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These Letters, written by Vanduin Silverthorn, tell the continuing story of the Caltaras Faire. Dearest Milandre, I know that it’s been while since I’ve written to you, so much has happened in the mean time though that I don’t know quite where to start. When I last wrote I had joined the Blades of Light and had been sent north with another Elf named Archren Elmleaf. I believe that I had remarked at that time that she seemed far to bookish for my tastes (well that opinion has been borne out, but I still hope to crack that shell ;) We made it to Calteras with out incident. We had begun to investigate the rumors of evil creatures and events besieging the city when we happened across another group of the Blades known as the Dragons of Light. The rumors of evil turned out to be more true than we had at first thought. Archren and I teamed up with the Dragons to combat them. The Dragons at this time numbered seven brave souls: Aust and Magdor, two Dwarven fighters. I
know, I know, Dwarves! Let me tell you, everything you’ve heard about their
personal manners is absolutely true. On the other hand so is everything
you’ve heard about their abilities as fighters. These two make truly fierce
warriors Daesha and Kentir, two half elves. Daesha
is nominally the leader of the group. She seems alright for a halfie. Though at
times she has trouble controlling the group. Kentir is a youngling. Barely as
old as I was when my parents where slain. What he’s doing with this group I
don’t know, but I’m going to try to see that he survives these adventures. Gamble, a human sorcerer. At least he claimed to be a sorcerer. I don’t recall actually seeing
him cast any spells. Legacy, a human monk of Pellor. If this is a monk of Pellor I’ll eat my hat. HE know enough about the
fighting styles of monks, but a more irreligious monk I’ve never met. Tara, a human priest of Pellor. I haven’t gottem a good chance to meet Tara, She’ss spending most of
here time at the temple. But she seems nice enough for a human. With the help of these adventurers Archren and I were able to uncover and vanquish the causes of the troubles of Calteras. Firstly a group of horrid creatures had burrowed there way into the heart of the poor quarter of the city. Think of a ravenous were-mole and you’ll be close to a good description of these creatures. They would raid out into the city and feed upon the poor and unfortunate. We managed to track these beasts back to their layer and destroy them. Though in the fight Aust was felled. Thinking ourselves safe for the moment, we were bringing his body back through the city to the temple of Pellor when we were ambushed by a horror from outside this plane. A large translucent purple wyrm. Before we knew it the wyrm had struck down Daesha and eaten her whole!. I don’t mind telling you that I was frightened out of my wits, something like creature just should not be! As we recovered our wits we set upon the creature hacking and slashing to he utmost of our strength and skill. Such was the fury of our onslaught that the quickly succumbed. Whereupon it’s death it faded out of existence. Clearly high magic was involved here. Fortunately, Daesha’s remains were left behind. Now carrying two of our fallen comrades we continue on our warily on our way. Not far from the scene of this carnage we came upon a shrine to Heironious enshrouded in a cloud of fog. Out of the fog came a female cry of distress. While the rest of the Dragon ran on (I guess they had had enough for one day) Archren, Legacy and myself stopped to investigate. With Archren providing backup Legacy and I quickly overecame a pair of robbed figures that were making off with a figure in platemail. The robed pair turned out to be a pair of sorcerers. Fortunately, they didn’t give us to much trouble. The plate clad figure was Tarriel, the junior paladin attached to this shrine. We learned from here that the shrine had been attacked, and that Alyne, the senior paladin was missing. Tarriel identified the two sorcerers as belonging to a bookstore in magic sector. Alyne had been investigating a mysterious death that occurred in the bookstore. I managed to convince her not to go charging off to the bookstore, but to wait until the Dragons could be assembled to lend their full aid. I must admit that I felt somewhat responsible for her. Having just saved her life I wasn’t going to let her go off and throw it away. We brought here along with us to the temple of Pellor and there met up with the rest of the Dragons. For ridding the city of one menace, they agreed to pay for raising Daesha. We were also able to get Aust raised by trading his axe (Apparently it made by some famous dwarven smithy.) for the money. Once raised Daesha wanted to trade his sword to get back Aust’s axe. (Who can figure with a half elf <shrug>). At any rate she sent Legacy and Gamble to go trade the blade while she recovered. Tarriel was not about to brook more delays and wanted to go check out the bookstore. I decided to go with her to keep her out of trouble, and Archren decided to go with us. Magdor staid behind to guard the temple. I know what Malandy and Gurnion would say about this.
