Hoi hoi hoi journal. It's been so long since I've last collected my thoughts within these pages. After defeating a giant clockwork dragon, my stalwart companions and I proceded back down through the town. Strangely enough, I turn the corner and I ran into a group of guards. My teammates nowhere to be found and I'm in a major pickle. I'd try and surprise you journal, but you know how these things turn out by now. So longer story made short, I've ended up in a ship brig bound for some place called Kaoland.
After being woken up from being swayed to sleep, I've found myself surrounded by a group of sailors, a captain who carried himself like the ocean breeze which filled the sails on the deck above, and what appears to be a group of adventurers looking for opportunities abroad. A fairly short discussion broke out and after having my moral fiber questioned several times, several of these stout folk pledged to get me freed by the end of the journey. Sometime later I was approached by a giant scaled being who was interested in using my meager skills to procure some liquid comfort. If it would help a fellow traveler, why not? What could possibly go wrong?
Success! It was tricky journal, no doubt, but I managed to get some of that concoction that my benefactor desired. A little pry bar action here, a quick clamber up there and into the captain's chambers I went. Searching in the chest I stumbled upon some gold...no luck. Then I checked the captains wardrobe. A pile of rusty swords and some bizarre combination of sheaths intermixed with some clothes lay before me. Undeterred, I checked under the bed. Ah ha! Bottle after bottle lined up in ritualistic style. I chose a happy medium so as to not arouse too much suspicion about my activities and presented the bottle to the dragonborn sorcerer. Promptly tying myself back upside down, I waited for the travelers to work towards my freedom.
Well, journal, freedom I have been granted. Did it involve some trickery? Certainly. At least nobody was hurt (except the captain's pride but that's for a different journal entry!) We've made land fall and ended up in a non fishing village right off the ocean. I know, journal, I know...strangeness seems to follow wherever I travel. An economy not of fish and maritime trade, but of mushrooms! Now word on the street is that these mushrooms can cure a great many ills and that some farmer turned self styled lord named Diedrich is running the show. Setting out to a nearby inn, my new found friends and I have become surrounded by mystery. Children vanishing, some returning, though touched by some new personality. Nobody gives us a clear indication what is happening, but nobody seems concerned about it either. Even checking out some of the locals seemed to make the waters murkier.
A plan was hatched by our dragonborn (no pun intended) to get some tail (pun intended?) while the rest of the group would wait outside away from our queer surroundings. It didn't seem quite safe for Rahmi to be left completely alone in this backwater, so I offered to chaperone. Long story made short, after an eventful night for one of us, we made our way back to the camp the others had made.
Now I'm not a scribe, but it seems the creatures who attacked us last night should certainly be included in some bestiary. Goo? Humanoid? Mushrooms? I couldn't tell but the resembelance to Rahmi and the quick witted Callan, along with their hostile posturing, told me that we were about to enter into a scuffle. We made short work of them, but what happened next was most astounding. Mushrooms sprouted from the decaying shambles that lay before us. Not just some common whitecap either, but strangely similar red and white ones that everyone and their grandmother have been pushing on us ever since we've hit this shore. Time to see if we can't get some more information on this. Let's go check out this "lord" Diedrich.
Journal, you know my mind and temperament. Generally, when I travel with a group and we make a plan of action, I generally assume that we are going to work towards that action. I could be very mistaken, but I had thought the group wished to check out the Diedrich compound under the cover of night. We approached the compound shortly after dawn and began examining the grounds. Clearly this operation is as new and lucrative as what I've heard through the rumor mills. Sturdy construction and walls in sharp contrast to the mud huts of neighboring farms. While the descendants of dragons went to question the man in charge about the rumors of gainful employment, Callan and I decided to talk to some workers to see if we couldn't shake loose some spores of information. We found a young human named Fred who apparently just finished his shift. After a few questions, I could see this wasn't going to yield much fruit, so I decided to see if I could catch any glimpses of what was happening in the barn. It didn't appear much was going on at the moment, so I resigned myself to having to wait until dark to carry out our plan. After a brief leg up from Rahmi, I made myself as inconspicuous and comfortable on the roof as I could and began my observations.
Sometimes I wonder if Desna is just trying to make life interesting for me without being aware of a more subtle of accomplishing that. Just as I was starting to get comfortable, I heard several loud shouts of "Let's burn this (#$!ing compound to the ground!", followed by two gnomish voices heckling the unusual Guard of this compound. Curious, I crawled down to the side of the roof and peeked out. Desna preserve me, but I recognized that gnome! Still multitasking a bit too much for his own good, but healthy as ever! I decided to confirm my findings and joined him on the ground. Indeed it is my former traveling companion. After a brief reunion, we decided to rejoin the group. After a brief discussion over the merits of torching all mushroom related buildings in the area versus covertly trying to gain more information about the operation, we decided to use the cover of night to sneak into the villa and see what we could find out (which sounds strangely what we had decided in the first place >_> )
The other gnome apparently was a scout of some skill, so we decided to split the work and investigate the manor as fast as we could. Some sort of social gathering was happening on the first floor which helped cover our approach into the interior of building. In the second floor office, we found some suspicious ties to this growing operation and the Scarlet Brotherhood. Having found what we came for, we left the poor souls to the mercy of "Lord" Diedrich and his mushroom laced dessert offerings.
After a hasty retreat, we returned to our camp and decided to return in the morning to see if we could get hired on to travel with a convoy to Greyhawk. I volunteered to take fourth watch and crawled onto my bedroll for some much needed sleep. I was woken for my watch and proceeded out into the brisk air. Strangely, my companions seemed to be sweating and thrashing in their sleep. Ragi asked to be woken if anything strange occured, so I ran to wake him as quick as my legs could carry me. Mission accomplished! I ran to wake our stolid dwarven Bae and experienced a feeling of having experienced this before.
Mushroom sprouting mirror monsters seem to monitor our movements. After another hectic battle, more mushroom goo was our only clue. At a loss of what to do, we decided that our best course lay in going to Greyhawk and seeing where these caravans would take us.
We arrived a little worse for wear and what followed I'm still trying to map out. It all happened so fast, journal! To summarize, Cal kicked in a door, threatened the boss and somehow secured the position of escorting the mushroom trucks (regional dialect for cart). After getting told to meet up with the smith, we exited and our favorite gnome wizard turned himself into "Lord" D and ordered Guard to run into the woods. Poor Guard. After finally making our way to the carts, I clambered up and waited. Rahmi walked off in the direction of the barn where we saw Fred yesterday, followed closely by gnome El. Some short time later, screams and smell (noxious fumes?) wafted towards me. Other group members went off to see what was going on and as they entered the barn...more shouting filled the air. Eventually we were rejoin and proceeded to head towards Greyhawk. I don't know about you journal, but I'm sure this time...everything is going to work out just fine.
