Thoughtful Presents (18/04)

I've decided to keep up this journal now. Maybe not daily, some days are still a bit slow but it might be useful to keep track of what goes on here...

I've been staying in Port Ffirst for around a week now, following my initial arrival and the whole ghosts under the sea thing. It's been fairly quiet since though. New people are showing up still while others seem to be passing through. Honestly I was getting a little bored until I found a notice from the owner of a bar in the nicer side of town called the Flourished Hook. Apparently his brother had brought some items back from his travels and wanted some volunteers to help assess them.... not really adventurous sounding, I know but i was getting bored sitting in the seedy bar of old town. Now it's over and and done with, it's actually funny thinking back how monotonous it seemed this morning.

This was my first time really coming into the newer side of town and everything looks.... expensive. I mean the bar had a huge doorway, ornate decorations, velvet curtains. VELVET CURTAINS! My room barely has a solid floor!!!!

Much like my first adventure, there was an interesting mix of people here.

The first I noticed was Bain, this time missing his friend Bogg (apparently he was off doing something about bagpipes?) It was nice to have a familiar face. I knew he was handy in a fight and the opportunity to work again was a good one. Hes very straight forward and likes to hit things but sometimes that's all you need. Our time together seems to be paying off since we now have our own unique handshake (I am absolutely going to show this off to Bogg)

Bain was being classic Bain and 'enforcing' his friendship on what looked like a walking corpse carrying a huge shield. Kaliel, a very serious and... sickly looking human carrying a huge shield. He was with a teifling called Nikja. She looked quite intimidating at first (purple skin, white hair and armour that looked a bit like feathers) but she actually seemed very sweet. Clumsy, but sweet. Kaliel comes across as a man of strong principles and has a strong reverence for his faith (and seeing him call on it in a fight, I'm starting to understand why he does!). I think he is mentoring Nikja and offers her lots of advice and insight, meanwhile she seems to almost worship him, even putting her own safety on the line trying to protect him.

Then we had 2x newer faces in town. I know I've only here a week or so as well but even I can spot the new people. They seem to miss a certain... something. Like a grimy look you seem to get hanging around in old town....

The first was yvonna, A gnome who's apparently been sleeping rough in the woods outside of town. The second was another human, a red head called Edward. I think hes a wizard but not like I've seen before... we had a few used to stop by the monastery before I left but they didnt really seem anything like Edward....

And then there is G'Lorth.... we heard him first, a high pitched kind if blubbering I can only describe like flatulence. Then we saw a large purple frog come running round the corner playing a trumpet (the noise we heard), followed by 4 other frogs carrying a wooden bathtub. In the bathtub was as a gold coloured frog doing this strange delicate wave as if he is waving to crowds of fans around him. I should point, it was only us there....

G'Lorth is unlike anyone I have ever met. I think he believes he is actually famous or something. Any situation that arises he is 'in charge'. Any idea or solution is 'his idea'. Constantly referred to us as 'his associates'....Honestly, he is a very accomplished fighter and uses a similar fighting style to my own, but i think its his ego and the idea of being adored that stops him becoming a danger to everyone around him

Anyway, the door eventually opens and flustered man with a strange accent let's us in. He wasnt making much sense but Kaliel managed to get him to the point: his brother had returned from a trip from some islands and caves to the south and brought back a hoard of items, many of which were magical. They had hired a local wizard to identify most of them but there was 3x in particular they wanted our help with: A chest, a compass and a plate.

This is, however, where things got interesting.... we were told the brother was impatient to get these checked and took it upon himself to look at them. As a result, the brother was now "acting strange" and had become violent. He has been locked up ever since as a result. Meanwhile, the chest had seemed to take someone.... no idea how or where but they were gone. Our task was to get the brother back in one piece and learn what we can about these objects in the meantime.

We found Voros barricaded in the basement. The guards on the door wouldn't even entertain helping us. Bain ended up removing all the piles furniture after I tried (and failed). We posted up on the door, ready to open and defend ourselves when Yvonna decided to look through the keyhole.... just as Voros kicked his way out. There as a brief struggle before he moved his way through going straight for Kaliel and actually managed to jam a dagger into his shoulder, just as Kaliel cast a spell to hold him in place.

Then things started to get weird.

