To the Farsea Marshes & Below

I've been tardy in my writings lately. We got back to Suzail, and I find myself more interested in the folks than the past adventure.

This will be short. Not much to report. We fought the hydra a kicked all 12 of it's heads to the ice. To bad we had to do that, though, 'cause it would have been a great deterant to anyone else looking around the area. but the sorrowsworn demon was a good deterrant too, and it's now gone as well. i guess we are doing good deeds in clearing out all these evil beasts, though. but are hydra''s evil? They are tough, but I don't know about evil.

This one was an ice hydra, and it, before all of us looking on, grabbed and bit and litterally tore Celery to pieces in the matter of a few, maybe several, seconds. Since then he has invested in a bow and decided to not immediatly charge into combat with everything he sees. If that's not the development of wisdom I'm a four footed hin.

Abelalon Vo

I've never made political or military type negotiations. I find them quite interesting, in an odd way, I should add. Babydoll really helped me with the old advice thing. He's rather smart when it comes to military strategy & military negotiations. I need just a bit more training at this to REALLY be good at it. And I mean REALLY good. So good, in fact, that people would throw themselves in front of on-rushing danger, sacrificing themself for the sake of protecting me. That kind of diplomatic elan is well worth seeking. I think I might, possibly, want it. Hell, if it's wantable, I probably do.

I had to renegotiate with Joparg because my friends encouraged me to not hand over the key. We had a good bit of concern about him invading and killing all our future kids (which I plane to help make many of in the next bit of time. I wonder if I could make a Hinman. I, of course, prefere Hin ladies, but they are usually not able to handle me. Maybe in these northern lands of many different peoples the Hin ladies, the lightfoot Hin ladies, will be used to the humans and elves and therefore better able. I'll have to investigate this.)

So we talked about the issues, and eventually, because of Babydoll's forward ways, got 'down' to a certain, acceptable, level of 'honesty'. Joparg was all over the place in contradicting himself, between his statements and his implications (to be a trader of negotiations, he has not desired). It finally came to the front what it was we knew all along. Joparg said so, and we were on even footing. I'm not fond of being on even footing, though. I'd rather know what a person wants and intends, but have them lie to me and think I don't know what they want, so the game of trade can be played on more than just a few levels. That way it's much more interesting. I've become rusty, though, in the past five years. I have done little in the way of any kind of trade or negotiations. I look forward to Waterdeep and the opportunity to do some real business.

Not having been at the top of the game in this negotiation I am lacking in desire to describe it with more details. So let it be known, than, this: Joparg does not have the key, and will not be getting it any time soon. Trust is a BIG issue between us and them (being that we have reason to not trust them, and they are untrustworthy, which makes them not have any reason to trust us). If we could have handled this like a straight negotiation it would have been much easier, but maybe much more boring as well. We are 'welcome' back in Seakin, as we choose. We will develop, slowly, the trust necessary to facilitate real negotiations. We are, in theory, allowed to wander the city when we return. The common citizens are supposed to be okay with us, but the hierarchy is a bit warry of us (mostly Joparg, and I imagine this is so with all thse we have killed, or not killed only due to our kind nature, even though we could have and would have been justified in doing so). Joparg offered to trade us the key for the opportunity to let Desicrist study the Mythal. Desicrist was increadibly happy to hear about this. He says he was hiding his enthusiasm to fool Joparg, but Mr. Bluplip was busy reading our minds the whole time.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm kind of pissed. The negotiating table is no place for extreme emotions or personal vendettas, so I wasn't thinking like that at the time. But he is one deceitful, fish folk. I'm going to try to convince the group to my plan of action I am concocting at the present moment. But a little more research is due. I just need some way to get access to a library of natural knowledge. Maybe I can start with some nature clerics in the city ans see if they are interesting in letting me do some research (or just telling me).

So we left Seakin, and will probably not go back for some good time.

I was really hoping to just sell the key and be done with it. I'm of no real mind to go back to Seakin. But I'm not one to go back anywhere. It's borring to go back where you have already been. But then again, there is a kind of comfort in it; A comfort I have been lacking for a good long time now.

So we left Seakin, and decided to do so in two trips because the area we can teleport out of only allows for four people to fit (though it could probably fit 6 or 8 or maybe even 10 hin if it had to - they just take up to much space, too). The first trip went with Caulwen (& Nullum), Babydoll, Celery & Thraxel. Several seconds later Caulwen came back and was frantic about a 12 headed icehydra which was presently aiming to make meals out of three others. Bellumthain teleported us back to the surface so we could get there faster and ...

Abelalon Vo
SoM

Eff it! We had several hours prior to the sacrifice for us to mill. I hate milling. I'd rather be in Xanathuria than mill. Babydoll wanted to tango with the Kuo-Toan monks, he did this for a bit, and we watch his first two fish fights and left during the third. By "We" I mean Celery and me.

I wanted to go up to the keyed portal room to check out the tribute, because I did not trust them to have given us something worthy, real, and not trapped. I could find no traps, and pulled everything out of the chests in doing so. It turns out to be a lot less than I had originally thought. Only about 100 pounds or so in the two chests. I mean, I saw two chests and figured it was like 400 pounds of stuff and things of a magical and valuable nature.

We got about 400 gems ranging in an estimated value of 9 to 130 GPs each. Wow, a big hall there, I'd say. There were three cameos with elf heads on them, which Desicrist says are from Myth Drannor (& I wonder how such was got). They are valued at about 10k each. That's a good start, but it's also a bad finish. Beside those there was like as many mithril coins as it would take to equal my weight, a couple wands, and a couple rods (the rods I've never heard of - some web spinning thing, and a portal finder - not to interesting, I'll bet).

