants to the punch, we would be rewarded handsomely. If they broke their word, we would spill the beans about their corruption. Excellent. The Galloping Tailors were on the case. That was our new group name.
The Wizards filled us in - they wanted this mission handled covertly. Druids on Jago Island were messing around with magical ley-lines, and the wizards were losing their powers. This was puzzling - druids and arcane users generally didn't conflict. Different types of magic. It was clear that this new cult they were formulating was treading on dangerous grounds. We also learned that Lance was already on his way over in a guild-sponsored ship. Wonderful.
We exited the guild, and realized quickly that we were probably ill-equipped to set out with just the three of us. Luckily, there was a crowd of keen adventurers gathered curiously outside the guild hall. We would need to pick one more. The most hard-boiled badass we could find. On the far end of the crowd, we spied a tengu gunslinger that was being given a wide berth by most of the crowd. Perfect. We recruited him (I think. I didn't understand him through most of his grunting) and got Erashi to pack up shop and head down to the docks.
It didn't take us long to find passage - a small ship with the letter M painted on the flag was docked at the shady side of the harbor. We approached, and introduced ourselves. The woman there - one <FIRST NAME> Magee, seemed keen to get out of port, and when she heard we were operating to blackmail the mage's guild and beat Lance and the Gallants, she offered us passage to Jago Island. We hopped on board, even securing Erashi's horse and wagon below deck.
As we got underway, we noticed a distinct lack of anyone crewing the ship. We were going at a steady clip, and Miss Magee seemed to be managing just fine on her own. I popped below deck and did some snooping, and found out her ship was totally full of sweet-ass stolen loot. I pocketed what I thought I could get away with, (A radical fireball necklace) and headed back above. Barnabus had found out that the ship had been enchanted somehow, and so Magee could operate without a crew. The ship was probably worth a fortune!
It didn't take long for us to gain on Lance. We spied his ship ahead of us, but something was amiss. The waters around the ship ahead were boiling, and in an instant, we saw a great beast rear its tail from the water and slam a hole into their hull. Grateful though we were we wouldn't have to deal with Lance any more, we had some pressing issues. The boat's enchantment was beginning to fail, and we were liable to sink.
We were noticed, and out of the water reared the head of a giant sea dragon who, not immediately hostile, revealed that he was named Loch Negarr. We explained our quest, and the dragon seemed placated by this. He was concerned about the magical ley-lines that the druids were tampering with, and thought our endeavor noble. First, however, he would test our wits to see if we were worthy of our quest.
Riddles were asked, the kind that dragons are famous for, and we pooled our wits to solve them. Just like real adventurers! And get this, when we answered the last one correctly, he coughed up a bunch of sweet loot he'd taken from Lance and the gang. Score! And, when we told him we were sinking, he offered to help us. He wanted most of the loot in the ship for his own seafloor treasure pile, but we took Erashi's horse from the cargo bay and hopped in a lifeboat, and Loch towed us right to shore.
Flippin sweet, right? Totally the highlight of my day. Maybe even my entire life. Erashi and Magee didn't seem to enchanted by it though.
We arrived on shore in the pouring rain, and Magee headed for the nearest town while Erashi headed out to the forest. I followed her, and helped her identify some of her masks so she could lighten her load. She was being kinda mean, muttering stuff about getting roped into a situation with a bunch of idiots. Kind of a downer if you ask me. But I'm sure she'll warm up once she realizes how cool this'll be.
We headed into town, stabled the horse, and booked a couple rooms for the night. Scruff and Erashi stayed back to get totally drunk while Barnabus and I walked around the market.
I didn't get far before a shady looking guy stuck his head out of an alley and asked if I wanted to buy some of his elixir. I played it cool until Barnabus came up behind me, and then I pulled a knife on the dude. We combined our powers to intimidate and interrogate him. He said his name was Garilus Filch, and he'd been a businessman before the Druids took over. They'd set up a Monastery on the north end of town, and a druid named Penelope was keeping watch over everyone. Magic had gone all funky, and Garilus' elixirs no longer had their desired effects. Still, a man had to make a living somehow.
Anyhow, we roughed him up a bit and let him go. I told him that Dr. Stab was in town (I've decided that that'll be my name when I'm wearing this mask.) and the druids should watch their backs.
We headed back to the tavern to plan our next move, and found Erashi drunkenly talking to a woman named Elspeth Casterfall. Elspeth was a merchant over in the market, and she had some gossip for us. Apparently the druids had a surveillance network with the ravens around town. Anywhere there was a raven, they were sure to be listening.
We thanked her for the info and decided to use this to our advantage, talking loudly about attacking and looting the marketplace on the morrow, hoping to deter their attention to that part of town.
When we arrived in our rooms, we found ornate invitations on our pillows, asking us to join the druids in the monastery for dinner on the morrow. Interesting. I ended up bunking with Erashi, who told me that if I made a single noise she would slit my throat in my sleep.
In the morning, we decided we'd alter our plan. The rest of the group would stand watch over the front of the monastery, where Penelope was sitting and keeping watch. I snuck past her and entered the building from a back window. The first thing I saw was a cryptic looking map of the area, pinned to a table with four daggers. I yoinked it, but the parchment was old and crinkled much more than I'd thought. The elf heard me, and, thinking quickly, I clambered up to the rafters of the building, where darkness was abundant. Penelope entered with four guards, and I sat and held my breath while they searched.
After a couple minutes, the druid got tired of waiting, and began to cast a spell. She didn't have to complete it - I made my presence known by tossing a knife. It missed, but it didn't matter. She knew where I was now. Her guards trained their bows on me and she asked me to step down.
But I had a badass one liner prepared. I forget what it was now but something really hard boiled and super cool. Like "you're playing with fire and you'll get burned." Then I threw one of the necklace fireballs at them. I can't even describe how awesome it was. The four guards were incinerated, and the building lit up. Just then, the doors swung open, and the injured druid's escape was cut off by my intrepid friends.
The druid babbled something about 'Morrigan,' the leader of the druids, and how she was a visionary and there were paths in the forest to find her, but they were different for everyone. Then she turned into a crow and escaped. Yeah. Pretty badass.
We looted the monastery, and then headed back to plan our next move. Barnabus deciphered the map to some degree, and learned that the forest had some weird and unpredictable enchantments placed on it. Travellers would get lost in the fog, and not everyone would return. It was sure that we would get separated if we traveled in.
Erashi came up with our plan of action. We'd just tie ourselves together with a sturdy rope. Impossible to get lost that way! I talked to Elspeth, bought the rope we needed, and she told us she could lead us into the forest. Maybe it's too early to tell but I think she's my favorite merchant ever. She's a nice lady.
Anyways, we geared up and headed into the foggy forest. She led us a ways, and then told us that she couldn't go any further, and cryptically said we'd have to find our own paths.
And as luck would have it, after just a couple minutes of walking, Erashi's rope went taut, and then slack. I pulled it in and found that she was totally gone. Barnabus patted me on the shoulder and told me we had no choice but to keep moving.
It didn't take long for me to get lost as well. I felt the same tautness on the rope, and then the same slack. I reeled it in, and when I looked up, I realized that I was standing in utter blackness. Completely silent. Completely alone. I was scared, dear diary, so very scared. But also excited, and you'll never guess what happened next…
—Dr. Leto
