The Ledger of Thofire Silvertouch

This is Thofire Silvertouch's personal account of the adventures so far.
Events portrayed in this ledger are from Thofire's point of view. If you disagree with it, you can either politely ask Motercycle Man to change it or look at the Journal of Eraamion Firaal instead.
==Entry i: Visit to Greenhills==
After much pressuring from both Eraamion and my family, I have decided to write down my adventures with my fellow adventurers. It will hopefully aid my memory for when I tell my tale to my grandchildren. I will write this in Giant, just in case it contains incriminating evidence against me. I have forgotten the details of most of our party's former adventures, and the bullywug cave was rather over-shadowed by the Shadowfell Dungeon, so I won't be writing about those.
After I had recovered from my rather serious strain of corpse fever, I managed to hitch a ride with a dragonborn merchant and his family. Luckily for my sanity, the trip only lasted a day. I was constantly belittled by the tall beings for my size and diction, and by the end I was finding it hard not to stab them in the stomach. However, we got to Greenhills, and I thanked the family profusely (though admittedly through gritted teeth).
I was greeted by several of my friends as I walked through my childhood town, and felt truely at home. When I arrived at the cottage, I was rushed at by my twin children, Paolino and Luciana. I was glad to see them; it had been a while since I had seen them, due to my years at sea on the Windstrider. I was also glad to see my mother, Brethana. I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with their events and telling them of mine.
At night, I was lying in my double bed with Constanza by my side. Although I had previously married her under a false name, causing the loss of her riches and indirectly causing the death of her father, we were still good friends, and had an on/off relationship. This was one of those nights which our relationship was on. Instead of trying to get to sleep, I was thinking of how good life was - I had two lovely children, a beautiful lover, a nice hometown, plenty of friends, and there wasn't a demon lord traitor trying to kill everybody. However, I heard a creaking by my window. I tried to ignore it, thinking to myself that it was just the house settling, but then I heard another creak. And another.
I realised that there was an assassin in my house, and as I stealthily reached towards my short sword, I heard a dagger coming down onto my head. I quickly unsheathed my sword and deflecting the blow, coming face-to-face with an assassin I had doubted the existence of, much less the likelihood of him finding my location. 47, a shade and one of the Assassins sent to kill me by the Darkeyes. He snarled at me, and quickly rushed out of my door. I ran after him, but I knew that I couldn't catch him. 47 was too quick, and was used to hiding in shadows. Luckily for me, I had a weapon which even I didn't know about; my daughters pet wolf, Ghost. Ghost leapt out of Luciana's bedroom and leaped at 47, who was hiding in the shadows. Ghost preceeded to tear several limbs off 47, before I called the wolf off. I then grabbed the shade, and started to interrogate him.
"Why do you want to kill me? Noraver Darkeyes is dead. You'll get no ransom for killing me."
"That's what you think..."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I have ... A new ... Employer ..."
"And your mission is to kill me?"
"Of course ..."
"Who is he?"
47s answer to that was simply a laugh, which slowly collapsed into pained coughs. I decided that he could have no more useful information for me, and cut his pale throat. Ghost cocked his head quizzically at me, and I threw the corpse to him. I don't know whether Ghost enjoyed his meal, but by the morning, nothing remained of the shade.
The rest of the month went by uneventfully. I tried my best to be jolly, but I was haunted by the fact that there was another person who had bought the most successful and expensive assassins to kill me. Who was this employer? Why did he want me killed? Was it revenge? If so, for which of my actions?
Eventually, I left my family to rejoin the party. I hitched a ride with a halfling merchant this time, so that there were less jokes about my size. We travelled in relative silence, which was fine by me. It gave me time to think. Eventually, Adewale, Daud Attano, Nyyssa Ratko and Hush would catch up to me. And, if I defeated them, I would hopefully gain even more information about the employer. Maybe enough information to go after them ...    
==Entry I: The Shadowfell Dungeon and Afterwards==
After defeating the bullywugs, the party were both exhausted and wounded. I don't know who had the bright idea of drinking from the pool of water, but all of us with the exception of Jedcit did so. We were almost immediately transported to a shady room with four coffins in the middle. Eraamion deduced that we were in the Shadowfell, but before we could do anything, eight skeletons jumped out of the coffins. Readying our weapons, we began to fight.
I reacted first, and shot a skeleton in the head with my short bow, killing it instantly. Eraamion then had the rather risky plan of using burning hands. All of the remaining skeletons burst into flames. None of the party were hit, but I think Orklan's beard was lightly singed. However, the fight wasn't over yet.
Four zombies climbed out of a chasm at the other end of the room. Orklan, in an act of acrobatics usually not associated with him, did a sort of running jump at one of the zombies, and managed to kick the zombie down into the chasm. This killed it and Meredith shot another zombie through the chest. Out of the two remaining zombies, one shuffled up to Ghazghkull and tried to hit him. The half-orc didn't even bother to try to defend himself, the blow was so weak.. But the other knocked Orklan off balance, sending him falling into the chasm. I was worried that he was dead, but the dwarf called up "I'm fine! Don't worry!" I then ran towards said zombie and did a spinning kick at him. The zombie fell down into the chasm, but didn't die, unlike its companions. Orklan, however, dispatched him with ease.  Eraamion then took care of the remaining zombie by using a handy ice spell, which seemingly removed all the moisture in its body. Ghazghkull looked inside a coffin, uncovering a gold coin. For some reason, he then decided to make himself friendly with the coffin. I won't describe his actions here, but I can say that they were very intimate.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and a giant zombie came out of the floor. Meredith managed to shoot it in the chest and knocked it over. The zombie managed to get itself back up, and, seeing that Ghazghkull was distracted by his actions against the coffin, decided to attack the half-orc. The zombie missed, but the shock from the punch sent Ghazghkull back a few metres. I was going to help attack the new adversary, but Orklan called up from the chasm, requesting a hand up. I lowered my rope down and Orklan was back in the fight.Then, something extremely strange happened. The zombie punched itself in the head, dealing some serious damage. Apparently, Eraamion hypnotised it into doing that. Ghazghkull, who had recovered from the zombie's near hit, swung his axe deep into the zombie's body, leaving the zombie's blood (a kind of green pus) seeping from the wounds. Orklan then followed up on Ghazghkull's hit by charging it and slicing it across the stomach, causing more green slime to spill out. Meredith then shot it in the face, embedding the arrow in the monster's cheek. Since the dwarf had done the most damage to it, the zombie smashed Orklan with his fists. Fortunately, Orklan managed to defend himself with his shield. I hadn't dealt damage to the zombie yet, but finally managed to get a hit in, Using my shortbow to shoot it in the face. I then tried to intimidate the zombie by roaring in Giant. Unfortunately, though giants understand Giant, giant zombies obviously don't, as all the creature did was roar back. Eraamion took advantage of this roar, and fired a magic missile down it's throat, making the zombie explode, sending guts, pus and organs everywhere. Although several of us tried to dodge it, the pus covered us all. Eraamion, however, had a spell which he used to wash the blood off him. Lucky bugger. 
I then went over to a nearby door and opened it. Immediately two skeletons turned to shoot me. Luckily, the undead obviously didn't have much practise with their bows, so I ran forth and beheaded the closest skeleton. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eraamion moving into position to support me. The other members of the party seemed tp be more interested with the coffins, with Meredith finding a copper piece and Ghazghkull resuming his interesting activities. The other skeleton managed to stab me in the foot and my cry of pain seemed to make Meredith realise she could do something. She shot the skeleton through the eye socket, and for some reason threw me the copper piece, which I deftly caught. I then turned my attention to a lever at the end of the room, but it was jammed stuck with rust, and I couldn't pull it down. Ghazghkull pushed me aside to try and open it, but even the mighty half-orc paladin couldn't force it open. Orklan, however, moved it by doing little more then leaning on it. His beer belly finally came into use. We heard several gears grinding and the floor beneath us descended by a few centimetres, but nothing apart from that happened. Ghazghkull then smashed his way through some crates at the other end of the room. There was nothing in them, except a solitary black rat. Both of us wanting an animal companion, Eraamion and I tried to tame it. Neither of us, however, were ever that good at biology, and we had no luck. Meredith, however, has a way with animals and managed to tame the rat. She then made it go to me, making it my pet. After some consideration, I called it Bubonic, after a plague which had once struck the Kingdon of Luiren and was spread by rats, and gave Meredith five gold pieces for her trouble. After that we climbed the stairs to the next room.
The room at the top of the stairs was slightly larger than the coffin filled room before, and with less undead. It seemed to be some kind of jail, due to a torture device, monsters in shackles and chains, cells and a corpse lying in the corner of the room. However, there turned out to be an undead in the prison after all, as the skeleton of the corpse rose. The prisoners looked threateningly at us, stood up and started to growl, as if predicting a fight. We hadn't noticed a zombified man, not locked up in the cells. He turned to us and told us that he was named Jailor Kassan. He demanded to know what we were doing in his prison. As I tried to think up a story that would trick this man and allow us safe passage, Eraamion whispered to me that Kassan appeared to be a skilled duelist, and would be very hard to fight. Eraamion tried to diplomate with the jailor, saying that we simply want to get through to a flight of stairs on the other side of the room. However, Kassan seemingly wanted to be difficult, and said that he had never seen any stairs in the room. Then, I thought of a story that could get us through. I told Kassan that we were archaeologists, and that we were sure that there were stairs here that could lead to a site of great historical interest. In reality, I had never met any archaeologists, and I doubt any other of the party has either (with the obvious exception of Eraamion the learned eladrin). Kassan believed my story, but wanted proof that we really were who we said we were. I had no idea what to present him with, but Eraamion managed to magic a archaeologist's permit out of thin air, and presented it to the jailor. It fooled him and he waved us past, saying we weren't worth killing. I took offense at that remark, but let it slide. Orklan nearly created a conflict by stopping to wash his pus-covered shield in a font, but ran back to the party after Kassan shouted at him. We climbed the stairs to the next, and final, room.
