Journal Log: 4-9-05

Dear Mother:

After we arrived back in town we took the survivors to the proper authorities. Then we headed over to the Broken Claw Inn for a few refreshments so we could wind down from the ordeal we had encountered. We were waiting for our drinks, we noticed a well-dressed goblin negotiating with a gnome. The bard or druid (Gregor or Talla) noticed that the gnome had a tail. I noticed that his eyes were shifting from human to lizard, but I let it slide, because the establishment we were in did not allow hostile confrontations and I have learned to leave others alone while in ‘Man’s World’.

After a while, the gnome and the goblin concluded their business. The gnome came over by us. He introduced himself as Dalaguiri. He worked for Baron Drevick who was the local noble in this area and he was my commander and hopefully trainer (sensei). He told the druid to investigate her grove, but he would not tell us what had happened. He told me that the Baron wanted to meet with me, about what he would not say. After a few more pleasantries, I offered him a few drinks on us, but he said he already ordered them for us. Sure, enough almost on queue the drinks arrived along with our bill. Then he left, we figured he was using some type of scroll, but he said we should not use the ‘bargain’ scrolls, the quality is not reliable. While he was there, I drilled him about the Baron. He told me that I should not bring up his dead son who was killed by orcs, even though he died a good orc death, if there is such a thing. Further, he said that a dwarf called Thunor was a good friend of the Baron and that the Baron enjoyed a good bottle of wine.

After he left, I went to the barkeep and asked him about a good battle of wine for the Baron and the Thunor (the dwarf). He took me down stairs, and made a strange comment about elves not liking dungeons? I wonder if that was a thing with the local elves, because it was not with me. He did point me to a good bottle of wine and lead me to some real nasty stuff that the dwarf would like. I bought them both, even if you are away in a foreign land it is no excuses for poor manners, always bring a gift. Afterwards, I went to my room for a good night of sleep and relaxation. I sure do miss sleeping under the right stars; it is like part of the world is all wrong, these stars are just not right here. Although I can see my starts, they are not in the correct place. I miss that.

The next morning we gathered our supplies, stuff, and proceeded to the Baron’s estate, but we were met by an elven horse drawn carriage. Not wanting to be rude, we took the Baron’s ride. It sure was fast, we were there in less than a day. When we arrived, it was like arriving into another world they even have a ____________. I know of only two ___________ in this world. They are very rare and impossible to recreate.

The Baron is a very large elf. He is a nice individual. He went on and on, but finally I managed to give him his gift. I do believe this baron is a unique elf. Not only does he have many non-elven individuals whom he considers his friends and comrades, but his family is well, unique. We informed him of the troubles in the grove, he suggests that the druid, Tella, should go and check it out. The rest of us were going to take a ride and check out some of the Baron’s villages, and meet some of his people. We didn’t go to far when we came across a caravan that had been attacked, no survivors, but we did hear some screams off in the distance. When we got past some trees and we see some pale humanoid creatures with no eyes about to kill a young female elf. I charged forward on my trusty steed, Lancelot. Hacking away as I rode. I killed one outright by lopping off his head. The rest of the party began to engage them. I continued forward and struck down one of the four that still had the girl. One of them released the girl to engage me and the other one. I killed them both and moved on the one that was still holding the girl, he is about to stab her, but I was quicker and I cut him down. I tried to get the girl on my horse, but she was too frantic. I turned Lancelot around and just grabbed her gown and pull her on to my saddle. I looked back at the party and there are still a few of them left between the party and me. I urge Lancelot forward just as the Paladin _______ steps up and cuts two of them down (I do say he is pretty good with that blade).

I finally get the frantically kicking and screaming girl back to the rest of the party just as the foul creatures were retreating. Had I not had the girl to safety I would have just trampled them down and butchered them all, but I had to make certain the girl was safe. We decide to make haste and head back to the Baron’s keep and inform him of what was happening in his lands. The rest of the party gathered the beast’s strange and unusual bastard swords, while I retrieved one of the beasts head and body. We need to identify them eventually.

