OOC Context: Tobias is currently being interned to the Marshfield Newspaper in order to chronicle the events of the area. He is training for a similar position for another news paper called the Curious Crow Currier. Though he has had past adventuring experience, this is his first taste of anything quite so intense.
1: Marshfield North appears to have been swallowed in a miasma. An adventurer I've encountered appears too have breathed some in, only to cough out water.
2: The townsfolk have pulled together to hire adventurers. An alchemical sun of some sort was built to help pull the moisture out of the air. We began our slow descent into the city. Other adventuring groups appeared to be doing the same from different sides, though we haven't encountered any thus far.
3: Still no sign of the other adventuring groups, though we seem to have stumbled upon the source of the miasma. Some things I've seen were some much larger and more powerful stone lizard men among their ranks.
4: We held the door long enough for a few to pry it open. I believe word was that it was swollen shut and vines were overgrown around it. We hold point outside to make sure nothing gets to the people going inside.
5: The fighting inside is fierce. I hear words like golem or elemental being thrown around.
6: An orb allegedly dropped from the "moss elemental".
7: Several people (Ourselves included) have encountered a spider infestation in the lodgings we were provided. I’ve heard anecdotal rumors in the tavern that someone even died, though I was not able to pin down who or where this happened. Probably just an urban legend.
8: The orb appears to be corrupted or cursed. I don't know which one it is, and it seems that they're throwing these words around interchangeably. A Holvaldi adventurer named Kyn appears to be the only one unaffected by it, so the orb remains in his possession for now.
9: My employer tried to run off with it... They seem to think this has something to do with the corruption.
10: I’ve asked around, and the orb's corruption appears to be of a spiritual nature. Allegedly it could perhaps be purified by alchemical or spiritual means. The druid and the mayor who has alchemical knowledge don’t appear to get along though.
11: Some of the people who have stayed in town have been developing elemental powers. A Shen’Tha lady who was afflicted with the element of fire, and a man with a white cloak in the tavern told me that they believed the reason was that the ambient elemental energies of the town were to blame. Allegedly in another district in town, an elemental gate was opened a few months back.
12: Upon awaking this morning, I found the dragonkin, Dom in the tavern, looking a little sick. Allegedly corrupted animals have been appearing recently, and Dom tried to eat a corrupted squirrel. This… May not require much more investigation. As for the source of the animal corruption itself however, theories I’ve been hearing floating around suggest that it might be linked to either the elemental gate, or even the orb in Kyn’s possession.
13: The Shen’Tha lady told me later that when she tried to meld with the plants in the area, she encountered some vines that tried to choke her. It’s a bit unnerving to see someone with such mastery and kinship with nature encounter something within her domain that tried to kill her.
14: A renowned “Friendly Weather Vampire” named Soka formed an adventuring party with me, Red Jack, and a pair of barbarians, Runvar and Audun who were some of the survivors of the Vulcan Tribe. We were about to enter a cave, but then heard chanting further down the road. Upon investigating, we found a pair of lizard folk looking down at a corpse and chanting. We resolved to wait and see what would happen, until the corpse started to convulse and grow larger. We intervened and took them out. Apparently other adventurers have reported seeing the same thing. We quested a bit longer until we found a treasure chest and a mana well, then Soka parted ways. The rest of us held together.
15: While returning to the tavern to rest, I stumbled across a small scene where in I learned some of those who have garnered an affinity with fire lately have been hearing voices. The town alchemist did some alchemical ritual on the Shen’Tha lady from before. He passed out soon after. Blames a lack of affinity towards fire does that to him.
16: Stumbled upon the Shen’Tha lady from earlier. She was drawing a glyph on the wall outside the tavern. Told me it would resurrect anyone who touched it. How thoughtful. Might be able to save a few lives.
17: While out adventuring, we were about to investigate an ancient forge until I noticed something glowing in the distance. We decided to check that out instead, and appeared to have stumbled upon a glowing lake. The druid who was in town earlier was there as well. He told us that this glowing lake was a purified lake that… I dunno, kept the balance of the area or something. He confessed that the lake might be able to purify the orb, but also expressed worry that it was equally possible that the lake might get corrupted by the orb. And that the lake should only be used as a last resort. We all found ourselves in agreement at that, so the druid went on to point out another possibility. If we could find a few feathers from a rainbow bird, and use them in an alchemical ritual of some sort, we might be able to purify the orb.
18: We told a few of the more experienced adventurers of what we had found. They discussed what to do with the knowledge, and it was agreed upon that we should try to get feathers without killing it… And that if anyone were to end up with a body, they would have to drag it back to town and throw it at the life glyph on the wall.
19: Told Sorrow about the lizard man rituals and what we witnessed earlier. He thinks this might be where the giant stone lizard men are coming from.
20: While setting out to find the rainbow bird in the marshlands, I encountered sir Francis and his party, who all held mutual ties in that they were all looking for the same half orc villain. I told them to come find me if they found the rainbow bird.
