Christopher - Entry 7 - Vindication!

I got some rest, and am ready to write again, without having too much in my head. 

After we spoke to the Rakshasa tiger man, I wanted to be alone. I summoned my tiny hut and hugged Aiko really tight until Dove, Greg and Lulu came in to talk to me. It was difficult for me to explain what I was feeling, but even so, everyone said some things that helped. Greg said that maybe sacrificing myseld would break my pact with Hermes, because I broke my promise to try to help people. Dove said that for every bad thing she does, she thinks of all the good things she could do later. 

I still don't know what would have been the right thing to do, but I know I can turn to Hermes, and to my friends, because they're always the right choice. 

After a while, Dove said she wanted to sell a barrel of wine, which is when I had an idea. this place tricked us, how about we trick THEM! So I asked Bowie to help us trick someone into buying the wine for too much money.

We went to the place where...  well... where I almost went to get sold. It was really difficult for me to be there, but I looked around and found someone who looked rich and showed him to Bowie. He had purple hair with bells which was pretty cool, but I still couldn't handle being there. Thankfully, Lazuli (who came with us) was very supportive. I know he doesn't think highly of himself, but I'm sure he's a good one.

The purple guy called himself the Smiler, and was really weird. He seemed obsessed with Bowie, and I think he was flirting with him. (My older cousin Eric told me about that a while ago). I don't know how, but that seemed to work, he agreed to try the wine and test it before buying it! 

But then he did something I was not expecting at all. He said that in exchange for a gift, Bowie should spend the evening with him. I hope they have fun, but that's not the point. He agreed to buy one of the slaves for us! Of course, we never told him that we would free him, but bought us a Firbolg who was still alive and who I'm sure is innocent. He can't remember anything for now (I think he also got affected by the river Styx like Lulu), so we're taking him with us to a place he can be free, and calling him Sven. He seems nice. 

The best part is, the Smiler - I think - used the money of the Rakshasa to pay! It was 7 soul coins, so about 45,000 gold! I hope he didn't buy Bowie, that would be weird... 

 

Christopher - Entry 6 - (No Title Specified)

 I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it
 I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it  I should have done it I should have done it I should have done it 

Should I have done it? 

The tiger man we met, he was too colorful for the kind of soul he has. How can he show so much cheer when he sells people for a living? When he offers food in exchange for a person? 

In exchange for someone like me. Someone small... 

He said small ones sell really well, and wanted to buy me, to sell me to all kinds of demons. He didn't say the food was expensive... he didn't even mention a price. 

The only thing that told me that I shouldn't trust him, was the fact that he asked if I was for sale right when we met. 

I should have done it

When he asked for our payment for the food, he automatically said he would take me in exchange. I thought that, well, maybe he would just be ok with knowing that he... corrupted me. I never killed anything. I thought that, if I killed something for him, maybe got in his indirect service, maybe that would be ok. 

But when I told him I never killed anything, he told me I was worth 10 times as much. 

He agreed he would free 10 people he was trying to sell...

I should have done it

Shut up, Aiko, I don't want to write anymore

... Fine... I'll finish

I tried offering my services in exchange of freeing the 10 people he promised to free. I really tried. But my friends wouldn't let me. I know they are trying to protect me, but those other people had no one to protect them. 

I had my chance to protect TEN people. I'm just one gnome. People can't even tell me apart from a halfling. I promised I'd help people and now... 

Now I feel like I'm the one who sent 5 of those people, who were still alive and not just souls resting in hell...

Well...

I feel like I sent them to their deaths. 

I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT

Why does it even matter if I do my best to help people, if when I try it doesn't work? Or if others don't allow me to? Why do any of the promises I keep matter? 

Bowie, I think it was, told me that me not being able to handle not helping these people is selfish. So what would be the selfless solution? Is there such thing? 

I should have done it. I appreciate that another solution was found, but knowing I could have helped ten... 

Maybe? No. 

I mean

Maybe I'll find another way to help them, anyway. 

 

 

Lockwren - Entry 1 - Welcome to my Test

Queen Mabh had some nerve, sending me to this dreary dungeon, locking me up in the dark until someone found me. She really could have at least allowed me to get dressed into something more appropriate than a daydress and blazer. 

