Alev: Recovering the Orb of Azurite

April 24, 998 CE

Crescent City is quite an interesting place. We have spent the better part of the last week searching around for clues while Rygorh and Neil are working on various projects. Got a nice pair of gloves made by Neil, these should greatly help getting my spells to land where I want them.

The group has decided to leave Crescent City and go straight for the Ragged Man. I did not agree with the decision, but was out voted. I do not like us leaving these problems behind us. This cesspool is ripe for infiltration by the Drow, and we are leaving ourselves open to having an enemy gather another foothold behind us. It feels like we are moving out of order, out of balance, like there is something missing if we just depart so quickly.

This Ragged Man, I fear, will not be what we are expecting. It troubles me the way Lady Arigane described him, like there is something she didn't want to say.

April 27, 998 CE

We traveled up river with Greenroot, a swamp elf that Lorelei had befriended. We encountered some interesting creatures, a pair of beetle-like monsters that tried swallowing Seebo. Quite a bother they were, and we were forced to gather the fleeing swamp elves afterwards. We lost one to a crocodile, sadly.

We arrived at the swamp elves village, they had an animal totem up, which they were fearful of us touching. Seems they worship nature spirits, quite an interesting discovery. The area is poor, but hospitable, these swamp elves are very nice folk.

I had been thin-

We just got attacked by some flying heads that tried biting and paralyzing us! Apparently these are very nasty creatures that live on the plantation that we had heard rumors about being abandoned. They bite you and then you die and your head becomes one of these. Nasty undead infectation in the area. Will definitely need to here on our way back to Crescent City. I cannot allow this blight to continue to grow, the Drow could find a way to turn it against us, like they did with those giant undead war machines in Saragost.

Tomorrow we continue up river towards the temple. I hope my fears about this Ragged Man are not confirmed further.

April 30, 998 CE

We have found a mission in the swamp. This place is very comforting, like a beacon of order in the chaos around us. The missionary, Father Abstinence, was a very kind man, and quite knowledgeable. He found an odd disease amongst a few of us called Swamp Fever. He was able to cure it with a spell I had never seen. At my request, he scribed two scrolls of this Remove Disease spell for my companions. I really must learn the spell he used to keep the insects outside of his home. That will definitely have to be imbued into my home whenever I have it built.

May 5, 998 CE

Finally we have found the temple and entered it. We encountered a strange elven woman, who must be a ghost, in the swamp. I have a eerie feeling about this place. Dinah already lost her face to a magical trap, stolen by a statue. The magic is strong in this place, yet we are trapped, so we must continue on. Most of the journey here is a fog in my mind. We have spent well over a week getting here. This Ragged Man will give us the answers we seek, one way or another.

May 11, 998 CE

At last, we know the location of our items. But, was it worth the price? Neil had it figured, this Ragged Man was none other than Severil Blackthorn, the last survivor of the previous equinox. He is a selfish, evil man. Or was, I guess. In his care has been an item that was meant to be left for safekeeping for us. The Orb of Azurite, a powerful artifact from equinox past that could be used by the starborn to locate the Nodes, warn them of the Host and scry on the soulbound items destined for each. It once had many more powers, but this vile creature has corrupted it's powers and siphoned the magic to keep him alive for 1000 years and create all the monstrosities we found here.

Three brides he kept, the vanity still amazes me. And as they died, he brought them back as undead, in different ways each time. The first, the ghost we had been seeing. She didn't like us looking at her coffin. Well, I'm sure she didn't like seeing Kettle crush and urinate on her bones even more. But, she was dead again by then. The second was a mummy, a nasty creature, but we were fortunate in that fight and it went quickly. We worked very well as a team in there. Something I wish we could do more often. There was also a dragon's horde found near the second bride, that money will definitely be put to good use. The last bride was a vampire. But getting to her nearly cost us all. Damn the logic, I should have seen the possibility. The door was underwater, and as we opened it, we were all sucked into a hallway that ended in a drop beyond sight and death. Fortunate for us, Dinah was able to get the door closed and we survived. The vampire made the mummy feel like a dragon encounter. She was not ready for us at all. I don't even think I got 2 spells off that time. Talk about efficient teamwork.

Well, we have the Orb of Azurite now. And Rumus3s item, which Severil was wearing. Kind of a scary though, but I sure hope our Elven Wizard doesn't go down the same road as Severil did. I would hate to fight a friend. That would not bode well for us, or the rest of the world. The rest of our items are located in Crescent City. Most in a vault at the bank, according to information from Severil, the last in a maze underneath the old Thieves’ Guild. So, back to Crescent City we go. Hope we can make better time this trip, things have to be progressing without us.

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