10/06/03 (Real world)

<Note: All text, except the heading, is written in a coded form of Draconic. Treasure and experience highlighted.>

IF THIS JOURNAL IS FOUND, THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL REWARD FOR ITS RETURN TO NEFNR, THE MEMORY ARTIST, IN THE CITY OF GAHANIS

To: Hanrel Tannison
Order of the Erdaenos Collectors
Library of Erdaenos
City of Erdaenos

From: Dain Lonair
Old Battlehome Fortress
Four Hours South of City of Gahanis

Re: Mission Report 3

Date: 12 Fifthmonth 1757, Part 2

The immense power and detail of this structure continue to amaze me, and I have gazed at wonders not seen in our land for hundreds of years. But, first, the battle.

Three goblins assaulted us. My prior theory, that these creatures inhabited only the caverns below, appears to have been in error. This only served to pique my interest even further into the purpose of these wicked things in such a hallowed fortress.

Roska quickly slew one with a well-placed arrow, while Gür and Snik charged into the room. The confusion of the battle blocked my view of exactly what happened, but I know that Snik injured one, and both he and Gür slew one while Roshka's arrows flew into the melee.

Desiring to question the foul things, I stabilized the injuries of one of them through great effort. My talents are many, but healing does not appear to be one of them. The creature remains alive, but he will not awaken for many days. I hope to return and question him later. Unfortunate indeed, that we could not capture one alive and awake. I want to know who, or what, they serve, and what they are doing here.

I found 10 silver pieces among the bodies, and decided to not take any more javelins for now. Snik, as always, broke what was not taken of the weapons, to prevent further use by our enemies who lurk about in the shadows.

We soon realized that this room was just next to the chandelier room we had spotted earlier, and I connected the sections in my mental map of the fortress and concluded that this part of the keep should now be empty. We therefore headed deeper into the complex.

Soon we came upon what was once a most impressive room. Here rose a massive throne, suitable for a rather large Giant. While the grandeur of the hall was somewhat dimmed by the amount of refuse, and a massive fissure traveling the length of the stone floor, the place was still awe-inspiring.

I searched through the rubbish, being as thorough as always despite how distasteful it might be, and made a discovery. I found 12 gold pieces and 13 silver pieces within, perhaps gathered there by some rodent, or hidden by the enemy.

On searching the remainder of the room, I was rather pleased to also find a small glass slipper, as if suitable for a spryte, hidden behind the throne. I was about to examine the treasure further, when lurking beasts surprised me!

Several giant rats, who had been hiding near the throne, leaped out at me. Snik jumped to my defense, wounding two but receiving himself a most serious gash. Finally, I reacted, slaying one with my sword, while Roshka's arrows flew into another.

To my surprise, Iyri swung her red staff into combat position, and beat the final rat soundly across it's head with a wet, smacking sound. All fell silent as the body of this final rat dropped, and even Iyri looked surprised at her skilled attack. I knew she had powerful magic within her, but I think I have underestimated this little woman's melee abilities.

A quick search of the remainder of the area turned up little. Two meeting rooms adjoined the throne room, but contained nothing now.

Snik's wounds, which appeared quite fierce but which he bravely, or foolishly, appeared to ignore, required further attention. After a brief discussion, we decided we should hole up for the night, and press on in the morning after some rest and healing.

Iyri bravely approached Snik, and laid her hands upon his wounds. Through tremendous effort that obviously drained her greatly of her own strength, she healed some of his wounds. Such a talent would appear to be rather useful to adventures such as this, and I watched closely her actions, attempting to memorize the spell for possible later use. I wish healing were not so needed. I fear I may have gotten in over my head in entering such a dangerous realm as this one.

Gür and I discussed the most defensible place within the fortress to rest, and we settled on the old barracks. Assisting Snik to a bed, we barred the door and settled down for a rest. Snik insisted he saw a ghost while traveling to the barracks, but none of the rest of us saw it. Whether it was a pain-induced delusion, or a real phantom, I do not pretend to know. Anything is possible.

Date: 13 Fifthmonth 1757, Part 1

After a good nights rest we awoke, somewhat refreshed. Nothing occurred in the night, despite our careful guard.

I offered some javelin booty to Sniktari, thinking he might need ranged weapons like I did, and he politely declined. To demonstrate his preparedness, he quickly whipped out a throwing axe and, before I could blink, had soundly flung it across the room and into the far wall. It would appear that Snik was better prepared than I for these dangerous environs.

We continued our journey southeast, passing an empty weapons room, and halted at a gruesome discovery.

