Participants: Anath, Vanessa Landoriel, Delcan Bray, Blight, Guhdhag
Locations: Desert of Rydess, Clay Pit, Watchers' Tribe Village, Watchers' Holy Lands
Short summary:
Five adventurers go on an incredible journey of self-discovery to a clay pit in order to slay a necromancer.
Full report: Anath
Hello again! I am Anath the Deathspeaker, oracle and lately of the Portal Patrol. If you read my previous tale of our journey to claim the Clay Pit, you would know that things didn’t turn out so well. The necromantic Sculptor whooped our butts and took a piece of our champion Vanessa with him, intent upon evil shenanigans. Our fellowship disbanded afterwards, despite Vanessa making her escape. Vanessa and I were still intent upon besting the evildoer, and we required new compatriots in order to get revenge for the foul deeds committed.
Enter the new troupe. Through Vanessa’s high standing within the Order of the Forsaken Throne, she managed to leverage her connections to find a new band of adventurers to assist in our quest. Blight, Delcan, and Guhdhag answered her call to arms, and we began a new journey north as soon as Vanessa recovered from her ordeal.
We began from the west gate, moving north into a cold winter fog. As we progressed the obscuring weather grew oppressively - magically, even! - difficult to find our way through. It was at that moment when our first encounter began. We dispatched the monsters intent upon ambushing us with relatively little effort. I grew a lot stronger since my last adventure!
Not long after, we encountered a lone Unknown upon his reptilian mount. He went by the name of Koldi, and offered his services as a guide to bring us safely past the Watchers' Village and beyond to our destination. Our party accepted it readily, despite my misgivings. I wasn't going to be fooled by some grifter and be robbed or stabbed to be left in a ditch… but I guess there's no record of Kobolds having done that outside First Landing, so I went along with them.
I should mention that being an Oracle gives me insight to the words and deeds of my ancestors, and they watch over me even as I write this report. When I hear voices, I know that their spirits are never far from me. Around this time, however, I began to hear a new voice. This voice was mean and a jerk. They said rude things, and despite my attempts I was unable to determine their source. So I lived with it, until on a night of heavy snowfall when I was robbed in my tent!
When I awoke the following morning, I noticed a keepsake of my forebearers had gone missing. The mean voice told me that I would find it amongst the possessions of the Unknown Guhdhag. They were right! Was the Orc a thief? Did the voice know more than they let on? Was the true culprit our Kobold guide? I was stunned in to decision. My ancestors themselves were no help when I consulted them, and I was left with no reliable leads. The new members of our group implicitly trusted their comrade, but they could have been in on it too!
Regardless, the answer would have to wait. We reached our designated river crossing point later in the afternoon, and though it was unfrozen, it was also much-reduced in volume and current. The situation was complicated by the sudden reappearance of our nemesis from the first attempt to reach the Clay Pit - the Manticore! Something seemed off about the beast, as it appeared weak and sickly. Still, there was little time to speculate, as the source of the antagonistic voices in my mind chose that time to make its appearance. A troupe of imps unveiled themselves and beset the party, hoping for whatever reason to further ruin my day. Too bad they died like weaklings! The last one tried to make a run for it, but it too received a just punishment.
As for the Manticore, well, the winter was evidently not kind to the monster. We put an end to its misery and called it a day from there. Thankfully, the harassment upon me also ceased. We finished our river crossing without any further difficulty, despite the cold.
The rest of the journey passed uneventfully after we braved a blizzard that passed over the night. Koldi continued with his guidance, and we made good time reaching the Clay Pit. For Vanessa’s honor and the safety of this land’s inhabitants, we once again descended in to the Sculptor’s domain. New statues had joined the existing collection, and we faced more of his reanimated clay-guardian remains. They were no match, and yet as our foe found himself cornered we were betrayed! Koldi, the curious Kobold guide, had turned on Guhdhag and stuck him with a poisonous dagger.
All I can say to this development is that some cosmic force must have cursed our adventure. Even now, as I put our experiences in writing, I struggle to understand the unknowable motivations of Koldi. I had already warned him that I expected some sort of cunning betrayal, yet now I do not believe he had any such designs on his mind at the time. Still, with hatred in his heart he struck our Barbarian down. For Guhdhag’s part, I learned that he is a hard target to put down. He fought through the betrayal, and struck his betrayer down in turn. With the Kobold’s remaining strength, he clung to his reptilian mount and attempted to flee. Luckily, my Spiritual Weapon clocked him across the head and put him out cold.
That left the Sculptor and the remnants of his guardians - overmatched as he was, the foe had one last gambit to play: Vanessa’s doppleganger. What use is one finger against nine, you might ask! Well, it seemed that a pale imitation was no match for my friend. As we put the Sculptor to sword for his heinous crimes, Vanessa laid her facsimile out along with any doubts raised from her time spent held captive by the necromancer.
Koldi the betrayer still lived, and we brought him back from the brink.
Answers were due. Alas, none were forthcoming. Despite my restraint-tying skills, the Kobold managed to slip his bonds and end his own life rather than face justice in First Landing. All that remained was to demolish what remained of the sacrilegious display. The statues were all smashed, the necromantic Sculptor’s body was destroyed, and eventually we departed via Recallers. I retrieved a single artefact for study, the Sculptor’s cursed chisel. Still, like everything else surrounding our journey, it has provided more questions and scant few answers regarding what happened and why. I can’t help but feel that we’ve been changed by our experiences, for better or worse.
- Anath the Deathspeaker