6 Barrakas 998 (Alex)

It had been a quiet couple of weeks as we moved into summer. There had been no spider attacks, no kidnappings, no raids or bandit problems to speak of (though Herons did mention something in passing two nights before, a wayward bandit had tried to ambush him then realised he wasnt some poor peasant but a rather heavily armed and capable warrior. fortunately that bandit ran).

So you can imagine my suprise and chagrin when i get a loud banging on the door, disturbing my meditations and prayers, which turned out to be a couple of the local boys. One i'd seen around before, think he lives just down the road from me.

"Ere miss. You know that woman that lives in the cave don't ya?" said one. I nodded in response. "Well she aint." he replied
Obviously im supposed to be some kind of mind reader, as well as fluent in the local dialects. Common, whilst its generally the same, does sound odd in different places.
"Aint what?" i responsed falling into local speak (Damn i hate that. Makes me out to be some kind of low born uneducated pig.) "Sorry, Saffron isnt what?"
"At home miss and theres a horrible howling coming from her cave" he replied
"well theres nothing too unusual about that. Saffron isnt alway home. Why come here?"
"she was supposed to come see my da' bring him some herbs and stuff this morning. But she didnt see, so we's went to her cave and she aint there. missed the appointment, my da's a bit annoyed bout it sent me he to tell you to find her." the boy replied.
"Okay. Ill look into it. Thank you" I replied (although im not used to being the villages go get girl. seems a bit beneath me really). I gave each of the boys a silver piece (in honour the flame) and set about getting ready.

I'd just about started when Heron arrived. He graciously assisted me in getting ready whilst i explained the situation. We agreed that the house lackey (zebadire) would be useful and of course what better to find tracks and calm angry animals than a ranger (of sorts) so picking up Geraint on the way through also made sense.

We arrived at the cave to find it empty. Oddly not long after we go there Buckthorn tried to attack Zeb, but stopped, then ran off when the Shifter tried to calm him down. (sensible animal, the shifter can be a bit frightening to children let alone animals). Geraint examined the area and found some scales which apparently belong to something called a Catoblepas. Apparently, according to legend (and Geraint) they have some kind of killing vision. If they look at you your in trouble.

Inside the cave showed signs of a struggle but no Saffron. Something large had broken branches from a tree outside, but they were from high up so what ever it was had to fly. Theories discussed included flying men! Also we found some leaves - apparently from an Arrowfrond tree which are marshy trees found in the Shadow Marshes 600 miles to the SW over a range of mountains.

With little else to guide us we were about to set off to the druid grove when we met Dale. He mentioned they had lost two guide and that Ashbound were kidnapping people in the area. He headed off to contact the Gatekeepers whilst we continued to the grove.

Half way there we were set upon by something even the Karnathi would'nt dream about. Half alive, half dead things. And when i say half alive, half dead .. literally. one half the body was alive, the other half was dead. We quickly set about killing the creatures, at which point flesh disolved into puddles of oozing mess. Taking few wounds we moved onwards to the grove where we met Draacht. A female half orc Cleric who was also a Gatekeeper. I'd seen her about a little now and then. She informed us that the chief druid was gone.

We back tracked to where we had seen and fought the half dead then followed their tracks... back to the druid grove. Geraint found more tracks. We chose to follow some strange slithery tracks for just over 3 miles.

We found some strange tentacled things which prompty attacked us, showing intelligence they ambushed us and surrounded us causing us no end of problems, seriosuly battering our front line fighters and back up fighters. Fortunately through the guidance of the Silver flame I was able to stave off multiple attacks time and again to dispatch my enemies whilst providing morale boosts to those close by who could follow my examples in battle. We prevailed, though at a heavy cost to our stamina. It looked like we would need to rest back at town and take up the fight tomorrow.

Interstingly during the earlier part of the day I seemed to be invogorated with renewed strength and energy from the Silver Flame. It blessed me with insight into how to seriously weaken my opponents, hitting them just so with the axe to shatter bone and rupture sinew leaving them weak and suseptable to further heavy blows. I shall see how effective this is through the coming days.

After returning to High Barrow we kitted up and decided to follow the trail. At the end of the day we were set upon by more 'living spells'. Zebadire is insistant that these things do not (usually) appear outside of the Mournlands. So why they would be here is a strange mystery.

on the 2nd day (7th Barrakas) Geraint realised where the trail was leading - back to the underground portal building. Not good, especially if what ever was there was somehow using the portal to their own uses. Under instruction Zebadire checked the compass - it was not working.

We travelled another day until we came to the ruins. We spotted and attacked some strange Abberations which had odd tendrils and philia surrounding their bodies. They moved quickly, reminding me somewhat of the Monks I had seen during the war. And certainly one of the creatures caught an arrow Geraint fired at it, with ease.

They liked to grapple. Draining health as they did so. We fought a hard battle as more appeared from the surrounding trees, though eventually they were overcome. We continued onwards into the underground ruins, encountering nothing until we reached the portal chamber. Inside were a number of large apes, 3 well tied bodies (including that of Saffron), a large dire wolf and the odd, distorted body of Finscol the high Driud.

We were set upon by the apes who proved very very dangerous. They dispatched Friend Heron almost too easily, leaving me - with the aid of the Silver Flame - the task of protection and overwatch whilst Geraint retrieved the fallen Heron so he could rejoin the fight. Blow after blow rained down upon me and time and again the power of Faith aided me, keeping me in the fight until eventually the Apes fell. During that time it was clear that Finscol was not himself as he tried a number of times to cast spells upon us, finally unleashing a devastating divine fueled fire column into my midst. That hurt, hurt a lot.

WE chose, in light of the lion (had that attacked i do not think even my faith could have kept us alive for long) to focus on subduing the high priest rather than an outright plan of killing him. It took a while but we were able to render him unconscious. Not long after we did so, Dale arrive followed by a Grand master high druid (or what ever he called himself, all i know is he was a powerful one on the ranks). He explained that occasionally when managing chaos gates the watchers become mad, crazy from exposure to the energies that can leak from them. It had happened to Finscol which is why he had tried to open the gate to release chaos upon us.

Saffron, for her part in all this, was tasked with watching the Grove and its gate until a replacement druid arrived. I hoped this would not be too long, as competant Saffron is, I would not want to have to deal with her as we had Finscol.

It seemed though a major invasion had been averted, I am bolstered by the way my new companions work together, we are - I feel - beginning to show the making of a great force for good in these areas.

One thing that does concern me. During our trek to the ruins we encountered the Ashbound. Rumours suggest they are kidnapping people in the area. When confronted they did not deny this and singled out Zebadire. We should keep our eye on this - make sure it does not escalate into a full scale war.

I'm looking forward to a quiet few days i think.