Journal Day 1

I had been tracking the Kukznuk tribe of kobolds for some time, as
they had been acting a more organized fashion of late and had been
fouling water sources, when I met up with Yonah. We were ambushed by
a group of kobolds led by one who identified himself as Yuzdret, who
promised to “feed [us] to his master” the next time we meet, then
threw a gleaming orb which hit a tree and froze it solid. Behind the
screen of the orb attack and the onslaught of his kobold minions,
Yuzdret made his escape. That night, both Yonah and I had the same
dream in which a representation of Melora beckoned to us from a
crowded street, when a group of kobolds attack, followed by a vision
of a hot wind blowing into the city of Allaron, and fire blooming
along its path, while a massive tree grows within it. We are each
made of stone, and along with a group of other stones stand around the
tree protecting it from the blaze.

When we awoke, we heard a whisper on the wind that said “find him …”
and we were in separate tents in a clearing outside the city of
Allaron, along with 3 others: Liam, a half-elf paladin who had
received an assignment to be stationed in Allaron and had been on his
way there; Dillius, a human bard; and Kelissa, a Tiefling rogue. All
three of them reported that they had had similar dreams and had been
transported to this clearing as well.

We had, however, only a short time to converse with each other before
we were set upon by a group of kobolds. I found myself under an odd
compulsion to remain aloof from the fight, but the other four
dispatched the kobolds with relative ease.

Once the skirmish was completed, we noticed that a bag had appeared in
each of the tents where we had materialized. In each 150gp and some
of us found other items: in my bag there was an additional small bag
full of very rich soil, perhaps magical; in Dillius’ bag he found a
small gold-colored planting pot; and Liam found a detailed map of the
city of Allaron that seems to be magical in nature. We noticed a
cloud of dust approaching us and I was able to discern that there were
four men approaching on horseback, so Kelissa and I hid in the tall
grass outside the campsite and our comrades prepared for whatever
potential threat might be approaching. It turned out to be a patrol
of the city watch, and a couple of them were already known by Liam.
They told us that there had been troubles with kobolds around and
within the city for a few days now and escorted us to the citadel
within Allaron.

Once we arrived in the citadel, men there informed Liam that he has a
house at his disposal here in the city and asked for him to meet with
a commanding officer in the citadel. They offered to escort the rest
of the party to his house to await him, but we decided to split up and
scout out the city to find out what we could about the city. Dillius
evidently went to the Silvered Unicorn and performed. He returned at
the end of the evening, inebriated and mumbling something about a
wicked brawl and a badly out-of-tune lute. I suspect his evening did
not go so well. Kelissa said that she wandered through the streets
looking for information and heard from townspeople, when they weren’t
hurling insults at her because of her race, that some people are very
worried about these kobold threats, while others believe there have
been sightings of the walking undead, and still others think it’s a
simple crime spree not particularly different from any other uprising
of thieves. Yonah and I went to Melora’s grove. We found a deva
cleric there and spoke with him about the recent troubles in the city.
He told us that he was especially concerned that the kobolds were not
only attacking residents of the city, but capturing many of them and
dragging them off. I described to him my dream and he said it seemed
clear that Melora had called us to the city to protect something
within it, perhaps even something within her grove, and then promised
to meditate further on the meaning of this dream. He was deeply
troubled by this image of a hot wind blowing over the city. He told
us that we would be meeting with a representative of the Council of
Divinity and encouraged us to comply with that person’s request. After
that, Yonah and I went to the river to search for signs of kobold
activity, and found some tracks and signs but nothing that gave any
strong clues.

When we all rendezvoused back at Liam’s house, the representative of
the Council of Divinity was waiting for us, so we convened in the
dining room to hear his proposal. He informed us that the Council
believes the kobolds to be followers of Orcus, the Demon Lord of the
Undead, and that timed to coincide with the kobold attacks within the
city streets there has been a great deal of activity within the city’s
graveyard. He offered us a reward for whatever information we could
gather about the source or reason for these attacks, or for whatever
we could do to halt the attacks, and asked us to try to capture one of
the kobolds alive if possible.

After a bit of discussion about tactics and a few moments to rest and
reequip ourselves, we set out for the graveyard, a rather large area
in the southwestern (?) quadrant of the city. We entered the
graveyard and moved towards its center. I noticed some shadowy
movement near a large mausoleum and we paused to see if we could
pinpoint what was going on. After a moment, a group of kobolds
emerged from the brush to our east—they seem to have been expecting
us, and seem to have prepared an ambush for us, but we were able to
avoid being surprised.

The kobolds were led by Yusdret, and alongside him was another larger
kobold with similarly discolored skin—over the course of the combat it
became clear that he was some sort of priest. They had a pair of
shield-bearers with them, with white dragons emblazoned on their
shields, as well as a handful of minions. I reacted first and
launched a pair of arrows at Yusdret. One of them went wide of the
mark, but the other was headed straight for his heart when he managed
to parry the blow with his dagger, sending the arrow into one of his
minions and striking him dead.

