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| Rumor of the Demise of the ancient and feeble dragon [[Alkinimic]] have spread with word of the smoke coming from the place known as Mount Alkinimic changing from black to white. The Tempest Brother's Company hopes to be the first to send a group to claim the dragon's hoard. Yet, this mission had a somewhat heightened risk of danger from the start, as Marion had been given a vision by her god, [[Beshaba]], of a party of her friends going into a mountain, before it became a mouth and swallowed them. Marion's vision was quite clear that the mountain would open up into a mouth and swallow the party that went into it. This led to a sense of increased caution, but we still needed to know what was present and make a proper assessment. | | Rumor of the Demise of the ancient and feeble dragon [[Alkinimic]]<nowiki/>have spread with word of the smoke coming from the place known as Mount Alkinimic changing from black to white. The Tempest Brother's Company hopes to be the first to send a group to claim the dragon's hoard. Yet, this mission had a somewhat heightened risk of danger from the start, as Marion had been given a vision by her god, [[Beshaba]], of a party of her friends going into a mountain, before it became a mouth and swallowed them. |
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| Velemar Decrye was point person for this mission, and something felt slightly off about it from the start: the goal was to secure the hoard of a dragon, yet there was no consideration of what that would mean in terms of the local forces: a clan of kobolds reportedly peaceful, or for any other interested parties. When pressed on the matter, Decrye simply said that we should secure it by whatever means we chose, implying that the Company was in dire need of funding. While I admit the resources would be useful and I am more than curious about what I might be able to find hidden away in the lair of a dragon so ancient that he is dying (which... is not how dragons work to my knowledge, yet that is the explanation that continues to come up with respect to Alkinimic in particular), but this dragon's connection to Tiamat and Kavanmort are the most directly-related things I'm hoping to find some answers to. I understand the dragon queen is a sometimes ally and maintains territory in Avernus, but indications are that even she did not fully control these particular members of her kin. It could prove instructive to examine them, and provide an advantage for whenever her interests diverge from our own more significantly.
| | [Still to write: meeting with Decrye, introductions, skiff ride, landing near the Haslo's Historical Expedition Company camp, party split and "Guy" taking another form, talking to Lori Haslow and the Collector, forest of illusions and a battle with not kobolds at the site of a massacre of gnoll forces, confirmation of the gnolls' connection to the abyss, Haslo and Collector again, Yosh the kobold and the abandoned warren, a fake treasure room that yet contained the artifact the collector was looking for, the battle with mimics and copy-bolds, and another confrontation with the collector.] |
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| The skiff ride to the mountain was relatively uneventful, although it was plenty long enough to confirm my distaste for multiple of these particular inclusions. There are many here that I will be glad to break from and never have contact with again, unless its on the opposite end of a battlefield or in an opportunity to lead them into corruption. Radion seems an okay sort, although of seemingly lesser personal strength than some of our peers, and Sir Yewvane continues to be most tolerable, even though we are more likely to be at odds in the future. I expect to inform him of my allegiance more directly just before I depart and see if he is open to further diplomatic contact or not. The Court of Seasons may yet prove useful, but how amenable they are to any overtures, seems most unclear given how he has directly opposed certain desires of mine.
| | Under the immanent threat of violence, the Collector relinquished the item once more The Collector again asserted he would be the best person to maintain control of the item, yet was most unconvincing. Having secured at least temporary possession of the phoenix artifact, I attempted to identify it. The spell failed, for reasons that I could not fully parse at the time. Hopefully I can examine it more thoroughly later with sufficient time to discern what caused the spell to fail so and to emanate danger. |
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| As we neared the mountain, we spotted an encampment not too far away bearing some sort of archeological group symbol. Finnegan volunteered to go scouting ahead through the sky and was turned invisible by the changeling calling itself "Girl" to facilitate the effort. There was some... conflict instigated by Dickweedus about just waiting around, and it became very clear once Finnegan returned that the half-orc's impatience was going to be a disruptive force on the mission. Although it seemed clear that a diplomatic introduction with the camp would likely prove useful, he insisted on simply charging on ahead toward the wood and the mountains, and he forced a split in the party. That said, the presence of the more chaotic agents in this group would not have made diplomacy any easier, as proven when even Sir Yewvane spoke with a surprising lack of courtesy when we discovered the Collector's involvement. As it turns out, this company was Haslo's Historical Expedition Company, hired by the Collector to look into some relics and further details on Alkinimic in particular. They were after a singular item: a phoenix statuette, of unknown power, and supposedly would interfere with nothing else our own party chose to collect.
