Redwood & Cherry.

Equipment, a part.

Dear Journal,

... as i planned, i bought a lighter crossbow, from an elf - Alvaniel.

for now it's only well-made cherry, but once she has redwood - i am first on the list.

as a part of a deal, she will buy-back cherry crossbow as she will sell me redwood one.

... she also added some cherry-bolts tipped with steel, including a quiver of sixty exceptionally well made.

it's not only special bolts i carry, for there are 'fletchette' bolts - useful against evil humans & drow elves mostly.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, Adventuress.

P.S. Crossbow & bolts cost me 1200 gold pieces so far.

P.S.S. ... i carry a crossbow for saving spells when lesser foes are met ... with a 'Flaming Weapon' spells it's a quick work usually.




X-Bow.




Well-Made Bolts.




'Fletchette' Bolts.

Funeral.

Lisa's Funeral.

Dear Journal,

There was one of Peltarch Guards that stood out from the ranks of the rest.

Her name was Lisa Braithwaite, 'till recent i saw her patrolling Peltarch's streets despite her old age, wielding her trusty spear.

Today i saw a sarcophagus & entourge before Peltarch's Town Hall ...

... was informed that while she passed away for good, she won't be quickly forgotten.

... i'll meditate for a while & speak proper mantras for Lisa's better rebirth.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, Cerulean Star 2nd & a Seeker of Enlightened Energies.

Chirade, Insane Elf-Mage.

Art-talk.

Dear Journal,

Before i go about details about what happened this evening, i'll write about Chirade, Insane Elven Mage & his victims.

There were traces about the City with letters signed 'C' that invited certain people for a meeting ... 'then they were whisked away using great magical powers'.

There were rumours of Chirade, Insane Elf Arcanist being behind all of this ... it's victims captured & tortured included Elvadriel & Anna Blake.

One of his strongholds was in Rashamen, in a town where everyone seemed 'acting odd ... listless, dejected, delusional' as Anna put. Strange candles enthralled people, victims were held captive by criminals & Mask's priests ... town was freed by Anna Blake, as she cut down all the candles & fought the opposition with Mind-wards present to prevent sanity loss.

At this point Cerulean Star 3rd, named Tristyn, took upon a mission of finding Chirade using his own magical aptitude ... he coordinated search efforts.

Then Tristyn vanished for days as well.

Dear Journal,

This evening i met Isolde, a beautiful bard of Peltarch it seems ... we talked about art's importance.

Art makes people behave & communicate better, makes them join their minds & words across time & space.

As spectator could see a paint hundreds of years before, another in our times can do so as well, feeling the same.

She complimented my new Scrying Chalice as well.

Then we were interrupted by strange 'tear' in space, a hole in air appeared, people escaped through it - chased by shadowy figures with purple eyes ... who tried to grab them back into the rift.

Isolde closed to heal their serious wounds, i helped to carry Elvadriel away from shadows who tried to take her back.

Then we noticed Tristyn ... it seems they recovered him from Demiplane of Shadows where he was held captive & tortured. They said that three other victims bound to the same 'torture contraption' were killed as adventurers tried to figure out a way to set them free.

i've checked Tristyn's pulse ... barely alive.

Then guards appeared & ordered him in Gaol, into a cell ... on Captain Talbot's orders.

Perhaps his mind was twisted as he was tortured, i don't know.

Perhaps will learn more, as investigation proceeds.

Yours, Chea Allin, Cerulean Star 2nd.




'Tear'.




Adventurers & Tristyn.




Captain Talbot.

Shadows of The N'Jast War.

Dear Journal,

A few of people gathered in the Peltarch Commons, including one of the most charismatic, famous, powerful & accomplished Adventurers of Narfell, Raryldor Siamytherelin, Elven Priest of Corellon Larethian.

Talk was nice, i complimented him watching over the cats & other animals ... then young man came asking him of the Narfell's Past.

We went south to Jiyyd, to hear the tale & to see it's results with our own senses.

In short words:

This started with Kara Du'Monte, the former Paladin of Kelemvor who fell from God's grace & became the Vile Blackguard ... She led N'Jast's army to Peltarch, seizing the Jiyyd as army went onwards through that route.

Army proven unstoppable by Narfell's forces ... but then suspicious 'Ally' appeared. 'Cogg', so-called 'Agent of Neutrality' offered a 'Weapon that would End the War'.

