Today I saw the ocean. I realized
before it came into view that we could feel it: a heaviness to the air
as we approached, the taste of salt and an odour I was unable to
identify. The golden sands of the beach sparkled as we came down the
mountains to the water. I will hold this memory in my mind until I can
take up paint and re-create it to share with all. There are many
wonders out here in the lands beyond our borders.
These humans have fascinated me. The
cultural differences are exactly what I’ve read about. But actually
living it is much harder than I expected. To get used to the direct way
the humans speak, so impatient, always in a hurry, it takes great
patience to keep reminding myself they are not rude, merely cultural
differences. It was extraordinarily difficult to attempt to ask a
direction of my companions. But I keep trying and seem to be getting
along better with them.
Today we go searching for Serv. Our
companion has wondered off again. Of all our companions he is the one I
find most confusing. The orcs are evil; our enemies. Yet, he is of good
character. To watch him puzzling over his scraps of paper and trying to
create maps of our paths is at times as funny as it is admirable. His
persistence in pursuing a worthwhile skill is almost Elven. So, Baltuun
and I struck out along the coast to find our companion or sign of his
passage. The beach quickly gave way to swampy estuaries. We came upon
him wounded and bleeding in the foul waters.
I have noticed that I’m able to sense an evil presence nearby some of the time. There seems to be a special trick to this blessing from Corellon Larethian, as it does not always give me warming, but when it does work, it has always been right. I detect no evil in our half-orc companion and sense nothing from the surrounding areas.
As we attempt to bring him back to the
beach camp he tells a tale of his wonderings. Orcish gibberish mostly,
but he mentioned some boats and an old abandoned town. News of boats
will be just the thing to encourage the group to attempt passage around
the mountains rather than attempting to retrace our steps under the
mountains or braving the dangerous seasonal changes in the high
mountains by trying to cross over them. Baltuun and I hurry to get Serv
back to camp for some proper medical care and share the news of boats.
Watching the sun rise over the water
eclipses even the first sighting of the endless waters. The colours
play in the clouds, changing moment to moment. You can picture the
great halls of Corellon’s court in the clouds and the light shining a
path to his gates. I love the early morning watch rotation; being here
to see the world awake to start a new day. Today will be the day we
head down the coast to find these boats.
Swamps do not make good places for
proper writing. It has been a while since I was able to write. We are
now at the ruined town embarking upon a worthy quest. We have
discovered that here there is a ghost not at rest. My companions are
good people of brave character. We are going to try to help this
restless soul. Tonight we return to the tower from which she emerged
and do what we can to restore her to peace.
There is a sole survivor in this town;
the sister to our restless spirit. A quiet old woman with a tale of
such horror I will not repeat it save that there was a monster who came
from the old tower by the sea and killed her sister and spread such
fear through the village that everyone fled. We will go and right this
evil. If I survive, I will write of my brave companions and our deeds.
A week we plan to stay now. A week of
recovery for our bodies and souls, while we carve a memorial for the
sister. I learn the art of stone carving from friend Thia and meditate
on life and death while we heal. I have discovered that Corellan
Larethian has shared another gift with me. It seems I am able to heal
my companions with a touch. It heals, but not everything, I do not
understand this gift very well yet and in the hopes that a better
understanding of wounds will lead to better application of this gift, I
plan to seek further training beyond the basic first aid we were
taught for Watch patrol duties.
That I am writing shows we survived.
However we mourn the death of Hazel and celebrate the release of her
sister’s soul to the afterworld. It makes me remember our lost
companion Eduard. A refrain from the travelling bard while celebrating
my last night at home before this mission. It haunts my meditation
today and I cannot help but dwell on my own mortality. Or more
accurately my own longevity compared to these I have chosen to travel
with. The pain of making friends only to lose them is great. Whether by
accident or by natural cause, dead is still gone from us. As I
meditate, asking Corellan for guidance my heart is lighted with the
thought that I can remember them fondly. To hold apart and make no
friends, is to watch life pass by with no flavour. When you find
companions of good flavour, say Elven Estalari Wine you should hold on
to them for as long as given, you wouldn’t want to end up with
companions of Dwarven Ale or no companions at all.
Now I feel better, I can share the
tale of the tower. Sure enough there was a cave entrance under the
cliff of the tower. We had some difficulty getting into the cave. We
had to swim through the waters to the cave entrance. I believe that
with some less dangerous circumstances it might even be fun to have the
waves toss you around. However, here, in this place and time, they were
tossing us into rocks. We all eventually made it in the cave entrance,
but with the tide rising, we had to continue in to see if we could
locate sign of the monster.
