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 #5
Go to Session #: 1 | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10.5 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 35.5 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
March 4

The party rose early and got to work. Malif spent the entire day creating his familiar, Kestrel went off in search of Pippy, while the rest of the party started reading through the books Malif's mom had found.

After searching through town for a couple hours trying to gather information, Kestrel ran into Ash, who claimed to be Pippy's friend. Unfortunately he didn't know where Pippy was, but Ash said he was with Pippy when he originally got the stones.

"Yeah he got them from a wizard that came in through the west gate. The wizard was maybe six feet tall and had black hair but I don't remember much else." Kestrel asked a few more questions, but the lad was getting antsy and didn't give Kestrel any other real information.

Towards dinner, the party met back up to compare notes on their research into group dreams. They found much background information on dreaming itself, but little in terms of group dreaming. They did find out that there was a renowned researcher into sleep, dreams, and trace states in the area, a belar named Chias.

As Kestrel headed back to his room, he found an odd letter in his mailbox. Lydia had moved to Pavalar and made enough money in the last couple weeks to repay Kestrel! She was working at The Traveling Minstel in town and invited him to stop by.

Kestrel found the tavern without much trouble ("Eh lad everyone's been asking about it recently, it sure seems popular" a walker noted when Kestrel asked for directions). The Traveling Minstrel was a large three-story inn and tavern taking up much of a block. Upon entering, Kestrel noticed immediately that the place was packed and lively. Booths lined the sides of the common room, with some large tables set up in the middle. On one end was a long bar with three bartenders taking orders. Through the din of the crowd he heard some music in a corner.

After looking around for a couple minutes, Kestrel spotted Lydia moving from the kitchen to the bar. "Oh heya Kestrel! I'm glad you could stop by!" exclaimed Lydia as she gave Kestrel a heartfelt hug.

When asked how she had come to be in Pavalar, Lydia said, "Well, it's the most amazing thing really... I was pretty depressed when I first met you guys, and even though Janson is a kind-hearted man and took pity on me, I was doing such a bad job I'm pretty sure he would have fired me soon.

"But after you loaned me the 15 gold, I was so happy I started paying attention. A couple other customers at the inn overheard Errol appreciating his drink, and asked what he was drinking. I remember Janson making something special for him so I asked them if they wanted some too. They said yes, and I convinced Janson to make a couple more batches. Well turns out that the drink was hit!

"They liked it so much, everyone at that inn wanted a taste. A couple days later, an investor from Pavalar was coming back from Gront and liked the drink so much he wanted Janson to run a new inn he was about to open in Pavalar.

"Janson was thrilled and I was being a lot more productive at work, so he promoted me to head of the kitchen. Between my new wages and the tips we share, I've already made enough money to pay you back!

"Kestrel, I want to thank you so much again! I just had a feeling that my husband was going to have something bad happen to him in that mining town. But thanks to you he's back, Janson has a new inn, and I'm running the kitchen!

"Oh, hey I gotta go but come back if you get the chance and bring your friends too!" Lydia exclaimed as she heard her name called, and turned back torwards the kitchen.

As Kestrel left the inn and headed back to his apartment, he noticed that some of the usually constant magical lights which lit the streets were flickering for no apparent reason.

March 5

Kestrel and Errol decided to swap roles. Errol would try and find more information about Pippy while Kestrel hit the books. Errol spent the morning gathering information and found that Pippy had fled the southwest quarter and was now hiding out in the north quarter. Errol decided not pursue Pippy there as it was a rough and tumble neighorhood. A streetwise urchin would have no problems there, but Errol was wise enough to realize he would be lucky to escape the north quarter with his pants intact if he went there alone.

Meanwhile, Malif finished the final incantation and converted his falcon into his familiar. While the experience had been tiring, with a fresh bout of energy from his exaltation of bonding his familiar, Malif spent the rest of the day modifying his hand crossbow to better load bolts.

Towards lunch, Kestrel got a summons to Mortenser's office. Once there Mortenser said, "I have an update for you in regards to the cherbas and the wizard. The cherbas are very dangerous. They can cause an anti-magic field around them as well as disrupt nearby magic. They are definately a threat to Pavalar, especially given how fast they multiply. We've done some scrying for a wizard leaving stones here as well as divining in general for any malicious attacks by a wizard. Nothing has turned out so far. We'd like to talk this urchin Pippy if possible. He may help us a lot."