Now getting up there took quite a bit of convincing on my part. Babydoll was so uninterested in checking the treasure that he went sparring, and Celery just went outside with Caulwen (& Nullum) and someone else, though I can not recall who it was (no one seems to fit). But they were the easy ones. I had to argue with some fish-folk to let us go, pulling out the "I understand not being allowed in the city unescorted just yet, but if we can't go outside then we amount to not much more than prisoners" line, which seems to have gotten a positive response. But then my group decided to convince me to go in and have some drinks with the Toan monks to celebrate some odd thing or another. I was out voted by everyone present so I went.

I have a general policy to have my decisions and make them too, but when the entire group is against me I'll do what they want (I recognize I'm not always right, but neither are they). So we went to have some fish drinks. We all forgot about the Heroes Feast cast by Desicrist (we are just such heroes that we forget we are most of the time - well, I am, and so is Desicrist and Bellumthain, and Celery too, and I'll even say Caulwen and Nullum, but the rigged jury is hung on the other two), so Caulwen did a bit of silent, motionless casting to detect for poison and found, just like the food, that the drinks were poison as well. Unfortunatly she did not know what type of poison, and not knowing led me to believe the incorrect.

I thought it was just another of those Batrachi spice things where everything they eat is poisonous to the rest of us. Turns out it was malicious. Some fish-folk just can not be trusted. But because we forgot about the spell, we kept trying to weasle out of drinking and toasting, or figure a way to drink some and cure the ills. Then Babydoll was kind enough to remind the group of our hero status for a limited time, and we drank with the fishes.

The 'honey' mead wasn't 3/4th bad, I'll have to say. The poison gave it a particular ... odd ... but good, taste. It's made from some fungus they have laying around down here. seems like everything is made from this or that fungus down here. I guess with all the damp the fungal growth just can't be helped.

After a couple pints, our 'friend' & 'ally', Joparg Bluplip, Grandmaster, came running in (it's really, increadibly funny to see a bipedal fish run) and asked us how we felt. The others, the monks, the ... 21st plane, I can't recall what they call their monks. Must be my 53 years catching up with me. But they kept looking at us, and seemed to be wondering, too, how we were doing. This was an obvious sign we should have been looking for. Maybe it was the two pints (remember, two pints to me is like eight pints to a big person - which everyone but Caulwen and Nullum are), but I was not paying to much attention (as usual). In some ways I think I'll never wise-up to the evil ways of some. I just want to have a good time and make good friends, and do fun stuff, and see fun things, and meet 'interesting' ladies of all sorts (though I have to say I find fish, and pigs, and dogs to contain a paucity of interest to me). But everyone else seems to want to rule and conquer and kill and dominate.

Imagine what the world would be like if hin and gnomes were in charge and responsible. We have some bad apples, sure, but only a rare few. Even those are nothing compared to the machinations of the big folk. maybe being big makes them think they are superior or something. Who knows? Lord Ao probably doesn't even. but I bet Yondolla does, that's why she made us. The world needed some good clean fun, some happy-hearted mischief, and some positively lightly endowed explorations.

Anyway, as you may be able to tell, I am down trodden by these events, and that which came to follow. I'll recover soon enough, I'm a hin after all, but for now I'm all about depression.

It turns out the fish-folk we were enjoying a good imbibe with were trying to poison us. Not just regular honey-&-butter spices, but full-on poison. Like some of the stuff I, ... well it is something called lich dust. And it has to be eaten, I think, to be effective. But because of our epic ode status it just added ad- OH! Yondolla! I just realized ... I ate a lich. Ewh! That's totally, positively, definely gross. I think I need to ... I don't know, maybe eat some black lotus root to get the lich parts out of me. Now I'm a demon-tainted, lich-imbibed, strongheart hin misplaced in the north of the Realms. I think I need to go home and rest this one out. I'm like the illithid of liches. Like a ghoul grave-robber robbing cradles to get the tastiest bits and softest parts. My guts are like mummy guts, all petrified and dry, but stuck inside me and still churning away at the dust mites falling into my grave. When I pass on, Brandobaris isn't even going to want to have anything to do with me. Maybe I can get Desicrist to cure me, or fix my spleen, or something. I feel sick. I need a good double breakfast to push this out.

Oh, a double wake-up. I miss those days. Big folk, even gnomes, don't know how to eat. They just eat for sustenance, not for good, pure, wholesome lust. Can you believe Desicrist actually wears a magic item which keeps him from 'having' to eat, ever. Caulwen does to, and apparently when Nullum is in his pouch he doesn't have to either. What the gods must have done to some races to make them the evil lot they are is beyond me. But to not want to eat, is just as bad, well almost as bad, as being a beholder (and lusting after everything). Like I said, I'm not to wise about people and the whys and what-fors as to their reasons for doing.

Joparg was pissed, and not drunk pissed, but mad pissed (and being a fish he redrinks his, and other's, piss on a constant basis, which compounds his pissed-ness and makes it even worse). If these fish-folk didn't have such wide mouths filled with such prodigeous teeth they would be funny-cute doing nearly everything they do. But the teeth kill it for everything which requires an open mouth (or doesn't require it but commonly results in it).

