Wayfarers of Veeshan

<fade in on Drexxell, sitting hunched over a scroll which is covered in dried blood and vaguely greenish stains...zoom in on the words being read>

"....and thus did Cedric Trallus refuse to impart on me this newly found Necromantic power, seeing no evidence of our fight with Innoruuk's spawn other than our dead and dying and the ichor covering our weapons. One day, I shall return to Stonebrunt and kill that rotten son of a fishmonger.

Glaxius Downheart, Necromancer of 45 seasons".

<Zoom in on Drexxell as he whispers to himself..."Stonebrunt, eh?">

<fade to black>
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<fade in to see a similar shot of Xandamir, sitting in a poshly decorated room in the Felwithe central library, holding a pristine scroll which almost glows. Zoom in on Xandamir's face as she whispers to herself ..."Stonebrunt...hmmm...">

<fade to black>
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<fade in to see yet a 3rd shot, this time of Talinoth, high up in the trees of Kelethin, poring over a scroll. Zoom in on Talinoth's face as a look of resolution comes over it. Slamming his ale mug to the table, he resolutely says to himself ..."We must get to Stonebrunt!">

<fade to black>

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<fade in to the main bank of the Plane of Knowledge as we see Xandamir, Drexxell, Talinoth and Thunderhart all about to speak>

Xandamir, Drexxell and Talinoth (at same time): "I think we should go to Stonebrunt Mountains...there's a new spell there I <b>must</b> have.

Thunderhart (shrugging): "I'm easy"

<fade to black>[/i]

Thus began the exploration of the furthest reaches of the continent of Odus and the Quest for the Lost Spells of Ykesha....

_________________
Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

Having concluded that some new magics were available to myself, Talinoth and Xandamir, we headed to Stonebrunt Mountains, where the news was most interesting. It seems that a new Island had been located off the southwest coast of Odus, something called "Broken Skull Rock", where the slime of Innoruuk were setting themselves up in a mining and smuggling operation. (Innoruuk may have followers in the dark arts, but my there are few that my Lord Bertoxxolous hates more than Innoruuk.) I received word of this from Cedric Trallus, and a challenge from him to bring back 2 "Luggald Organs" in exchange for newly discovered Necromantic magic he held. With that, we embarked on our journey.

It was a remarkably short trip to the Gulf of Gunthak, and the relative safety of a lighthouse near Broken Skull Rock. At that lighthouse, Xandamir and Talinoth both found wielders of secret magics who posed challenges to them as well. Xandamir to find word of a lost cleric "Alina Crystalia" or at least her "Deepwater Emblem", and Talinoth to retrieve the Holy Symbols of Karana and Tunare, stolen by the Trolls of Broken Skull Rock.

Our first foray was an unmitigated disaster. How many times did we all find ourselves overwhelmed, unconscious, and about to walk down the hill of shadow and cross over the stone wall that surrounds the living world from the dead...only to hear the sweet voice of Xandamir, calling us back? Too many to count. Shamefully, our party experienced the first total party wipeout since a mishap back in the Tower of Frozen Shadow, so long ago...

We bound our wounds and camped for the night. The next day, we collected our wits and using the knowledge gained by our previous days folly, we tightened our belts, crossed the water from lighthouse to the beach of Gunthak, and cautiously fought our way past the waterlogged zombies and oddly formed animals of this strange island. Living flowers, so beautiful and deadly...giant half-lizard half-dogs, all covered with filth, trolls head and shoulders above any of that race we'd ever seen. We took them all down, learning their ways, honing our skills. But then, something new arrived.

Cloaked in black, half-floating along, looking like a cross between an Iksar and some incorporeal wraith....this could only be one of the "Luggalds" about which we had been warned.

This creature was a spellbinder of some sort, but proved to be mortal enough after all, falling to the beating and cutting inflicted upon it by the most noble warrior, Thunderhart.