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| The others passed into the forest between this camp and the mountain, passing through some kind of magical border into an area where they reported being presented with several illusions related to their pasts. This caused some of them concern, and they paused long enough for Yewvane and I to catch up with them at the site of some kind of battle. There were remnants of kobold and gnoll bodies strewn about as well as some horrible living gnoll construct pinned to a tree by heated spikes of some kind. As we investigated the bodies, we were attacked by a bunch of creatures who looked ''almost'' like kobolds, but with something horribly twisted about them. These not kobolds (copybolds?) were seemingly made of some sort of flesh amalgamation just in the shape of a kobold, and as they attacked, the gnoll construct ripped itself free of the tree, revealing that it was still active. Battle was quick, and the creatures didn't prove too dangerous, although the gnoll remains provided incontrovertible proof of abyssal involvement of some level. We searched the remains for anything else of note and found a magic axe and a few intact weapons which Yewvane is now keeping.
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| As we reached the foot of the mountain and a cavern entrance we encountered Haslo and the Collector again, and it became clear that they intended to accompany our group in person in order to fulfill the Collector's wishes. I found it highly interesting and suspicious that the Collector came along himself, as I had been led to believe they were a distant and hands-off benefactor rather than one to put their own person in danger. This made it all the more clear that whatever this artifact was, it would be... unwise to let him lay claim to it without more information. As we passed through tunnels we came across an abandoned kobold village with only one survivor who identified himself as Yosh the kobold. He revealed that the lair had played host to a strange visitor in the last days of Alkinimic's life: a being called only the "Fleshcrafter" who employed some sort of magic produced by a glowing red stone he wielded. With this stone he ''changed'' the kobolds, and, as we later learned, also changed Alkinimic's body, although it seemed that he may have died just prior to the act. The kobold revealed that this Fleshcrafter was also the source of the mutated and twisted kobolds which he had created from the still living members of this community. It became clear that this kobold was also afflicted, although had yet to fully turn into whatever monstrosity it would soon become. I wanted to destroy it, as did a few other members of the group, but Radion intervened, wanting to spare the creature, and my single spell attempting to circumvent their objections was avoided. This left the creature free to eventually finish transforming and become a threat and ignored the fact that it would have been a greater mercy to simply end its life before it could become fully twisted into something else.
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| As we all moved on from the kobold village we encountered a hall heaped with what appeared to be treasure and, resting atop a pile on the far side of the room, the phoenix statuette. Something was clearly off about the room, but our half-orc ignored good sense and rushed into the room to claim the artifact before anyone else could prevent him. As he grabbed it, the piles of treasure revealed themselves to be mimics, and even the floor began to sink and pull people towards its center. It's confusing that this fake treasure room yet contained the sole artifact the Collector was looking for, and that is a lingering problem about the entire affair with him. He knows far too much about the exact disposition of the items he seeks, and has far more resources than he should. Yewvane claimed he was fey, and that would explain certain things, but not everything about him. He also didn't contribute at all in the battle that ensued as we were attacked by several more of these mutated kobolds and the mimics. The battle was tougher than the prior one, with multiple people being knocked down and one of Haslow's companions dying to the attacks of these creatures. We were outnumbered and the battle was close, yet he simply stood around watching, and wasn't even attacked. The whole thing was suspicious, and after we won the battle and caught our breaths, it was hardly surprising when it became clear that he had somehow acquired the statuette from Dickweedus despite being a good twenty feet at least from him throughout the battle.
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| Under the impending threat of violence, from the half-orc, and less immediate threat from the rest of us, the Collector relinquished the item once more. As they had said when we first met them in Haslo's camp, the Collector asserted he would be the best person to maintain control of the item, both for our own safety and the safety of the item, yet he was far from convincing. Having secured at least temporary possession of the phoenix artifact, I attempted to identify it. The spell failed, for reasons that I could not fully parse at the time. Hopefully I can examine it more thoroughly later with sufficient time to discern what caused the spell to fail so and to emanate danger. (Post-script note: More information acquired since, but classified for personal discussion only) | |
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| The center of the floor of the fake treasure room opened up to a large chamber 40ft down, and after a short rest, we descended into an immense cavernous space with crystal walls and the body of the dragon. It also had ''piles'' of treasure, this time, that were real. A voice emanated from everywhere finding it “interesting” that “newcomers” had come, and the crystal walls displayed images, I believe individually, of our deepest desires. I saw myself sitting on a throne surrounded by flames, with Reedy standing beside and behind me as a confidant and guard. The voice attempted to offer us the things we saw, but that was nonsensical and not the least tempting. It cannot offer the sort of power I seek: it can only be ''seized'', when I have earned enough to make the effort. Attempting to do so not on my own ''personal'' power would be meaningless. | | The center of the floor of the fake treasure room opened up to a large chamber 40ft down, and after a short rest, we descended into an immense cavernous space with crystal walls and the body of the dragon. It also had ''piles'' of treasure, this time, that were real. A voice emanated from everywhere finding it “interesting” that “newcomers” had come, and the crystal walls displayed images, I believe individually, of our deepest desires. I saw myself sitting on a throne surrounded by flames, with Reedy standing beside and behind me as a confidant and guard. The voice attempted to offer us the things we saw, but that was nonsensical and not the least tempting. It cannot offer the sort of power I seek: it can only be ''seized'', when I have earned enough to make the effort. Attempting to do so not on my own ''personal'' power would be meaningless. |