We left the messy monk hall, with apologies from Joparg. He stayed inside and began yelling at those who did the misdead of mispoisoning us. He said some tough stuff, and I though it was just a show, but the future told me I was yet again wrong. It's funny how hindsight only works in one 'direction'. I wonder what it's called when it goes the other way. The group talked, and I decided to be upset, so Mr. Bluplip was told we were going to the keyed portal room (he couldn't say no without making us prisoners, and that seems to be not a desire of his. He's almost a good-nice guy. Almost. The word is Drapood had his monks try to capture us and make us more than what we were to become to the assembly of Ramonos later in the day.

So, I went back, actually a bunch of us did, to the keyed portal room. Caulwen, Celery, Nullum, and (I think) Babyface went outside while I inventoried what we had been given. I seem to be the only one ever concerned with such things. It's not that I'm greedy or anything, I just have an organization to fund, a lot of mouths to feed, and not much in the way of income. So it's important. I mean, I'm not poor are anything (any hin with 1k GPs in his pocket is definetly not poor), but I have expensive needs, and tastes which cost quite the coin (women can be expensive).

Anyway, Cel-Cal-Nul-Bab whent to the surface (just a short ten foot jump from the room) to see the sky and breath the fresh air and, hopefully, see the sun (well Caulwen and Nullum were not to interested in seeing the sun), and they encountered some beast and it's hearder up there. Now that Sourface is gone life seems to be returning to the marsh. Desicrist told us (or maybe Belli did, sometimes I just can't keep straight which one told what to whom, when and how which was told to those who listened) there are marsh drovers here who, usually, heard these beasts called cattle-bleepus, which have some milk the drovers make into death-cheese (called so because ye ald bleepus just look at a folk and a folk becomes a firm form).

Bleepus be had, one drover kill another and take a bleepus away to a home. Homeward bleepus bleeps but not looks at our homely heroes who fly at night up top above, all capped and caped with a bat by the moon. No drover see them, though them see twin drovers. One twin say, and the other say back. One twin say, and the other hit back. One twin a folk, the other is mad. Mad twin make folk twin a sad twin to behold. All for the sake of a bleepus to hold. And moon bat swings & sings to them pests. So pests make him full and happy to nest.

Back in the fishery we found ourself attending the sacrificial ceremony, as prommised by his grand excellentness who fell to us twice. Joparg made a mad rousing speak (well, maybe fishy-folk find it firming, for I found it flat). He went on with his newly made-up tale of the wonders of us heroes, and convinced his folk we had good hearts to their cause (even though they ironically want to conquer, convert & destroy our peoples). The one fish-guy we 'spared' to spread the sorrowfull word of our affairs was drowned in a pool made by the actuated arm and hand of a full-sized statue of ald Ramonos as he was.

We were then blessed with the presence of Ramonos as he is, who scooped up that fresh fillet and chomp, chomp, chomped it down. Gross fish bits (and some not so small) got flung about and the fold got a nice rain of former friend. Blood & guts, blood & guts, I say sometimes not enough. Next it was time for a further sacrifice (and I feared for our lives at this junction), as just called for by Jopargus. This was an amazing sight to have seen. Dozens of fish-folk-future-fillets volunteered their fins for a fiendish finish as afore mentioned provided to the firstly, freshly flooded 'fortunate' fish-man. Fecund must be these fish-folk, for they form quite a feast for their fearsome, false forefather.

Then Jopargus Bluplipius proferred a pile of pious pieces of piscine 'pork' to their present deific pestulance. 'Ramonos' made with glee an extended meal of Drapood's clutch of fish-folk fist-fighters, and again portions of these got tossed back and to, and peppered the audience in the rows. Luckily we, the heroes, were high and back far enough away to avoid the distressing, disembowled detritus. Desicrist did hide his displeased coutanance in disgust and dispair. And he's the one who wanted to see all this.

Ramonos that is made a speach too, and seemed, to my discerning eye, a little displeased at the presented procedings. He scooped up Drapood, and dove into the deepths of the lake - interstingly not eating this one favored amongst the rest. I suspect Drapood and the leviathon are in league to rest the sceptres of power from Joparg and dominate these poor fish-folk people. It's sad, but I was happy I was not ate.

Joparg convinced the gathering, two-thousand strong, that we are fish-friends, and honored us with a touch from each of 2k fins slapped on our chests and leaving a stench. I could not hold it in. I had to say something, so I did so with food. Oddly, the fish-folk I said this too appreciated my honoring his presence by acknowledging his present with a gift of my own. Fish-folk are funny, and funny is strange. Funny how my life finds itself involved with such funny tales. Eff it.

On the mundane magic front, Desicrist was able to contemplate and understand the makings of a sceptre. Apparently this craft is lost to us above, and from a time long past. He has mentioned how sceptres are like wands except they hold multiple spells of greater power. So I wonder how many, and just how powerful. We can use this knowledge to set up shop in Waterdeep and sell sceptres to citizens from several sources. Belli as he is (not as he was, as he was ending at the belly) got ahold of many spells from Joparg's spell library (apparently Joparg is a wizard as well as grandmaster). He has copied them from the metal (possibly mithril) plates on which we found them, and seems to be pleased with the results.

By the way, the 'first artifact' that I took out of Joparg's 'safe' has been excitedly reported as holding two augmented spells. It's got a maximized Shocking Grasp, and an extended Lightnigbolt (I think those are the right terms). I forget who it was, but the person was damn excited about this. I guess it's a big deal. Show's how much I know about good ole magic stuff.

I'ma gettin' near to the end so stay a bit longer. I didn't think there was much to say, until I got started and found I had a difficult time quiting. Just get me started on story telling, and you'll be sorry if you don't have a couple hours of excess time that needs some trimmin'.

