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10-14-00
From the traveling journal of Garreth Falconmoor, Druid Initate of Belenus:

I have been sent on an errand by Jedew, one of the higher ranking Druids of my home town of Koven, to deliver a scroll case to To'Pafah Nune, the current mayor of Rheinfall and royal cartographer of the realm. A new map is being commissioned by the High Vizar, Lord Gideon, as a gift for the recently crowned young queen, and the scroll case seems to contains some updated local maps and a census.

After a brief journey traveling in bird form, I have arrived at Rheinfall. It is a small community of about a dozen or so buildings, with some docks and surrounding farms. There is a large building atop a hill, which appears to be an inn called The Wanderer. A blacksmith and leather shop are adjacent.

I have decided to enter the inn, after checking my weapons at the door.

A human ranger named Vargas has also arrived carrying a scroll case similar to mine. In addition, an eerie half-elf named Keridian recently disembarked from a ship at the docks bringing a map of his own, and a large war dog as well. Vargas seems an honorable sort, and a fellow man of nature, but also a military man, whose allegiance is to king and country. Keridian is a priest of Arawn, the dark god of death. He gives me pause, however, I find no reason to distrust him… yet.

The proprietor of the establishment, Vara, served us food and drink. We have been told that To'Pafah is away on business, but will receive us tomorrow. The others seem impatient, however. After a warm meal we have decided to explore the village. There are some messages posted on a board at the center of the settlement. One tells of the coming of the winter harvest festival. A local general store is run by a young woman named Isbeth. A very old dwarf named Gridnik toils away at the blacksmith shop. All in all, it appears to be a peaceful and unremarkable village.

Upon returning to The Wanderer, Vara's son, Vory, has approached me and offered to sell me a stone enchanted with a Continual Light. I wondered if he had pilfered one of the similar pebbles I had already been carrying, but I am not missing any. He claims to have found it, but will offer no explanation. I declined his offer.

We have retired for the evening.

It is the following day, and To'Pafah has invited us for dinner this evening. In the meantime, young Vory is going off to play with his young friend, Sarah, in the woods. I have decided to discreetly follow them in the shape of a small bird. Vory, Sara and someof the other local children have gathered together in a small secluded glade in the forest filled with the glowing stones. These stones were originally placed in the river by the druids of Belenus to aid travelerson their way. It appears as though these mischievous children have been removing them. I decided to turn back to human form to speak with the children, but unwittingly frightened them into running back to the village. I then spent a few hours returning the stones to their proper place.

I have returned to the village.

We are meeting To'Pafah for dinner at his home. He's a friendly halfling who seems to like collecting interesting artifacts (cursed items?). He is aided by a mysterious, shadowy female half-elf, who is shrouded in a hooded cloak. She acts superior and aloof, but not like other elves. Something about her is different, but To'Pafah seems to trust her. Her name is Nadja. We have delivered our scroll cases to the mayor. He is grateful, and wishes to engage us in another task...

Two of his halfling scouts, Noir and Thomas (also family members of his) have been missing for over a month. They had embarked upon an eight day journey to the fort of Saranya to the southwest, to retrieve some maps from the Captain of that outpost. They never returned. To'Pafah is concerned, and has offered us 300 gp each as a reward to investigate their disappearances. Vargas, Keridian, Nadja and I have all accepted. Before leaving, however, we have learned that the children did not make it back from the woods this afternoon. Moreover, the men of the village have formed search parties to find them.

Vargas, Kyridian, Nadja and I have agreed to set out in the night and aid in the search. Despite the falling snow, Vargas has tracked our young miscreants to a secluded cave, where they have been captured by an ogre and its pet bear. Although, they are currently unharmed, they have been caged up, most likely meant to be eaten. I have shapeshifted into a bat and flown behind the ogre, and Nadja has hidden in the shadows and successfully maneuvered her way behind it. Once she backstabbed the ogre, we all joined in the fray. Nadja had also previously used her Sleep spell to knock out the bear, so we only had one opponent to concern ourselves with. After finishing off the ogre, we freed the children and returned them to the village. Unfortunately, one of the men who had gone out searching for them, never returned.

