By Beth Griese

Date:   August 5, 1995

Quote of the Day:
"Cool! What's what shield?" -- Stu Collins
"Nory's back." -- Beth Griese

To Garen Thundersson, cleric of Mielikki. From your faithful servant, Jade.

Our second attempt to find employment worked much better than the first. This time, we found two employers in one afternoon. Now that we had returned from our duty with Theavas, B'rinth was highly keen on investigating a mage who was looking for people to retrieve a tome. B'rinth had a nasty gleam in his eye, Master, and I don't care for the green color of it. He was hoping to retrieve a tome that he could then use as he did the last one. But, we had agreed to at least visit the mage, and so we went, with a detour by the job board again that I shall tell you about in a moment.

The wizard's name was Iske Nevermumble. B'rinth had already been to see him without the rest of the party, another fact that worries me, but he had found that this job will indeed require the whole group.Nevermumble seemed to be straightforward - for a magician - and said the spellbook he was seeking had been willed to him, but that there was magical protection on it that he would not be able to ward off. It was to be found in a castle at the base of a three-peaked mountain north and west of the city. We did some dickering for the price, since we'll want to use horses for this journey, but we ended up at a fair price with a spell thrown in for B'rinth's share. We would start immediately after the book, after we had wrested promises from B'rinth that he would not touch or attempt to use the spellbook when we had found it. I hope is word is good as given.

The second task we found seemed fated for us the moment we arrived at the job board. Just as we came to it, a man posted a new missive. It sought investigators, especially clerical help, and the inquirer was staying at the Murdered Manticore - our inn. We found Matthias Cooper at our inn as expected. He turned out to be a servant of the city of Immersea to the south. He reported that a house lay just outside of the city that was rumored to be haunted. Locals had almost adopted the house as a curiosity, but the ruler of the city was - wisely, I believe - concerned about the house and wanted to bring in unbiased investigators to determine if the denizens of the house posed any threat. Happily, he wasn't even scheduled to return to Immersea for a few days, so we readily accepted his offer and plan to report back to him after we return Nevermumble's book.

Our first task before heading out for this abandoned castle was to buy mounts for those of us who had none. Although I've rode plenty of the horses of you and your guests, Master, this was to be my first steed, and I was looking forward to visiting the stables. Telaran, having spent time with the caravans and driving horses, was designated as our buyer to pick out sturdy animals. But I hoped to find my own horse, and Mielikki was with me. I found in the yard a beautiful brown roan who approached me with friendly manner, but what struck me was the mark on his nose: a beautful white star, a perfect match for the two I wear at my throat, the companion to your symbol, Garen. It was the Lady's will, no doubt about it. Telaran approved of the horse, too, and now it's mine. I've already begun spending time with it in the evenings to help us learn to get used to each other, and I bought it a fine blanket and insect net for the evenings, but I have yet to decide on a name. I have to wait until the right one comes to us.

So, with horses bought, we took off immediately for the castle to the north. Our second day on the road, we passed a true adventuring party, the Crossed Swords. They were an impressive lot, although I'm sure you would have dismissed them as being far too showy. They were friendly enough, though, and we decided to share lunch. I hunted up a couple of rabbits and got to pet the pegasus one of the elves rode - what a magnificent beast!

The Crossed Swords party, after eating with us, apparently decided that we were a group with promise, because they offered to sell us some of their items that they no longer used, but they said other parties had helped them in the same way when they were just beginning. I bought three enchanted arrows of fine make and a copper piece with a continual light spell on it. Thank goodness I no longer have to rely on the light of swords to see in those darned halls! Telaran and Borreau both managed to purchase fine shields with enchantments to ease their weight, and others in the party bought other light sources and potions. So when we return to Arabel, I plan to try to find the Crossed Swords Party again and thank them for their kindness.

On the third day of our travel, we had to leave the road to approach the mountain and the castle, and our first trouble of the journey began. An ugly giant with hunched shoulders had perched on a cliffside and started throwing boulders at our group. I remembered well what the Lady Tesseril had said about my magical sword; that it fought with ferocity against giants! I decided my best strength would be facing the giant with that sword, and so I began a charge across the field under the rain of those damned boulders. Borreau, bless him, rode right at my heels, and the others prepared to attack from further back.

My cleric friend and I had to climb the cliffside to reach the giant, but Torm granted him a fogbank that hid us from the giant, so he was reduced to stamping and stomping his club around his feet to try to reach us. By heaven, that sword sang when it finally got to swing at those monstrous legs. Borreau and I were almost in more danger from ourselves in those close quarters trying to attack, but then again, we were fortunate. Had even one of those swipes from that beastman hit us, we would have been in grave danger. But instead, our group was able to fell it, and we moved on hoping that we had helped make travel in the area safer for that creature's lack.

At the end of that same day, we spotted the castle ahead of us. It was in ruins, the center tower and the walls around the keep collapsed. There was only one small floor left intact, and the next morning, we moved in to investigate. We found a sign at what must have once been the gate that read "Ramakis Jarvis, Wizard Extraordinaire." It reminded me of what you always said about people who have to remind you that they're great not being so, and so we continued on without much trepidation.

Inside the single room left standing, we found stairs leading down. It opened into a room that was so warm I felt as though I had been running on the hottest day of the summer. The room glowed red, and held streaks of soot and scorch as though a firetrap had exploded within, and had a desk graced by the skeleton of a man. At the other end of the room, an oval door led to a room with a lava pit inside.

Borreau's spells again came in handy. He created a dust devil, a servant wind spirit, and sent it through the oval door to see what might be beyond. As we had all feared, a huge, red, lizard-like creature rose out of the pit, but it couldn't see us beyond the oval door. Borreau had protection from fire and heat, and so he stepped through the door and tried to speak with the creature.

To my amazement, it spoke back, and I helped ferry the news of what was being said through the oval, since it would transfer no sound. The salamander said that it had been imprisoned and was forced to guard the door at the other end of the lava pit. Nory, upon hearing my relay of this, said that the rim of the lava pit looked to be carved with symbols, and was probably what held it trapped. Borreau gained the word of the creature that, if we released it, it would happily go its own way and leave us be. Since we could find no reason not to believe it (and nothing to lose since we would have had to fight it anyway), the cleric struck the pit walls, broke the seal, and the salamander escaped with a burst of heat and light. Sometimes diplomacy really does save a world of grief.

The rock door at the other end of the room was an illusion, and I was able to walk right through it to the room beyond. And here we found what we were looking for, plus a few others besides. The tome we sought was on a desk. Besides this, there was a shelf with vials on it, a cot with a strange double-s shaped hoop underneath, and a leather-bound chest. Nory warned me that the chest was magical; we discovered it was charged with a powerful sting for anyone who might try to touch it, so I broke the clasp and lock with the machete I had carried for the growth outside of the halls of Eveningstar. We found inside a double-headed axe with beautiful embossing in its handle, money, and gems. We plan to take all back, of course, and Nevermumble had promised us that anything else we find unclaimed in this castle we can keep, so we should walk out of this small adventure quite the better for our purses, and still in time for our trip down to Immersea. I hope that's a good omen for our next job.

Your faithful servant,

--Jade

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