After cleaning up a bit (a big bit) Joparg took us on a personal tour of the city. it's a very interesting place, and guess what, to his chargin I now know the secret word needed to allow myself to fly. I'm pretty damn excited about it. I can't wait until I get the opportunity to use it. I've got it here somewhere ... damn, I don't think I can find it presently. Now where the hell is that word?

Oh, yea, Joparg showed us around. The city has two Mythals in it. So now every city I go to that only has one will be like "Oh, only one mythal? Gee that's to bad. Hey who are those ladies over there? Oh, she runs the place? Well great, she's just the kind of person I'd like to meet. Stop boring me with you're one-mythal city and make some introductions, please & kindly." The mythals allow the people to fly, and other things Joparg wouldn't say (He thinks he can keep secrets from the ears and eyes of this hin. I spent four damned years of my life growing from young to mid-aged mostly in the enslaved profession of 'watch, listen, learn & report'. And that was for abhorrent beholders.)

The mythal was pretty, and is quite powerful, I'm sure. Aside from that, just looking at it is kind of boring. For some reason Bellumthain and Desicrist don't seem to excited about the mythals. Seems to me they are more impressive than dumb old sceptres, and a bunch of spells written on mithril plates. To each there own, I guess.

Joparg showed us his trash dump. Kind of seems like a mundane thing to show a visiting body, but I suppose trash removal gets to be a big deal down here. Caulwen seemed interested in it, though. Her people train carrion crawlers to do stuff and guard things and dispose of unwanted bits and pieces. They don't look like agreeable beasts to me, but she is part insect, and has a bat for a best friend (Though Nullum is quite cute, if one can get past the leathery wings and the legless-like way he walks around. It's god-awful cute seeing him talk whole words and sentences and actually make sense. Maybe I should let him write some stuff in this log. Now that would be interesting, indeed). Joparg was impressed with the idea that carrion crawlers are trainable. One probably has to be part insect, or what ever they are, to really get down and do some serious training, though. I wonder what those feelers feel like when they touch you. Hmm? Maybe Joparg will let me pet one of them.

The final location of the tour of Seakin was a tavern. My kind of place, though the ladies were a bit thin in the picking category. Come to think of it I have no clue which are ladies and which are men. That's pretty funny. If I was REALLY experimental I could end up making a mistake of the kind something only the big folk do. Beside the obvious, that's a down-right gross though. I have to stop thinking on that now. Thanks.

With the abscence of discernable women, the tavern lost much of it's appeal, but it still seemed like a good place to have some poisonous pints and make prayers to a false godling. So we left. Plus I don't understand Kuo-Toan, and talking through an interpreter is funcional, but highly not personal.

Last, but most certain on the top of the list of interesting things to have happened was the deal I struck with Joparg to sell him the key. Then I spent about two hours arguing with the group about the wisdom of doing such a thing. Looks like I'm going to have to renegotiate with Jopargiot on this whole key thing. He won't be to happy about it, but I'll make him happy in the end (I have a way of doing thus) (& I don't mean the end like humans mean the end, that's only for big, dirty folk).

The kind of end a hin appreciates.

Abelalon Vo
Luiren Strongheart
Demon Master
Beholder Bewatcher
Lich Eater

Things really got out of hand. Out of a lot of people's hands. It didn't go the way I thought it would, at all. Not one bit. Not one bit at all. I don't know if anyone else thought it would go this way (and this way isn't finised yet, so I'm keeping a look out for fishy smelling daggers behind me), but I sure didn't. Did not at all.

To begin with we started off by begining our time by starting to argue over the merits of raising Joparg or not. I was fully against it - I didn't want to spend our money to raise him. I had thought to raise him previously, and was kind of excited by the idea of it, but at the time all I could think of was that we had nothing to show for this whole debaucle, and we had lost a good deal of equipment (in what Caulwen carried), and we had lost Caulwen. I was happy just to trade his corpse back so they could spend their own money and raise him. But everyone else was against what I was against. So I let them raise him. And it was only then that things became interesting for me.

We decided to let Celery talk to him and flex his wings to try to intimidate him into submission. That didn't work to well. But raising him naked did a good job of putting him off his guard. So we questioned him and showed him the Reaver and showed him how we could make it smaller and make it able to get through the smaller hallways to attack his people. That's when the bargaining began. At first he just said his people didn't care if he lived or died and we would get nothing from them, so we said we would just kill him (again) and be done with it, but he wasn't fond of that idea (most usually aren't). So we talked some more and figured out what he could give us, and what we would give him. We were willing to give him back to his people, and take the Reaver with us to go terrorize a drow city (we discovered these Kuo-Toas are most definetly not drow friends, they are isolationists who do not worship their normal god, Blipdoolpoolp, and actually have designs on taking over the entire world for their own). And what we wanted was Caulwen, her stuff (all of it), and tribute for us to go away (basically). He complained that they had paid tribute to no one in the past 17,000 years, and all that, but he agreed to it in the end.

Then we started in with the cultural questions. It turns out Bellumthain has a curious sense on humor (like myself), and that Desicrist is culturally curious as well (again, like me). The difference with Desicrist, I think I have ascertained, is that we have been traveling in places of a mundane nature to him. We have been traveling in human lands with well 'documented' peoples. But now we are in fish-folk lands, in a place with absolutly no documentation at all. And for me, all the human lands I have traveled in have been interesting because humans are so different than hin, yet I find myself to be more like them than the hin I grew up with. Maybe I'm a lightfoot in a strongheart's body. And, actually, Deicrist, I think, likes to watch cultures and make notes about them (and probably write books about them), and I just want to be in and live the cultures (so in the case of one which sacrifices people to their god I'm not to inclined to participate).

