Real time: June 14, 2014's adventure
Je played Fiona
Ja played Athanasius
A played The Sparrow
S played McCloud
N played Thorin
Fiona's Diary
Day 1: My dear friend Athanasius came to me today and requested my assistance. The bishop
has asked him to investigate some trouble in the northwest, and he wants to gather a group
together to go and see what is bothering the villages up there. Of course, wishing to further my
devotion to our one true God, and in the interests of our shared faith and friendship (I will never
forget how welcoming Athanasius has been to the lone little elf in his mostly human parish), I
agreed to assist him with the Bishop's request. Perhaps my humble magical talents and trusty
bow will be of some use? Athanasius asked if I knew of anyone else who would help, so I
approached that odd half elf I visit with in the Tavern frequently, The Sparrow. Seems like he is
always ready for an adventure. As expected, he agrees to come with us to help, and he knew a
couple people that, interestingly, Athanasius knew, too. A human Druid named McCloud, who I
really don't quite trust, and Thorin, who I actually vaguely knew, a huge half orc who is
delightfully dim of mind, but seems to have a big heart. Before we head out, I must check out
the magic shop and make sure I have my spell components. I think I will memorize the Jump
spell, plus the cantrips Distract, Flash, Spark and Mute.
Noted: spent 2 cp on a vial of grasshopper legs, and a bag with 10 doses of powdered iron.
Day 2
We had barely gotten started on our adventure when the Druid told us that a big thunderstorm
was approaching. We hurried on to the next village, called Ham on Wye, where we stopped at
the Sad Wolf Tavern. And just in time, too, a huge storm pounded us for several hours while we
were there. I guess that Druid is good to have around after all, despite his disturbing lack of
faith. We had a good meal there, talked with the locals who have heard tales of trouble in the
Northwest villages, but didn't have any helpful details. After the storm passed, they
recommended we continue on to Old Bridge, where there is an inn we can stay in for the night.
Thankfully, the stables took good care of our horses, including my dear pony, Hamlet.
Noted: Spent 3 CP for a meal and the care of Hamlet
Day 3
We spent the night at The Lost Dog Inn, where they gave us a nice dinner last night and
breakfast this morning. They also took good care of my pony, I am so glad he has had an easy
time of it thus far. It isn't always easy for a pony to keep up with the big people, you should see
the size of Thorin's draft horse! Anyway, earlier this morning we crossed the old bridge and
took the road northwest towards St. Johan's parish. About noon we stopped at The Happy Fish
tavern, where we had a good meal. It is great that we can save our rations for when we really
need them, which I am sure will be happening soon now that we are off the King's Road. This
evening, we arrived at the village of Wilburn, and unfortunately, there was not an inn for us to
stay in. Athanasius went to the local parish, The Parish of the Holy Crown, and when he told
them we were on our way to help the troubled villages, they offered to let us stay the night in the
rectory's guest room. The Druid isn't happy, but I am comforted.
Noted: Spent 2 1/2 silver pieces in Old Bridge for our meals and stable care. Spent 5 CP for
our noon meal, and I donated 2 CP to the Parish of the Holy Crown for their hospitality.
Day 4
The strangest thing happened today! We had travelled for several hours, and we stopped at
mid day to rest our horses and have some lunch. We were just about to pull out our rations
when tiny little loaves of bread and butter just sort of - appeared! I went ahead and tried one
and it was delicious! Brownie food, how wonderful to meet those tiny little friends again.
Noted: I left 1CP in gratitude for the Brownie's generosity.
Later that evening...
What a blessing! We have run into a pilgrimage camp! The Bishop of Riverhearth is taking
about a hundred halfings to the Cathedral of Ekull. They have invited us to camp with them
tonight, I am so looking forward to mass in the morning.
Day 5
After mass this morning, it started raining almost immediately. Thankfully, it stopped around
9am, and we even saw a beautiful rainbow. Around mid day, we got to Kirkby Village, and
stopped at their tavern, The Unicorn and the Giant. We were disturbed by the rumors we heard
there, they told us that there is a lot of strange goings on up at St. Johan's Parish. People are
missing, farmers who just don't come back. Very troubling, we are headed that way to check
things out.
Noted: I spent 5 CP for my mid day meal. Travel is so expensive!
Late that night...
Goodness, what a day! We arrived at the village of Kirkby where we met and talked with many
villagers who were just leaving. Eight people have disappeared from the village recently, and
everyone was scared. The Druid talked with a bluebird and a raven (I still don't trust him, but he
sure has been useful), and they said that big bugs have been eating people! The villagers said
that people had been disappearing in the fields just past a copse of trees, so we went out to
look around. We saw a very unusual and suspicious ditch and mound of dirt in the fields, and
before we could investigate further, a huge, wingless mantis type of bug reared up in front of us!
Thorin and I immediately shot our arrows, and it quickly died. The Sparrow and Thorin went to
clear out the bug's tunnels and unfortunately found a half eaten human corpse (May the souls of
the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace), and a mummified Dwarven
corpse with 2 silver ingots and stamped with a clan symbol no one recognizes. They also found
and destroyed four eggs - thank God we were able to spare this poor village more sorrow! In
addition, there was a note on the Dwarf's body, and I can't believe that no one with me can read
Dwarven! Thankfully, the village priest was able to help us, and it said, "This is the last from the
mine. The rest will follow when we close the camp." I guess there must be an old Dwarven
silver mine nearby? We decided to leave the silver ingots with the local parish, along with a
copy of the note. The village threw a party for us tonight, celebrating the end of their fear, while
they mourned in sadness for their lost friends and family members. A bittersweet night, to be
certain.
