Journal Posts

I am very uncomfortable, and that's not a place I'm used to. As a cleric of St. Cuthbert, my path is laid out in front of my very clearly. The law doesn't have gray areas other than in the eyes of criminals. However, I now find myself at odds with agents of that law. At least, they *claimed* to be agents of that law, but the way they treated us after we rescued the apothecary's wife makes me very suspicious of their true motives. The disappearance of the lizard men's bodies is only more suspicious.

I am not used to this doubt that nags at me now. Should I stay and argue our case with the legal authorities or is such an effort futile in the face of a corrupt system? Am I abandoning the people of this town to the evil machinations of the reptilians or are we keeping our focus on the more important danger of the book and the importance of its destruction? Questions are only a sign of my own weakness. St. Cuthbert, help me find answers.

I will never understand the zealots.

They are happy to chastise others for indiscretions but when it comes to a real situation needing their attention what do they do? Run off into the woods blissfully ignoring the citizenry being kept hostage by lizardmen. Freedom is far more important than some silly book.

The Book of Sorrows
Session date Sept. 22nd 2011

Today I accompanied Bundy Chunkblower to meet a group of adventurers involved in a quest to destroy a book of great evil. I met these four adventurers. They seems like a trust-able lot. At least as trust-able as one can be without knowing them very well.

We went to an Alchemist's Shop. The Alchemist seemed nervous, so one of the party members investigated this. In the back room of the shop, four lizardmen were holding the shop keepers wife hostage. We engaged and killed three of them. The cleric(?) cast a spell on the fourth one, and we took him captive.

I am not sure what happened after that, but the alchemist came back with the town guard. The town guard seemed to believe we had committed some sort of crime. As we were parlaying with them, I slipped into the back room and all the lizardmen were gone!

I notified the rest of the group the lizard men corpses were gone. A melee broke out in the front of the shop which I didn't see much of. I checked the back door and it was open and clear to escape out of. There was a large explosion in the front of the shop, then the party members started coming into the back room. We managed to escape from the flaming building. No pursuit was detected. We had to steal several horses to escape from the town.

To be continued...

... poisoned by a spider. We tried saving Myron to no avail. Rupert's Wand of Resurrection failed us. I will study this wand more to see what secrets it hides.

... at last the forest is behind us. I am glad Corbin took the book. Let him shoulder the burden. My mind feels free for the first time since we found the damned thing. Tonight will be the first good night sleep I've had in a long time.

... is acting very strange today. What did he say to the fox people. Surely we could have avoided that massacre. I will keep an eye on our cleric. Perhaps Corbin is being influenced by the Book just as I was.

As I sit and ponder what has transpired in the last few hours our illustrious cleric of Cuthbert is carrying on a pleasant conversation with the man that is suppose to know how to destroy this blasted book but who has also filled a room with the bones of those folk he slew in his experiments...

It all began when we fled the nearby city in an effort to find the local lord who used to protect the town. We entered the house that appeared to have been left empty for a few decades at least. The house had some items of interest such as artwork and trophies but all seemed mundane.

Finally we came across a cache of items that seemed worthy of examination, one of those items being a deck of cards. The others in the party seemed to know their purpose but did not say anything other than they would not touch them. Our new member took the items for "safe keeping" but I had to examine them further. Whilst he was busy debating the pros and cons of stealing quills from the man of the house I relieved him of the deck to examine it later.

I found the time to peruse the deck of seemingly magic cards after we had rescued some poor souls from the prison cells. The deck did not seem to magical but were of very high quality in design. I drew a card and I immediately knew something had changed. The card had granted me endurance beyond what nature would have given me. The card vanished in my hand as the magic spread through my body.

The details that follow the second card are something I hope no one ever has to experience. Not knowing the magical "curse" of this deck I drew another card and immediately was struck with great pain in my hands, the card vanished. Bolts of agonizing pain flashed from my hands and looking at them I was horrified to see them transform into great claws of some sea crab!

The party rushed to see what had caused me to yell out in pain. I begged the Korbin that he remove this aweful curse upon me but he just sneered and made some claim that his god did not suffer thieves. If that turns out to be true I fear Korbin has already lost his gods attendance.

Left to fend for myself I scooped up the remaining cards I had scattered on the ground in my moment of pain and went to remain with the 2 men we had rescued. I had already decided at that moment to draw as many cards as I needed to remove these disgusting claws or die.

