Lucina,
When I wrote that the circumstances made delivering letters far more difficult, I was sorely mistaken. This was absolutely the worst circumstance of letter delivery I’ve had. I have not yet checked on what day it is, my perception of the time of this ordeal felt skewed. After everything that was the jungle, almost immediately we were contacted about the Stone Thief: A Living Dungeon, gigantic, travels through the ground, and always hungry. Its craving was for a windmill, a Priestess involved windmill to be exact.
We arrived at the town which contained the building in question. We arrived a few moments before the beast which gave us time to warn the townsfolk. They didn’t listen, and only once Lucian used some “holy power” to glow brightly did they come around. Orcs rose from the crevices as the ground itself fractured like the minds of those unfamiliar in demonic rituals. Not that you would find me aware of those. The villagers that were not brought out were swiftly rescued by us before the found collapsed into the Stone Thief’s awaiting maw.
Of course, we had to rescue this useless building. Why, you may ask? Hard to state, as I had zero interest in paying attention to this building past that it is a windmill. It was confirmed by the end of this dreadful journey that the Stone Thief could have incorporated it and become stronger from it. I will state the details as we progressed however; in an abridged fashion.
We descended, met a talking statue door. Calia forcibly thrust her thick statue into its mouth as we watched the door swallow it. She made far too much of an issue out of this encounter; I feel it only fair you are told of this so if you ever meet her you can remind her. There was a swamp, which included a Hydra. Thankfully, running was an effective option. At this point I changed out my armour. There was an old museum that was devoured by the Stone Thief of the Empire’s, the skeletal remains of a dragon were missing.
We found a familiar sight in our journey as well. The old ruins in the Jungle were eaten at some point after we went through them. After a trap involving enough heat that made those of us wearing armour regret everything we broke through the door and directly into the forge from before where we acquired the… I’m still not certain. Only this time we had two smiths. They forged weapons. Each weapon was designed specifically for one of us.
Several of us almost fell, one of us did. The battle ended, and Calia was frustrated, her shield was not particularly effective against such weapons. At the same time, the forge gave all of us unique gifts. I use unique loosely, as all it did was grant my cane beautiful new eyes. After coaxing and a failed attempt to encourage the discouraged shieldbearer on my part, we stood tall and marched forward. We stumbled upon someone surviving within the Stone Thief. A self proclaimed vampire, though my suspicion is that it was a mind holding itself together through lying to oneself. In a fit of ingenuity Lucian used his invisible chain and talk of the priestess to “cure” Verlon. I recall he told us of our next threat. You’ll be surprised.
An invisible walled maze with a Medusa in the direct center. Lucian asked if he should take the shot. I told him to do so if he had a death wish. Apparently he did not take this statement well, but they were not attacking us and we had not even surveyed our surroundings yet. There was a secret passageway I wished to use for all of us, though Razza, the lizard from before I mentioned, and the Dame did use it. As I went to investigate the final pathway is when Lucian shot. The remainder of us rushed forward and into this maze. The Medusa had special arrows to utilize which penetrated the invisible walls. Despite his eagerness to shoot first, he was clever enough to utilize her own arrows against her. Harpies assaulted us, Calia convinced them to aid us in the battle. Truthfully it feels that my diplomatic side has fallen. My wisecracks have fallen short lately in hindsight. I should cease my rambling for my journal, where it will be found on my corpse with the remainder of my regrets.
Razza somehow got to the end of the maze and then snuck up behind the Medusa before assaulting it heavily. After defeating them, and Harpies killed themselves with poison we moved on. Directly into a room with a Minotaur. We began to sneak past… and Lucian was smashed into the wall. I could feel the natural brimstone touched magic flourish in me for a moment. The rocks stunned the Minotaur and we escaped the room during this time. Shockingly enough there was a secret passage that Lucian snuck away into.
Inside of the secret passage was actually a Tiefling. He introduced himself as Bartholomew, he was a cleric of some god. Hiding away in the secret passages aiding travelers that delve into the Stone Thief. Seemingly a nice individual though they did seem interested in getting to know me closer, I have little interest in those that are religious in itself. Not to mention those that are… of that regard. More thoughts for my journal and not this letter. Either way, they shared no interest in seemingly actually leaving.
We traveled further onward and into a library. We found some nice books before we were assaulted by a talking stone face known as the Mad Butcher. It appears that every level has one of these living faces as its overall operator. We began a battle against them, before the final blow was struck he tore open a hole in the floor and dropped us down, where the Architect is the law. We’ll find a way back and finish him off eventually.
