I'm starting this journal to document my journey to find the solution to the blight affecting the land.
That being said, I should introduce myself. I am Morscampa, son of Rubicunda and Henry. As of yet, I know
of no home but Lucerne. I am much more verbose in writing than I am verbally, but trust that my silence is
no indication of carelessness.
About 12 weeks ago, the blight came. The water became poisoned, the land shriveled or morphed with strange
knots and tumors. I stayed in Lucerne as long as I could, longer than anyone else. But eventually, I could stay no
longer, and said goodbye to my home. But I'm hopeful that I can find a solution or cure to this disease,
whatever it may be. I've made my way toward Biblios in search of information. Here, I bought a journal, and
will find the cure. I just hope it's out there.
I met some strange people today. I went to the library here in Bilios to find anything I could about the blight. While I did learn some more about the history and cause of various diseases, nothing helped with this specifically. As I was reading, someone tried to steal a book or something. The library is staffed with robotic helpers, who apprehended the thief. The commotion made it difficult to think, so I headed out and sat next to a man playing soft music outside a tavern across the road. After reading for a while, I heard fighting going on inside, and intervened. I moved eight bodies from the tavern floors to the alley behind. Death is natural, of course, but murder is not. I prayed for the Death Shepherd to guide them. The order of what happened next is blurred in my head, but I met a kobold named Snowfoot in search of an ancient dragon den. He was looking for a man with purple eyes, which intrigued me. We found the man, who turned out to be the one playing music outside the tavern earlier. This man is a god little known as The Wanderer. I asked if he knew of the blight and he did not. He gave Snowfoot an amulet to communicate with us and a ship in a bottle to Rosanna. Rosanna is a pirate that we crossed paths with. Then there was a Tabaxi child named Bastet. There are voices that speak to her. I don't think that she should be left alone for too long. In fact, I don't think that any of them should be left alone for too long. Back at the tavern, there was a robot man named Katoshi. The named sounds familiar, thought I can't quite place why at the moment. We've all agreed to travel together in search of a friendly dragon in the south. I'm very tired, so I'll end it there tonight.
A few days have passed. We've decided to head out south in search for the dragon den. I'm hoping I can stumble across more information about the blight. We arrived in Buford. Not much here, just a single tree and a cave with the bodies of unlucky people who can't fly their way out of a cavern. The residents were kind enough to point us in the direction of Syldar, which should be helpful.
We've run into a slight hurdle before we can continue. After arriving in Syldar, we found that it's run by Kingsley (King). King is very powerful, and Rosanna's crew happened to steal a great deal of money from him. We now have to do an errand for him. Money has gone missing in a small town. The name is escaping me at the moment. One of King's men, Kion, will be supervising us. I'm hoping this ends well.
I'm in Phelgrass now. There's a nice little tavern we're staying in. After searching for forever, we found the vault where the money should have been. Unfortunately, it was empty, except for a strange journal. It seems like the author went crazy, or something crazy went on here. I plan on getting out of here as soon as possible.
I woke up to the sound of orcs raiding the town. I did what I could, but many villagers died. We overheard that there was some bloodshed at the farm just outside of town. There were slaughtered cows everywhere. Kitoshi talked to the dog that lived there. Kitoshi swears that the farmer's daughter was bartending, but I don't recognize her. The farm was supposed to be abandoned anyway. When we got back, the bartender didn't recognize either. It's probably nothing, Kitoshi is always weird.
It was below us the whole time. This disgusting abomination with too many faces and covered in blood. The horror is over. We killed it. One of King's men came out of nowhere and stabbed Kion in the throat. Someone got to him before I could, and then he was gone as quickly as he came. I was able to stabilize Kion. The bartender ran off when he heard about the abboration that changes people's memories, so I filled in for him and gave drinks out to the town. Some people thought it would be a good time to steal weapons, despite the amount of money we got from the abhoration, so we're back on the run again.
