For those of you that may read this blog who don't belong to our D&D group:  This next journal entry takes place a few weeks after the last one posted.  I'll try to backtrack at some point.

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The battle was over and we were about to join Chavis in the next chamber to carve up the spoils with his army, when Grizzle suddenly stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

 

“What is it?” Asked Pax.

 

“Look!”  Said Grizzle.

 

There was some sort castle behind us in the chamber that certainly hadn’t been there before.

 

“I can’t explain it.”  Continued the gnome.  “But I feel as if there’s something or someone in there that I need to see.”

 

“Well, I’m going with you.” Said Pax.

 

The wizard and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and followed the couple inside.

 

We found ourselves in a sumptuous throne room and seated on throne was what looked to be a young gnome barely out of his teens, but I had the distinct impression he was much older than he appeared.  One by one he called us to stand in front of the dais; Grizzle was first.

 

“Grizzlegar, you have been walking down two paths the last few months.”

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

“I refer to your vampiric and Kordian natures.  These two cannot coexist indefinitely.  You must choose which path you will take.”

 

“Then I will choose Kord.”

 

“Very well, if that is your choice, you must wear your Kordian amulet all the time.”

 

“But I am in great pain when I do that.”

 

“I know, it is the only way to drive out you vampiric nature..

 

Grizzlegar took out the amulet and looked at the Symbol for a very long time.

 

“Alright, I’ll do it!”  And he put the amulet around his neck.  His face betrayed none of the agony he must have been in.  I was very impressed.

 

“Step forward, Gerard.  Your mentor, Panril and I are great friends.  We have been keeping track of you these last few months and you have made great strides in your walk with Kord, and I must say so has your whole group, but your next mission may tear the group apart.  There is something brewing in the west that needs your attention.  But as I said, other considerations may separate you from your friends.”

 

“I’m ready for anything!”

 

And I thought I was.

 

“Jerro, are you ready to end your ‘malady’?”

 

“You bet I am.”

 

“In this box, you will find stones that will cure you.  You may use them on yourself and then share them with the children.”

 

“Of course, I wouldn’t wish this condition on anyone.”

 

I could tell from the King’s expression that he had hoped that Jerro might have learned something from his experience but he thought he probably hadn’t.

 

Lastly the King turned to Pax and told her that she and her husband needed to take their children and make the journey to Kedapesh, where arrangements for their up-bringing could be made.

 

After the audience with the King, Grizzlegar and I went to the newly consecrated Kordian chapel where we were silent for a long time, but slowly the gnome started to recount stories to me about his childhood that I had never heard before.  We talked long into the night then fell asleep there in the chapel.

 

What happened next is strange.  I found myself alone at the bottom of some kind of pit.  I looked up and saw a series ladders and a walkway that was almost like a spiral staircase leading to the top of the pit.  As I climbed I realized I was becoming more and more disoriented.  I was actually having trouble figuring out which way was up,  the farther I went the more lost I became.  And then I saw it:

 

There was a hilt sticking out of the wall.

 

I grasped it and saw that it had the Symbol of Kord on the pommel.  I pulled it and it the blade gently slipped out of the crevice that had held it   As soon as I secured the dagger to my belt, the way out of the pit became clear and was soon in the chamber that had been the site  of our last battle, surrounded by the rest of our group. I looked down and saw my new dagger at my hip.  So, it wasn’t a dream.

 

“Hey guys, look at this!”

 

Jerro had found a secret door in the South wall of the chamber.  I quickly opened it (after checking for traps) and everyone went inside.  Everyone that is except me; I didn’t feel like we were in any danger. It was just a strange foreboding of something that hadn’t happened yet.

 

Not too much later Jerro came running out of the room and straight into the chamber where the spider creatures had held Grizzle.  He destroyed the Lloth altar and cleansed the room of the drow writings that had been the source of his transformation; In fact I think he cleansed every room in the entire complex of the offending incantation.

 

After settling one last dispute; the desmodes no longer wanted to live underground and wished to take over this part of the complex and they finally got their wish, with a little diplomacy from us.

 

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Returning to Rocky Harbor, we learned that my ship had been sabotaged in some way after it had been repaired.  Leore had commissioned three ships for us in our absence and they were having finishing touches put to them even now.  I wanted to go to the harbor to see if there were any clues as to who sabotaged the ship but just then, a messenger from Stony Point came running up.

 

It seems that the Desmodes had almost finished securing their part of the complex, but they had found one room that had been taken over by a beholder and they could not find a way to kill it.

 

A strange look came over Grizzlegar’s face.

 

“I’ve never fought a beholder before.  But I think we’re up to the challenge!”

 

I wasn’t so sure.  I certainly hadn’t fought a beholder and I was almost just as certain that Pax or Jerro hadn’t either.  On top of that, Grizzle had been wearing his Kordian medallion for about a week now and his vampiric side was all but subsided.

 

Nevertheless we soon found ourselves back at Stony Point and  in a room that was very familiar to us.  The last time we were here it had been covered by a sticky web on the floor.  The desmodes had cleared this away and it looked shiny and new.

 

“This is the stairway the spider-guards wouldn’t let us go down.”  Said Grizzle.

 

“Yes.”  Said Chavis.  “And it leads to the chamber where the beholder dwells.  “We’ve lost many brothers to this one creature.”

 

“I think now would be a good time to indiscriminately throw fireballs down the stairs.”  Grizzle said to Jerro.

 

“Yes, well I’ll leave you to it then.”  Said Chavis and he made a fast exit.

 

“I’ll put on my fey cloak first and see if I can find out exactly where he is in the chamber.”  Said Jerro.

 

The wizard disappeared down the stairway and we soon heard a noise that we had grown all to familiar with over the last few months; it was the sound of numerous fireballs being discharged.  Jerro ran back up the stairs shouting:

 

“I got him!!  He’s dead!!!”  He ran back down the stairs.  Then we heard a scream.

 

A scream that was suddenly cut off; then silence.

 

Before I knew what was happening Grizzle had taken off down the stairs.  We heard a strange thump then the quiet returned.

 

I found myself alone halfway down the staircase.  My friend, the barbarian gnome named Grizzlegar had been reduced to a slab of stone and his wife, Pax Ironlight was struggling valiantly with the creature that had killed her husband.  There was no sign of Jerro.  Fear gripped me to my very core, and I almost turned and ran from the place.

 

That’s when I touched the hilt of my new blade and it was as if Kord was standing next to me with his hand on my shoulder.  I took the dagger firmly in-hand and launch myself from the staircase to the back of the beast.

 

I’m not sure what happened next but the next thing I do remember is lying on floor with the dead beholder next to me.

 

“I have to take to take him back to Thunder Rift.”  Said Pax.  “Kord has revealed to me that the clerics there might be able to restore him to life, but I have to leave immediately.”

 

“What about the children?”  Asked Jerro.

 

“Grizzle would want us to make sure they get home.”  Said Pax.

 

“I’ll stay and make sure it happens.” I told her,

 

“Then I’ll stay too.”  Said Jerro.

 

Without  another word, Pax took Grizzle in her arms and cast a spell that would allow her to ride a whirlwind all the way back to Thunder Rift in a matter of seconds.

 

Jerro and I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to us next.