25/02/2020 - Hunting for Trouble - Arkadius Hogg

So… that Errant Guard woman, Kassandra. Is that her name? She didn’t seem to like you. At all. That felt… awkward. It wasn’t even you that killed Torval, or your friends. And even then, he was Vanguard and attacked us first!
Arkadius snorts, resting back in his office chair, nodding. “She didn’t take to me returning so soon, no. I am thinking that I should avoid K’ul Goran for the time being. I might… make things worse if I go back. And I don’t think the Errant Guard will take me either now, however much I dreamt of serving with them.”
Are you still trying to atone for being a Tiefling? For having Infernal in your bloodline? You’re a good man, Arkadius. Really. Listen to people when they say so. Listen to what Markas said the other day. Listen to Sheryl, and Mathew and all your other friends who care. They’ve seen you do good things, you’ve proven you aren't a bad person. Mostly.
Don’t let this eat you up from inside.

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Journal entry dated 25 Alturiak, 1497

Things happen for a reason, I believe that now more than ever. Everything that has happened recently just goes to reinforce that belief. The warning from Khaosborn, the Vanguard, everything that happened to Rama in K’ul Goran. Everything leads to something. Nothing happens for no reason.
There’s no smoke without fire.

That leads me on to the events of yesterday. We were summoned by the Errant Guard, as they have become adept at doing, to K’ul Goran. They advised us that they had some kind of large monster causing some trouble in the southern regions. Given recent events, and given that I am rather fond of the Errant Guard, I could not refuse to assist K’ul Goran. During the preparation for the War with the Giants, I was skeptical of the continent, and didn’t really want to risk my life. Now I feel myself growing more attached to the continent, especially with its close connection to the Aerial Plane. Perhaps in time I will move there. Perhaps not.

I did my usual jaunt from Port Ffirst to Daring Heights, fluttering along above the path, sack of letters safely hoisted onto my back, and delivered that to Wendy on arrival. I then proceeded to head straight over to the portalling chambers, where I was greeted by Lillith, BB and Laurel. I was also greeted by a few new faces I’d not seen before, Ziarae (a wonderfully brave aasimar), and Sergeant Grimes. There’s a name I had definitely heard around Port Ffirst. What a pleasure to finally put a face to the name.

We portalled across to K’ul Goran, greeted thankfully by a minotaur Captain on the other side (last time, we did not have an escort from the portalling chambers, and that was not pleasant). He led us to a briefing room, where Kassandra was waiting for us as well as an Errant Guard bard called Cory, whom I had not met previously.

Kassandra seemed to be a lot less jovial than she normally was, and for a brief moment I detected even a trace of… hatred, specifically towards me. I was confused at this, thinking back to all of my encounters in K’ul Goran, and nothing really hit me as being out of the ordinary.

We were briefed about the monster, rampaging amongst the southern region of K’ul Goran, and it seemed like a simple enough mission. Find the beast, and take it down. What concerned me was how the description was very owlbearish, while not being as owlbearish as we would have liked. They don’t have the ability to teleport, last time I checked anyway.

We were advised that Girelle wanted to see us before we left, to whom the Captain led us when we were dismissed from the briefing room. Girelle took the time to introduce himself to those who he had not met before, and greet those whom he did recognise, including myself. He assured me that the Aerial Plane had recovered nicely since our recovery mission several weeks ago. He also took the time to ensure we were all suitably informed about the recent efforts of the Vanguard to sow discord in the city. He wanted to ensure all Kantas adventurers operating within K’ul Goran were aware of the latest threats. This, I thought, was very sensible. It led to nothing on this particular mission, as far as I am aware, however a good idea nonetheless.

We were taken to our transportation set to take us south, a road-cart outfitted for the particular benefits of the nation at hand, wind-powered like always. I had the misfortune of sitting rather close to Kassandra, and was mulling reasons as to why she may dislike me under my breath. I wasn’t quiet enough, apparently, as when our approach to Nrav’Garat was announced and I mulled as to whether my war-based antics here were the reason she disliked me suddenly, she responded with a resounding “Ah, you were involved with the war here? I was not aware of this. No.”
Perhaps I need to be more subtle in future.

We surmise that the beast has made a lair somewhere in the forest nearby, and proceed to enter. We took the time to explore the forest, looking for tracks and potential leads to find the lair. I’ll be honest, we were all a little… unprepared for this, only Kassandra seemed to be prepared for this and led us down a path, following some tracks. Cory quickly caught us before we followed, asking if any of us were present for Torval’s death. This, of course, caused memories to flood into my brain in a panic as Cory explained after I was the only one to respond positively that Torval and Kassandra had been close friends. That was the end of that matter. I resolved to give Kassandra as much space as she needed, an argument between us about how much of a Vanguard traitor he was probably would result in my own death.

We followed the tracks to a cave, which we correctly assume to be this beast’s lair. Lillith was prepared to send her familiar in, a spider, and Wren was also willing to go in too. Wren took the spider in, and explored as far as she was comfortable doing, sending the spider in unnoticed beyond that point. She reports back that in the three connecting tunnels, there was a quiet chamber to the left (which we left unexplored), a chamber to the right with some weird rifts in, and a group of Shunned preparing what we assume to be some kind of ritual ahead.

We took the decision to announce slowly, making the Shunned aware of who we were and why we were there, and that we meant them no harm. Long story short, somehow Lillith made them believe she was some kind of Prophet. I can’t see this going wrong at all in the future.

Our conversations were cut short by Kassandra running in, announcing that the beast had returned. We retreated to tactical positions throughout the cave, myself and Kassandra on the back wall for best ranged attacking. On the beast’s arrival into the cave door, Lillith cast some fancy magic trying to prevent it from further movement and causing damage. Which would have been very tactically sound, if it stayed that way. It teleported, appearing next to Sgt. Grimes. Unfortunate. We noted that the rifts which were in the side cavern were now closely following the owlbear-thing. Which very much was not one, but several mixed in together through some hellish magic or weirdness.

Fighting ensured, the beast cast darkness upon itself, and I risked flinging in a Fireball. Thankfully, I did catch the owlbear-thing, as well as a few of the Shunned. Oops. After a while, we manage to take down the owlbear-thing, and eradicate the rifts. The team did awesome work.

The team proceeded to attempt to assist the Shunned who were taken down by my accidental “friendly fire”. Kassandra did not take kindly to this, and took a lot of convincing to allow us to continue. She stormed off.

All in all, another successful operation in K’ul Goran. Another embarrassment for me.