15th of Marpenoth, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

 We continue. 

At some point in the morning, we hear some jackal yips. Vorest is concerned. Then we hear people crying for help, and Vondal and Vandederp race over. We see a couple people surrounded by jackals. We hurry to help them, and the people in the centre start helping the jackals, and some of the jackals turn into people, kind of. 

We are told to fall asleep, and I watch as Vondal and Vandederp do. And I am so tired. I lay down, I need to sleep. I can't possibly stay awake anymore. I don't feel safe, I feel like I should fight, but I am just. So. Tired. 

Vorest wakes me, yelling about bugbears. Wait. What? I thought we were fighting jackals? And I am freezing. I get up, confused, but I see bugbears, and a bunch of dead jackals. Vorest is really taking care of the fights the last few days. I wish I knew what was going on! We manage to beat the bugbears, but it is difficult. We are still clearly not quite thinking straight and just fighting on instinct. And we are hurt a bit more than normal.

Vorest heals us, and we continue on. She is definitely the person that has been the most important in these last fights - without her we would likely be dead. 

We arrive in Kormul, and stay at the Dancing Unicorn. We wander through town a bit, and see an apothecary. Vorest buys something, expensive I assume, the boys grumble a little, I think she said she should have had it for when the lizard guy fought the bull, but she'll have it for next time if needed. I guess it's something for a spell. We also asked after our mysterious red slaver powder, but the apothecarist did not know it. We left a little bit behind so he could continue studying it - maybe it will be important, considering how many yuan-ti we've seen.

And in a surprise turn of fate, we find Cedric, and sold some things. How he got here, we will never know - he doesn't seem to think he has done anything odd.

3rd of Kythorn, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

 Still going. We run into Cedric and pick up some useful stuff.

9th of Mirtul, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

 We take Crymson's corpse to Captain Darren's. He thanks us and takes Crymson. As we go to make our leave, he speaks up, awkwardly - he is clearly having a very hard time saying whatever it is he wishes to say. Eventually, he asks us to come to a soirée, a birthday party as it were, where he could also present us as heroes of Kelethoen to the other lords. 

We accept, and after getting some recommendations, we head out to go shopping. We make appointments at a salon to get cleaned up. We also manage to find some fancier clothes and we sell some things to Cedric (he really does appear everywhere!). We also manage to find some fancy looking swords, because the guys didn't want to be completely weaponless.

7th of Tarsakh, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

We go to see Stefan. He took the book he requested and bought one of the other ones that we had retrieved. We speak for a while on what he was able to find in a quick search:

Basically, monks and their monasteries aren't always as old as we think they are. And that my monastery being about 700 years old coincides with a large order of stone, bricks and timber for Im Monastery 720 years ago. It would make sense if the migrated a few years previous, and "opened" after they finished building. There is no mention (that he found) to indicate why they immigrated, though there were mentions that they were fearful - sounding like they were refugees of some sort.

He wondered if I had any idea why they may have come here, and I feel this is a question I will need to ask my masters, as I had been under the impression they had admired the eastern religions and had copied them.

He also mentioned that our monastery is the only one that concerns itself with elemental disciplines. He was also very surprised that there were not more tieflings in Im. I did not think that we were unusual in our ways - they way we learn feels just as common as the other ways, which we are introduced to as we learn.

What else have my elders hidden from me? Does my being a tiefling help with my abilities with the elements? I do know I can manipulate fire decently well...

He continued on, speaking of Asmodeus.

Asmodeus is the overlord of the Nine Hells. He is the most powerful of the Arch-Devils, ruling over the others, with an iron fist. As commonly known, someone made a pact with Asmodeus, and created tieflings. Some say that he can see through tieflings eyes - which sounds crazy.

He asked if I know anything about my family, but really, all I know is that they dropped me off at Im.

Asmodeus is tricky and evil, and his pacts tend to be bent to his benefit. But there are other ways to deal with Arch-Devils - each devil has a talisman, with which you can command them to preform a task. With an Arch-Devil, you also need their true name. Stefan has found 7 times when Asmodeus has been summoned - 4 of those, the summoners were slaughtered.

2 of them manged to hold him for minutes while he performed the task, and successfully banished him.

The last might be more myth than fact, but it is said that someone held him for 10 years. They were in the far east, in the islands of Wa. It is said that he used Asmodeus's oath against him, somehow. And there is no mention of Asmodeus's task.

This is said to happen 750 years ago or so.

And it doesn't mention the pact that creates tieflings. Or does it? Did it only take minutes to create a tiefling line? Or does this have to do with the 10 years spent with Asmodeus? Or are we older than the histories he could find?

I came here based on information that seemed too coincidental, at the suggestion of my elders. But what did they think I would find here? Did they hope that I would not find anything, or did they want me to find this information? Do they have more information that they were not willing to share with me? Or have they lost the information, and are hoping that I will be able to find it? I have so many questions, it is hard to put them in words.

And Stefan is also pretty confident that it is a link between Asmodeus and the elemental discipline, instead of ki. I have much to think on.

After we find some stable to have Lilac stored for a bit. We go and talk to Captain Darren to see what they might be able to tell us about problems relating to Loviatar. He is unhappy to hear that we are the reason that Hondal is free in the world (as are we). He does let us know where the last suspect attack was though.

We head to the house listed, and find a scourge tip, so it seems likely, but there is nothing else.

We decide to walk around and see if we can "find trouble" to maybe lure out Hondal.

We find Cedric. Does that count as trouble? He has an uncanny ability to find us.

We continue, and someone groans in an alley. We check him out and are attacked. It was a set-up, by were-rats. We dealt with them, and kept walking.

We started getting followed by thieves. We let them corner us, and manage to catch two of them, and Vondal questioned them.

They suggested going down to Southden, Badger and around the Pale Unicorn. We turned them in, and headed back to the house for the night. 

 

21st of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

We continued walking and run into that salesman we saved before. Vanderderp bought a bedroll and Vondal nearly blew his top - but instead bopped Vandederp on the head. I will never understand them. We also bought a bag of holding. I suspect that will be rather handy if we continue on our trips!

We got to the gates and the guards don't believe our stories or that the other guards said we should go in and speak of the bug monsters, but they do bring us to the guard captain. It feels typical to be marched through town like guards - I wish people weren't scared of me, I don't want to hurt them.

This place is so BIG! There are so many people and alleys and even garbage! And then we get to a square and there are more roads and they are huge, and crowded. And I am already lost - if there wasn't so much new stuff I would believe that we had walked in circles. We arrive at a stone building with a statue of Tyr in front. We enter, and go to the back  and enter an office with the Captain and a clerk (Gilbert). The guards leave, and we speak to Captain Darren about the giant ground bugs, as Orrig, Sylvia and Jereth have asked us to. The captain says that Jereth is actually distant family, so he hears us out - and asks if we would be willing to hunt them down. Of course Vondal and Vandederp jumped at the opportunity. So after we stock up our rations, we head back out of town. Barnaby, the guard we met when we entered, mentioned that if these bugs were real, his cousin would like to study the stomach juices, and handed us some vials. We head out to night and set up camp.

16th of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

We continue walking in these beautiful rolling hills. We heard some clashing and clanging - so of course Vondel and Vandederp go running towards it. I believe I shall fear for their health the day they stop chasing danger! There were a bunch of goblins attacking a gnome and his donkey. So we wade in and save him - and then Vondel starts trading with him! As if nothing had even happened. It is a strange world, though I am sure he will appreciate his new bedroll, and the mending spell would be handy for that obsidian bowl they found.