(G397 02/11/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA60

(G397 02/11/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA60

DAY 457 (3rd Kythorn)(June) cont ...

Fenrir, Veddic and Milo did not know what to make of the girl. There was no sign, magical or otherwise, of anything untoward, and yet they felt there was something very unnatural about her.

Milo went in and hailed her.
She replied:

''
Late, late yestreen I saw the new Moon'
With the old Moon in her arms
And I fear, I fear, my Master dear!
We shall have a deadly storm.
''

Any other question returned similar cryptic answers.

Fenrir asked, who are you?
'The friend I've mourned with, and the maid', she replied.

There was a chest in the room and when Fenrir went to it, she said,
''
One bee comes over!
And attacks me!
And stings me!
And does mortal damage!
''

Very disturbed and distrusting of this strange soothsayer Fenrir decided to try and drag the chest out of the room by a length of rope - but when they pulled all that came out was the frayed end of the rope!

They decided to move on.

In the next room they were attacked by four more cinderghosts and something that sounded like a liche to me, but that was maybe not so powerful. Sadly thought it was strong enough that, in the confusion and melee Milo was hit twice and the life  was drained from him.

Once the 'ghosts were dispatched Veddic cut off Milo's finger (presumably to be used as part of a Resurrection spell later) - which was a good thing - but then used his Raised Dead spell to animate Milo's poor body!

I don't know how you feel about these things, dear reader, but to my thinking it was not a very nice thing to do to a comrade in arms.

In any event it was close to midnight now, or so the reckoned, so with Milo standing guard, the got some rest.

DAY 458 (4rd Kythorn)(June)

In the large chamber that they were in was a strange device and they spent most  of the day trying to figure out what it was and what it did.

From what I understand it was about the size and weight of a sewing machine, shaped like a  giant microscope, made from brass. It had a plate under the lens about the size of a saucer  and a dial around it that could be turned.
The dial had a brass pointer. On top of the main tube of the device was something that looked like a Tesla coil sticking out of the top of it.
On the side was a hopper, about the size of a soup bowl. There was something like a sooty  residue in it. On the other side, set into the brass casing was a shiny plate of what may  have been obsidian, 12 inches by 4.

They spend the day and night here, resting and recovering. Doing what we adventurous types always do in downtime like this, mending armour, sharpening weapons and talking over old times.

DAY 459 (5th Kythorn)(June)

They left in the morning, taking the strange device with them, stuffed into a bag of holding.

They spent all day wandering around in the dust storm and getting thoroughly lost. Eventually Veddic realised that there was a spell that he could use called 'Find the Path'. He had not memorised it that morning, but as they were in an area of Wild Magic, by luck he was able to cast it anyway.

They arrived at the portal after three in the afternoon, dirty, wet and fed up. Next they returned directly to Spectre Island and were sat having a nice cup of tea with Random by ten.

They talked well into the night, relaying all that they had encountered in the FAMP. Random said he would arrange for Milo's return to the land of the living, but that he doubted he would want to join them again after the way he had been treated. Grudgingly Fenrir also handed over Milo's share of the treasure (up to the point he died of course!) and that was that.

Fenrir, not knowing what the strange device was that they had also recovered offered it to Random, but changed his mind when the cunning tiefling seemed to be rather too happy about it.
'Probably best you keep it for now anyway,' he grumbled.

DAY 460 (6th Kythorn)(June)

The next day they went all the way back to the FAMP portal. Their luck holding, they were not attacked or otherwise molested on the way.

Fenrir talked to Avadeti who told them:

''
It's an "Accumulator Contraption/Discombobulator Contraption". It was a common device once, for drawing magic from the weave and creating shards. Much as a scroll is created with pen  and ink, our wizards would use these to encode our magic. I am not a wizard, so I don't  know how it works.
''

Was this the device that broke your world? asked Fenrir
No, replied Avadeti. That was much bigger, he had never seen it, but he had been told the device that had destroyed his realm had been the size of a temple.