I'm not sure how many steps there were, but Eraamion seemed to think that there were a few thousand. The journey up took hours, and we were beginning to lose hope of even getting to the top. Eventually, though, we came to a large square platform in a room even larger than Kassan's prison. There seemed to be no walls here, but we could see two smaller platforms to the sides, which had what seemed to be living shadows on them. The creature in the centre, however, diverted our attention. It was a gargantuan black dragon. I was about to dodge its probable attack, but I realised it was sleeping. We were formulating a plan of attack when the dragon shifted, and we noticed a small chest underneath its left wing. I was the only person who could be stealthy enough to open it, so, using my new gloaming armour, I turned invisible and snuck over to it. However, the chest's lock was harder to open than I had predicted, and my lockpick broke. I swore, but what I didn't realise was that my agitated movements had awoken the dragon. This was bad news for me, since I was right by it, but even worse news for the members of my party, as the dragon could only see them. Meredith shot at it, but didn't penetrate the dragon's hide. However, the bolt hit the side of its head and the dragon was knocked over. Eraamion shouted that he saw a chink in the dragon's hide, and followed this up with a burst of ice. While Orklan charged at it, I finally managed to open the chest. There were two leather gauntlets and a pouch of gold, but I didn't have time to analyse the gauntlets. The dragon got back up and unleashed some poisonous green fire. It hit all of us excluding Meredith. Ghazghkull managed to brush the flames off and smashed the dragon in the face. I also managed to brush the flames off, but felt the Raven Queen calling, so retreated back, next to Meredith. Eraamion also brushed the flames off but didn't seem to attack at first. He later admitted that his "ever-reliable sleep spell" had failed him. However, Eraamion made up for this failure by hypnotising the dragon to bite near its weak spot. Although it didn't hit the chink, it hurt the dragon. This relative success at first now turned into failure: Orklan, Meredith and Eraamion all failed to hurt the dragon. It even affected the dragon!
Orklan managed to hit the dragon in its weak spot. However, the shadows decided to attack us. One flew over to Ghazghkull and proceeded to grab him and started to fly away. The dragon then tried to bite Orklan, but missed. Meredith, Orklan and Eraamion tried to save Ghazghkull by attacking the shadow, but all of them missed. I decided that I had been a minor player in the fight, and, turning visible, jumped onto the dragon's head and gouged out its left eye, half-blinding it. Unfortunately, Ghazghkull had been taken to one of the platforms by the shade and was corrupted. He then started to drift back to us. A different shade then targeted Eraamion, and the eladrin was unable to move. The dragon then unleashed another breath attack, and all of the party were hit, except from Ghazghkull and me. At this point, the corrupted Ghazghkull returned and promptly knocked her unconscious. I winced; the paladin would be subject to a barrage of complaints once Meredith woke up. Ghazghkull regained his senses (a little too late for Meredith). Eraamion decided to save himself from the shade gripping him, and blasted it with pure arcane energy. As Eraamion fell to the floor, I decided to finish what I had started, and gouged out the dragon's other eye. It roared in pain of its complete blindness, and somehow managed to hit me, knocking me off its head. Eraamion fired lightning at the dragon, but missed. Orklan and Eraamion managed to hit the dragon's weak spot, causing it to roar in pain and topple over. I tried to hit the chink as well, but somehow managed to miss. As the dragon flew up and landed behind Orklan, yet another shade came and grabbed Eraamion. Suddenly, some lightning hit Ghazghkull. I started to blame Eraamion, but we realised that it was in fact the unconscious Meredith who had hit Ghazghkull. It was later realised that it was a delayed defensive action that hit any creature that knocked the human unconscious. Unfortunately, that meant we had only three conscious party members. Eraamion managed to dispell this shade in the same way as the last one, and Orklan slide under the dragon, stabbing it in the weak spot. I followed by stadding it through its mouth. The dragon tried to bite my hand off, but I snatched it back, and the only thing the dragon bit off was its tongue. 
It was then that Eraamion had one of his ... brilliant ... ideas. He teleported INSIDE the dragon's mouth, and although I couldn't see which spell he had cast, it looked like it hurt. I realised that Orklan was doing fine on his own, so, despite my initial misgivings about the plan, jumped into the mouth with Eraamion. After a quick hello, I proceeded to stab the dragon in the roof of its mouth again. Suddenly, I saw some acid building up in the dragon's throat. I managed to dodge the bile by using the dragon's fangs to flip myself out of the mouth, but Eraamion was hit, and we both realised that if that hit him again, he would die. The eladrin fired an ice spell at the dragon and promptly jumped out. I realised that I had to leave as well, but cut the dragon's windpipe before jumping out. Orklan then shouted to me that he wanted to cut the dragon's dick off, but since it wasn't mating season, the dragon's member wasn't protuding. Orklan decided to cut off the nearest thing - its tail. I thought that we could use some more fire power in the fight, so tried to heal Ghazghkull's wounds. To the surprise of everyone, especially myself, it worked, and the half-orc was back in the fight. However, he wasn't needed. Eraamion noticed that he could hit the brain through the empty eye socket, and fired a good old magic missile at it. The dragon screamed in pain, then slumped to the floor, disintegrating into ash. It was almost certainly dead.
Since the fight was over, we now had time to analyse the gauntlets that I had snatched from the chest. They were leather and dripped almost continual acid. Eraamion concluded that they were caustic gauntlets. Since Eraamion and Meredith were the only party members without a magic item, and since I couldn't see Meredith fighting with gauntlets, I gave them to Eraamion. In thanks, he crystallised the two dragon eyes that I had gouged out during the fight. When Meredith got back on her feet, we attempted to find an exit. However, the ground shook when we stood by the edge, and we all fell into the abyss. We seemed to fall for days on end, though Eraamion later said it was probably less than an hour. Finally, we dropped back into the bullywug cavern. Jedcit had left, leaving a note that said he had gone back to Albridge. However, we were exhausted, and had to have a rest before setting off.
When we were ready to leave, we heard a primal growl coming from a short distance from the cavern. More bullywugs were coming. We hid by the entrance and heard the bullywug champion, who was apparently named Uggloor, trying to communicate with one of the sentries we had killed earlier. None of us could speak primordial, but both Meredith and Eraamion tried to fool Uggloor. However, it sounded more like a goat screaming than anything else, and the bullywugs grew suspicious. When they arrived, we peered over the edge. There were three bullywugs, two giant toads and a captive halfling boy. I started to despise the bullywugs for capturing one of my race, but I then realised - it was Paolino! I felt rage flow through me at the sight of my captive son. Starting our assault was Meredith, who shot at Uggloor, but the bolt bounced off. Ghazghkull jumped down to challenge the champion, and could have dealt terrific damage to him. Unfortunately, the clumsy half-orc fell face down, groaning in pain. Eraamion sighed at the terrible start to our attack, so fired his sleep spell directly at Uggloor but affecting all of the bullywugs. While the spell was taking effect, I lunged at Uggloor, attempting a backstab, but missed. Orklan also jumped down with me, but the dwarf was just as clumsy as Ghazghkull, and suffered the same fate - falling on his face. The sleep spell started to take hold; Uggloor and his fellow bullywugs fell into a deep sleep, but the two toads and - luckily - Paolino resisted it. However, Ghazghkull was not so lucky, and he fell asleep as well. Paolino used the sudden lack of guards to run away from the skirmish. Orklan managed to get up from the ground and tried to behead a toad, but failed. Eraamion delt with that toad by firing a magic missile at it, and I took care of the other with a clean stab to the face. 
Now that we had killed all of the enemies, I called to Paolino to come back. He told us that he had been captured while with his friends. The friends had escaped, but my son wasn't so lucky. We could have escorted Paolino back to Greenhills, but we realised that that would divert our attention from liberating Harkenwold, and decided to take him with us to Tor's Hold, where we could think of what to do with him. We started to set off, but Eraamion called us back, and motioned to Ghazghkull, who was still dozing peacefully. We woke him up by ordering Orklan to through him into the plunge pool, which swiftly awoke the half-orc.
We arrived at Tor's Hold after a short walk. We had thought it would be little more than a hamlet, but it was more a small keep. We strode up to the guard on watch, who asked us what we were doing at Tor's Hold. He didn't believe Eraamion, who stated that we had killed the bullywugs, but believed Orklan when the dwarf pulled out two bullywug eyes (He must have got the idea from me). The guard was suitably impressed, but said that if we were to see the duke, we would have to fill in a large form, which the soldier gave to Orklan. I think that the slayer must hate paperwork, as he threw it back in the guard's face. Eraamion, ever the diplomat, immediately apologised and started working on the form. It took about an hour for Eraamion to fill it in, during which Paolino and I played with Bubonic, the newest entry to the Silvertouch/Du Bec family. When Eraamion finally handed the form in, we were told that out appointment was in 15 minutes.