Three Heroes of the time: General Grag of the Troff Legion, Kenton Seth - the Spellsword Cerulean Knight Leader & member of the Spellweaver Keep as well as Raryldor himself teleported in midst of the N'Jast Army ... then General Grag hurled the Weapon, 'Black Egg', into the nearby Lake.

'Black Egg' turned to be Powerful Portal Device that opened th Gate to the Lower Planes, attracting many Fiends (Demons) that quickly demolished N'Jast Army, scattered it's remains & sent them fleeing. War with N'Jast threat ended indeed, Peltarch was saved, but at the great price. Now demons of the Lower Planes of Hells threatened to take over Narfell instead.

Adventurers looked for solution to the new Threat, it was Druid Circle who concocted the Spell-Ritual that contained the Outsiders in now-ruined Jiyyd-Battlefield. Resulting Barrier prevents Outsiders from leaving this area still, if i am not wrong.

We explored Jiyyd Ruins, defeating minor Quasit demons on our way, paid a visit to the Ruined Legion Fort, Dwarven Temple as well.

We noted existence of tunnels leading into the underdark inhabited with aggressive fiend-twisted-dwarves & more monsters onward. We didn't take chances with them.

On our way back, however we did hear two beast-yells from east, from where we came. Rushing to check, we noticed two powerful Outsider-Beasts, Devil & Demon, Pit Fiend & Balor. We had a glimpse of the Blood War, the War between Devils & Demons spanning across the many Planes of Existence.

Young man stupidly charged them, then one of Balor's spells killed him quickly on the spot.

Not willing to leave body to twist & rot, Raryldor engaged Balor, defeated him, even if it was Pit Fiend who dealt the killing blow.

Battle lasted for a while, i took a glimpse of that ... while the desperate wounded Demon hunted for my life-energy, trying to dispel invisibility spell i protected myself with.

With Balor defeated, Pit Fiend Fled ... probably because Demons still had upper-hand in this old battle-field.

We recovered the body & went west to Kelemvor's Temple, where Raryldor brought young man back to life & gave him a reprimend for his stupidity as i've averted my eyes to not look at naked dead body of this foolish man.

I've decided to recover & recollect in the Temple, meditating there for a while.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, an Adventuress, a Witch & a Seeker of Enlightened Energies.



Dwarven Temple of Jiyyd.




Tunnel.




A glimpse of the Blood War.




Corpse.




Kelemvor's Temple.




Resurrection.




A Reprimend.

River Pirates.

A Black-Sailed ship.


Dear Journal,

We (Priestess of Chauntea named Anna Blake, Warrior named Fodel & i, Chea Allin) were heading south to find adventure & adventure found us instead.

During a Riverboat travel we saw Black Sailed pirate ship approaching us ...

... but perhaps i'll attach a page with transcript of Peltarch Defender scribe's, with Anna's Report & comments.

---

While working on the fields, she would even invite one of her commanding officers as well, wanting to give them an oral report of what transpired, when it came time for the great feast at the end of the tenday evening, Anna would recollect the story of how the brave and mighty hero of the fields Fodel, the amazing witch Chea, and herself managed to save a young girl that had been kidnapped from Peltarch!

'We were heading down to Norwick with the Riverboat to offer a blessing to the land on my day off, and help them deal with some of the nasty undead riffraff. As we were getting nearer and nearer, there was a large pirate ship that had ambushed us at the crevas where I had once traveled to fight the undead Eastlanders!'

'Well, they managed to catch up to the Riverboat quickly, and had offered us the ultimatum to surrender!'

Anna would grin!

'Us, surrender? You think we'd surrender to pirates? No way! With Chauntea's gift, I summoned a very big fire elemental on their ship, and told them to sail away and back off or there will be trouble, threatening to burn it down! Well... suffice to say, they didn't like that! So, before I could get a chance to burn the villain down, many nasty pirates emerged, all servants of the evil sea queen! They might notice that she refrains from cussing at this point with possible children present! The amazing ally and witch Chea offered us some protections in turn, and then turned invisible, to watch us fromt he shadows with her mystic magic powers!'

'One by one, they were cut down! I held them off, while Fodel with his mighty scythe fell them, one by one, meanwhile Chea did a valiant job healing us in turn, as these brutes were very nasty!. Their archers in turn then came out and began shooting us! But, from a previous adventure, I got this neat magic wand and ZAP, they started shooting each other instead! Then, with a mighty leap, Fodel jumped over and kicked their butts! Hearing voices from their door leading down below, including a girl crying, Fodel heard a little girl crying.'