(G396 05/10/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA59

(G396 05/10/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA59

DAY 457 (3rd Kythorn)(June) cont ...

It was hard to keep track of time in the Plane of Shadow, let alone the FAMP, but Fenrir judged it to be late in the afternoon when they entered the portal again. With cloth masks and goggles to keep the dust out of their faces they began to explore a little around the portal.

It was a broken landscape, very hard to traverse. Cliffs and crevasses were everywhere. There way was constantly blocked either by a sheer rock wall, piles of scree, or drop offs into darkness.

They followed a cliff around for a few hundred metres until they saw the jagged outline of some ruins on the horizon in the distance. They could just make out the flickering light of the portal behind them.

Veddice used Stone Shape to create a 10ft stone pillar to act as a marker and they continued through the storm. In the distance they could hear rock falls, as stones and boulders fell from higher places and tumbled down the scree slopes.

Eventually they cautiously entered the ruins, that offered some small shelter from the wind. Here they were attacked by undead, creatures that I will here name as 'hexrot zombies' and 'ash ghosts'.

Veddic made short work of them though, turning or destroying most of them. What he didn't get, Fenrir destroyed with his eldritch blasts. There was work for Milo too as there were chests in some of the rooms, containing treasure and 'shards' which were the equivalent of scrolls on this plane.

The found a set of steps that lead down into a dungeon area and here they fought an 'ash morgh', but again the undead creature was no match for Veddic.

They had more trouble with two 'black horrors'. As best I can make out these were like black puddings but a bit more tentacly.

As they continued exploring they found a room that seemed to have a little girl weeping in the corner. What in all that was good and natural, they wondered, was such a one as her doing in a place like this?

(G395 28/09/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA58

(G395 28/09/2019 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA58

[Alas dear reader - we will have to wait a while longer to find out what the hairy belly of fate had in store for me! In the mean time here is some more of Fenrir's adventure in the FAMP (Failed Alternative Material Plane).]

Just a quick re-cap. Fenrir was now the leader of the Magical Arm of the City Watch of Westgate. A role that suited him well.

He was told by Random (the mildly-naughty mastermind the mainly lived on a rocky island five miles north of the port) that the next part of the plan was to get him in charge of the entire Watch. Behind Random was Cavu, the somewhat naive but likeable bard, who in turn was working for Gertrude the White, a very powerful and only occasionally seen Oracle of Illmater.
They wanted Fenrir in a position of power for when they made a move against the vampires that were infesting and trying to take over the city.

Oh - a couple of other things happened since we last checked in on him:

Fenrir was given a seal by the Croamarkh in a swearing in ceremony wore he swore many oaths to protect the city et al.

-

Fenrir chose a new secretary, from a shortlist of three. He selected Mia the Magical who was a goodly soul who was much loved by the watch. He was so impressed with the reputation of Portia Cadger (a halfling rogue) that he also took her on as a 'Special Advisor' - whatever that meant!

-

Just before we had left him Fenrir (DAY 426) was to fight a duel against 'The Bastard of Cormaeril'. However, Random had instructed him to lose it (as Random said they were not in a position to make some very powerful enemies over the matter) and Fenrir grudgingly did so.

-

On day 444 Lady Dreggleblot came to his office, demanding the 'files' on one Arlert Whammyth. For some reason she had been wearing armour and carrying a sword. Her leg had also grown back.

The info (two months old) Fenrir had on Whammyth was that he was a jewel thief, currently hiding out in Teziir. He told her, out of mischief I suppose, that the thief was headed to the Sword Coast.

-

So that's us all caught up!

Anyway - so while I was flapping about the Sword Coast, Fenrir was about to have a change of plan.

DAY 457 (3rd Kythorn)(June)

It all began when Random realised that Fenrir was just too unpredictable to carry out the next part of the scheme - namely to get rid of Hammersong (the current leader of the City Watch) and set Fenrir in his place.

