Heroes of the Mist

I'm baaaack! Dug my way out of the ground this morning, took a quick dunk in the river, and set off for Remma's. My body is not quite similar to Weylyn's for I have leathery wings instead of feathers and I share feline heritage instead of parrot. All the better in my opinion. Must say that I love my new body: flying is just exhilarating. I've apparently also gained quite some skill with the long bow, which is a mighty fine weapon when you're in the air and out of harm's reach *grin*.

When I finally got to Remma's and found the rest of the group I discovered that we had picked up a midget human monk. He's incredibly strong, which is just amazing considering his small size. I asked Tanus about him, but apparently his strength is not magical in nature. Speaking of Tanus, we had quite a long talk. He's decided not to turn me in for now, and in fact seems rather partial to me. Not that it really matters anymore. He cautioned me however that my personality and nature will change slowly over the next two weeks, and recommended that I accept it.

Weylyn, the other Marrashi, was rather astonished that I didn't look more like it. Thinking quickly, I told Weylyn that it was because I was a Royal Marrashi. This made sense to Weylyn, and it now believes that it is related to royalty. Feldon, curse his soul, wasn't quite so gullible. For now I've decided to gain his confidence, so that I may better back-stab him latter on.

Several of us decided to explore the country side while Aven and the midget were comparing notes on weeds and other smokable herbs. A mist suddenly rose up, and soon we found ourselves in a completely different land with rolling hills and a menacing dark sky. We headed for the only building we could see, a large structure that looked like an inn. After the rest of the group stabled their horses, we all went inside. I fortunately had the good luck to be wearing a hat of disguise, and so I looked once again like Valas the half-elf. Much to our surprise however, everyone inside was a humanoid monster. There were goblins, lizardmen, and orcs, oh my!

Jackson felt right at home and soon was living it up with a bunch of goblins. Jorry and I decided to try out a game of darts while Feldon was quietly getting drunk at the bar. A tall charismatic man then entered the bar and very politely inquired as to who had their horses stabled and if we wouldn't kindly move them to make room for the boss's horses. I quickly named him Pretty Boy, though the others favored calling him Alec (Baldwin) for some reason. Moving our horses was of course completely out of the question, but Feldon and I volunteered to go out to the stable and "remedy" the situation.

Pretty Boy wasn't quite so stupid however, and escorted us out to the stables, where we found the "boss" and Louie, his side-kick skeleton. After it became clear that we weren't moving our horses (well, I don't have a horse, but the others do), the boss was amused enough to allow us a chance to fight him if we first defeated his minions. We didn't hesitate, and immediately struck at him and his two companions. Our efforts proved futile however as our weapons bounced off a wall of force. He pointed out that we weren't going to fight here, but rather in an arena of his devising, and against other minions of his. Well... he should have said so in the first place. We agreed and the boss conjured up a huge arena right outside the bar.

We tore through four waves of his minions, with only a small respite between each. After each group that we eventually slaughtered, the boss was becoming more and more frustrated, much to my amusement. As the fighting wore on, I managed to loot and pick up some goodies, including two swords and an amulet which according to Feldon are magical. Though we did come close to being killed, our healers in the group managed each time to bring us back to almost full health. We were all itching for a chance to fight the big guy, and after the fourth wave it was clear that it was also the last.

The boss spoke to us once more, again explaining that we can move our horses and apologize or fight him, the "lord of this domain". That was one key detail that he had forgot to mention before, for according to Remma should anyone kill a dark lord they are then forced to take their place and stay in Ravenloft forever. None of us wanted to apologize, but even more so none of us wanted to stay captive in Ravenloft. After humbly apologizing and kneeling to him (well, Jackson didn't, but he's in a coma right now too), we all left in a hurry. Fortunately we once again passed through the mist and made it back to Remma's.

The next day we all set off for a nearby town, where we picked up an ambassador and her retainer at the bar. We agreed to escort them on their trip, and the next day we all set out. On the way we ran into one of Ziinjj's henchmen and a group of armed soldiers, which we were able to quickly dispatch. Later on, as we were all sleeping around the camp fire, the ambassador and her retainer turned on us. They were two of the Vistani that we had fought earlier, disguised so that we couldn't recognize them. Stealing two of our most powerful magical items, they then disappeared, the little maggots.

As told by Tanus.

Well, Aldar is definetly having no trouble accommodating his darker side. Even his writing style has changed. He's currently off on some royal quest rounding up subjects and persuading them he should lead them. I wish him the best of luck, though RavenLoft isn't really the best place to look for more Marrashi (I suppose he could always "make" some). I met up with the rest of the group as they were heading back to Tepest. Exactly why we're heading East I'm unsure of, though I believe it has something to do with our destiny according to Remma.