It was not long before an odour more
foul than the stench of the swamp assailed us. Swamp, salt, rotting
odours that could only be from something once alive. We reached another
cave chamber. With Serv staying ahead out of the range of light from
Roderick’s light spell cast on the symbol of Corellan Larethian and
half our group on the dry ledge across the channel from us we were
split in three. I saw the monster appear across the cave from a dark
opening in the opposite wall. As I shot my longbow and warned the party
the monster dripped flesh into the waters and drooled down his pointy
teeth. As the monster charged us, Baltuun rushed in to give it a hug. I
really will have to ask him why he keeps doing that. But our friend was
crushed and thrown across the room. Roderick and Serv ran up to attack,
while I tried to fill the creature with arrows. It sloughed flesh into
the waters and healed as good as new with every attack we made. While
Lily and Thia ran to attack with Roderick and Serv I ran around the
room to check on Baltuun. Finding him stable was a blessing from the
gods. The water was still rising, so I dragged him to safety and ran
back to see if my sword was more effective than the arrows. Thia, Lily
and I were able to finish off the monster with our swords while Serv
and Roderick retraced our steps to see if we had the option to retreat
and regroup before continuing combat. I thought for a moment that I
gave my life to take that last swing of my blade. But I awoke to Lily’s
quiet prayer and a warm healing blessing. I will have to remember to
talk to her about this healing gift and see if she can teach me how to
use the gift more fully.
I ask after Baltuun and the others.
Turns out we’d spent the night on the only dry shelf at high tide,
sharing space with bones of all kinds. Amongst the bones were the
remains of Laurel, which they had already gathered up to return to the
surface for appropriate burial.
Everybody is alive, but worse for the
ware, with Baltuun still unconscious. Thia, Lily and Serv had explored
and discovered that the only way out of the cave (short of swimming
back to the boat against that surf) is through a locked door. The
wonderful thing about groups is that we all know different things. It
was great teamwork that let us all share our thoughts and figure out
the clues to the puzzle lock to get through. I think that the pain of a
few shocks has started to teach Serv a new appreciation for the virtues
of teamwork.
We found a magical boat, but seem to
be unable to use it. A more thorough investigation may prove to be
useful later. I lead the way up the stairs, with sword out and ready.
It seems to be a tower carved out of the rock directly under the ruined
tower above. We pass through circular rooms full of rotting or empty
crates, barrels, supplies of all kinds.
Then a clue to what manner of creature
originally owned the tower. A level of green sand set in patterns,
green glowing from either end of the room and no clear path to the
opposite stairwell to continue climbing.
Roderick didn’t seem to know much
about the green glowing, but agreed that if we didn’t touch anything we
should be ok to cross the room. We agreed to each cross carefully and
try not to disturb anything in the room. However, when inside the room
Lily and I were drawn to see the glowing pool to the side while
Roderick went to the table to check the book. Him and his books; he
seems completely unable to pass by any paper without trying to carry it
along with us. We made it safely across and up the stairs to the next
room, a library which thoroughly distracted us from seeing what
happened next.
Serv and Thia had been carrying
Baltuun up the tower and as they lay him on the floor to join us in
exploring this room, Serv went back down the stairs. Turns out he was
after an emerald that was in a bowl of liquid on the table. As soon as
he touched it, the room sealed him in and little frog men started to
attack him. I guess Roderick’s habit of collecting books was a good
thing here, as he was able to find the key to the spell laid out in the
patterns below and tell Thia and Lily, who had forced through the
shield to aid Serv. Amid all the shouting and splashing of waters and
general chaos, Roderick joined the fray trying to get water from the
pool over to the nexus point of the spell. Thia and Lily successfully
cancelled the spell and Roderick ended up unconscious in the pond
soaked head to foot.
We continued up the tower and exited
out the trap door we had been unable to open the first night we saw the
spirit of Laurel and started this quest to restore her to peace. If
only we’d returned in time to have provided company to Hazel before her
passing. I believe that she and her sister are re-united now and happy
knowing we were able to help them. I hope that the village will not
long remain abandoned as it looks to be a great location. We should be
able to travel soon, we will return through the swamps up the coast to
the dwarven city to see if they have the answers we seek. My thoughts
return to the forest. I hope the dwarves hurry; we need not only an end
to the forest transformation, but a way to restore the crystalline
horrors to their living forms. The larger quest is not complete.