Oh well, I was able to make do. Anyone with the slightest survival skills shouldn't be afraid to run in heels, anyway. 

I'll show her... 

It took a while, but I was eventually freed by a group of quite mismatched adventurers, all quite friendly, albeit a little strange. But I do suppose you have to be mental to end up volunteering to excavate a place like this, a series of caves that seem to all center around dragons. It seems that we may be in the lair of some sort of cultist? In any case, I am looking forward to getting out of here. 

My newfound companions are all rather interesting. Little Coil is sweet, and I seem to possibly be finding a friend in Silas, despite everything. And Festus, our mechanical dragon, is as charming as ever and the perfect night watch companion. Even the others, who I do not know much about yet, are kind. They're strong, but I do think they need to learn a tad about fun. 

I cannot wait to take them shopping in the city someday, I have ideas for them all.

I must say, it has been enjoyable to discover the magics the Queen has given me. The the power is... it is always tempting. Tempting, yes, like a second glass of wine, like an embrace, like a clean kill. She told me to be weary of it, but it brings forth a certain elation, one I'd rather not let go of. 

It's funny, I don't really feel that high when I turn into Julian. Although, it was very amusing to surprise my companions with that little transformation. I believe they still aren't sure who they are addressing. Hopefully they will meet Julian some day, I'm sure their reactions will be rather special. 

Considering, of course, that I will ever see him again... 

I've been experimenting what I can do on various foe we meet here. Though I must say, the most interesting one so far has been having to fight the shadow of myself. And to be able to say that I killed my shadow as Julian, well, that should get some attention. 

At least now I know I look good while fighting, and that a black dress certainly suits this white hair I have chosen for myself. I'll have to go to a tailor's once we leave, the fight gave me an idea for a set of evening wear. 

And hopefully this time, it won't end up covered in blood. 

The Daily Eviran - 1 - THE MINES ARE CLEARED

 THE MINES OF PHANDELVER ARE CLEARED

This evening, a battered group of adventurers emerged from the infamous Wave Echo Cave, one known as the Mine of Phandelver. Accompanied by a goblin and a young tiefling, they freed the young Nundro Rockseer, the younger brother of Gundren Rockseer, famous goods trader. Who these adventurers are remains unknown, yet their influence can be seen throughout the town of Phandalin. 

The Redbrands have left the streets of the small town for over a week. Missing people have returned to their homes. The whispers of necromancy have vanished. Were all these issues related to each other? Sister Garaele from the shrine of Tymora seems to believe so. 

"Our problems started vanishing one by one when a group of young adventurers appeared", she confided. "However, they seem to be quite an... eccentric group. While their dragonborn seems to be missing some social skills, I have a particular interest in the sorcerer that accompanies them. Lady Luck certainly seems to favor him, both in favor of him and not. I trust this group." 

How far does their influence reach, and what will they liberate next? With the rising tensions between the Drow and the other races throughout Evira, these may be the heroes we were waiting for to save us from the uprising the dark elves seem to be planning. 

For now, the adamantine mines seem to be useable once again. However, precaution has been advised from mayor Harbin Wester when visiting this site.

Lila - Entry 4 - Well Sh---

 So... His Majesty SunMan Helion Fancypants is mad at us. 

We got some letter this morning from him saying we were ignoring the job he gave us. To be fair we had other things on our to-do list, and it's not like his work kept us safe at all. 3 months is like 4 seconds for him, does he not realize we're all trying to better ourselves so that we can actually go through with his impossible tasks that even Mr. oh-so-special-sunshine can't seem to find the right people for? 

Anyway, we had 2 days to leave the city to go visit one of his temples. Only thing is, this temple is underwater, and the sky knows I cannot swim. 

So, with the High Lord mad at us and threatening our lives, we spent a day at the beach. 

Turns out swimming isn't so bad when you don't have to worry about drowning. I seem to be actually pretty good at it, which is a first. 

We then set out towards the underwater temple, 4 days aboard the Constellation. The captain is as dull as ever, nice to see he's doing well. The 4 days felt like an eternity, and there's only so much boat one can discover, so I continued helping out the crew. 

Once we hit the coral reef, though, things got weird. No more weird than usual, but it was a change of pace from the previous weeks for sure. 