"We've been looking for Pippy but haven't found him yet," replied Kestrel.

Mortenser continued, "If you could even find out his real name we should be able to find him without too much effort. Anyways, I remember you did a good job with the sculpture a couple of weeks ago, and I'd appreciate it if you could continue looking into this matter. If you get any further information please contact me or Jasrina -- she's the lead investigator in the outer keep -- as soon as you can."

The party met up to eat lunch and discuss their findings from the morning. Vaugner had reseached more about Chias. "Chias is very old, over 4000 years old, and used to teach his course in Pavalar. But interest wasn't very high and eventually he decided to move to the coast and continue his research there. He doesn't seem to be especially friendly or unfriendly, which probably means he'll be aloof unless we have someone introduce us," he reported.

As they were finishing lunch, a crier ran down the street shouting, "The magistrates of Pavalar have declared that all cherbas must be removed from the city. Please gather all cherbas and deposit them at the East checkpoint. Also, the magistrates are looking for a young boy who goes by the name of Pippy. A 100 gold reward is being offered for finding him alive. In addition, there is a 1000 gold reward for anyone who can find a way to reliably and efficiently get rid of the cherbas."

The party grumbled that this would make thier finding Pippy much harder, but decided they would try their luck in the north quarter anyways. Entering the north quarter, the party noticed that most of the people were taciturn and kept to themselves. Still, that didn't stop them from staring at the party when they thought they were unnoticed.

The buildings and streets were maintained poorly compared to other parts of the outer city, and an eerie quiet contrasted the hustle and bustle of other the other quarters. Errol started to gather information but most people were reluctant to talk to him and gave him vague answers. Eventually Errol found and cornered a street urchin. "Hey," Errol said, "We're looking for some information. If you help us out it will go well for you. If not it won't."

Only hearing the threat, the waif took off running, but Kestrel easily caught him and lifted him up. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" the kid wailed. The lad was causing quite a scene, but no one moved to help him. Suddenly from down the street a voice called out, "Hey what's going on here?"

The party looked towards the origin of the voice and saw five men in a group. The one in front was clearly a leader, and his four followers flanked him with weapons ready to be drawn. Immediately the street cleared, and the kid stopped struggling. Vaugner, feeling a bit paranoid, looked around checking for snipers in any of the surrounding buildings. He was rewarded by spotting a person on a rooftop, though he could not see if the watcher was armed.

Kestrel looked up and calmly explained that the kid had information but was unwilling to share it.

"Exuse me, sir, but the kid's not your personal property. Let him go!" the man growled sarcastically. A short conversation that went nowhere ensued between the man and Kestrel, and it looked like it was about to come to blows. Before that could happen, three men on horseback ride up. They had the markings of the local militia.

"Sullivan, what's going on here?" one of the men said.

Sullivan replied, "These brats came down and decided to pick on Sainy here. We took offense to that, and asked them to let the kid go. They refused. We were just about to settle our dispute."

The militiaman turned to the party. "And what do you have to say for yourselves?" he asked. Kestrel replied with the essentially the same story, that the kid had information and the party was attempting to get it.

"Sainy, what these guys want to know, do you know it?" he queiered. Sainy shook his head vigorously while whining, "No I know nothing, sir."

"See, the kid knows nothing, you should let him go," the militiaman intoned calmly. At that Kestrel shrugged and dropped Sainy, who quickly scampered off. He continued, "There still a problem here?" as he looked at the party and Sullivan's men. "No Sir!" Sullivan replied respectfully. With that his group turned around walked down the street.

"We're not going to have any more problems here are we? This isn't the inner city you know. People aren't just going to answer to your beck and call here," the man warned.

If Kestrel felt rebuked, he didn't show it. "What is your name?" he asked.

"My name is Myan and I'm one of the seagents," Myan replied. He rode alongside the party for a bit. They found out that Myan was also tasked with finding Pippy, as was the whole city, but that he thought chances were slim that he would be found anytime soon. "The belar misunderstand the situation here. Pippy isn't a hardened and cruel criminal. He's well liked in the community and a good judge of character, and while a lot of people will be tempted by the reward, the friends who know where he might be hiding aren't going to tattle on him."

