Falnor’s Journal

Awoke this morning to find myself shackled to a group of five other people. None of us seem to have any recollection of who we are, or what we are doing here together, but any one of them could easily be faking the amnesia.

I had a feeling that the beach we awoke on is actually part of an island. We followed a cliff face for a short time when we came upon a roadway that led to an abbandoned temple of some sort. A large individual named Sieran and I managed to break our bonds from the rest of the group. After searching the altar room Sieran and I decided to search some adjoining living quarters where we found some robes and some stale wine. While we were searching the living quarters the rest of the group discovered a large burial vault in the lower level of the building. After meeting back in the altar room a tall black guy named Kulas-Dar found some strange javalins in a secret compartment in a railing. I think that Kulas-Dar needs to be watched closely, he has a disturbing tatto on the top of his head that seems to make everyone uneasy when they look at it.

With the discovery of the javalins in the altar room I figured that there would probably be some usefull things in the vault downstairs. After going downstairs to the vault I began to search through a group of six vaults that slid out of the wall for inspection. While I was searching the dead I told Rylcan to use a fingerbone to unlock his shackles and amazingly it worked. Im not quite sure what happened next because when I opened the fifth chamber an undead wizard with a shrunken head blasted me with a tremendous lightning bolt that knocked me off my feet and left my head spinning. In a desperate attempt to arm myself I opened the last cript in search of a weapon. I barely noticed the rest of the group sprinting out the door in blind terror of something in the room. As i turned i saw that one of the coffins in the widdle of the room was open and a huge skeletal warrior in full plate armor was standing there with two large two-handed swords pointing in my direction and he was laughing silently at me. As i felt Sieran pulling me out the door the skeletal wizard unleashed another lightning bolt at me setting all of my posessions on fire and blinding me with pain. The next thin I knew we were outside and the only woman in the group, Lariessis, was tending to my wounds. There was a great deal of treasure in the temple and i have a feeling that we will be comming back here sometime.

After Lariessis was done tending to my wounds I must have passed out because I can’t remember anything untill I awoke the next morning to find myself alone in the woods. I foraged around in the brush for a while and mannaged to find some Merriena berrys which seem to have a healing effect. After eating two handfulls of berries I felt much better so I decided to keep the rest of the berries in my robe (8 total) and started to search for signs of my companions. A quick search of the area revealed six sets of fairly obvious tracks leading away from camp. The tracks led to a cave in a rockface that expanded into a series of tunnels and chambers. While investigating the area i stumbled upon a wizard who cast a powerfull quest on me. I have no choise but to either complete the quest or try to kill the wizard and hope the spell will wade with his death. A short time later the wizard led me into a large chamber which contained a large metal creature with huge maces attached to its arms where its hands should be. After taking note of the metal construct I realized that my companions were also in the room and one by one they were promissing obediance to the wizard. When the wizard commanded them to return to the crypt for the scrolls and books I realized that he had cast the same quest on them and i rejoined the group. As we were leaving the chamber another “slave” named Anthor joined the group and accompanied us to the temple.

When we arrived at the temple we found two large crates containing weapons on the first floor. The following is a list of who took what from the crates:

• Sieran - two maces (magical)
• Lariessis - wooden staff
• Rylcan - scimitar (magical)
• Karn - crossbow
• Kulas-Dar - steel throwing dagger (magical)
• Anthor - two handed axe (magical)
• I myself picked out a large hand axe that seems to glow faintly with power.

I must wonder how powerfull the wizard is (or thinks he is) that sent us here. He must realise that arming us will only make us more likely to attack him. I believe that we probably could kill him or he wouldnt have such a fearsome guardian construct with him during our encounters. I am also beginning to wonder about our new companion Anthor and whether or not he has had the quest spell cast on him. When we reached the Temple he repeatedly insisted that we sleep before attempting to retrieve the scrolls and books. I can’t remember much about magic but i do remember that to disobey a quest will cause a quick and horrible death. Sieran also insisted on sleep but I think that he simply lacks the inteligence to realise the danger he is in. I am still not sure what I did before all this but I feel that the woods hold the key. Kulas-Dar has given me strange looks all day.

