It seems as if I have been traveling a lot recently. In the past five weeks, I have been to four gatherings, and in the intervening week I spent my time training. I have begun to think about taking time off, but have not decided what I wish to do yet.
Of course, there was no way I could take time off when there was an Exeter gathering
coming up, as there was this past weekend. The only place I like traveling to
better than Exeter is its fellow Theren city of Calais. Also, I had to travel
to Exeter for this gathering because Guildmistress Mirage would not be in attendance
and so I had to do my part in running the Exeter Healer’s Guild.
I arrived in town by myself for once, having traveled separately from Glenn.
I felt I needed some time to myself to think about things after my disastrous
trip to Fengate two weeks ago, and the trip into town gave me time to do that.
Perhaps I should explain what I mean when I say my trip to Fengate was disastrous.
While I was in Fengate, I consistently tried to help out the dwarves that run
that Duchy with the problems they were facing, but I constantly was either being
told that getting involved would not be a good idea or was arriving too late
to make a difference. Because of this, I felt useless, and that is a feeling
that I strongly do not like to have.
At any rate, I picked up a copy of the Therendry/Blackstone Herald on my way
into town, and discovered that for the first time, I was mentioned in the rumor
column. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Some of my
friends have suggested that it is a bad thing because it makes you a target,
but I must admit that I kind of enjoyed seeing my name in print for something
other than an article I had written. The rumor was that Lady Chancellor Nyneave
of Greyhorn had her “astute elven eye” on me. Personally, though I
found the rumor amusing, I must state that it is completely false, as to the
best of my knowledge the Lady Chancellor is quite happy where she currently
is.
When I arrived at the gathering, I found that several adventurers from Greyhorn
had come to the gathering, and I was happy to see them. Included amongst the
people who had decided to make the trip were His Grace Duke Chance, the Lady
Baroness Kellendia, and my old friends Faustus and Big Ben. In addition to being
happy to see them, I also had a nagging suspicion that we would end up needing
their help.
I am not quite sure how it occurred, but when I arrived at the gathering I found
that a gate had opened that connected Exeter with the dark elven land of Koroket.
Lord Exeter seemed slightly disturbed by the gate, but I believe that he ultimately
chose to let it stand. I do not know if any action has been taken since.
Not long into the gathering, the Black Dragon Fatchna showed up with an offer
to take the town to go fight Mordakai, again. Count Lyonesse was not yet in
town, and so Lord Exeter wanted to wait for him, but Fatchna was rather impatient,
and so ultimately Lord Exeter decided to make the call to seize the opportunity.
We rifted to Mordakai’s lair, and apparently Fatchna’s power was employed
to keep him from rifting away. It was a tough fight, as we were besieged by
Mordakai’s undead, but the town held firm. Unfortunately, we never had
a chance. Mordakai, you see, had a new trick. He had learned the technique for
turning his body into a gaseous form somewhere along the line, and he employed
that technique extensively against us. Because we could not affect him while
he was gaseous, and we had no effective way to solidify him, we could not defeat
him. Deciding to cut our losses, we rifted back to the tavern, and only after
we got there did we realize that we had left people behind.
From what I understand, the group that was left behind had captured Mordakai,
but had no way to destroy him. However, the Incarnation of Death showed up and
destroyed Mordakai for them, apparently ripping his face off in the process.
He then rifted those who were left behind into the tavern. When they arrived,
they were screaming as if they had just woken up from a bad dream. I do not
know why this happened.
When we got back, Count Lyonesse had arrived and so a report was given to him
about the raid on Mordakai’s lair. I spent most of the rest of the evening
talking to Duke Chance, who is one of the most interesting conversationalists
I have ever met. I spoke to him for nearly two hours and we didn’t run
out of topics, we simply ran out of time. He is a man who has seen so much and
has such good theories that it is truly a joy just to listen to him. Amongst
my favorite things that Duke Chance said is that we have been, as of late, being
too lenient on evil behavior in many adventuring lands. This has encouraged
more people to act evilly, because people no longer believe that there are negative
consequences for acting evilly. Given what I have seen in the past few gatherings,
I believe that Duke Chance is right, and I hope that something can be done about
it.
There was one point in the evening that I was standing around with Sheriff Stephanos
and we were attacked by several rogues with gasses. Fortunately, I managed to
get out of the way and have my poison shield protect me, and so I was okay.
Unfortunately, one of the attackers got away, and so I chased him out the door,
and then halfway across the field, and then finally caught him in a web spell.