I placed the deck in front of me and took a moment to breath. Uttered a prayer to Corellon and a quick prayer to Cuthbert in hopes that if I died he would show Korbin he had lost his path.

The first card I drew flashed white and the curse of the claws was immediately removed! My joy was quickly quelled when my hand, on it's own volition, drew another card from the deck. I cringed expecting all manner of deadly curses and the card pulsed in my hand. At first I did not notice any changes but when I looked around it seemed the world had grown. I quickly realized the card had shrunk me to almost half my height. It did not matter however, my hands were my own and I had learned of the power and curse of these cards. My father would be excited to know of these.

I packed the cards up and set off to find the others.

I only have a moment to write down my thoughts in an attempt to get them in better order. They have been buffeted about by today's events and only with St. Cuthbert's aid may we see our task through to the end.

After our confrontation with the authorities of this place and then the actual battle with the armored abomination, we found refuge with the halfling thief that Trask had caught earlier. We found out from him that the former ruler of this town--a mage of great power supposedly--hasn't been seen since the gongs first appeared and might know something that will aid us in our quest. Getting a general direction, we set out with another creature hot on our heels.

Soon, we came to the house on the hill that was the home of the mysterious ruler mage but were surprised to find a bacchanalia of some kind going on. The people camped at the base of the hill seemed completely unconcerned about the gong or the creatures. They insisted that their benefactor in the house protected them all and provided for their needs. They seemed so insistent about us abandoning our task and join in their revels that we felt it best to leave their company as soon as possible. Even Trask felt suspicious enough to avoid their offers of wine and food. Gavin, oddly enough, was the only one especially drawn to their temptations. I think the exposure to the Book of Sorrows only stressed an already weak will and convinced me that I was right in my decision to remove the book from his pouch as he was under the pumpkin satyr's spell.

Inside things made no more sense than they did outside. Finally, we found the resident of the home who claims to have the Book of Sorrows himself and is attempting to destroy it. I write this without having any ability to understand it, and such an admission is terribly difficult for a cleric of St. Cuthbert. This man has committed several evil acts supposedly in his attempts to destroy his copy of the book which leaves me wondering to what means would I be will to go to see the destruction of this evil tool of chaos and disorder. Can there be two copies of this book? Is this man truly the powerful mage who rules this town? Does he know anything of the stalking black-armored figures? Can we trust him to aid us in our task?

While many of the party seemed distracted by the many oddities we found inside and I myself am close to coming unmoored from the straight and true path, I at least have found a stout-hearted and strong-willed ally in Nigel. This good paladin speaks so much sense that it is easy to see why Heironeous and St. Cuthbert are in such strong league and why Heironeous sent him to our aid in our darkest hour. With St. Cuthbert girding my mind and aiming my mace and Nigel strong sense of duty as an aid and support, I feel surer than ever that we will be able to finally see the destruction of the evil influence of the Book of Sorrows. I just wish I knew *how*.

Our halfling benefactor related what he knew of the gong and the disappearance of the town's leader. We decided to check out his manor house to look for clues to his whereabouts.

As we tried to make our way surreptitiously towards the manse, we encountered another of the armored figures. We quickly decided to disperse with stealth and made haste.

As we drew near the edge of the town we were beckoned by a group of gypsies. We told them to move away quickly, but their leader told us their site was protected from the armored things. He attempted to dissuade us from our quest with promises of delights both gourmet and... otherwise. This had quite the opposite intended result, and we continued on our way.

We gained entry to the townhouse with little difficulty and began an exploration. We encountered several strange sites; a room full of bones, beds with sacks of coins below the covers, a book that purported to be a diary of attempts to destroy the Book of Sorrows, and a deck of pasteboard cards that seemed to have random effects on those that drew it. This last I put in my pouch in an attempt to keep us from getting distracted from our task.

Our explorations soon found us in conflict with two rat-like beings with beaks that we were forced to kill. It quickly became apparent that the were guarding three prisoners.

We worked to free them and were disgusted to find one of them in the late stages of a disfiguring disease an another undead! As I helped the other prisoner, the diseased one sneezed on two of his rescuers. We washed them off with alcohol in hopes it would prevent the spread of the disease and I called upon the power of Heironeous to cure the prisoner.

Just as he began to recover, our two comrades began to show signs of the same disease. We questioned the conscious prisoner and he told us that these depredations were inflicted on them in a basement lab.

