Aegon and the Troupe raided the dungeon beneath the Ulcaster School Ruins and slayed the necromancer that dwelled within. After the death of Recorder, they returned to Beregost to bring her back to life. Now they seek out a new ally to replace her while she travels to the Friendly Arm Inn.
2 Eleasias 1368
The weight of Recorder’s death lingers on me, a shadow I cannot shake. Every decision feels heavier now, each choice a potential catalyst for another loss. What if I fail them again? Khalid and Jaheira are really just here to protect me. White is holding up his end of a deal we made. Verr’Sza is… curious. None are truly following me because of my charisma. Do they believe I can lead them and keep them safe?
As we are in Beregost, I feel like it is a good time to visit an old friend and bring her news of the Ogre King’s demise. She’s also a slayer of ogres, always ready for a fight. Last time she regaled us with stories of her battles against the creatures.
We find her home next to the Thunderhammer Smithy. The smell of a delicious stew wafts over us as she opens the door.
Aegon: I wish to let you know I’ve slain the ogre king.
Helga: Hahaha! Noice one. Ye be made of stout stuff. Bloody jealous I wasn’t there to do it myself.
If ye ever want a stout dwarf fighting along your side, just say the word.
Aegon: Why not join me now then?
Helga: Well, what are we waiting for? To the cleaving!
As Helga prepares for a new journey she comments that her old armour has seen some wear and tear. We find her some full plate mail in the Bag of Holding, heavy armour worthy of a sturdy dwarf warrior.
We also give her the Hammer of Corrosion to replace her old hammer. Not only will it melt the flesh of her enemies, but it will also be resistant to the poison that has infected the iron here. She jokes that it smells worse than some of the ogre’s she’s slain in her youth, though she seems excited to try this new weapon in battle.
It’s late, and we still need some rest after our expedition to the Ulcaster School. Helga’s place isn’t big enough for all of us, so we make our way to the Jovial Juggler to find a room.
White: Finally they welcome us as they should! Give me a pint – as for the rest, ask our leader.
Bartender: Well, that’s wha’ I’ll do! And here is your pint, friend!
While White moves to a table to enjoy his beer, Jaheira negotiates a good room for us. It is an uneventful night, but a much needed rest after slaying another necromancer.
3 Eleasias 1368
In the morning we talk about our travel plans. It’s about time we started trying to find Tazok in the Cloakwood. The forest is deep so he may not have heard about the attack on the bandit camp yet. There’s still a chance we can catch up to him. The ruins of the school and the bridge can wait. They’ve been waiting for hundreds of years already, after all.
Before we leave town again we take a short trip to the Thunderhammer Smithy. We ask Taerom if he can identify Khalid’s cloak and my wand. He tells us that the cloak is woven from the tentacles of displacer beasts, which explains how he looks so distorted when he wears the cloak.
He tells me that the wand I have is a Wand of Fire. I suspected that it was, I’ve seen them in the past. I just wanted to make sure before I activated it.
While we are at the smithy, Taerom recommends a new shield for Helga. A stalwart shield for a stalwart fighter. Helga hefts the shield, testing its balance. ‘This’ll do for fighting ogres,’ she says, her tone light. But her eyes linger on me, heavy with unspoken doubt. Was I worth following?
I say hello to Braegar. He is still busy working on the unpoisoned ore we collected for him. We collect our things and make our way out of Beregost to the north. We will pass by the Friendly Arm Inn on our way to the Cloakwood.
As the old converted fort rises over the horizon, I hear a priest finishing a prayer and I can feel the Sun’s embrace. But it’s warmth quickly turns searing. Flames lick at my skin, and my scream pierces the air. Then there is no sound, just fire and pain as flesh melts from bone, and then… nothing
I gasped, snapping back to reality, Jaheira’s gaze meeting mine. I confide to the her about the vision, unsure if she will believe me. She places her hand on my shoulder, and calmly suggests we keep an eye out for a priest on the road. We know now there is going to be a fight in our near future. One that may be my last.
The old converted fort rises over the horizon as we continue along the tree-lined path. We get close enough to see the gate, it’s portcullis raised to accept visitors. Two guards in the distance stand alert, though slightly bored.
Before we can get to the gate, we are accosted by a party of four other adventurers. One of them wears the gauntlet of Torm around her neck. I recognise her as the priest from the vision. Their leader draws her sword and calls out to us, to me.