After a lengthy slide down, we landed in a surprisingly peaceful area. A welcome break for all of us I imagine. We set up our camp and we all went to our usual methods of recovering or generally refocusing our minds. My journal has at least three pages devoted to this living dungeon alone. With one devoted to a specific event alone. I think it is safe to say this was the tipping point where things began to shift from our side to the Stone Thief.
I began by collecting five sticks, my blade made quick work of slicing the bark off and the flames crackled to cleanse the wood. I noticed some old symbols, ones that I recognized from my fa- old friends. The Stone Thief I believe ate the remnants of what was left after the Crusader. It was food supplies however, supplies that I believe helped keep our morale up. Peppers, steak I believe. Cooked together upon the skewers I prepared for a simplistic but delicious taste. There was a special flower I saw and added to Razza’s meal. I wasn’t sure what it did, but I remember seeing it in the book I just got. I’m still not positive on what it does. I’m glad I managed to at least have them enjoy it. Razza particularly enjoyed it, I’m not sure I saw him discard the stick though.
With meals finished, it was time to push onward. The path felt natural, not something that was forged into connecting together. As we pushed onward, we saw a sacrifice for some form of blood magic. There were slaves, one being used as a human shield. Lucian took an unnecessarily close shot, but managed to kill the slave driver. The blood mage blasted Calia with all the blood they collected, which was only mildly panic inducing, once I saw her start moving again that is. Following a path, we saw some slaves get pulled away. Too risky of a shot for Lucian and he’s likely our best shot. Even if I had a marksman to call upon I would not advise such a shot.
The slaves we did rescue were… thankful, in a way. One of them, Ganny, specifically requested that we help rescue the other slaves. All one hundred of them. The others were ready to abandon them and focus entirely on just the windmill we came here to rescue. I was… angry, admittedly. I went into Legislaceration to protect others, and they insisted that we would return with an army. As if the orcs wouldn’t just find our army quickly and prepare an ambush to get a whole batch of slaves… or protect them. A small squad would likely be best to rescue the most, as I imagine they’d slaughter the slaves at the sight of an army than let us get them.
Unfortunately with no ready evacuation route they… convinced me to go for the windmill. I’m not happy about it, but on the way towards the windmill we at least rescued some slaves along the way. We also stumbled into something that you would need to see to understand in its entirety. Some living creature… yet not living. Reminiscent as that of an enchanted weapon given full capability of personality. Razza somehow found three researchers that are off planet like him? I don’t intend to claim that I understand, their clothes shifted before our eyes. I was not one to question. We bought some new enchanted gear from a strange merchant and continued on.
We reached what seemed an entire city within the Stone Thief. There were demons, judging by the brighter than normal glow of Calia’s tattoo. More importantly was… the Manticore. We split into two groups. Lucian and Grizz defended the slaves and went off on their own path. The Dame was in between us, and Razza… heeded no actual interest in our strategic choices as always. I split off with Calia, so as to ensure she avoids trouble. I turned to see Lucian and Calia pincering the manticore, with Razza inside the building next to it. I’m not sure how these events came to be.
We were striking it powerfully, and it ran past me, Calia, and Razza. Two of us missed. If we… if I guided her hand… if she… it bursted through a wall. I heard screams. We rushed to the entrance of where that area was. Lucian made it before me. Eight of the slaves were dead. I told Lucian that I thought he was supposed to protect them. If I could take back one moment, this would be my second option. If I was just slightly more demanding of Calia, or if she granted me insight of the immediate future they would still be standing.
There was a dragon; it took the corpse of the manticore for food. The next statement is speculation that I’m not sure of the validity. I believe the missing skeleton from the museum was used as a framework with dead thunder beasts. It didn’t look correct bodily. Either way, I’m glad it chose a free meal than fighting us during that.
We descended further down. We finally reached the Windmill. The Architect was attempting to unravel the protection spells around the building. Calia offered to assist, in some fashion. Judging by what I saw, it was some ritual to further enforce the protection. Dark gods and bright gods mixing together is inherently tricky. Not that I appreciate either side, mind you. Her trick seems to have worked though and kept the Windmill safe. Then it became time to start fighting.
Lucian went feral. Something in his eyes in the brief time I saw him in that battle wasn’t the same. It took far too long, and this stomach wall thing finally took enough stab wounds to eject us, the windmill, and plenty of other garbage out. I’ve never been so glad to be free. We’re currently on the road to Santa Cora. Hopefully with a bath in store before the next struggle.
Judging as always (and tired), Leanne.