The rebuilding of Drakesbridge goes slowly but surely. Joining the regular crowd in the tavern were Jomar's old acquaintance Jordan Cross and Kathryn Waters. Andro, Teveren and Ahmed were with us also. Nerrik continues to organize the rebuilding effort and has been named City Administrator for his good work by Lord Law. He has been tasked with creating a City Council to organize our resources. I believe this will be necessary to help Drakesbridge prosper beyond the dot on the map it currently is.
Seeking more immediate assistance than seemed to be forthcoming from any but the local citizenry, Xnyl took matters into her own paws. She had a meeting with Lord Malcador of Gloomwood to discuss aid for the rebuilding. Accompanying her to his temporary domicile, I was surprised to also be invited inside. We were off to a much better start of things than the last time we spoke at the Guild. After polite introductions and chatter, in which I prattled on in scholar's curiosity, Xnyl got to business. What I learned of Gloomwood culture is that their undead are mainly servants and supposedly only a few honored individuals are accorded such status. Of these I'm assured few are in the military. Malcador stated they have no desire for an undead army. He spoke of his personal manservant Bob, as an example. He was very fond of Bob, described as a very loyal servant. Bob would have died of disease, but they transformed him. Malcador says he occasionally sees a spark of the old Bob in the eyes. I have not seen this, I have only heard him groan and seen the blank look of a zombie on his pale face. People in Gloomwood defer to these undead as they would a knight or lord. We are planning to visit Gloomwood in the near future to see the city-state for ourselves and learn more about their culture. Malcador said he would see what he could do for us. It is worth noting that while we have not received any aid from any city state for reconstruction thus far, this is the first response we have gotten, even if it is “maybe”. For the moment, we are still on our own.
Of the state of Redmarch, we are assured that the government still welcomes the Gloomwood occupation as a good thing. Malcador told us that the area is now more peaceful, and that the civil unrest is all but eliminated. He said the citizenry is grateful for the peaceful state of affairs. We also spoke of the Redmarch Resistance. Malcador mentioned that the resistance is nearly quelled, but that Snorri is still at large, causing unrest. Gloomwood expects that if the former Ambassador, now declared outlaw, is found that he will be turned in to the Gloomwood authorities. He also mentioned that they are working to eliminate the Red Adders because they had allied themselves with Steelhelm.
Xnyl and I then returned to the Healer's Guild. We saw Lord Law, who had been speaking to Captain Jomar. The elemental laid the charge of apprehending Rogs Buttergold, who was still exiled from House Mor, upon the shoulders of the Gypsy. Rogs had gotten involved in the trade of the Royal Jelly to Mynea. Ahmed confirmed that there is rioting there because of the citizens being tormented by withdrawal.. Rogs was also responsible for raids which were stopping trade along the River Sah. I took the opportunity of Lord Law's visit to mention the problem we had with having only one Invested member of the Earth Circle. He agreed with me that a new Circle should be erected in the Healer's Guild building, but we don't have the scroll or caster yet. He suggested that we might look to other resources, such as Lord Malchit. I also mentioned that we need a permanent Celestial Circle for the town. Law made it clear that we must accomplish this on our own.
We set out to bring justice to Rogs Buttergold with Jomar in the lead. We were told the renegade goblin would be found in a trading post, abandoned until recently, along the River Sah in the direction of Mynea to the south. From this location, he and his lackeys were impeding river traffic and stopping trade. We rode downstream on a barge with a wizened townswoman of Drakesbridge. We met with a few groups of bandits along the way, which we dispatched with little difficulty. As we approached the area of the river attacks, we disembarked and traveled on foot to the trading post. This turned out to be a ramshackle boathouse. Inside we found two well kept boats and a well oiled boat launch. We scuttled these, seeking to prevent the bandits from carrying on. They were nowhere to be found. Nerrik found tracks leading to and from the side of the river to the boathouse, so we investigated the river. Jomar entered the river, and found that it became very deep right near the boathouse and that there were water imps in the depths. Jomar and a few others jumped in. They discovered a cave about 20' below the boathouse, and were attacked by the imps. Unfortunately they had not gotten the support of the group before jumping and so only half of us had initially joined the fray until it became clear that it was going very badly. The rest of us entered the battle and were able to pull the incapacitated members of the party out. We defeated only one of the three imps. We then used one of the boats, that Xnyl repaired, to enter the cave. Turning it upside down, we had a pocket of air to breathe as we descended into the cave. Fortunately the imps did not attack as we did this. The watery tunnel was short enough that our air did not run out. It opened up into an underground lagoon. We knew we had found our quarry's hideout by the torches that lined the walls.
We traveled the tunnels beneath the river, and fought our way past goblins and hobgoblins. We found Rogs, a goblin (or was it hobgoblin) and a bear at a dead end. We were victorious, but the battle took a heavy toll on us. One of the hobgoblins earlier had cast quite a few Shatters and once again, Jomar lost his sword. Sad to say, we are still learning how to fight as a cohesive group. I was knocked out as the enemy was dancing through our ranks. Jomar and Xnyl died, having to be resurrected when we returned to town. I'm told that at the end, Nerrik fought alone bravely against Rogs, and was the Sarr to finally take him down. Something that was very strange was that as we were preparing to leave, Nerrik came from where he should not hawve been. At one point Nerrik ran to the lagoon, and we thought he had left. Andro checked the cavern's dead end, finding no one there. After a few minutes, Nerrik came from the dead end, carrying two of our downed members. He was not sure how he got back to the dead end.
