The Diary of
Paige Hedaiena Lunapin Wedachik Lenanna Nebadalae Kaerachikae Wordsmith
Or,
The Journeys of a Truespeaker to Rappan Athuk
Day 0- Day of Preparation
I haven't been keeping track of the date as of late, so I'll simply date these writings by the days of our journeys.
I suppose some introductions are in order, seeing as those who may someday read this may not have ever heard of me before. My name is Paige Hedaiena Lunapin Wedachik Lenanna Nebadalae Kaerachikae Wordsmith, though my chosen name, Paige, and my family name, Wordsmith, are usually sufficient. While there are stories behind each of my names, the telling of them is a tale in itself, which I shall save for another book.
The topic of this book, however, is the adventure which my new-found friends and I are preparing to embark on. This first edition of the book is written in a simplified form of The Speech, so that I may ensure that no one other than myself may read it's contents before it is ready to be released to the world. Yet another consequence of this fact is that I will be better able to describe the events which occur than I could with any other language, and when I translate this to the common tongue, I will leave these more descriptive words intact, with more simplified translations beside them.
Of course, more important than that is my companions on this trip.
Ezekiel, the demon-blooded mage, is the one who gathered us all, and from what I've heard, he was part of a group which saved a kingdom from an orcish army led by followers of the evil dragon goddess Tiamat. Pretty crazy, but I'm sure it's true!
Denzo, one of our swordsmen, is a pretty quiet human with some sort of a chip on his shoulder... But, he seems like a good guy, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Our other swordsman, on the other hand, is really a swordswoman! Tennah has this really cool double-sided curvy-sword, with one side on fire and the other freezing cold! I haven't really gotten to know her that well yet, but I'm sure she's nice.
Next is Nith Thistledown, a halfling with some sticky little fingers. I don't think he really realizes that he does it most of the time, but I've caught him pickpocketing total strangers on the street! Lucky for him, I can appreciate the humor behind someone getting to the store just to realize that they "lost" their shopping list!
Last of all is Leif, a dwarven cleric of Fharlangen. He seems pretty laid back, but still a bit too serious for my tastes. Then again, every adventuring party needs someone to tend to the wounds of the others, and he doesn't seem like the type to withhold healing in order to get a bigger cut of the treasure.
Anyways, preparations for our first trip were pretty simple. We all went out to find out as much about Rappan Athuk as we could from the townspeople, but little of what we heard really caught my interest in particular. The only thing that came close was word that the place was built as a temple to some evil god, and most temples have at least one good library in them.
Day 1- Day of Beginning
As we left this morning, the innkeeper gave us a worried look. When we'd asked him about the ruins, he said that they were incredibly dangerous, and that almost no one who goes there ever returns. However, the first day of our trip was pretty uneventful. We traveled north from the town, up the road towards the place where Rappan Athuk is supposed to be.
-Update-
Wow, our first day may have been uneventful, but our first night sure wasn't! I woke up in the middle of Zeke's watch to the sound of him screaming in surprise- apparently, a pixie came out of nowhere to say hello to him! Once I was awake, I watched him talk with her for a few minutes, before she got bored of him and found someone else to talk to- namely, me! I was pretty excited by it, and we had a nice little conversation. It turns out her name is Erica, and she's from a colony of fae who live about a day's journey north- precisely the direction we're going, and with just enough time left for us to make it to the big party they're planning! Well, she said that they have a big partyevery night, but that's no reason not to join in the fun! She invited us along, and since everyone else had gone back to sleep by then, I accepted for us. I'm sure we'll all have a great time tomorrow night!
Day 2- Day of Surprise!
We traveled all day once again, but everyone was a bit more up beat than yesterday because of what lay ahead at the end of the day- a party! Once the sun began to set, we stopped to take a look at the forests around us- Erica had said to look for glowing lights, but we couldn't find any at first. However, after a bit more searching, we found a single light, kind of like a tiny, tiny fairy! We followed it into the woods, but figured out after awhile that it was just going in circles... That was a little embarrassing. But, luckily, it had led us in the right direction somewhat, so after a little more wandering we heard music and voices.
