Welcome to The Chosen's journals. Each character is invited to keep a journal and write down the thoughts of their characters as they wander through Nyternia. In addition, the DM has a journal which highlights each session. The players are:

Blink - monk Errol - bard
Kestrel - fighter Malif - wizard
Vaugner - rogue Vernon - cleric/sorcerer


Choose a journal:   Select a session:


DM's Journal, session #22
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Date Unknown

As the wizard recovered his balance, the party sprang into action. Errol moved forward and invoked Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the wizard. The fight was over as the wizard started laughing uncontrollably. Vaugner moved forward and shot him with an arrow, saying, "Lie down on the floor and let us bind you or you will die!"

The mage complied and was bound with masterwork manacles and gagged by Vaugner. A few seconds later the laughter faded, and Kestrel asked, "What is your name?"

The mage mummbled something but it was unintelligible through the gag. Vaugner moved in and said, "We're all surrounding you and we'll kill you if you try anything," as he moved to remove the gag. Errol started to protest, but it was too late. Once the gag was off, the wizard spoke a few arcane words, making sure to cast defensively, and disappeared.

"I think he just dimension doored on us," Vernon said.

"We need to finish up here and get going before that wizard comes back and fireballs us," Blink said.

Errol rolled up the rug while the rest of the party broke the equipment they could and put everything flammable in the center next to the magical table. They started a fire and closed the door behind them.

Vaugner and Blink listened for anyone -- guard or wizard -- coming, but didn't hear anything. They moved down a floor to the library. Vaugner checked for traps and after finding none, opened it. The library was medium sized, with bookcases jutting out from opposite walls. Tables lined the center of the room, and the party imemdiately saw the map at the back of the room. They also noticed that there was a small boy asleep about two thirds of the way back next to one of the bookcases.

Vaugner motioned for everyone to go back outside.

Once back in the hallway, Vernon said, "Oh I just realized, I can cast locate object on your manacles to see if that wizard is still around."

Vernon cast the spell, but it didn't detect the masterwork manacles.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot," said Vaugner. "What are we going to do with that kid there?"

After some discussion, the party came upon a plan: Vaugner would move silently into the room and knock the kid unconscious. After that, they could retrieve the map and get out without any risk of complications.

Vaugner stepped quietly, and using the flat of his greatsword, aimed carefully to not actually kill the child. After it was done, Vaugner motioned the rest of the party in. Vernon put the map into the bag of holding, and after taking a quick look around for valuables, the part left the room and went back to the meeting point.

After about 30 minutes, Tamson arrived and said, "I found him but there is a locked iron door and I can't force it open by myself. Any chance you guys can help out? Oh did you run into any problems?"

"Well, we got to the lab without any problems, but then a wizard appeared out of what we think was a rope trick. We tried to detain him but he got away, but Vaugner managed to injure him," Kestrel said.

After describing the wizard for Tamson, she said, "Hrm that sounds like [ooc: find name]. If that is the case, that is unfortunate as he was with the old regime. Still, wizards can be dangerous and I'm not surprised you acted as you did. I did not think any of them had survived or I would have warned you. But you say he escaped, so at least it didn't turn out for the worst."

"Well he is manacled..." Vaugner noted.

"I don't think simple manacles will hold him for long. I wouldn't worry about him too much, and I know him.. he'll escape to fight another day rather than risk a confrontation, especially if he is wounded. What about the map? Were you able to get it?"

The party turned to Vernon, but he remained silent, so Vaugner responded, "Yeah there were no problems getting it. It's in Vernon's bag of holding. There was a kid in the library but I knocked him out."

"Wait there was a kid. Describe him," she commanded.

After Vaugner descibed him, she said, "I'm sure that's Zanfinil's son. I was wondering what happened to him. I need to go take care of him."

She turned and started walking back to the stairs.

"Wait a second, he's just an innocent kid," Kestrel said. "He's done nothing wrong. I can sort of buy the servents here being complicit with the new rulers, but the kid is just here because his parents are here."

"That is an interesting theory you have Kestrel, but I don't share it," she said flatly, still walking off.

"Look, not everyone has to think the same way. But you need our help, and if we are going to work together we need to compromise sometimes. We don't think the child should be killed. Help us out and we'll get the prisoner out for you. Otherwise it's going to be really hard for us to work with someone who is so far against our principles," Malif said.

At those words, she stopped and paused.

"Fine. Let's get the prisoner out. It's this way," she said and turned around again led the party back up through the dungeon, out of the castle, and to one of the towers. On the way, they saw several guards had been killed as well as a few servents.

