Belroar's Journal
From Rathe
Introduction
My mother, Elsherd, has asked me to accompany a group of travelers attempting to reach the well of the world. She wants me to help them, and make sure they don’t use it for evil. The party consists of Thor Foeslasher, a powerful berserker (recently taken to calling himself a “dragonslayer”), Ardana Seregon, a brilliant wizard and lore master, and Baldric Corlican, a warlock taken with becoming invisible and flying. They had just emerged from the lower levels of the temple, where they had retrieved a cryptic scroll. My mother had the scroll translated, and the relevant sections highlighted. It turns out the scroll is a prophesy that describes the locations and number of the keys to the well of the world. After studying the section that describes our era, we learned there were currently three keys, one of which was in the possession of a trio of hags.
This relation, however, didn’t provide us with enough information to find the key. We sill had no idea which group of hags has the key, or where the hags were. We decided to turn to a higher power for guidance. I communed with a higher being, and asked a series of questions that narrowed the location of the hags down to one part of the Areopagus. Unfortunately, we needed to make sure the key was with the hags, and that we could teleport back. We turned to Sylvia Mizeri, a strange little girl with extraordinary powers. She was also able to commune with a higher power, and from her we discovered that while the hags didn’t have the key, it was nearby, and we would be able to teleport back to Rathe. With that information, we were ready to go.
We (Ardana, Thor, Baldric, Sylvia, and I) teleported into Heildregch, where we stayed the night in Sylvia’s house. The next day, we headed out into the swamps of the western tip of Areopagus in search of the hags. After realizing we couldn’t search the entire swamp, we decided to head into the nearby town of Ha’ghast. We consulted the town council, and learned that the hags employedgiants that threw boulders at local ships heading down the river and out to sea. In addition, they offered a reward of 500 gold pieces per head for the hags and giants. We spent the night in town, so we would be fresh and ready the next morning.
In the morning we hired a boat to take us to the mouth of the river. There, we decided to search the shoreline for caves or other likely hiding spots for the hags. While walking along the beach, we spotted a giant in the distance. Thor ran forward to confront the monster, while Ardana and I cast spells to protect ourselves. Seconds later, more giants crashed out of the swamp and out on to the beach. After calling a comet down from the heavens on to the first giant, I called forth righteous might and divine power, and then the giants were upon me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Thor slicing through the giants like they were butter. I held my own, but was by no means as impressive a combatant. The battle was quick, as the giants were no match for our combined might. Confidence bolstered by the easy victory, we quickly searched the remains and headed towards a conspicuous nearby cave.
As we entered the cave, we heard an evil cackle, a dark portent of the battle to come. A passage curved into a large cavern, which contained the expected trio of hags. However, there was also a different giant, stranger than the ones we had dispatched so easily. This one crackled with arcane energy, and immediately dispelled the righteous might spell I had cast. The hags were behind the giant, chanting some spell. As Thor charged into the room, the chanting reached its peak. He was totally enclosed in a force cage, trapped and unable to aid us in our battle. I inspected the giant closer, and realized he was protected by a globe of invulnerability, preventing weaker spells from harming him. I called forth righteous might once again, to aid and protect me. Unfortunately, the giant just dispelled the effect again, and attacked. I was injured, and Ardana shouted for me to get out of the way. I did, and recast righteous might, hoping the giant would fail to dispel the effect this time. Ardana stepped forward and blasted the giant and hags. Two of the hags went down, and the giant was injured. Unfortunately, this attracted the giant’s wrath. She was nearly cut down by the giants attack. I healed her, and she killed the remaining hag. The giant then turned his attention on me. I attacked it, and it struck back. Ardana fled to the other side of the cave, and attempted to take out the giant’s spell invulnerability. Unfortunately, she couldn’t. I tried to slay the beast by turning its blood to water, but it was large and tough, and didn’t slow its attacks.
Frustrated, Ardana moved back towards the giant, and was struck down and killed. I was the next to fall to the relentless blade. Finally, Sylvia was slain. She apparently held a powerful artifact that restored her to life, and she quickly revived me and Ardana. She then used a wand that blinded the giant. Infuriated, the beast used its power to dispel the effect, but also dispelled the protection that had prevented us from using magic against it. Ardana took advantage of this opportunity and pounded it with orbs of force. I once again called for righteous might and divine power, and pressed an assault on the physical front. Weakened by my earlier attempts to turn its water into blood, it finally succumbed to our attacks, and was slain.
We searched the cavern and found many treasures, but not the key. However, we did discover an underwater passage. We decided to wait the night, then try to free Thor. Luckily, the cage dissipated on its own in the morning. Sylvia cast a spell on us allowing us to breathe under water, and we went down the passage. It opened up into up into an underwater cavern, in which there was a giant fish-like monster with tentacles. Ardana informed us that it was merely an illusion, so we continued to a passage on the other side of the cavern. As we reached the tunnel, Ardana spotted the real fish monster. Unfortunately, it was invisible to the rest of us. She managed to slay it quickly, though.
