Artemis' Notes from the Frontier - Rescue the "Fizzbang 3"

*22 Highsun*

What a morning! First Fizzbang wanders in without Skrit or the others and nonchalantly announces they are captured or killed! In the time it took to assemble a rescue party, the town was then attacked by a dragon named Ragemaw! After getting the fires under control, we’ve set out. I’m confident Alexandria has the situation in hand and I cannot bear the thought of Skrit suffering!

**Sairina** leads us again and this thought gives me comfort. **Seonbi** has proven an excellent companion previously (if somewhat difficult socially…) and joins out of concern for his friend Jizo. The giant brute **Fergal** has a heart of gold and a keen eye. **Furious** the wood elf monk will add more than just his superb cooking skills - although that alone would surely be enough!! The newcomer, **Knock**, seems full of intrigue. **Sabrina**… words fail me… she seems to have joined out of a desire to mock Varis (one of the other potential survivors)? There must be more to it, but she seems wary of speaking to me - she mumbled something about Alexandria before storming away! I guess I’ll tread carefully…

*23 Highsun*

A pretty uneventful night - apart from the revelation that **Sabrina** isn’t exactly a fan of Bahamut… it seems she was a little “burned” by Alexandria’s attempts to heal some sort of disease and she now blames Bahamut! I’m under strict instructions NOT to touch her. In other news, it seems **Knock** is a cleric too, just to Beshaba! He assures us his intent is to get her to avert her gaze from the town but I can only hope he’s successful as we could use all the good luck we can get!

(it’s also been remarked that **Knock** seems to be a “better” version of myself… HA, I can see what they mean as he is athletic and charismatic. A truly likeable individual (despite his god) of the kind I encountered all too often at school. The popular kids who had little time for me - until they found out about Alexandria at least!)

Today has been a challenge. Ambushed by a myriad of frog creatures, we were hard pressed to dispatch them! At one point, **Sabrina** exploded many in a chain reaction that sorely injured many of us… I couldn’t help but look at **Knock** but if this was the will of Beshaba, he seemed oblivious. There was a swarm of frogs that covered me and everything went black for a moment before I felt something… unknown drag me back to the light. Praise to Bahamut but this felt different.. but there wasn’t time to dwell on it at the time. Ignoring her previous warnings, I healed **Sabrina** and dragged her away from more of the creatures while the others finished them off.

I feel very odd and the symbol of Lathander gifted to me by Borin is warm to the touch. I am unused to this kind of “active” intervention. Oh great Bahamut, I trust in your subtle blessing and in the power of guiding other’s actions through demonstrating “good” but this healing power is like nothing I’ve felt before! The others had very relevant questions about what happened… I just don’t feel I have the answers for them at this stage… I go to sleep now to ponder what this means.

*24 Highsun*

Defeat.

Ambushed in the night by some sort of swamp trolls, I rushed from my tent and was almost instantly rendered unconscious. Apparently I have **Sairina** to thank for dragging me to safety. I must find some way to reward her for all she continues to do to help me! When I awoke, the party were battered and bruised - although thankfully all still alive. Barely…

We’re returning to Hope. While it pains me to (temporarily) abandon Skrit and the others, if they are still alive, then they will probably be OK for a while. If they are already dead, then there is no hurry… We return to restock and return with mounts - the quicker we can cover this swamp the better! I also feel a strange “enlightenment” building inside about ways to heal all kinds of wounds. The teachings I struggled with at school seem so much clearer to me now - I need to pray with Bahamut to see what this means!

(Also, maybe we travel without **Knock** next time? He seems a really nice guy but so much went wrong on this trip…)