Noted: Killed an Ankheg, and destroyed four of it's eggs.
Day 6
We assisted at mass this morning in Kirkby village (and that Druid keeps disappearing during
masses, I just don't think I will ever trust him!), then headed out towards Estham. It wasn't far, we arrived quite early in the morning, thankfully the weather has held for the last couple of days,
though it has been quite warm! When we got to Estham, we immediately talked with the local
priest, who filled us in on what he knew about the disturbances. A young girl was the first to
disappear, but everyone just figured she ran off with her boyfriend. But then, her parents
disappeared while they were out looking for her. People still wondered if it was just a family
problem, until another family disappeared. Parents and their six children all just vanished! They
lived in an outlying farm, about an hour away from the village center. The villagers went to
check things out, and found that not a single thing was missing, the father's sword still hung
from the fireplace, and the dinner table was set with 12 plates. Very odd. We are going to head
out to the farm to check things out there.
Later that day...
We got to the farm, it is quite a ways outside the village palisades. It is quite an impressive little
place, almost like its own freehold. When we got there, it looked like someone had searched
through their things, which is kind of strange, as the priest didn't mention anything. We also
found an unholy symbol under the wood pile. And, we found a loose stone in the fireplace that
held a scroll case. It held discharge papers and an 8 GP pension, nothing more. We decide to
leave the scroll case, papers, and gold in the fireplace, in case this family is able to come back.
We will take the unholy symbol back to the local priest, though, and ask him to destroy it for us.
Plus, we need to talk to him some more.
That evening...
The priest told us that the local villagers have talked about seeing strange things in the trees,
just movements, really. He also said that there is a place of local legend nearby, said to be
haunted by ghosts, an old Dwarven silver mine called Dwarf Hill. Tomorrow we will go check it
out, see if it has anything to do with the troubles around here. For tonight, we are staying in that
remote farmhouse, it is on the way to the old mine. We will be very careful, and expect trouble.
I am planning on taking the second watch. The others who aren't on watch will sleep in the
upstairs room, and we will block the doors with furniture and pots and pans. Those on watch
will make rounds throughout the house, checking the windows and doors and periodically going
up to the tower to survey the surroundings. I am hoping for a quiet night.
Day 8
Well, my wish for a quiet night was not granted. Four humans in leather armor, with crossbows
and shortswords, approached the house on my watch in the middle of the night. They rattled
the doors, and tried to get in. We were very quiet, but ready. In the end, the humans just went
away. Or so we thought. When we tried to leave the farmhouse this morning, they had set
traps on the doors! Thank heavens Thorin and The Sparrow at least thought to look for traps,
and were able to partially disarm them. I was able to pick up the trail of the humans, but once
we got to the edge of the Stone Hills it because impossible to follow. We thought we saw Dwarf
Hill in the distance, so we found a nice rock cove where we can leave our horses. It looks like it
will be an hour's walk, Thorin and The Sparrow are going to go check things out...(a little
later)The thieves are back, they said they found a stone house built into the side of a hill with
smoke coming out of the chimney, closed stone shutters, and they heard people crying inside,
moaning about being slaves. We must go check things out now!
Later that evening...
What a battle we've had! We went to the stone house, and Thorin broke down the door.
Inside, there was an old woman and a young woman, chained and making dinner. Four bandits were sitting at the table playing dice - luckily, we surprised them! We killed the bandits, and
more bad guys came through the doors. I cast Flash on one of them, and was able to distract
him a bit, and I killed a couple more with my shortsword and bow. But I am so frustrated with
the slow pace of my magical training, I wish I had better spells to help out! Anyway, after we
killed all the bandits and bad guys in the front room, we explored through some of the doors. It
is quite an impressive place, I have attached a map that we drew, for future reference, as we
have much more to explore there. We encountered a hedge wizard and another bad guy, the
wizard was able to stun a couple of my friends, but we prevailed in the end. We actually have
captured the wizard, and we found notes indicated that the bandits were running a slave trade,
sending the poor slaves to the Orc kingdom in the west. Those poor people! We freed the
slaves here at the house, of course. We found some treasures, too. We are going to take our
stuff, the notes and our mow, plus the captured wizard, back to the village.
Noted: I broke four of my arrows, but was able to get 11 of them back.
Money: After sales of equipment, after expenses – 386 g.p. each
Items:
Longsword (magical, unknown)
Cloak (magical, unknown)
Blank Spellbook
Human-sized chainmail
Spellbook with these spells
Cantrips – Clean, Cool, Flinch, Gather, Palm, Present, Redlight, Spice, Sweeten
1st level – Detect Magic, Read Magic, Identify, Comprehend Languages, Charm Person
2nd level – Forget, Wizard Lock
Note: I tried, but totally, utterly failed to learn the Identify Spell. We must go in search of
someone to identify these magical items!
(From the DM:
952 experience points - must allocate for my multi class character.)
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