The party was beautiful! Lights and fae glowing everywhere you looked, with delicious snacks and fairy wine. We found Erica again, and she introduced us to her mother and father- the king and queen! We were surprised by that, since she hadn't mentioned anything about being royalty when we first met.
So, while everyone was enjoying themselves dancing, a clumsy looking pixie found me, and asked me to help him with something. It turned out that he was supposed to be the Puck of the ball, meaning he had to pull pranks to entertain everyone else- problem was, he didn't know how to! So, with a little of planning, Zeke and I helped him out. We went aside from the dancing, to where the king and queen could see us, and began to talk. After a moment, the fairy came up, trying feebly to sneak, and tied the laces of mine and Zeke's boots together. Once he had gone, Zeke and I finished our conversation, and has he turned to walk away, I fell to the ground! I did my best to make it as funny as I could, and "failed" to notice me for a few yards until I yelled at him to quit draggin' me!
All in all, we were having a great time, until the music began to change... All the fairies flew into hiding, including the orchestra, and Erica stopped as she went to warn us- "Don't fight the beat!" We were confused for a moment, but suddenly we all heard a rumbling from the forests. A huge beast burst through the trees, knocking a few over and quickly catching sight of us!
The monster was pretty strange- it seemed to be entirely made of bones from numerous creatures, but when Leif tried to use his holy powers to turn it away, it didn't even flinch. Zeke tried and failed to cast some spell on it, then I used a few words of The Speech to unmake some of it. Surprise was, blood poured forth from between some of the bones! It seemed to be that it was some monster covered in bones, using them as armor and as weapons- it had long tentacles that were covered in blades of sharpened bone!
After a bit more of fighting, we broke off more of the creatures armor, then it fled off into the forest. However, Zeke wouldn't let it go, and flew off after it. I followed after him, and caught up just in time to see him grabbed by one of the thing's tentacles! Thinking quick, I flew towards it and cut it off, letting him free- it rolled off, and once again, Zeke followed- such an idiot. He fired off a fireball, damaging it as well as the forest around it. I shaped the ground around the fire to prevent it from spreading, and flew after him once more. I had to do so again, before he finally ran out of spells, and let it go. The King reprimanded him for his carelessness, and we all headed back to the fairy glade.
Once we were all together again, the fairies thanked (most of) us for our help, and rewarded us. The queen gave me a beautiful comb, which can untangle any knotted hair, and the prince awarded me with a deep blue stone, which can magically hover around me and increase my awareness. Erica gave everyone who danced with her a kiss on the cheek. Last of all, one of the musicians was impressed with Nith's dancing, and gave him a magical reed whistle.
After all this, the king thanked us for our help, pointedly ignoring Zeke, and explained that the creature was a guardian of Rappan Athuk. After thanking him for his hospitality, we all headed back to the path, and rested for the night a little ways off from it.
Day 3- Day of Discovery
With the help of the Fairy King's directions, we headed off the path once more, and soon came upon an evil feeling place- a small building of black marble, with no plants growing anywhere around it- it seemed to absorb all light near it. On the floor in front of the door was a plaque, which I copied here-
The Epitaph of Final Sacrament
Where for the glory of the Horned
One does the true essence lie?
Not in the skin, that tattered rag
That clothes us; strip it away
Not in the flesh, mere meat to rot to
Nothing; Let the worms feast upon it.
Not in the brain, for thought is
Fleeting, ever changing; Crack the
Skull and suck it forth.
Not in breath, that most fragile of
Sighs so easily stolen; Drown it in
Tears and pain.
Not in the belly, that furnace of
Power, for it so easily turns; Dis-
solve it in acids of its own creation.
Not in the seed of man and woman,
The agent but not the source of the
Spark; It shall waste away in the
Shadow of false hope.
Not in the bones, the final dancing
Relic of the dead; Crush them to dust
And let the wind take them.
Where then does the true spark
Hide?
(The final line of the epitaph has been chiseled away)
As we entered, it seemed as if the light of our torches was seeped away by the surroundings. The walls were carved with disturbing images of humanoids being tortured. We saw a few scratches in the walls, and remnants of bones- it seemed like the creature we'd been hunting had been through here. Zeke and I took some time to study the images on the walls, and we both realized at once- the wall was an illusion! As it disappeared, we saw something even more disturbing on the other side- the bone creature! It spun in place, and attacked us both, though we were able to avoid some of the damage. As battle continued, the fighters pushed Zeke and I out of the way of the creature, but after I used The Speech to rend it's flesh, it spun after us to attack, blades flailing wildly. One of Zeke's stray flame attacks scorched me, as I was on the other side of the creature from him. After that, Tennah, Denzo, and Leif laid into the thing, slicing it to pieces and finally smashing it flat.