Anna would drum her fingers over the table, as if creeping down the stairs then.

'From there, we went down and we knew then and there we had someone to save. We saw some trip wires, but Chea managed to disable them with her magic! The pirates weren't too happy though, and again, we offered them a chance for mercy, but they refused to comply! Fodel had enough of their rubbish and charged in bravely, like shepherd protecting his flock from wolves, knowing that if he failed the little girl could not be saved, he brought them down one by one! We had checked the chest to see if the girl might have had been trapped inside, but instead we pirated the pirates, taking their coin! The next room following, Chea managed to stop the traps again!'

A look of concern visible on her face though.

'These men were different though, powerful priests of Umberlee, they summoned powerful elementals that almost took us down, and lightning from the sky (through a ship-window)! We barely managed to beat 'em, but defeat them we did! Healing up with potions, very few blessings left on my part as we were going to Norwick to pray, we drank many-a-potion to gather our bearings. This door though was quite durable so I turned into a celestial beast of burden Chauntea herself had granted me the form to, and MOOOOO! Headbutted the heck out of that door, smashing it down!'

She puts fingers to her head, making horns and does a charging gesture!

'Bonk! Door smashed open, we went down, and we finally caught up to their boss... and the girl in a cage behind her. With a flaming crossbow in one hand and sword in the other, he was terrified! I could tell he didn't want to die with how scared he was, but he also had it set up so the ship would blow if he had no choice. Well... no blessings from Chauntea left, we had to rely on our wits! He aimed the crossbow at the girl, but with a greatsword in his other hand, even if point blank, we knew that we had to do something to disrupt his concentration! I told him I would let him go, and write him a document saying he would be free to leave as I pulled out parchment... well...'

She would grin and take the nearest person under her arm, then cover his eyes.

'It was a scroll of darkness, lights went out!' She'd grin and give the person she grabbed a small hug, then let them go. Fodel shouted for the girl to duck, but at that point he dropped his crossbow, so startled that we charged in. Once the lights came back on though, he reached for it again as it fell on the floor, but I stomped the flame out! This fellow was really, REALLY tough, and it took us both a potion of Heal and what little of Chauntea's might left I could muster to bring him down. But down he fell! We took his key then, let little Anna out!'

Anna giggles, and grins! A look of pride and accomplishment glowing about her!

'Yup, she had the same name as me! Well, anyway, covering her eyes so she wouldn't see the mess of dead pirate baddies, Chea carried her out, Fodel and I exhausted and worn, we made our way back on deck. Then, at this point, we decided to out-pirate the pirates, and took their whole ship! Its now docked up north, crown property! We're having the pirates cremated so they don't come back as undead water zombies! And best of all, we brought little Anna back to her father! Though its bittersweet that the guard had fallen, he will be remembered as a hero who did his best to protect little Anna! All said and done, overall, it was a pretty fun journey!'

Anna would inform her superior she would document this in writing, perhaps with a little less enthusiasm if he wished, but does reaffirm that all that had transpired was truth, and that order had been restored once more to the river valley.

--
Author's note: Transcript's credits to Mooncandies, a Narfell player of Anna Blake's character among others & author of the above text-part. Blog's author did a few of small edits so it's better language even for small kids.
--


Dear Journal,

... this trip was very potion-expensive, i've used up my 'Medal of Valour' till it crumbled & vanished as well .... but seeing girl free and happy made it well worth.

we captured Pirate Ship too, makes for a good tale ... perhaps will add to Rank advance arguments for future in Peltarch too.

Peltarch Sea-Forces will make a good use of it as well.

there were rewards:
- a 'Ring of Scholars' (recovered from pirates' hands),
- a 'Potion of Heal' (reward from Evandar Valvick, girl's dad),
- a lot of boat-tickets from Cpt. Sticks - a reward of gratitude for protecting his Riverboat,
- a little over 600 gp (recovered from pirates' chests).

... other items are either in other adventurers' hands, or kept by Anna Blake for sale; perhaps there will be more of gold-coins for selling these as well.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, an Adventuress & a Cerulean Star 2nd.




Ultimatum.




After Deck-Fight,

Ship-holes were mended with Anna's Magic.



Interiors.




A Polymorph Self in use,

An ox-beast to ram the doors.




Girl.




Darkness.




Rescued.




Dad.




A 'Ring of Scholars'.

Past the Kobolds' Swamps.

Meet.