Randim already had a complicated plan to get rid of Hammersong and to knobble all the other likely candidates to replace him, he was just sure that Fenrir would mess it all up somehow.
The warlock was immensely powerful, cunning and charming - but he lacked subtlety. He was stealthy up to a point, but his plans always lacked the days (weeks? months?) of preparation that came easily to Random.

And so, he decided to send Fenrir off on a quest. Far from being a wild goose chase it was actually something that needed done. Not so long ago Fenrir had been sent into the Plane of Shadows to find a portal to a 'FAMP' or rather a 'Failed Alternative Material Plane'. He had done so, but had not yet gone through it.

It was located south of the city of Bonespur, along the Bonebreaker Pass and not far from the "Dark Spire of Ghastly Evil".

When they had talked to Lord Soslow (a mindflayer that lived in Bonespur) he had said:

''
Oh yes, a failed alternative material plane. I don't know the specifics of that particular FAMP, but it will have been destroyed in some horrific and horrible way I should imagine.
There may not even be any land, or air, or anything, so take care. It could have completely evaporated, but from my experience they are usually nothing more (or less) than barren wastelands.
These sorts of places are not so uncommon in the Plane of Shadow. This plane acts as a conduit between the material plane and all sorts of other interesting places. It's one of the reasons I'm based here.
''

In a refugee camp outside the portal they had met an old man called Avadeti who was a former native of the FAMP.

He had, among other things, told them:

''
It is an infinite sorrow that I carry with me, the destruction of my world. We were a world of great power and magic. My people walked the planes, they crafted many wondrous items, they researched a thousand spells. But the arch mages grew too powerful, too bold and too proud. They attempted to build a device that would turn anything into a spell. Put a rabbit in and you got a shard (we used shards to store our spells, they functioned in the same way as scrolls) and you got a spell that summoned a rabbit. Point the device at an ocean and you get a spell that created water. You understand?
Well, the first time the device was used, it didn't turn something into a spell, it turned EVERYTHING into a spell. It stripped the entire top layer of our world off and converted it into shards. Only a few of us survived, I've no idea how. I can never return, I would be turned into a shard, so here I wait.
''

He went on:

''
Don't spend too much time in the Voidlands. Undead lurk in the mists and even just breathing the fetid air will kill you after a while. No one can survive long there, but sometimes, rarely, people come through the gate. Little flecks of habitable land still remain of our world. How to find them I have no idea. Also, it is a world of what the scholars call Wild Magic. Spells will have strange effect unless you are a real master.
''

So, with all that in mind Random dispatched Fenrir and Veddic back to the portal. He also provided them with a cunning rogue called Milo, a young halfling. In the meantime Random would pose as
Fenrir (using his Hat of Disguise), going to his office each day and working his schemes and plots towards his goal of getting a seat at the table in the Merchant Tower.

Fenrir, Veddic and Milo went through the portal on Spectre Island (where Random was based) and arrived in the Plane of Shadows. It took them most of the day to travel to the FAMP portal, but they arrived without incident.

Avadeti was still there and greeted them. Fenrir asked him if he had a chicken.

The warlock then put it in a small cage, tied it to the end of a stick and poked it through the portal. Stick, cage and chicken were wrenched from his gasp and vanished through the portal never to be seen again.

Avadeti informed them very firmly that he had no more chickens so Veddic (being a bit stronger than Fenrir) tried it with a long stick with nothing on it.

I do wonder, you know, such powerful magic users, both of them, and they could come up with no better plan than poking it with a stick!

Well, anyway, after a while they got bored of that and finally decided just to go in.

They stepped through and were nearly swept of their feet by a strong howling wind. As they regained their footing they realised they were choking on dust and thin air. There was hardly anything to breath and they could hardly see either through the dust storm. The wind screamed through their ears and fills your eyes, nose and mouth with dust. Walking without being blown over required great effort and even breathing was virtually impossible.

Choking and coughing they returned to the Plane of Shadows.