Returning to town, I began the Resurrection of Xnyl until Nerrick could take over and I could begin Resurrecting Jomar. He seemed to take his second Resurrection more cheerfully than the first, but Xnyl was fairly upset. Lord Law was pleased that Jomar was able to take care of Buttergold. The Elemental is losing patience, however, with having to replace the Gypsy's sword. I suspect that if there is a next time, Jomar will be forced to purchase something at the local weaponsmith's shop. Our achievement was somewhat muted by its cost. We will be drilling as a group more often now to hopefully prevent such heavy losses in the future.
During the afternoon, Lord Malchit arrived in the Guild. He agreed that a new Circle should be erected in the Healer's Guild building but is not able to cast a Permanent Earth Circle. We began discussing other options when Teveren the Scholar rushed toward me, saying I needed to come with him. He would not say why, only that it was important. Xnyl objected, as did I, as I was involved in important Guild business, but the youth was insistent. Seeing the seriousness in his eyes, however, I followed. There was a meeting with Madam Sparkle in which she performed a divination for us. The information was to prove helpful later in our trip to Redmarch.
After the meeting I returned to speaking with Lord Malchit. I informed him that I had accepted his petition to join our Healer's Guild. We then discussed the logistics of the Permanent Circle. We agreed that given current skill and resources, Investing members in the current Circle for the time being was best. The difficulty there was that the only member Invested in the Circle capable of Investing others at the time was Nala. We were unsure if, given her current state, she would still be attuned to the Circle, even if she was to travel to Alyria. Malchit solved our problem by channeling the Daughter of Life. This enabled her, through him to perform the Investiture ritual for Sir Josian and Xnyl, Lead Guild Healer. Josian was surprised and said he was honored that I would Invest him in the Circle. I told him only that it was a matter of trust, which it is. There was not time while he was among us to explain fully. I plan on telling him my reasons for his inclusion, which are much the same as my decision to include Xnyl among the Invested. He is passionate about the values of life, peace and freedom. He is another Knight of Alyria, trusted by my Liege C'Moggan and is to me a trusted friend. He is someone who has risked his life to protect the town, proving his bravery and loyalty. Also, he is in town much of the time and so can be relied upon to perform Resurrections. I find him an excellent candidate for Investiture and am glad to have him in the Guild. Xnyl also has the qualities of being someone who is able to come with me on missions, and we work very well together She provides valuable insights and advice. She is also passionate about life, peace and freedom. I am glad to have her as my Lead Healer and as a friend.
In the evening, I held the Healer's Guild Initiation Ceremony to induct Lord Malchit and Xnyl into the Healer's Guild. Malchit spoke a few words after the oaths were taken. He reassured us that the intentions of the Daughter of Life were not to control other guilds but to work with them. They encourage all Healer's Guilds to work together against the Lord of Undeath, whom the Daughter sees as the greatest threat in the region. This I agree with, as this monster has marshaled the Hysterions, the Son of Chaos and his own undead forces against Drakesbridge and has made forays into Alyria as well. Later, we learned that the Hysterions were also seen in Redmarch. Malchit left for a brief time to speak to Harper Josian, and returned with news. He has been appointed by Duke C'Moggan and the Daughter of Life as the Ambassador of Alyria.
A group of us traveled to Redmarch to get some first hand information about the situation there. We saw regular patrols of soldiers in the wilds around the towns, and bandit activity was not to be seen at all. Each patrol of Redmarch folk always had at least one member from Gloomwood. They were all humans and dwarves, no undead, so that goes along with what Malcador said. The countryside is indeed much more orderly at the moment, at least most of it is. We received information about a Banshee who was fighting against the minions of a Hysterion. Of course, we desired to end the threat this Hysterion posed but the idea of allying with an Banshee did not sit well with all of our group. Since some of us had worked with a Banshee before, we were more understanding that not all Banshees are evil or attack all of the living. To my view, it is also ultimately good to free a Banshee of her curse and allow her spirit to go free. This particular Banshee turned out to be the same lady who had helped us before in Drakesbridge. She agreed to lead us to the Hysterion and told us the way to cure someone of the disease. The Hysterion Lieutenant turned out to be an Unseelie named Shanks. He was known to some in Drakesbridge, including Ahmed. Together with the Banshee we defeated his minions and were able to cure him of the Hysterion disease. Her grief assuaged, the Banshee's spirit was released from her curse, making a second gain for freedom.
The cure is to administer a Killing blow – Purify Blood – Life Spell – in quick order. The Life spell must be delivered before the body dissipates.
Concerned about the fact that a Hysterion had been seen, and was probably tied to the troubles they have caused elsewhere, we sought to speak to the military authorities. They were naturally skeptical of our description of laughing undead, as they had seen none of them and had no reason to trust us. We told him of the cure for the Hysterion disease so that when he does encounter them he knows how to save any he can. We told him about the connections the Hysterions have to this Lord of Undeath and the rest. He mentioned a legendary being, a protector of Redmarch, which hates the Lord of Undeath. It is called the Titan because of its incredibly large size. We were struck by the parallel to the Daughter of Life. The Man at Arms led us to a cave where the Titan had been rumored to dwell, and indeed we found a place that seemed scaled for a giant. It seems that the Titan had at one point been there, although he or she was nowhere to be seen. Leaving the military to investigate the truth of our claims and do what they will with it, we began the journey back to Drakesbridge.