Dear Journal,

... with Elvadriel & my new acquanitance - adventurer named 'Soros', A Hunter & Warrior, we have looked for typical trouble & adventuring rewards.

We've met at the 'Crossroads' in the Nars Pass, talked for a while & played with Elva's 'Eyeball' familiar the game of 'fetch the gem'.

Then we went North to Swamps near Peltarch, to the Kobold Cave, to the Lizardlands & past these both - to the Near' Troll Bogs.

It was a rather long exploration trip with not so great spoils ... still better than nothing, of course.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, an Adventuress & a Witch.

P.S. My 'Hold Person' a Spell proved very useful against the 'Tougher of Lizards' as well.

P.S.S. i didn't attempt to find Nade, for such trips are too dangerous for her.

P.S.S.S. During this a trip, i've learned a new & quite nasty trick for the Arcane Healing. ... just summon a weak evil being, then cast 'Vampiric Touch' spell on it. Even if it's killed, the nature of 'Summon' spells makes it's body reform mostly unharmed in a day or so - in it's home 'Plane of Existence'.




Play.




Kobolds.




A rest & meditation for spells.




Lizards' Cave.




... inside.




Fighting Lizards.




Worthy.




Dead, Reflecting.




Boat.




Recovery.




Invisibility & Warning.




Held.




Troll Shaman.




Expenses.




... back at the 'Mermaid'.

Too Much.

Dear Journal,

... a woman should not carry a lot of weight in equipment, it is very tiring.

i had this issue recently, couldn't carry a much of treasure during adventuring as well.

Despite bags that magically reduce & spread the weight over body ... it was just too much this time.

i've looked over my equipment & noticed blue 'Cerulean Leather Armor' packed in one of the bags ... weighting about the 10 lbs.

... almost never used, i've requested equipment exchange in Cerulean HQ, didn't have to wait for long this time.

... now have a light-weight 'Gauntlets of Power' that enhance my Physical Strength & Discipline, that as i'll advance in Cerulean Ranks - new model will also add to my Spellcraft Knowledge as well.

... i still keep my former Master's Attentus 'Gloves of Spellcraft' for sentiment & for practical use, there are times (Enchanting for an example) when these are useful still.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, an Adventuress & a Cerulean Star 2nd.

P.S. ... planning to buy a well-made & light crossbow as well.




Gloves of Power,

A standard Peltarch Defenders' (Cerulean Knights' subdivision) equipment.

How do potions taste?

Potions.


Dear Journal,

How do potions taste?

... depends on a potion & it's source.

Simple, fairly expensive greenish healing potions can taste nicely, more or less as an aloe-plant candy mixed with the gnomish mountain soda-water.

Kuo-Toa, Goblin or Kobold mixtures are more or less vile & alcoholic.

Other potions vary in the taste, but alcoholic & herbal themes are there.

There are fairly rarely side-effects of overdosing too ... save for a purse-emptiness.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, an adventuress.




The 'Heal' Restorative Potion.

With Nade.

Preparations.

Dear Journal,

it was a while since i took Nade - my panther familiar - for a walk.

we patrolled Kobold Swamps, she ate a few of swamp rats in-there.

... then we parted our ways for another while again,

i've sold a little of what we've found in swamps to Hemrod, rested at inn & visited Cerulean HQ.

... withdrew a good deal of potions, they had these in supply.

i'll use them well, sharing if neccessary.

-- Yours, Chea Allin, An Adventuress & Cerulean Star 2nd.




Kobolds & spoils.




Partings.




A trade.


P.S. So far my potions & mixtures reserve looks like:

8 x Potion of Greater Eagle's Splendour.
1 x Potion of Spell Resistance.
5 x Potion of True Seeing.
2 x Potion of Lesser Mind Blank.

3 x Potion of Heal.
14 x Potion of Cure Critical Wounds.
18 x Potion of Cure Serious Wounds.
18 x Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds.

9 x Potions of Camouflage.
1 x Potion of Invisibility.
11 x Potion of Speed.
3 x Frothing Mongoose (Neutralizes Poisons).
5 x Potion of Lesser Restoration.
4 x Barkskin Potion.

2 x Oil Flask (for starting fires, etc).



Potions.

P.S.S. i've checked the prices roughly, these potions alone are worth a fortune - about 5600 gp if i sold to shops, about ten times more if i bought from shops.

P.S.S.S. after writing this, i've found a buyer for one of Heal potions ... sold for 1500 gp, put in bank ... now i have 2 heal potions, which is fine with me.