The water itself started attacking us. 

Because of this, we figured we were near the temple.  The coral reef is beautiful, but we didn't have much time to explore it before Ash found the temple entrance, covered in so much seaweed, I'm pretty sure it was a service entrance that was abandoned since that land was dry. 

We swam around and found an air pocket with candles and a teleportation circle and some saying about faith in darkness and some boat headfigure. We turned the light of and Ash said something about Skadi and suddenly we found ourselves in a dining room. 

I hate dining rooms, we always end up almost dying in them. 

Three elves of some kind summoned a demon that looked like a giant version of the gorillas we saw at the zoo. The elves disappeared, leaving us against it. Erim took one look at the thing, snapped his fingers, and it was gone too. The whole ordeal took about 5 seconds... I'm still not quite sure what happened there. He mentioned banishment but at this point that could mean just about anything. 

When we actually had a moment to look around, we saw three more headfigures with things written on them. I forget what the others said, but one had "Remember me" written in theives cant. It would have been useful if it said who we had to remember. 

In the meantime, someone figured that if we gave one of the statues a spell, we'd be teleported to another room. Except they didn't figure out that that other room was a firey inferno of lightning and death.

One of the elves that summoned the creature was there setting fire to books. I ran to it and it turned around, sending lightning to my friends behind me. They started calling me back. Every bit of me screamed to go get back at that elf who hurt my friends, but... I didn't. I listened to them, for once, and ran back to them. We teleported back to the other room, and right away started looking at the other riddle I didn't understand. 

 After figuring out that we had to praise Vecna, of all people, we were suddenly in a living area. There were many abandoned bedrooms, and a broken teleportation circle. 

The dead elf reminded me of Ranil. Maybe it's a common trait they have, to be beautiful even in death. 

The elf was holding a note that told them to flee once 'they' arrived. I'm not sure if we are they, but they certainly believed it. 

We are back in the main room now, resting a bit before continuing. I don't like this place, and I'm starting to dislike our mission, and the [insert profanity here] royal who sent us to it. 

I'm glad I left a letter in my room that explains everything the others don't know, just in case. 

 

 

Christopher - Entry 5 - Am I still good?

 I really hope Hermes will forgive me for what I did. 

We got to a place on a hill were there were a lot of trees. But all these trees were awful, they all had kinda-dead people attached to them, with bird/bat things leeching blood from them. There was no way we could help everybody, but it hurt me to see people who probably didn't do anything wrong stuck like that. 

Soon enough we understood why they were there. 

We got attacked by those leech birds, and then by a dark knight on a flying horse. The birds went away quickly, but the knight was really strong and scary. Even though Bowie had helped me understand the scrolls we found a few days ago, there was one we didn't quite understand. So I cast the spell. 

The spell itself was really fun! I suddenly was flying up toward the bad knight with a magic sword in my hand! I hurt it and the horse real bad, before falling back down. When I looked back up after I landed, a tree grew infront of me, with my name on it. 

I was condemned to this place. 

I looked around and saw that some other friends had trees with their names on them. I can't remember the last time I was that scared. 

Eventually, the fight ended. I think Lulu was stolen then, and Dove ran after her to find her. Bowie River and Lazuli ran up to help someone on a tree, I think. I just know they disappeared for a bit, and then people on the trees disappeared. I couldn't stop staring at the tree with my name on it. 

I don't know if Hermes will ever forgive me for having my name here. But I did what I could to take my name away. I hit it with the quarterstaff I found over and over until it broke. Greggy saw I was upset, and ripped the tree from the ground. I don't know if it will help, but I hope it will.  

Dove came back and said Lulu was in a giant bee hive, so we took the Machine and went all the way to the hive. I thought it would be a difficult fight, and we had a big scare with Greg (who was really awesome), but the situation was over quickly enough. We saved Lulu and are getting ready for bed now.

Dove said we'll do an atonement ritual tomorrow. I like that idea. But I don't really like this place. 

I'll write next time, I'm really sleepy right now. 

--Level up--

Lila - Entry 3 - Welcome back, I guess

 (The layout of blogger changed, it hasn't moved since I started in 2015 so my apologies if something looks off)

I believe loosing my mind fully warrants the three-month break from adventuring I took. Can't say the king will agree with me, with his son missing, but it was for the better. 

