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September 1, 2009

Indignitary

Astrid's Journal

23 Lamashan 4709 AR
Diobel

I have much shorter hair now, and am irritated.

I watched Tythe take the teeth one by one out of the slain dragon as a souvenir. My people normally take the whole head, but I do not suppose that would be feasible since we have nowhere to stow it for now. We rested in the cave for the night, swimming back out in the morning, then returning to the beach where we had originally found the body with the treasure map.

We found another body. This one, however, was still quite alive, and struggling with what might once have been a boat. Being upwind from him, I could not help but note that he smelled like home, so I immediately felt a sense of ease around him. Candal has a dwarven accent, so I cannot place his clan, but he is taller than me with a proper-looking sword (which I am sure will come in handy) so I have no doubt he is Ulfen.

Salma made some half-hearted attempts to mend his boat, but Tythe noted that it would not hold all of us, so we ushered our new friend away from the splintered craft. I then caught a whiff of something quite bad— harpies! I began to counter their song almost before they got close enough to attack, and fortunately, they were unable to charm my companions. We dispatched two of the three handily, with the remaining wounded one flapping back to her lair. We saw no others after that.

In fact, we had no encounters of any sort for about one hundred miles, till we at last came to the small port town of Diobel. Diobel has two gates, both of which require a 2-copper entrance fee, and both of which are guarded. Salma and Candal wanted to see about booking passage off the island, and headed off to the north gate to get to the docks. Tythe had an idea to get us a ship of our own, and wanted me to reprise my role as her bodyguard. Deaglan seemed undecided on whom to follow, and I (wrongly) assumed he had wandered off with Salma and Candal.

Now, I do not normally care one bit what my companions wear, so it did not really bother me when Tythe asked me to hold her clothes and meet her at the east gate after a few minutes passed. I did so, but I may have been too late by then, as at my arrival, the completely-naked elf had become hysterical, and then passed out, leaving the guards at the gate wondering what to do with her. As they started to pick her body up to haul her off somewhere, I did rush up, explaining that her stuff had been stolen and that I was her bodyguard. They wanted to detain me, so I began to explain that we had companions booking passage on a ship and that I would take the “ambassador” with me. I was pretty sure they would happily give me the elf rather than deal with her further, when Deaglan appeared from nowhere, claiming to be a town guard himself, and threatening the actual guards with bodily harm! More guards began to appear, and diplomacy was getting me nowhere. I am ashamed to say that Salma must be rubbing off on me, because rather than lead an attack the guards myself, I opted to deescalate the situation and began to sing instead, keeping the guards fascinated long enough for Deaglan to throw his cloak over Tythe and drag her through the gates and from view. I put their gate fee in the hand of one guard and then took off before they could recover.

I then had to disguise myself to get into the city. I do not trust sorcery; so I took my dagger and cut my braid off, and then bought new clothes as soon as I passed through the northern gate. I bought new clothes for Deaglan as well, as he might be recognizable. I think Tythe will not be so easy to recall once she has her regular clothes on.

I met up with Tythe, and we are heading to “The Tails” somewhere near the docks to find the others.

I have noticed that Salma wears a braid of hair as her holy symbol— maybe she can use mine.

Posted by Kristin at 23:46 | Astrid’s Journal

September 16, 2009

Yarville

Astrid's Journal

24 Lamashan 4709 AR
Diobel

I noticed that we were being followed by three men. Normally, this would not be a problem for the two of us, but we were trying to not call attention to ourselves. I turned to look for a merchant’s stall to hide in, but all were full of clay pots, glassware and other assorted breakables. In fact, there was nowhere to hide; what few people were out seemed to part for our pursuers. I grabbed Tythe and ran for the north gate. We were chased, but luck was with us and we were able to get away.

Somehow, our luck continued, and we ran into Salma, Deaglan and Candal. They had found us passage on a ship, but first we had somehow managed to be entrusted with a task (Deaglan had apparently not mentioned to the others that we were marked by the town guard). I thrust the extra clothes I had purchased at the ranger as we were filled in on our mission. Well, actually, I was not entirely paying attention, as I was still looking for our pursuers, but some not-well-liked pirate captain from Cheliax had stolen some rather important Azlanti tablets, and owed money to a local merchant. I suspect we are supposed to find either the pirate or the tablets. Tythe already is making designs on the pirate’s ship, one Hydra’s Fang.

Now that we were together, we decided it was time to find an inn and get some rest. We picked the first one we saw, called the Shadow Gull. I guess we looked like neither townsfolk nor pirates (or perhaps someone recognized Tythe from her pirating days), but all eyes were upon us as we made our way to the bar, to get a room and rum. Plans were discussed further, and I managed to catch the name of the local merchant (Staizkel) and the dread pirate (Domore). Apparently the merchant had an import office nearby, though it was getting dark, so we headed up to our room.

Oh, Salma is sneaky— she left the inn without us. Candal decided to follow and keep an eye on her, but he is not the least bit stealthy. I followed him for a bit, then, when I realized he was absolutely not paying attention to his own surroundings, leapt on him from the dark. Paladins are even less stealthy when leapt upon. Someone on top of a nearby building saw the resulting brief commotion— Salma. She was watching Staizkel’s building. Candal and I went up to the door and he asked me if I had a lockpick. Well, I do have a means of opening doors strapped to my back, but it turned out that was not necessary. I placed one hand on the door and it silently swung open.

The way I figured it, if the door was already open, then something bad must have happened before we got there. I did not want to do anything that might bring town guards upon us, so I suggested that we go back to the inn. Salma signaled that she would stay and keep an eye on the door.

We got back to the inn and Tythe and Deaglan looked, well, awkward, for lack of a better description.


Morning arrived, bringing Salma back with the news that the door stayed ajar all night on Staizkel’s building. She needed to get some sleep, so Candal decided to take up watch on the building, while Deaglan wanted to check out the local merchants. Tythe went with the paladin, so I went with Deaglan.

He had decided he needed a proper companion animal, and since Zandu’s dog had met with an unfortunate demise, he decided a wolf would be his animal of choice. He even had the name “Fuzzball” already picked out. In no time, we came to a merchant selling “exotic” animals, and he just happened to have a wolf. Now, where I come from, wolves roam in big packs, but I guess on an island maybe they are a rarity. It took some doing, but we got the cost down from 200 gold to 165, along with the promise that the vendor’s seventeen children would be starving at that price.

We have rum to occupy Tythe and a wolf for Deaglan— now I need something to keep myself out of trouble.

Posted by Kristin at 00:31 | Astrid’s Journal