Aegon: Whoa, what’s this about me being a killer of innocents?
Najara: Do not feign ignorance lout! You raided a village and killed all who live there. Who knows what other crimes you have committed. You’re an evil foul being, I can sense it!
Najara’s eyes burn with conviction, as if she had already judged me and found me wanting. What if she wasn’t entirely wrong? What if my choices could someday lead to such destruction?
Aegon: That is wrong, I never raided a village or killed anyone. You must have confused me with someone else.
For a second I think I have given her pause for thought. But then she shouts back with renewed determination. I don’t think we are talking our way out of this one.
Najara: Enough of your lies. You are beyond redemption in the Light. Come my friends, justice will be swift and final!
“No fighting within the walls of the Friendly Arm Inn.” But we are still outside the gate. We will get no help from the guards in this fight.
The sight of her blade swinging wildly spurs Khalid into action, engaging her with Varscona drawn. The rest of us spread out, but not before the priest can Silence half of us. I’m still able to speak, so I call out to the others to focus on the priest.
Khalid swings his shield back and knocks one of the warriors unconscious. I activate the Wand of Flame, and a column of intense flame bursts through to the priest, burning her allies in its path.
Khalid is accidentally hit by the flames as the priest runs around him. He moves back out the way of the flames. I change my position, ensuring the flames continue burning through the other fighters.
Their leader, heavily burnt by the flames, turns her sword against me. Khalid consumes a couple of Potions of Healing to bring himself back into the fight.
The priest disappears, though we know she is still here. Torm has granted her a Sanctuary, a chance to recover before getting back into the fight. The vision I had forces itself into the back of my mind. We don’t know what she will do when she leaves her god’s protection. Yet I know she will try and burn me to death. Could this be the end?
Khalid knocks out the guard before him and turns to help me fight the leader.
Helga has Haela grant us a Blessing for luck.
The priest reappears and I shout at the others to focus on her. Verr’Sza draws his swords while the others aim their weapons at her.
She Smites White and Verr’Sza, but her god is not generous today. They come out of the holy storm with barely a scratch.
Their leader is beaten bruised and bloody. As she makes another attempt to swing her sword past my shield Khalid stabs her in the back and she breathes her last.
I bring Bashrik’s Hammer down on one of the warriors and crack open his skull.
Khalid knocks the other guard unconscious and makes his way toward the priest. She is preparing another spell, but I am able to disrupt it with a barrage of Magic Missiles.
Before she can recover, Khalid bashes her with his shield and knocks her off her feet.
She gets back up, uttering a prayer to Torm. The Might of the god flows through her and she swings her morning star at Khalid. I knock her back with another barrage of Missiles before her blow can land.
The priest’s rage mirrored my worst fear: that I could become the villain in someone else’s story. That fire in my vision, it wasn’t hers. It was mine, consuming me from within. She fights valiantly to her last breath, collapsing to one knee as Verr’Szar and Khalid shower her with blows. My last Magic Missile innately flies into her and she falls to the dirt.
Khalid comments that having us focus on the priest likely saved our lives. Or at least, mine. In the chaos of the battle, I saw something I hadn’t before: it wasn’t just me guiding them. It was them guiding me too, their strength bolstering my own.
This was an unusual attempt on my life. They were unlike the others. Not professional assassins, but followers of Torm, the god of righteousness and law. They thought I had wiped out a village. Helga asks if there is any truth to that. Thankfully she believes me when I say there isn’t.
Jaheira suggests that searching the bodies may reveal some clue as to why they attacked us. We find a note addressed to “Najara” on the leader’s corpse. It is yet another bounty notice, only this one suggests that we are the bandits this time.
None of the other bounty notices targeting me have had these initials. Is “P.W.” another alias for my nemesis? Has he resorted to creating false rumours to get good paladins and clerics to hunt me down now? Whoever he is, it seems his influence goes further than mere bandits and kobolds. The sooner we find him, the sooner we will have answers.
Their equipment will only go to waste, so we take some time to see what they have. The leader, who I assume was Najara, is wearing enchanted plate mail that we cannot identify. Khalid tests the weight of the armour, the faint glow of its magic catching the light. ‘Light and s-sturdy,’ he mutters a rare grin breaking across his face.
He gives his old enchanted plate mail to Helga. It’s lighter than her full plate, and the enchantment provides her with better protection. She gives an approving nod as she straps on Khalid’s old armor. ‘Fits like a glove,’ she says, flexing her arms. ‘Now, let’s see if it handles like one.’