(G394 07/09/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR9

(G394 07/09/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR9

DAY 455 (1st Kythorn)(June) cont ...

It was good to see my brother again, and we swapped our stories. He told me that his girlfriend (I don't like to say, but is Gharlie even a girl? How would be know if she wasn't? I mean, 'she' is a doppleganger after all!) had gone missing when she had gone off to find this Midpoint Island.

In addition to that, things were odd in Waterdeep. Well 'odder' maybe, with people disappearing - frequently and inexplicably. But since they were usually homeless or outsiders it was not being investigated as well as it might.
He'd also heard rumours of a 'Blue Contagion' and that the Clerics of Mystra were somehow involved. I shuddered and clutched my right hand - Mystra was no friend of mine.

While we were talking, two tramps came into the tavern, shoved a women in the face and stole her bag. We went after them.

They were pretty light on their feet for old fellows and I had to turn into a cheetah to catch the shorter one. As I did so though I saw a man slumped in a nearby doorway glowing blue. This startled me, as you may well imagine, and I went to check him over.

He was dead, he looked as if he'd been infected with something nasty. He had burns on his body and blood around his mouth. His hair was patchy and there was a hole in his chest. He was dressed in an average fashion, like a workman or labourer.

When Corum caught up with me he told me that he recognised the corpse as one of his dungsweepers. He went to touch the body, but I slapped his hand away, warning about how the blue glow was infectious by touch.

Corum called for more watchman and it was not long before Corum's boss's boss turned up - a chap called Captain Rulathon. In an hour or so we ended up at Piergeiron’s Palace in some sort of fancy meeting chamber.

We had to wait a further hour, they had laid on food and drink for us, but I was already getting rather annoyed when the Captain turned up with that well known villain Meleghost Starseer.

Now, you may remember that Starseer is the high priest of Mystra and one of the main men of the Waterdavian Inquisition. Among other things he had had Fenrir's uncle burned at the stake.
He was also one of the people behind the 'Sweeping of the Sick' that caused the unnecessary suffering of thousands - suffering that me and my friends at Hova Farm had to deal with for months.
I shivered to remember the death that I saw there, the weak and dying of the Spittal Huts and the mass graves dug into the cold winter soil.

I was in no mood for this be-buggered fellow, but I told my story none-the-less when it was asked for.
Starsteer asked if I had seen any blue crystals. I had not, but made a mental note to keep my eyes open for them from now on.
He went on to tell us about how awful this new Magical Plague was - what a threat it was to Faerune etc etc.
It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut - although he must have surely have seen how angry I was - after all - Where was he when thousands of Sword Coast folks were dying at Hova Farm? Where was he when citizens of Waterdeep were dying of the Blue Death in the streets?
Now that there is a disease that strikes at him though - magic, that is - he is all about meeting the malady with all the resources he can lay his hands on.
As far as I can see - whatever disease kills you - when you are dead you are dead. And this new disease is at least only transmitted by touch! With the Blue Death at first no one had any idea of how it was getting about.
Most people thought initially it was 'bad air'. It was that Snow fellow that worked
out it was spread by dirty water.
Now tell me - which is easier 'Don't touch glowing blue things?' or 'Elevate your city out of the midden enough that people are not forced to drink contaminated water?'
Uh!! I'm ranting now, sorry. There is nothing more annoying to me than one of those rarified, preening Priests of Mystra!

Well, the Captain told us to keep all the goings-on to ourselves and off we went, back to the pub.

I scryed Molly again and saw her getting ready to sleep in her little cupboard. I could see the sea through the small port-hole above her.

Corum and I talked for a while and we thought that it might be worth contacting the Unseen since Gharlie was one of them. Corum perhaps had misjudged then though as the 'whatever-it-was' shapeshifter we met at the Dripping Dagger was of no use at all. We decided not to waste any further time with them.

I'll go to New Olamn in the morning, those bards are usually pretty 'in-the-know.'