We watched as 2x ghostly forms leaked out of him, leaving his body to fall to the floor and we were faced with another Minotaur ghost and another frog like G'Lorth. They tried the same possession trick as last time but everyone managed to hold their own. Edward used some kind of magic to make a hand try grab one of the ghosts underwear before telling us they were immune to bullying? I'm still not really sure what that's supposed to mean.... Nikja and Kaliel used magic I've never seen before that the ghosts really seemed to hate.

All in all the fight was short lived but we did get a good look at everyones capabilities. Yvonna also seems to be a monk, like G'Lorth and me, however I think the frog has an ace up his sleeve we dont... as he hit Voros when he first attacked us, it was almost as if his veins suddenly started to throb and change colour.... if I run into G'Lorth again, I think I'll avoid getting into a fist fight with him. Kaliel and Nikja both use magic that seems to drive off the undead, but our later fight shows there is much more to it than this, and Edward's style of magic seems to be based around pranks of a sort....he is an odd fellow but I'm not sure what else he has up his sleeve yet. Nikja checked out Voros and found the compass on him but I didnt catch what Edward said about it.

(Scribbled at side of page MORE GHOSTS! Is every job with Bain going to be involve ghosts!? Maybe we should start our own business busting them...also, why minotairs???)

Kaliel was pretty focused on getting the 'objectives' dealt with so took the unconscious Voros back upstairs with Bain and Nikja (Nikja actually fell down the stairs once or twice... she really is clumsy), meanwhile G'Lorth and I checked out the room he came from. Thinking back on it now, I think G must've known about the plate. He asked me to help him reach it but just as I was about to grab it I saw it had a face. A FACE! More than that, it was actually talking to us.

Hoop, as we found it liked to be called, I think was just a bit bored being stuck on the shelf. They were very keen to talk with us but didnt know much about the ghosts and mentioned Soros and Voros were only asking Hoop to reveal their secrets (I asked if they would prefer he or she. Hoop replied they are simply everything). Otherwise Hoop spoke of a room and a previous owner called Cresht, then the face wiped away and was replaced with a view of a room with chairs, shelves and a fire place.

G'Lorth pulled his signature move and convinced me to touch the plate. Lucky for me Hoop seemed to like me and let me. As I did, my hand went through and I could feel the warmth of the fire inside. I continued and eventually find myself IN the room! The others just watched from outside, like looking through a window but Hoop didnt seem to be able to hear me inside the room. There was a lot in there and I haven't been back yet to check it out but I did see an assortment of weapons and books in there.

I climbed back out and decided to take Hoop with me. They are far too interesting to leave on a shelf like that. Plus they really seem to miss their previous owner. I'm thinking if I take Hoop, they wont be so bored and maybe I can even find Cresht again. When Kaliel came back down, he seemed annoyed I touched Hoop, let alone actually climbed into Hoop.

With 1x brother rescued and 2x artifacts retrieved, we headed upstairs to the chest that 'took' people. What we found was an open chest in an empty room. I stayed back, holding Hoop up to give them a view of what's going on while the others checked it out and the chest just opened and into nothingness... just seemingly a black pit.... the group decided, si cents I had already been through one dimensional portal today, I should try jumping in (I wasnt impressed) but before we could do much a huge chain whipped out, grabbed Edward and pulled him in. The next thing I knew we were rushing across the room and jumping in ourselves.

Everything went black then suddenly I hit a hard floor, looked up and saw a huge red humanoid creature, draped in chains with one leading off holding onto.... another creature that looked exactly the same, only in a panic. It seems Edward is also able to change his form.
The others (excluding Yvonna) soon followed me in and we began a tough battle with the thing. Everything happened so fast I cant even remember everything straight, it's like flashes in my mind. G'Lorth punching and dodging.... Bain cutting down with his huge sword.... Kaliel turned into an Angel. AN ANGEL!!!
It was crazy....

We managed to beat down what we later heard was a chain devil? There was a couple of monstrous looking dogs turn up as well but they didnt last too long without the Devil. Then out of nowhere, Yvonna falls into the cave, missing the entire ordeal....

We now found ourselves stuck in this cave. We spent some time looking around but the only thing we really came across was a strange circle with 4 pillars around it. There was some experimenting around it to get it to work but none of it really made much sense to me. Once the magic users in our group worked it out it, opened a portal back into the room.

Kaliel wasnt very happy accepting one of the magical items we were promised but seemed to cave when everyone else still wanted to. Either way this is where we split up and went our separate ways again. For myself, I decided to give Hoop a tour of old town before heading back to my room. They like to talk alot, but I like Hoop so far.