Post by Nowhere on May 14, 2017 10:22:24 GMT
The writings of Nowhere in exploring the woods South East East of town
Day 1:
My curse is to write these notes. Not that I wish to, but that I am forced to.
I feel I am more at home treating my journal as a diary - to record how life in this place is changing me.
I am beginning to feel more at home in Daring Heights now. There are some strange characters here, for sure, but people seem to be gathering together and working together. As someone not used to seeing the kindness of strangers, it is heartening to see. Maybe it is just the kindness of gold and silver!
It has been half a moon's turn since I last ventured out into the woods south east of Daring, and so I returned to the Inn for a group of us to gather to continue our exploration of the area, and to follow up on the concerns that Eloquin had told us about.... we were to find out what was causing all the undead to appear within the woods.
Many of those who explored originally, came to join me for this exploration. The half elf, who I have now learned is named Rhy, the dwarf named Duma, and my Tiefling compatriot Dorian. I am a little jealous of Dorian I must admit. As someone who has learnt to try and hide who I am and to try and fit in as much as I can to society, it is enthralling to see someone with as much confidence in who he is. Unfortunately we were not joined by our Owl friend, though I suspect this means we will not have to concern ourselves with our clothes being fouled again (or should that be fowled?).
The notice board did bring us two further characters to the cause. One was a fellow warlock called Nix. Yes I may like to blend in, but I find it very disconcerting that in such a small time of being here, I have already come upon a fellow Tiefling, and now a fellow warlock. I don't know how I feel about this yet.
The other fellow is Moth, a half-orc barbarian who, frankly, scares the wits out of me. He tells us he is a master cook. I worry for my insides on this trip. Also, unless I have my entimology wrong, Moths are delicate winged creatures that live for only moments. I fear to see the size of the cocoon this Moth came out of!
Before leaving on our travels, we were approached by a human woman by the name of Helmer, or at least that is what I believe her name was, I was too busy scribing to pay too much attention. She offered over a lucky rabbits foot to the party (well actually the human elements of the party, so frankly I have little care of what she wants from us) and asked if we could return this to her husband, Peter (again I believe this was the name, though frankly I wasnt too interested) who was out on patrol. She believes that without the foot, Peter may perish. We negotiate our fee, but I suspect what we will actually end up with is just a rabbits foot. Rhy took charge of the foot.... but then again I begin to feel that if it isn't nailed down Rhy "takes charge" of any moveable object!
We decide the best course of action is to head back to the sunken tower where we met Eloquin. From there, we then head eastward. After several miles travel to the east (how far I do not know, but my feet were aching) we came across a strange sight. In front of us was one of those blue men we had encountered before. He was trapped in a bear trap.... but seemed oblivious to it. His palour was not right for a man. Actually let me rephrase that, his palour was not right for a man whose normal palour is actually blue. Something doesn't feel right for me when I see these little blue men....which I have now learnt are called Xvarts. They cause me an internal pain I do not understand.
This Xvart is heading in a direction, and we feel it best to follow him so he can hopefully lead us to others of, we suspect, undead, kind. Well most of us feel this is the best course to follow. The very delicate on his feet Moth threw a rock at him and killed him instantly. So much for civility! Moth seemed very happy with himself, and pockets the trap and gloop. I fear for our meal tonight.
..... I was right to fear for our meal. No matter how tasty something may be, I am always put off by my food being bright blue!
Day 2.
Sleep did not go well last night. I am awoken by my Tiefling colleague who informs me we are following some skeletons who are walking past the camp. We eventually follow them to a clearing in the woods, from within which we follow their gaze to a giant mountain, maybe 8 miles from where we stand. What seems strange is that I, for one, have never seen this mountain before. I do not understand how something so big cannot be viewed from my room in Daring.... but no matter for now.
We cannot question this for long before our thoughts are interrupted by a strange spirit appearing in the glade amongst the standing skeletons, something our dwarf informs us is a spectre. As someone who likes to try and go through life being unnoticed, I am never fond of being pointed at. The spectre pointed at me, or us, either way.
I am not a one to record the blows of combat, it just does not interest me, suffice to say that the apparition and its compatriots were dealt with. Two things are of worth to note. Firstly, Moth may not be delicate, but as a blunt instrument, he is very useful (he does scream a lot though). Secondly, I notice that Nix, who likes to call himself a warlock of legend, has a tendency to make sure he is always standing behind one of us!