I haven't written in three months either, but it's not like I've done much until today either. I signed up for training in the arena, under the guidance of a cleric named Chief. He's one of the few I know I can trust. Anyway, he taught me to use my weapons in my defense, and to attack more quickly. 

Maybe now I'll be less dependent on the magics of the others. 

I feel... better about myself, I guess. Reading back the last entry, I was really on a verge. I guess beating my frustration into straw dummies helps. Also Ash and I got tipsy at the king's daughter's ball, and I think I'm still feeling that buzz. Probably wouldn't have started writing otherwise. But it's not like things haven't gone wrong. 

Mogron died. 

I'm gonna miss the guy. It's not often people remind me of my family in this strange land, and its even less often that people get me to laugh. Mogron, I hope heaven is the necro rave party you dreamed of. Or maybe hell, considering the necromancy... 

Now the others brought back a new girl. She's older than most of us and seems to be a healer of some kind. Tiala seems nice, almost motherly, but she is one of the profound ones. You say a few words and she knows too much, it's impressive. Although I'm not sure I believe her when she says that I can stop breaking things 'once I find the thing that cannot be stolen'. 

Anything can be stolen from you. It's just a matter of method. 

I'm really starting to miss home, Tae. 

I feel like most of my newfound friends fix things. They heal and work to make things better. I think the only one who also breaks things is Erim. I don't think he wants to, but whoever his god is just doesn't give him that choice. He has the heart of a fixer, but can't help but break. And I think that's the scariest position to be stuck in. 

Oh and Zagar was owned for years and didn't know about it? Not a good position either. I hope he figures that out, he seemed... well upset is an understatement. 

It's just now I realize, the king kind of owns us too. But instead of being slaves in the castle, he can send us to the 4 corners of his land to do his killing. 

Funny how the world works.  

Maybe breaking it isn't so wrong after all.

 

Christopher - Entry 4 - MACHINES!

We finally left Elturel! Dove summoned a Pegasus to take us to the ground-level of Avernus, but he seems mean. When we got there, we saw a lot of armies fighting. We even had to fight a big thing that ran away when Bowie made a fake dragon to sacre it! We walked all the way to fort Knucklebone after that, but it was very windy and sandy, so I had to look through Aiko's eyes for a long time - the sand started scratching my glasses, so I had to take them off, then the world was all blurry.

We arrived at the fort and saw things that looked like me, but with red hats, and they were kinda stupid. They brought us to the coolest room ever, filled with HUUUUUGE metal things called 'machines'. They are possibly the coolest thing since... um... I'm not sure what to choose so I'll say toast. Two bird guys taught me how to drive the biggest one! I do want to know more about how they work, one day, so I'm taking notes!There was one part that was growing spikes, I'm not sure what was wrong with it but I hope it won't happen to my our machine!

There, we met a really creepy lady and her pet... monster? I guess? But she was nice, she gave us tea and helped us go through Lulu's lost memories to unblock them. That was a lot of fun! The lady, Maggie, let us take the machine in exchange for finding relics of Zariel, the angel we heard about before. So soon, we'll travel, with little me making a giant machine work, to find the sword of Zariel to... do stuff...

Almost as soon as we left, we were followed by another machine just like ours! They started attacking us but were not strong enough. Eventually, we got to the scariest place yet...

I'm... not really ready to write about that. I'm still pretty upset. I have a lot to think about and a lot of forgiveness to ask.

I'm sorry, Hermes. 

Christoper - Entry 3 - All the Way!

We met a fancy lady on a horse, today. I don't know who she is, but she looks really cool. I think the hedgehog on her breastplate means something important, maybe she's a nobel? Her name is Lady Miranda. She seems fine, but angry and very important. And River loooooves her! :D

I made friends with one of her guards, Timothy! He told me all the street names so I could add them to my map, which was very nice.