When we finally met with the duke, he gave us his thanks for ridding the plague of bullywugs. He asked if there was anything he could do for us, and I immediately asked for some guards to escort my son to Greenhills. The duke called in two men, apparently called Rory and Rickard. I didn't like the looks of contempt that they gave to my son, but they carried out the order anyway. Then, I asked the duke if he knew where I could buy a rapier, not wishing to be given any more favours. To my surprise, the duke said I could take a rapier from the keep's armoury, on the condition I didn't take anything else. I was tempted by more than one item, but thankfully held my treasure lust in check. As we re-entered the throne room, the duke gave us a poisoned crossbow, which was swiftly given to Meredith. Meredith thanked him profusely and gave him her old crossbow in a sign of good faith. However, I could hear her muttering on its "shabbiness" and "low damage". I looked at Orklan and we both smirked at each other. Meredith has got a reputation as the party complainer. The duke gave us 50 gold pieces each, but then said that our appointment was over. We thanked the duke and set off for Albridge. 
When we arrived, we went straight to Dar Gremath. He was annoyed that we had attacked the bullywugs before attacking the Iron Circle, but he hoped we would get to it. It was then that I told him that I needed some beer, a cart and a horse. This was for my masterplan to stop the convoy and maybe grant us access into Harken. Gremath offered us the beer, but said that he needed the carts and horses for the war. Eraamion asked whether we could ask the townspeople for the horse and cart, but the leader stated that the townspeople wouldn't be willing to hand over such expensive and essential items. I sighed. It seemed that my masterplan might never come into action. As a last resort, I told Gremath of my plan. He didn't believe me, but Eraamion backed me up, and for some reason the rebellion leader believed the eladrin over me (Why is this? Is Gremath racist?). We came to a deal: we would get what we needed if we killed some Iron Circle men in the Mallard Inn without the information getting to their leader. We accepted and headed off, grabbing Jedcit on the way.
We reached the inn and heard some sort of commotion going on inside. It was decided that Orklan and I would go in first, and as we entered, we saw the soldiers harassing the bartender. They demanded to know our identities and said that carrying weaponry is forbidden. I tried to deceive them by saying we were mercenaries loyal to the Iron Circle cause, but they didn't belive me (Again? Is it because of my height?). Orklan tried to back up my lie, but failed as well. We started to lower our swords, not wishing to fight just yet, but the guards grabbed us and were about to throw us out of the door when they noticed Ghazghkull blocking the door. The half-orc stared at the soldiers and uttered a low, guttaral growl. The soldiers staggered back in fear and let us go. Orklan, however, angered by the way they had treated us, threatened that if they touched us again, he would take their heads off. The soldiers drew their swords and said that they would kill us now. I sighed, and picking up my rapier threatened to cut off their manhoods if they fought with us. Although a couple of them looked nervous and started to hold their crotches, they didn't back down. The bar fight had begun.
==Entry II: The Bar Fight and Operation Flying Circus==
Almost immediately, Ghazghkull fell to the ground, unconscious. Meredith, Jedcit and Eraamion dragged him out of harm's way and shouted that Eraamion's sleep spell seemed to have returned. I would have been concerned, but I had bigger problems of my own, as I was on the front line. I charged at one of the Iron Circle but missed. Orklan, however, had much more luck, and took the head of a brigand off with one clean swipe. A nearby bystander escaped from the fight by jumping out through the window. Another bystander tried to follow him, but slipped on some residue. I saw the bartender try to hide in a barrel, but somehow failed to get in it. The Iron Circle started to attack Orklan and me, with three of them charging Orklan. One missed, but the others managed to hit him. The brigand which I had previously tried to hit charged at me, and managed to push me back. I didn't know what the others were doing outside, but I heard Jedcit uttering a prayer, and then a bright light shone in a bandit's face, blinding him. Eraamion was up to his old tricks. However, I heard him shout out in pain a second later, and yelling to "Abandon the plan." I saw Meredith jump through a window at the back and tell the bartender to get out. Then, a strange mist appeared in the middle of the room, concealing Orklan and me. It seems Meredith has more powers than I had previously thought. I missed the Iron Circle soldier facing me with my new rapier, but Orklan (who seemed to be endowed with the strength of a god for this fight) sliced a bandit in half. I heard Eraamion cry in pain outside, presumably being wounded by a bandit. Orklan sliced the legs off a bandit who was rushing to attack Meredith. The remaining bystanders escaped, and the bartender heeded Meredith's advice and rushed out. My rival bandit tried to push me back, but I managed to dodge him. Outside, I heard a bandit shout "The acid! It burns!", and realised that Eraamion was using his new gauntlets. Meredith shot one of the bandits, sending him to the floor, and I stabbed at my nemesis, and followed it up with an intimidation. However, due to the noise of the battle, he didn't hear me. Orklan tried to stab the brigand that Meredith had knocked over, but managed to miss. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jedcit get hit with a crossbow bolt. The floored brigand got up and tried to hit Orklan, but somehow Orklan didn't take any damage. I learned later that Jedcit had cast a spell one Orklan to prevent grievous injuries. My rival again tried to push me back, but again missed. Then, I saw Jedcit drop his weapon and try to punch a bandit near him. He missed, and picked his weapon again. I shouted at him, asking what the bloody hell he was doing, but he completely ignored me. Eraamion finally entered the bar, and blinded yet another brigand with his light spell. I finally had some luck in the fight, as I stabbed the brigand facing me, scared him off (simply uttering a greeting in Giant) and stabbed him in the back. Unfortunately, he still wasn't dead. Orklan finished his mighty kill streak by beheading the floored brigand, then, as a final touch, kicking his head out of the window. My opposing bandit and the blind one then flanked me, but failed to touch me. However, another cutthroat hit Jedcit, and I saw the half-elf fall to the ground, unconscious. I saw Eraamion try to cast a spell, but he failed. I shouted to both Eraamion and Meredith to leave the brigand who had been plaguing me from the beginning, but Meredith either didn't hear or didn't care, and shot the soldier through the eye, killing him. I was furious; I had wanted to kill the wretch myself. I fueled my attack with that anger, and cut the finger off the blind brigand, then scaring him off (again by speaking Giant, though this time with a compliment). Orklan jumped out of the window and hit the last bandit, but failed to kill her. Eraamion ran up behind me and fired a magic missile at her. With the energy blasting her into oblivion, the bar fight was over.
Tired from his many kills, Orklan got over to the bar, and picked up a keg of beer. Eraamion tried to stop him, but Orklan took no attention, and drank the whole thing. I was about to go over and have a drink myself, but before I could, a plump woman came down the stairs, asking what all the noise was. However, she stopped mid-sentence and fainted after seeing the various bodies around the inn. When she woke up, she thanked us profusely for killing the Iron Circle and, since she was a barmaid, gave us free rooms and food. We dragged our sleeping half-orc into a room, and Eraamion cleaned the inn of blood, to thank the woman. After that, we all went to bed, exhausted.
The next morning, we set off for Albridge. We had to leave Ghazghkull behind, as Eraamion's sleep spell was still taking effect. When we got to Dar Gremath, we were applauded for our actions, and he gave us objects needed to put my plan into action; two kegs of beer, a cart and a horse. The horse was a majestic animal, with dark black fur, and we decided to call it Shadowmere. We were then told to go to Kalton Manor, trough the village of Marl, as that was were the convoy was headed. Meredith, Jedcit, Eraamion and I started to poison the beer (Eraamion's poisoned flask into the first keg, our harmful mushrooms in the second) as Dar Gremath warned us of search parties and checkpoints that Redthorn had put into action after hearing of our actions in the Toadwallow Caverns.
Before we set off, we put the plan into action. We were disguising ourselves as a travelling carnival named "Lord Peter Wimsey's Flying Circus". I became Lord Peter Wimsey, the ringmaster and rat controller of the circus (I had used the name before, to destroy the Pericuzio Family); Eraamion became 'Joking Broden', the magical entertainment; Jedcit became a fortune teller, named 'Madame Predicto'; and Orklan became a strongman by the name of 'Duffman'. The plan was originally to have Orklan and Ghazghkull wrestle against each other, but Ghazghkull was sadly incapacitated. Meredith had no idea what act she could do, so she decided to be behind the beer stand.
When we reached Marl, the rain was pouring down, and the land was covered in fog. Suddenly, shadowy figures appeared out of the gloom. We prepared to fight, but realised that they weren't enemies; they were charred buildings. The land around it, once green, was now charred, and I think I saw some salt on the fields, to prevent crops from ever growing there again. All of the buildings were corpses of their former selves, and not even the keenest eyed person in Nerath could have seen any sign of life. I remarked to Eraamion that the scene looked like Draisia, but the eladrin didn't reply, seemingly suffering from those painful memories. Although it was meaned to tell possible rebels to back off, it just succeeded in increasing our bloodlust for Iron Circle soldiers, and for the execution of Redthorn.
Eventually, we came to a hut that, surprising for this region, hadn't been burnt down. Through the window we saw an old halfling man and his wife, talking to each other. Although we couldn't see anybody else, there were noises suggesting other guests. I would have liked to talk to the couple and hear about some rumours, but other members of the party (primarily Eraamion) were against the idea, saying that they may be Iron Circle spies. I waved to the man, who waved back at me. Eraamion, although against talking to them, seemed to have no qualms about eavesdropping on them, and listened to their conversation. He told us that the two were praising our actions at the Toadwallow Cavern (apparently, they knew who we were), and wished that we could get support for the rebellion by recruiting the elves at the Woodsinger Camp. Eraamion noted it down, and we shall do it at a later time.