Unfortunately, his buddy was right there, and so I had to protect myself from
his buddy’s attacks. I managed to get to where the second rogue had dropped
three or four adventurers with gasses, and I managed to get them up. We then
went in to fight the second rogue again, but his supply of gasses was incredible,
and he gassed most people down again. Fortunately, we finally got reinforcements,
and so we were able to take down the second rogue. Unfortunately, somebody took
the treasure off of the rogue I took down, and so I was not especially happy
with the entire encounter.
After the encounter with the rogues, I decided to go to bed. Unfortunately,
on the way to bed, I was attacked by fire hounds of some type. I threw sleep
spells at them, and to my great surprise the sleep spells took effect, and they
fell asleep. To see monsters in Exeter that could not resist or phase or dodge
or anything like that was simply amazing. When I also discovered that they were
affected by death spells, it made me even happier. I quickly dispatched most
of the wolves and continued on my way to bed.
The place I was staying the Healer’s Guild, so as to help defend the Circle.
Unfortunately, while many of the other cabins had fireplaces to keep them warm,
the Healer’s Guild did not, and so it was cold. I want to thank Lady Kes
and Caliphar here for staying with me and helping me defend the Circles even
though it was very cold.
Well, when I got up on Saturday morning, there was much excitement around the
Healer’s Guild. Lord Exeter was there with a contingent of people, and
I think they may have been identifying someone or something in the celestial
circle, but I was groggy and honestly do not recall the exact circumstances.
I strapped on my equipment and went outside, but there did not seem to be much
going on. I grabbed some lunch from the tavern, and I spoke to some people,
but didn’t do much else until the afternoon was getting late.
At that point, His Excellency Count Lyonesse was preparing the field for a tournament.
The tournament was to have three pieces. The first would be four on four fighting,
the second would be spellcasting, and the third would be one on one fighting.
I signed up for the four on four fighting and the one on one fighting, because
I know that I am a better fighter than a caster. Unfortunately, though, I wasn’t
able to participate in the fighting, because my entire team of myself, Caliphar,
Encaren, and Action Jack Fidian were sucked into the earth by an earth elemental,
along with some other people. Apparently the earth elemental was intent on giving
Encaren some type of test.
The first aspect of the test involved having to hold our breath to get through
a room with exceptionally stale air. If one even breathed deeply in this room,
actual physical pain would be caused. Naturally, we all took shallow breaths
as we made our way into the second room.
In the second room, there didn’t appear to be anything in our way. However,
as we walked, those of us at the front of the line felt a great force push against
us, and we were knocked to the ground, though our magic armor spells protected
us from most of the blow. Some people then tried walking forward again, and
the same effect occurred. However, Action Jack did not have a magic armor, and
the force sliced him in half, severing his torso from his legs. Fortunately,
I was able to give him a life spell in time. We then decided that the way to
get through was to crawl underneath the force.
In the third room, there were four glasses and two bowls. Each bowl contained
a different, unrecognizable alchemical substance. Also in the room was a wall
of fire. It was discovered that the two liquids could be combined and thrown
on the fire to douse part of the flame, or one could drink them together to
become immune to the flame. Most people opted to drink the liquids, but I don’t
trust substances I don’t know, and so I opted to douse the flames instead
and walk through.
Beyond the fire was the fourth room. In it, we found a container on the floor.
When the container was opened, it contained a gem and some random trinkets.
A detect magic spell revealed nothing magical. When the container was opened,
though, a giant earth elemental formed and began moving towards us. Like any
brave heroes would do, we decided that it was an optimal time to run away, and
so we ran all the way back to the front of the cave, where we got taken back
to the surface. We had to crawl through the dirt, so it wasn’t especially
pleasant, but at least we all got back safe and sound.
We got back in time to watch the casting tournament, in which Rastlin defeated
Jester in a close match, and we got to participate in the fighting tournament.
I was matched up with Squire Anferny of Lochwood in the first round, and lost
badly. However, Squire Anferny was a great opponent to fight and I can only
wish to have his skill with a sword someday.
The overall winner of the fighting tournament was a gentleman from Lochwood
whose name I did not catch, but he beat Squire Corin Sunliner in a well fought
final.
After the tournament, I got some time to once again chat with Duke Chance of
Greyhorn, and it is a testament to him that we still had not run out of topics
of conversation. I could probably spend an entire adventuring day talking with
him and still not even begin to tap his knowledge. I also must give him credit
for the quality of the people he surrounds himself with. People like Baroness
Kellendia, Faustus, and Big Ben are extremely skilled, and even better, extremely
competent.