When we got back to the citadel, Uldur was awake! He said the Helm showed him something called hellriders, and a woman carrying an angelic blade. Lulu (a little elephante that's a friend of ours!) was with her, and says the lady was a lieutenant! He talked about a walking hill, which could be a demon, maybe a Leviathan! Or maybe even a demon general like Baphomet's pet. (Hehe Bowie prank called Baphomet yesterday while trying to find Uldur, that was funny!). Anyway, this lady made a citadel around the fancy sword, that I think is being kept safe. The land did not like the citadel.

Now, we kinda need to figure out how to go down into Avernus more. (Elturel is a floating city which is the COOLEST!). Lulu helped me see the next place we have to go - somewhere called Fort Knucklebone. It looks so scary down there... and it's a very long way down. We were talking about ways of getting there,w hen Lady Miranda told us about a place where we could get a thing to help us go where we needed to go safely(ish). She told us we had to fight something really strong, but even though he was literally made of fire, he was very easy to fight. Bowie, Laluzi Lalizu Lazuli and I found a really cool glaive for Greggy! I also found a whole bunch of scrolls Bowie helped me figure out!

- Recall
- Find Greater Steed
- Steelwind Strike
- Investiture of Air
- Tenser's Transformation
- Trebuchet

Anyway, we are going to sleep now, but tomorrow we are leaving Elturel! Hermes bless us please!

Christopher - Entry 2 - Hell is Weird

OK Ok so I haven't had a lot of time to write since I left my village but so much happened! When we got to Baldur's Gate some rich person kidnapped Gregory and I and threw us in cages for no good reason! Soon enough, we were saved by Zuzu (oh... Lazuli) and River! They are both super sneaky - people didn't even notice they were inside the fancy house we were locked in! We were attacked by guards but were able to run away quickly, thank goodness. You should have SEEN Greggy fight though, he was so cool!

After that everything was kinda blurry - we met a bunch of important people, one after another after another after... no I think it was just 3. We met all these people who told us we had to go to Avernus which was weird because I didn't think we could just go there like you go to the Midsummer festivals. But then it gets even weirder...

We met an Otter who was a wizard. He lived in a house just big enough for me and liked tea and was really cute... but he was an Otter. He let me help him make a portal for us to go to Avernus and suddenly we were just THERE! We were in the middle of Elturel, a city from the material plane that, one day, was just gone! At least we were in the right place, and not in the middle of the Styx!

As soon as we got there, we were attacked by all kinds of zombies and monsters that are actually pretty scary. At first I was scared of hurting them, but then Rivers said that it would be ok to hurt them, as they were already dead. So I tried, but I still don't like hurting them.

We quickly ran to a big citadel that was broken in half! There were a lot of refugees inside... they didn't have the time to leave their city before it was taken to Avernus. They said they needed help finding a man named Uldur, because he was important for them. They said he might be in the cemetery. To get there, I went up a tall tower and looked through Aiko's eyes to see the whole city and make a map of it, to get there quickly.

The cemetery had a bunch of weird things happening, but the weirdest thing was that Dove, our dragonborn friend, got scared. I let her keep Aiko while we all went down some stairs to find Uldur. Eventually, Bowie found a whip (which I think is a bad idea...) and we found Uldur!

He was inside a mausoleum thing, with Helm's Helm (original naming, artifact-makers...), on his head. He was screaming and there was a minotaur that was suddenly fighting us. Greg took the helm from Uldur and because a voice in his head told him to, he almost put it on! But Bowie made him freeze and we took the helmet away. I took my divination leafs and asked Hermes if we could throw the helmet into the portal (oh yeah there was a portal that monsters were coming from!). Hermes wasn't very clear with his answer, so River helped me take the helmet up to Dove's magical ring pantry.

We had to take the unconscious Uldur aaaall the way back to the temple! They healed him, thank goodness, but yeah, it was a weird few days.

Lila - Entry 2 - Mindless

Magic must have been created to put curses on people. I am sure of it. 

This past month has been… eventful. From learning to sail a ship to arriving in the largest city I have seen, I have learned a lot. 

I learned that blinding prisoners makes them useless, a dead man walking. I learned that not every person in a difficult situation can be helped without consequences. I learned that [REDACTED] And I learnt that my mind is a fragile thing. 

I learned all that the hard way. 