We continue towards the mountain and come across a clearing in which stands three stones. Well more specifically two standing stones, and one fallen one. We can see them glow, covered in glyphs. As a city Tiefling this is not something I am familiar with, but it feels that they hold extraordinary power. Moth, never one to consult on anything he does, lifts the fallen stone to put it back in place. What I witness next is truly incredible. As he rights the stones with his incredible strength, the glyphs stop glowing. Truly amazing. Oh, and Moth, in the space of mere seconds, ages in front of my eyes, and grows an incredibly long beard. Still, how amazing that the glyphs stopped glowing..... I am truly fascinated by these stones. We learn from the knowledge of the party that these stones seem related to the moon, and that something happens each turn of the moon. This may be worth exploring further in the future.
We continue to travel into the forest, heading nearer and nearer to the mountain. As we go more undead seem to surround us, and I worry for our safety. Stealth should be the order of the day, but we appear to choose stench instead with a few of the group smearing themselves in undead gore as a way to hide themselves in plain sight. I have read of such plots in tales before. It rarely works out well.
It didn't work out well. We fought more skeletons.
Finally we reach the base of the mountain, and with it a sight I could hardly believe. As some of the party climb trees to get a better look they inform us that standing in front of the mountain is a corpulent man-thing, stitched together and bloated.... and in front of him is a queue of undead. They shuffle to him silently, and compliantly, as he eats each one bit by bit. I have seen such images in books, and I know this to be a corpse eater, but to see it in the flesh, eating the flesh, is frightening. My fear is broken by curiosity, for I am told that in the centre of his chest is a glowing green stone!
I spend time writing and drawing this creature. I am vaguely aware of some noise from the rest of the group, the sound of spells being cast, the sound of heavy things falling out of trees, but it does not interest me.
I worry that the group wishes to rush headfirst into the fray. A fray of the corpulent one and many many undead. But Moth suggests a better method. We sneak around the sides of the group and make our way up the shale and rock of the mountain. We curve back around until we are standing upon the mountain directly above the corpse eater. With guidance from the dwarf, myself and the other warlock cast our magics upon the stones and boulders around us, forcing a landslide. It buries and crushes the corpse eater, and with it many of the undead. Those that are left come out of their hypnosis and seek vengeance. With 30 undead climbing the mountain towards us I feel my life in Daring will be shortlived.
Through the interaction of magic with rocks and gravity we manage to destroy many more, but are faced with many still "alive". This will be a fight for the ages. But as I have said before I have no interest in recording the drudgeries of fighting, other than to note the following:
Firstly, my fellow warlock appears to fall then be raised, then fall again. I feel we should rename him from Nix to Yoyo.
Secondly, my fellow tiefling seems to have a flare for the dramatic. Whilst we fought, he seemed to want to put on a very expensive light show, ending with what appeared to be him trying to create a copy of the sun that he fired into the air. Strange indeed.
We defeat them all eventually, and decide to head down the mountain to investigate the corpse eater. After hours of sifting through the rubble, or more accurately Moth sifting through the rubble and the rest of us giving encouraging words, we find the eater crushed.... but the stone still remains, and still glows. This is something that is powerful and evil and must be explored with care and trepidation. ........but no. Moth just pulls it out of the remains of the body, and I watch in horror as the stone embeds it in Moths arm and settles there, unmoveable. I suspect Moth now has control of undead. I must admit I am slightly jealous.
I don't know if what came next offended me or fascinated me, but Moth and others decided to use some of the remaining undead as guinea pigs to test out his new powers. After some time and a few more undead being dead, it seems Moth does not have enough control to become a force of evil.... which is good, because I do not relish the idea of adding Moth as a task on the Inn notice board!
After some negotiating, Moth resigns himself to having to have the stone removed by the old woman in the hut that I have heard about. I decided to let Moth sort this out himself, the further I am away from him when he has that thing in his arm the better.
On our journey back to Heights, we fall upon a small mound that held minor treasures within, so our journey was not without reward. We also come upon a small abandoned camp within which we discover the diary of Nettis, a young girl who had recently moved to Daring and fallen in love with a man called Markus. She tell the story of his death, and how she wanted to bring him back to life. Bring him back she did, but in time her love led to danger as he started eating dead people.
I would like to think that Markus was the poor soul we put to rest under the rockfall, but in Kantas who knows, there may be more than one corpse eater in these woods!
Whilst the others visit granny, my Tiefling friend and I visit Eloquin, and tell him of the resolution of the undead. He informs us that we have earnt the favour of meeting the Guardian of the Wood, who has a favour to ask of us. This we will explore when we have rested.
I bumped into Moth in the Inn a little later. The stone no longer lives in his arm. He seems a little sad about that..... and there seems to be something different about his long beard.... it seems more...... barbered.
I am no artist, and my sense of direction in such big open spaces is not as it was within the city, but for those interested in marking the inn map, these seem to be the elements of most interest:
East of the sunken tower is a clearing - its distance I am unsure of but I feel maybe 6 miles. in that clearing are the three glowing stones.
6 miles east of the clearing is the mysterious mountain.
