Aldors Journal : Entry 21
Were back at it, and gaining on our undying (pun intended) friend…
When we last left off, Cade, Ukalis, and I were deep in the Mere of Dead Men, following the trail of Theran and getting closer to his lair where he manifested all of the things that were plagueing us since the early days of this journey to get Cullen on the throne - and basically every moment, and most of the deaths, along the way could be traced to his wicked schemes…
After working our way through the ruins of what we were told was his fortress, we make it to a throne room and more importantly, found ourselves surrounded by roughly a dozen skeleton warriors.
So naturally, negotiations began.
By which I mean Cade hit one of them.
Very hard.
A Skeleton Problem
I don't know how he does it.
Cade stepped forward, swung his weapon, and, because apparently the gods simply enjoy watching this man destroy things, landed another devastating blow. The first skeleton basically ceased to exist, again?
He followed it up immediately by turning his attention to another one and putting a pretty serious dent in that one too.
Ukalis joined in with a firebolt that absolutely nailed another skeleton. Unfortunately, the damned thing somehow remained standing.
That left me.
Now, I could have started chucking daggers and slinging potions, but as usual, I’m looking for the easiest way out…
Using my enchanted Rapier - Silken Needle - I conjured a web across a set of columns to hinder a group of them, then disappeared into the shadows…and headed straight for the throne.
Because if you're going to infiltrate a necromancer's lair and find a throne surrounded by skeletal minions, sometimes you just have to see what happens when you sit in it.
So I did - and as inspected by the terrifying chill that ran up my spine, I think I was now in the drivers seat.
And then, with all the authority I could muster, I shouted:
"HALT, MINIONS!"
And I'll be damned.
They stopped.
Every single skeleton froze.
There are moments in an adventurer's life when careful planning, preparation, and years of study pay off.
Then there are moments when you sit in an evil throne and yell something stupid, and somehow that works too.
All of the minions stopped, and I looked to my friends “you all coming?” With a stroke of genius by Cade (a rare sighting) - he came up with a clever idea to push our luck - I shouted…
"TURN ON EACH OTHER!"
They did.
The skeletons immediately began tearing into one another while the three of us watched the world's strangest undead family dispute unfold.
Eventually only one remained.
Cade killed it.
Of course he did…he really should see someone about his issues.
Behind the Tapestry…
With our skeletal welcoming committee dealt with, we were finally able to look around.
Eventually we discovered a hidden door concealed behind an ancient tapestry.
After getting the lock open, we cautiously moved inside.
There was some kind of light dancing at the far end of the chamber, so I told Cade and Ukalis to hang back while I moved ahead alone.
Slowly.
Quietly.
I couldn't figure out anything particularly strange about the light itself, but as I crept farther into the room, I could make out another doorway.
And one thing became obvious.
Someone had just been here.
More importantly, whoever it was seemed to have left in a hurry - likely heard the comotion, or had the door armed with an alarm spell.
We were still examining the room when Cade noticed movement.
Two shadows began rising.
Actual shadows.
Because evidently skeletons weren't enough.
Cade immediately smashed one while Ukalis practically hip-fired radiant magic into the other.
And just like that, silence returned.
For the moment, anyway.
At this point we'd learned enough lessons about Theran and his associates that we weren't taking chances. We barred the doors, checked the room for anything suspicious, started searching for scrying eyes, and generally tried to make sure something wasn't watching us from the darkness.
Then we started looting.
As one does.
We found a chest.
We found a loose stone in the floor.
And most importantly:
I FOUND A SACK. OF STUFF!
Between everything hidden around the chamber, we came away with a pretty respectable haul of coins and gems, but some highlights were
A Wand of Wonder.
Now this is my kind of magic item.
The Rod of Wonder contains seven charges, and when activated, the wielder rolls to determine what magical effect comes out of the thing.
In other words:
Point it at something.
Pull the metaphorical trigger.
See what happens!
What could possibly go wrong?
We also recovered scrolls containing Warding Wind and Maximilian's Earthen Grasp, both of which could prove extremely useful.
And then there was the other rod.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know what it does.
I don't know who made it.
At the moment, the best description I can provide from my notes is:
"Weird-ass tentacle rod thing that none of us want to touch.”
Further research may be required.
Or possibly gloves - for now, in a bag of holding….
There Was Something in the Dark…
We decided that this room was probably as safe a location as we were going to find, so we barred ourselves inside and settled in for a rest.
The following morning, we continued through the door that we believed our mysterious quarry had used to escape.
It led us into a cave.
Immediately, something felt wrong.
The darkness wasn't simply the absence of light. It felt oppressive. Almost intelligent.