All that aside, beholders still suck.

So Joparg spills his guts, after covering his folds, and we start in about the hows and whys of the whats and whos of his people. We give him a bit of information, but mostly get more from him (he is, after all, planning to invade, take over,and destroy all non-Ramanos Kuo-Toans and everyone else. Even though Desicrist sees nothing wrong with it since it's a false god, I still don't want to encourage it.

This is when the best part happens (and of course it's my idea, 'cause I seem to be the only one who thinks this way). I suggest to Joparg that we use the Reaver (which we have subdued into serving us) to improve Joparg's position in his Kuo-Toa land. We make it appear as if he is able to banish the Reaver somehow (even though he knows it is really under our control and will come back if we want it to). The way to do this is through the 'tribute' paid to us. Joparg basically buys protection from us, by purchasing the 'magic ring' that controls the Reaver (really Thraxel's protective ring). This puts us in a better position becasue it makes it so that the Reaver is still alive (to them) and is under their leaders control (to most of them), but really under our control (to Joparg) and helps keep him from doing anything bad to us. Also, (and also a great idea) Thraxel had Joparg publicly declare us honered guests of these Kuo-Toas for our part in removing the Reaver - and therefore making all this killing really just a big misunderstanding (which it really was, on there part anyway {the misunderstanding being that they could actually defeat us}).

So, now, being honored members of these Ramonos worshiping Kuo-Toas, we have to go watch the sacrifice of a failure, to their god (the failure being one of the guys we left alive to propogate the myth of the Reaver being in their area and killing their people & unhatched children). I winder if Kuo-Toan infants would qualify for the Fulgar tea set, 'cause I really don't feel like they qualify as infants in the same way a hin or human infant would. And these people don't mind sacrificing to their god, so maybe it would not be to much of a difference to sacrifice one infant each year in order to keep the Reaver away.

We had, during our negotiations with Joparg, mentined taking him to the surface, just so he could see it. I think I would like to do this, and possibly take more than just him, to show them what it's like up there. I'm not sure what effect that would have, or how wise it is, I just like giving people things to make them happy (and like me more). 'Cause people who like me are less inclined to kill me.

We did see their mess hall, for a bit. I know why this one is called a mess hall. It should be 'The Hallowed Hall of Messyness', because it's the messyist hall of eating I have ever seen. They eat these clear fish which are fried and battered in spices (which Caulwen said are prety much all poison, so I guess Kuo-Toas are immune to poison - good thing I did not try to use any black lotus root on them, that would have been a waste of 4,500 GPs).

Well, off to the sacrifice I go ...

AV

It's difficult telling what day it is down here - there being no Sun and all. But I feel it is the 5th of Alturiak, so I'll call it the fifth of Alturiak. It's the Fifth of Alturiak, officially. Vo Officially.

There we were sitting 60 feet in the air on the inside of a glass block building waiting for the proper time to strike. Caulwen had decided to go after Nullum, traps be damned, since she could and dearly wanted to. So she did. And we waited, and waited, and then fully realized she was not coming back. Not that she had left us. We just thought she had been captured. For the life of me I can not recall who said it but someone had the idea that she must be in an anti-magic area. The reason being because we could not talk with her using Bellumthain's Telepathic Bond. I didn't even know there were anti-magic areas. So there are Wild Magic areas, Dead Magic areas, and Anti-Magic areas. Oh, yea, and the Shadow Weave. With all those areas to fix and keep from being made you would think she could do her own work for herself and not pawn it off onto Azuth, or the lich-god Velsharoon. Maybe it's really not that important.

By the way, who is Rary? And for that matter who's Otoluke, and Bigby, and Mordenkainen? I hear those names tossed about like a salad but no one has ever said who they are. I've never heard of them (though, I never heard of Vangerdahast or Halister or Khelban before I came north). Why are there no spells called "Elminster's This & That"? Isn't he like the most powerful living arcanist presently around?

So we set about to make a plan to do something about our present predicament. Details aside, because they are not important, I wasted a grand amount of time trying to be like Babydoll and develop a plan of attack for the upcoming attack on the Kuo-Toans. I should have gone with my guts and done what is best - what Brandobaris would have done - and played it as it came. Simply put, do recon (scrying) and see what happens from there. Let luck be as it should (which is good) and play it like a lute.

After wasting this good amount of time (I mean taking a short break to allow the real plan to develop) I decided we would continue with the original plan and ignore Caulwen's capture for the moment. In other words, be where they were not looking (that's the best place to hide, by the way). Then I changed my mind, kind of, and thought we should go after Joparg and use him to trade with for Caulwen. Then I changed my mind again, cause nothing else had changed so far, so I had to change my mind to keep the continuity of the ever changing Weave and remove the possibility of all things in all places not changing for ever more. So by deciding we should go after Nullum instead I actually saved all of Toril for ever present stagnation.

But I think I confused everyone else (it's easy to confuse big people, though, they are kind of slow). What we actually did was fail at a scry of Joparg Bluplip, and then succeeded with a scry of Nullum, which , fortunately, included Joparg since he was standing right next to Nullum (who wasn't really standing, not like we stand anyway).

