Heroes of the Mist

Call me Valas. I'm a half-elf bard and third-removed cousin to the illustrious Tanus Feydark. Well, maybe he wasn't that illustrious, but apparently Tanus was quite a character. Not exactly despised by his friends, he nonetheless didn't instill much trust either. Fortunately, Tanus kept a journal of his adventures and a short memoir of his past, so I feel like I know him quite well now. Well, at least as much as an estranged cousin should. It's eerie that we look almost exactly alike. I can't believe mother never told me about it (smirk). The group of people (monsters?) Tanus was hanging out with seem simple enough, which is always good news. I've already got Jory the cavalier under my sway, and we'll see about the others later.

I met up with them when I was staying in this quaint little town in RavenLoft. My efforts to leave this strange land had proved to be unfruitful so far, but I had just arrived recently. I heard a great commotion at the edge of town, and raced over to see what was happening. Four armed men riding Nightmares, whom I later learned where pawns of the infamous ex-pit fiend Ziinnj, were setting fire to a necromancy shop. Always ready for a chance to humiliate lower-planar fiends, I joined the fray against them. We eventually defeated them all except one, who cowardly fled. It was then that a mongrel looking beast began calling me "Tanus" (well, once she became visible at least). Confused at first, I then regained my wits and told her that I was not Tanus, but a cousin of his, which seemed to explain a lot.

At the same time, a paranoid little necromancer was questioning another character as to his identity. Turns out that the fellow, whose name is Jackson and who looks like a big black furry humanoid, looks just like Ziinnj does. Never seen a pit-fiend look like that, but then again I heard Ziinnj lost his mortal body for a while. That makes two cases of mistaken identity in one day. Very interesting indeed.

We settled at the inn for the night, where I learned more about Tanus. He's quite dead now, but his body is being stored in Jackson's boot (don't ask). They're currently looking to bring Tanus back from the dead. In the meantime, as his cousin, I'm safe-keeping his goods for him (hehe). He's got some rather nifty items, including some magical bracers which I'm told are cursed. During the night, one of our party members (the mongrel actually) turned into a huge ogre, while another was being squeezed to death by his armor. Both of the characters had been holding cursed magic items, much like my bracers, which they had purchased in Canthas, a city on the Prime plane. However, from what I gather this curse has only manifested at night. I'm curious to see what happens if I only wear the bracers during the day. Unfortunately, they've already destroyed one of Tanus' cursed items, a magic bow that created glowing arrows out of thin air.

The party now includes a dwarf crusader of Xvim named Feldon, a Ziinnj look alike named Jackson, a savage elf named Aerin, a marrashi (not a mongrel after all) named Weylyn, a cavalier named Jory, and a paranoid human necromancer with some interesting abilities. And some other guy named Aven who's apparently out shrooming or something (they didn't elaborate). Other than getting Tanus back, they're apparently also seeking an artifact that will bring them back to their world, which also happens to be what I'm seeking. It's almost as if I was fated to join these hapless would-be-heroes.

We set off soon after once Aven came back to town. The party decided to move on to the largest city in this domain, in hopes of finding a cleric that might be able to resurrect Tanus. As we camped for the night during our journey I moved over and began smooth talking the Marrashi. I felt confident that I had made a new friend for life until I felt a very sharp pain in my side. Grinning with pleasure and holding the shaft of the arrow it had just poked me with, Weylyn informed me that I was now going to die and come back as a Marrashi just like it. Its obvious enthusiasm was contagious, but inside I was disgusted and shocked. I was to become a jackal-headed beast like it? I would slowly turn evil? Even worse, I would slowly become lawful? I can think of no fouler curse than what had just befallen me. I can't wait to see how well my new appearance will go over with the ladies. If this is what Weylyn does to its friends then I'd hate to see what it does to its ennemies.

