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.