Leif tended to everyone's wounds after the battle, and we headed down one of the hallways. We approached a dead end, and Nith missed the trigger for a trap- quite a dramatic one, as the entire passageway flipped on it's side, the wall at the end revealing spikes! I was quick enough to True Speak myself into flying, saving Tennah, but everyone else fell the rest of the way.
As Tennah and I floated to the ground, and the others recovered from their fall, a strange child-like creature appeared from nowhere. A glint in it's jet-black eyes, it let loose a disturbing cry, and attacked Ezekiel with a black ray. I lit it on fire with a True Speech utterance, and Leif used his divine powers to destroy the unholy thing- lucky for us, I was still able to fly Nith and I up to the top, so he could tie a rope for the others to climb up.
Once we had all climbed up to safety, we decided to rest, hiding in the illusioned area in which the creature had hidden.
Day 4- Day of Bile
As we continued on our way to the other end of the hallway the next morning, we were assailed by a terrible smell. Nith opened the door, and we found a room full of disgusting bile, with one-foot wide walkways winding throughout it, to a door beside the entrance and some double-doors on the opposite side of the room.
I used The Speech to allow him to fly to the nearby door- he searched it for traps and, finding nothing, turned the handle. In a flash, the door swiveled around, and Nith jumped back just in time to avoid being thrown through! When I asked him, he said that it looked like more of the goop on the ground in there. So, rather than attempt to get through, he continued on to the double-doors.
Nith searched further, and found nothing- but, once again, when he opened these doors a trap activated- all the pathways in the room lowered into the goop! The utterance I had used on him had already faded, so he grabbed onto the handle to keep from falling. Zeke thought quickly, casting a spell to allow Denzo to fly across and save Nith. Unfortunately, as they flew back to the entrance, the spell wore off early, causing them to fall to the ground! They were sickened by the time we fished them out with a rope, but they seemed mostly okay after we cleaned them off.
After a minute, the pathways rose back up, and Nith decided to search the walls- finding, after a moment, another well-placed illusion. He stuck his head in, when he was attacked by a black ooze, which grabbed him, and pulled him in through the illusion! I once again used Truespeech to allow Denzo to fly, and he penetrated the illusion to attempt to help Nith. Once Lief dispelled the illusion, Zeke fell into the goop for a moment as he tried to get across, and Tennah followed him, managing to not make the same mistake he did. I watched as Nith escaped from the ooze, and used The Speech to allow my other allies to fly across to join the battle. The final blow was a few magic missiles from Zeke's wand.
Once we had won the battle, everyone slowly made their way to the previously-illusioned hollow, Lief healing those who were hurt. We continued on past the deflated corpse of the ooze, and found another room- This one was full of sarcophagi made of red marble, each one with images of adventurers carved on the top... some of which were unnervingly similar to us. We checked inside a few, just be certain there were no bodies inside of them, then used them to cover the dark shaft at the end of the room, deciding that we needed some time to rest again. Three of the party members who fell into the goo in the previous area were discovered to be still affected by it, and Lief realized that they were diseased! So, he cast a few spells to help them to recover, and we rested for the night.
Note- I noticed something while I was reading back over what I've written so far... The last two big situations we faced seem to correspond rather eerily to parts of the engraving I copied before we entered this place... The creature covered in bones is similar to "Not in the bones, the final dancing relic of the dead; crush them to dust and let the wind take them." The same with the ooze and the part about "The belly." Perhaps I can find some clues as to what else we will face by reading over it more?
Day 5- Day of False Calm
The next day, we moved the sarcophagi out of the way and continued on. The next room we discovered was almost disturbingly beautiful, full of opulent decorations and an ornate hookah. The others went in, but I was rather suspicious of it all, so I stayed just outside as they began looting everything. However, after a few moments I noticed a gas coming from holes in the wall! I ran inside with the others, and slammed the door shut behind me- Of course, it turned out that the gas out there was less dangerous than the gas inside the room- it smelled beautiful, but it's effects were terrible.