Yonah charged into the midst of the enemies, slamming her hammer into
the ground such that the earth rose up and gnashed at our foes.
Kelissa moved around the perimeter throwing knives at the enemy, and
occasionally sneaking in for a hand-to-hand strike. Liam’s sword
dealt heavy damage to the enemy, and at one point he held his holy
symbol and threw a ball of radiant energy at the kobold priest,
dealing a monumental blow and leaving him dazed. Dillius spoke a word
and his lyre changed into a sword and he engaged in hand-to-hand,
briefly, but once he took some damage he pulled back and spoke another
word to convert his sword back into a lyre. He used a very powerful
attack on Yusdret, shouting stirring words at him such that the kobold
cowered with fear and all of us in the party felt our hearts soar with
renewed vigor. I hung back behind my allies and peppered the enemy
with arrows, downing the priest after he was dazed by Liam and when
Yusdret saw the numbers of his minions dwindling and turned to fled, I
fired a perfectly-placed arrow into his leg, leaving him hobbled and
bleeding profusely. He went down, unconscious, and we attempted to
capture him, but he roused himself and in a burst of lightning speed
tumbled out of our grasp and made as if to run away. Deciding that I
wanted no chance for him to escape, I placed two arrows into his side
as he attempted to escape, striking him dead. When the lone
shield-bearer was left, he tried to flee, but some trap within his
chest exploded, killing him instantly. Our enemy seems to know how
cowardly these kobolds are, and took steps to punish that tendency.

It seemed to me that our battle strategy worked exactly as we had
hoped it would. Our big bruisers, Liam and Yonah, kept the enemy
engaged and dealt out damage as they could. Dillius used his musical
(magical?) skills to heal the rest of us and to deal out damage as
opportunities presented themselves. Kelissa and I, protected from
attack by the others in our party, were free to deal out damage. That
said, I must admit that it looked bad for a few seconds there at
first. Liam, Dillius, and Yonah all took quite a lot of damage in the
initial rounds of combat—the kobolds swarmed around them and by sheer
numbers were able to deal out some damage, and then that priest had a
few powerful cold-based attacks and Yusdret was quick and quite
strong.

N.B.: Yusdret’s attack seemed to be far more effective if he could
land strikes with both his sword and dagger. The kobolds all seemed to
take additional damage from radiant attacks. Perhaps I should look
into finding some kind of fire-based weapon.

Once we dispatched all of the enemy, we found on the priest a holy
symbol with a fearsome representation of Orcus, so the Council’s
suspicions seem to be confirmed. There was a small blue sapphire set
into the symbol. He was also bearing a pair of red potions, which we
were not immediately able to identify. Yusdret bore 180 gp and a
dagger with an open hand inscribed on the pommel, which Dillius
identified as a Dagger of Magical Thieving +1. Kelissa claimed that
dagger, and was already testing out its balance and weight. I expect
she’ll draw both blood and howls of frustration from her enemies with
such a weapon.

After searching the bodies, we entered the mausoleum. Inside, we
found that what we had taken to be a coffin was instead a solid block
of stone, with carvings etched into it depicting a battle. We
couldn’t make any more sense of the carvings than that, however. In
the corners of the mausoleum were some very interesting items. A
shield with a ring of small swords set into its rim, which we
identified as a Razor Shield, and which Liam claimed as a defensive
weapon; a suit of hide armor with dozens of small pockets built into
it, which we identified as a Battle Harness +1, which I claimed for
myself—it seems to increase my already quick reflexes and items stored
within its pockets have less weight than expected and return to my
hand quickly.

Also in the room was a small willow sapling, which glowed with a
divine power. We decided that the sapling should be joined with the
pot & soil we had found earlier. Since I was the only one in the
party who recognized the sapling as a willow tree, which I knew to be
Yonah’s symbol, I took up the tree to pot it, but I was immediately
struck senseless. My comrades informed me that I was turned to stone
when I touched it, and that Liam was turned to stone when he tried to
grab me to pull me away from the tree. But Yonah was able to touch
the sapling without any harm or difficulty and when she potted the
plant in the soil, Liam and I were restored. Once the tree’s roots
were covered, it visibly grew slightly and then a wind stirred up in
the chamber and we heard whispered in its wake “you have found him.”
The tree then enveloped us in its glow and we were all healed and our
powers restored as though we had rested overnight.

However, we had no time to celebrate this discovery, let alone to
puzzle over its meaning, because within seconds we saw a red-hot glow
coming through the doorway into the building. We went outside to
investigate and found the city in blazes. There were people scurrying
in panic in all directions, but when we looked more closely we
recognized that it was not just people, but also shadows and walking
dead. In the sky, we saw multiple dragons, including more than one
undead dragon. My sharp eyes picked out, galloping across the sky on
flying horses, far in the distance, 2 individuals with eyes that
glowed.

The loot
Coins:
930 gp

Magical items:
a map, with some sort of magical ability to demarcate directions [Liam]
Pot, soil, and a willow sapling of some kind of strong divine power [Yonah]
2 potions (red, though still unidentified)
Dagger of magical thieving +1 [Kelissa]
Razor shield [Liam]
Battle harness hide armor +1 [Gareth]
Willow tree, small golden pot, bag of magical (?) soil

Other items:
5 tents
a necklace with the symbol of Orcus & a small, blue sapphire inset


XP
100 for everyone except me for the combat with kobolds in campsite
145 each for the rest of the encounter
100 each for various exemplary actions