Along the road, we came across an Iron Circle checkpoint. It was manned by eight guards, one of whom was riding a drake. We were all impressed by this; we had come across enough drakes in our adventures to know of their ferocity. I hailed them, and introduced them to Lord Peter Wimsey's Flying Circus. However, the guard riding the drake (who appeared to be the leader) wasn't impressed, and replied that only people on official Iron Circle business could pass through. I immediately replied with an apology for wasting their time, and that we should entertain them, as reconciliation. Thankfully, the guards agreed. We set up the circus, with Eraamion conjuring a purple platform, Meredith and Jedcit pulling out individual wooden stands and me bringing out a wooden beam and some hoops. As Meredith poured the beer out, Eraamion did a very nifty trick by firing a freezing burst in the air and then hitting it with a magic missile when it was over Meredith's stall, causing chunks of ice to fall into the tankards. The guards applauded him, impressed by his magic wielding. I was the first to perform; I made Bubonic run along the wooden beam, jumping through the hoops. That wouldn't have been very impressive on its on, but Eraamion managed to make the hoops look like they were on fire to everyone except Bubonic, which was good. The poor rat's nerves had already been shattered by the dragon in the Shadowfell Dungeon, and I don't think he could have coped with having to run through hoops on fire. I earned applause as well. Next was Orklan, who tried to prove his strength by lifting Shadowmere in the air. He seemed to be struggling, but then seemed to find a sudden burst of strength and held the horse over his head, getting cheers from the soldiers. I looked at Eraamion, and realised that the wizard had magically aided our dwarven fighter. Jedcit then predicted that one of the guards would go into another world in the close future. I groaned at the feeble lie, but the guard was apparently not that bright, and believed him. However, all of our acts were immediately left when Meredith called out "Free beer!" All of the guards rushed to her stall, and drank deep. All of them were swiftly poisoned. The drake noticed the deaths of its masters, and roared in anger. However, I had prepared for this eventuality, and didn't break a sweat, as Eraamion immediately fired sleep at it. We killed it while it was slumbering. Eraamion and I searched the corpses of the guards. I found a magic vanguard greatsword, which I gave to Orklan, but Eraamion found a pouch with 110 gold pieces in it. I was annoyed that I had missed it, and went into two safehouses to search the chests inside. The wonderful loot which I had predicted to be in the chests turned out to be a bone and 12 silver pieces. I swore several times, and then proceeded from the checkpoint.
Soon, we found an area that would suit our ambushing purposes fine. It had bushes surrounding it and a stone circle nearby. Eraamion observed that the stone circles had some magical energy in them, while I told Orklan to drag the wheel from our cart and hid it in a bush. That way, we would look to be crashed to the convoy, which came trundling down the road just a few seconds later. The six guards looked extremely annoyed with the crash, and their leader, a female mage, looked furious. Thankfully, I managed to ease the tension of the encounter by apologising for the inconveniance. I asked the leader to help me fix the cart, saying that my circus could entertain her troop while I talked to her. I talked to her for what seemed like hours but what was more like seconds, trying to distract her from the obvious thumps that were her soldiers dying. However, the mage soon grew suspicious of the lack of laughter from the soldiers, and began to walk towards the stalls. However, I managed to smash her head against the cart, knocking her unconscious. We tied her to a rock in the stone circle. When she awoke, I intimidated her, threatening her with the painful deaths I would inflict on her if she lied to us, believing that the technique known as "good guard, bad guard" was our only option. However, Eraamion somehow magically managed to make her tell the truth to every question asked to her. I asked about Redthorn's plans, and we learned that Redthorn was to march on Albridge just five days from now. Eraamion asked about any defining features about Redthorn and the number of his troops, and the mage replied with the facts that he had red hair (which was faily obvious, due to his name) and that he had hundreds of soldiers. We also learned that the imprisoned duke is heavily guarded. I then asked about any secret entry points, and was rewarded with the information that there was a sewer grate through which we could enter Harken. I then asked about the celebrations that Redthorn would throw if Dar Gremath died. Although I got some strange looks from my fellow party members, I Iearned that the celebrations would be massive. Then, she fell unconscious. After that, I told my companions of the plan that I had formulated:
We fake Dar Gremath's death and pretend to disband the rebellion. When Redthorn throws the celebrations, Lord Peter Wimsey's Flying Circus arrives in town. With the beer previously spiked with a sedative, we let Dar Gremath's forces in after the Iron Circle soldiers fall asleep. After that, we (or Dar Gremath) execute Redthorn. Eraamion suggested two alternatives: a) Poisoning the beer instead and b) Just kidnapping Redthorn. Although I was apprehensive of these (since a massacre is never a good starting point as a ruler, and the kidnapping of Redthorn may be difficult), I asked the rest of the party to think it over.
Eraamion searched the mages body, and was seemingly having some luck with body looting, as he found 90 gold pieces and a set of mithral plate armour, which was given to Jedcit.
Entry III: Dal Nystiere
We put the dark adept, tied up, on the cart, and reattached the wheel. Eraamion decided to try and make friends with the prisoner, and tried to say that he would make her imprisonment comfortable, but she interupted him by spitting in his face. I was going to ask her another question, but was interrupted by the arrival of Ghazghkull, who had arrived from the Mallard Inn. With Ghazghkull here, we voted on whether to kill all the guards still alive, knock out the guards still alive or bring them back to Albridge. Everyone except Eraamion voted to knock the guards out, and we dumped them in a ditch. We then decided to send Jedcit back to Albridge with the horse and cart, since Dar Gremath had wanted them safely back. The rest of us had to go to the Woodsinger Camp, to gain aid from the elves there.
We felt a very ancient presence around us while heading in to the forest, and felt more than a little threatened. However, we failed to spot an elf who came out of the shrubbery when we had stopped for a little rest. He said he was named Israfen, and asked whether we were friends or foes. Eraamion then spoke to him in Elven (he later said that he told Israfen that we were here to aid the rebellion). Israfen looked considerably worried, and said that it was a matter for Eriyel. He then proceded to lead us to the Woodsinger Camp.
When we arrived, we were lead to a middle-aged woman with green-gold hair. We rightly presumed her to be Eriyel, and I introduced ourselves as a party of adventurers. Eraamion then asks for the elves' help in the rebellion. The elf didn't want to lend her soldiers at first, but she agreed to do it for a favour. An eladrin village named Dal Nystiere had been abandoned for many years. However, the elves could now sense a worrying evil presence there. If we killed this evil, Dar Gremath would have the help of the elves. Meredith seemed outraged that we were sent to do this job, but Eriyel explained that she couldn't send men because of several recent kobold and goblin attacks. Meredith then said something outrageous even for her - asking Eriyel why she didn't send the children. The elf woman was absolutely shocked, and Eraamion tried to ease the tension by apologising on Meredith's behalf. Eriyel then took out a vial with some liquid in it. I saw Ghazghkull attempting to grab it, and knowing the consequences if the half-orc were to get hold of it, I quickly snatched it out of Eriyel's hands. She wasn't pleased, but I explained for my conduct, and she looked slightly more appeased. She told us that the liquid was dragon blood, and would activate a teleportation spell to the lair of Yisarn, the evil presence himself. We set off immediately.
We arrived at Dal Nystiere at midnight. We were at a clearing with a stone circle on a hill in the middle. It had a bowl in the centre of it, where the dragon blood was likely to be poured. Down a dirt path, a cart covered in sheets rested on the road. As we started to the stone circle, Orklan noticed a giant spider in a tree to our left. Thankfully, it was unaware of our presence. Meredith tried to shoot the spider, but missed and shot a different tree, which caused yet another spider to fall out. Eraamion ran up to the trees and made a stream of fire arupt from his hands, making the trees ignite and the spiders shriek in pain. I ran up and shot an arrow, but the inferno was much too bright for me to aim properly. Then, Orklan ran right into the fire and attacked a spider in there. His magic armour gave him defence against the fire. Ghazghkull was, surprisingly, not as impulsive as Orklan, and decided to stay by Eraamion, to defend him. Suddenly three goblins jumped out of the cart. I moved into a position to attack them, but was interrupted by Meredith, who killed all three of them with some well placed shots. Orklan yelled out in pain as he was bitten by a spider, while yet another spider came out behind the cart.