As we tried to out wait the gas outside, my party members began to talk with each other, some of them getting closer and closer- the only ones unaffected were myself and Lief. Once Zeke and Tennah began undressing, I knew something was wrong! As Denzo and Nith sat around the hookah, I opened up the door we had come in through and tried to run back, but stopped when I realized that I couldn't just leave them there. Afraid of going back in the room, I called to Leif- "Use Zeke's fireballs!" With that, Leif searched through Zeke's robes on the floor, and found a necklace with red jewels along it, which he then threw at the hookah, which was destroyed in a huge explosion! Once the smoke had cleared, everyone began to come to their senses- We helped Zeke and Tennah back into their clothes and armor, and swore never to speak of this again.
We continued on, and traveled down a stairway to a cavern full of fungus, with odd chirping noises coming from the darkness. Zeke took a look into the room, and said that none of them should be too dangerous, so Nith slowly searched into the room. He passed by a giant rat hole, and continued on towards the next entrance. However, he was surprised by one of the largest mushrooms suddenly springing to life, growing tentacles, and attacking! It grabbed him, and Denzo charged forward through the glade, distracting it with an attack so that Nith could slip free of it's grasp. I muttered some words in the Speech, causing it to shriek in pain as pustules across it popped with ooze. Zeke scorched it with some rays, causing it to fall and shrivel, and numerous fungus-covered undead rose from the ground amongst the mushrooms, flopping their way towards us as if they had no bones. One tried to grab Tennah, who easily pushed it away, but the ones which charged Nith and Zeke got ahold of them, both wrapping their rubbery arms about their necks. Leif headed over to cast a spell of freedom on Zeke, but was then attacked by another of the moving mushrooms.
After awhile longer, we finished off the second of the mushrooms, and the last of the boneless. (Thinking of it now, this one must have been the challenge of bones, not the first one.) We continued on, finding a hallway full of black mold, which Zeke destroyed quickly with a weak fireball. Once it was gone, he found a charred skeleton surrounded in objects, among which was a plain metal key, which we decided to allow Nith to take care of. This turned out to be a bad idea, as at the end of the hallway was the door to which the key belonged, and Nith decided to screw around by locking and unlocking the door quickly, until Zeke walked towards him and kicked him to get him to stop.
On the other side of the door was another crypt, like the one we'd seen before, but most of the sarcophagi had images of adventurers dying horrible deaths. Opening one, we found that inside of it was an actual corpse, which appeared to have died in the same fashion as its image. We couldn't stand to allow these poor men and women to be a part of this temples evil rites any longer, so we burnt each of the bodies, and left the sarcophagi which were blank open. Done with our task, we healed and rested for the night.
Day 6- First Day of Loss
The next morning, we passed into the next room, which was a small room with an archway leading into a slightly larger chamber. Zeke took a look at the archway, which he told us was enchanted with some sort of magic, as Nith headed into the room to search it. He found only a secret door, which set off a trap when he touched it! A gust of wind blew everyone into the room, then a stone block trapped us inside. Meanwhile, the wall on the opposite side opened to reveal a bottle, which seemed to suck all the air out of the room! Without air, we were unable to speak, so it took a few minutes for Tennah to take the initiative, and lift the secret door which would allow us to escape. When we all had slipped under the door, she went past and dropped the door behind us, leaving the room behind.
We continued past a door which had an image of Orcus on it (Nith decided to be an idiot, and drew a mustache and goatee onto the image). On the walls of the hallway were images of funerals, but as the passageway lead down the images become worse and worse... I eventually decided to stop examining them as we went, out of fear for my sanity.
Soon, we encountered a voice, which asked- "Who is the greatest of all masters?" Realizing that it must be some sort of magic trap, we answered what we knew they would want- Orcus. The voice went silent, so we assumed we had gotten it right. Further down, another voice sounded- "What is the Third Sacrament?" No on was certain at first, but I remembered that the engraving we had found at the entrance had been named, "The Epitaph of Final Sacrament." So, pulling one of my notebooks from my bag, I read aloud the third of the "sacraments," about cracking the skull and sucking forth the brain. The voice disappeared, and shortly encountered a last voice- "For whom is our lord's mercy granted?" This last one was easy enough- No one!