Discouraged, the party left the north quarter and stopped by to see how Malif was doing. "Look guys, you don't need to find Pippy, you just need to find someone who knows what Pippy knows!" he exclaimed.

With that revelation, the party left Malif to continue his tinkering. Vaugner checked in with his rogue contacts and verified that Pippy was not in the thieves guild. Asking around discreetly and obliquely, he did find out that Pippy often hung out with Ash and Tip.

The party set out in search around town again, and late in the afternoon Kestrel spied Ash sitting in an alleyway eating an apple. Vaugner crept into the shadows and used his hat of disguise to make himself look like a random walker. At the sight of the party Ash started to bolt, but Kestrel called out, "Hey Ash, remember me, it's Kestrel... I have some more silver if you can help out with some information!"

Ash turned around and recognized Kestrel. He stopped and asked what they wanted. From Ash, they learned that since the heat was so high on Pippy that he would have bolted from town, and Ash didn't recall any more details about the wizard. Kestrel kept handing him more silver, though, and Ash dug deep into his memories to come up with more information. Suddenly, he had a revelation. "Give me an hour and I'll have more information for you. Meet me outside Rina's shop."

The party agreed and with that Ash scampered off. Vaugner discreetly tried to follow him, but Ash was running at full tilt and Vaugner lost him as he ran through a tavern.

About an hour later, Ash showed up in front of Rina's store with another young boy about the same age. After greeting Rina, Ash presented his friend Tip.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to the wizard, but I remember him pretty well. Pippy was chatting him up. He was from outside Gront he said, and was on the way to one of the libraries in the inner city to do some research on ami.. um.. ani... animations, I think it was. He was about six feet tall and had a brown robe. He was definately a wizard. He wanted to stop by to say hi to someone he knew that had just moved here, but I don't remember where it was."

Through a flash of insight, Kestrel asked, "It wasn't by any chance The Traveling Minstrel was it?"

"Yeah that might have been it," Tip said. For their information Kestrel gave them each a gold and dismissed them. Ash punched Tip hard on the shoulder and said, "See I told you it would be worth it!" as they ran off.

The party then headed to The Traveling Minstrel. Errol chuckled as he saw the insignia of the tavern -- a mug of ale with a set of drums engaved on the mug. It was Friday night and packed with wall to wall people. Above the din of noise, a band could be heard playing.

Janson happened to notice the party come in and shouted to them, "Come in! Come in! You guys need a table? First group to give up their table gets their tab on the house tonight!" A table quickly vacated and Janson ushered the party to the table.

"Welcome!", he said. "I owe all this business to you guys. If you hadn't asked for a special drink, I'd still be in Mero. You guys have my word as long as you are in any tavern I run, drinks are on the house." Errol spotted the band and excused himself to go jam with the band. Following Errol's gaze, Janson shook his head in disbelief. "It's the craziest thing. Lydia thought of it really. People were loving the TMD's (we weren't sure what to call them, someone suggested called them 'The Minstrel's Delight, and the nickname stuck). It seems to make people more jovial and want to sing.

"Well, Lydia came up with the idea that we should hire a band, and the band plays whatever song or ditty the person wants to sing to. They go on stage and take a turn with a song. Everyone loves it, even though most of the singers are quite bad! Along with the TMD's that's what is making this place so popular."

The party described the wizard they knew and asked if Janson knew him. "Oh sure, Rillan I bet it is from the description. I've ran the Mero Inn for the last 35 years, and it's the only inn, and in a good location. I've met just about everyone who has regularly traveled between Gront and Pavalar. Rillan was here last week. He has a keep somewhere pretty close to Gront. Say I gotta get back to work, but if you guys need anything just let me know!" And with that Janson disappeared back into the crowd.

With that confirmation, the party resolved to set out to Gront the next day.

March 6

Wanting to claim the reward themselves, the party decided not to tell Mortenser exactly what they learned and instead just mention that they had a lead on the wizard. They also left a note with Lydia to deliver to Mortenser in the event that they didn't return within 10 days, just to be safe. With that, they bought horses and set off.