Orklan, recovering from the poison, charged at the spiders again. However, he missed them both. Eraamion then fired lightning at the spider by the cart and the one who had poisoned Orklan earlier. He hit both, and the one who had poisoned Orklan finally died, succumbing to both the lightning and the flames. However, yet another spider appeared from the stone circle. The spider by the cart tried to attack Ghazghkull, but couldn't get through his armour. Ghazghkull, in an act of retribution, smashed the spider with his axe, and caused a sort of divine glow to hang over me. I felt to be more empowered due to the glow, and nodded my thanks. As the spider by Orklan bit him, I jumped over Eraamion's head to get in a position to attack the most recent spider. I heard Orklan let out a cry of victory as he killed the last of the original two spiders.  Meredith and Eraamion both tried to hit the spiders, but both missed. The spider I had just moved to attack bit me, then retreated with the other spider. Meredith and Eraamion then tried to kill the two spiders again, but both missed - again. Ghazghkull, however, managed to kill one of the spiders in one hit - his first attack of the encounter. We then turned our attention on the last remaining spider. I stabbed it with my rapier, then ducked as Meredith shot it with a crossbow bolt and Eraamion hit it with a magic missile. Orklan couldn't help us, as he finally fell to the spider's poison and fell unconscious. Ghazghkull, however, "quickly" ran to help the unconscious dwarf. The final spider leapt high into the air ... For no apparent reason, since it simply landed right back by me. It then attacked me, and feeling myself to be quite weakened by the attack, I hit it with my rapier, then turned invisible, in order to escape any more hits from the spider. Meredith shot the spider again, this time hitting it in the eye and knocking it over. Orklan came running to attack the spider, but Eraamion had things under control, and killed the spider with a magic missile to the head.
When we gathered around the bowl, Ghazghkull apparently found out that the stone circle was ancient. After we had all groaned at him for his "brilliant" senses, Eraamion said that the bowl was weakly throbbing with some magic. I poured the dragon blood in the bowl, and we were instantaneously transported to a laboratory. There were desks in every corner of the room with various ingredients for alchemical experiments on them. On top of a staircase was a red armchair with a desk in front of it, with several scrolls on top of it. We would have explored more, but we had company; more than a few goblins and two caged drakes were all looking at us, shocked at our entrance. We immediately attacked, with Orklan sliding over a table and shoving his sword in one of the goblins, immediately killing it. I then attacked the leader (Whom we later learned was called Snilvor) with my rapier. Meredith then aided me with a crossbow bolt that knocked Snilvor over. Unfortunately Eraamion didn't have as much luck as we had had, as he missed a goblin with what seemed to be a blast of ice. However, Ghazghkull immediately beheaded the one that Eraamion had missed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Orklan pick up a white substance from a table (When I asked him why he had picked it up, he said he thought it was cocaine. However, Meredith soon found out that it was actually grounded bone). Then, a young goblin ran to the cages and unlocked them, allowing the two drakes to join the battle. One lunged at Orklan but missed, while the other started towards Eraamion. However, Snilvor pointed his rod at Eraamion and uttered some arcane words. When I asked Eraamion what they meant, he didn't answer, his eyes glazed over. We realised that Snilvor had taken control of Eraamion, so the eladrin couldn't defend himself against the drake and two of the goblins as they attacked him. Luckily for him, all but the drake missed. As retribution for Eraamion's injury, I attacked the drake but my sword bounced of its scales. Meredith then moved up to a goblin and killed it with her scimitar (To which I was pleasantly surprised, as she always downplays her skill with her scimitar. Then Eraamion, still under Snilvor's control, fired his freezing burst spell at his feet, hitting some goblins and almost hitting Meredith and me, though both the huntress and I were able to dodge the spell. Eraamion then shook himself, and shouted that Snilvor no longer controlled him. However, it seemed that our party hadn't shook off it's bad luck, as Ghazghkull got his axe lodged in the floor, Snilvor healed himself by taking life from his late allies and the goblin leader firing a purple skull at Orklan. Thankfully, Snilvor missed. However, the drake didn't, and managed to slash me across the chest. The goblin besides me also tried to hit me, but I dodged and retaliated, though my attack glanced off the goblin's helmet. Eraamion then teleported to the study at the top of the stairs and fired lightning at Snilvor, knocking the goblin's rod out of his hands. Ghazghkull, seemingly too lazy to pick up his axe, pulled Esmerelda (His potted tree and "girlfriend", though I believe sex toy would probably be a better name for it) from his bag and swung it at the goblin by him. I started to shout abuse at him for his judgement, but stopped when, incredibly, he killed the goblin with one swing. Snilvor, however, wasn't in such a position, as he picked up his rod and used it to heal himself and to control Orklan. Both of the drakes then tried to attack two of our party members; the first attacked Orklan, and the latter attacked Meredith. The goblin by Meredith and me then tried to hit me, but it feebly bounced off my armour. I was finding this goblin a nuisance, so yelled at it in Common: "YOUR MOTHER WAS A HAMSTER, AND YOUR FATHER SMELT OF ELDERBERRIES!" The goblin was obviously very susceptible to insults about his parents, as he ran, terrified, into one of the cages and locked himself in. I saw Meredith attack the drake by us, but her scimitar just bounced off it. I then saw Snilvor's rod twitch several times, and Eraamion with a look of deep concentration, and realised that Eraamion was again trying to rid Snilvor of his rod, this time with mage hand. However, the eladrin was unable to make it move. Ghazghkull, seemingly uninterested with the fight (He's a half-orc of various emotions) found a pouch with 7 gold inside. I would have commented on this poor treasure, but heard a battle cry behind me, and saw Orklan, still under Snilvor's control, charging towards me. I tried to reason with him and/or dodge him, but Orklan smashed me with his sword, making me unconscious. 
Luckily, I woke up to Meredith kneeling over me. Apparantly, I hadn't missed much; the only things that had changed were that Meredith had a gash across her body (Presumably from the drake) and that Orklan was now back with us. I saw Eraamion finally gain ownership of Snilvor's rod, and fire a magic missile at the goblin. Ghazghkull lumbered over to me to help me up, and at the same time, Orklan charged at Snilvor, yelling at Eraamion to throw him the rod. Eraamion did so, and with a terrific cry, Orklan shoved the rod right up Snilvor's arse. I laughed so hard I almost fell back down the floor! Not only that, but Snilvor apparently hirt himself by pulling the rod back out! Then, the drake that was annoying Orklan attacked him again. I realised that that drake could kill Orklan, so lunged and dealt a devastating blow to the drake. I heard Meredith squeal behind me as she was bitten by the other drake. She then withdrew and shot at the drake, narrowly missing it. Eraamion then followed by grasping Snilvor's rod with his mage hand. However, the mage missed with his arc lightning spell. Orklan wasn't finished with shoving things in Snilvor, and proceeded to shove an unlit torch through the goblin's mouth with such force that it went right through the back of his mouth. Snilvor dropped down, dead. This didn't appease Orklan's bloodlust however, as he promptly decapitated the drake that I had just wounded. The final enemy, the drake, lunged at Ghazghkull and managed to hit, but it was knocked down by Meredith, hit by Eraamion's magic missile and stabbed by Orklan. The battle was over.
We then explored the room. Eraamion inspected the scrolls on the table and took Snilvor's (Now cleaned) rod, though the scrolls were apparently illegible. While Meredith was asking the goblin some questions, I helped Orklan to lift up the armchair. The dwarf fastened it to his back, and we were about to leave when two horrendous sounds filled the air; Ghazghkull's roar, and the goblin's cry of despair. Apparently, the half-orc had scared the goblin so much that he had passed out. Meredith seemed quite infuriated at this.
We then went to the doors. We presumed that they lead into seperate rooms. I put forward to the party that we could split up, but Eraamion protested quite strongly against it, saying that we would be weakened when split. We all gathered before one door, before I opened it. The room was floored with runed tiles, and had carvings of eladrin soldiers in a forest on the walls. There was also a dragon skeleton on our left. Unfortunately, we couldn't appreciate the (past) beauty of the room, as a glimmerwed spider, two skeleton warriors and a undead wearing robes had all turned to face us. As Eraamion shouted that the robe-clad skeleton was probably Yisarn, I ran forward to get in a position to slash at the spider. However, I had to jump back when the floor fell away into a spiked pit. I swore, then shot an arrow at the spider. I had a rather lucky shot, and got it in the mouth, making it bleed quite badly. Eraamion then teleported away from my side, and fired burning hands at all of the creatures. Surprisingly, it didn't deal as much damage as it had previously on our adventures, and it attracted the skeleton warriors to Eraamion, both brandishing longswords. The eladrin managed to dodge one, but the other hit. The spider then fired a web at all of us bar Eraamion. The web blinded us, prevented us from moving and dazed us. Yisarn, who I had previously thought to be little more than a conjurer of cheap tricks, fired a devastating storm of lightning. It hit all of us (Bar Eraamion again, who summoned a shield) and took both Orklan and Ghazghkull down. Although the two hadn't been doing much in this battle, they were the strongest members of our party, and with them down our party took on the role of underdog in the battle. On the bright side, the lightning also killed the spider, who was already weakened by my arrow and Eraamion's burning hands. While Meredith managed to get some webs of of her, and went to try and help Orklan, I was still blinded, and couldn't attack. I would like to think that this hampered my decision making, as I pulled Bubonic out, and ordered him to attack Yisarn. The plan failed. Bubonic didn't make a scratch on Yisarn, and the skeleton used some lightning claws to kill him. As I yelled in anger, Eraamion used an acid-boosted freezing burst to hit all three of the skeletons, knocking Yisarn down into the spiked trap. A skeleton, seemingly thinking that I was an easy target, ran to try and hit me, but fell down into the trap and died. Yisarn then fired iced darts at me, but missed, while Eraamion got a scar across his forehead by the other skeleton. Then, fueled by my hatred of my rat's killer, I fired an arrow at him, injuring him. Eraamion also got retribution, killing his opponent with another freezing burst. Yisarn then unleashed yer another lightning storm. I saw Eraamion drop down. I didn't know whether he was dead or alive, but one thing was for sure: I had even more incentive to kill Yisarn now. As he jumped up out of the pit, I dealt a devastating blow to him, cutting off one of his hands. However, he was just as lucky against me, delivering a blow fueled by lightning. As I fell to the ground, I saw Meredith shoot him with a poisoned bolt that made him fall into the pit. Yisarn was finally dead. 