We arrived at the Baron’s castle without any further incidents. I went to the dwarf Thunor to find out if he knew about these strange bastard swords. Surprisingly, Thunor, the master weapons smith did not know. He informed me they were not made of iron, nor were they forged. He snapped one right before my eyes in his bare hands. He did however tell me that they were not made by the orcs, humans, elves, or even dwarves. He had never encountered anything like it before. He wanted an additional blade for further research. We agreed and left two blades. The sorcerer went to the red robed mage Sagal and find out more about he strange creatures. The paladin and I decided we would both go to the Baron and let him know what was going on.

When we arrived the Baron was working with some students we waited, it didn’t take long. He asked the both of us if we would like to participate and we both agreed. We each picked a student to spar with. The paladin was rather flashy with his parrying and attacks, but he won. I was not in the mood so I let the student hit me (it almost knocked the wind out of me), but I came back with a double shot and had him down. It was a sloppy technique, but it sure did have a lot of bravado to it. The Baron asked both of us if we would like to train with him, we both agreed. Finally, we left the school grounds and headed towards his study to discuss the matters further, away from prying ears (let me tell, these elf ears can hear a lot.

When we arrived at his study we told him of what had happened just outside of his keep. The Baron listened to what we had to say (mostly the druid talking about the pale guy Vitrese and the red robed mage talking about the ancient ones, and they were all shocked when I showed them the head of the beasts; they call them Grimlocks. We learned that an acient evil was imprisoned long ago (possibly before even the elves came to this world), some cultists have been mucking things up, and these grimlocks seem to be everywhere. We also learned that the Baron is related to Vitrese a drow elf necromancer who is the Baron’s uncle. After awhile, it all became a swimming mess in my head. The conversation had too many names, places, and strange things. I think it was making me sick. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the group decides to head back to town, go through the sewers, find the dungeon, take care of the vampire who runs the dungeon, and finally retrieve the tombs that contain the secret spells that will once again seal the ancient evil back where it belongs.  You know what, this story sounds familiar, it reminds me of an old tale in the Goddess’s book, but no way, could it be true? If it was true then the Goddess would come back to us and deliver us from their evil!

The next day we packed up and headed back to town using our own horses. It felt good to be back in Lancelot’s saddle and having the reins in my grip. That feeling didn’t last long. Suddenly (I had a bad feeling about it, it all seemed too simple), grimlocks jump in front of our horses and hordes of them appeared on both flanks, and even more appeared towards our rear flank. The paladin, ranger, and myself charged forward. I lower my lance and took out a couple of them before one of them gets lucky and knocks my lance out of my hands. The rest of the party goes after the sides and rear flanks. The battle didn’t go well at first. The paladin’s horse is killed, he is disarmed, and forced to fight on foot. The ranger abandon’s her horse (craziest thing I ever saw) and the rest fight on horseback (impressively well I might ad, they seemed to all be proficient in horseback combat, strange but true). We seem to be hurting them, but they aren’t going down fast.

As luck would have it the tide seemed to turn after the paladin dug out his battle axe. I charged forward and took out two, one, and two more. I managed to bark out some orders and actually got everyone to center on me while keeping the druid and mage in the back where it had been cleared. The ranger was really hurt, but she wouldn't let anyone help her. Finally, the cleric managed to get behind her and heal her as she was fighting (damn impressive spell slinging). Before I knew it the cleric and ranger are pushing the grimlocks back along with the paladin and my self.  Finally, we have them down to just one and he runs away, like a cowardly dog, probably a good thing, it would have been butchered for no other reason other than it attacked us.

We then patch ourselves up as best we could both the wizard and cleric were out of spells. Luckily, we had bandages. I think we will not be spending the night out in the open and we will be pushing ourselves back to town. I think we are going to need some serious training, supplies, and far better information.

Love,

-E’Ze