It seemed like we passed the test, as at the end of the hallway was a room covered in a mural, depicting demons and evil followers of Orcus attacking and torturing others, with three demons showing up in great focus- Vrocks, evil vulture-looking creatures which seemed almost real enough to escape from the wall. After a bit of searching, Nith found a secret door in the plaster, which didn't seem to have any way in at first. However, he soon found two sets of eyes on the images of humanoids being tortured, and poked them with his fingers- part of the wall pulled away, allowing us to continue on.
Past the door was a room, a large vault door at the back, but the main focus of the room being to house a red stone throne, atop which sat the skeletal remains of a robed humanoid. Lief approached it alone, hammer in hand, until a voice sounded in all of our heads- "Halt." He did so, and asked, "What is yer nature?" The voice chuckled, and avoided the question- "Are you a follower of Orcus?" Lief shook his head, and it continued, "The you cannot proceed further."
"I see," said Lief, "But what precisely are ye?" It moved somewhat to consider him closely, then replied, "I am Aaphia, the Guardian of this entrance." I stepped forward, and asked it, "Why are you here? It seems like it must be pretty boring here, all alone." It turned to face me, considering me for a moment before answering, "My fiance was a follower of Orcus, and I followed to help him in his efforts. However, he eventually fell in a battle to defend the temple, so I offered myself to protect the entrance from further intruders." Understanding, I nodded, then said, "I'm sorry, but I must insist- we have to continue on." Though she had no real face to speak of, I could tell that she seemed to be frowning. "Oh? And what is it that you seek in these depths?" I simply smiled, and said, "I seek knowledge." She seemed to be taken by surprise, and considered it, then agreed- "On one condition. During your searches, you must attempt to find the remains of my beloved, Deggin Tar. Promise to return his signet ring to me, and I will allow you past." I smiled, and nodded. "Done. I would be glad to help you." I understand the longing one feels for loved ones, even years after having lost them... there are a few whom I still feel the same way about.
She beckoned me forward, and I approached her, allowing her to cast a spell upon me. Suddenly, I felt even more compelled to find her beloveds remains, and she said, "You must return to me with his ring in the time of one year, or you shall lose your grip upon this mortal coil." With this done, she allowed us past, telling us how to open the door.
We went through the vault door, and found a pit full of handholds that we could climb down. As we went further, it became apparent that below us was a cavern full of red mist- Seemed dangerous. We searched the room, and found seven different tunnels leading away. Since we had no way of knowing which direction would be best, we picked one at random, and continued on.
The tunnel began to lead downwards, and we soon found an impasse with doors and more tunnels, and continued through one door. Nith went in first, to find a room full of "meat"- bloody chunks and intestines covered the room, and I could smell how disgusting the room was from outside. The mist seemed particularly thick in there, and there were two doors on the opposite sides of the room. As he searched, he was surprised by a disgusting blob of flesh, which fell beside him. Denzo ran forward and pushed him to the side, and it slapped him with one of it's tendrils, which caused him to melt while screaming in pain, becoming an amorphous blob just like the monster. He flailed randomly, and hit Nith, who began to scream, but somehow managed to hold himself in his own form. As he attacked it, Zeke and I both began casting, his fire attacks scorching it, and my Speech causing it to boil and bubble even more. Denzo managed to pull himself together, allowing both he and Nith to attack it again- Denzo let out a shout of rage, and chopped it to pieces. As it melted on the floor, we spoke with the two who had been effected by it, and realized that there would be no way for us to save them from their curse before they lost themselves to it. So, locking them in the two empty rooms attached to the first one, we decided work our way back up to the surface, in order to return to the town.
Day 7- Day of Retreat
We left the next morning, and saw a caravan ahead of us. As we got closer, a few guards noticed, and came back to encounter us, asking us to state our purpose. I smiled, and courteously told them that we were on our way towards town- they asked, almost joking, if we had come from Rappan Athuk. Completely serious, I told them that we had, and they seemed very surprised, asking, "You survived?!" We all enjoyed a bit of a laugh, and one guard headed up to speak to the caravan leader. Once he returned, he asked us if we would like to come with them- "We could always use more hands on the way back towards Seahaven." We spoke amongst ourselves, and decided to go along with them.