Meredith was left with the lovely task of healing all of us. As she went over to Eraamion, who by now was bleeding quite profusely, I gathered up Bubonic's ashes. I decided to spread the ashes over the dragon skeleton at the left of the room. All of the party gathered at the skeleton, apart from Ghazghkull (Not only did I not want him to possibly mess it up, but he seemed far more interested in the corpse of the giant spider). As Jedcit, the religious member of our party, was absent, I asked Eraamion to say a few words. Surprisingly, the eladrin knew quite a lot about both Sehanine and the Raven Queen. We then searched for treasure. Though my heart wasn't really in it, I found a pouch of 12 gold (Which I gave to Orklan, for carrying the armchair). Orklan found a set of armour, which he gave to Ghazghkull, Meredith found an emerald and Eraamion picked up the longsword that had given him his scar.
We travelled back to the Woodsinger Camp and found Eriyel, who thanked us profusely for killing Yisarn. I told her that Bubonic had died, and she offered her condolences. She promised us 50 archers against the Iron Circle.
==Entry IV: The Battle of Albridge==
We set up camp near the Woodsinger elves, eager to get a good night's sleep and be ready in the morning to get back to Albridge. However, a female halfling messenger came rushing towards us before we could go to sleep, saying that the Iron Circle would attack Albridge in just two days. The elven rangers set off on foot immediately, but it would have taken us much too long if we were to go on foot. We went to Eriyel and asked for her help. Thankfully, she had a solution, and gave us all donkeys. Strangely, though, Meredith had completely disappeared. We might have searched for her if we had more time (Actually, I don't think I would have) but we needed to be in Albridge. We set off immediately.
When we arrived at Albridge, it was quite dark. Dar Gremath introduced us to the fellow rebelliance leaders, and we started talking about tactics. Although Orklan was very keen to burn the bridge down (even though it was made of stone), we eventually arrived at a plan. The troops would dig a large trench around the south-half of Albridge. We would then put spikes in the trench, and Eraamion would brew up some Serkonan Fire to fill it. The fighting would south of the trench, but if the rebel forces had to retreat, we would draw back behind the trench and throw the bridge off, thus giving our forces a bit of breathing space.
However, in order to make that work, all of the rebel leaders and their forces had to work together. Usually Eraamion is the diplomat in our party, but he had gone off to start brewing his Serkonan Fire. I then had the dubious job of trying to get everyone to work together. Thankfully, I was more than successful, and they started working right away, There were some men who weren't working, but a quick roar from Ghazghkull was more than enough to frighten them to work. Orklan did a very successful speech which roused the men to work even harder, and Jedcit used his religious knowledge to bless all of the soldiers present. During this, I went to the elven rangers, and told them that we would be splitting them up; one half to be up front, supporting the rebellion soldiers, and the other half to stay back as a reserve force, in case the army withdrew. The elves all agreed, and got into their arranged positions.
The preparations were completed well before dawn, which was when the Iron Circle were expected to arrive. I started to move up with the rest of the army, thinking that we would be on the front line, but Dar Gremath called us back. He said that he wanted us to stay with him in a command post a mile away from the front line, and that we would fill up any gaps which the Iron Circle may create. The battle began at dawn, as expected. Messengers came to and from the battlefield, bringing us various bits of news. Our forces were holding the Iron Circle troops back. However, during the battle, a faint noise was heard outside our command post. A guard had gone out to see what it was, but after a minute he still hadn't come back. We all went to the front room to investigate.
Eraamion and I noticed a tiefling spy trying to hide in the bushes who (Thankfully) hadn't seen us yet. The whole party then proceeded to sneak out of the house (Aside from Eraamion, who stayed in the back room to provide us with cover). Jedcit, as per usual, made quite a bit of noise coming out of the house. We might not have gained the spy's attention (Since Ghazghkull and Orklan were both unusually quite), but for me accidentally stumbling. The tiefling turned around and alerted our presence to some companions that we hadn't previously noticed: another tiefling and a dark adept. Both of the tieflings threw hooks to catch us; one snagged Orklan, while the other got Ghazghkull. Both of them were dragged through thick bushes of brambles and thorns, before being brutally smashed by their kopeshes. Although they both had quite grievous wounds, this didn't stop our brave slayer and paladin, slashing back at the tieflings even while the dark adept threw a fireball into the midst, wounding most of us. Eraamion then left the house to get a better view at our enemies as he fired a new spell which was apparently called beguiling strands. It pushed both of the tar devils back, with the one next to Ghazghkull getting pushed into a chasm, and the one near Orklan getting pushed though the brambles. Both the dwarf and the half-orc got hits in at the tieflings. I realised that I now had a clear view at the tiefling that had attacked Orklan. Yelling thanks to Eraamion, I rolled backwards and shot the tiefling in the back with my shortbow. Unfortunately for me, this put me in prime position for a cutthroat to jump out behind a rock and slash at my face. He then feinted, and as I clumsily tried to parry he cut me across my stomach. As I reeled in pain, I saw that another cutthroat had ambushed Ghazghkull. While I was looking at our paladin, a hook flew up from the chasm and drew Ghazghkull down, presumably to be hit by the tar devil down there (By this point, I couldn't see Ghazghkull's actions). The tar devil which I had shot earlier tried to hit Eraamion with his hook, but fell short. The dark adept then tried to hit Jedcit and Eraamion with a fireball, but both of them dodged it. Jedcit rushed over to where I was tussling with the cutthroat. As he uttered a quick prayer to heal my wounds, he smashed my assailant with his mace. Orklan then charged at the dark adept, dealing her her first wound with a stab through the chest. Eraamion then fired two beguiling strands (Which, apparently, is one of his new favourite spells). While the first didn't seem to do anything, the second pushed the cutthroat by Jedcit and me, the dark adept and the tar devil in the brambles back. Jedcit and I both struck the cutthroat as it was pushed away from us then back towards us, while the dark adept fell on some rocks. The tar devil, pushed further into the brambles, finally fell. I then shifted behind the cutthroat and stabbed him in the neck, killing the little bugger. As I looked up, I saw the other cutthroat jump down to attack Ghazghkull, and the dark adept walk up to Orklan and stab him with a dagger, which somehow made him fly back into the brambles, where he fell unconscious. At almost the same time, Eraamion shouted that Ghazghkull was also down. Jedcit, ever the healer, went to stabilise Orklan's wounds, while Eraamion blasted the dark adept and some enemy in the chasm with lightning. The dark adept was now more than a nuisance, and I darted forward and shot her in the head, killing her. By this time, the tar devil and the cutthroat were both out of the chasm. While the cutthroat started towards me, the tar devil tried to catch Eraamion with his tarry net. Although he failed, he did hit the eladrin with his kopesh. However, by this time Orklan was back on his feet, and charged towards the tiefling, delivering a powerful blow. Eraamion then fired lightning at our final two enemies, killing the tar devil. The cutthroat and I both exchanged blows. Although I didn't kill him, it didn't worry me much - my blows were distractions, as Orklan ran forward and chopped the unfortunate man's head off. I quickly nabbed his purse, which I threw to Jedcit as thanks, and Ghazghkull, after his wounds were treated, found 13 gold (Although I don't know whether the half-wit has a basic enough grasp of mathematics to buy anything).
Dar Gremath then came out of the command post, asking us just what in the Nine Hells was going on. Orklan answered his question by throwing the cutthroat's head. Shocked, Gremath thanked us, and told us that he was sending us into battle. However, before we could leave, a messenger arrived to inform us that a section in the east had broken, our soldiers retreating (Though fleeing would probably be more exact). We went there to hold the line, while the messenger went to inform the elves, who would hopefully come unto the breach. When we arrived, the battlefield was a complete inferno, the many Iron Circle soldiers burning every tree in the area. I made the first move, running forwards and shooting a soldier in the neck, immediately dispatching him. As he fell down, Orklan and Jedcit moved to my position. Our opponents split into two halves; one came towards Orklan, Jedcit and me, while the other (Which included the soldiers' commander) moved towards the natural chasm which seperated them from Eraamion and Ghazghkull. A drake behind the enemy lines suddenly reared up and fired acid at Jedcit, quite badly burning him and his clothes. As I got bludgeoned by a mace, Eraamion fired another new spell at the half approaching him and Ghazghkull. It was impossibly successful, killing all of them but the commander. Ghazghkull tried to jump over the chasm to attack the commander, but fell into the chasm. I stabbed the soldier who had hit me with his mace, then shifted out of Orklan's way as he brutally killed another soldier. Unfortunately, another line of Iron Circle soldiers approached us. I was dreading havng to engage another nine soldiers, but I had no need to worry; despite being hit by the commander's flail in the process, Eraamion used his "burning hands" spell to kill every one (Although, yet again, he singed Orklan). Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ghazghkull climb out of the pit and smash the commander with his greataxe. As the commander failed to hit Ghazghkull, I pulled out my shortbow and shot at the drake. It seemed to hit some vital organ, as the drake roared in pain and was visibly weakened. Orklan climbed up onto the rock where the drake was, presumably to try and deliver a killing blow, but missed. Unfortunately, while Jedcit was healing himself, a third squadron of Iron Circle soldiers came up to our position. Six soldiers came from behind and started to attack Eraamion, Ghazghkull and Jedcit. I would describe their actions with more detail, but I was a bit distracted; four more Iron Circle soldiers had come from the right of us, and were surrounding me. As the guards were hitting me, I saw all of the Iron Guards by Eraamion dead, with the commander in a burning tree. I realised that Eraamion must have used beguiling strands again. As Ghazghkull again whacked the commander, I rolled out of my surrounding soldiers' reaches and shot one in the knee, taking him down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the drake retreat and miss Orklan, with the commander failing to get past Ghazghkull's plate armour. Two Iron Circle soldiers near me flanked me, but both failed to get a hit on me. The other soldier went to attack Jedcit, but also missed. As if to add injury to insult for the Iron Circle, Eraamion shouted that he could see the Woodsinger rangers approaching. Although the battle was all but won, Ghazghkull finally killed the commander and Orklan cleaved the drake in half. Although I would have liked to kill one of the soldiers by me, I missed my attack. They couldn't counter-attack though, as the elves finally arrived, taking down all of the remaining soldiers.