My name is Nowhere. I am somewhere..... but where, and why?
Day 1:
My curse is to write these notes. Not that I wish to, but that I am forced to.
I feel I am more at home treating my journal as a diary - to record how life in this place is changing me.
I am beginning to feel more at home in Daring Heights now. There are some strange characters here, for sure, but people seem to be gathering together and working together. As someone not used to seeing the kindness of strangers, it is heartening to see. Maybe it is just the kindness of gold and silver!
It has been half a moon's turn since I last ventured out into the woods south east of Daring, and so I returned to the Inn for a group of us to gather to continue our exploration of the area, and to follow up on the concerns that Eloquin had told us about.... we were to find out what was causing all the undead to appear within the woods.
Many of those who explored originally, came to join me for this exploration. The half elf, who I have now learned is named Rhy, the dwarf named Duma, and my Tiefling compatriot Dorian. I am a little jealous of Dorian I must admit. As someone who has learnt to try and hide who I am and to try and fit in as much as I can to society, it is enthralling to see someone with as much confidence in who he is. Unfortunately we were not joined by our Owl friend, though I suspect this means we will not have to concern ourselves with our clothes being fouled again (or should that be fowled?).
The notice board did bring us two further characters to the cause. One was a fellow warlock called Nix. Yes I may like to blend in, but I find it very disconcerting that in such a small time of being here, I have already come upon a fellow Tiefling, and now a fellow warlock. I don't know how I feel about this yet.
The other fellow is Moth, a half-orc barbarian who, frankly, scares the wits out of me. He tells us he is a master cook. I worry for my insides on this trip. Also, unless I have my entimology wrong, Moths are delicate winged creatures that live for only moments. I fear to see the size of the cocoon this Moth came out of!
Before leaving on our travels, we were approached by a human woman by the name of Helmer, or at least that is what I believe her name was, I was too busy scribing to pay too much attention. She offered over a lucky rabbits foot to the party (well actually the human elements of the party, so frankly I have little care of what she wants from us) and asked if we could return this to her husband, Peter (again I believe this was the name, though frankly I wasnt too interested) who was out on patrol. She believes that without the foot, Peter may perish. We negotiate our fee, but I suspect what we will actually end up with is just a rabbits foot. Rhy took charge of the foot.... but then again I begin to feel that if it isn't nailed down Rhy "takes charge" of any moveable object!
We decide the best course of action is to head back to the sunken tower where we met Eloquin. From there, we then head eastward. After several miles travel to the east (how far I do not know, but my feet were aching) we came across a strange sight. In front of us was one of those blue men we had encountered before. He was trapped in a bear trap.... but seemed oblivious to it. His palour was not right for a man. Actually let me rephrase that, his palour was not right for a man whose normal palour is actually blue. Something doesn't feel right for me when I see these little blue men....which I have now learnt are called Xvarts. They cause me an internal pain I do not understand.
This Xvart is heading in a direction, and we feel it best to follow him so he can hopefully lead us to others of, we suspect, undead, kind. Well most of us feel this is the best course to follow. The very delicate on his feet Moth threw a rock at him and killed him instantly. So much for civility! Moth seemed very happy with himself, and pockets the trap and gloop. I fear for our meal tonight.
..... I was right to fear for our meal. No matter how tasty something may be, I am always put off by my food being bright blue!
Day 2.
Sleep did not go well last night. I am awoken by my Tiefling colleague who informs me we are following some skeletons who are walking past the camp. We eventually follow them to a clearing in the woods, from within which we follow their gaze to a giant mountain, maybe 8 miles from where we stand. What seems strange is that I, for one, have never seen this mountain before. I do not understand how something so big cannot be viewed from my room in Daring.... but no matter for now.
We cannot question this for long before our thoughts are interrupted by a strange spirit appearing in the glade amongst the standing skeletons, something our dwarf informs us is a spectre. As someone who likes to try and go through life being unnoticed, I am never fond of being pointed at. The spectre pointed at me, or us, either way.
I am not a one to record the blows of combat, it just does not interest me, suffice to say that the apparition and its compatriots were dealt with. Two things are of worth to note. Firstly, Moth may not be delicate, but as a blunt instrument, he is very useful (he does scream a lot though). Secondly, I notice that Nix, who likes to call himself a warlock of legend, has a tendency to make sure he is always standing behind one of us!
We continue towards the mountain and come across a clearing in which stands three stones. Well more specifically two standing stones, and one fallen one. We can see them glow, covered in glyphs. As a city Tiefling this is not something I am familiar with, but it feels that they hold extraordinary power. Moth, never one to consult on anything he does, lifts the fallen stone to put it back in place. What I witness next is truly incredible. As he rights the stones with his incredible strength, the glyphs stop glowing. Truly amazing. Oh, and Moth, in the space of mere seconds, ages in front of my eyes, and grows an incredibly long beard. Still, how amazing that the glyphs stopped glowing..... I am truly fascinated by these stones. We learn from the knowledge of the party that these stones seem related to the moon, and that something happens each turn of the moon. This may be worth exploring further in the future.