Act quick we did. And it was so quick it was almost (almost) over prior to beginning. Which makes me wonder if magic can do that. I used to think magic could do anything, with the right spell, or whatever. But since traveling with Desicrist and Bellumthain & have come to realize magic is much more limited than I thought it was. Though even limited it is still quite powerful. Quite capable of doing what it does, though not doing what it doesn't do as well (which could be said of anything anyway, so is probably not really worth saying). The point being, and yes, I do have a point, sometimes, that I believe this may be what I have been lacking in my travels. A way to do things I could not normally do. And I have been thinking of taking up the profession of telling stories - as is common amongst the hin. I think I may like a simpler life ... maybe someday, but for now I'd like a life with fewer deaths, more ladies, and just enough coin to comfortable set me up in 3, no, 5 cities around the world. I don't want a lot. I think I want some children too (and not for lunch). Some kids of my own to raise. Now where can I get some of those?

But back to the quick acting. Lets see, this is how it happened; Bellumthain teleported us to where Nullum and Joparg Bluplip were. Desicrist made the room silent. Thraxel fired three perfectly aimed arrows straight into Jopargs chest (each splitting the shaft of the previous), I hit him hard with my holy dagger and my sap, and Celery hit him even harder with the broadside of his ice ax. So hard in fact he turned him into a twist-off cap. All-in-all, under five seconds. We tried, we really did, to not kill the old chap this time, but even trying we still managed to slay him. To bad for him that we are just that powerful.

But the best part was the riches we found. We tele-popped into Joparg's study/sanctuary. He was alone, except for Nullum, and reading a piece of flat metal. He had two large shelves just stocked full of these sheets of metal with writing on them. Of course we have them now, and another ancient scepter I found under a trapped door under his table (must be REALLY powerful). We took the table and chairs too. Oh, yea, I pored a flask of acid and a flask of holy water into his unholy water font. This is spiritual warfare, and I am to displease.

We then shot back to the first portal, the one with the key, and casually walked back through, putting us in relative safety (hopefully they can not teleport to us). So the metal sheets have got to have something good on them, like the walktapoid/Kuo-Toan history, or info about magic stuff, or just something fun to read. So if we are in good shape we have (1) their leader, (2) their history, (3) another of their ancient scepters. We are definitely winning this game. But we still have to be careful to not anger them to much so they don't kill Caulwen. And once we get her back, those fish people are going to wish we were a crew of Aboleths and Illithids.

Abelalon Vo

This time we started in a run. Well, Babydoll started running. He's SO fast he caught the Kuo-Toan monk who was running to the breeding pool to warn them of the Reaver / sorrowsworn demon. He knocked the monk out, then caught a common 'Toan citizen and terrorized him (or maybe her) and then came back to let us know. Many of the citizens saw this happen and they ran to their city to warn the authorities.

We found ourselves in a large excavated cavern with a kind-of kidney bean shape. The place is full of the ancient Walktapoid city, but those remains are buttressed with an odd wood because it's loosing it's ancient, overwhelming magical aura. There are two portals here, obviously newer than the remains. One had written on it something like "This is to our most holy of birth places". It wasn't what we thought it was going to be.

We charged in, and twenty Goodhunters and five sorcerers later we owned the place. At least for a little while we did. Caulwen, who was still in Kuo-Toan form swam with the regular citizens and ...

Actually I'm ahead of myself there.

We rushed in through the portal like a dire rat running from a Holy Word. Except we were running toward the thing and it wasn't holy. It was kind of gross, actually, and probably actually unholy (or is that non-holy?).

Immediately in front of us were about a dozen Goodhunters. We took them by surprise. And boy did we. Lets see, it happened so fast it's hard to recall what happen in what order. There was a chop, and then another which chopped all the way and continued to chop into the next dish. That Flying Chef is really some fast fillet machine. He's a madman when it comes to cleaving people in twain. He made two more enemies out of one. A cone-shaped blast of cold which some dodged but most ate. Several daggers flying into fishy armpits. A columnar blast of holy fire. About eight angry arrows making monk kabobs. And then an electric spell that blasted one, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another, and leapt to another to finish off all but a few of the original dozen or so Kuo-Toan Goodhunter monks. Somehow there were multiple balls of fire, which actually looked like some mad flaming elf god archer growing out of the earth and shooting an arrow into the midst next to him (I think it was a he. It's hard to tell with elves and the form was only from the waist up - but it was flaming) which exploded into another ball of roiling flames licking across the hot waters, and the steaming stone beach. There was mayhem everywhere. Well, not actual mayhem, but a lot of dead regular Kuo-Toans, and even more incredibly frightened ones diving off and swimming away like a frantic school of large silver fish. That was pretty much it for the monks.

Caulwen & Babydoll decided they needed a swim in that fish-head soup. They found a portal at the bottom with boiling water coming up from it (I think it is to the elemental plane of fire, and I think I'd like to go check it out sometime), Caulwen chased after and joined the fleeing regular 'civilians', and Babydoll noticed a small group of fish-faces standing on a chopped-off stalagmite, thirty feet in the air, and in the center of the centralized stone beach. I wonder if they have a building on the flipped-over top of that stalagmite flying around.

The last few Goodhunter monks were quickly, and easily, finished off by Celery and Thraxel. Bellumthain then gathered us all around him and dimention doored us over to the stone beach. It had pools all over it with Kuo-Toan eggs in them, and some of the eggs looked like they had little tadpoles in them. They are kind of cute in their egg/tadpole form. To bad they grow up to be mean Kuo-Toans who backstab, doublecross, and give preferential treatment to the drow (not to mention enslaving people and sacrificing them to their gods).

