Participants: Larian Vincke, Ghaspar Gagnon, Artur Firefist, and Robert Cross
Location: The Shorepines
Loose ends: Elemental moose capable of heavy destruction loose in the Shorepines, a mysterious creature conducting evil-motivated research
Short summary:
The party was pursuing a desire by Artur to find another electrically-charged elemental-Owlbear and harvest bio-material from it for study. The party headed south and was engaged by a Unknown who was there to supposedly complete a hit on Artur. The party continued to the Shorepines and found a cave where Owlbears might dwell. The party noticed a conglomerate of stones on the back wall, and broke it down to discover a creature's workshop, with research on nefarious tasks such as Alchemical Poisons, harvesting from Elementals, and torture methods. The owner was not found, but blood trails at the cave mouth were followed to come into contact with some sort of flame-empowered moose. The creature was distracted and the party escaped. After coming across some standard Owlbears, the party decided that the elemental Owlbear was unique and there was no sense in continuing.
Full report: Robert Cross
Diary and Notes of Dr. Robert Cross
A peculiar trip indeed. We left with the intention of finding another elementally charged Owlbear as Artur Firefist asked for. No luck for us on that front, just normal Owlbears. However, we found a bit more than that.
On our first day we encountered a Unknown with quite a temper. Demons never make good choices, and engaged us with haste, and then was dispatched just as quickly. We went down for a night of rest and rotated watches, no reasons not to trust them at this time. That Larian Vincke boy, is a good kid. It's a shame his kindness is liable to get him killed, potentially by me if I keep fumbling my surgeries like I did with him. Ha! A rare occurrence.
Waking up on our second day, the clouds foreshadowed a bad storm. We sought out a cave for cover as well as the chance of encountering an Owlbear. The first cave we came across had a large mouth and a shallow depth. A pool of blood sat at the entrance, but led away from the cave. I looked past the blood stains, and noticed an odd pattern on some stones on the back of the cave. It seems someone sealed it shut.
Larian and Ghaspar Gagnon were able to use their strength to pry open the entry, revealing a small and dingy room. A magical orb levitated in the center of the room. Investigation revealed no results, and so Artur dispelled the magic rather than risk harm. The room, clearly abandoned long ago, had only a desk with some papers on it. The remaining papers processed the titles of:
- Alchemical Poisons
- Fey Magic and side effects
- Electrical Experimentations
- Failed experiments
- Novice spellcasting
- Forms of Torture
A lovely researcher like myself. Although... I find torture slightly detestable. Creatures get so difficult to deal WITH, and are so annoying when subjected to immense pain. That's why I tend to drug my patients so they stop screaming.
Unfortunately, the paper on Electrical Experimentations yielded no results for a lead on an elementally charged Owlbear. Leaving the room, we chose to track the creature that left the blood pool. My keen eye led us to an unnaturally burnt patch of ground. We were quickly beset by a trio of land-bound birds who were angered by our presence. Larian and Ghaspar received some deep wounds from the creature, and we barely had a chance to breathe after removing their heads, before a great beast showed on the opposite end of the clearing.
A flaming moose strolled into the clearing, and we quickly made an attempt to hide. One of my compatriots must have alerted him, and he began to search for us. The ever useful mage, Artur, used a sound illusion to make the creature believe we were on the opposite end of the clearing, and we snuck off.
Being lost on options, we chose to follow some Owlbear travel paths, and came across a mother and her baby. Artur advised us that the previous Elemental Owlbear didn't show its power until attacked. The mother bear did not want to go down, obviously for protection of her child, and took two large pieces out of Larian and Ghaspar. After a tense period of back and forth attacks, we allowed the bear to retreat, as it showed no signs of elemental influence.
We decided that the Owlbear that Artur had killed previously must have been a unique creature, and henceforth recalled to First Landing. I really wonder who the creature that abandoned that cave is...
- Dr. Robert Cross