Tomfoolery

Nymm 19, 998 YK
Mossmantle in the Eldeen Reaches

After a short break we decided to climb down the rope and check that last tunnel. I am unsure of what exactly transpired, being slightly preoccupied with the realization that the Flame had provided me with a companion (more on that later), but Tomas and Defender were having some sort of argument as they both went down into the ruins, resulting in both landing badly at the bottom of their descent. I was yelling down to them that the Flame would not want me to waste divine healing on tomfoolery, when I realized that Defender had landed on his back, his backpack under him. Alayi and I were down the rope in a flash, and in time to see Defender pull the broken remains of the clay tablet, carefully rapped in Alayi’s bedroll, from the crushed pack. I asked Tomas to just do a rubbing of the larger pieces and collect up the rest, but not all was lost; the tablet had contained a disc or key like the one that we’d found on the golem, though this one had a sapphire in it. Alayi said the map depicted on it looks like swampland in the Shadow Marches. This felt like it must be what we were looking for, but to be safe, and since we were already damp from our previous excursion, we opted to do a cursory search of the last unexplored area of the ruins.

We wandered through some halls with waist deep water, examining murals depicting hobgoblin warriors battling against denizens of Xariat (prior to the time the gates leading there were sealed). Some areas contained green stone benches and… something with tentacles! Defender was grabbed by something, but cut it in half before we got a good look at it. Not to worry though, as it had three companions! Gricks, with their sharp beaks and grasping tentacles were coming towards Tomas and I as Alayi’s weapon bounced off another. I was hit so hard by one I had to ask Tomas to please look for me if I slipped under the water. Defender killed two more, and I was able to hit one, but the warforged really did most of the damage to our assailants— he would make a fine addition to the holy warriors of the Silver Flame. I was pretty weak afterwards, but I would not summon my companion for our first meeting while in the dank hobgoblin ruins.

Fortunately no more of the gricks were to be found, and we came to a large pair of wooden doors, swelled shut from age and water. Once we broke through that, Defender took a step in and disappeared from view! He was back a few moments later, telling us he’d slid down a flight of steps. He suggested that he go down and explore alone, since he was the only one of us that didn’t require air, so armed with a magic torch he again disappeared down the steps.

He soon came back up, flailing a skeletal arm over his head and yelling that they were coming right behind him—and sure enough, ten and a half hobgoblin skeletons were following him up the steps and attempting to attack him. The three of us that had waited above the water backed quickly to the doors, planning to close them if the skeletons proved too much, but I had to try to turn them at least. Thank the Flame, the entire lot were turned to harmless dust.

Defender took another walk around the watery level, but found no more undead to put to rest, so we decided to leave.

When we got to the surface, I felt it was safe to call my new companion to me, and did so. I am doubly blessed by the Silver Flame, as not only is my companion a sturdy mount, but also a healer. A unicorn appeared as if just stepping out form the trees beyond us, introduced himself, and provided healing for those of us that needed it. This is apparently another creature that Tomas knew nothing of, but at least allowed Ravanquar to heal him. The unicorn stayed with me for about half the day each leg of the trip, departing to a higher plane in between times.

Four days of blissfully uneventful travel ensued, and we found ourselves safely back in Mossmantle, for we had agreed that we needed to speak to that gnome again. Professor Bramble, the poor thing, is still there, he needs some serious healing, more than I can provide certainly, if he ever hopes to walk again. After a few questions to be sure that he was truly not responsible for the golem’s behavior, we shared the disks we found with him— he had known about the first one, which had also been found in a tablet (which, translated, told some story about the demon wars) in the Morholds. It had been stolen from Morgrave University, and he had actually tracked the thief from Aundair to the ill-fated airship, not realizing the thief was under demonic influence.

We need to talk to someone from the Church, I think, as my knowledge of demonic possession or binding is far from complete, and the gnome needs proper healing that we’d only find in a bigger city. While I would be pleased to have my new friends in Thrane to celebrate First Dawn in a few days’ time, time may be of the essence. We’ll have to take the lightning rail to the nearest big city and perhaps, from there, go to the Demon Wastes.

Companion sheet: Ravanquar [Unicorn mount of Alunys]