After we equiped ourselves with our new weapons I decided that we should make a plan to kill the undead in the chamber below. I decided that we should take out the wizard first since he posed the greatest threeat to us. We agreed that Kulas-Dar would open the crypt and Rylcan,Lariesses and myself would attack the wizard before he could react and Karn,Anthor, and Sierran would attack the skeletal warrior when he appeared. My plan worked well for about the first two seconds. As soon as Kulas opened the crypt Lariesses and I both swung at the creatures head but for some reason our weapons collided in mid-swing and we both missed it by inches. Rylcan managed a small hit when suddenly the undead wizard leapt out of the crypt and knocked me to the floor before he had even hit the floor. As soon as I regained my feet the wizard blested me with a spell that threw me into the wall and left me quite stunned. Feeling that i was nearly unconsious I grabbed a book from the wizards crypt and sprinted for the door with the last of my strength. As I was turning to run I saw the wizard stop fighting my companions and fix his hollow gaze on me. I almost made it to the door when I felt a great heat at my back and suddenly lightning was bursting from my chest and shooting through the doorway. I was unconsious and dying before i even hit the floor. I’d swear that wizard remembered me. The next thing I knew, Lariessis was finishing a healing spell and I was feeling much better. When I looked around Sieran and Anthor were bashing the warrior to the ground, Karn was retrieving his bolts and Rylcan and Kulas-Dar were looking over the scrolls and books. I decided to search the two unopened coffins to see if we could find or learn anything usefull. The rose coffin contained a very well preserved woman in an elaborate dress with a cherry bough under her body. The black coffin was apparently empty but i discovered that the bottom was hollow and after a little axe work I realised that the floor of the coffin was actually a platform that moved down. No one could trigger the platform to move untill Karn threw the dead womans body in and it started moving down. I jumped down into the opening and found a box with a large rune on it in a small recess in the wall. Kulas-Dar studied the box for many hours before he started singing (and appeared to be casting a spell) and with a small click he opened the box. Inside was an amulet that Kulas-Dar put on because he thought it was magical.

When we felt that we would be safe here we all organised our equipment and slept untill dawn. I deampt about tracking a huge beast through a dying forest. I had a large black bow and arrows made of dragons teeth. We awoke this morning and prepared to bring the books and scrolls to the wizard. I have tried to convince the rest of the group that we should attack the wizard now or he will just get harder to kill when we give him the treasure but they seemed hessitant. I think I will just try to assassinate the wizard myself and hope the rest of the group will back me up. Upon returning to the wizards underground quarters we seemed to be alone and i decided to search around to see if I could find anything about the wizard that would help us defeat him. Actually I think the rest of the party was just looking for more treasure. I went down a short hall and discovered two doors. The left door had one lock and a metal plate afixed to it. The right door had two locks and another metal plate. While Karn was inspecting the locks Anthor kept incisting on bashing the door down with his axe. Before I could tell him to shut up his two-handed axe was swinging into the door. As soon as the axe hit a bolt of lightning shot down his axe and blasted his throat, burning a small hole in it (mabey the jolt will kick start his brain). As Anthor was falling to the ground a large metal door at the end of the hall slid shut and poison gass hissed into the hall. I tried to use my claok as a filter but it only helped for a short time and I soon lost consiousness.

When I awoke Lariesses said that she had been quested again and the wizard had healed Anthors throat. I started searching around again in hopes that I’d find something usefull before the wizard returned. I discovered a small kitchen and pantry with adjoining dining room. After I had eaten and stuffed my cloak with dried meats I discovered a spiral stairway that led down to a storage room full of food and water. I opened the door in the middle of the wall and found myself face to face with the wizard and his guardian. Apparently they were loading supplies onto a small boat in preperation for our next quest. I decided that this would probably be my best chance to kill the wizard, I just hoped that the rest of the group would get pulled into the fight and back me up. I took a flying leap at the wizard intending to knock him into the water so he would have to swim instead of casting spells. I was almost there when suddenly I came to a dead stop against the guardians fist. Before I could react the construct was thrashing me up and down the beach even as Anthor and Sieran were bashing it from behind. It only took the construct a few moments to bash my already injured body to the sand. After fading in and out of consciousness for a while I realised that the battle was over and my plan had succeded. We all decided to rest up and search the rest of the area for things we might have missed. I took the wizards sandals and started to investigate the area. We found several new rooms and secret passages but when I tried to enter the last room a lightning bolt trap hit me, promptly bursting my organs and frying my brain into a coma. I am again indebted to Lariesses for healing me but I am beginning to question some of her motives and actions. I think I will keep an eye on Rylcan too, his lack of wounds is quite disturbing.