DAY 456 (2nd Kythorn)(June)

I went to New Olamn in the morning in the persona of 'Randy Condor' a young man who was looking for his lost sister. I used my Hat of Disguise.

The only extra information I learned was that Waterdeep and Neverwinter both now had fleets of navy ships watching Midpoint Island - and watching each other.

They were also able to put an X on a map for me. On my return to meet the others at the OJB I told them that I could probably get there in about 5 to 7 hours depending on the wind direction.

I decided to fly out their straight away, by myself, to take a look.

(G393 20/07/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR8

(G393 20/07/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR8

DAY 454 (30th Mirtul)(May) cont...

Steven the Friendly Wizard teleported us to the Market Square in Waterdeep and we walked over to the Old Jock's Brewery. Corum was not there. We then went over to the Singing Sword and had a few beers and asked around.

There were rumours of a 'new island', north of the Whalebones, roughly in line with the Mere of the Deadman. There were lots of 'natural resources' apparently and heaps of magical items just lying around. (I find that hard to believe.)

Every idiot with a boat was trying to get there.

We got chatting to four young dwarves, freshly out for adventure and full of bravado, but nice enough chaps.
They asked about my adventures, well maybe I just started talking, but anyway, I told them about my recent escapades in the Plane of Shadow and the slaying of Despayr.

By the time I'd sadly reminisced about the deaths of Mirabella, Gurudor, and all the others that died in the Planes, well, I think I'd maybe hit them with a hard dose of reality.

DAY 455 (1st Kythorn)(June)

It was about six in the morning when Corum turned up. I was asleep by the fire when he came in.

(G392 13/07/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR7

(G392 13/07/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR7


DAY 450 (26th Mirtul)(May) cont ...

Starting to use my brain at last I gazed into a puddle in the forest close to the road and used it to cast Scrye on Molly.

As I watched, I saw her bundled into the hold of a ship by a man wearing armour and a helmet with a full face mask. The mask was of some sort of animal or demon.
The ship appeared to be getting ready for a voyage. Molly was taken down into the hold and secured in a cupboard by herself.

I tore my gaze away from the puddle and rubbed my eyes. At least she was in no urgent danger. I quickly sketched all I had seen in one of my notebooks. The armour had been of no style I was familiar with - just a mix of items probably attained by the wearer in various ports all over Faerune. Even so, it was of the same overall style and looked expensive. There had been a Neverwinter symbol on the breastplate, but something about it had looked off.

In the background, on the boat, I had seem spellcasters and rogues, all wearing masks of demons and other fearful things.

I felt utterly awful. My wife was pregnant with our son or daughter. Our own child on the way. How could I look after it, when I couldn't even look after Molly? What sort of world would the baby be born into? Where gangs of thugs could turn up at your home, burn it to the ground and take away all that you cared for and loved?

There was no use dwelling on all of that though. Things had to be done. I turned into a giant owl and flew to Battlerise, with my wife and Irritator on my back.

Battlerise harbour was bigger than I expected. I think the map I have is wrong, but no matter. There were nine berths at the entrance of the Darkflow river, which was foul and stinking from the effluent of the town.

I landed some way off from the settlement though and walked in through the main gate. I talked to, and eventually bribed, the harbour master to get information from him.
He told me;
'They paid me not to see anything, my lord, but since you have paid me double, my vision has suddenly cleared! Aye, well anyway, I saw those men, with masks they were, some humans, some half-orcs, some elves even. They sailed in on a ship called the "Anubis". Not a big vessel, but fast. She had extra sails for catching the wind. Her hull was not a standard shape.'
He then went on to describe a type of ship that sounded like an Xebec.
'They arrived seven days ago,' he continued. 'But they left yesterday.'

They had the wind, but I thought I still might catch them at the entrance to the Sea of Fallen Stars so off we flew again. I spoke to an albatross, but he had seen nothing useful. I landed and spoke to some fisherman in their boats but they had seen nothing.
I spoke, in short, to anyone that would speak to me, but I began to suspect that this infernal ship was invisible. Eventually we returned to Battlerise and found an inn to stay the night in.