We recalled that we had found a trap door into the basement and were about to make haste to it when Delfin cried out in horror. It seems he had gained the cards without my knowledge and when he used them his hands turned into crustacean-like claws. In a fury I threw the remaining cards, which he scampered after.

I stormed off toward the trap door and heard several more exclamations from Delfin. When we gained the basement and move to the lab, Delfin rejoined us... he now had normal hands, but had shrunk to the size of a small child.

We began to eplore the lab when an old man walked in. It became apparent that he was the cause of all that had happened in his mad attempt to destroy yet another copy of the Book of Sorrows. As he cured our afflicted party members he began to relate his tale.

-- Excerpt from the travelogue of Nigel Stromson

I no sooner sat down to breakfast when I heard a commotion outside. The un-mistakable voice of Trask, his blood obviously up, bade me to see what was transpiring.

I found several of our party members in a shouting match with the local constabulary. I tried to calm everyone and suggested that our immediate departure would bring the matter to a close. When it became clear that logic was not going to solve the issue, Galvin used his magic to lure away the guardsmen. The attempt was partially successful but before we could do anything more a bass gonging reverberated throughout the town.

Looking about for the source of the deafening din, it became apparent that the sound was having a bizarre effect on the townsfolk - all of them stood stock still as if in a trance. We decided to take this as a queue from on high and made ready to leave. After a short distance from the inn we encountered an ominous armored individual approaching us.

We attempted to communicate with it, but it just continued to close on us. My companions and I made ready to defend ourselves when all save Corbin and myself were frozen in place.

My recollections after this point are somewhat vague. I remember engaging our enemy and then all was black. I awoke with my comrades hastily scampering back to the inn. Corbin helped me to my feet and we quickly followed.

A halfling that I had seen earlier at breakfast slammed and bolted the door behind us.

-- Excerpt from the travelogue of Nigel Stromson

I only have a moment to record what just happened, so I will be brief. When we arose this morning, it was to find people as unfriendly as ever. We discussed our plans quietly as we ate what they called breakfast.

We once again saw the giant, scaled figure and I tried to start a conversation with him, but he wasn't interested in making a new acquaintance. I was hoping that someone else obviously a stranger to this place would have some insight into this culture we found ourselves in. It wasn't a success. While I was making this effort, there was a commotion behind me. As I knew without having to turn around, it involved Trask. Apparently a halfling tried to steal from him. Even for a halfling this was foolish.

Showing more sense than I generally give him credit for, he decided to allow the lawful authorities handle the situation. Bundling the would-be thief under his arm, he marches out to find one of the town guard.

After a few minutes, our party followed him out onto the street to find things rapidly deteriorating. Only Trask could find a way to get in trouble doing the right thing. By the time we arrived, the guards had gotten their superiors involved and they were threatening to execute our dwarven comrade for bribery. As a cleric of St. Cuthbert, I have the highest respect and obedience to the lawful authorities, but I know for a fact that of Trask's many, many, many, many faults, bribing an official would never make the list. There is no way he'd part with money to solve a problem of that type when his axe was available. I attempted to intercede on his behalf and move the discussion to private quarters, but instead the guards made more spurious charges about Trask.

I was at a loss to explain the behavior of these officers of the law. It was making a mockery of law and order, and that I could not stomach. However, before things could escalate, there was a series of gongs and all the townspeople went blank faced and went into their houses and closed their doors.

Before we could decide what to do with our new found freedom, we heard ominous footsteps coming our way and around a corner comes a 7 foot tall person in black armor with glowing red eyes. While there was some dissension about whether to flee or face down this threat, I couldn't ignore this obvious agent of disorder and evil. Rallying the party, we faced down this evil. Despite his use of some kind of mind-control spell on some of our party to put them into a trance, we managed to destroy this creature.

In the quiet moments after the victory, the door to the inn opened up and the tiny face of the halfling thief appeared as he beckoned us inside. I write this as we briefly rest after the fight. Faced with this mystery, we can't lose sight of our larger duty. We must destroy this book. St. Cuthbert give us the guidance through this treacherous place.

Finally we emerged from the spider-infested, pumpkin satyr-haunted forest. As we stood at the forest edge discussing our next move we heard a rusting and turned to see a dwarf emerging from the brush.

Trask moaned and slapped his forehead - it was his brother Regnor and he was less than pleased to see him. Fisticuffs then ensued. Once they tired of that, introductions were made and we decided to make camp for the night and continue toward the mountains in the morning.