The past few days are a blur. We found Snowfoot's den, but it had been taken over by a corrupt leader. A fight broke out, and now we are travelling to Winterfell to find a temporary home for what remains of the den.
Charlie is alive. I didn't know what to say. I was just looking at books in Tvell Academy's library for information about the blight when an energetic
fiora told me I looked like Charles and lead me to him. I told him why I was here, and he agreed to help. He gave me a wooden staff. It has all types of
fungi on it, and seems full of life, a good omen in the current times. I hope his journey goes better than mine.
Why didn't I say more to him? Tell him how much I hate him, and love him, and missed him? What if this was my last chance?
I had a terrible dream last night. I was back home. It was the dead of night. I could barely see anything, but I could clearly hear Charles saying "I was too late. Things were too far gone." Then mom and dad and Slyvia were all undead. More and more undead were coming until I couldn't fend them off any longer. I woke up feeling hot and uncomfortable. We head out today for Lunessa. I'm glad we have Kieran guiding us. I have a feeling we wouldn't have gotten far without him.
We arrived at Lunessa's cave. She was very nice and gave me an amulet to help with my spellcasting. She didn't know anything about the blight, but suggested that Thalrid might be involved someway. Thalrid is very intelligent and dangerous, but I'm hoping she can be reasoned with. For now, I will focus on getting back to Winterfell, and then I can decide.
I often wonder how I got to where I am. How did I get involved with a group of criminals? I had to draw the line somewhere. I went to go find Charles and tell him about Thalrid. I went to his room, but he wasn't there. I talked to his roommate (they were roommates??) and she told me he was about to head out for home to fight the blight. I was able to catch him before he left. There's so much I wish I told him. I wish we could have been together longer. He seems guilty and avoidant, and I don't blame him. I hope he stays safe. I don't want to lose him again.
They're all a bunch of idiots. What were they thinking? Rosanna, Snowfoot, and Kitoshi all got themselves caught. I've been left with poor Bastet. As far as the city knows, Bastet is my adopted daughter. While it's not official, I'd be happy to be Bastet's father. Shepherd knows I could be a better dad then my own, even in this set of circumstances. I'm waiting to hear the punishment they'll face before I leave Winterfell. As mad as I am, I know it would be unwise to leave on my own. I need help.
There's a few new faces at the shelter. A scary elf named Mys'ri killed Snowfoot twice before he ran off. She had this cloud of darkness that followed her. It's a miracle Snowfoot survived. He's hurt and will stay here for a while. He gifted me the Wanderer's amulet and a magical ruby. The other new face is a human named Bella. She's from Perranos, where there was a coup. We've agreed to help each other. Kitoshi had to pay for his crimes by being the assistant to Tvell. We will have to help Rosanna pay off her fines if we want her to come with. Oh, and I narrowly avoided explaining to Bastet what a lesbian is. I am mostly concerned about what other questions the answer will bring, and I'm not ready to have that talk with Bastet yet.
Rosanna is free, Mysri is quite the flirt, and Snowfoot and Kitoshi seem to be doing okay. We'll head out for home tomorrow.
Just left Dwhyndem. The ferry there got attacked by pirates, but we were able to fend them off. I'm not one for betting, but Mysri made a good amount of money. No one knows anything about the blight. We'll go to Io. At the very least, I can see my family again.
Some things never change. Dad is his same silent self. Mom is an enabler and worrier. Slyvia is surprisingly well adjusted. I guess they haven't had a chance to break her down yet. Charles sent a letter to Mom, who hid it from Dad. Sometimes I wish I could just tell him off. I learned that the blight started from Thalrid's home, so I have no choice but to try to reason with her.
We arrived at Thalrid's home, but she's not here. Shroomstick started acting up and directing me toward her. There also appears to have been a younger dragon here. The hunt goes on.