Day 8- Day of Recuperation
Once we arrived in town today, we headed back to the tavern in order to clean up. The place was very full, so Zeke got us a table while the rest of us headed upstairs. Once I came back down, I found Zeke drinking with some woman, who he introduced as Rozzin. Apparently, he had invited her to return to Rappan Athuk with us. She seemed to be dressed like a mage, but I could sense she was somewhat... different. However, she didn't seem to be very open about herself, and I decided not to pry too much- yet.
After a bit of drinking and relaxing, everyone headed up to bed, to get ready for our return trip to Rappan Athuk.
Later- I woke up in the middle of the night, hearing the sound of a grindstone at work. I took a look outside our room, and headed downstairs, where I found a large man in a full metal suit sharpening numerous swords, with a large axe at his side. Interested, I asked him what he was doing- he responded simply, "Sharpening swords." Confused, I asked him why he wasn't asleep- it turns out, he doesn't sleep! Since he was still sharpening weapons, I took a closer look at his armor- he said that it was his skin! That was when I recognized what he was- I had heard of a huge war long ago on another continent, where mages had created living mechanical creatures to fight. Some became sentient, and he was one of them. So, with a little more conversation, I asked if he'd like to go with us back to Rappan Athuk, and he agreed! He told me his name, Striker, and said that he'd meet up with us in the morning, so I headed back up to bed.
Day 11- Day of Return
The last two days of travel went by with no surprises, so once we returned to the dungeon we went back to where we had been. As we passed the door which contained our previous comrades, Zeke stopped for a moment to carve a warning into the door for ourselves, or any later adventurers- "Do Not Enter- Slimy Death."
The next room we entered was a crypt of sorts, though every sarcophagi in the room was totally empty. We checked the three doors, and went down the one that seemed to lead to a natural cavern. The place seemed pretty empty, so we continued on, and found what seemed to be the slaughtered corpse of... well, something. It was so destroyed that most of what was left was tacky blood, and a single blood-soaked bag. Lief opened it up, and discovered that it was magical, a bag of holding. Before we continued on, we noticed a door hidden in the wall. However, once we opened it, we found that it headed back upwards, so we decided to continue searching through this level.
We next came to a throne room of sorts, with a bas-relief of a minotaur on one wall and two red doors. We were very careful, and decided to let no one touch the throne before Zeke took a close look at it. He found a hidden compartment in it, so carefully opened it to find a bit of gold and platinum inside.
Next, we explored a side tunnel, sending Striker ahead to search down it. However, as he got about halfway through, we all heard a click! A giant boulder fell from the ceiling just in front of us, and rolled down towards him. We could hear him running, then another click- then the sound of him falling! As the boulder passed the new hole in the floor, and ran into the wall, it disappeared.
As we headed to the pit, we heard yet another 'crash!' of a boulder being fired at Striker! Then, we passed over the first trap, setting off the illusory boulder, which passed right through us. Rozzin tied together a few ropes, and lowered them down to help Striker back up.
Once we got him up, I helped to pull out the gravel stuck in his armor as Lief cast a few spells to heal him, and we headed back a bit to search the cavernous hallways that split off from the trapped one. The next room was a cavern, full of small passageways leading away, and a single hole in both the floor and the ceiling. The ground was strewed with bones, refuses, and a few shining objects. Leif and Striker headed closer to the nearest hole, as the rest of us held back. When Leif threw a stone into the hole, Tennah noticed something, stomped on the floor to get our attention, and pointed towards one of the small passageways in the wall. At that, Zeke spoke quietly, "Behind me, in the wall," and nudged us aside, further into the cavern, but all of a sudden a huge totally black serpent smashed through the wall beside Rozzin, and attacked her with it's sharp fangs, grabbing onto her as venom dripped from it's maw! Tennah turned, and attacked, as more came out of the walls. After a few phrases of truespeech, a few fireballs from Zeke, and a strange icy power blast from Rozzin, we destroyed them. After deciding that we needed to rest a bit, Rozzin used another power to create a shimmering shelter, which we rested in for the night.