They drilled it into my head often enough never to split your troops while your
in danger. But honestly I didn’t feel in danger. I know that’s hard to
believe after reading what I just wrote, but it never crossed my mind. At any
rate we didn’t run into any trouble scouting the bookstore. Nor getting back
to the inn from there, though it was getting dark. Legacy and Gambit though
never made it back. We still don’t know what happened, but we think that they
ran afoul of the were-rats (Hadn’t I
mentioned the were-rats yet. Ah well, they hadn’t bothered us much until this
point.) The next morning, yesterday, they raised Aust. We decided to investigate the bookstore that day. There were two reasons behind for this. 1. Archren needed time to memorize a spell to locate Daesha’s sword. If we could do that, hopefully it would lead us to the were-rats. 2. Legacy and Gambit were probably dead by this time, while Alyne might still be alive. We left Archren at the inn and left for the bookstore. The bookstore turned out to be the lair of a cabal of insane sourcerers. They were indeed holding Alyne prisoner. There followed a VERY nasty fight ranging over several levels of the bookstore. Fortunately we had been joined that morning by three more blades of light. Pallinea, and elven ranger cleric of the god of vengance, Kav another human sorcerer, and Gohan, a human monk of Pellor. The three of them lent very welcome aide. As it was we slew 6 of the sorcerers, including their leader, two more of the purple wyrms and a gibbering pile of flesh that had far too many mouths for my taste. Alas, we did not come through the battle unscathed. I
was nearly devoured by one of these wyrms. As it
was coming in the killing bite I managed to wedge my rapier into it’s
mouth. When it bit down the stupid beast drove my blade through it’s own
skull, killing it. That you can relate to
Gurnion and Malandy. While we managed to rescue Alyne, Tarriel fell to a
sorcerous bolt during the melee. I inquired about her today, but Alyne will not
have her raised. (I guess Hieronious had
decided it was her time). Today I we finally caught a break. A package was delivered this morning. It contained Daesha’s sword and a note from the were-rats. It turns out that they had been hired by the sorcerers as henchmen. When we dispatched the sorcerers, they no longer had any reason to stay. Also if we could overcome their master’s, maybe they didn’t want to take us on. At any rate, they had returned her sword as a peace offering, and had high tailed out of the city. Of course we didn’t take their word for it, but when we tracked down their lair, it had been abandoned. This evening the Baron of the city is going to through us a celebration to honor our deeds. In fact I’m going to head out to it when I finish this letter. Looking back over it I can see that it reads like death is following me where ever I go. Of the past few day’s that has been true. All I can tell you is that I’m were I need to be and doing a good service to this world. Malandy and Gurnion were correct in that the Blades Of Light are a worthy organization. (Amazingly I’ve come through all this with only a few small scars. Ah the wonders of healing magc) I shall try to be as careful as I can. Fortunately, the worst should be behind us. Give my love to Mom and Dad, (And to you too!) Vanduin 27th of Good Month, dawn Dearest Milandre, Everything has gone to Hell. Literally. I’m not sure if you will ever get this letter, or if I will survive this day to write more to you. But let me start at the beginning, last night… The feast was very nice. There was music, dinning, drinking, and dancing. Unfortunately the whole thing was a set-up by the Baron. But I’m getting ahead of myself. As we left the party our group was set upon by a concerted group of our enemies. Laying in wait for us was an Ogre Magi, another Were-Mole creature, a priest of Hextor (At this last I gained some small measure of revenge having slain him personally), a sorceress, and three or four more brigands. I’m not sure where they came from, but it seemed as if all of our vanquished foes had rising give battle one more time. Given what we’ve found out later, this may very well be true. We turned the tide of battle on them though, and defeated them with relatively little harm to us. We returned to our inn to recoop and recover for the night. Early the next day, Yesterday, the Baron canceled the fair and called for all the city to attend a proclamation at Noon that day. There was much griping and grumbling from the commoners, but most people, including us, attended. The Baron’s speech started out well enough. He explained that he had canceled the fair due to the increased lawlessness in the city, making reference to the attack on us last night. Then, and this is where things start to go south, he declared martial law and sealed the city. The would have been bad enough, but he continued. The city militia was called out, and the carrying of weapons by anyone, including us, was banned and a curfew was imposed. All this was shocking, but well within his rights, however, he continued. The priests of Pellor having as he put it, Turned their backs on the city, were declared traitors, and were to be arrested on sight. He declared that the city would have a new protector. Having finished is address, the Baron returned to his citadel. Upon which a red banner unfurled atop the keep. To my horror emblazoned upon it are the black gauntlet and arrows of Hextor!!! As I stared at this flag in disbelief a figure, An actual devil Archren informs me, appeared atop the citadel. A gaunt parody of an man standing 7 feet tall with a scorpion tail rising behind it. Most of the crowd, myself included, where staring I shock when we heard a loud crash and explosion. Rising from the temple district, from were should have stood the temple of Pellor, was a pillar of Hellfire! As the crowd, thoroughly shocked and cowed by what they had seen, dispersed the Dragon gathered together and headed to the temple district armed to the teeth. Tara was a Dragon and our friend. We needed to find out what happened to her, and what was going on in the temple district. Alas we never made it that far. As