In the next chamber there was a message inscribed on the wall. Ardana translated it, and as she did so, she triggered a powerful magical trap. As the magic released, I felt my mind strain, then break. Apparently the trap inspired madness in me and Thor, though it was unable to affect Ardana or Sylvia (Though I suspect the latter may have already been too far gone for the spell to make any difference; she apparently decided to mimic the insane people). Fortunately, she eventually decided to break the spell on us. We proceeded back to the upper cavern, and rested the night.
2/02/07:
This morning while we collected heads, we figured out what the riddle of the key means. It refers to a part of a prison temple my compatriots had visited, the tomb of Aeomi. We returned from the caves (which tried to collapse and kill us – but we teleported out in time). When we got back to Ha’ghast, we reunited a small girl (Dorthy Southport) with her father (She was distracted by a puppet play I suspect Sylvia Mizeri was behind). We presented the hag and giant heads to the town council, and received our promised reward! The next morning, as we were heading out, Sylvia used her wand (what the hell kind of wand is it?) and the concierge was hit with darkness and slow. I called forth daylight, and Ardana Seregon dispelled the haste effect. We apologized to the concierge, and teleported to the prison temple of Markof.
At the temple, Thor and Ardana introduced us to the “clerics”, a bunch of self-important prison guards. They graciously allowed us access to the tomb. In the center of one wall in a large chamber sat a huge stone sarcophagus. Aellellea spotted a groove in the floor, made by rotating the sarcophagus around one corner. After all of us heaved for what felt like an eternity, we finally managed to shift the sarcophagus. Underneath was a deep shaft, dropping away out of sight. More interestingly, there was also a ladder of pure platinum, glittering all the way down as well. I immediately commented on the possibility of taking this immensely valuable asset with us after finding the key; this suggestion was not, in general, well received. Ardana believed the ladder belonged to the temple and its “clerics”, as if they needed the extra cash for everything they do (I suppose these could be playing some productive role in society, but for all I know they just lock up anyone who has a different take on how to worship). I argued they didn’t even know the ladder was here; how could it be theirs? We never reached an agreement, and just decided to move on (and down). While others started to climb down, I prayed for the ability to walk on air, since I wanted my hands free (and I didn’t trust the ladder). I went down in the middle of the pack, walking as if in a spiral staircase.
Eventually, we saw the light of a cavern below us. When we reached the cavern, we saw a large being with white feathers standing in front of another huge sarcophagus with a statue of a woman (presumably Aeomi) adorning the lid. It demanded we explain our presence; we explained that we were seeking the key to protect the well of the worlds. It refused to give us the key, and demanded we prove the truth of our quest. I called for a zone of truth around us, and repeated our plea, but the being still refused to give us the key. Finally, Ardana asked what it would take to prove ourselves; the being demanded we speak the words of the prophesy. Ardana read off what I presume to be the prophesy, and in response the creature changed. Instead of a being of the celestial plane, it presented a demonic aspect, popped to the other side of the room, and attacked.
I called for righteous might, and moved in next to what was now apparently a demonic monster. This proved to be a mistake. The monster called forth an evil power that overwhelmed my mental defenses and filled me with dread. I could do nothing but flee back up the shaft. Thankfully, Sylvia calmed my emotions and brought me back to my senses. I hurried back down, just in time to watch Thor, our most powerful combatant, stunned by the infernal monster. Seconds later, the beast was slain through the valiant efforts of my teammates. However, the battle was not yet won.
As the enemy’s corpse turned to dust, it spawned six more hooked and horned horrors. These spiky beasts attacked the party, closing in to grapple anyone they were able to hit. This was especially bad for Thor, since he was stunned and unable to defend himself. Fortunately, I was able to move in over the heads of these beasts and heal Thor of the infernal wounds the demon had inflicted upon him, freeing him of his stupor. Still shy of combat, I spent the rest of the battle moving from ally to ally, healing and revitalizing them. Through their courage, we were able to slay the remaining beasts. As the last one crumbled away, a crack echoed through the chamber.
The façade of the sarcophagus broke, revealing a small chest. As Ardana reached in to take the chest, the woman on the lid began to emit a beautiful song, slow and mournful. I felt my heartbeat slowing, and it was only the fortitude granted me by my righteous might that prevented it from stopping altogether. We all grouped around Ardana, who teleported us to the chamber above us. As the spell took effect, we noticed on of Sylvia’s “dolls” drop away into the chamber. Fearful Sylvia sent the doll off to commit mischief, I summoned a zone of truth, and asked Sylvia about the doll. She couldn’t explain it, and we discovered the doll had somehow escaped on its own. We found a priest willing protect one of us from death magic, so we sent Aellellea back to investigate. He reported that the doll was in the likeness of the celestial being we encountered before the battle. I am eager to open the chest and hopefully discover the second key, with a message showing the path to the third and final key.
The third key
Upon decoding the second key, we obtained the message "Before the land of judgment was submerged, men built to Calvus a mighty monument. Deep within, the third part is lost among hundreds of other cryptic runes. Find the sign of Maust.". We decided to find the "Mighty monument of Calvus" (A library on the Aeropagus dedicated to Calvus). Fortunately, Ardana and Thor had visited the archives of this library before.
