I believe I can shed some light on the general progression of our adventure !
As you can see from the sketches we were organised at the barracks before heading (by forced march) to Minoc moongate and then through to the shrine of Spirituality in Ilshenar. We then continued our run directly north, through a pixey infested forest with the aim of meeting up at the road on the other side.
Clearly the little winged women are firm believers in karma as I was instantly set upon by about five of the buggers. Fire engulfed my body, twittering giggles filled the air and I generally kept getting knocked clean out. The men came to my aid with bandages and attempted to get me to my feet while recruit Kahn "dealt" with the oppressors.
Marcus and Hoagie arrived at this point, coming along the road from the east, evidently they'd taken a different route and neglected to inform the rest of us. Nevertheless no harm was done so with the silly fairies out of the way we continued to the Twin Oaks tavern. Our arrival was heralded by the kind words of a local flower seller, she took a shining to Faden which we all found immensely amusing.
Of course, this was until recruit Kahn "accidentally" set the girl on fire. She seemed to get back up from the blow soon enough so we decided against punishing the offender and headed inside. It was at this point that Kobra came down with his sleeping sickness so the mercenaries took to occupying themselves in a number of ways.....
- The cellar was thoroughly searched, with all liquor sampled to make sure it was indeed of the illicit variety (oh boy was it).
- The accommodation on the first floor of Twin Oaks was given a hands on inspection. Beds bounced on, mirrors gazed at, artwork admired, chairs rode backwards like imaginary horses, etc.
- Our perimeter was patrolled by Me'an and his band of merry men. You never can be sure when tiny winged women are going to barge in and spoil your
party expedition. - A few men gathered around the fire place for a rip roaring sing song. Faden and I both contributed with some impressive warblings. I'd repeat the verses in this report but the general concensus was that they were too fantastic for public consumption.
However, as any working man knows, the downtime never lasts as long as you would like. It became apparent that Kobra would not be waking any time soon so with trepidation in his voice of authority, sergeant Hoagie put me in charge of the men. As I later came to understand it his intention was to keep us within the vicinity of the tavern we had been enlisted to protect.
I had other plans !
I gathered the men as best I could, I never have been one for responsibility or reckless amounts of power (besides that of spellcasting), and we headed northwest to another forest. The trees here were adorned with massive spiderwebs and shrouded the entrance to a cave that we soon found ourselves entering.
Terathans and giant black widows raced out of the shadows to impede our progress but with a little teamwork and a small degree of luck we made it back into daylight (albeit at the other side of the cave network). Here we discovered an ancient circle of stones with some twinkling lights in the center. Against my better judgement I ordered the men to walk into them and in the blink of an eye we were transported to a sandy beach.
To answer your question Marcus, unfortunately yes, we had arrived at the Ethereal Tomb.
I could not assist our fellow mercenaries, despite being in charge if I had entered the grounds I would have doubtless been cut down swiftly (the residents of said tomb are good friends of the fairies, I was taking no chances). So while I waited on the beach the others went onwards to explore.
I think Raven got lost and the others were eventually requested to assist his escape saying something about passwords, cellars and vast amounts of undead. Sergeant Hoagie arrived around this point and took charge of the now suicidal mission. But never fear, we left no man behind and eventually rallied back at the barracks, mostly through the emergency sanctioning of the recall spell.
We may have got a little lost !
We may have bitten off far more than we could chew !
But in the end we came out smiling.
For Cove and the Company!?!?
Signed in messy rushed handwriting,
Veteran Nutcase Mercenary Kas Valentine.
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