Actually, during the fighting tournament we almost had a problem with Faustus.
Apparently someone slipped him a hallucinoid elixir, which I was able to discern
when he came up to me and told me that there were green men on my shoulders
and I should watch out for them. Deciding that he shouldn’t fight while
under the influence of a hallucinoid, I purified his blood. However, some people
saw me doing it and thought that I was casting harmful spells on him, and so
I had to explain to them the situation before more trouble was created. I also
apologized to Faustus later for it.
When I was finished talking to Duke Chance, I went into the tavern and was told
that Caliphar had been abducted by leech scavengers and Viscount Silvercord,
Lady Kes, Nikki, and Beryl had all run off after him. I ran off to go after
them, and Action Jack and the human called Mira both came with me.
When we got outside, we found the dark elf Ryu, who doesn’t speak common,
pointing frantically and yelling, “Caliphar!” We went to where he
was pointing, and we found Caliphar lying there, obviously alive but in bad
shape. He was drained and had only one dagger blow’s worth of ability to
take a hit. I administered a life spell and healed him until he was at full
strength, and then he explained to us that people had just sat in the tavern
and watched him be dragged off. I asked him if he knew where the people who
went after him were, and he said no.
We went after them, and found Nikki not too long after, and she seemed okay.
Unfortunately, we got jumped by some type of strange creature which could swing
ten dagger blows worth of paralyzing damage. I fought it, but Nikki took it
out quickly and efficiently with a death spell. Not long after, we found Beryl
wandering around in the woods, looking for Caliphar. When we told her that we
had him, she came back, but she didn’t know where Viscount Silvercord and
Lady Kes were.
With Caliphar and I leading the way, we searched the woods for our two missing
companions. We found them about a quarter of a mile away, and they explained
to us that there were doppelgangers around, and they thought they may have found
one. Unfortunately, though, it got away, and so we all headed back to the tavern
for the feast.
At the feast, both His Grace Pinetree and His Grace Aldraec were present, and
so Faustus decided to offer a toast to the continued success of both Dukes.
I thought it was a classy gesture, and I would have joined in, except that I
had no money to pay for the feast, and as such I had no cup. During the feast,
a being named Arcon, who is apparently the Incarnation of Magic, showed up.
He was walking around identifying people. Not wanting to deal with yet another
of Therendry’s zillion incarnations, I kept my distance from him.
As an aside, what is it with Therendry and incarnations? Therendry seems to
have incarnations for forces that don’t even exist. Take good as an example.
Therendry has an Incarnation of Good, but I see two problems with that. First,
Lake Hollym and other institutions of learning have done extensive study of
the elements, and have prepared a treatise on them, and Good is not listed amongst
the natural elements of the universe they discovered. In fact, the only ones
they found were fire, water, stone, air, time, order, chaos, life, death, light,
darkness, reason, and dream. Second, I have written an extensive treaty on good
and evil, and my conclusions were that it is virtually impossible, if not completely
impossible, to define good. As such, how could one represent what good is? It
is my intention to find the Incarnation of Good at some point and sit down and
have a discussion with him on the nature of Good.
At any rate, the feast was relatively uneventful apart from the Incarnation
of Magic appearing, but after the feast I was asked to perform a destroy formal
magic ritual on Lutharian Kain. To the best of my knowledge, Lutharian Kain
has become the Squire of a Knight of the Incarnation of Evil, and as such, under
their noble duty to “fight evil without cessation,” Count Lyonesse
and Lord Exeter both declared that Lutharian had to be DFM’d. As acting
Guildmaster, I was given the task of casting the ritual.
It did not go well. Someone, likely Lutharian himself (although he claims otherwise),
opposed the ritual. That wouldn’t have been that bad, since it would have
merely extended the formal magic to an hour’s time, except that outside
forces then intervened and rifted Lutharian out, backlashing the formal magic.
The circle was destroyed, and I considered myself lucky to escape unharmed.
The circle was later re-created, and many re-invested, but it is still a large
headache that was completely unnecessary. At the current moment, according to
what I last heard from Lord Exeter, Lutharian Kain is considered an enemy of
Lyonesse and, if seen, is to be captured and brought before Count Lyonesse for
the serving of justice.
