Journal Based on D&D Session July 22, 2006

Journal entry from my character, Natani Lyonsbane, based on the events that took place in our gaming sesson of July 22, 2006. Vinnie, I'll do my best to keep you up to date after each session. I know you're interested in what happens.

The past month has been interesting to say the very least.

With Kaz’s death, our small band became even smaller. After sending his soul to Arkus, we took a finger bone from his funeral pyre to take to Leilwyn in the hope she could return him to us as she did Tal. Sadly, though, we were unable to spend three days mourning his death as is our tradition.

After restocking our supplies, we made our way to the entrance of the dwarven keep. To our surprise, a dwarf waited there. He was called Cor and he said he was waiting for his brethren. We talked with him for a bit and revealed that we were searching for the Earth Crown, the crown that would unite Theonalar under a king. We revealed to him where we were told the crown was and he agreed to help us, based on the covenant between his kingdom and ours.

While we were discussing the best route to take through the keep, we noticed a rider coming toward us at an incredible speed. Tal used a new toy he picked up to see long distances and saw that it was Angus. When our large friend finally joined us, his horse collapsed in an exhausted lump. Though we were happy to see our friend again, the news he had raced to give us placed a heavy weight upon our chests.

Angus told us of the orcs and other humanoids finally making their attack on our home. Abnor was leading all the Northern houses in a battle to protect our kingdom. Only Reinhart refused to join him. Of the Southern houses, only Malcolm had gone to the Northern border. In Abnor’s absence, Amos ruled the capital. Angus told us we needed to hurry with our task; the kingdom was in desperate need.

We went into the keep and had barely crossed into the main entrance when we were attacked by orcs. Only six, and they were dispatched quickly. We were even able to take a hostage, but with Angus dropping him on the ground and then “accidentally” banging his head a couple of times, the orc didn’t regain his wakefulness too quickly.

After checking the map again, we tried to go through the old market area of the keep, but we were spotted. Tal took a beating, but between the two of us, we were able to kill the orc quickly. But not before an alarm went up. Cor used some crampons and wedged them against the door and I set the dead orc’s body on fire, in the hope it would slow the others down. Then Cor led us through the old mines and into the lower levels.

We went through the mines as quickly as we could, until we came upon a large cavern. There were open crevasses filled with lava and on the other side of the cavern, a large, red dragon slept. Cor went running toward the large creature and was engulfed in flame. Tal tried to speak to the creature, but it wouldn’t listen to us. As we all ran toward the other side of the cavern, I noticed that the dragon suddenly changed into a human male and Cor stood behind him. He hadn’t been burned after all and the dragon was actually someone Cor called an illusionist. It took awhile, but we were able to get Tal, Angus and Pots to calm down.

Finally we made it through the mines and into the area of the keep called The Twisted Caverns. Again we came upon a large room and again, a red dragon waited for us. But this one was different. Somehow, the dragon took control of me, then it jumped on me, trying to kill me. I was able to get free while Tal, Angus and Cor tried to distract it and hurt it. We tried everything to hurt the much larger creature, we were unable to. Cor took on the attack and yelled at us to run, which we did. It was good, considering the dragon had thrown me across the cavern and Tal was barely standing. Angus had been knocked out by the dragon and Tal and Pots carried him into the next room.

The next room we went to was missing the tile floor and a fast river ran through it. Tal and Pots tried to reach the other side, after tying a rope to Angus, but they were pulled under the other side of the floor. I guess Pots had healed Angus some because he woke up when I came to the room. We were able to pull Pots and Tal out of the water and the four of us made it to the other side.

Despite the loss of Cor, we made it to the room we thought the crown was in. We searched the room for three weeks. It was huge!! And it was filled with gold, electrum, jewelry, gems, broken vials, equipment from past adventurers, anything you can think of was in that room.

Except the Crown.

Sometime during the third week, we heard the sound of combat from the room with the dragon. Angus returned to the room and after awhile, Tal and I also followed. We found a large group of dwarves fighting the dragon and thankfully watched it fall to their attacks.

The dwarves were the brethren Cor had been waiting for. We told them about the crown we searched for and for the next week we waited while they tried to find out where it had gone. Cor was found in their real vault and he helped us as well.

We were finally told by the dwarves that the crown was in a destroyed keep, the keep we had found after Kaz had died. Because we already knew it was occupied by creatures that outnumbered us, we asked Cor for some dwarves to go with us and he agreed to send 20 with us.

We returned to the town below the keep and found that they had been under the magical influence of the dragon. The dwarves had told them the dragon had been killed and that we had done it. So they had a celebration to honor us and the priest offered to return Kaz to us. We agreed and the next day, Kaz walked out of the temple.

Tomorrow we leave for the Twisted Keep with the dwarves and Kaz.

Dealing With Tal's Death

This is very brief. In the current D&D campaign we are playing (which is sadly on hold because of personal problems for one player which is affecting us all), Terry's character died. My character was devastated. They had been friends since childhood and lovers since she was 15. Tal had made an accusation against someone we believed was trying to destroy our kingdom and as a result, the two fought. The fight went well. Tal lived through that. It was the attack afterward that he didn't survive. Tal was reincarnated, but at the time I wrote this, Natani didn't know he had been brought back. Natani had been injured in a battle of her own, by a wizard who had exploded when he died. Kaz was the group's assassin/thief. Pots is the group's cleric. Both are Natani's cousins.

Their last argument rang in her ears. Each labored breath Pots took increased the volume of the words until she covered her ears to try to drown them out. Nothing worked.

She hadn’t wished him good luck in his battle against Ansel, but then she had never wished him luck for any of his previous duels either. This one was different though, and they all knew it. She had doubted his abilities this time and he had won. And died to a lesser man in the combat that ensued after.

The pain had lessened enough for her to move and Natani rolled to her side away from Pots. She pulled the blankets over her head, but the words and his breathing could still be heard.

She had disgraced and dishonored Tal and now she could do nothing to rectify that. They had argued, she had yelled at him in front of servants who did not understand and she had doubted him. She had failed to do as Leilwyn had asked and Natani did not know if it would have brought Tal back, but it didn’t matter now. Would Kaz speak for Tal, and if he did, would the elf allow it, since Natani spoke first?

She had said it would be better for her to find someone from Skyhorse than to stay with Tal. Why did they always have to argue? Her parents didn’t argue like she and Tal, but her mother seemed content with her position within their society. Natani had seen something different and knew she had more to offer than just as a woman who needed to settle down and have children, serve her husband and keep the family longhouse in good order. At this rate, with Tal’s death, she had even lost the chance to be a wife and mother.

The pain in her muscles and her chest couldn’t compare to the emptiness she felt within her and when she took a ragged breath, the tears began to flow.

My Writing

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