After a good nights rest, following the death of the wizard, my memory has returned and I know what I must do. When we reach Rildinore the rest of the group will have to do without my guidance while I track down the men who did this to me. A black bow and three human heads will be my revenge. I have played the role of “prey” for too long and there is much hunting to do. The quest the wizard was going to send us on was to retrieve a magical staff from a wizard named Zarof who lives in a tower in a wasteland. Zarof supposedly wears black and red robes. I dreampt of a huge orc with one eye and a spiked gauntlet. He had a long wooden box and a map. I think I’ve seen him before but Karns snoring woke me before I could be sure. I need to buy some dream inducing herbs in the city. I think my dreams may be more than just dreams. We took the wizards boat to the nearby city on Silnost and half way there Anthor fell out of the boat and sank so fast that no one could save him. When we arrived at the docks in Silnost we were met by an individual named Estren who said that he was hired by Karn (who had used magic to arrive in the city earlier in the day) to bring us to the Drunken Goose where we would all meet. When I arrived at the Drunken Goose I immediately found the innkeeper and aranged to meet Suthand (my contact to the theives and assassin guilds).

After we had eaten we took the Eog bars we found on the wizards island to a banker named Agnin that Karn reccomended. Agnin “the cheap bastard” would only give us 15 Layan for all three bars. Upon hearing this rediculous price Kulas-Dar suggested that we take the bars to an Alchemist that he knew of named Merican. The Alchemist offered us a respectalbe 50 Layan for the bars and 75 Layan for some of the books we had with us. While the others were deciding how many books to sell I purchased a very strong power enhancer in the form of an intracit gold belt with a platnum buckle. I also paid him to inspect the sandals I took from the wizard. He discovered that they would allow the wearer to walk on illusionary surfaces. I told Kulas-Dar about it and he immediately offered me his share of the money (20,000 gp) for it. He told me that he had found a wand of illusions in the wizards chambers and the sandals would make it more powerfull. After we had the money squared away Karn,Estren and I headed for the “Spiraling Arrow” run by the fletcher Geral. Myold friend had only one magical long bow to sell me. After the bow i also purchased a leather breastplate and some supplies. Several days have passed and I have found out the following things:

• discovered that four men-Zarof,Ebon, and two others enslaved me.
• found Ebons tower in the city -Ebons favorite whore is called Sasha
• Zarof is the leader of the group
• no one ever leaves or enters Ebons tower but he IS there
• rented a room acrost from Ebons tower
• Ebons neighbors truly HATE him
• searched the woods for miles but no dream herbs

The rest of the party seems as eager as I for revenge We plan to take Ebons tower at dawn. We have decided to climb the tower and attack the top floor first to throw them off balance for a while. By tonight I will have back what is rightfully mine. I have spent many hours inscribing my most powerfull runes on the partys weapons. I vow not to sleep beneath the trees again untill Ebon is dead. I fear this may be my last entry, the invasion of Ebons tower went well and I retrieved my bow from his cold hands but death now stalks my dreams. Zarof has performed the ritual of black eternity with the aid of a magical crown and turned himself into an undying lich. We also caught the attention of one of the darkfiends of the abyss, a monsterous fifteen foot tall demon who seemed to fead off of our fear. With Zarof and Ebon was a monk and another spellcaster who lost his staff when Zarof teleported them all out. I must make sure not to let that monk within fifty feet of me again, even Rylcan couldnt slow him down. We plan on using the staff we got from the purple robed spellcaster to transport us to Zarofs tower in the morning. If he isnt killed now he will spread the shadow of death over the land.

Found all of Zarofs followers dead and a trail of blood leading down the stairwell. Hopefully we will be victorious Kulas seems sure of it but I do not share his optomism.

IT WAS THE CROWN ALL ALONG KULAS ITS KULAS I’VE GOT TO KILL……