We started to relax, but it wasn't over yet. A messenger came to inform us that Redthorn had been seen approaching the crossing over the trench that we had built. We ordered all of the rebellion troops to fall back behind the trench, then decided that we would split up. Ghazghkull, Orklan and Eraamion would go behind the trench, then hold the line at the crossing, while Jedcit and I would come through the battlefield and attack Redthorn's squadron from behind. We set off immediately. Although I made it across the battlefield with relative ease, I saw Jedcit lagging behind, and realised that he would be late to the skirmish. When I arrived, I saw Orklan and Ghazghkull pluggint the bridge, but could see no sign of Eraamion. I realised that our wizard must have lagged behind, but didn't wait for him. I saw Redthorn on a mighty battle horse, and immediately shot him in the back. He roared in pain, dismounted, and charged at me. I was ready for a greatsword or something, but to my shock and horror, Nazin Redthorn used a triple-headed flail. He smashed it across my chest, making me bleed profusely. I saw two tar devils throw tar bombs at Orklan and Ghazghkull, making them both cry out in pain. One of Redthorn's minions moved up to flank me. Believing me to be little more than an irritation, he turned his back on me, delivering a monologue to Orklan, Ghazghkull and the fast approaching Eraamion about how we were "foolish heroes" who had "meddled with his plans for the last time". I quickly tired of his pretentious speech, and was insulted by the fact that he had turned his back on me, so interrupted his monologue with a stab in his back. During Redthorn's monologue, two soldiers had run onto the bridge to get rid of Orklan and Ghazghkull, but the half-orc had seemingly predicted that a soldier would come near him, and immediately killed him with his weapon. Three more soldiers ran onto the bridge though; it seemed of enough strategic importance for them to lay down their lives. Meanwhile, I was busy being the punching bag; the soldier that had come up to support Redthorn hit me in the back with his mace, and as I turned to face him, Nazin smashed me with his devastating flail. I fell unconscious.
I woke up to see Jedcit tending my wounds. I looked across the battlefield, and saw that little had changed; Redthorn had advanced up the road, Eraamion had arrived (But seemingly done next to nothing) and one of the soldiers previously on the bridge was now on a spike in the pit. I was determined to try and take down Redthorn, and shot him in the back again, this time wounding him quite badly. Nazin yelled that we may have defeated him this time, but swore that he would be back to exact his vengeance. He charged at Jedcit and me on his battle horse, kicking me down in the process. I fell down, feeling quite a bit of nausea, but managed to see Ghazghkull and Orklan destroy the bridge, sending the three soldiers on it into the abyss. When I was better, I looted a body near me, and found an amethyst, which could be used as currency. Ghazghkull yelled out that he found a jade. The half-orc seems to be getting quite a bit of treasure through looting. I may have to relieve his pockets sooner or later...
We returned to Dar Gremath, who thanked us for our works in both the preperations and the battle itself, and promised us magic items as thanks. I perked up; I was one of the few who had only one magic item in the party, and felt sure that either Avandra or the Raven Queen (Goddesses of luck and fate respectively) would smile upon me. First, Gremath gave Eraamion a set of leather tactician's armour. I felt this as just, since previously Eraamion only had one magic item as well. Then, Gremath pulled out a collar of recovery, which he gave ... to Orklan. I swore under my breath at my luck, and at Dar Gremath (I still think that he's negatively inclined towards halflings). Jedcit was given a golden statue of Pelor.
However, Dar Gremath warned us that the threat of Nazin Redthorn and his Iron Circle was still apparent, and that if we wanted to finish what we had started, we would have to stage an assault on the Iron Keep ...
Orklan, after much oohing and ahhing, decided that he would like a greataxe to replace his greatsword. We went to a blacksmith's named Cathrid's Smithing. The Cathrid in question was a rather stout dwarven lady, who charged Orklan 37 gold for a new greataxe. In the general store next door, Ghazghkull (Rather stupidly, in my opinion, though I guess that is characteristic of him) bought an everburning torch with his jade, and got 70 gp in return. I realised that with an everburning torch in our party, we wouldn't need the 100 torches that were sitting in the bottom of my pack (Unused, all of them). I got 10 gp in return, and bought a dagger. I wasn't going to use them in combat though, and proceeded to craft a hidden compartment in my right shoe (The left one containing the tools of my trade). I think it would be useful if we were ever thrown in jail. Eraamion bought some shiny balls (He didn't tell us what they were) and Jedcit bought some robes. When asked why, he said "Because it makes me look more mysterious!". I inwardly groaned, and went to the Mallard Inn, where Orklan passed out from his ale. Somehow, I managed to pick him up, and took him to his room. We rested for the night, eager to be ready for Redthorn's - hopefully - untimely death ...
==Entry V: Assault on the Iron Keep==
In the morning, Meredith was still missing. Eraamion worried that she may have been kidnapped by the Iron Circle, but I thought it was probably more likely she was just at the University of Botany, lost in some hallucinogenic-feuled illusion. As we were getting our gear together, preparing ourselves for the upcoming adventure, Dar Gremath approached us. He handed a map of Harken to Eraamion, advising us to look out for a dwarf named Old Kellar, an architect who had designed Harken Castle, now renamed the Iron Keep.
However, if we turned up without any disguises, the Iron Circle guards would know something was amiss. To stop this, Eraamion, Jedcit and Ghazghkull (Since two were half-human, and Eraamion looked vaguely human) looted some of the various Iron Circle corpses for their armour. Orklan and I couldn't pass for humans, so we got tied up. Eraamion then used one of his spells to make him look more human (Basically by shortening his ears), and made it look as if Orklan and I were roughed up. We set off for Harken.
To pass the time while travelling, I brought up the subject of our team name. Although various ideas were flung around the party ("The Random Party of Adventurers", as we described ourselves before, was suggested a few times), we finally decided on "The Harken Eagles", as we had seen an eagle fly overhead while we were fighting Redthorn and saw it as an omen of good luck. I then suggested that Eraamion be our party leader. After all, he's the most intelligent out of the party, is a better person than Orklan, Jedcit and me, and is more reliable than Ghazghkull or Meredith (Also, imagine a team lead by either Meredith or Ghazghkull. I shudder at the thought).
Although we were preparing ourselves for checkpoints at Harken, it was remarkably quiet, probably due to the fact that we had killed most of the Iron Circle soldiers at the Battle of Albridge. Most of the towns had been ransacked, most likely for rebel supporters living there. There was a party going on in an inn, but it was subdued. Obviously Redthorn's grip was as iron as his Circle. Eventually, we arrived at Old Kellar's house, where an Iron Circle soldier stood guard, with all of the windows boarded up and the door bolted from the outside. Old Kellar was under house arrest. Jedcit, looking the most human and without his symbol of Erathis (Which he put on me), managed to convince the guard that he was a squad leader, and needed to interrogate the inmate. We entered, with the soldier bolting the door behind us. Kellar sat at a table, reading a book and eating a meagre dinner. Orklan, being a dwarf himself, spoke first, asking him what he was reading and offering him some ale that he had bought back in Albridge. However, the dwarf we had come to see said he was too old for that. Swallowing my surprise (From my experience of dwarves, they're never too old for ale), I asked him whether there were any secret entrances into the Iron Keep. Kellar started to answer me, then suddenly stopped as he saw that the rest of our party was dressed as Iron Circle soldiers. He spat at them, and refused to answer any more questions. We needed to show him that we were allies of the rebellion. Jedcit called in the guard outside. Eraamion, trying to distract him and thus make him easier to take down, said that he had corpse fever. The guard, however, was not convinced. I tried to help Eraamion out, claiming that I was a cleric of Erathis, but the guard was just infuriated that I had spoken to him, causing Eraamion to kick me down. Though it was necessary for the mission, I felt a sense of nausea after hitting the floor, and swore at Eraamion, his parents and any other relative of his I could think of. Eventually, my getting kicked in the head proved to be in vain, as Ghazghkull knocked the soldier down and Orklan snapped the man's neck with his feet. After that, Kellar knew that we weren't from the Iron Circle, and was more than happy to answer my questions. He said that there were no sewer systems under the castle and that the front entrance was heavily guarded. However, there was a secret entrance on the other side of the castle, with two hidden doors which had to be opened from the inside. The only other ways in were through an arrow slit or over the walls. Not only that, but Redthorn's living quarters were apparently in a section of the castle that Kellar hadn't designed himself, meaning we had no idea what was up there. As we left, the dwarf wished us luck in ridding the Iron Circle menace. I told him that if he ever came to Greenhills, there would always be a pint of ale waiting for him. He seemed entertained by the idea, but again said that he was too old for alcohol. 