I awoke and quickly realized I had slept past my allotted watch period. quickly gathering my weapons, I made a quick sweep of the camp and found everyone asleep. I awoke Galvin, who was supposed to be on watch, and then the rest of the party began to rouse. We took stock and found that some of our possessions had been "transferred" into Galvin's pack. He claimed innocence of the thefts and we suspected some outside influence.

We soon noticed that there were two moons in the sky and one of them was blood-red! It was obvious that something very odd had occurred, but the surroundings otherwise looked familiar.

Though still dark, everyone felt they had rested enough so we headed toward the mountains once more. After an encounter with a hostile skulk of fox-like creatures, we came upon a sign stating that a village lay ahead.

I hailed a passing wagon and engaged the driver in conversation. When I asked about the two moons he looked at me as if I was mad. I let the matter drop and we continued on.

The village is a slovenly sort of settlement with rude inhabitants. We entered an inn and found it to be no better. I encouraged the group to persevere and stay positive. After a repast of stale bread and an odd sort of shellfish we retired to our room for the evening.

-- Excerpt from the travelogue of Nigel Stromson

I knew that the forest we were in was an unsettled, undisciplined place run riot with spiders and pumpkin-headed evil, but I had no idea how chaotic it was until we came through the other side. I pray for St. Cuthbert's strength because I don't if I could take this mystery on my own.

As we exited the dark forest, we found ourselves somewhere we've never been before. This world we found ourselves in has two moons, one red and one white. We have been here for at least two or three days and it is never light. None of the stars are the stars we know. What madness is this? I know not. We can only rely on the strength of St. Cuthbert to see us this this collapse of order.

We kept marching towards the mountain where we hope to finally destroy The Book of Sorrows, but things only got more strange. We found a village with the surliest people I've ever met. Their food and general cleanliness hardly meets my standards. Hells, it doesn't meet *anyone's* standards. Until we have a clearer idea of where we are and whether there is anyone we can trust, I fear we must keep our own counsel about the book. The sooner we destroy this tome of disorder, the happier I'll be.

I must admit that I harbored doubts when Prelate Varsin set me on the road. I had always envisioned remaining at the church to help the clergy with their ministrations to the less fortunate.

I wandered for over a week along the trade route without finding much more than merchants and wandering minstrels, none of whom were in need of my assistance.

As I lamented that I had failed Heironeous, I stumbled upon a group of travelers showing wounds from a recent battle. As I approached to offer aid we were set upon by misshapen beasts of evil intent. I warned them that I would not hesitate to defend the group if they did not turn back, but my words were lost on them and they attacked. I felled a few of the beasts but ultimately fell due in no part to their cowardly tactics. I thought that I would soon be presenting myself to the court of Heironeous to account for my life and deeds. Suddenly I found myself awake and healed by a member of St. Cuthbert's clergy.

Our group was grievously wounded, but we managed to avoid any more of the fiends and healed ourselves enough to travel. As I guided them as best I could back toward the road they told me of their quest to destroy an evil artifact called The Book of Sorrows.

I searched the souls of my fellows and determined that they are not of evil intent so I decided to take up their quest as my own. Truly the Prelate had foreseen my future and I thank The Great Justicar Heironeous for bestowing such wisdom on his clergy.

I know not where the road I now travel leads, but I swear by the Holy Host that I will follow it to it's ultimate destination.

-- Excerpt from the travelogue of Nigel Stromson

St. Cuthbert help us, we are in very desperate straits, stranded and lost in the woods after having killed the leader of these fiendish pumpkin-headed people and rescuing our party members. The demonic pumpkin horde is hunting us through these dark, evil woods and we have at least two of our member still unconscious on the ground.

Behind us we hear a blundering through the growth and out steps a fellow follower of the light, a paladin from his looks. He says his name is Nigel Stronson, a paladin in the worship of Heironeous. While he stands around crowing about his willingness to aid those in need as is the wont of those followers of Heironeous, I remind him that we need his blade more than his tongue at present and quickly outline our situation to him. It is good to have a fellow battler of the dark at our side.

We finally hear creatures approaching from the camp and in an effort to buy us some time to secure the wounded, I cast a light spell in the distance on a tree, hoping that the foul fiends would be drawn to it. Trask, Irwin, and Nigel stood their ground as Delfin and I removed Myron and Galvin down the path the paladin had made.