I know I’m not smart, or clever, or wise. I know I shouldn’t only rely on my instinct, but it is the only thing around here I understand. I know how to use a knife and hide and sneak up on those who try to hurt me and my friends. I know where to find good sweets and how to hide them from the others. I know how to be dangerous.

But when my mind was taken from me, I woke up scared. 

If magic can do that, what else can it do? What can’t it do? I was stuck mindless for days, and I do not know if I can stop it from happening again, or if my friends are being honest about what I missed in those days. 

I’m scared. I want my brother, and dad, and I want to be back in Fernsworth, where things made sense. 

I want to be back in my country, where I don’t find my name on the walls of a cult’s hideout.

An Introduction to Lila

Well, I never believed I would write a story about myself. 

My life had always been a steady cycle of sell-and-steal, until recently. I now have too much to say, and too much in my mind. Now that I am awake and my companion Ashildr is arguing with nature once more, I decided to write down my story, least I forget it, or I am ready for people to know some day. 

Huh, I never thought I was the ‘diary’ type. 

I guess one could say this all started when [REDACTED]. 

[REDACTED]

I did not have a reason to say no, so I accepted. 

While Taegan's father and eldest brother were discussing wonderful plans they had for the land, Tae seemed to be… removed. There was a whisper of a moment in which he seemed to be in full disagreement of the fantastic announcement made by his brother. However, I refused to dwell on it - he had had an eventful day. 

I needed to return home to make sure my family was okay. “Please come back tomorrow, I have something to show you,” he made me promise. Of course, I agreed. He is my best friend. 

The next day, when I was preparing to return to the elven city, a crier came to our village. Most of what he had to announce passed as a blur, but was stopped in my tracks when I heard “Val’Lyera was attacked this morning - the two youngest princes have gone missing”

People loved the young princes. Taegan and Ranil were now missing. They were taken that morning. 

I should have been there. I was meant to be there. I could have helped them. 

My brother and I decided to go looking for them. While my brother enjoyed the inspiration that adventure provided for his music, killing drove him mad. He walked to Val’Lyera with me, and helped me explain that we were going to go out to look for Taegan and Ranil. The elven elder was kind - he gave me a dagger carved from the bones of the Fallen Titan, blessed by Selune, our Father’s goddess, and blessed my brother’s guitar. 

On our way, we met a small group of adventurers, who claimed to be looking for Ranil. 

When we found him in that forsaken dungeon, it was too late. 

He was beautiful even in death. 

That day, I pledged to do whatever it took to find Tae. However, the next morning I woke up in a strange, different land. I decided to follow another group of adventurers. In our adventure, I could feel my dagger becoming more and more natural in my hand, and the shadows became my friends. I went from a petty thief to a dangerous person. And I would not stop until I was strong enough to find my friend. 

I kept seeing new lands, out of my control, and kept seeing friends get hurt and die. I most recently met a group of giants in the town of Aurelia. They are kind, however seem to be influenced by Shar. That night, the Goliath Mogron died, and after prayers, Shar’s influence flowed from Erim to the dead bard. A clear, comforting voice in my mind told me to ‘save them’. I know, deep down it was Selune. I was never sure she truly existed, but now I try to turn to her for comfort. 

After a battle I found myself back home. As soon as I could, I returned to Val’Lyera, where the elder welcomed me with open arms. He had found that a teleportation circle had been drawn nearby, possibly allowing Taegan to travel to another land. He sent me through the circle, and I found myself surrounded by both the living and the dead. 

I had found myself back in the land of the giants, in Aurelia. 

The man we saw that day… he had become an experiment. One that seemed to be transforming him into a dragon. He was still aware of who he was, and although I wish the others had not killed him, I know that his mind was not his own, and he would have killed us instead. 

Humans are so fragile… and the people who did this to him were bright. 

How hard could this be to reproduce on an elf? 

I only slept for a moment on my shift around the campfire, but it was enough to see visions. I saw Tae, surrounded by unconscious children, in front of a foreign throne and a woman with red hair. I saw a library, in a forest. I saw a gem in my pocket, and a man I can only describe as looking like summer. I do not know what these visions mean, but I am now certain that Taegan is in this land. And I will not stop searching for him and getting better until I see him. Dead or alive. 

I need to know what happened.

It was my fault. I will fix it.

And I refuse to let others get hurt.