The Memoirs of Pello Flarne
Scribe Explosive Rune spell here once learned.
(Note: Protect book with Protection from Elements spell first.)
I'm a better writer than I thought! I'll probably sell this to a publisher once we get back to civilisation again.
1st of Fading
Joined up with a crazy band of adventurers today. The group consists of no less than 5 other people:
Vespian, a babelicious half-elven fighter of appreciable and classical beauty
Quindil, elvish ranger chap and unfortunately noway near as babelicious goodlooking as Vespian
Milo, a dog-riding halfling (naturegeek I think)
Erthdar, a seemingly harmless halforcish warrior
Gimuld, a human warrior
Somehow this ragtag group managed to drag me to the home of a certain man called Drace, who hired us to clean out the Cryoden Mine in the Rauvien foothills. Of course, the man couldn't tell us exactly what we needed to clean out. We received a 350 gold advancement, and stand to receive another 350 gold at return plus any loot we manage to find. Any gems we pick up will earn us 40% of their value when delivered to Drace.
Tonight we'll be sleeping at The Falling Feather. Sounds like a nice place.
2nd of Fading
The Falling Feather was terrible! I'm glad that I was so drunk that I didn't notice am able to ignore such material matters. Still, I would have expected better.
Anyways, we headed out of town on the trail to the mine. Made good progress until noon, where we met a filthy trio of Cannis Vescopulpatis (Gnolls for the uneducated), and I had to show them we fur and fire doesn't mix. I think they got the message.
Proceeded to Ye Old Lookout which we reached a few hours later. When we crossed the river in front of the lookout we were ambushed by filthy goblins. One of them even shot me in the shoulder! I proceeded to teach the goblins that you don't play with fire, with a bit of help from the rest of the group. Afterwards it became apparent that noone had noticed that the group's cleric (who I don't remember having seen) had been left behind in town. So much for healing my crippled arm!
When we took over the lookout post, routing the remaining goblins in the progress, we met some Mukhallad Al'Shek guy who seems to be a wizard who was captive of the goblins. Hopefully he has some rich relatives that might pay us for having freed him. With such an expensive name he better have!
So, tonight I'll be sleeping in the outpost with a nasty aching shoulder wound and no healing except for the primitive mother nature kind. At least Vespian is playing nurse. Woof!
3rd of Fading
I awoke moderately refreshed from dear Vespian's care, and after a wonderful breakfast of.. well... maybe not that wonderful a breakfast anyway now that I think of it. After breakfast we followed the goblins into the hidey hole that they had retreated through the day before. Down below we quickly dispatched a small bunch of goblins (the fighters seemed to enjoy themselves, gods bless their simple souls), and took possession of a treasure chest. (contents: 1100 gold coins, nice jewelry, fine silverware, platinum trivet. Approximate worth: 2200 gold. False room contained one red potion, and one bluish potion and a fully charged wand of Cure light wounds. Bonus!)
We moved on north, and after circumventing a trip wire trap encountered a bunch of fiendish opponents. Utilising a superblu perfectly thought out flanking maneuver, I showered the goblins with flaming death while the fighter did their primitive hacking and slashing. The surviving goblins (two in all) quickly surrendered.
One goblin kept babbling about a Kurag fella. War-captain, chosen of Malauthar priests, liberator of the goblin race, and future king was some of the titles that he was granted by our talkative friend. He spoke like the goblins are enslaved by, and I qoute "Orcs or stinky humans....or worse." (He might actually have had a point about the smell. Some humans really don't seem to have noticed the invention of soap.)
After having attained the information we let one goblin go, while Vespian (gods know why) took the other goblin (Girlud Flesheater we later learned) as an apprentice something. Knight Errant or whatever.
We found our selves at an intersection, and when the goblin told us that the northern led to a small patch of woods in the Rauvin Mountains, and the western to a Dwarven hold, we choose north, seeing how we are going to the Rauvin foothills.
Our path led us into a cave which contained a nest of Darkmantles. Quite lovable too. Nearly squished me to death. So we burned and slaughtered them. We only missed a single one that flew down the tunnel. From a pool containing poisonous algae Erdthar (the orcish brute) pulled out the remains of a dwarf. Quite skeletal by now, it nonetheless possessed a breast plate and a small hand axe, both of masterwork quality. Plus some 25 gold and a large diamond.