We continue to travel into the forest, heading nearer and nearer to the mountain. As we go more undead seem to surround us, and I worry for our safety. Stealth should be the order of the day, but we appear to choose stench instead with a few of the group smearing themselves in undead gore as a way to hide themselves in plain sight. I have read of such plots in tales before. It rarely works out well.
It didn't work out well. We fought more skeletons.
Finally we reach the base of the mountain, and with it a sight I could hardly believe. As some of the party climb trees to get a better look they inform us that standing in front of the mountain is a corpulent man-thing, stitched together and bloated.... and in front of him is a queue of undead. They shuffle to him silently, and compliantly, as he eats each one bit by bit. I have seen such images in books, and I know this to be a corpse eater, but to see it in the flesh, eating the flesh, is frightening. My fear is broken by curiosity, for I am told that in the centre of his chest is a glowing green stone!
I spend time writing and drawing this creature. I am vaguely aware of some noise from the rest of the group, the sound of spells being cast, the sound of heavy things falling out of trees, but it does not interest me.
I worry that the group wishes to rush headfirst into the fray. A fray of the corpulent one and many many undead. But Moth suggests a better method. We sneak around the sides of the group and make our way up the shale and rock of the mountain. We curve back around until we are standing upon the mountain directly above the corpse eater. With guidance from the dwarf, myself and the other warlock cast our magics upon the stones and boulders around us, forcing a landslide. It buries and crushes the corpse eater, and with it many of the undead. Those that are left come out of their hypnosis and seek vengeance. With 30 undead climbing the mountain towards us I feel my life in Daring will be shortlived.
Through the interaction of magic with rocks and gravity we manage to destroy many more, but are faced with many still "alive". This will be a fight for the ages. But as I have said before I have no interest in recording the drudgeries of fighting, other than to note the following:
Firstly, my fellow warlock appears to fall then be raised, then fall again. I feel we should rename him from Nix to Yoyo.
Secondly, my fellow tiefling seems to have a flare for the dramatic. Whilst we fought, he seemed to want to put on a very expensive light show, ending with what appeared to be him trying to create a copy of the sun that he fired into the air. Strange indeed.
We defeat them all eventually, and decide to head down the mountain to investigate the corpse eater. After hours of sifting through the rubble, or more accurately Moth sifting through the rubble and the rest of us giving encouraging words, we find the eater crushed.... but the stone still remains, and still glows. This is something that is powerful and evil and must be explored with care and trepidation. ........but no. Moth just pulls it out of the remains of the body, and I watch in horror as the stone embeds it in Moths arm and settles there, unmoveable. I suspect Moth now has control of undead. I must admit I am slightly jealous.
I don't know if what came next offended me or fascinated me, but Moth and others decided to use some of the remaining undead as guinea pigs to test out his new powers. After some time and a few more undead being dead, it seems Moth does not have enough control to become a force of evil.... which is good, because I do not relish the idea of adding Moth as a task on the Inn notice board!
After some negotiating, Moth resigns himself to having to have the stone removed by the old woman in the hut that I have heard about. I decided to let Moth sort this out himself, the further I am away from him when he has that thing in his arm the better.
On our journey back to Heights, we fall upon a small mound that held minor treasures within, so our journey was not without reward. We also come upon a small abandoned camp within which we discover the diary of Nettis, a young girl who had recently moved to Daring and fallen in love with a man called Markus. She tell the story of his death, and how she wanted to bring him back to life. Bring him back she did, but in time her love led to danger as he started eating dead people.
I would like to think that Markus was the poor soul we put to rest under the rockfall, but in Kantas who knows, there may be more than one corpse eater in these woods!
Whilst the others visit granny, my Tiefling friend and I visit Eloquin, and tell him of the resolution of the undead. He informs us that we have earnt the favour of meeting the Guardian of the Wood, who has a favour to ask of us. This we will explore when we have rested.
I bumped into Moth in the Inn a little later. The stone no longer lives in his arm. He seems a little sad about that..... and there seems to be something different about his long beard.... it seems more...... barbered.
I am no artist, and my sense of direction in such big open spaces is not as it was within the city, but for those interested in marking the inn map, these seem to be the elements of most interest:
East of the sunken tower is a clearing - its distance I am unsure of but I feel maybe 6 miles. in that clearing are the three glowing stones.
6 miles east of the clearing is the mysterious mountain.
My name is Nowhere. I am somewhere..... but where, and why?