we entered the district we encountered a city patrol. Mostly they were just scared guardsmen, but escorting them was another of these creatures. In the ensuing combat we managed to disable most of the guardsmen without killing them. The devil on the other hand was another mater entirely. By itself, it almost managed to overcome our entire party! Aparently these devils can only be hurt by magic, or magical weapons! Thanks to some timely prayers from Paullinea Those of us left standing managed to dispatch the creature. Though it left several of us badly hurt and one of our number, Kav, drained of all his strength by the sting of the creatures tail. Badly reduced in strength by this encounter we gave up our search for Tara, and withdrew to a hideout Kentir knew of in the poor quarter of the city. Here we recouped our strength and gathered some information from the guardsmen who had thought better of there current employ and elected to join us. Apparently there are many of these devils roaming the city. Where they had come from, and what they intended, no one knew. We contracted with some of the people who ran the hideout to do some snooping for us around the temple district and inside the castle that night. All of this started with the Baron’s proclamation, and we figured that the source of this evil must be somewhere close to him. Also these people knew the city and would be better able to move around it than we would. We made one trip to the inn to gather our belongings and Archren who had stayed behind to identify some items we found the previous night. On the way back we split into several groups of two and three to better our chances of not arousing suspicion. While Archren and I made it with out trouble, the other two groups ran afoul of the devils. One group, the dwarves believe it or not, managed to bluff their way past the devil. Daesha’s group on the other hand was not so lucky. They wound up having to fight that devil; another one of the bony, scorpion tailed variety. It was a close combat, but Daesha, Gohan and Paullinea dispatched it as well. Now that we have learned some of their abilities we are better able to handle them, but they are still very dangerous opponents. With all of us back at the hideout we awaited word from the scouts. They returned back with reports from the temple and from the citadel. The temple has been completely destroyed. In its place is a gaping hole in the ground from which the pillar of hellfire emits. People arrested for breaking the new laws are taken their and cast into the fire! The grounds themselves are surrounded by many of devils, and are almost unapproachable. The citadel on the other hand seems to be less well guarded. The scout was able to observe the Baron quite closely and reports that he does not seem to be quite himself, though the scout was unable to say exactly what was wrong. However, everywhere the Baron went, and a dark black robbed figure followed him. We think that this figure may the source of these troubles and quite possible has the Baron under a spell. If not, it will certainly be very close to him. We are going to attempt to raid the citadel today and free the Baron for this sorcerery. I don’t know how well this will work. But we have to attempt it. If we can not cut this evil off at its source, it is too large for us to vanquish by fighting it directly. I’m going to leave this letter with the underground here, with instructions to deliver it to you should we not return. If you do not hear from me again, assume the worst, but know that I have some measure of vengance for my parents and that I have thought of you in these last hours. In either case get this report to our leaders. They should know what happens here, and make their plans to deal with it should this evil come their way. VS
29th of Good Month, Kaltarras Dearest Milandre, Victory, sweet victory is ours! We have rid the city of the evil demons and closed the gateway! Once again we are heroes of the realm. When last I wrote at dawn two days ago we about to leave on our way to confront the Baron at the citadel. But after some hasty discussion we decided we didn’t have enough information about what was going on in the city, and that the day could be better spent gathering information and letting our more injured comrades rest some more. To that end Archren and I went out into the city to see what we could learn. I went to accompany her and keep her out of trouble. She insisted that I leave ALL my weapons behind. I tell you I’ve never felt so naked as I did then. However, that probably kept us out from running into more trouble with the devils. Their patrols were all over the streets. Most sensible people were staying indoors. I know when have I ever had much sense J. I did manage to convince her to dress up in her finest robes. It never hurts too look important if you’re trying to avoid trouble. At any rate Archren, of course, wanted to check out the library. On our way there we bluffed our way past more of the devils. But just outside the library itself we ran into an awful site. An old lady was hurrying down the street when suddenly something knocked her to he ground. We giant claw marks appear in her back, and then her head disappeared in a spray of blood. All the while, whatever attacked her remained invisible to our eyes. Archren and I, quite sensibly I might add, turned around and ran to the nearest tavern. Later on Archren told me that she was quite sure that was a hellcat; a large, vicious devil in the form of a lion, highly intelligent, and completely invisible in daylight. Though she says that you can see them at night, given what I saw it do the women, I’m in no hurry to meet one. At the tavern we found out that the city was still sealed, food was running low and prices running outrageously high. Most people were sitting tight and waiting for it all to blow over. There was very little, talk against the baron, though I think that was mostly because everyone was too shocked and frightened. On our way back from the tavern we went by the library, but it was closed up tight. With the new information about the hellcats we
decided to wait until nightfall before making our move. We wanted to be able to