We left the room behind us, and a fair distance further down the northern tunnel Girlud showed us a camping site. Quite defensible too. As long as the fighters do their part, nothing corporeal should be able to get to me here. And since I don't see any gravestones, I hope to avoid uncorporeal encounters as well.
And thanks to Milo's magic wand (no, the real magic wand, you perverts) I can go to sleep with no aching wounds. All in all a good day. All I miss is a proper bed.
4th of Fading, early evening
Lying in a corridor with nothing better to do, except tangling with a dragon (and since when was that better), I've decided to add a few more lines to my journal. It seems like months since I awoke this morning.
I awoke of course in the same dark cave as I fell asleep in. After a bit of work getting light on, researching my spells and such, I was ready to move on. Vespian's pet goblin warned us that we would run into resistance in the area of the mine, but who really expected otherwise? Anyways, he led us through the tunnel, to an opening to the surface, which we quickly moved through. Sun shine is nice after having been underground for a while.
Unfortunately, just then a bunch of goblin commandoes decides to ambush us. Swinging down from the trees, they seemed intent on our blood. Fortunately they were not much good at extracting it, and after getting caught in Milo's entanglement spell, they even let me get close enough to charm their leader. That'll teach them. The leader was the only survivor. A good thing too, since he had managed to nail Girlud. The leader was quite helpful, but didn't really provide any information we didn't already know.
So, we walked on to the mine, suffering a light ambush on the way, during which our newfound goblin friend ran off. Understandable when people try to remove bugs with morning stars.
Then we reaches the opening of the mine. There was a sentry, but a few bolts and arrows picked him of before he even managed to consider raising an alarm.
We quickly capturd the goblins perch, and with our vantage point studied the surroundings and made a game plan. Since the goblins had consistently ambushed us, we decided to ambush them back a bit. The other fellas hid in the area, and then I blew the sentry's alarm whistle.
We hadn't really expected the response to be goblin bettleriders (those were big beetles!), but the ambush still closed nicely. Hacking followed with a bit of slashing intermixed, and then Milo cast a spell of entanglement. That slowed down things a bit, and though the plant growth seemed incapable of distinguishing friend from foe, it held them in place long enough for us to slaughter them all. And they deserved it too. The bastards actually managed to hit me with a bolt! That'll teach them not to mess with Pello Flarne.
We moved on to the actual mine opening and noticed entrenched opposition inside. I proposed to cast a darkness spell outside of the cave, and then use it as cover to charge through. This plan got me a visit to Vespian's Burgeoning Bossom, and the review of "Frakin Brilliant" which, of course, I already knew. My plan after all.
Utilising the plan we slaughtered the goblins without any trouble. No survivors. And really a good place to make camp, you would have thought. It was getting late after all, but no. People wanted to continue on.
Vespian and Erdthar scouted out the corridor leading on, and found that the goblins had somehow imprisoned a very young blue dragon as a guardian. A blue dragon who would mightily like to be free of it bonds. Unfortunately the room was crowded with goblin archers as well, so we'd need some protection when cutting that chain.
Thus I introduced the idea of Pello's Tableu de ResistanceTM (patent pending). Using ingenious techniques to make the first room's table into a moving fortress we could fearlessly move into the next room. Which we did.
Now between dragon breath and arrow fire I believe the goblins are soon toast. Unfortunately Vespian doesn't seem to quite have come to an agreement with the dragon about what will happen after its release. And it's sending me hungry eyes.
Which is why I'm sitting here writing in my journal, and not part of the combat. Geeze, what I wouldn't give for a few hours sleep a wand of fireballs.
4th of Fading, Sleeping Time
Didn't go so bad after all.
Vespian has turned out to be some kind of celestial. A celestial diva if I'm not quite mistaken. Just as we cut down the last goblins, the dragon, clearly intimidated by her presence, quickly left the scene moments before a brutish giant entered the mass combat, bringing with him further goblin reinforcements. However, with my invaluable help in the form of encouragement and good cheer we easily wiped the floor with them. No simple Phaerlia Grotescus Giganticus, known to common folks as a Phaerlin Giant, can stand against the might of the group that I've pulled together.
We left a pair of goblins for the usual extraction of information and was told that they were part of the Cave Splitters, Kurag's band of warriors from the Malauth tribe. They also told a bit about the layout of the caverns (beetles to the east, Kurag's Pit to the north), and finally seemed to mark us as the oppresors that Kurag is seeking to destroy (though I wouldn't put too much into the goblin's words).
