Elven Expedition
Seekers of the Misty Isle
Archive 1, Journal Entry 7
Year 2014, Day 196
After hours and hours of walking, all of us needed to take a break. Jharak said he would keep watch while the rest of us slept. When we awoke, however, there was no sign of him. Not even his wolf, Hank. In a panic, we searched around, but he was nowhere. We looked around for signs of a struggle, there was none. He simply vanished.
Arin'Cael and I set off in the direction (at least hoped to be) previously and kept our eyes open for Jharak. We did not find Jharak at all, however, some things found us.
A huge demon, looked like a giant toad with a humanoid shaped body, a couple of Vrocks (I actually remembered what those looked like) and about a dozen Manes, and a Nelfeshnee. I was so terrified I couldn't even scream. After some extremely small conversation, in elvish of all things, they gave us a choice, go with them to see their master, or be eaten by the manes. As if that were any of a choice; more like implied consent.
After walking for hours and hours, as soon as we thought we could not walk any longer, we all arrived at a small fortified encampment. We were met with a Succubus, who was being carried by Dretches. The horrors that I had hoped only to read about, I am literally witnessing with my own eyes. I did learn through conversation that they apparently all serve the Demon Prince Graz'zt. As to be expected, we were taken to a dungeon and locked into a cell.
In the dungeon we met a very attractive female gray elf, and Jharak and his wolf Hank. Blessed be the Seldarine that we are together again (at least). I started asking the lady about whom she was and how she got into this place, and apparently, she is connected to the party of dead elves that we came across in Wyrmwood. She went through the same portal we did, and ended up in the same place we did. Strange coincidence I must say.
In her possession was a scroll; a scroll she said that Jharak had on him when he was brought in here. It was inside of a corked bottle. I took it out and read it; it stated that there is a portal to the Prime Material Plane (our plane) on a sandbar in the middle of the River Styx, south of this encampment. I decided to cast Amanuensis on this scroll, for record keeping purposes in this journal.
After learning about her companions, she cried a little. I showed her the ring I had found, and she told me it belonged to a wizard named Uthlien. Apparently by speaking a command word, I could summon the Magical Assistance Construct (MAC) for short. It was a construct that was created and bonded to the signet ring as a lab assistant for Uthlien.I thanked her very much for the information, and I told her that I would return the ring upon our arrival in New Silverymoon. Of course, we needed to get back into Wyrmwood first.
The lady prisoner told us she knew of a boat race that was going to take place on the River Styx in honor of Demon Prince Graz'zt. Putting two and two together - if we could use one of those boats, we could get onto that sandbar, and get out of here. I spoke the command word, and indeed, a construct appeared, and after a minute of conversation, I asked MAC to cut away the bars so that we could all escape. MAC did so with flying colors. I released his summons back into the ring, and we all made our escape.
Blessed Seldarine, I do not know how we snuck out of the encampment without notice, but we did. Until, we arrived in the boat. There was a Vrock sleeping(?) inside the boat. We roused him with our noise, but before he could act upon us, Arin'Cael somesaulted between his legs, stabbed him from behind with his dagger, and Ama'oro (female gray elf) unsheathed her rapier and stabbed him through an eye. Death was instantaneous; must have pierced his brain. After a moment of awe and astonishment at our dear lady friend, we rolled the dead demon out of the boat. I used Mage Hand to take a sample of the water in the River Styx with an empty antitoxin vial I had. Who knows what knowledge could be gained from it. Arin'Cael, with surprising proficiency, steered the boat toward our portal home.
As if this was all supposed to happen, we sailed without incident down the River Styx, and we did bottom out on the appropriate sandbar. We could see the portal. Without hesitation, we all jumped to our freedom.
When our vision became clear, and our bodies manifested back onto the proper plane, we saw our other two companions; Elwin and _Content Not Found: amaik-woodsoul_. I introduced everyone to Ama'oro, and all of us decided to take a seat on green grass and breathe clean air. I am truly blessed by our Seldarine. This perhaps was just the right event to get me back in touch with my divine studies.
Thank you Seldarine. I love all of you so much. And thank you for introducing me to the beautiful Ama'oro. I am truly lucky she allowed me to kiss the back of her hand before leaving the cell. Her soft and supple touch - combined with such skill and precision of swordplay - could make a man such as myself... that is for a different type of journal entry.