Tabitha,
I am not sure this note will get to you, but I scrawl it out with my shaking hand nonetheless. In the event that we die today, as it appears we very well might, I want you to know that it has been swell to be with you on these few short adventures. The trip into the swamp, where I delighted that huge crowd, was particularly fun for me.
Right now I am having less fun. I am terrified, honestly. My greatest fear has been realized. Mind flayers.
We are held up in an abandoned fish warehouse with mind flayers just outside the door. I don't think they are friendly. They just ripped some guys brain out. Inside the warehouse we face Bran Blackwood, who we have continued to learn is a very bad boy indeed. we visited two of the women in his life earlier today and neither had a kind word to say about him. His intentions are unclear in this moment, face to face with him, and for the second time today. The rest of the crew went and tracked Bran down at the the Blackwood Manor earlier and asked him some fairly useless questions. all I really got is that he was calm but weird.
According to Trench, who gave us the tip about Bran's whereabouts, Bran went from being very nervous to confident and calm. Best as we can put together, Bran made some huge deal, sold something or paid off a debt or something major that took pressure off of him. I think Barrett will kill him soon, if we don't get killed by the mind flayers first, but I don't know if that is the right thing. Certainly he's a flying asshole, Bran I mean.
Oh hey, I should also tell you of our great success at The Gauntlet!
The event drew quite a crowd of spectators (including Dhann) and a dozen or so competitors. We were to do our runs one by one. Well, the first few acrobatic feats required were rudimentary; Barrett, Elyana and I all sailed through those, as did two others in the field. Then it got more interesting. We remaining all found ourselves in an arena. beefy minotaurs starting coming out and there was attacking and the floor started shifting then later heating up, and platforms were raising and falling, all the while the crowd cheering me on, us, I mean. One idiot actually turned on us as we were fighting these minotaurs but he was quickly dispatched. Probably the most exciting parts were Barrett's thunderous Bo-whacks, my incredible backflip over a Minotaur with a double claw slice (for which I got an axe blade to my gut), and Elyana's my-stick-is-badder-than-yours Python staff chomps. The bottom line is that we were declared champions of the Gauntlet at the end. The bad news is that the prize was an offer to serve in Waterdeep's militia, which we probably should have read beforehand, and which may explain the paltry level of competition that showed up for the event in the first place. The crowd liked it and will add to the reputation of TS certainly.
Speaking of TS, I should give you an update in case we don't actually make it back. Elyana's brew is coming along extraordinarily well. It should be well settled by TS's opening. The hiring of staff and distribution of the changed benefit invitations is being expertly handled by Renaer Neverember . Everything there seems in order.
Even if you do end up with fewer roommates, I'd like you to keep Midnight out of my room because of my allergies.
I don't relish the thought of loosing my life or my mind in these next few moments. I hope that my physical skills and growing magical abilities will help us stay alive at least long enough to find out what the deal us with Bran.
Got to go, things are getting exciting here.
Best wishes for your continued health,
Z