Thalrid could not be reasoned with, but I'm in the good favor of a god. In case this journal falls into the wrong hands, I dare not tell what happened, other than Thalrid and her child can be left alone now.
We are back in Io. Shroomstick has been sprouting spores from the blue mushroom. It seems to have a healing factor, absorbing the effects of
the blight. Dad lit up like a little kid when I showed him the staff. I haven't seen him like this since he found a new fungus many years ago.
A few weeks have passed, and the mushrooms are growing, so I suppose it's about time to leave for Perranos.
I had the strangest dream about Perranos last night. 5 years had passed. Bastet, Rosanna, Bella, a triton who was our ally, and myself were in
the castle. It was in bad shape, with vandalized paintings and torn furniture. Rosanna's hat kept falling off. Bella disappeared, and then Rosanna
went into a portal, and then the rest of us went in the portal, but I ended up on the same plane(?) as Rosanna. We were in the throne room,
but like a shadow version. A woman sat on the throne, and Rosanna asked how I felt about killing, and I told her I dislike it, but I will if
needed. The woman turned into some type of creature, and the whole place fell into shadow. Then the creature lit up, and Rosanna must have
put a spell on it. I made my way toward where I suspected Rosanna to be and healed her. We continued fighting until a red triton appeared
out of nowhere and slayed the beast. I woke up, 5 years younger, and much more confused. After talking to the others, it seems that we all
had the dream. I'm not sure what this means, but it can't be a great sign.
We set off for Perranos. It will be a long journey, so we've made some stops along the way. Today we got to Biblios. After visiting the library for a while, we went to a carnival. Bastet was having an absolute blast. They grabbed all the snacks they could find: cotton candy, barbarian almonds, kettlecorn, you name it. I played a round of ring toss and won a small prize. I know Bastet would like it, but the others gave them their prizes. We went to the circus. I can't help but wonder if I would find it more exciting if there was no magic involved, but it was still fun. Especially going with Bastet, who still finds excitement in it all. I wonder what Slyvia would think of it...
Rosanna is in a bad mood this morning. She had a sparkly purple cloud around her. Her and Bella were called by their god to turn around and get the weapons gifted to the consorts of the Tidebringer. It's a good thing they're long gone. I'm getting sick of fighting. We stopped in Syldar to get information from Kion. He's a real vigilante now, going around and taking out King's men. Worshipping the Wanderer seems to have really helped him.
We've been sailing for days and finally are approaching our destination. Of course, we can't breathe underwater. Luckily, we were able to strike a deal with a banished triton who gave us amulets of water breathing and rings to disguise ourselves as a triton at a discount. Unfortunately, we have to capture a guy alive and bring him to the merchant. And we all look like the same triton. Can't be that hard, right?
Capturing this guy is going to be harder than we thought. We made our way down to the city. Bastet was unhappy, so we had to tie a rope around her and drag her like a balloon. On top of us looking like sextuplets, our illusion was wearing clothes, which seems to be unusual for triton. There are statues of the guy all over the city. Bella persuaded the guards to let us into a temple, if you can call it that. Triton have no shame when it comes to sex. To each their own I guess, but I would be disgusted to live in that society. I don't like to comment on people's looks, but this guy was just gross. I have no idea why anyone would find him attractive. We tried to talk him into coming with us, and the next thing I knew I was outside the city again. Not the worst outcome, but not what we wanted either. It seems like we'll wait on taking him to the surface and focus on finding the weapons.
Forget about Rayon for right now. We've decided to make our way towards an abyss near Carmella where the Tidebringer's gifts are said to be. They say that a creature protects the area. On our way there, we hit a bad storm and the ship was torn apart. We all survived, but most of us were damaged. Bella was smart and put the ship back into the bottle before attempting to repair it with Mending. Somehow that worked, and the ship is working again. There was a brief debate about what would happen if we released the ship underwater before someone decided to go ahead and try it. It does not float, and instead stays underwater. At some point we ran into fish people (not entirely sure what race they were) but Bella make quick work of them. Bastet is happily on the boat inside the bottle while we navigate underwater.
