Ah, Therendry. This past weekend I made the long trip down to Therendry for the second time in the last six months. It is quite a trip from Avendale, I must say, but I have always found it to be worthwhile. This particular trip yielded several encounters of note.
First, on Friday night I was recruited to aid some younger adventurers help
a man name Thaddius rescue an old man who had been wrongfully imprisoned in
an insane asylum. Now, I have to say that this asylum could have used a little
bit better upkeep. When we got there, all the staff and all the patients were
dead. Worse than that, they were undead. We didn't even manage to get into the
institution itself, for we were assaulted along the path on the way there by
several of these undead.
The individuals of House Wave, the group I was journeying with, fought bravely,
but it was not enough. Their lines began to break as soon as a couple of them
fell down, and their healers couldn't get them up fast enough, and so the undead
washed over them. I tried to get through to the front lines, but the undead
advanced their line past my fallen comrades, and so I decided to whip out some
spells and blow through their lines. I was, of course, dismayed to discover
that these undead were so tough that they could resist three spells each. Not
having the magic to deal with that, my companions and I retreated back to town.
Unfortunately, the undead followed us. On the plus side, though, back in town
we found several other adventurers, and they helped us destroy the undead that
had followed us. We then quickly organized together the town, and raided the
asylum at full strength. The battle was bloody, but we managed to rescue the
entire House Wave, as well as the old man we had originally come to help.
After that, things were relatively quiet on Friday night, and I retired not
long after. I woke up early on Saturday morning, and went out into the woods
to scavenge some breakfast and study my spellbooks. I have found that it is
often as effective a method of training as paying the Duchy to train you.
When I was done with that, I came back into town not long before the magics
were due to reset themselves. Having some spells left, I decided to heal up
as much of the town as possible, as well as give out some protectives, and generally
help out in whatever way I could. In the process, I met an old acquaintance.
If you have read The Tale of Ambush Alley, which is in the Avendale section
of this library, you will find that in that battle I fought alongside a half
boy/half dog, and healed him during the battle. Well, I have not seen him since,
but he was in Therendry this weekend. Unfortunately, his sad fate has not yet
been reversed, although people are working to help him. I discovered that his
name is Kody, and I enjoyed catching up with him, even though it was difficult
since he doesn't speak.
Kody was only one friend that I made over the course of the weekend. I also
met a dwarf named Oskar, who seemed an eminently reasonable fellow and who I
got along with well. Through Oskar, I met a young elf named Liriel, who proved
to be a good gatherer of information and a nice person. It always amazes me
how many nice people you meet when you travel to foreign lands.
However, not only did I meet new nice people, I also got to again see some friends
form my last visit to Therendry. I renewed my friendship with Zug, now Lord
of Springshire, and one of the best fighters and nicest people in Therendry.
I also got to again see Lady Tenshi, who helped me out a great deal in my first
trip to Therendry. Both have said that they may be coming to Ravenholt soon,
and if they do, I hope I see them there.
Getting back to my story, though, that afternoon I learned that Sir Sethos was
looking to lead a group to attack a bee hive. I asked if I could come, and to
my great satisfaction he said yes. I ended up backpacking Lord Zug through most
of the fight, and we did okay. The bees were frightening, able to paralyze you
with their blows, but Lord Zug is so good defensively that he almost never took
a hit.
Not much happened after the bee hive was destroyed through the rest of the early
evening. I did, however, finally get a chance to meet Eric Augustson, who has
authored several of the maps you may find in this library. A right likeable
man and skilled fighter, if I do say so myself.
Around dinnertime, a group calling themselves the Purists burst into the tavern.
They were looking for a specific dark elf, who was not around at the time. They
wore all white, and seemed to consider humans superior to all other forms of
life. The dark elves naturally stood against them, as did the rest of the town.
The leader of the purists ended up agreeing to a duel with one of the dark elves,
called Mashiro. Unfortunately, the fight wasn't fair from the start, and to
make matters worse, it was never clear whether it was to be a duel to the death
or not. After the Purist leader defeated Mashiro, he quickly delivered a killing
blow into him. The town was uncertain as to what to do, since no one knew if
it had been a duel to the death or not.
Baron Simeon Silvercord, though, made a decisive decision, and said, "Someone
life that man." From where I was standing a few feet away, I threw a life
spell at Mashiro, and managed to bring him back from the dead state he was in.
Then all hell broke loose. The purists, outraged, began attacking the town,
and the town fought back. For some reason, there was a life knight working with
the Purists, although I think he may have been a corrupted life knight. Either
way, it made them much harder to kill. In the end, the life knight and one of
the Purist leaders got away. From what I understand, they also grabbed two members
of town, Dame Pai the stone elf and Blue the mystic wood elf, and race changed
them human, an unforgiveable offense in anyone's book. It is my understanding
that they are now to be arrested on sight within the Duchy of Therendry.
That night, things only got worse. There was a mission undertaken to recover
a ring, although I didn't know too many details about it. The problem is that
this mission was simultaneous with another mission, and so the town's resources
were split. We fought some type of earth elemental creatures, able to use the
very ground to their advantage. We managed to defeat them thanks to the valor
of Baron Silvercord, Eric Augustson, and others. We acquired the ring we are
looking for, but I am not certain if we gave it to the right person or not.
We may have been tricked. Perhaps someone from Therendry could give me more
information on this matter.
Finally, we came to the last encounter of the night. Some mind flayers had been
messing with a red dragon, and we went in to stop them, or at least that was
what a black dragon told us. To tell you the truth, I was pretty confused by
the whole thing. Well, we managed to defeat the mind flayers, although it was
a tough fight. Then we went after the dragon, apparently using some type of
celestial ritual to try to destroy him.
Well, the red dragon was not too pleased with this. He came after us with his
vicious attacks, along with his minions, which included a red hoardling. The
red hoardling, similar to the blue hoardling I faced the last time I was in
Therendry, was absurdly powerful. It was capable of swinging 30 dagger blows
of taint blood. Before long, the entire town was on the ground, except me, and
I was in a circle of power I had thrown up to escape the hoardling. Fortunately,
it turned out that not everyone that was down was unconscious, and slowly but
surely Caliphar and his companions started getting the town back up.
It was a slow process, but fortunately the dragon pretty much left them alone
while they were doing it, deciding to go after the scroll meant to destroy him
instead. Unfortunately, when the battle began again, the dragon was angry, and
began throwing obliteration magics. I don't think he actually hit anyone, but
it was a scary incident nonetheless. Eventually, though I am not entirely sure
how, we did manage to defeat the dragon, and end what was probably the greatest
threat Therendry has known in some time.
Before I close my missive, I would be remiss if I did not thank the people of
Therendry for their generosity. Therendry is the only land I have visited where
people actually appreciate healers, and pay for healing. I was delighted beyond
words to see this. I promise that I will come back to Therendry sometime soon,
although I unfortunately am not sure when. Unfortunately, it is a very long
trip.
Scribed by Seronia on the 17th day of December in the year 602.