DAY 464 (9th Kythorn)(June) cont ...
After giving the 'Lamp of Lavar' to Bob of Mystra I returned to the OJB, then went to the Singing Sword with Lavina, Corum and Irritator.
You may remember that Irritator, the wizard, was born a Kobold, but had recently died and been brought back (by me) as a Halfling.
His habits were still kobold though and he was an uncouth drinking companion. Corum remarked on this, as Irritator was about to eat a rat he'd caught and I had to have a word with the fellow. Uncouth Irritator may be, but he is clever and took in everything I told him about polite society. Or as polite
as it needs to be in a tavern off the Market Square.
Well anyway, I am now back at the OJB, about to blow out the candle. My lovely lady wife is already asleep beside me. Needless to say, some of my adventures in Kryptgarden Forest will never be told.
DAY 465 (10th Kythorn)(June)
At three in the morning I was woken by a Sending spell from Nissa. The 'Anubus' was making its way to Midpoint Island!
I immediately cast a skrye spell on Molly. She was sound asleep in her cabin so I took the risk of finishing my sleep - I had a set of new spells to pray for in the morning that I thought would be useful in any attempt I made to rescue her.
So, at dawn I flew to the island and arrived in the evening. I did a barrel roll over the Shaggy Beast to let my brother know I was on my way in.
I saw the Anubis, anchored off the coast and one row boat that had been landed on the shore. I landed, turned into a dog and looked for tracks.
I saw some, a group of four large and one small set of footprints. I followed them up to the cave. I looked in as far as I dared but there appeared to be no one there.
The blue stuff in the cave was very thick further in and motes of the stuff floated around like dust on the air. I dreaded to think what would happen if I got any of that in my lungs.
I skryed Molly again, she was still the boat the whole time and having her lunch. Still in the shape of a dog I watched the boat for a while. Two deck hands noticed me, but were not overly surprised to see a dog wandering about on the beach.
After two hours some people arrived at the boat. Three men and a halfling. 'That dog is not long for this world,' one of them remarked as they walked past me.
They were wearing armour and masks. The armour had a strange sigil on it, like a fractured pentagram.
In the evening I swam around the boat as a dolphin for a while but did not see or hear all that much, my angle being all wrong from down at sea level.
I returned to the shore and slept for the night. I had a plan.
DAY 466 (11th Kythorn)(June)
In the morning I skryed Molly again to verify her location, she was in her cabin as I expected. I then checked out the boat, the deck was deserted except for two look outs. It appeared that the Anubus crew were not early risers.
I cast some protection spells on myself then turned into an octopus and swam to the ship. I then climbed up the leeward side and peered in all the port holes until I found Molly.
The porthole was open so I pulled myself in. Molly was somewhat surprised to be woken up by an octopus poking at her, but she is a clever girl and expecting rescue, so when I cast a Woodshape spell on the porthole to make it big enough for us to get out of she did not hesitate.
When we had both jumped down into the water I turned into a giant sea eagle and we were away!
It almost felt too easy after all the bother these pesky pirates had given me. All they did was point and stare as I flew off back to Waterdeep. It is seldom one of my plans works so well!
It was late afternoon by the time we arrived in Waterdeep and we were escorted in by the Gryphon Cavalry who happened to spot me. They were satisfied I was of no threat to the city and I was not arrested.
Myself and Molly walked through the city gates and thence on to the OJB. Molly told me some information - that she had heard of a lady that had been taken from one other boat to the Anubus, then up to the cave. She had been transferred to the Anubus before the blockade apparently, handed
over by persons unknown. She had then been taken up to the caves and not heard from since. This had been two days ago.
If I was to be any use at rescuing this unknown lady from a cave though I needed the help I had requested from 'Reasonable Bob' so we turned on our course and went to find him.
He took us into a private room of the tavern he frequented and then four other clerics arrived. They were of the bookish variety, the once that remained at the temple and studied texts, not the adventuring kind like Veddic or Nobby.
One of them waved a red crystal wand over us and declared that we were of satisfactory health. As they talked amongst themselves Molly went on to tell me that she had overheard that the ladies name had been 'Gharlie' and that one of the handers-over had said,
'This is what you get for turning your back on us, you cow!'
Alarmed I skryed Gharlie and there she was, sadly, barely alive, covered in the blue curse and in the depths of the cave.
I took the amulet from Bob that would protect me from the blue curse and once I had dropped Molly off at the OJB I flew straight back to the island.
I left word with Corum to see what could be done for Gharlie on my return, but tragically it turned out it would be too late.
DAY 467 (12th Kythorn)(June)
I arrived at Midpoint Island at dawn and went straight to the cave. I noticed that the Anubus had gone. I wondered how it was getting in and out past the blockade so easily.
The blue curse seemed to dim as I entered the cave, being held back by the amulet. I should note that it had the same 'fractured pentagram' symbol on it that I had seen on the armour of the men that had came back from the cave.
I found Gharlie at the back of the cave, a chain around her ankle. She was barely alive. I used my crowbar to break the chain and wrapped her in a blanket.
When I tried to lift her though, she cried out in pain. Looking closer I could see that she was physically attached to the cave wall by blue crystals. I tried to chip at it, but she screamed in pain once again.
And that was the last sound she made, poor thing. There was nothing more I could do and she died in my arms. With her last breath her mouth hung open and the blue curse spread from inside her mouth to cover all of her face.
I laid her down gently and left. The ten hours of flying back to Waterdeep gave me plenty of time to ponder over how I was going to break the news to Corum, who I had began to realise - loved her deeply.
No comments:
Post a Comment