After our fallen comrades had recovered, we decided to rejoin the fight only to find our three brave warriors beset by 6 of these gourded devils. I was most impressed with Delfin's willingness to jump to their aid despite his mere leather armor. Even Galvin found a stout stick on the ground with each to fight off these creatures. After an extended battle during witch many were injured, we finally stood over a battlefield littered with the corpses of our foes. St. Cuthbert smiled on our efforts this day.

It seemed that we had actually cleared the entire camp, although it was possible that some had merely escaped rather than perished, so we made camp in the woods in case any of the pumpkin people returned with reinforcements. We awoke in the morning with many still weak from yesterday's wounds. After praying to St. Cuthbert for the power to heal, I was able to return many of my warmates to full health. Perhaps basking in this glory of our apparent victory is what caused St. Cuthbert to smite us because as we continued our morning ablutions and discussed how best to complete our quest for the destruction of the Book of Sorrows, we were surprised to hear Myron cry out in pain.

We turned to see a spider's mandible sticking clear through the chest of our half-elf companion. He slid to the ground, obviously dead and we again faced a battle for our lives. This dark forest has proved to be even deadlier that the Book of Sorrows! We finally brought the vile creatures to their end, but our friend was gone, a sobering reminder of the seriousness of our quest, as if we needed one.

I can only hope that St. Cuthbert continues to guide my mace in the maintenance of law and order and makes sure that my aim and might are true. After our last battle, I feel his power more than ever and am sure that I might be able to call upon even greater powers from my god in the future, assuming we live long enough to have a future.

I took the last watch with the druid Lyrian last night, but somehow I missed both Lyrian and Galvin the magic user being taken from camp! I am very disappointed in myself and I'm sure that St. Cuthbert will justly punish me at some point for my failure to be more vigilant. When everyone awoke and we realized the disappearances, we followed the trail that their captors left and were drawn deeper and deeper into these dark woods.

We heard drums and rhythmic chanting and came upon a small village. Sneaking up, we were able to see the most mysterious people with apparent pumpkins for heads and glowing orange eyes. They seemed to be preparing for some kind of ritual, setting up a stage in the center of a group of huts.

Our stealthy thief was able to sneak up close enough to get a good look and we saw a much larger hut in the rear of the village and I surmised that if they were preparing our party members for a sacrifice, they would probably be in that apparent place of power. We snuck around the village, hiding in the depths of the woods and arrived behind the big hut. Looking through the thatch, we saw our compatriots tied up, lying on the ground at the feet of someone sitting on a throne. At the front door were two guards.

Considering we'd seen over two dozen of these pumpkin-headed people, I thought a frontal assault would not be an option, so we sent the thief around to the front of the village to set a hut on fire. As it caught fire, sure enough it brought most people in the village leaving the leader and one guard standing over our friends.

We burst through the side of the hut and began battle with these creatures. As my friends took arms, I dragged the unconscious Lyrian and Galvin back into the woods and returned to take up the fight. Unfortunately, things didn't go smoothly as each major blow to the leader, the wound spewed out a viscous liquid that paralyzed all it hit. While we successfully killed the leader, his guard tried to run for help, but through St. Cuthbert's power, I was able to command him to stop, giving me time to tie him up and drag him away with our many frozen members before reinforcements returned.

With the angry pumpkin people cutting off our return to our original path, we went further into the dark forest. Unfortunately, a couple of sentries found us in our hiding place and we had battle again. We killed them, but are still in a dire situation. We are lost in these evil woods, hunted by the angry villagers with many of our party injured and unable to fight.

The one bright spot, I was able to get the Book of Sorrows away from Galvin. I didn't trust his will power to resist that tome of evil. Now I pray St. Cuthbert grant us protection at least long enough to destroy this book.

We have finally seen Telnok punished and started our journey to see the Book of Sorrows destroyed. I fear it is even more insidious than I ever suspected based on how it calls out to Galvin. If it can seduce even as good a man as he, then St. Cuthbert help us because I am sure we will need His aid before we are done with this tome of evil.

To aid us on our journey, we have gained two half elf guides, Myron and Lyrian. I am not sure they are any more stable than Trask, to be frank, but at least the druid certainly knows this forest. His quick thinking managed to save us from a giant spider today. We are camping the night in this dark, green maze of trees, and I'm very uneasy about it. To add to our stress, Galvin's fear of spiders has him greatly unmanned, may Saint Cuthbert forgive him. I'll have to keep an extra close eye on him. With this extra stress who knows how much we can trust him with that fiendish book.

By St. Cuthbert's mace,

Corbin Graves