"I was worried about being surprised by the guards in the barracks so I killed them as well," she said in passing.

A stout iron door barred the way into the prisoner's room at the top of the stairs of the tower.

"Stand back," Vaugner said both to the party as well as the rest of the party. He got to work with his tools but shortly started cursing.

"Hrm, I guess we'll have to try this the brute force way. Blink give me a hand with this," Kestrel said. But the two of them were unable to force the door open either. While this had been going on, Malif had summoned a knock spell from his guildhouse.

"Stand back, gentlemen, I will open the door," he said. With a flourish and show, he started as if to force the door open, then cast the spell With a click, the door opened.

"Thank you all, for getting me out of there," [find name from notes] said. "I've had enough of this castle, let's go!"

Tamson led the crew back down without incident. Once in the deep dungeon, they felt it was safe enough to talk. Kestrel and Vaugner talked about ways to bury their treasure, and lamenting that there were no empty chests aruond. Mailf asked the diplomat several questions about how to best approach the elves.

"Well, the worst mistake you can do is rush to the topic at hand too quickly. Elves like to let a conversation unravel slowly and naturally. Trying to rush things will only make them irritated. You'll never be able to get into the elven forest without some sort of escort or letter of introduction, though. They pretty much kill everyone uninvited in the forest."

"Could you or Tamson write a letter? And which cities would it work for?"

At that, the diplomat asked Vernon to get out the map so he could show Malif the cities.

Tamson had been quiet, but now spoke up, talking to Errol and Vernon, who had just been standing around. "You know, I was happy living in Vertase with my husband, but I don't think I'll find that happiness again, at least not in the human community. I've thought about what you said, too, about how sometimes well-meaning people can get caught in bad situations. Initially I was going to go back after that kid, but, well, I've changed my mind.

"I've decided that it's best if I just go back to the elven community. They've adopted me and I understand their ways better. Humans are too filled with politics and agendas, and that is something I want no part of."

She looked at Errol and the elven thinblade. "You know, technically, that's still my sword, you know?"

"Yes, it is... did you want it back?" responded Errol.

"No, I think I'm done fighting, and I shouldn't need the blade anymore. I saw you briefly with it, you seem competent with it. It's better that it stay with someone who can use it. Since you're going to be keeping it though, I suppose I should attune the blade to you. I never taught Jana how to attune it, so I'm not surprised you were not attuned, but it will serve you better if you are.

"Since you're taking Lairliel, you should take Miruette. They are a matched set, made in the same year by a skilled elven weaponsmith."

"Are you sure?" Errol asked.

"Yes, I shouldn't need the blades again. Think of it as a final thank you for helping me tonight." She handed Miruette to Errol hilt first, and as Errol touched the blade, the dream ended.

August [find date]

The party could tell it was just after midnight. This experience was dissimilar to the dreams they had in the past. First of all, they felt tired -- as if they had actually been up the entire night. Blink still suffered strength damage and several party members were still hurt.

Exhausted, they went to sleep.

August [find date +1]

The party woke up late. Tidus fixed them an excellent meal as usual. Over breakfast they debated whether the dream had been real or not. Vaugner's manacles had disappeared, but none of the treasure the party had collected was present.

The party broke camp and headed back to Ashanto.

August [find date]

The trip to Ashanto had been uneventful. Almost immediately upon arriving the party had been solicited for protection money. Because the party planned to train there for the next 10 days, they decided to pay the money to prevent any potential problems.

Vaugner had found his contact and then went on a pickpocket spree. Each day he would go out using his hat of disguise to pose as a different thief, look for a good mark, and attempt to theft something. On one of the four days, someone saw his sleight of hand, but by using invisibility he was able to get away.

After everyone was trained, they went to sleep expecting another dream session, but none came. They took it in stride, however, and after some debate, decided to follow the coast up to Deepwater.

[insert date]

The party made it through the Romonus region with little difficulty. A few wild animals attacked them in the middle of the night, but the party easily took care of it. They entered the next region and within a couple hours were met by a patrol.

"Do you have your papers?" the leader said.

"Yes, here they are," Malif said, holding out the useless Romonus papers.

"You're not in the Romonus region anymore. Those papers are no good here. You'll have to pay 100 gold for the right to safe passage through this region."

The party started debating about whether to pay.

"I don't think we need to pay," Malif said, in his best intimidating voice.

Tensions stood high, but before weapons were drawn, one of the other soldiers moved up to the leader and whispered something. Vaugner was able to overhear most of it.

"Boss, check out that horse... that's a belar bred horse..." he whispered.

