Thotham's Journal Entry #3

In the aftermath of our battle where we cleansed the forest, Lefty and I scoured the bodies unaffected by necromantic rot. Besides the book, Lefty found a bag of coins, and I found a note written in the language of the dragons. As luck has it, our elven warrior Zex can speak Draconic! The note gave instructions to the cultists to find a book, which we assumed was the very book that we had acquired.

Our spellcasters began to feel a bit of peace settle around the forest as if the evil there had been fully cleansed. I tried to use my lockpicks on the book's arcane lock to no avail, but when I did so, a flare of purple magic licked from its pages. Sai, our druid, actually tried to burn the book with elemental magic, but it would not burn.

Suddenly, a strange entity charged in from the west -- a very dark, armored artificer broke through the clearing, calling himself "shadow." In Zex's words, he seemed . . . gullible . . . and not a threat. He was to my height, however, and appeared very formidable. It seemed as though we had quickly made another ally, who would be needed in the future.

Making our way back to town, we discovered Phandalin had been under siege by three parties of undead creatures. The town hall was full of injured, dead, and the local townsfolk, equipped with makeshift weapons. Our strange Priest of Shar was there as well. He was even more strange than usual, seemingly forgetting our interactions and drifting in and out of conversation. Seeking out the village headman, he confirmed our fears that the undead plague upon the town was still a problem. We hadn't cured the source. When asked about the dragon acolytes, he mentioned that "they must be back." 

We each drifted our own ways that evening and spent the night in the local tavern. I tried to beg a piece of bacon off the tavern keep, but all he parted with was extra bread and cheese. Lefty and I split the spoils.

It appeared we had two directions we could travel. One to an arch mage's tower about 20 miles out. Two, travel over to the priest's enclave for a bit of reconnaissance. Speaking of Reconnaissance, our new friend Shadow noticed that in a moment of forgetfulness, the priest of Shar had seemed to have suddenly lost his sluggish mannerisms and decrepit disguise for a moment! When he told the group, Zex was outraged and helped us realize this was an obvious ruse.  This convinced us even more that we should investigate the enclave.

Approaching the temple, we noticed no one was around. Inyarah spied nothing but emptiness as she flew over the walls. Sai crawled through the cracks, transformed into a spider, and noted the same. They also noted there was no magic to be found. With that, Shadow began pushing on the great ironwood doors of the entrance to try to open them. I joined him, and together we were able to push open the massive doors and really take a look around the place. 

What I found, buried in the construction equipment, was a very inventive piece of magic -- it was a magic 3-foot rod decorated with horse heads on either end. 

Curiosity got the better of me, and I pressed the button located on one end, what happened was the rod became magically immovable in space. Clicking the button again returned it to normal. This could be a very valuable find indeed . . . 

Thotham's journal entry #2, 1380 DR

Upon arriving in Phandalin, we immediately noticed the town was in disarray with the northernmost buildings in ruins. When we reached the center of the village, we saw our first glimpse of the townsfolk here.

An aged priest with the symbol of Shar greeted us along with the captain of the guard. Once we were paid, the priest offered us a job to help cleanse whatever curse had beset his now ruined temple. The temple and its grounds seemed destroyed by dragon fire some time ago.

It was clear that none of us trusted the priest. Surely he isn't as he appears as a doddering old man. No old man could hold a 50 pound staff the way he did.

The man gave one of our fighters (we call him Lefty) a blessing that seemed almost no blessing at all. He was immediately under the effects of a headache that only went away as he stumbled closer to the source of the plague. Note to self, Shar magic is not to be taken without some sort of regret attached to it.

Where Lefty stumbled, we followed. A howling seemed to be echoing in the minds of our spellcasters. As lefty walked closer to the source, his headache began to pass, but Inyah and Sai still seemed plagued by the howling. Definitely strange magic.

Down and to the east of the forest below the ruined temple, we eventually came upon a 100 foot clearing where a magic orb glowed upon the hill like a perfect target. I challenged Fee, our party's other rogue, to a shooting match. He didn't take me up, but I took a shot at it anyway.

I bulls eyed the orb, and the impact sent it floating away 30 feet. Unfortunately, that set off a chain of events I don't think the party will be soon to forget. At least I won't. 

The dead rose once again and attacked our party with intense fierceness. Everything for me personally was going somewhat well until a druid in the back made me glow with Faerie fire and conjured a bear who slashed me down the back, causing me to collapse in unconsciousness.

The next thing I knew, I was being healed with a potion by Sai and my allergy to fae magic had manifested in a horrible twilight violet color. Once I was up, I ran toward the caster and felled them with one slash of my rapier while the rest of the party took care of the undead spiders and boars that were hounding us.

Though we nearly suffered defeat, I feel the experience has left me stronger and with more cunning than before. Clearly I will need to devote some time to training.

Thotham's journal entry #1, 1380 DR

We were hired by the Lord's Alliance to guard a shipment of food and supplies from Neverwinter to Phandalin. Along the way we introduced ourselves to each other to pass the time. My tall stature seemed somewhat strange to the party and especially to the gnome carriage driver. I explained that I was recruited by the Shadowmaster guild originally because of my special talent to blink forward as the cloud giant does. 

Suddenly our wagon became stuck in a rut, throwing its contents and us alike. Thankfully, I managed to smoothly flip out of the cart and land safely on my feet. Zax, our high elven fighter, determined that this rut seemed more like a purposeful snare. As I began digging out the cart, Inyah, the fairy sorceress, circled the skies and spotted giant zombie rats and giant zombie worms digging out of the ground to attack the caravan. Eventually three waves of zombie creatures joined in the fight, including zombie spiders, zombie wolves, and a terrifying zombie bear.

There were a few tense moments as people took damage and almost fell dead from the infested vermin, but our druid brought them back to life. Alas, eventually even our druid was toppled by a zombie wolf. I did my best to run over and patch his wounds with my limited knowledge, but I could see he was bleeding out and called for a healing potion from the other alliance members. From several feet away I saw the bottle tumbling through the sky in my direction. Luckily I was able to catch the vial and bring it down to his lips with one smooth motion. Soon the company had dispatched our enemies and all were brought back to their feet with no casualties. 

We earned 2 gold for our victory as we made our way to Phandalin. I must say, there was a moment where I was standing, surrounded by the corpses of enemies, when I felt something call to me . . . like a seed that had secretly been planted inside me from the Shadowmaster's Guild, suddenly bloomed. I wonder if they'll come for me? Can I hide from those who are invisible? Will my training keep me safe from their influence?