Most big folk, actually most folk all together, think of hin as children. A happy attitude, always smiling, and looking you square in the eye and laughing at your jokes as they pick you pocket. Well, some have been known to be such, but what people don't know, or actually what they don't think about, is the dualistic nature of being a hin. Sure we are happy, and small, and friendly, and we lighten the loads our friends have to carry - we are just nice, and pleasant that way. But we also have a mean martial side to us. Most know nothing about it because most don't even know hin have a country of their own (or they know but just don't think and realize that means we have rules and boundaries and such like anyone else). We have a need to protect just like anyone else. Now, it's one thing to be killed by your neighbor in a war (and when you live next to Dambrath that's always a threat), but to have your neighbor enslave you or sacrifice you to their god is a whole other matter. And that matter makes me mad. Really mad. As mad a hin can get ... and a bit worse, actually.

So there we are, sitting on a pleasant, though hard, beach/breeding area (and I'm all for breeding areas) when ... well, actually, I'm ahead a bit. The first thing was a cacophony of several fishmongers singing their songs of the catch of the day. I'm not to sure what happened but that tune made me think of home and get, actually, homesick. I'm glad it passed, 'cause I'm not going home for a long time - not until I have enough stories to tell for the rest of my years will I return to Luiren. But the tunes were distracting, haunting, melancholic, and not to bad musically speaking. And speaking of music and stories, I think I need to tell mine. Tell the stories of my travels these past few years, and perfect the arts of story telling so that when I do return home I'm good and ready to entertain the masses. I think I need some children, too. Enough of that, for now.

Then we popped over to the breeding pools area.

It's been a long time since I've actually been afraid for my life. A very long time. Not since we did not fight the three beholders and their pet manticore. And that manticore sure did have a prickly chin. ... But this time the shoes were on and being a hin I'm not as used to wearing shoes as most other people. There were five Kuo-Toa sorcerers or wizards (I really can't tell the difference) up on top and they just laid into us with the blasting of spells. First a giant wave, from this still pool, came rushing up and slammed into the group, knocking all of us into the water. Now even though I'm from the Hambone bay, I'm not a good swimmer. I'm actually a bad swimmer. Never liked it much. So I'm in a pool with killing in my mind, poison in my belt, anger in my eyes, the power of hate in my voice ... and I'm puppy paddling to the shore. Not very dignified, but it worked, kind of.

We all get back to the shore in various states and at various times. Celery's half dead and fully uncontious. Desicrist is healing him. Bellumthain is still in the water trying to get back, Babydoll swims like the Kuo-Toans, and Thraxel was ... I'm not sure where he was. Maybe off somewhere skulking in some shadow. But he was around. It all got fuzzy for me about this time, 'cause I was busy focusing on these little droplets of water which were dripping up out of my body. Not the water off my clothes, but the water in my guts. It was like someone transported a desert into my stomach and the water was escaping. I got pulled in every direction (even inward) all at once, and felt like a sponge being twisted for it's last drops of water. My mouth got dry, my tongue swelled up, my skin turned reddish (and bruised in areas), and all together I was not having a good day. I was close to not having a bad day either.

So, I did what any smart fella would do in a similar situation. I fell to the ground in unnatural exhaustion and played dead (not much acting was required). If Brandobaris ever did anything to help me help spread the word of his good deeds it was then. From above, or actually behind, me came a flying angel. Leaping high into the air with the most graceful arch I've ever seen a flying thing take, the demon-tinged angelic Flying Chef leapt on the top of the stalagmite and began his second course of the evening. Unfortunately, it was again, fillet of fish. But it was excellent fillet of fish. As always Celery made a great meal. We all owe him quite a lot for satisfying our hunger.

Lets see ... it was pretty much over then. The battle was, that is. Caulwen had followed the school of fish, and, I'm quite happy to report, found their city - The Kuo-Toan city of Seakin.

Abelalon Vo
Southern Hin Gentlemen
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As Vo has relayed I followed the regular Kuo-Toas out of the breeding pool area. One of the Goodhunters had yelled for everyone to leave through another exit. I followed, and they led me to their city, Seakin. I'll have to say, it was, is, a rather magnificent place. It is one of the largest caverns I have ever seen in the world. And the pool of water on the shore of which the city stood next to is the largest collection of water I have seen anywhere. This water is cool and fresh. Clear and refreshing. Not like the other pools I have found. Those have brackish water, and are usually the same temperature as the surrounding rock. This one made me glad to be a Kuo-Toa, even for a small time, and not fully one, as I was.

But the city itself is quite a sight. There were many, many tall buildings of the same kind we had found being excavated. Multicolored block of a glass-like material towering high into the cavern. So high I could not see the tops. But these buildings had a less powerful, and identifiable, magical aura about them. This is the same magic used by the drow to make their ridiculous looking building stand up when any other would have fallen. The buildings were ringed in a helix pattern of open spaces allowing entry into them. No doors at ground level were apparent. Each spacing being several feet to a side and slightly taller than wide. There are dozens of buildings of this nature, all taller than I could see. Maybe even hundreds.

While this was a sight to be seen it wasn't the most impressive. The most impressive was the hundreds of Kuo-Toas flying around the city. They were flying as most would walk. Into and out of buildings, through the 'streets' and even hovering and discussing with each other in a leisurely manner. This was most impressive. Either magic runs through the veins of these Kuo-Toas or there is something about this city enabling them to do such. I think it's the latter, since they never fly when we have fought them.

I was in constant contact with the group becasue of a spell which Vo calls Bellumthain's Telepathic Bond, though the others call it Rary's Telepathic Bond - neither of which I have heard of. Though, since Bellumthain is the one who actually casts the spell I believe Vo is simply honoring him by changing the name to match that of the caster.