DAY 451 (27th Mirtul)(May)

I left Lavinia and Irritator to sleep while I went to find the best bard I could. In the Winking Rat I talked to one, but he was very drunk and I arranged to meet him again in the morning.

Before I went to bed I scryed Molly again. She seemed safe still, but as tears sprung to my cheeks thinking of her all alone I could not watch for long.

At eleven o'clock I met my bard, a human man called Rarder Rydye. I asked him what he knew of the masked people that had come through town.

He told me that he had heard of a conflict between Waterdeep and Neverwinter. Word amongst the bards was that a third party was the one instigating it. This third party was stirring trouble by pretending to be one side, then the other. They also used some sort of magical disease.

After that I tried to find some of the villains gold at the bank (so I could use it to fix a Scrye) but that plan did not work out.

Next I went to the Temple of Illmater and paid for a Sending spell to Molly. It said:

'Rollo here! we are searching for you. I will attempt to scrye you every day at noon. Any clues to your location would be great. Love'

The reply came shortly:

'I'm on a boat. Don't know where we are, but can hear them talking common. They said they were heading "back to the midpoint Island"'

I scryed her again and concentrated on detecting magical auras. There were so many that the information was not much use to me.

The Scrye spell is tricky magic to master, but I do know that if you are lucky you can see people that you have never met - and indeed know nothing about at all. Not knowing the captain of the ship, but reasoning that there must be one, I tried to scrye the person that I knew as 'Captain Shitbag'. I got nothing though. Not even a contest of wills, which meant that the spell went nowhere.

Well, we are spending another night in Battlerise. I can't sleep though, for worrying about Molly. I think I'll pay for a Discern Location spell tomorrow. Six hundred gold that will cost, but what is gold when you are searching for a lost child?


DAY 452 (28th Mirtul)(May)

Cast the Skrye spell three times today, but just saw water. Talking to Irritator about it, we think that the ship must indeed be invisible.

Anyway, today we set off and flew to Westgate. I talked to Fenrir and then went to a local temple and had Discern Location cast on Molly. It appears the Anubis is many miles east of Westgate in the Sea of the Fallen Stars.

We spent the night in Fenrir's mansion house.

DAY 462 (29th Mirtul)(May)

So tired from all this flying! Before I put my exhausted head down for the night I will quickly write what we did today.

We flew to Starmantle, this took 10 hours. Once we'd got a room at an inn I went to the nearest temple and had Discern Location cast again.

It looks like they are heading south, aiming for the canal that Lavinia brought the Sea Wyvern through. It is the quickest route to the Sword Coast, so it really does look like they are part of this Waterdeep/Neverwinter nonsense.


DAY 453 (29th Mirtul)(May)

Spent the day in Starmantle. More scrying, but just saw water again.

Paid for a Sending spell to Molly, but her situation had no changed.

Out of nowhere had a sending message from Corum:

'Corum here. Need help. Friend of mine been kidnapped. Come soonest. Was on a boat investigating rumoured new island where she was being kept.'

I replied:

'I'm currently tracking my own kidnapped friend ("third swordcoast faction"). She's being taken to Midpoint island. Same place?'

Talked it over with Lavinia and Irritator. It looked like the Anubis was heading to the Sword Coast, so the best thing to do would be to pay for a teleport to Waterdeep.

Late now though, we'll do it tomorrow.

DAY 454 (30th Mirtul)(May)

Arranged for a teleport, the friendly (but expensive!) wizard could not take us until later in the evening though.

Spent the day talking to bards and suchlike, seeing what additional information we could find out.

Had a Sending Message from Corum:

'Haven't heard of midpoint island, but the rumoured new is north of the whalebones. Possibly same place? Only have 1 sending a day.'

I replied:

'I'm guessing they are headed to Sword Coast. Will come to OJB ASAP'

(G391 29/06/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR6

(G391 29/06/2019 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR6

DAY 447 (23th Mirtul)(May) cont ...