Like the darkness itself knew we were there.
The farther we pushed into the cave, the worse that feeling became.
This place felt cursed.
Then we started noticing the damage.
Broken cave formations. Shattered stalagmites. Remains scattered around us.
And claw marks.
Large claw marks.
Whatever lived inside this cave was considerably bigger than the three of us, and none of us were particularly interested in finding out whether it was home.
So we did the tactically appropriate thing.
We hauled ass.
I kept my Dancing Lights ahead of us, and we followed them through the darkness like our lives depended on those little floating lights.
Because, honestly, they probably did.
Eventually we reached the far end of the cave, where a thick curtain of vines separated us from the outside world.
We pushed through and emerged onto the edge of a massive ravine.
For the first time in a while, we could breathe.
Then Cade pointed something out.
The claw marks continued down into the ravine.
I looked at the marks.
I looked down into the ravine.
And I made the executive decision that we should go the opposite direction.
Occasionally leadership is complicated.
This was not one of those occasions.
What Exactly Are We Chasing?
Cade and Ukalis climbed the vines leading upward.
I chose the much more civilized option and floated myself up with Tenser's Floating Disk.
Once we reached the top, we started looking for Theran's trail again.
That's when something occurred to us.
We weren't seeing footprints.
Not human ones, anyway.
For this entire journey, we'd assumed we were tracking Theran through the Mere.
But now we had a cave that looked like something enormous inhabited it.
Claw marks.
Destroyed stone.
And no obvious human tracks leading away.
Which raised a considerably more troubling possibility.
What if the thing we're following isn't something Theran controls?
What if...
that thing IS Theran?
We didn't have an answer.
Then Ukalis heard drums.
Because apparently our day wasn't complicated enough already.
Drums in the Mere
I sent Ebrathir ahead to scout.
Through him, I caught glimpses of movement in the distance.
Lizardfolk.
Some kind of ritual.
And enough activity that the three of us decided we'd rather not walk directly into whatever was happening.
At this point, our objective started to shift.
We needed information.
And preferably civilization.
We decided to head northwest, eventually making for the coast and the town of Leilon, where we hoped to find passage home.
There was only one problem.
We still had to get out of the Mere.
On our way, we found ourselves back near the castle on the hill that we'd passed earlier in our journey.
Except this time there was a party going on.
Or a celebration.
Or a ritual.
Honestly, "cult gathering" is probably the most accurate description.
A crowd had gathered around a very strange man wearing an eccentric mask or headdress.
Ukalis recognized something about it.
He couldn't quite place where he'd seen it or what it represented, but he knew it meant something.
The people around us were celebrating.
So naturally, instead of avoiding the creepy swamp cult while carrying a sack full of treasure we'd stolen from a necromancer's lair...
We went inside.
When in Doubt, Pretend You're Drunk
Sometimes the best disguise is magic.
Sometimes it's camouflage.
Sometimes it's carefully forged documents.
And sometimes it's just three idiots stumbling around pretending they've had too much to drink.
Through a combination of some surprisingly convincing drunken shenanigans and clever conversation, we managed to blend in well enough to start figuring out exactly what was happening.
And that's when things started becoming a lot more serious.
These people weren't simply worshipping Theran.
They worshipped dragons.
One dragon in particular.
A dracolich.
And apparently Theran isn't operating alone.
He's connected to it.
Its name is:
Ebondeath.
Suddenly, the giant claw marks seemed a lot more important.
So did the cave.
So did the strange darkness.
So did pretty much everything we'd seen since arriving in the Mere.
We entered this swamp believing that we were hunting a necromancer.
Now we were beginning to wonder whether we'd stumbled into something considerably larger (literally, but also, in the conspiracy sense.)
To the literal Sword Coast
There wasn't much more we could accomplish that night without risking discovery, so we made camp reasonably close to the celebration.
Normally, sleeping near a cult worshipping an undead dragon wouldn't be my first choice.
But the noise from their festivities provided pretty good cover, and at this point I've learned to appreciate small victories.
The next morning, we continued northwest.
Slowly, the Mere of Dead Men finally began to fall behind us.
Ahead was the literal coast of the Sword Coast and, hopefully, the town of Leilon.
Civilization.
Food.
A roof.
Maybe a ship so we can stay off the road…
And, if we're particularly fortunate, significantly fewer undead things trying to kill us.
But we're leaving the Mere with considerably more questions than answers.
Where did Theran go?
What exactly is Theran's connection to Ebondeath?
And perhaps most importantly...
Where was Theran and this legendary Dracolich going…
Either way, Ukalis has a wand of wonder now.
So I'm sure everything will be fine.
Probably.