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Journal Entries - In Pursuit of the Coal Goblins Journal of Aravin de Tylmarade Journal of Fatso Fjalar It appears the information our party has gathered is of use after all! And as expected the vigil requested our services again… on another more pressing matter. Our small band henceforth ventured towards the noted tributary in an effort to eavesdrop on the meeting, this at first seemed simple enough; I do not recall the exact day, for reasons which I will later explain, in which we were attacked but I am sure it was not far from Mullistown, and quite early into the perilous and underpaying quest. This adversary was a lizard, and a giant one at that, It attacked us at midnight and made quick work of Aravin, the ever righteous paladin. It appears he is little more than a weedy Elven barrier between myself and the front line of combat. Although I must not carp on, after all he does delay our enemies for at least a few seconds ha ha ha ha! And then, before mine own eyes, Ruegoth Ulgon, the farcical dwarf climbs a tree! Now I am not at all close minded about the role of a dwarf, I myself have faced prejudice since that fateful day in the windy canyon, but none the less the dwarf climbed a tree! Almost overcome with laughter, the kind which you get in situations where laughter is not at all appropriate (such as being attacked by a giant lizard), I turned and ran as fast as my legs would carry me. When I finally returned to the campsite I found my companions live and well! And with a guardian angel of sorts! It appears a wandering ranger had heard the kafuffle and decided to lend a hand, or an arrow as was in this case. Oh and before I forget, Ruegoth fell from the tree, play with fire ... We arrived at the tributary and decided to take our positions, It would have been much easier, and safer for that matter to leave turtle within a tree and hike anywhere up until a mile away but no, as always we decided to stake it out ourselves which once again led to death ... nearly. Viktor, the curious wizard has an insatiable fascination with bones.. and generally this would be alright, except these ones turned out to be alive, a bone lord to be precise. Feeling that Viktor was out of his depth I offered assistance by means of bolt of power, but alas it was not enough, and us both were stuck down. When I awoke I was feeling fine, it had all appeared to be a strange dream, although it was (as the coming moon would tell me) much later and hence my concept of time has been warped. Time itself is a tough concept to grasp, I recall reading a book in Ontenazu on the subject by the wizard Muzarth. And apart from confusing me more it highlighted the relativity of time itself. If no one was here to record it would it simply not exist? My journal this is quite a question I am asking, especially considering your consist of inert leather bound pages! Back to the situation at the tributary, turtle signaled the coming of the parties by flying inconspicuously from the dry riverbed while we awaited their approach. First to arrive was a group of coal goblins, one of which found Viktor and I hiding and if not for Viktor’s knack for telling a lie, we would have been toast “Steaming with freshness”. The Coal Goblin leader was distinguishable by the large, evil whip he carried. They were met by a few Gorgons. These tendriled mane characters appeared to have been commissioning the coal goblins to attack Mullistown. This itself was quite important news and we made our way back to the vigil to inform Veslii, and receive our meager prize. Here we await our next vigil sanctioned adventure! Journal of Ruegoth Ulgon Veslii approached us a few days later with another mission for us. The note we had found on Ferrick, the leader of the Coal Goblins had given the Vigils some valuable information. Ferrick was to meet his employer at the serpentine tributary on the 16th of the month. Veslii had decided that we should travel to the serpentine tributary and find out who his new employer was and to find out what his purpose was. He warned us that Ferrick was a High Priest of Belsemath and that combat with him or his troops should be avoided at all costs. To assist us, Veslii presented us with a set of leather armour. This armour was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It swirled with dark patterns and looked like it blended in with its surroundings. Unfortunately Veslii also told us that this armour was only to be used in this mission and needed to be returned. Being the sneaky type, I donned the armour. I immediately knew that this was a sign from Drendari and that she would be watching me from the dark. We stocked up on supplied, bought horses and I bought a pony for myself. Viktor, in his wisdom, bought a cart and a few horses to pull it. The next day we headed out. The wilderness as it turns out, is an extremely dangerous place. On the first night, I was awakened by shouts of battle. I quickly grabbed my morning star and dagger and rose to see Aravin being attacked by a huge lizard. The lizard was whipping its long tongue out at the paladin. As Aravin, Fatso and Viktor battled the creature, I decided to attempt to sneak up on the beast. I quickly moved to the opposite side of the tree that it was sitting and attempted to get out of its view. Once I could no longer see the lizard, I climbed the tree and attempted to attack it from behind. Unfortunately for me, my blow missed the