As the sun set they stopped at the Mero Inn. Errol tried to convince the bartender there that the party was supposed to get free drinks, but the bartender was having none of it. Not wanting to make a big issue, the party asked him to keep a record of their drinks.

March 7

As the party prepared to ride out for the day, they spied a gnome also getting ready to set out. Curiousity got the better of Errol, and he found himself staring.

"Hiya, my name's Gnash," the gnome introduced himself. "How are ya?"

The party discovered the gnome was travelling to Gront also so they decided to spend the ride together. Gnash related his tale, "I've been traveling for 5 or so years now on my quest. I'm looking for a dragon because my quest is to build a mechanical dragon!"

Unfortunately, poor Gnash had little inkling of what a dragon really was.

"Dragons fly? Oh my, that's going to make it much tougher."

"What? They are made of gold? I'll never be able to afford that... oh, they are just colored gold? Ah that's better."

"How big are they? Oh, that's quite big."

were some of his comments. Errol and the rest of the party bemusedly educated him with what knowledge they had of dragons. "Well, that's all very interesting, I'll have a lot of questions to ask him when I find my dragon!" he said as he shook his head.

Gnash also made small talk with several members. With Malif he chatted about the properties of metals and gems. With Errol he shared his experiences in his travels. While the party uniformly thought the gnome was a tad bit crazy, it did make for more cheerful travel.

March 9

Reaching the outskirts of Gront, Gnash bid the party farewell and headed into the city. Vernon went up to one of the guards and asked if he knew a wizard named Rinnel. The guard indeed knew of Rinnel and furthermore provided directions to his keep. With that information the party continued onwards.

After traveling north for about an hour, they found the keep. It was a large house in an enormous lot with wheat fields on either side. The property was surrounded by a tall stone wall, and a bit of forest peeked out from behind the house. As they came to the gate, they found it ajar.

Peeking inside, they immediately saw a nonfunctioning fountain. Atop the fountain was a statue of a centaur. To the left was a hedge maze. To the right were the stables. In front and a bit to the right were three steps up to a doorway. On either side of the doorway was a stone granite gargoyle statue.

The party made its way to the fountain. A faint stink permeated the area, and the water looked stagnant. As the party walked up to the stable, a few floating brushes came up and started brushing Vernon, and not pleasantly. Some firewood floated out and was dumped at his feet. Looking around, they saw more firewood heaped in rough piles on the ground. The party decided to leave their horses at the gate.

Moving to the door, Vaugner knocked at it. After a few seconds with no answer, he took at look at the lock. Feeling rather paranoid, Blink decided to tie the gargoyles up in case they decided to animate. After a few minutes Vaugner picked the lock and the party entered.

The doors opened up to a 20' x 20' entryway. In the far right corner was a pond, and in the near right corner was a small apple tree. A few green apples hung from the trees, and several more had dropped to the ground and were in various states of decomposition. To the left were several expensive looking benches. Ensconed in the walls in various places were magical torches with continual light to provide illumination. At the far wall there was another door.

Vernon moved forward and opened it. This door opened into the main house. Immediately in front was a large staircase leading straight up. To the right looked a living room with a large wooden table and a gigantic rug. A tapestry hung from the far wall. In the corner was a polished suit of armor, and a couple couches lined the walls. To the left was a door, and there was also an opening towards the left into the dining room.

Still feeling paranoid, one of the party members tossed a stone onto the rug in the living room. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then a small bown blob with 4 legs ran into the room, scooped up the rock, and disappeared!

Shrugging, Vernon opened the door to the left, which led into a bedroom. Though nicely furnished with a bed, dresser, table, fireplace, and a rug, nothing interesting was found.

Suddenly two more of the strange creatures appeared and started coming towards the party. Vaugner shot an arrow at one but it flew past the creature harmlessly. The creatures attempted to lift Kestrel. When that failed, they bit and clawed at Kestrel but failed to connect. The party killed one, but rather than killing the other, they grappled it and tied it up, as some of the party members were loathe to kill it.

As the party pondered what to do now, they saw another one of the creatures skitter along the floor, pick up Vaugner's errant arrow, and disappear through back through a doorway.