This week was quite a whirlwind. I arrived from Evendarr City back to Exeter, took a quick trip to Theren City, stopped back in Exeter again, and then headed to Firelight Cove in Blackstone for the adventurer gathering. I was quite confident that Exeter was in good hands while I was gone, and so I was far more worried about what was ahead of me than what I was leaving behind.
As it turned out, I was right to be worried. Blackstone, and Firelight Cove
in particular, continues to grow more dangerous every time we gather there.
This time, I knew I had a strong support crew, but I wasn’t sure if event
that was going to be enough.
I arrived in Firelight Cove early in the morning of Friday, June 16, 606, and
proceeded to find a place to stay. I chose a cabin fairly far inland, because
although I personally enjoy sleeping on ships in the docks, I wasn’t sure
if everyone in my party would feel the same way. I was joined in my cabin by
Keno, Adrafae, and Angus, my old friends from our mutual adventuring in Blackstone
and Lorinorea. They brought with them Carak and Sereg of House Talias, two dark
elves that I met in Grayhelm, and who I consider friends. I also invited Guildmaster
Logenn Marr to come stay with us, as he is a long time friend who I have not
gotten to adventure with enough as of late.
As Keno and Adrafae were getting themselves together on Friday night so that
we could go adventure, we had a knock on the door, and Viscount Delwyn Mithrilmist
joined us for our journey towards the tavern. On the way, we saw a hulking figure
in the dim light, but we could not tell what it was. We approached, and we saw
that it was some type of giant plant creature. It apparently had elves that
served it, and it called the elves to its side. Now, we have had some bad experiences
fighting elves recently, and so as soon as I saw what was going on, I told everyone
that we should begin to back away from the plant creature until we had help.
We had a significant group, but not nearly significant enough to deal with a
full-fledged elf attack.
Thankfully, help soon came, as I heard Viscount Telaris of Ravenholt, Lord Anthony
Darkfoge of Therendry, and others join our side. We went on the offensive, and
managed to take out most of the elves, as well as subduing the plant creature
inside of an imprison spell from Keno. We arranged everyone in such a formation
that the plant creature would not be able to escape if Keno’s killing blow
failed to kill the monster.
With everyone in place, Keno killing blowed it with a magical flaming polearm,
and the killing blow did not take effect. Thankfully, we had everyone in perfect
position, and thus Sir Thorne Darkstrider, Knight of Evendarr, was able to kill
the foul plant beast from behind with swings each equal to a lightning storm.
With that out of the way, I went to say hello to certain people such as Sir
Cedric Warclaw, Lord Rastlin Dawnware, and Captain Elenril Elintari. As we were
conversing, though, I thought I felt a spirit pass by me. Just in case, I went
to go check the earth circle. Sure enough, when I got there, I found the spirit
of the human lady Mercy in the circle.
She accepted my resurrection, and so I spent the next fifteen minutes guiding
her spirit back to Tyrra. It is a task that I have become quite adept at over
time, and yet it is also a task that I never enjoy doing. Unfortunately, it
is a task that seems to be becoming more and more common these days. More on
that later, though.
As I was performing the resurrection, Juniper, Angus, and Tygil came in with
Mercy’s equipment. Not long after, the resurrection completed, and she
was able to re-equip herself. Before she had even finished re-equipping, however,
we were attacked by ooze monsters of some type. I swung my sword at them, but
it had no effect on them. I quickly recognized everyone into the earth circle,
and every once in a while I would step out and try to hit them with something,
but to no avail. We tried normal, silver, and magic weapons. We tried magic
missile. We tried cure light wounds. None had any effect.
Tygil suggested that perhaps flame would work, but we had no flame immediately
available to test it out with. Thankfully, we got some assistance from outside,
and Tygil was right. Flame killed the monsters instantly.
With that episode out of the way, I was finally able to head towards the tavern,
and get some food, which was much appreciated.
After I got my food, I sat around talking to Keno, Adrafae, and Angus for a
while, until someone came rushing into the tavern screaming that Duncan had
been taken down outside.