After the entire incident with the DFM was finished, I had to get my equipment
back, which was currently in Caliphar’s possession. I have to especially
thank Faustus and Big Ben here, because they helped keep me safe while I was
without my sword and spell book.
Actually, let me pause here to say a bit about Faustus. In every dealing I have
had with him, he is always a man who has done the right thing. When first I
met him, he was helping us destroy Karveki in Avendale. When next I met him,
he helped fight chaos elementals in Greyhorn. When next I met him, he was a
stalwart supporter of Duke Chance against some questionable elements, again
in Greyhorn. And most recently, he came to Therendry and helped us even though
it is not his land. He is a skilled warrior, and a good man, and I am proud
to say that I have fought beside him in battle as often as I have.
Well, after I got my equipment back, we were visited by a strange man from a
nearby town, who told us that the Nemesai were attacking there. We went to aid
the town, and were attacked by the largest group of Nemesai I have ever seen.
I began the battle backpacking Count Lyonesse, but he jumped away from me, and
so I began backpacking Sir Strider instead. Sir Strider is magnificently easy
to backpack, as he simply stands in front of you and fights without moving away
from his backpack. He also communicates relatively well. In the midst of the
battle, though, I peeled off of Sir Strider’s back to heal Viscountess
Kiera, who was down, and I got taken down myself. Fortunately, someone hit me
with a cure light wounds spell from a distance, and I was able to get up and
get the Viscountess up as well. We hurried back behind the lines, as the front
line is no place for two scholars.
High Lord Tao of Koroket and Caliphar got dropped behind the Nemesai lines,
but the adventurers managed to get to them and get them out, and we were very
happy for that, as they are both very skilled adventurers who no one would want
to see be forced to resurrect. After a while, we realized that we couldn’t
stand and fight the Nemesai, and we fell back to town. The Nemesai chased us,
and we fought with them for a while. There was also a lot of talking between
the Nemesai leaders and the leaders of the town, but I don’t know what
they were talking about. Additionally, the Nemesai apparently later attacked
the dark elves in Koroket, but I don’t really know anything about that.
Eventually, the Nemesai left and things returned to normal, or as normal as
they ever get during adventurer gatherings.
Sometime after the Nemesai fight, Caliphar’s friend Filktin showed up at
the Circle to resurrect. I wanted to find Caliphar to let him know, but he was
nowhere to be found, so I had Mira do the resurrection for him. She did it quite
well, and I was grateful. I have no information on how Filktin died, but I assume
the Nemesai killed him, because the timeline fits just about right.
Later that evening, Nikki recruited a bunch of people to go after some artifacts
for her. I don’t know exactly what they were, but then again it isn’t
my business to ask questions. We all went to a room with large amounts of golems
in it. As we stepped into the room, all the different types of golems activated
and began to attack. In particular, one golem threw lots of death spells. This
was particularly troubling because the only two people present with large amounts
of life spells were Pyroxia and myself.
Actually, let me take a moment here to say a bit about Pyroxia. There was a
time when I didn’t know her very well, and I still don’t think that
I know her as well as I would like to. She has been adventuring longer than
I have and I could probably learn a lot from her about healing and backpacking,
since she has done them both for so long. However, much like Squire Parthynia,
Pyroxia is a person who makes me comfortable when we share the battlefield,
because I know that there is another competent healer around. I have seen Pyroxia
excel at everything from backpacking to anti-undead casting, and she even knows
how to use a weapon. Additionally, I have heard stories that speak highly of
her being a person of excellent character. She is a person I would like to have
on my side any day.
Well, eventually Prince Alejandro Sparras of Ni’Wrad managed to secure
the artifacts that Nikki needed, and we left. We went back to the Healer’s
Guild to chat a bit before we called it a night, and unfortunately Sathen showed
up in the resurrection circle. I had Beryl do the resurrection, and she did
very well with it. In time, she will be an excellent resurrector. I then brought
Sathen back to the tavern to search for who could have killed him and taken
him equipment, but we found no evidence. I have my suspicions as to who could
have done it, but I will not publicly place them here. I do have to thank Count
Lyonesse and Prince Sparras, for they helped Sathen and I look for his equipment,
and I appreciate their effort.
Well, when I got up the next morning, it was time to leave Exeter and head back
to Stormhold County. Stormhold has a turbulent political situation of its own
these days, and I wonder what may occur in the months ahead. I believe there
will be a gathering in Calais next month, and perhaps there will be more information
available then. Until then, I wish everyone good travels.
Scribed by Seronia on the 1st day of December in the year 603.