Back home I started thinking and reading about how to take on this massive spider. Peppermint was known to drive off spiders and insects. I knew that peppermint grew in abundance further north in the Dalelands, but it does not grown in the harsher soil of the Vast Swamp. It could do though, with a bit of careful land management I think.

I took, then, my wife to Weyloon, and talked to Hans of Hans Herbs and Medicine where I purchased as much as I could get my hands on. 3 ampoules of Peppermint Oil and 7 jars of a sort of paste that certainly had a strong minty odour. Hans, I rather thought, was a quack.

As it was not afternoon we decided to find a nice inn and stay the night in Weyloon.

Anyway, going to bed now. I must say, it really does feel like things are turning out well now. My wife is happily pregnant, we are engaged in a project we are both enjoying and the Lost Refuge is well on the way to becoming a beacon of peace and happiness in a region that has precious little of it.


DAY 448 (24th Mirtul)(May)

Oh woe and thrice woe! How can one day change so much? It as if some mighty, petulant god has ripped away everything I was working towards!
I have little time for the gods, generally I leave them alone and they leave me alone. I will occasionally make offerings to Silvanus or Chanteau, but other than that the whole lot of them are only of academic interest to me.

But - sometimes - I wonder - is there a greater force beyond the gods of Ferune? A greater force that need only say 'THIS WILL BE' and then the thing is? There is no proof of course, but in my head I imagine this entity staring down at me, with a gleeful expression on its face, looking down at me from over its vast, naked, hairy belly and saying 'All those plans you are making are as nothing before my capricious will!'

We small beings, are but playthings in the hands of deities (or whatever they be) like this. I think I once had a conversation with Fenrir in regards to this and he felt the same way. Although the being that toyed with him, in his mind anyway, seemed a bit more reasonable on the whole and in most cases Fenrir's woes could be traced back to his own actions - but I digress...

... anyway, to related the tragedy here in my journal before I go to bed in our camp up in the mountains north east of the Vast Swamp:

We arrived at two in the afternoon to find the place smoking from several fires and everybody dead. We saw nothing but dead lizardfolk everywhere, magical damage on the walls and doors, bloody drag marks. Everywhere the signs of battle.
Irritator's poor head was displayed on a spike on the south wall. Molly was nowhere to be found, but her poor wee pet monkey was dead in her room, pulled savagely to pieces.

Judging by the amount of damage done, the Refuge had been attacked by powerful magic users and mighty warriors. The dead lizardfolk were all terrible mutilated - pulled to pieces in many cases.
Somehow K was still alive and it was Lavinia that found him. She told me his last words were:

'They took Molly, and the attackers had the Neverwinter Sigils on their armour.'

I went over to K, but he was already dead. There was a strange blue sort of glow or aura on patches of him. As I approached I felt a sort of pull from my magical items. Or something like that. Something I have never felt before anyway.

I cast Detect Magic and the blue 'stuff' flared up and started spreading faster across K's body. I stopped the spell and stepped back. This was like nothing I had ever seen before.
We checked the other bodies, those that had magic items also had the blue 'stuff'.

I picked up a magical amulet and looked at it. I gave it to Lavinia. Foolishly we just then had infected ourselves with whatever this was and we not had it on our hands. When I eventually worked out that this was more a disease than a magical effect (or both?) I turned into a Giant Owl and flapped back to Weyloon as fast as I could.

We landed at the Temple of Mystra (who I judged owed us a pretty big favour) and I explained what had happened to an acolyte.

This is when the Mystran clerics really started to annoy me, and it only got worse as the day went on. Firstly they had the audacity to lock me and the wife in a small room while they dealt with us - as if we were commoners just arrived with leprosy or something.

I woodshaped the door open, but there stood the High Priest and some of the other clerics wearing leather armour and sort of bee-keeper outfits. The High Priest was the most annoying out of all of them and explained that we were infected with some new unknown lurgy - a sort of organism that was not magical and not a curse, but that fed of magic.