Before us lay the body of a female Verrick, who I later discovered to be named Shema N'ralep. Snik peered careful at the remains, and determined that they were about 5 days old. It would appear Snik has some skill at such things. I wonder where he picked it up.

Shema appeared to have been eviscerated by some sort of animal, perhaps a carrion bird. A pool of dried blood trailed south, and further examination showed spots leading away to a nearby door.

On her body I also found a pouch which contained a love letter from someone named Jedreth Heros to Shema N'ralep. I made note of the name, and kept the pouch for myself, handing the love letter to Iyri for safe keeping.

Traveling to the nearby room that Shema seemed to have come from, we discovered a male human there, also dead. On his body was a backpack, though badly torn, containing 4 torches, 8 tindertwigs, 6 pints of oil, 25' of hemp rope, a blanket, a crowbar, and some thieves tools. I took the thieves tools, and the others split up the remainder for possible future use.

Perhaps this was Shema's love, Jedreth. And perhaps not. I laid the bodies next to each other in the room that Jedreth was discovered, and closed the door behind us. Hopefully we will have time later to report their deaths to the proper authorities or kin.

Close by we entered a room with a superb fresco. The wall depicted a pre-battle Giant ceremony. A search of the collective record informed me that this was a pre-battle ceremony used for mixed archer/footsoldier battle units, and intriguing though obscure thing to paint. The room otherwise did not contain any valuables.

Further on in the area we found a small room, with a recently used campfire and a pile of debris shoved to the side. This was the first sign on this level of the fortress of possible use by the bandits, though it could have just as easily been used by the goblins we keep encountering. Indeed, I am beginning to have my doubts that there are even bandits anywhere within the fortress.

We then came upon a room built apparently for low ranking officers housing. The room contained many cubicles, about 20 feet deep each, closed off only with a single curtain each. I was searching the cubicles, which all appeared empty, when suddenly we made a discovery of another sort.

A mad goblin attacked us. When I say mad, I do not mean angry, like all of the rest of the goblins we had encountered. I mean screaming, mouth foaming, raving lunatic mad! Roshka, ever quick with the arrows, slew the thing before most of us even knew what was happening. A search of his body turned up no clue as to why the creature had gone insane, and only turned up 4 silver pieces, and yet another mystery.

Moving on, we came to a hallway, about 70' long, which led to a 4-way intersection. On either side of the hallway was a door (to the north and south), and we entered the northern one.

The northern door led to an interesting prison. The room contained three jail cells. Two of the cells were barred by heavy doors with examination opening within them. I looked in these two, and saw nothing in one, and a skeleton in the middle cell.

The third door was intriguing indeed. It contained no examination opening, and was instead well covered in runes of a magical sort. I scrutinized the door intently, and determined only that the runes were magic.

Not wanting to trigger a trap by touching the door, I calmly decided that more information was crucial. Slowly, I entered the collective, delving deep into the recesses of the combined memories of all things. As always, the flashes of memory were disconcerting, and it took me a moment to focus on my objective. But then, there they were, these exact runes, being carved by an elderly Verrick into a steal door, somewhere far to the south, and some time long ago. But I knew what they were in that moment, as I knew the Verrick as if he were I - they were runes of sealing, set to lock a door against any and all entry. Powerful runes they were - set only to contain something of great power or wealth, or danger.

Intrigued, I tried to open the door by sheer force, but to no avail. Deciding to come back to this mystery, I moved back to the other, ordinary doors.

With the help of Gür, we pried open the empty cell with great difficulty. I entered, discovering nothing. However, before I could again exit, the door slammed shut of its own accord!

On careful examination I discovered a complex mechanism which automatically shut the door in such a manner, which was contained within the walls themselves, and reached unimaginable depths into the rock to either side of the door. Admiring the craftsmanship of these long dead Giant builders, I loudly asked for assistance from my friends on the other side of the door. Gür was able to easily open the cell, and I thanks him kindly and moved on to the center cell.

Entering the cell, I discovered a human-sized skeleton, long dead. On his body was some useless armor and a rotted sword. However, I did find a periodot ring, and an amber wedge.

Finally, we moved back to the magically sealed door. We all combined our efforts, and exerted tremendous strength in attempting to open the magically sealed cell. It gave a slight, ever so minor budge, but alas our effort failed.

My curiosity was overwhelming. Did this cell contain the lost relics I sought? Or was it some horrid creature that troubled even the Giants of old? I determined then and there to return, to discover what lie within. But not today.