We made camp in the forests north of the keep, and waited until nightfall. We had decided that Eraamion would teleport through the arrow slit in the wall, then open the secret doors for the rest of us. The night sky was cloudy, with the moon occasionally shining through. There were several sentries up on the walls, but again due to the Battle of Albridge, their numbers seemed to be subdued. We crawled up the slope on the north of the keep until we arrived at a ditch filled with spikes, similar to the tactics that we had used in our previous battle. We all had to get across it quickly and silently. Eraamion simply teleported over, while I somersaulted over. Orklan was thrown by Ghazghkull, but surprisingly landed quite quietly. Ghazghkull's long jump, however, was not so silent, and ended in a thump. We all froze, but the sentries still hadn't noticed. However, it seemed Ghazghkull was not done trying to undermine our plans, as he had left Jedcit - who is not acrobatic, athletic or stealthy in the least - behind. Jedcit tried to jump over, but fell into the pits, hitting the spikes. Ghazghkull pulled him up with a rope, but the sentries had noticed the movement. Luckily, I managed to save the situation, and imitated a bird's chirrup, easing the sentry's suspicions. The wall was about 10 metres away at this point. If we could get under the wall, then the sentries would be unable to see us. It was a simple matter for me; I simply turned invisible using my gloaming armour, and walked up to the walls. But the rest of my allies made much slower, more visible and louder progress than me. The sentries were still patrolling as if nothing was happening, but were making suspicious glances in their direction. Eraamion made a sound of chinking armour behind the sentries, while I threw my voice so that it sounded like a woman was calling from inside a tower (Though I probably shouldn't write it here, I based the voice on Meredith). This distracted the sentries enough to allow my allies to make it to the wall. However, it seemed as if my voice throwing skill was a double-edged sword; the guards who had gone to investigate the noise gave an order to double the watch. Finally, we arrived at the secret door. Eraamion teleported inside, then opened the two secret doors to let us in. However, a troop of guards started to come down the stairs. I quickly ran in, still invisible, and closed the secret door without the soldiers realising. 
When they had gone, I opened the door again and let the rest of the Harken Eagles inside. Since I was still invisible, it was decided that I would go and lower the drawbridge for the rest of the party, since it had been pulled up due to our noise. I crept out and went over to a far wall, in order to get in to the main part of the keep from the sides. There were four guards on the wall, all looking out. I managed to shimmy past them, but loosed quite a few pepples in the process. They all turned to where I was, and one bumped into me. He shouted out my position, and grabbed me down. However, I managed to escape, and quickly hung from the side of the wall. When the guards had dispersed, still looking for me, I pulled myself up and sneaked over to a nearby door. I then threw my voice to make it sound as if I had fallen down off the walls. The guards all yelled, sounded the alarm bell, and went down to try and search for me. Quietly chuckling to myself, I opened the door and went inside. There was a bandit standing right by the winch, and a dragonborn warrior nearby. I was mildly shocked; I thought the only humanoids in the Iron Circle were tieflings and humans. I quickly went over to the winch and pulled it down, lowering the drawbridge for the rest of my party. The human yelled, and tried to hit me. However, he gave me little more than a scratch. When the rest of my party had joined me, we started battle.
The sounds of the rest of the party entering caused three other Iron Circle soldiers to come into the room. All, of course, gathered around where they knew I was. One was killed immediately by Orklan, who came charging in with a slash to the chest. Unfortunately, another dragonborn and human came out from the rooms to the right of us. The recently arrived dragonborn missed Orklan with a crossbow bolt, but hit him with a burst of icy fire (I still have no idea how icy fire can work). The soldiers around me swung wildly at the area where I was still invisible. However, even though they couldn't see me, two still managed to hit me. As Ghazghkull killed a human soldier, I backed out from the area where I was previously surrounded, using a series of rolls. I then reappeared next to the newer dragonborn, stabbing him through the stomach. Eraamion then used his shock sphere spell to kill the three soldiers who had been hitting me, and also injured dragonborn soldier #1, before teleporting near Ghazghkull. Jedcit then managed to light an unlit torch with a prayer to Pelor. He then ran towards me and healed me with holy light, despite being hit by a soldier as he ran. From where I had previously come from (On the battlements), five more soldiers came through. Dragonborn #2 decided to use its cold fire once again. Although it did hit all oof us bar Orklan, it also killed two of its allies. Orklan and Jedcit then took various hits from the Iron Circle soldiers, while Eraamion made some vague movements with his staff (He later said that two spells had failed him). I shifted behind dragonborn #2 and stabbed him in the back, while Jedcit healed himself and Orklan. Orklan hit dragonborn #1, but failed to make even a small dent in its armour. More soldiers came in from the other rooms, hitting Ghazghkull, Orklan and Eraamion. Dragonborn #2, obviously a lover of the cold fire, decided to use it again, hitting everyone in our party aside (Once again) from Orklan. However, it also brought down three of its allies. Eraamion managed to actually cast a spell this time round, using beguiling strands to kill the final four humans, and injuring dragonborn #2, which was then killed by two quick stabs from Ghazghkull and myself. Orklan then slashed at dragonborn #1, before I ran up and delivered the final blow.
Orklan looted the dragonborn that was (Mostly) his kill, and found an amethyst. Before I could turn around to loot the other dragonborn, Eraamion had beaten me to it, and found an amber. I found 6 gold pieces on the various corpses. We then noticed the two stairwells in the room; one which lead down to the dungeons, where Baron Stockmer was being held captive, while the other led to Redthorn's chambers. We decided that if we rescued Stockmer before killing Redthorn, the baron would just be a dead weight. We all went before the flight of stairs leading up. However, since the way up was rather cramp, I went on Eraamion's back, and we were the first up the flight of stairs.
When we got up to the top, we saw two hobgoblins armed with morning stars standing on guard. Eraamion tried to sneak to the end of the room and avoid grabbing their attention, but failed. They stared at the rather strange sight of an eladrin giving a halfling a piggy-back, but got into action when I jumped off Eraamion's back and shot at them (Unfortunately, I missed). One charged at Eraamion, swinging its morning star wildly. My eladrin friend only just managed to avoid the maddened hobgoblin. The other one approached more warily, biding it's time. With a mighty roar, Orklan came charging up the stairs, stabbing hobgoblin #1. Ghazghkull, however, seemed to not notice the severity of the situation, and was taking his time on the stairs. Jedcit, trapped behind the large half-orc, managed to utter a prayer to strengthen us. A door to the left swung open and a third hobgoblin, attracted by the noises of battle, came in. Hobgoblin #1 missed Eraamion again, while hobgoblin #2 made his first attack, pushing Orklan into Ghazghkull and sending both of them tumbling down the stairs. Eraamion used his beguiling strands to push our enemies back, and Orklan and I hit the first two hobgoblins as they were pushed back. Orklan and Ghazghkull then formed a defensive wall in front of Eraamion, while Jedcit missed a shot with his crossbow. As I shifted to hit hobgoblin #1 in the back with my shortbow, Nazin Redthorn, followed by a dark adept, came into the corridor. He roared that we hadn't defeated him yet, and, ordering his soldiers to charge, his eyes flashed red, and the battlefield erupted in flames, dazing us all. Unfortunately, although this attack hit his allies as well, they seemed to be strengthened by the flames. The dark adept, laughing maniacally, fired a fireball at me, which narrowly missed me. Hobgoblin #2 charged at me, but flailed madly and missed me with his sword. Ghazghkull was wounded by Hobgoblin #1, but the goblin was hit in turn by Orklan. Eraamion fied his sleep spell, hitting all enemies but Hobgoblin #2 (However, he also hit Jedcit). Jedcit, however, shrugged off the effects of the sleep spell, and fired his crossbow (Missing again unfortunately). I tried to stab hobgoblin #2, but failed to penetrate his armour. As I cursed, a loud roar came from Redthorn who charged towards me, swinging his triple-headed flail which had already caused me such harm. He hit me hard, making me fall to the ground.
Oddly, I was not completely unconscious. I could still hear the battle going on above my head. I heard a fireball being cast, and heard Orklan yell out that Jedcit was down. However, this was followed by some cheers by my teammates; some enemies must have fallen asleep, thanks to Eraamion. Soon after, I think Ghazghkull was knocked out as well. Throughout the battle, I could feel myself being dragged, then stopping; no doubt a hobgoblin was taking me to the dungeons, but someone (Probably Eraamion) was stopping him. It was in vain though, as I could feel my life force ebbing away. I heard Orklan yell "Jedcit's dead!" I smiled to myself; it seemed I would not be the only fallen Eagle. I turned my head to look at Eraamion. Though I knew he wouldn't be able to hear my thoughts, I tried to make him remember when we had talked about our funerals, back on the Windstrider. I had wanted to be laid to rest near Greenhills, frozen in a block of gemstone. I slumped down, with no more energy left. 
I died.
Footnote: I wrote this final entry in the style of my old friend, in honour of his sacrifice. E.F.
Category:Thofire
Category:Character Backstories