'The only cure is to incinerate the whole infected area,' he said. I handed over my magical gloves and they were burned in a temple brazier.
Then he went on to say 'we only know one way to cure it in people - to remove the affected area. Either burn or chop off - in this case, your right hands.'
I sighed. This is modern medicine, I tell you. All this magic and knowledge, but when something new comes along, it's back to the caveman menthods.
'Very well,' I said nervously.
Then as if taking orders for the tavern bar he said, 'Well, would you like your hand burned off or chopped off?'
'Wha - what?'
'Your choice.'
'Chop and be damned then!' I growled, thinking that his bedside manner left much to be desired. Myself and the wife clasped our left hands out together and put the right on the chopping block. Together we cried out as the axes descended.
The look of fear and horror on my wife's face is something that will live with me for the rest of my life. And her pregnant too.

What sort of monstrous being of fate, thought I, would visit such cruelty on her in such a way?
We are, apparently, the play things of Fate, and sometimes Fate is beyond human understanding. Angered, as I closed my eyes in pain and the cleric's worked their regeneration magic an image of Fate, laughing at me as he looked once more down over his huge hairy belly, came into my mind unbidden and ridiculous as I know it sounds I swore that one day, if our positions were ever reversed I would take great delight in exacting my revenge.

Well anyway, Fate had much more misery in store for us yet. Much more.

As we recovered from our ordeal I related the events that had recently occurred to the High Priest and with a couple of hours, our arms restored by magic we set off back again to the Lost Refuge.
The High Chopper and four of his clerics came with us.

Now, there was obviously some sort of misunderstanding when we got there as the High Buffoon evidently thought he was in charge. I should have made him aware that this was my property and that he had no authority over me, the location or the situation what-so-ever.

So I suppose I did surprise him when I flew over and plucked Irritator's head down off the spike on the wall. I had checked it over, but the High Blowhard got really angry when I landed.
He wasn't listening to anything I said and him and his lads levelled their crossbows at me.
Well, I wasn't having any of that and flew off to the north. I easily dodged the crossbow bolts as they came after me - but the effrontery of it! I've a good mind to compose a sternly worded letter to Tunaster Dranik.

We were not followed and I flew north until dawn and landed in a nice glade in the foothills of the Thunder Peak mountains.

A pox on all priests of Mystra, I'm going to bed now.


DAY 449 (25th Mirtul)(May)

Woke up at noon. Lavinia had made some lunch.

I checked over our bodies and poor Irritator's severed head. No blue 'stuff'.

I can't think straight right now, too much going on. I need to find Molly as a priority. First I must re-arrange my spells and get some rest.


DAY 450 (26th Mirtul)(May)

This morning I reincarnated Irritator. He came back as a halfling. Although I wouldn't say it to his face it's an improvement on kobold. His odour is greatly improved for a start.

He apparently had none of the blue stuff on him.

I asked him what he knew of the attack - but once again the hairy belly of Fate loomed over me. Somehow someone managed to sneak up and stab a fairly powerful wizard in the back before he could see or hear anything of any use.

I flew everyone back to the Lost Refuge. Every last bit of it had been burnt to a crisp, only the stonework remained, scorched and blanketed. No doubt it had been fired by those Mystran zealots. There was none of them around so we took a look about. The portal to the Plane of Shadows was still there - so that's something.

I followed the trail the attackers had taken. It lead to the main road to the south eventually.
There was a campsite on the edge of the swamp. They had used three fires, with that and the number of footprints I suspected there were between 20 and 30 of them.
Strangely there were no bones, or other rubbish, which would have been expected. Did they tidy up after themselves? Or were they the sort of beings that don't leave litter?
(Or it occurs to me that perhaps they did not want to leave behind anything that could be the target of a Scrye spell.)

It was clear that they had both arrived and left along the same route - away from all habitation.

We reached the main road. I pondered what to do next.