21: Returned back into the marsh to see what we could find. This time a group of us returned to investigate the ancient forge. An artisan named Crow who was traveling with us was able to make use of it to craft a bastard sword. After that final swing, the forge crumbled and broke apart. The party decided I should take it. First time in my life I held something so sharp.
22: Runvar decided to part from trudging up and down that damn hill into the swamps for the moment, leaving me, Jack, and Audun to continue questing. The hill claims another victim.
23: Our expedition into the swamp finally led us to a startling discovery by a bog. We encountered a figure with the same corruption lines on its face as the corrupted animals, standing next to an alligator. He gave the alligator the corruption, noticed us, and assumed the form of a raven and flew away. It was a different man from the druid we had encountered before. We took matters into our own hands and decided to dispose of the corrupted gator ourselves, and proceeded to get mangled and thrown about all over the place before finally managing to fell the beast. It was a long limping walk back to town.
24: While we were gone, it would seem that sir Francis and party successfully tracked the bird. Another group managed to arrive on the scene, bringing with them the druid of the area, and managed to get the feathers they needed without killing the creature. They were in the midst of preforming the purifying ritual just as we got back.
25: I received some further context. Apparently there was a spirit inside the orb. They tell me that the corruption came from a shadow, which was pulled from the orb and sent into another dimension, allowing the native spirit of the orb to be purified.
26: The largest stone lizard golem we’d seen yet just got kited into town by a group of adventurers. Ran back to the cabin and woke up the nap-dragon, Dom. Figured we needed him to stand a chance against this thing. Eventually, all the adventurers at the inn managed too fell the thing.
27: Evening was beginning to encroach upon us when I saw the druid again. I told him of what we saw with the corrupted man and the gator. He seemed unsettled by the news, then told me that he was only started tending to the area recently, and that there was a druid here before him that went missing. Allegedly, this means the corrupted man we saw could be the former druid.
28: The current druid was making preparations, now that the orb was purified, to return it to its rightful home. Though we suspected that it was not going to be something the lizard folk would allow to happen. They were coming in full force. The druid had decided that we were going to engage them, while he used the chaos of combat to slip out the back.
29: The plan worked. Jack, Sorrow, and I managed to flank behind them while they filled into the tavern, containing them inside just long enough for the druid to slip out the back.
30: The lizard folk shamans managed to break through us, causing the lizard folk to spill into the town. While we were fighting, I found myself behind enemy lines. I remember getting cut down by two others while I fought against one, and thought I was done for. Then I heard the familiar sounds of a barbarian’s rage as Runvar charged in and carved a path to me. He grabbed me, carried me around the perimeter of the battle field, only for a lizard man to turn around at the wrong moment. Runvar went down, and I blacked out. Mere moments before I had both feet in the grave, I awoke after being slammed into that glyph. I was right! Looks like I was among a few of those lives that was saved!
((OOC: No seriously, I was 4 seconds away in my death count. ^^; ))
It looks like the lizard folk have stopped attacking for now. I hope that what I have uncovered was useful, and that I lived up to the promises that Clinkencrow made. This was my first taste of the... perilously heroic side of adventuring, and as I proved, I have what it takes to survive it, but it's going to take months to get the smell of lizard guts and swamp gas out of my clothes, so I feel as though I will need to depart for now. Jack the Red and the Vulcan tribe seem to want to drag me out to the outpost anyways, so I suppose this is farewell for now. I shall return at a later date.
Marshfield Quest Log:
O Completed
X Failed or Abandoned
U Completion Status Unknown
>O: Follow up on a job with the Marshfield News Paper.
>O: Investigate claims of a lizard man infestation.
>O: Help clear out a lizard folk infestation in town.
>O: Deal with those spiders!
>O: Investigate the elemental effects on the townsfolk.
>X: Investigate the cave. (We got distracted by chanting nearby and forgot to come back to this one)
>O: Investigate the chanting.
>O: Disrupt the ritual.
>O: Locate the Mana Well.
>O: Found Treasure.
>O: Identify this topical. (Crow informed me of Quicksilver)
>O: Investigate the figure by the glowing pool of water.
>O: Find a rainbow bird and acquire its feathers for a purification ritual.
>O: Purify the Orb.
>O: Investigate the ancient forge.
>O: Investigate the field.
>O: Investigate the splashing. (That's where the corrupted druid stuff happened.)
>U: Cast the purified orb into the pool of water.
>O: Create a diversion and survive the final battle. (Barely.)
Treasures:
Quick Foil: Short Sword +1 | Parry | +5 Dmg on counters
Given to me by Sorrow.
Quick Silver: Alchemy Topical
Looted from the chest.
Bastard Sword: +1 (Sharp)
Crafted by Crow at the ancient forge.
"This symbol is branded on the sword between the hilt and the blade."
20 Shatter Resist Armor - Given at final battle distribution
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