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| When we returned to camp, the Collector spoke to Mr. Decrye and persuaded him to part with the artifact by providing generous funding to the company, while still only paying ''us'' a pittance of a hundred gold each. While it was clear that mere words would do little to persuade the company not to accept this offer, I ''was'' able to convince the collector to leave the object temporarily in our care so long as we can make use of it. Whether it actually is of use, of course, remains to be seen since it resisted my first efforts to identify it. | | When we returned to camp, the Collector spoke to Mr. Decrye and persuaded him to part with the artifact by providing generous funding to the company, while still only paying ''us'' a pittance of a hundred gold each. While it was clear that mere words would do little to persuade the company not to accept this offer, I ''was'' able to convince the collector to leave the object temporarily in our care so long as we can make use of it. Whether it actually is of use, of course, remains to be seen since it resisted my first efforts to identify it. |
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| === Entry 9: Worries in the Wilds === | | === Entry 9: Worries in the Wilds === |
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| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">Aside from the awkward manner in which I was pressed into joining the mission, the entire thing was fairly straightforward from my perspective, so I will not belabor it with a lengthy report: the druids Galaros and Curian discovered an area of withered land which they believed our company was at least partially responsible for, so they wanted to alert us to it and encourage us to investigate it more thoroughly. After traveling closer we found the terrain blighted and falling apart, even evidence of creature who would not normally leave bodies, such as the demonic "Mother's" creations dead and decaying in the area. In order to ascertain whether the undead and presumably vampiric creature was involved in these creatures' demises, I took my dagger and sawed one open, learning that no, it was not ''drained'' of fluid as I would expect from a vampire, but it was dessicated in a way that I would not expect given the climate. | | <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">[Text] |
| As we progressed further, we discovered a tangled mass of withered vines from which a creature speaking in primordial arose and moved to attack us. This creature ranted about being some kind of former forest protector that had been burned and would now wither and burn everything else. It demonstrated an affinity for fire and earth and ash, and yet also still seemed to be drawing vitality from the ground around it. It was clearly some form of primal creature that had been corrupted in some way against its nature, although by what it is more difficult to say. I would not expect a mere fire to be able to cause such, even if it had been caused by a party in conflict with demonic oozes.
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| During the battle it became clear that we were struggling to make a lasting impact on the creature with no clear method to eliminate its regeneration (although in hindsight, Marion has a spell that can assist with that in the future). Nevertheless, escape seemed like an unlike option for most of the group because the being could teleport short distances in addition to its usual movement. This resulted in an intense battle where both sides fought to the brink of defeat before we were finally able to bring the creature down. In the aftermath, I searched the mass of vines for anything of value and discovered some coin and gems as well as what looked like the stone head of an axe wrapped in vines buried to the haft in a stump. Without waiting for it to be examined, Nassir picked up the weapon, and the vines wrapped around his arm, binding the blade to him. Despite this *clearly* being a sign of some kind of cursed object, Nassir insisted he would rather keep it for the time being after I identified it and explained what its beneficial properties were: It is a magicly enhanced axe that can store itself around his arm and deal additional fire damage when striking foes. With the creature destroyed and the withering prevented from spreading, we returned to camp and let Billiam know of our success.
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| ==== 9.2 The Phoenix Statue: "Daughter of the Setting Sun" ==== | | ==== 9.2 The Phoenix Statue: "Daughter of the Setting Sun" ==== |
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">''This entry is mostly missing, having been burned to ashes in the explosion in camp which resulted from an attempt at experimenting with the statue. Rather than replace the notes there is just one line:'' | | <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">[Description of investigative process and thoughts, as well as the explosive conclusion. Distrust of Velemar Decrye and his rant.] |
| "Initial notes destroyed. Further details, thoughts, and reactions deemed too sensitive to write down anywhere. For private discussion with Archduchy and above only."
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| Side note: Velemar Decrye has proven far less reliable than initially expected, and his goals clearly do not align with my own, or even entirely with those of the company. He claims to be a shrewd businessman, yet has engaged in questionable practices and proven to have some ulterior motives.
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| ==== 9.3 Promises and Promotions ==== | | ==== 9.3 Promises and Promotions ==== |