Now, Duncan is very high on all our priority lists, and so we all immediately
went rushing outside. Unfortunately, we found that Duncan was dropped inside
a circle of power, and a smoke creature was feeding on his life essence. I was
very angry, and I probably said some choice words about the situation, but unfortunately
swearing wasn’t doing any good towards fixing the situation.
Someone suggested that perhaps a gypsy curse would work, and so one of the gypsies
at the gathering gypsy cursed the smoke creature to be afraid of circles. Unfortunately,
nothing happened, and we quickly determined that the feasting that these smoke
creatures do cannot be interrupted by gypsy curses. In fact, it may not be interruptible
by anything, meaning that once the circle goes up, a resurrection inevitably
follows.
Certainly, in this case, a resurrection did follow. By the point Duncan’s
body dissipated, we were all ready to pounce, but the smoke creature rifted
out instead of dropping its circle. I do not believe we have managed to kill
one of these smoke creatures yet, so we have no idea exactly how tough they
are. However, I would certainly advise all adventurers to be careful, and not
travel alone, as that is when the smoke creatures seem most likely to strike.
I asked everyone to gather up Duncan’s stuff, and told them that I was
going to the earth circle to check for the spirit. I stalked off towards it,
and several people followed along with me. I was probably not thinking especially
clearly in my anger, but Duncan is a good friend of mine, and his death made
my emotions run fairly high. I arrived at the earth circle, and Adrafae was
good enough to follow me with Duncan’s equipment. Within a few minutes,
Duncan’s spirit entered the circle, and I began my second resurrection
of the gathering.
Thankfully, the resurrection went off without incident, and fifteen minutes
later Duncan’s body re-formed. He was understandably upset about having
resurrected, but I was personally just glad to see that he made it safely back
to us. I can’t even imagine what the world would be like without Duncan
in it.
After that resurrection finished up, I wasn’t aware of anything else that
was going on that night, and so Keno, Adrafae, Angus, Logenn, and I headed to
our cabin to go to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, nothing much seemed to be going on, and so I
headed down to the tavern. Before too long, I was joined by Keno, Adrafae, Angus,
Logenn, Carak, Sereg, and Anthony Darkforge, and we headed out to seek adventure.
First, we found a circle of power that looked like it had been used recently
to cast a great deal of formal magic. We found a note inside the circle, and
promptly turned the note over to the Blackstone authorities. Hopefully, the
note will give us a leg up on our adversaries.
Second, we found an old man with a long beard wandering around in the woods.
Apparently he was quite interested in alchemy, and while I did not get much
of a chance to talk to him about it at this gathering, I may go back at some
point to try to find him again to discuss alchemical recipes with him.
Most of the afternoon was fairly quiet. There were occasional attacks by random
creatures, but nothing especially significant. There were some red caped bandits
that attacked, but they were defeated fairly easily, although I did get gassed
down a couple of times. I should put a thank you in here to Juniper, who saved
me when I got gassed down, which I much appreciated.
Later in the afternoon, Angus gathered a group of us together to go to the plane
of harmony. The group consisted of Angus, Keno, Carak, Sereg, Elenril, Juniper,
Lauryanne, and I. To enter harmony, we had to pass a series of tests, to show
that we understood the prime virtues of harmony.
The first test that we had to pass was to walk up a set of stairs. Juniper,
Sereg, and I were able to walk up, but no one else could pass through. We tried
to figure out what the three of us had in common, but had no luck for several
minutes. There was even some thought that the three of us might have to go on
alone. Eventually, Angus handed his polearm to Keno, and then he was able to
walk up the stairs. After that, I figured out what the three of us had in common.
We all had our weapons sheathed. Everyone else put down their weapons, and thus
we were able to pass the test of peace.
The second test involved us coming to a shape of a fishhook drawn in the sand.
Keno easily figured this one out, and drew another fishhook matching it so that
they formed the shape of a heart. Thus we passed the test of love.
The third test involved a beggar, and we all gave him a coin. By doing so, we
passed the test of generosity.