I don't remember, that was a long time ago. Bella made me a hot triton and Mysri slapped my butt. I'd rather forget about it.
Today we saw a fight between Typhoon and Wake at the colusseum in Theris. There were a lot of statues of the Tidebringer throughout the city. We also got some more information about the weapons we're searching for. Kalista stole them and Bella translated. We're getting pretty close to the abyss. Who knows what's to come next?
A giant octopus is what came next. I killed it. It all happened so fast. People started attacking, so I did too. The next thing I knew I was pulled away by a large tentacle. I used my power to draw energy from the creature into myself. The tentacle when dark and withered, like I had drained the life out of it, and it slowly spread throughout the creature until if fell limp on the ground. Behind it was a corridor in an air pocket. The corridor is a maze, and any sense of direction I had before has been lost. We ran into an elemental, who I accidently attacked unprovoked. Bastet is trying to tame a mimic in the shape of a backpack. That poor child.
The mimic ran away. We're still wandering through the maze. I'm not sure how much time we've spent in here. It could have been hours or seasons for all I know. We've come across a few monsters. The first looked like a scorpion and centipede were made larger and fused together. The second looked like a goblin inside of another larger goblin's chest. I hope we find these weapons soon.
It's over. We stumbled into the center chamber of the maze (Kalista showed me her map). In front of us was a sleeping beholder.
Bastet tripped and woke it up. For some strange reason, it did notimmediately attack. We tried talking to it, but it could not comprehend.
We waited 10 minutes for Bella to be able to understand it, but I didn't have Tongues prepared, so it was one way. Mysri used a series of hand
motions and eventually illusions to negotiate a trade: We would make sure it was never bothered again, and it would let us take the weapons.
We would put it in a portable hole in the chest on the boat. Just as we prepared to do so, Kalista tried to swipe some gold, and the beholder attacked.
I summoned spirits to assist me in attacking. Rosanna turned to stone. Mysri came and went. But I was too far away to prevent the beholder from killing Bastet.
Everyone disappeared. A mist filled up the room. Bastet's soul rose from her body. And He was there. The Soul Shepherd. He commented on what a shame it was that a soul die
before it's time. I begged him to let her stay. Wasn't there anything I could do? I was frozen with fear. He needed something in exchange. My mind raced to think of what I could give him.
What would be worth as much as a soul in the eyes of the Soul Shepherd? Another soul. As the thought entered my mind, he asked to see my staff. I handed it to him, and they seemed to have a conversation.
He told me it can get lonely being the Shepherd, and offered to let Bastet live if we traded staffs. With very little hesitation I obliged. He disappeared as quickly as he came.
He was so kind, and yet I was so scared. I fear death. I don't want to. I know it's natural. It's my practice, my religion, and yet I fear death.
I haven't taken my eyes off of Bastet since that day, and I don't know that I ever will again. What will happen when I'm gone?
We teleported into Winterfell yesterday, just after the fight. We ended up right in Madam Tvell's office. She glared at us, specifically at me and Rose. It's strange, ever since yesterday it seems like I see... more? I notice more of the little things that are happening around me. I'm not sure if it's because I came so close to death, or if it has been a gradual increase and I notice now. Anyway, when I noticed Madam Tvell glaring at me and Rose specifically, I assumed it was because she knew us, and we were supposed to be responsible. But then Kieran woke us up and took us to the council. They told me that the Shepherd's Crook is a tether. That I have been appointed the Soul Shepherd's champion or something of that nature. The Soul Shepherd has never done this before. Rosanna's cape is the equivalent. I can't help but wonder if He meant to appoint me this position, or if he simply traded staff for staff. But he's a god, surely this was intentional and thought-out. I don't feel like I am worthy of this role. I fear what horrors are to come if the most neutral god has appointed a champion.