Following the hastily drawn map we had through the caves of Gunthak, we found ourselves face to face with a small town of Luggalds and Trolls set against the entrance to Dulak's Harbor, our ultimate goal. It didn't take an arch-mage to realize that discretion would be the better part of valor here. Talinoth camoflaged us, and we bypassed the town, sneaking quickly into Dulak Harbor. A few quick fights, and a brief bit of time to sketch our maps, and we were done for the night. Dockworkers of all types, human, Tier'Dal and troll all came looking for a fight. Realizing we were too tired to properly search for our quest items, we headed back to the lighthouse and decided that next time, Dulak Harbor would be our personal playground.

_________________
Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

<From the continuing scrolls sent to WoV headquarters from Drexxell>

Third times the charm, so the saying goes. Well, though we didn't find any of the mysterious "Charms" yet, we had incredible success on our last trip to distant Broken Skull Rock.

Having learned our way around the Gulf of Gunthak sufficiently, we were all eager to get through the beach, caves and harbor town and get directly to Dulak's Harbor itself. I swear, I sometimes feel half-rogue the way we sneak around, but "better invisible, than dead" is a good motto. I leave foolish bravery and honorable death to the paladins of this world.

Bypassing the myriad creatures of Gunthak, we found ourselves in the wharves of Dulak's Harbor. Never has such an array of scum and degenerates been brought together in one place. If they weren't all allied to Innoruuk, I might almost enjoy this place. But I digress. We had been tipped off that the majority of Luggalds who ran this smuggling operation kept to themselves in a dank cavern hidden off the wharves. Some judicious searching by Xandamir and we were soon in the antechamber. Guards were posted, but were no match for the whirling blades and occasional chest kicks dealt by Thunderhart. We moved deeper...my sources hadn't lied, and we soon found a side chamber filled with a variety of Luggald scum. Xandamir stood forward, and calmed these creatures, Pacifying them with words of Tunare. Mutely they stood, weapons limp in their arms, until one by one, they awoke to the steely bite of an arrowhead to the chest, expertly shot from Thunderhart on our overlook of the cavern. One by one, they rushed toward us, and one by one they fell. It was extremely gratifying work, and I murmured my own prayers of thanks to Bertoxxulous as these vermin gave up the ghost.

And, of course, my Visceral Dagger lived up to its name as I ceremonially carved into the bowels of each Luggald. It took but one hour for me to find two pristine versions of for which I knew I would be rewarded by Cedric Trallus.

My own success being a sure thing, we then moved silently and invisibly back out of this stinking hole in the ground, up to the stinking air of the wharf. Unwashed trolls and dead fish sent their reek through the air, but we were undeterred. As we huddled in a safe corner of a warehouse, planning our next move we were thrilled to hear the soft familiar voice of Tanliel approaching! With great joy, we added the talented Soprano (or is he an Alto?) to the mix, and knew that further success would come our way this day!

Five vessels were docked here, and Xandmir knew that likely one of them held the very villain who had slain Alina Crystalia and stolen her Deepwater Emblem. Picking the middle ship, we boarded stealthily and then laid into the crew with spell, song and steel! This was good, bloody work, and while the trolls fought well, they nonetheless could not match the skill of determined Wayfarers.

I was designated to pick up the loot of the fallen, and was surprised when, upon reaching into the pocket of one smuggler I found a Diamond! Now, having never seen one except under the glass of most jewelry merchants, you can imagine my surprise that such a treasure was carried by a mere smuggler! If that weren't enough, a 2nd Diamond, a Fire Emerald and a Sapphire had all been found over the course of our fights. What treasure these yokels carried!

And treasure indeed....for about an hour into our taking over the ship, it was in a hidden pocket of a smuggler that I saw what could only be the holy . Fearing to touch it, I left the thing for Xandamir to pick up.

Rousing success! Two of our number had found what we sought, and treasure we had never seen before was now in our hands. We fought and stumbled our way back to the Stonebrunt mountains, where I dealt with Cedric Trallus and was rewarded with .

Our next foray will finish Xandamir's quest and hopefully find Talinoth successful as well.

The treasure of Dulak is worth staying in this region...and we heartily invite all Wayfarers to join us in our further hunts.