The fourth test involved a man screaming. Someone was going to awaken him, but
Keno had a better idea. Keno used a courage spell to remove his fear, and thus
we passed the test of courage.
With that, we were almost to the plane of harmony, but we had one test left
to pass. We were told that the key to passing the test was E. With my skills
in harmonic magics, I quickly realized that E was referring to a note, and so
we all had to hit an E. Once we did, we were allowed to the plane of harmony.
At this point, a war is raging there between invading discord elementals and
native harmony elementals. Discord elementals have taken half the plane, and
help is needed. We were sent back to Tyrra and told that we would come back
to Harmony when the time was right.
Once back on Tyrra, I ran into my old friend, the Minstrel Redberry. I had not
seen him in quite some time, and it was exceptionally good to see him. He played
a number of terrific songs, and I sat around the tavern just listening to the
music. It was a very quiet and relaxing time, which was nice for an adventurer
gathering. For a while Katherine von Sering joined me and we both sat listening
to Redberry play, and it was nice to have some company, and I am sure he appreciated
the audience.
Redberry also helped me do something I have never done before. I have used my
harmonic abilities to do spell-poems, but never spell-songs. I performed my
poem for shield magic with Redberry backing me up on guitar, and I was surprised
at how good it sounded, and how non-nervous I was. Singing, as it turns out,
is much easier when you are accompanied by music.
As the time got near six o’clock, everyone started to notice that something
strange was occurring. Time itself seemed to be warping around us. We all assumed
that this was some doing of Temporal Morgis or Protomorgis, and it turned out
that it was related to them, but not caused by them. Instead, Viscount Telaris
had discovered that he could draw Temporal Morgis into a fight, but he would
have to slow down time to do it. Viscount Telaris has some funky powers, but
up until then I did not realize that he was powerful enough to slow down time.
Eventually, we marched out onto a field which was filled with fast time instead
of slow time, and Temporal Morgis’s minions attacked us. Viscount Telaris
transformed and went after Temporal Morgis himself.
The minions we fought were tough, but not too bad. They had many different flame
attacks, including a plethora of spell-strikes, but those were fairly easily
avoidable if one was quick of foot. In the end, compared to many of the other
fights we have been in as of recent, it was not an especially nasty one.
Eventually, Redberry reported to us that Temporal Morgis had fallen. I looked
through the portal, and indeed Viscount Telaris was applying the finishing touches
to Temporal Morgis. The minions all began disappearing, and those that were
left fell quickly.
Viscount Telaris then came back to us, and asked for a moment of silence for
Termporal Morgis, one of his brethren, a time elemental that had simply gone
wrong through too much exposure to Tyrrans. He was granted his moment of silence,
and then we headed back to the tavern.
Back at the tavern, Redberry played a lot of music, and there was some dancing
going on. First, only Beryl was dancing, and then I attempted to join her, but
I can’t dance, so it didn’t last long. Eventually, Juniper joined
her in her dancing, and then Nightshine did as well. It created quite a jubilant
atmosphere in the tavern for a while, and I was quite glad for the relaxation.
For a while, we were attacked by minotaurs. They could swing massive blows that
could not be stopped by shields and would deal damage equivalent to a lightning
storm and flame bolt combined! I saw one particular group of them come out of
the woods, and so I snuck in behind them and came out of the woods behind them.
They assumed I was with them, so they paid no attention to me. I got right up
behind them and managed to waylay both of them, which was one of my prouder
accomplishments of the gathering.
After some time, a major announcement was made. Adrafae was to become the new
celestial guildmistress of Blackstone. I thought that it was quite an admirable
choice. She is highly qualified, and I believe that she and Guildmaster Marr
together will do a terrific job building back up the Guilds of Blackstone.
Following that, another major announcement was made. Viscount Delwyn Mithrilmist
was to take a squire and a squire candidate. His squire was to be Caliphar Belmont,
and his squire candidate was to be Katherine von Sering. I thought that Caliphar
being interested in nobility was a bit of an odd decision, as he has always
railed against nobility, but I guess that one is free to change their minds.