After finished interogation, the goblins were eliminated. Vespian handled one (rather ruthlessly for an Astral Deva I might add), while Quindil handed the other a dagger for selfelimination. The goblin proceeded to stab Quindil with the dagger, and received a longsword to the face in thanks. Though these brutish warrior types I'm traveling may be stupid, at least they are solid.
After aquiring any loot lying around (including two scrolls! Goody goody!) we decided to make a tactical withdrawal (which I of course had proposed before we ever got into this mess) and spend the night in a groove somewhere. Our orcish brute provided supper, and then we went to sleep. A well spent day I think.
5th of Fading
We once again entered the monsters den (sounds good, doesn't it), and took the eastern corridor, leading to the beetle den. And beetle's there where. During our exterminator job it seems we accidentally rescued a priest named Reno-something. He claimed that he was worth money, but since then he has begun to withdraw that statement, I don't really like the sound of it.
Anyway, we didn't even get to leave the beetle den before Kurag arrived. The goblins must have used up their ugly quota creating that "great leader". However, he and his well-armored croonies did make for a good fight. Flesh burned, skulls where split, and evil witches charmed, but in the end it just meant most of the goblins ended up dead. Unfortunately that Kurag bastard managed to knock out Vespian, but luckily my extreme first aid skills saved her from the grave. (Oh ya, and Gimuld got knocked out by a common goblin. Seems a bit wuzzy for a warrior.)
I also lured our two goblin captives (the nobles Meledok of House Turglank and Ferindut of House Sakmuninto) into guiding us through the rest of the caves, pretending that I'd hire them to be part of our force. After they had showed us a bunch of dwarven captives, I decided they were of no more use, and pretended that they had knocked me out. It took little more than that to get the warrior brutes to bash their brains in. It was of course all planned from the start.
Anyway, we freed the dwarves and was blessed by Moradin in thanks (Nice!). Felben, the leader of the dwarven captives, first told us that the mine wasn't owned by Drace, but by Gem Axe Mining Co. Food for thought. He also told us that the goblins came through a magic portal. Taking a mechanical levitator to the bottom of the mine, we saw the portal and decided that it had to be sealed. Erdthar stacked lot of stones, mission accomplished.
However seeing the opportunity for gold, after all, it seems we've just liberated the mine for these Gem Axe guys, we've decided to go to Felbarr, and try and heist the owner of the company for some dough. The dwarves provided a wagon ride through sleet and snow. Fletcher’s Down will be our first stop.
Oh, and Gimuld seems to be a burglar. I'd better begin stashing my spellbook somewhere safe. Dirty scoundrels.
6th of Fading
We got attacked by Cannis Duopecus (otherwise known as the common death dog) in the middle of the night. No match for the Crazy Sons of Gnoll, though they did manage to snatch a dwarf. Poor Maliden, we knew him so well. (or not)
Anyway, we've used most of the day burying him and resting.
7th of Fading
Nothing interested happened today. Just boring, boring, rain, rain. Though it was a bit fun to watch the other trudge through the sludge while I rode the wagon.
9th of Fading
And so we arrive to Felbarr. Seems like a well defended place. Anyways.
We met with Dundbar Gemaxe, owner of Gem Axe Mining Co, and from what he said, it seems that Drace has been a pain in his neck for some time. Anyway, he agreed to pay the rest of what Drace owes us, in return for us never taking a job for Drace again.
In return for our lost route of avenue there, Dundbar offered us another job.
It seems that an ancient Delzoun fortress has been uncovered by an earth shake in the Nether Mountains. The fortress should hold many dwarven artifact, courtesy if the ancestors of the dwarves from the three citadels, Felbarr, Adbar, and Sundabar.
One of these artifacts should be the “Helm of Brottor’s Thrall”. Apparently Brottor was a mighty dwarven commander that led his small thrall of troops into thousands of battles, without ever losing a man.
We'll get 1000gp each for returning the Helm, as well as Dundbar will help us deposite our loot. Seems like a good deal.
We are supposed to meet Zornun, the warty mage, in Jalanthar.
On a different note I've found this dwarfish architecture chap who is in the process of building some building or another. Seems he'll pay good money for some everburning torches. I just need to find someone who sells rubies by the pound...
10th of Fading
Wow, so this is what an honest day's work feels like. Well, an honest ten minutes of work I guess. But still. As long as one keeps it to sensible ten minute doses, I guess one could get used to it.
12th of Fading
If I ever decide to retire, I'm gonna be a torchmaker. These things sell like waterbuckets in a fire inferno.