It is morning, and the four of us have embarked upon the journey to Saranya. Shortly after entering the woods, we were attacked by sickly, nearly starved wolves. I managed to incapacitate most of them using poison darts. The four of us were able to drive them off without much difficulty or injury. We seem to have adopted one of the injured ones as a pet... of sorts.

It has now been about four days out of Rheinfall, and this time we are beset by bandits. Using swords and spells we dispatched them without much trouble, and were able to take one prisoner. He is terrified of Nadja and responds to our interrogation using an unintelligible language... possibly Drow. Could Nadja possess some dark elvish blood? Best to keep an eye on her. We have managed to force our captive to lead us to his secret lair, a clearing in the woods with a few tents. At first, it appears abandoned. I turn into a squirrel and covertly investigate. As I sneak into one of the tents, I glimpse some shadowy hooded figures skulking about. Our prisoner manages to shout out a warning before he is stifled.

The hooded figures appear from behind the tents and are wielding some kind of weapons made out of chains. We are set upon by the dark elves! Suddenly, a darkness spell cast by one of our hooded foes envelops the camp in blackness. One of my comrades' weapons has been entangled with the drow chains, and Keridian has been injured. Clearly, if we continue to fight blindly, we will be slaughtered. Shouting a cry to Belenus, I emerge from the tent in human form and hurl a handful of Continual Light stones into the air. The darkness is dispelled in a starburst of light. Keridian casts a Bless spell. No longer blind, we fight back the drow as I heal his wounds. Unfortunately, the drow have killed our prisoner. A drow priestess is fleeing deeper into the woods, and we give pursuit. Her magic resistance has foiled my spells, but we manage to overtake her, and in moments, she is slain. Keridian severs one of her fingers to later use as a material component inorder to communicate with the dead.

A search of the camp has yielded assorted treasure, including some jewelry, magic weapons, and a spellbook. I took possession of a magic scimitar. We also found a map scroll case, that we later learned the drow had taken from one of the missing halflings, now slain. The drow are clearly up to something sinister. I must investigate this potential threat to Nature.

After resting, we continue on our journey to Saranya. Upon our arrival, I turn into a mouse to explore the fortress unseen. To my amazement, the place is completely empty. It appears not only abandoned, but almost as though it has never been used. No signs appear of any battle, or hasty departure of the Elven soldiers. The stores of food are bare. We are confronted with a mystery indeed! Keridian has ascertained from the dead priestess that the drow are likely responsible. I have found a journal kept by a mage who used to reside here. It tells of the visit by the two halflings, and their departure. It then tells about the fact that soldiers are beginning to disappear. Finally, it tells of an abandoned cabin to the northwest, which he planned to investigate. I believe that this will be the next stop on our journey.

11-02-00
We have come upon a wizard's journal that speaks of a cabin in the woods. Perhaps this shack will afford some clues about the mysterious disappearance of Saranya's inhabitants and the other missing scout. It is apparent that the Drow are working with human ruffians for some unknown purpose. They may be behind this mystery.

The cabin in the woods looks abandoned and sparsely furnished.

In my possession, I now have a spellbook of Drow origin. Perhaps within the pages of this grimoire I will find some clues to the Drow's involvement in recent events.

Inside the cabin, there is a great deal of dust and cobwebs. On the bookcases, there are dozens of tiny statues of a dancing woman. We have found a trap door. There is a small underground room and a figure collapsed on a table. He has been dead for a long time. He is clutching his heart and seems to have been hideously deformed in life. Keirdian has detected that one of the tomes in a nearby bookcase in magical. The large magical book is a journal about the hermit's observations on nature, herbal knowledge, etc. - (Magical Herbalism Book?) Fortunately, none of the items have been magically protected.

Underneath the cadaver, there is an oversized book that contains drawings... FIRST PICTURE - an Elven woman of regal stature and exceptional beauty, SECOND PICTURE(s) - several studies of an Elven child. The THIRD and final DRAWING is a chilling depiction of four figures standing around a table... The figures are us!

The artist must have seen our coming somehow. The perspective of the drawing has been drawn as if someone has been looking at us from the bookcase. I can sense a concealed door behind the bookcase, but can't figure out how to open it.

This entire places radiates an aura of extreme loneliness. This man must've had a horrible existence. It is my best guess that he was driven to this remote location because of his appearance. The ring on his finger also appears magical.