I confess that I was somewhat disappointed for Katherine, as most people had
thought for a long time that it was going to be her who was going to be named
squire. Nonetheless, I have always thought highly of Caliphar and his abilities,
and I am interested to see how he handles this new task set before him.
As always, there was work that had to be done. Adrafae needed to be invested
into the celestial circle in Firelight Cove, and so I traveled with Lord Dawnware
and Caliphar up to the circles to see the investiture done. As we were there,
Viscount Mithrilmist came in saying that there was going to be a spirit arriving
in the circle soon, and Roxi was with him and quite visibly upset. Apparently
she and Andris had followed someone who told them that they would be led to
relevant information about Blackstone. Well, it was a trap, and Andris failed
to make it out, and Roxi only barely made it out.
Lord Dawnware attempted top start Andris’s resurrection, but was rejected.
I pretty quickly figured out what was going on, and so I started the resurrection
and handed it off to Roxi, and the spirit accepted that. Meanwhile, while that
was going on, Lord Dawnware got to work investing Adrafae.
During that period of time, high elves burst into the building and took down
Katherine in the doorway. Thankfully for us, they pulled out fairly quickly,
and Lord Dawnware was able to kill a couple on their way out. We were easily
able to recover Katherine, but then the question became where the high elves
went.
We gathered the entire town together, and attempted to meet the high elves in
combat, but they were outmaneuvering us. We tried to find them at the field,
but they were not there. Seneca went out to search for them, but as far as we
knew did not return. Thus, we sent out two scouting parties. The first, made
up of Caliphar and Beryl of Hawthorne’s Bluff, was to search out the high
elves. The second, made up of Duncan and I, was to search for Seneca.
Duncan and I searched all over the field for Seneca’s location, but we
were unable to find him. We headed back towards the main group of adventurers,
and then happened to find Seneca along the way, and he told us that he had never
left. However, at this point he was leaving, and heading toward the tavern to
check that area.
The rest of us all headed toward the tavern, and when we got there many adventurers
were already there. We then heard a rumor that the elves were at the docks,
so we headed down that way. Sure enough, we found them there, and the battle
began.
The elves began by throwing light sticks at us, but they only managed to get
the light sticks in front of us, instead of backlighting us like they desired
to do. We threw some lights back at them, and this process must have gone on
for five minutes or so. They then attempted to hit us with three volleys of
flame bolts, but those also fell far short of our position.
With that, they advanced, and the battle began in earnest. I knew I had to be
extra careful because I did not have Rillien around to watch my back, and so
I spent the first part of the battle helping to hold the line. Of course, line
tactics don’t work especially well against spell casters, and that quickly
became a problem for us.
Not long into the battle, I missed a golden opportunity. I hit General Sorbane
with a vertigo gas poison, and he did not manage to get out of the way. If I
had followed up with a sleep and a circle of power, I might have been able to
end the fight right there, but I was too slow, and he managed to get back to
his healer and get purified. I never got another chance that was as good.
Eventually, we started pushing their line, and I saw an opportunity to get in
behind their line to get some waylay attacks off. The waylay attacks got magic
armored (even when they breathe waylay never works!), and one of the larger
elves rolled up and got me with spell-strike imprisons. He then beat down Beryl
of Hawthorne’s Bluff right next to me, and killing blowed me.
When I woke up, I was in the earth circle, for the second straight gathering.
I had apparently been resurrected by Logenn and Kivuli, and I was appreciative
to both of them for their help. Lord Dawnware was there, too, and I was fully
expecting to get chewed out for being killed, and so I was pleasantly surprised
when I was not. They handed me back my equipment, but I have to admit that I
was in no shape for further adventuring by that point in the gathering.
I said some quick goodbyes to my friends, put my equipment on the back of my
horse Brutus, saddled up my horse Lightning, and headed back toward Exeter.
It would be a long trip, I knew, but right then, nothing sounded quite as good
as home.