We're leaving for Sundabar tomorrow. Seems like we'll have good weather on the journey.
16th of Fading
Didn't get to see much of Sundabar, though I did manage to deliver back Baugh's mugs, and get a few free pints on behalf of old goathead.
To get to Jalanthar we have hired a boat from Charlie Shanters. It seemed a bit small and leaky at first, but it actually seems alright, now that I'm sitting in it.
17th of Fading
A bit of rought riding through the rapids today, but nothing that Charlie's boat couldn't handle. Huess it really is as sturdy as he says.
18th of Fading
Boooring.
19th of Fading
Arrived to Jalanthar. What a hole in the ground. The only establishment worth visiting was Crowing Cockatrice, though their happy hour is great. Found Zornun dipping his nose there.
He told us approximately the same as Dundbarm, and a bit more.
Apparently, two groups of men have already entered the fortress. One group entered the day after the uncovering. The other group went in a week ago, looking for the first group, but neither has returned.
The evening we spent getting drunk. I met a great guy named Marthin. He's got this really outrageous lisp, and a secret talent as juggler? I've never seen so many mugs in the air at one time, outside of a barfight. But I disgresss.
20th of Fading
Got up early. That boring fella Renoart had apparently decided to spend all the night standing guard. It's amazing that people like that exist.
We've walked a good distance, and set up camp in a nice little clearing. Quite charming place.
21st of Fading
There were damn Faelin Satauri haunting the clearing. Satyrs! While the others huddled in terror from the fae's music, I ran out to teach them a fiery lesson. However, the others apparently couldn't stomach fae, so decided to move the encampment instead. Not wanting to scare the rest of the group further with any load explosions and forest fires, I followed them. Damn satauri.
Next morning we enjoyed a good meal that I conjured, and continued towards the Horseshoe ridge. We reached it by nightfall and set camp.
22nd of Fading
We began the trip up Horseshoe ridge at first light. A rope was already hanging halfway down, though it looked like the end had been cut or stretched apart. Probably left by the previous expedition, but why the cut? Anyway, after Vespian flew up and bound a short end of rope to the end me and Erd easily reached the top. However, as mister nature freak Milo was making his way up, a trio of Astrapi Poulia attacked from above.
Beautiful Vespian immidiately took to the air, to fight the birdies in their own element, while the birds bombarded us below with their lightning bolts, even managing to hit me a few times. I responded with a bit of fire, and a precisely thrown staff. Monsters should have learned by now that you don't mess with Pello Flarne.
As soon as Milo had reached steady ground, I wrought a spell of levitation on Erdthar, and sent him up to join Vespian in the fight. Faced with the resourcefulnes of my spells, and fury of my anger, the Arrowhawks saw the futility of their attack, and quickly made their retreat.
After the fight, and with signs of a storm approaching, I lit us a campfire (though some unappreciative people called it a forest fire, and started complaining). As a thanks, Quindill promised to learn me elven.
23rd of Fading
Well, we broke out the keg of ale last night, and got good seriously drunk. Next time I'll have to bring more than a single keg. Some time during the amusement however, Milo snuck of. I don't understand why anyone could be so bothered by a couple of singed trees.
This morning the storm seemed to be keeping to the mountains, so we continues onwards. A few hourglasses later of rough, crosscountry trekking, we came to the Shadow Falls.
Of course, while looking for a way up the cliff, we came under attack again! This time from archers hiding in a cave on the cliffside. However, our instant display of brilliant teamplay, quickly scared the archers into a rout. Following the pair into the cave, we quickly eliminated them, I myself ending the life of the last one with a ball of searing fire. Upon closer examination, our opponents turned out to be some sort of half-fiendish orcs. Deciding to take out these beasties so that they wouldn't attack us from behind on our continued voyage, we proceeded onwards through the tunnel leading from the original cave. Shortly after we found their lair, and I scouted ahead while under the influence of a nondetection spell, gathering much crucial intel. In the following attack, I dealt much fiery death and destruction, leaving it for the rest of the group to mop up the survivors. A glorious victory!
Opening a door at the other end of the lair, to our surprise, we encountered another group of adventurers in need of rescuing. Apparently the complex leads deeper yet, and these poor sods had been fighting their way through all kinds of demons, if you would believe their stories. Deciding that a temporary tactical retreat might be in order, we moved back to the cave mouth to spend the night.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:05, Sun 29 Oct 2006.