see what we were going to be fighting. For arcane reasons, Archren and Kav
wanted to wait until after midnight before making our assault. In the meantime
we had also changed targets from the citadel to the gateway. Pallenia thought
that if we could get her close enough to the pillar of fire she could close the
gate. We thought it worth the risk. If we could close the gate, that would cut
off its power from whoever was controlling it. With that gone the citadel would
become and easier target. Kentir’s friends led us to the temple vie back alleys and secret ways. They were able to get us to just outside the temple without being noticed. Our battle plan was fairly simple. We gave Kentir a potion of invisibility and sent him ahead to open the doors to the temple. Meanwhile Archren cast a spell of invisibility on Pallenia. We then formed up around her. When the doors opened. We would charge protecting Pallenia while she worked to close the gate. We got lucky here in that only one devil was guarding the gateway. Aust, Magdor, and myself moved in to surround it. The devil though through up a barrier, a wall of ice, between Aust and the rest of us. Magdor and I managed to scale over the way to find Aust cowering in fear at it’s base, his ax lying forgotten on the ground before him. Magdor and I took up position on opposite sides the devil and prepared to engage him from both sides. Not sporting I know, but then neither is throwing up walls of ice in the middle of your party! Before we could strike through, that rat bastard flew up into the air and teleported back to the other side of the wall were the rest of our companions had followed us in. This was turning into a very frustrating combat. There was nothing for it though but to climb back around the wall. When I dropped down off the wall I landed right in front of the demon, who had thrown up another wall of ice right across the doorway. As I looked up I saw a sight a never wanted to see again. I could see straight into the devil’s eyes. I felt his malignant spirit reach down inside me and begin to rend out my very soul! Numb with terror I felt my rapier slip from my grasp, but could not move to pick it up. Then the devil was gone from in front of me, and I ran as I’ve never run before. For what happened next I’m relying on the reports of my companions as I, like Aust, was cowering in fear on the far side of the room. Apparently not all of them was as effected by the devils fear as Aust and I were. The devil had teleported outside to deal with Archren and Gohan who were still outside at the start of the combat. The devil started to attack Archren when it disappeared. Inside, fear of the devil’s influence, Pallenia had succeeded in closing the gateway! I’m begging to get a new respect for her. With it’s closure, all the devils vanished, hopefully back to whatever hell they came from. The closing of the gate attracted no little notice from the rest of the city, and in particular from the gateways human guards, three priests of Hextor! The head priest had had some encounters with the Dragons before, and was well hated by them. The feeling, of course, was mutual. During the insuing melee I regained my senses. With my fathers rapier again in hand, I entered the melee. In the end the head priest escaped. The other two were slain by Aust and Magdor. Of the former temple to Pelor not much remained. Everywhere sigils and symbols of Pellor had been scratched out and defaced. In the center of the main hall, where the pillar of fire had been, was gaping hole and pit descending down into darkness. In later examinations the pit was found to go straight down and end about 500’ below the floor. After a quick search of the temple grounds we headed for the citadel. It was still a few hours before dawn, but many of the city folk had turned out and were following us a distance, waiting to see what would happen. Shunning the shadows we marched openly to the citadel, in full defiance of the Baron’s decree. The gate guards made only token efforts at inquiring our business, and then stood aside. Unslowed we made our way to the Barons manner. Much to our surprise he agreed to see us. We were escorted to his audience chamber where we found the Baron seated, armored in a full suit of plate, and armed with his long sword. As we confronted the Baron with his evil deeds we noticed that his voice seemed off somehow, and that his manner seemed wooden. What we hadn’t noticed though was Kentir slipping off on his own. That is until we heard his scream come from and empty storage room. Kentir had stumbled across a monster in the room. A tall figure dressed in black robes with tentacles growing out from its face where it’s mouth should be. The dwarves tell me that this was a mind-flayer; a hideous creature of great mental strength. The flayer had been working with the priests and had taken control of the Baron’s mind, forcing him to make those proclamations of martial law. As we charged towards the monster, it let loose with not one but two bolts of mental energy. While I was able to shrug off the first of these bolts, the second left most of the Dragons, and myself, stunned in our tracks. The remaining Dragons however, proved more that a match for the beast and fled into the dawn. Though we soon sent out a citywide search for this ‘advisor’ the creature made good it’s escape. I’m sure though that our paths will cross again. The Baron, I’m happy to report made a complete recover once the mind-flayer fled. He immediately rescinded his decrees; ending martial law and restarting the fair. Not that he could have done much to stop that. Everyone is now celebrating the freeing of the city. The Baron has agreed to pay for the reconstruction of the temple out of the city coffers, and Archren has received a commission to create an item for the Baron to prevent him from falling under such control again. Now I will go join the celebration. It will be good to have to time free from worry and strife to enjoy life. Though I will tonight raise a glass to the four of our companions who died in the fight. As Always, my best to you, and to Mom and Dad, Vanduin Silverthorn
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