Jelly creature

In my anger over the undead incident I forgot to mention that we also encountered a jelly creature. It was really weird and left a strange residue everywhere it touched. I didn't see any particular reason to fight it since we could simply walk away, but the party went crazy trying to defeat it. While they were doing that I scouted ahead and uncovered yet another trap.

Party Realities

I've had a few hours to sit here and contemplate what just occurred. We had a large room full of opponents, maybe ten on my right and one on my left with the party evenly distributed. The two warriors Phandin and Kiira leave the bulk of the opponents and expose myself and Aramas to deal with all ten opponents by ourselves. Aramas was lucky enough to have arcane magic that let him disappear and avoid the onslaught, but I was not.

My buddies back at Grimjaw would laugh at me for being surprised. Everyone is out for one person, themselves, and to expect anything else is foolish. Somehow I thought this party would be different, but they are the same as every other time I've had to work with a group of people.

Just remember, I am getting significant rewards for taking extraordinary risks. No one has my back and some may even conspire to hinder me, just like before... Do your job and nothing more, so that you can be alive to enjoy the rewards.

Undead encounter

I have never felt so terrible in my life. I have been mauled by a vile undead creature. What upsets me the most is that my party who I thought would be capable and diligent warriors have proven to be something less. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to trust any members of this party, now I'm fairly certain that I can not. I will write more once I have had a chance to recover my wits.

Acquisitions...

I didn't think the first collection of items would hold much interest for me, but after seeing how challenging this adventure could be, I decide to ask for a healing potion. It's better to have an extra than to not have enough.

I remember hearing from my friends about a ring that would protect you if you slipped while climbing. That's not something I do every day, but I have had a hard fall or two so I also ask for the Ring of Feather Fall. It's a pretty ring with a small feather inside an amber stone. I don't know if I will wear it all the time, but when I need to do some climbing I will be glad to have the extra security.

Now it's time to wait for the party to get ready. I'm somewhat anxious to keep going, but I want the party to be conditioned for preparation so I'm not going to ask for a faster pace.

Rest Break

The casters seem to be very tired, so we go back to the base camp. I’m glad to see that I have hooked up with patient folks. I feel physically healthy, but I’m still recovering from my failure at the locked door and altar room. I’ve set a high standard for myself and I’m not living up to it at this point. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and I’ll be ready to do a better job.

Altar Room

I failed myself and my party by failing to hear anything beyond a door that led to an altar room. I try to quietly close the door and retreat, but not surprisingly the evil worshippers react and there is a massive battle. I start out the battle by trying to protect myself, but after seeing people knocked down and other heroics, I feel the need to do my part and I try to attack the drow knight. I am knocked silly and very nearly lose my life.

Lesson learned and I will strive to control my ego and stay with my strengths, which is why I was hired and how I can provide the most value to my party.

On Our Way

After waiting a few minutes for the grinding of the door to stop, I am ready to proceed. I can see the location of the old steel door that initially saved the dwarves. I am in awe of the power that must have been necessary to bend all that steel. I hope our adventures don’t lead us to encounter that creature.

Perhaps I’m paranoid, but I always expect a trap and after taking a moment, I’m fairly sure that I hear an ambush waiting for us. An apparent leader comes in and orders an attack. I am quite happy to let the party handle the combat and I come through healthy.

The next combat doesn’t go quite as smoothly. I end up well behind the party and am ambushed while they finish off a mage. Thankfully I am well hidden and manage to make a strong sneak attack on the first minotaur creature. This gives me a leg up and with help from my teammates, I survive with minor scratches.

Apparently I am a little stunned and Tenry takes the lead for a while. Naturally he immediately steps on a trapdoor and is barely able to leap out of danger.

Aside from having a trap, this room also has two concealed doors. One is discovered by the dwarf, I’m not sure if I would have seen it, but I still have to respect her sharp eye. I’m able to help open one of the doors, but the other defeated me. I am meditating on the job of opening the door with the hope that inspiration will lead me to the solution. I can patiently wait for a solution.

The Steel Door

We finally pass the cells and are shown a huge steel door that isolates us from the Underdark that we will be exploring. There is clearly no way that I could open this door, which I record for future reference. Some doors are unbeatable.

Aramas becomes animated for the first time and starts talking with the dwarves. I appreciate his effort to discover more information, but I doubt miners will be able to provide an accurate picture of what really occurred. They do serve as a sturdy folk to work through the opening of the door, which takes minutes and seems to be very complicated.

I’m disappointed, but not surprised, to find that Phan and Zane need light to function down here. That will make my job harder, but if it was easy then every Tom, Dick & Harry would claim to be Rogue. It’s not my place to complain about the conditions, but rather to make things work regardless.

Tenry surprises me by wanting to join me at the front of the party. I like to go first and not be bothered too much while I’m doing my job, but having a warrior nearby and one that doesn’t make echoes while breathing is comforting.

Skull Island

For the first time I see the ruler of the island, up close and eye to eye. I might have seen him once before, but at the time I was too concerned with escape and my personal safety. I realize that I have missed nothing and I will be more than happy to oversee his downfall.

It took me a moment, but I soon realized that I should be hiding my face. I pull my hood down over my eyes. This serves the secondary purpose of diverting my eyes from all the slaves. I want to release all the slaves in mass and let them enact their own form of retribution, but I’ve learned enough over the years to know better. My resolve to eventually come back and help the slaves is reaffirmed.

Post Dinner Party

In most respects the dinner party went quite well. I was able to secure the job and I think I have some similar spirits in Phan and Tenry. They seem to be brothers or more likely half-brothers. I was able to “borrow” Zane’s wand and present it to him as part of my resume, but he did not take kindly to my show. I thought for a moment that he would refuse my services. I find it strange that a party would be interested in my services, but not expect a demonstration that I can perform the job. Perhaps he was just peeved that I was successful? The dwarf, her name is Kiira, seemed to be even more upset. I think she is Zane’s bodyguard. He must be a very important person to have a bodyguard already. This further confirms my suspicions that he would be a leader of this party.

As expected everyone went off to their different beds to sleep the night away. On the other hand, I need to take care of business and make sure that all the necessary parties know that I will be gone for a while. I’m dreading the Skull Island part of this adventure, but otherwise excited to be doing something new.

Dinner Party

I’ve had a day of advance notice for a prime job opening. Since arriving at Skullport almost two years ago I have managed to build a reasonable life, but I now have the opportunity to move into the big time and build a reputation. Qilue Veladorn and Sarah Keldorn will be hosting a party of adventurers to form a party that will explore a recently discovered area under Skull Island.

I have some concerns about entering Skull Island again and I will want to be careful about how visible I am. It will serve as a chance to do some recognizance work and I can find out whether or not my mug holds any meaning for them.

The information I have gathered suggests that this group will be lacking in my kind of skill, but they will otherwise be very skilled and probably feel that they should be somewhat picky about who to team up with. So I’ve decided to break out my favorite trick and “borrow” a wand from the albino character, Zane I believe is his name. He should be a relatively easy mark and he should be carrying some valuable, smaller items that are easier for me.

I have used my contacts at The Black Tankard to ensure that I am the head waiter for this evening, which is how I found out that the dinner will be taking place in the magic room. I will need to make sure that I “meet” Zane before going into the magic room. I don’t have any direct information, but I suspect that the magic room is bewitched to ensure privacy and security.