After a detailed search, I have found and activated the mechanism that opens the bookcase. The alcove behind it contains a secret door and a small chest. The chest contains several items: 2 heavy pewter arrows wrapped in a piece of rotted cloth, 3 scrolls, a thin willow branch (a wand?), a glass lens, and a strange 2 pronged dagger inside a slender black box. One of the scrolls we found is readable, and it explains what the wand and the lens do. Both items have the ability to identify the properties of magical items. The wand has 10 charges, and the lens can be used once a day. We utilized the lens to identify the rings, and a few other items as well.

When I walked into the alcove the trap door closed behind us, and the candles upstairs lit up. When we returned upstairs to investigate, a tiny arrow flew past Garreth. Upon examining the bookcase closely, I have found a small creature. He is holding a tiny crossbow, shivering. It doesn't seem to mean us any harm, His name is Pranx & "he" seems genderless. Bat wings sprout from his shoulders, and he has bluish tattoos across most of his back, wings and body. Pranx wears a small patched up wizard's hat with a bell at its end. He also wears a ring that sits over the hat on his head. We have fed him and tried to place the poor creature at ease.

Back downstairs, I'm trying to open the secret door, I found within the alcove. Once the wall is collapsed it revealed a gigantic cavern.

It has been decided that Garreth, will fly back to Rheinfall, and deliver the map portions we were sent to recover. I wrote a letter to To'Pafah explaining our current situation and asking him to pay us in gems for the returned map pieces, and the wand. I also told him that I do not know when I will be back but that I will keep a lookout for items he may find of interest.

The rest of the party does not trust me. I do not blame them, although I wish it would be otherwise. I grow weary of this treatment. Perhaps in time they will come to realize that I mean well. They sometimes treat me like a petty thief or worse... they...

Garreth has returned with To'Pafah's payment. We have sold him the Wand of Identify.

The cavern beneath the hut is gigantic. We have been walking for quite some time. The walls seem to have been burrowed out. Obviously by something very very large. It is possible that the poor hermit may not have been aware that such a cavern lay hidden behind his niche.

We are unsure how to proceed and what may have dug such a cave. Vargas insists on pushing forward. As we stand and bicker - we begin to feel the tunnel collapsing all around us as gigantic worms come out through the walls and attack us. Each worm is about 10 feet long.

We have dispatched the worms. It is my belief that we have inadvertently stumbled upon an entrance to the Underdark. I assume that the Drow are not aware of this entrance. We have found several peculiar holy symbols that don't seem Drowish or human.

Keridian has discovered that the symbols belong to a small cult called The Circle of Woe. They are worshipers of pain and suffering.

We have returned to the hermit's hut to try to decide what to do. Garreth has received a vision while in prayer. He has seen the deformed hermit as he points in the direction of the cavern.

While observing the small dancing figurines, I too have had a vision: In a large ballroom the beautiful maiden dances. Her long blonde hair sways as she dances and waltzes with her lover. A child plays on the floor behind them. I see this through the eyes of the dead man. His hands are gnarled. He raises the tiny statue before him and the vision fades.

The sadness is so overwhelming, there is so much loss, so much pain... who is this woman? where is this place? There are no High Elves for miles... It occurs to me that somehow we will stumble upon this place... Was the mage a servant? This is most mysterious, and I am thoroughly intrigued.

I do not feel that we are sufficiently prepared to venture forth into these tunnels. We are ill equipped and few in number. The druid strikes me as very materialistic. Keridian is a quiet sort, he and I have some knowledge of the undead in common & we have had some stimulating conversation. I trust him least of all.

We have come upon three gigantic spiders. I have been severely wounded by one the spiders. The druid healed me just in time. If we have this much trouble with simple spiders, we will not do very well.

Just as we defeated the spiders, and began to inspecti the gathered pile of bones we noticed something man-sized and hideous charging our way. Whatever it was, it didn't look good. I was still hurt, and wasn't sure if I could survive another battlle. The hideous creature was quickly slain, but unfortunately Goliath, Keridian's dog, was killed in the process. Whatever attacked us was extremely venomous. It is a sad loss.

- Nadja -