creature and lizard turned and swiped at me with its claws and bit into me with its sharp teeth. Its blows knocked me from the branch and the last thing I remember is falling before blacking out. The next thing I remember, I was being stood over by an Elf with a wicked looking longbow in one hand and a potion bottle in the other. He helped me to my feet and introduced himself as Auramin Steelgaze. From what my companions told me, they had been attacked by a huge creature that nearly slew them all. If it wasn't for Auramin's well timed flaming arrows, we would have all been doomed. The rest of the journey to the serpentine tributary was reasonably uneventful. When we arrived, we spent the next day looking around the clearing in which the meeting was to take place. Thinking that we may need a trial run, I suggested that Fatso and I take up our hiding positions while Viktor walks through the up the empty creek bed so that we could check our lines of sight and how far the sound carried. As Viktor was walking around he spied a pile of bones and walked over to investigate. Unfortunately for Viktor, it was more than just a pile. The bone creature animated into what looked like a shifting amorphous pile of bones. Viktor tried to flee from the creature but it quickly cut it down. Fatso also tried to attack the creature with his magic but it also cut him down. Being extremely badly injured, I knew I had no change in hand to hand with the creature, so I decided to try and stay hidden from it. Fortnuately I was able to bandage Viktor's wounds before he passed away, unfortunately Fatso was not so lucky. I hauled the body up onto the cart and decided to wait till morning before deciding what to do. That night, a figure appeared before me. I could barely make it out to be the form of a woman. As the woman spoke I realised that it was an avatar of Drendari, the mistress of shadows herself. Drendari spoke to me and told me that as she was so impressed with my use of the shadows that day, the she would grant me one favour. I thought carefully before deciding that I would like my companions returned to the way they were before they met the undead creature. Drendari told me that she would do this, but would call upon me to do a favour for her in the future. I agreed and my companions awoke as my mistress dissapeared into the night. The next evening, we took our positions, with me close by the the meeting place, and the two wizards up out of sight. The wizards familiars were patrolling the skies keeping a watchful eye over the terrain. After a while, Fatso's falcon Turtle, flew up the creek bed, giving us the signal that someone was approaching. I changed my position so that I was much closer to where the meeting was to occur. Very shortly, a group of coal goblins appeared with a larger one with a wicked looking whip that appeared to be the leader. The leader barked some commands and the other broke off into groups of two and started patrolling the area. From the north, another group appeared. These creatures were much larger, with grey glistening skin and a bald head. The also had a reptilian creature that looked like a lion with snakey tendrils where its mane should have been. The leader appoached the clearing and met up with the coal gobin in the centre. The two of them briefly looked around before speaking. Guraith, the larger creature told Ferrick that he weas displeased that he had failed in his task in trying spread chaos into the people of Mullistown and that his men had been killed. Ferrick initially denied this but after Guriath pushed him, he admitted his failure. Guriath then paid Ferrick half of what was initially agreed upon and the two split off in opposite directions. Just as Ferrick was leaving he turned in my direction and it appeared as though he looked directly at me. Not sure what had happened, I attempted to monitarily distract him and quickly hid behind a nearby tree. Ferrick look at me again but this time it appeared that I had been successful. I thanked Drendari and the magical amour that Veslii had loaned me as the coal goblin turned and walked off. Ferrick did call to some of his men, and the goblins started patrolling the area. Unfortunately this spelt trouble for the wizards. A coal goblin patrol spotted them, and if it was not for some fast talking by Viktor, we may have again been discovered. When the patrols returned, Ferrick was not very forgiving . He pulled his whip and with a mighty crack, killed one of the goblins. Fortunately for us, he turned and left after this. I went and found the wizards and we returned to Mullistown, avoiding encounters with many creatures along the way. When we made it back to Mullistown, Veslii thanked us for the information and told us that the grey creatures were more than likely Gorgons, the spawn of Mormo. Veslii then paid us our money and told us that he would have more work for us in the future. I slept restlessly that night, wondering what might have happened if Drendari had not been looking down on us, and what she would require from me when she called in her favour. I also reflected on one of the lessons that I had learnt, that being that I was still quite green when it came to adventuring, and even though I had been practicing my weapons skills lately, I should try and avoid combat when I know that I am overpowered. The shadows had served me well on this trip, so I prayed to Drendari before finally drifting off to sleep. Journal of Viktor von Haelsburg |