May contain spoilers for the Adventure Module “Scourge of the Slavelords”

The slaves weren’t in the best position for knowing all about the operations of the ship (the Ghoul), but they heard some stuff.

• the Ghoul apparently works (worked) for people called the Slave Lords; despite the name, the Ghoul didn’t usually trade in slaves, just used them to haul their cargo around.
• sometimes, the ship would load and unload from a city at night, and the purple sail would be changed for a white one. Signals of some kind…
• one guy said the Slave Lords are super rich, and even built themselves a city of gold somewhere.
• another said the Slave Lords must have their headquarters inland, because the cargo always arrived packed for land travel. I guess that’s the kind of thing an expert would know.
• the Ghoul mostly sailed between Highport and Elred…but it also traded as far away as Crimp in the Great Kingdom, and Blu in the Pamarj. And I used to think Veluna was a far-off, mysterious place…
• one of the guys said he believed the Slave Lords were controlled by an Evil demi-god or something – like maybe even the Old One himself. Another guy shushed him, and insisted that was just a rumor. It would explain some things, though.

Mikael dug around on the ship, and discovered an armory on one end of the hold – with leather armor, plenty of crossbows and quarrels, and more short swords. I told Heiron that, since he’s so big and strong, he should wear the chainmail and use the long sword we found (Lydia says they’re both magical), and I’ll use a crossbow for now. Continue reading →

‘Twas dark of the moon,
And cloudy, too —

Mikael the God-botherer,
Mikael the God-botherer!

The bats swirled around him
Like a darkling glow –

Mikael the God-botherer!
Oh, Mikael, ho!

Lydia says this is getting everything out of order. Raven points out it has terrible meter. Mikael can’t decide on the rhyme-scheme he wants, and I pointed out that we are none of us bards, and we should just put down what happened, plain and simple, and leave the legend-spinning to those who are good at it. And Ezekiel is too busy talking with the slaves to pay attention to our bickering, for once (also busy celebrating that whenever he’s sea-sick he doesn’t have to eat it again).

So here is Mikael’s story, as he told it to us this morning – and frankly I think the awesomeness of it speaks for itself without needing to rhyme. (Heiron suggested we use the tune of “Only Pretty Maids Get Free Drinks,” but I somehow don’t think that fits.)

When Mikael woke up, bound and gagged and locked in a narrow wooden box, he decided to try his luck as a beaver. So he transformed – which made the ropes and iron gag fall off – then set to work to chew his way up out of the coffin.

However, the guards noticed him as soon as he broke through the top, and they quickly popped him into a chicken cage. So that explains the beaver making angry beaver noises the whole long week they dragged us through the woods. Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Safely “home” from Mitrik.

Keom and Ronhass are living in the woods, though, because the dragon eggs hatched. They…are smaller than I feared…the dragons, that is. Ronhass seems a bit in shock — he says they refuse to go to sleep unless he is present somehow, usually singing to them. Ezekiel and Raven went around to the shepherds making sure we would have plenty to feed them…good thing we didn’t spend all of our money in town!

I did buy my own personal bag-of-holding, to keep my junk and back-up gear in. You never know when you might need to take off at a moment’s notice and spend weeks in the woods.

Master Osler says some wizard guy has arrived in town and seems anxious to speak with us. We’re having dinner with him tonight, so we’ll see what it’s all about. I know we’re famous and stuff now, but it still feels funny to me…

Spent the afternoon organizing our chest of junk. Is Ezekiel really ever going to do anything with this bundle of harpy feathers?

*[end of manuscript]*

Found in the belongings of my friend and loyal customer Elwyn the Ranger. No one in town has seen any of their party since last night. In investigating their belongings, I found their beds had not been slept in.

It’s not at all unusual for them to set out for other parts on short notice, or even to be absent for days on end…but they are usually very good about communicating with me or my staff, especially when we need to take care of their animals, and they are famous for their “setting out” breakfasts. Elwyn’s pet weasel had almost chewed his way through the door of their room, which only adds to my unease.

A will, also found in Elwyn’s belongings, divides his wealth among myself, Master Elmo the constable’s son, and an innkeeper in some place called Orlane (after a sizeable legacy for his man-at-arms). Despite the inn’s need to renovate the stable, I hope nothing terrible has happened to them.