Drexxell

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Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

Overlooking the stormy waters of the Gulf of Gunthak stood Millius Darkwater, brooding. We watched as Xandamir approached him, and presented the Deepwater Emblem. He bowed his head quietly as his eyes brought recognition to his mind. "Alina at least has met a bitter end. Her spirit surely lingers nearby. Find her and free her from her burden, Xandamir. Her quest goes unfinished."

Nodding solemnly, Xandamir led us across the surging waves to the death-haunted beach of Gunthak. There, with little ceremony, we had at the filthy creatures haunting the beach. The mixture of rotting fish and rotting flesh was pleasant, and waterlogged zombies make a nauseating "squish" when cleaved in two, but this wasn't a pleasure trip. We had a job to do, and set about clearing a wide area of the beach, claiming it as our own. Skeletons, Troll Zombies and deranged castaways all met their end through spell and sword. After 30 minutes of this play, a nearly translucent spirit rose from the sand and Xandamir spoke to her, giving her the Emblem from Millius. Her spirit freed, she smiled and went to her final rest, leaving a small scroll in the sand. Xandamir picked it up, and then closed her eyes, meditating upon the words written therein.

When she stood back up, a wide smile was on her face. "Who needs ?", she asked. Her smile was contagious, and after a brief celebration we set our sights on Dulak again, where Talinoth's quest for the Waters of Healing remained to be completed.....

_________________
Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

I swear, I'll never eat fish again...the smell of it permeates every pore of my body after our weeks spent upon Broken Skull Island...but our efforts were not in vain...

In back to back acts of daring bravado, the little rag-tag band of expert treasure hunters have infiltrated the warehouses of Dulak's harbor, and laid waste to the scurvy scoundrels therein. Our first time was touch and go: after running invisibly from the lighthouse of Gunthak all the way into a corner of a Dulak warehouse, we caught our breath, and then Xandamir stepped from the shadows, singing a pacifying prayer to Tunare while I summoned a mildewed pet and Thunderhart sharpened his blade. The storage workers, treasure sorters and other dregs stood there, tools held limply in their hands until awoken one by one by a little gift sent from Thunderhart's bow. Our initial timidity gone, we cleared them out and made the warehouse our home base, waiting for others to arrive, and systematically laying waste to them. Treasure fell, and eventually we found what Talinoth sought: The Golden Emblem of Tunare! He was halfway there! Tired, but encouraged, we snuck out, stacking the bodies in a dark corner, to return later....

The return trip came soon after our first foray, only this time, our hearts were gladdened to have our brother Tanliel join us in the hunt. As impressive as necromantic powers be, these bardlings have power unguessed, as I soon learned: His voice rang out clear and crisp, and we found ourselves levitating, invisible and running at a speed that would make a spirited wolf seem like a slow crawl! Re-infiltrating the same warehouse, we found work as usual, the corpses we'd left behind cleared away and nobody the wiser. Careful not to mess with a good thing, we soon had the warehouse held as our own, and even stepped up the bravado by reaching outside and pulling guards in to "have a little chat"

Our bravado was repaid in both blood and joy as one of our scuffles with a guard drew the attention of warehouse employees returning to work and soon even Tanliel's mesmerizing tunes could not hold them off (hurt in no small part by my own over-anxious use of time-delayed pain spells on multiple targets). Before we saw what happened, our intrepid Talinoth lay dead at our feet. Enraged, we devastated the remaining employees with ferocious speed and Xandamir was soon praying for Tunare to return Talinoth to the fold. Tunare granted Xanda's prayer, and soon Talinoth was equipped, grim, and determined. And that is when the joy came, as soon thereafter his luck changed. Upon searching the pockets of the next treasure sorter to fall upon the blades of Tanliel and Thunderart, we found The Golden Emblem of Karana!

Panting at our recent exertions, we agreed that time was ripe to hasten our departure. Talinoth soon had us back at the lighthouse of Gunthak, and he approached Nolwik Barquin and knelt before him, presenting the two emblems. With undisguised glee, Nolwik took the emblems and praised Talinoth with great praise, and eagerly handed him a scroll in thanks.

"Thank you", spoke Talinoth, "for this will be most useful in days to come".

_________________
Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress