Heroes' Log - The Lonely Coast

My name is Roderic Fallstaff, a conjurer of some small repute. To my eternal chagrin, I have become associated with a band of somewhat competent adventurers. Again we find ourselves distracted from our main quest on some side-jaunt of limited importance.

I -along with one of my companions- am writing this note, so in the likely event we find ourselves slain in some unknown partially submerged cave some record of our actions will remain. Hopefully, when our elven guides notice our absence, they will retrace our steps and discover this missive and thus know our gruesome fates and how we arrived at them.

The current situation began after our orc-blooded mule, Serv, got lost.
[Serv did not get lost. Serv got tired of whining.]

I was particularly upset by the absence, but only because the green bastard stole all my food and winter clothing when he wandered off.
[If it is in Serv’s backpack it is Serv’s]

Serv sees Boat
Serv now
has Boat

Serv sees water
water is deep
water is big
water tastes salty
water is cold

Night is dark and quiet likes it when the elves are gone.

stick tree swamp
tree swamp stick
swamp stick tree

Serv now give Roderic the feather and ink.

Having finally wrenched my quill back from my tusk-faced companion, I can relate the rest of the tale.

Having been reunited with Serv after almost two-weeks (and I retrieved my now sopping wet clothing), we followed him to a ruined tower to see if we could witness the ghost he claimed to have seen. I admit I was skeptical regarding the existence of ghosts and accused Serv of hallucinating the entire event.

On our third day retracing Serv’s steps we were assaulted by lizardmen, after Thia blew her signal whistle, attracting their attention. Thankfully, Lilly was more cunning and entangled the lizardmen in a mass of writhing shrubbery. We quickly pepper the reptiles with arrows, killing them to a man.
[How do you know they lizardsmen? Were you checking every body? Pervert.}

Having found the ruined boat we proceeded to argue pointlessly for a time, before carrying it the rest of the way to the tower. There we rested overnight and I saw the ghost!
[And screamed like a little elven girlie.]

But, the fleeting appearance of the specter was not so brief for me to notice her brass necklace, which stood out for no reason apparent at the time. Having spent a night and a day trying unsuccessfully to penetrate the lower levels of the tower we moved on, towards a burnt village and the inhabited cottage Serv saw in the distance.

The village was empty and stripped of valuables, but we searched anyway.
[Needed wood for boat Serv found. Took all the doors to fix boat. Soon it will float like a door!]

In the cottage we found an old lady, a former inhabitant of the now abandoned village. We quickly made ourselves at home, although some more at home than others.
[Serv does not wear pants at home. Told to make self at home. So no pants.]

Once resting in the house we begin to question the old lady, inquiring about events that occurred at the abandoned tower. She related the story of the loss of her sister, killed by a monster near the shore. The woman also wore an old necklace, the twin of the one we saw on the ghost! Baltuun –ever the spirit of wisdom- proceeds to mentioning the ghost and the fact the lady’s sister is not resting peacefully but endlessly walking the earth. Needless to say, our host almost died of shock and horror.

So, possibly motivated by guilt, we set out to find the monster and slay it. Thia and others are going to the tower one last time, to ask the ghost if its killer still lives. Meanwhile, Serv and I pen this letter so maybe, in a few decades, a new set of foolish travelers might venture to the cave to find out water-logged bones.

Hopefully the monster is long since dead of old age and we need merely find the bones of its victims and properly bury them. But, with our luck, the monster has bred and grown large on a diet of fish.

And if the readers of this letter happen to be our elven guides, then know we died heroically and terribly stupidly trying to save a young girl who’d been dead for a lifetime. Return to the dwarves and your homeland and know we wish you luck saving your forest.

Roderic Fallstaff
[Serv]
18th of Secondary Cabal