We traveled now to the southern doorway in the outside hall. Inside I discovered a fresco of Giants warring with Dramojh, and made a mental note of the depiction. The doorway to the west contained the Giant runic symbol of power, but did not appear to be magical in nature.

Entering a connecting door, we found an astonishing place. Inside was a simple pedestal, a bench, and a massive, foreboding iron mask that felt full of strength and determination. Radiating away from the mask were many ceramic tiles.

I decided to sit on the pedestal, to better examine the mask, and suddenly fell into a magical void!

I do not know what happened in that moment, but all I recall is being awoken suddenly as if from a deep sleep. There was a momentary lapse in memories, and time appeared to have past.

I left the pedestal, disconcerted. However, Snik and Iyri decided to investigate it further.

When Iyri sat and starred at the mask, her eyes grew dim, and her breathing suddenly slowed. She starred, unmoving and unblinking, into the eyes of the mask.

Inspiration struck me, and I tested a theory. I asked Iyri why she had entered the keep, knowing full well the answer but curious to see if she would answer something she knew full well I knew. Slowly, mechanically, she answered me in a monotone voice. My suspicions were correct - the room was a magical interrogation room!

I wondered at the prospects. Here we could take our captives, and with ease force them to reveal the location of their fellow bandits and creatures. Here too we could force them to reveal the location of the book, and other secrets of the fortress.

I made a mental note of everything in the room, excited by the potential of such a place. We would surely be back here.

I reluctantly moved on, following the party as they traveled away down the corridor. East of the pedestal room we discovered another small room. Perhaps I was distracted by thoughts of the interrogation room, but I failed to detect the foul scent of nearby goblins, and their vicious fungal mist. Only once the door was opened did I detect the disgusting green mist that poured out. Charging from within the mists, several goblin creatures attacked.

Iyri, again demonstrating prowess with her red staff, slew one, while Gür killed another. No more exited, and their lair contained nothing else. On examining their bodies, I found that they were not really goblins...at least not any longer. Half of their bodies were consumed with the fungal infection we had observed below, in the caverns. During the battle, it must have been this fungus that had exuded green mists and gasses in our direction. Luckily, none of us were affected by the substance for long. It would appear brief exposure results in stunning, and nothing else. I took great care to get none of it on my hands or in my lungs. I do not know what could cause such a thing in these creatures, and I am not certain I wish to find out.

We passed a long passage heading east, and decided to leave that behind for now. Moving past, we explored the remainder of this section of the fortress, and I found a secret door that led back out to the main fort area.

Traveling east down a different corridor, we walked carefully into a room containing a huge mask. Touching the mask resulted in magical light flaring up down the corridor we had just walked, and war-like music springing into existence where earlier there was nothing but silence. The mask, and nearby door, appeared to be talking, chanting along with the music. What wonders this fortress holds!

As we moved along the nearby hallway, a sudden feeling of goodwill overcame us. Frescos decorated the walls depicting the war between the Giants and Dramojh. A fountain dominated the center of the room, flanked on either side by 5' tall, rune-covered pedestals. Further frescos here depicted the landing of Giants at Khorl, the battle of Rosewood, and Roo and Nanalor. Such scenes had not been glimpsed in hundreds of years! I made careful mental notes of the whole scene, hoping to duplicate the images later in drawings for the Order.

Several of us, feeling like we could trust this place, drank deeply from the water within the fountain. Snik said his vision got better on drinking, and I and several others started to glow. Feeling that such powerful magic would be useful later, we all took a waterskin full of the liquid.

We left this pleasing area, though perhaps we would return later to sleep there, liking the feelings it caused and protection rendered.

We returned to the eastern passage we had skipped earlier a great distance. At the end was a warning, carved in the door, which I determined was about 10 years old, and not ancient like the rest of the fortress. It said, in common, "Continue forth into unending passages and ye shall likely find yourself between midnight and death". An ominous warning indeed. We left, thinking that this was not the most pleasurable route to take.

We headed back south, to an eastern corridor we had missed earlier, and a four- way intersection. There was a hallway ending in a door which was quite scorched, however, oddly, the hallway seemed untouched by whatever scorched the door.

We backed off, and took a brief break to gather our thoughts and drink. I end this writing now, as we are about to approach the unscathed door. I truly hope our goals are near.

In the name, the word, and the symbol of the Order of the Erdaenos Collectors,

Dain Lonair, apprentice.

<Snik, Roshka and I all feel nauseous as we approach the door>

<601 experience points each party member>
<50 xp to Iryi as MVP>
<50 xp to Dain for the log>