I relayed the information of what I was seeing to the group, and also told them of the many regular Kuo-Toas who were getting out of the water all around me, speaking some word under their breath, and flying high into the city. One ran in the opposite direction, behind me, and I turned to see an long, wide bridge crossing over the pool to an island in it's midst. On this island was a compound of other buildings, none more than 50' tall, and made of a mud brick, with no magical aura. There was one building of the correct shape and size to be the temple in which I was chained by the Kuo-Toas. I believe this island is their religious center, and that, like my own people, the religious center is their political center as well.

The one Kuo-Toa I saw run in this direction flew in the air and traveled this way along half the bridge, then landed and continued on foot. I followed him, though I was not able to hear the word they were saying so I could not fly. I was able to follow him into the complex and into one building, however, where he was franticly telling an officious looking Kuo-Toa about the attack on the breeding pool. Thraxil Invictus had made another illusion of the sorrowsworn demon near the end of the fight. I joined in and the two of us Kuo-Toas told the official how the "Reaver", as they call it, had entered the breeding area and attacked.

Interestingly the officious looking Kuo-Toa told us all was okay and he would send out two Clutches of Goodhunters to handle the problem. He sent us on our way, and that was really it. Except, when the Kuo-Toa who was with me ran half way along the bridge back to the city and began to fly and I did not he looked at me as if perplexed. I believe flight is a class issue, because some of them were walking around on the ground selling items, while the majority were flying, but not selling anything. Perhaps by not flying I indicated I was of the merchant class, and therefore should not have been in the breeding pool area at all.

Caulwen Silverthread (of the Threadfunnel family)
Chitine Silver Dragon Sorcerer
Cohort of Abelalon Vo

Ha! My fishy friends have paid a price for their endeavors. Just like I was thinking they were going to sacrifice Caulwen to their dead god (who is still granting spells, somehow).

Bellumthain, I think it was he, detected we were being scryed and we deduced it was the prisoner from our last fight who was the target of the scry. We scryed back, but they didn't know we knew, or knew we'd known, and now know the taste of holy steel.

We chatted him up a bit, after their scry dropped, and them moved to another side of the room to discuss because they began scrying the prisoner again. As we talked he broke free and tried to attack us (or maybe just get away). To bad for him he didn't see our reasonableness and is now as his god.

We made a plan, and we were mad (at least I was); With the aid of Mystra we were able to go where we had only seen, and having seen we were correct. Caulwen was Caulwen again, though uncontious, and chained to a wall (and they added an imprompto set of manacles to attach all four of her arms). The room was occupied with about 50 Kuo Toas of various sorts (Whips, Monks, Priests [with spells], and their leader Joeparg Bluppol, Grandmaster (Thraxel has informed us when one is a Grandmaster the title of Grandmaster follows the name of the individual, unlike most other titles which procede the individual names).

We caused no small amout of havoc in this room (though they did put up a good fight) (though we were outnumbered about 10 to 1). The point is I hammered the Grandmasser with my daggers, Thraxel threw beads from his necklace, which detonated into fireballs, Bellumthain cast some spell that just outright kills large numbers of people (and got about eight of them), and Desicrist, my good friend, cast a holy spell which blinded and deafened many of they (interesting to note Thraxel was also blinded, and I think made deaf as well). They blasted us with two parallel collumns of green fire which spouted from fishes high above us, which Desicrist (he prefers not to be called Desi) informed us were divine spells (but from what god?). Then the whole mass of 25-30 monks (Goodhunters), swarmed and surrounded us and gathered up Joeparg Bluppol, Grandmaster's body (or severly hurt self as I had not caused lethal damage with each of my sneak attacks because I was hoping to capture him and make a trade for Caulwen's stuff). Just, then, as fast as we had arrived - well, actually it was a little slower than we had arrived - we un-arrived and re-arrived at our arrival location of origin (back in the old temple).

An interesting thing happened at this point. Babydoll - the strategic monk of a certain moral ambiguity - popped back in from some other place just as we were popping back in to our proper place. Now that was some strategic timing right there!

In the old temple we found eight of the Goodhunters milling about looking at the bodies of some other Kuo Toans who had attacked us. Yet another battle ensued. This is ended with one caught in a bubble of force and the others dead & us not much more hurt. Caulwen was awake again and cast several spells durring the short encounter. Unfortunatly she missed with every spell she cast. She really should stick with the spells that handle the targeting of their effects through the magic of their casting. But it was fun anyway.

We made the monk uncontious, and came up with a great plan. We would trick him into thinking the Reaver was in the room (could get into the room), since we knew they locked the doors specifically to keep the Reaver out, and have him lead us to the temple area while he ran for his life. Caulwen altered herself to be one of them, one of their Whips, Thraxel made an illusion of the Sorrowsworn demon, and Babydoll made a show of fighting it and supplied the noises of a good fight, while the rest of us laid around and looked dead. Caulwen fed the guy a healing potion and woke him up and showed him the demon to be afraid of and told him it was getting through the smaller areas so they had to go warn the Grandmaster. It worked, and he ran fast.

Caulwen followed him as a slower Whip and talked to us using Bellumthain's Telepathic Bond, so we could avoid the triggers of the traps. That mostly worked, except for Bellumthain falling face first into one of the pits and sticking to a couple spikes. He's okay, though, I think his pride is a bit hurt (being the powerful wizard he is). Caulwen and the walleye guy went through a hidden area and he had them split to warn the breeding pool (him) and the Grandmaster (her). Off he went to warn the breeding pool, and off we are to go keep him from doing so (or doing so fully).

Our next step is to take the breeding pool and trade it for Caulwen's stuff and a tribute for being so nice to them.

Abelalon Vo
The Cloth of Myst Adventuring Group