To make matters worse, that night Aven suddenly transformed into a Gorgon and attacked us. It managed to petrify Weylyn before we were able to defeat it. Fortunately, we were able to bring back Weylyn from her stoned state, but now the party decided that the cursed items from Canthas had to go. I of course still had the bracers of defense, but had taken them off during the night. It had dawned on me since the last mysterious fight that this type of curse only manifests itself during the night. I reasoned logically that should I take them at night I would be safe. Feldon would not see it my way however, and decided to call for a vote. Surprisingly Jory voted against my desires, and the party voted to destroy the items. This was unacceptable to me, so I decided to leave. Feldon did not feel that was sufficient, and wanted the bracers destroyed even if they were no longer near him. He commanded me to stop, and then cast a spell that made me remain rooted for several minutes. As he calmly approached me looking for the bracers, I kneeled and tried to strike him, missing terribly. His riposte however did not miss, and I was soon limping. I cast a web spell centered on me, and during the time that I was trying to reason with Jackson the Marrashi was able to reach me and pull me out. As I was pulled upwards, Feldon savagely attacked me with his scimitar and rendered me unconscious. Weylyn had to land and bandage me, and by then the web was effectively useless as everyone was free.

Sick of the infighting this had caused, most of the party departed. However, Feldon was still adamant on destroying the bracers, and still demanded their destruction. While he was debating it with Weylyn, who had also remained, I slowly walked away. At the sound of Feldon chanting, I quickly turned around and readied a magic missile. It was then that I discovered the power of his magical shield, for suddenly I had lost all interest in attacking him. He threw three magical stones at me, rendering me unconscious yet again. As I was bandaged by Weylyn, Feldon destroyed the bracers and ended this long debacle. Having now been healed, I took off at a run with Weylyn to rejoin the group, leaving Feldon behind as he tried to scramble after us with his short stubby dwarf legs.

We reached town, and Weylyn prepared my grave for me. I left my goods with her, and died soon afterwards, to be reborn as a Marrashi.

I am alive!

No, not Valas. He's still buried in the ground. Weylyn's not sure when he's due to come back. I, Tanus Feydark, have been brought back from the dead and now mingle among the living. I can't say I remember much from my brief state of death. It was awfully boring though. Being brought back by a priest of Bane was definitely a surprise. Never thought they cared all that much for elves. Can't complain though, and apparently I owe it all to Feldon.

The group told me about my long-lost cousin Valas, which is interesting since I don't have any relatives by that name. I immediately asked to see him so that I could denounce him, but apparently he's dead. Or more correctly is currently dead but will soon become another Marrashi (shiver). I'll have to question him then. In the meantime I was surprised to see that he had added to my journal. From his own writing I can see that he's some type of shrewd trickster, and in many ways like me in personality. I'm actually quite impressed that he was able to dupe the entire party and garner all my goods (which I've rightly reclaimed by the way). In the same words that he used to describe me, he sounds like a rather interesting character.

As I was being brought up to speed, a giant fiend named Mogul or some such suddenly appeared and demanded to know where the dwarf was. I recognized him as one of the fiends that had attacked Leilo. I was very giddy for some reason and kept laughing at his silly name. He was getting rather frustrated, but I told him I really didn't know. He vanished, and we set off for the bar. It was then that we heard a great commotion near the temple, and we rushed over. At the entrance I could make out the figure of the fiend we had just met, apparently torching the temple. I used my wand to provide a magical barrier around me, which was fortunate for the fiend turned around and blasted me with a lightning bolt. The magical barrier held, and the lighting bolt fizzled harmlessly. He was now visibly irritated at me, but apparently had better things to do. As the melee ensued, it soon became evident that we were definitly out-classed. Then, they again mysteriously popped out of existence just as they were about to crush us. I later learned from Feldon that Mogul had succeeded in killing the high priest, and vanished once his task was complete.

After all that killing, and especially since I had just came back from being dead, I decided to live it up for a while. I told the others that I'd rejoin them shortly at Remma's, and so set off to have some fun. Which didn't last too long. I met some gal named Cassandra at the bar, she was asking about Jackson, and before I knew it I was running out of there with a vampire on my heels. I figured the safest place right now would be with the others, so I set off after them.

Later on, as I finally came upon the party, I saw them vanish through a misty portal. Having really no other choice, I jumped through as well, and found myself in a surprisingly familiar land. This area looked a lot like the blasted plains west of the Chasm, back on Toril. Had we made it back home? No, the oppressive feel of the land let me know that we were definitly still in Ravenloft. We had failed then, and Akken had indeed been swept up by this nightmarish realm. The party re-grouped, and informed me that they had originally planned on saving the necromancer, who had just been taken by Zinnjj's minions. After a (very) short debate, we decided the necromancer wasn't really worth it and decided to leave Zinnjj's dominion. We all tried to scramble back through the portal, but unfortunately Jackson and Feldon did not make it in time. I fear the worst for them.