The girdle Najara wears is enchanted to provide extra defense against most weapons. Khalid likes to get into the thick of combat, so he takes it for himself.
Even the boots Najara wears were enchanted, providing her extra protection and lasting power.
Khalid chooses to wear these and gifts his walking boots to Verr’Sza. The rakshasa gracefully accepts them.
The helmet Najara is a Helm of the Flame, once owned by a Phoenix Guard known as Emberwilde. Khalid wears it for the extra health it provides. He gives his old helmet to White.
Khalid has 20 Constitution now. This means that he will slowly regenerate his Hit Points. This won’t be fast enough to help in combat, but means he can recover between fights without the use of spells or potions.
Finally Khalid replaces his shield with Najara’s body shield. It’s enchantment is extremely strong, allowing Khalid to defend himself better in combat.
With all this new equipment Khalid says he feels like a powerful paladin, ready to take on anything that comes at us.
On Najara’s belt we also find a Potion of Critical Healing, 5 Elixirs of Health, and some enchanted bolts which Verr’Sza takes for his quiver.
Jaheira loots the priest’s corpse, taking both her armour and shield. The armour is an enchanted full plate mail.
The shield meanwhile is a magical small shield known as Divinity.
Jaheira says that the perils of combat have brought her closer to nature. Something she thinks will be useful when we make it to the Cloakwood forest.
She gets one more level 1 spell, one more level 2 spell, 5 more Hit Points, and 2 more points of Lore.
White has been noticeably fidgeting with the ring we took back from the thief in the Ulcaster School ruins. Despite its magical properties, it doesn’t seem to quite fit his large hands.
Aegon: The ring? Is it the same ring we found in Ulcaster ruins?
White: Yes, that’s the very same ring.
Aegon: Mind me asking where you took it from? It seems a bit unusual.
White: I’m not sure who made the ring. I stole it from my mother – it was my key to adventuring.
I’m a bit stunned. I never had a mother, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have stolen from her if I had.
Aegon: Your… mother…?
White: Well, she’s not my REAL mother.
He stops for a moment, and I feel like he is unsure that he wants to keep talking.
White: Uh that’s quite a long story, but I can tell you if you want. If you don’t – it’s up to you.
Aegon: I’m all ears.
White: Good.
The first thing is that my real parents were killed. I was told that they were travelling in some kind of… caravan, I think. But it was attacked. The attackers didn’t kill me. My “new mother” told me that she found me under my “old mother’s” body.
The shocking thing is that my “new mother” wasn’t… normal.
Just as Father took me in. I’ve always known that Gorion is not my blood relative, not least because he is human. But he is… was a father to me.
Aegon: What do you mean?
White: She was a naga. The snake creature. But not the dark kind. She was a guardian naga – the irritating type. Lawful, protective… You know, she would arrange your whole life if she could.
I’m stunned. I look for any signs he is joking. But he just pauses in contemplation before he continues his story.
White: Actually she tried to do so. We were living in an old temple of Grumbar, waiting for those who left to come back. But I think they’re dead, that’s why we were there all alone. She would teach me all the time, tell me about Grumbar.
Yes, she saved me. She took care of me. Fed me. But it couldn’t last forever and to her… to her years were like days.
That’s why I had to take the ring – it let me teleport to the other side of a nearby den. And that’s how I ran away.
Aegon: Well, that was quite a story. And it seems we’re more similar than I thought. We’re both “parentless.”
He smiles, almost laughing, then composes himself again.
White: Yes, but I hope you’re not expecting me to organise a party because of that, huh.
So, I know your story, now you know mine. That should be enough. And now the troublesome part is behind us.
It’s no wonder he showed no fear in the Ulcaster ruins. He’s seen things most of us couldn’t even imagine. Until now I had thought a human raising an elven child to be unusual. I have read that guardian nagas protect things that are destructive from those that might use them for ill. Is White a destructive thing?
Then again, I was almost killed by a paladin and a priest who assumed I was someone I’m not. A leader shouldn’t make assumptions about his party. I am better than that. Naga mother or no, White is with us now. Light on details as it may be, I know his story now, as he knows mine.
We turn to face the fortress before us. Back in the Friendly Arm once more. We shall have to take a rest before we leave for the Cloakwood forest. It may be the last chance we get before we find Tazok.