We arrived at a small fishing town called Briggadarrow looking for news, and noticed that something was very wrong. The people didn't notice us at all, and Jory almost trampled over one of them with her horse accidentally. Much more disturbing was the fact that none of them cast shadows. At first, finding no inn, we decided to head for the temple. Inside were many spent black candles and faintly magical crumbs on the ground. We went out back to the cemetery and were viciously attacked by white ghost-like apparitions, which we quickly dispatched. Moving on, we decided to search the smoldering ruins of a smoke house, with the monk and Aven leading. A faint ghostly image of a face rose up and lashed out at the monk with a wave of fire. He parried with his arm, almost losing it in the process. Aven moved up and attacked it, and suffered the creature's next fiery wave. Aven immediately went up in fire and lost many of his belongings in the attack. This was no normal fire, and could not be put out normally. During all this I backed away and let loose a couple of magic missiles. Jackson finally moved in and put it to rest for good.

We continued to search, and in a store house I found two leashed guard dogs, apparently starving. After first feeding them I let them go free, only to discover that instead I had made two friends for life. The female I named Bubbles, much to the amusement of my group, and the male I named Hopper. Still searching, we came upon a boy who promptly fled from us. Chasing it down, we eventually convinced him that we meant no harm and asked him what had happened. He described an attack on his town by nightmarish hounds, followed by laughing elven madmen. He had hid with his sister in a barrel as he heard the rest of his townsmen perish. The creatures came back the next night as well, but apparently have not done so tonight. His sister has since disappeared, and he suspects she's fled to the White Lady, a benevolent woman who lives out in the woods.

We set off for the woman, and as we were marching through the woods we were ambushed. We were first assaulted with a volley of miniscule darts, and then attacked by souless men. I let loose a fireball and caught several of the men, and the rest were quickly put to rest by my comrades. Afterwards we searched the men and the scorched area that I had blasted. We found a small faerie like creature, badly maimed and almost incapable of flight. We put up chase hoping to catch it. It turned to me and attacked me with a lightning bolt, and then it looked at the monk who immediately fled in fear. Suspecting the worst, I used a scroll to cast Gaze Reflection and once more set off after it. This time I made sure it looked at me, and as its gaze was reflected it too fled in fear. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I cast a Web on it and then we carefully made our way to it.

The creature, a Powrie named Stryfe, was rather unhelpful at first but finally agreed to answer two of our questions. Even then it wasn't very forthcoming for it would rather die than face the wrath of its master. I decided that the best solution would be for us to keep it alive till we met its master, and then let him loose to face his wrath. This threat seemed quite real to the little creature, and it decided that it would finally answer our questions more willingly. From it we garnered clues as to the whereabouts of the White Lady, and also confirmation that indeed the Unseelie were responsible for the attack on the town.

We were debating as to how to let it go, which had never really been my intention for I was much more interested in pumping more information out of it. However, it dawned on me that effectively it had already betrayed its master, and that whether we killed it or let it go, it would eventually suffer a grisly fate. In fact, the best place for it would be by our side. I offered it a truce and the opportunity to join us, which it reluctantly agreed to.

Proceeding onwards, we eventually made it to the White Lady's hut, though we had to pass through three magical wards first. Actually, she goes by the name of Lady Maeve, and wow is she a hotty. I've never seen anyone look so regal. After first resting, we all had a long chat and she explained her situation to us. She's a shadow elf, a denizen of the Shadow Rift. They were enslaved on their homeworld, but managed to escape to this realm and seal the breach behind them. Currently Lady Maeve is in hiding from her brother Loht, the Lord of the Unseelie court. She is his peer, the ruler of the Seelie court. Together they are meant to rule the Shadow Rift. Their father, Lord Arak, died sealing the gate back to their homeworld, but not without first giving out several items of regalia. Should all these items be brought together and tossed back into the sealed gate, it will reopen. This is exactly what Lady Maeve fears her brother Loht is trying to do. So she has charged us to regain the Crown of Arak, the last item of Arak that Loht does not possess. It just so happens that she hid it right under Loht's nose, in the middle of the Malachite palace.

That still didn't explain what happened in the village. After informing her of what we saw, she was rather perturbed. All shadow elves have the ability to "free" a mortal and bring them back to their realm, granting them immortality but also a chance to practice their craft forever. In other words, it's a nice term for eternal enslavement. However, they usually only do this to those that have demonstrated mastery in their craft. In doing so, they take only their shadow, leaving behind an unthinking shell of a human that goes about its task, similar to what we had seen in the village. Freeing an entire village was unthinkable to Lady Maeve, though to us it was clear that Loht was trying to increase his ranks. We agreed to help her, and in return she will aid us in our quest to save the village.

We set off for a magic cave, one of the few means to travel to the Shadow Rift. We were warned that we would not remember anything that happened inside, and that often times strange things happen to those that pass through it. Indeed, as we walked through it and appeared in the Shadow Rift, all of us were affected in some way. The most drastic change was probably Aerin's, for her skin turned jet black like that of a drow. I lost a piece of my buckler, while Jackson lost one of his eyes to an obsidian arrow. Jory came out with a huge two-handed black scimitar, over which Feldon drooled with obvious envy. Feldon himself gained two magical mithril daggers, which we learned later will become very handy in this realm.