"Very well, we're in a hurry anyways, and don't have time for this," the leader said, as he moved off with his horse.

[insert date]

The party had been travelling for only a couple hours when they spied a village ahead. Even at this distance they could tell something was odd -- there were numerous wagons, more than normal, as well as horses and livestock standing outside of town.

As they approached, two guards cane up to stop them.

"Do you have papers?" one guard asked.

"Umm... mind the horse," Blink said, pointing a finger at Kestrel's belar bred horse.

"Do you have papers or not?" the guard repeated.

Malif spoke up and described the soldiers they had met a few days ago. "We talked to them and they said we didn't need to pay and we would be free to go."

"Very well then," the guard replied. "But if you aren't going to pay, you aren't allowed into the village. Please go around the village and continue on your way."

The party was curious what exactly was happening in town. Malif send his familiar to scout the town, but aside from an abundance of people, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was no carnival or fair, nor barricades or militia armed with weapons. It in all ways seemed normal except the excess of people.

The party decided to travel on. They had traveled for about half the day when they noticed large dirt grooves, about 10 feet wide, dug throughout the fields. They crossed the roads at times.

Errol though for a second and seeemd to recall an obscure tale about a giant worm coming to fertilize farmer's fields, but that was about the extent of his knowledge.

The party decided to use silence to try and get through the area. Unfortunately, Errol's silence spell only lasted a few minutes, and within a half of an hour the silence spells had worn off and there were still dirt burrow tracks all around them.

The party continued forward, sending Rhobarb ahead to scout. About a half hour later the falcon came back and reported there was moving dirt about an hour in front of them.

The party stayed put, hoping the worm would move away. For about an hour, the worm moved perpendicular to them. It then changed course and started heading towards the party.

The party moved off the road, trying to get out of the worm's way. This seemed to attract the worm, and it started moving faster towards them.

Malif summoned a phanton steed to try and lure the worm away. Initially it seemed the work, but Malif soon outdistanced the worm and it returned to meandering in a field, dangerously close to the party.

The party then decided to try and get back to the road to see if they could outrun the worm. Attracted by the new movement, the worm started moving towards the party again. Rhobarb signaled that the worm was slowly gaining on the party, and it would catch up them within 10 minutes.

Malif, on his phanton steed, moved off to toss the earthquake item near the worm, hoping to hurt or frighten it off. The rest of the party dismounted and started buffing themselves.

Vernon enlarged Kestrel, and Blink cast divine favor on himself. When the worm was 250 feet away, Malif tossed the clay and spoke the command word. The earthquake seemed to stun the worm, but it was unclear if it took any damage.

Since the worm was still underground, the party simply held their actions. Malif made it back to the group and moved to mage armor Blink.

The worm moved forward and broke the surface. From the front of the worm sprang 10 tentacles each about 30 to 40 feet long. Behind that, about another 60 feet of worm rose above the ground, with more stil underneath.

As it emerged, each of the tentacles slung acid in a wide arc, hitting all of the party members and horses. Vaugner's horse took off in a panic. Tidus was handling most of the animals and kept most of them in check, though one reared up in a panic.

The acid hit each of the members. Despite having fast reflexes, both Vaugner and Blink managed to avoid none of the acid. The party sprang into action.

Errol started drumming, Vaugner shot at it three times with arrows but missed. Vernon enlarged Vaugner. Kestrel swung at a tentacle and hacked it off. Malif drew his rod of maximization and cast a fireball at the worm, hitting it before it could react. Blink sprang in and hit a tentacle and then sprang back out.

In retaliation, three of the tentacles flew at Malif, and all three hit, severely wounding him. The remaining six tentacles assailed the enlarged Kestrel, and five of them hit, each doing substantial damage. Kestrel knew that one or two more hits would take him down.

There was little to be done except fight. Blink again sprang in and out. Vaugner shot more arrows, this time all of them hitting. Vernon and Errol both healed Kestrel with cure moderate wounds. Nalif cast another maximized fireball, but this time the worm was able to partially get out of the way.

Kestrel then took a swing, critically hitting the worm and killing it.

"Wow that was close," Kestrel said. He knew that if the creature hadn't died right at that moment, there was a good chance he would have been dead within a few seconds.

The party carved apart the worm parts which were above the earth. Malif took a giant worm tooth as a souvenier. Vernon skinned parts of the worm to see if the hide would be useful for anything.

The party also found a leather pouch which hadn't totally decomposed. Within the pouch they found about 500 gold, a scroll, a horn, and a potion.

They then decided that since it was so late, they should move to before where the tracks started. There they could set up camp and decide how to best proceed through the worm-scarred land.