Journal of Arcadius - Day 85

The Spider, the Tiger, and the Lion

As according to plan, we ventured forth into the valley of the temple once more, in search of the toxic herbs needed as part of the removal of Fflam's spider curse. This time, we let him accompany us, as speed was of the essence, and as many hands as possible were needed to complete our task before dark.

Once there we conducted some explorations and found a large patch of the very herb we sought. Shortly thereafter however a great bird, something like the Rocs that inhabit the Ulakh mountains south of my homeland (and compared to which, the mountains both surrounding this valley and in the Izmir region are but hills). There were also strange noises in the surrounding jungle.

Alas! Most of the party decided to abandon gathering herbs and stare about looking for danger, leaving only Alcander and I to complete the task. As a result, it took much longer than it ought, and we were exposed to unnecessary risks. Despite the excessive caution of the party, the bird did not in fact attack us. However, once in the woods we were set upon by a giant tiger, like those in the jungles south of the Ulakh - near that part of the world from whence Shaft hails. However, neither he nor I benefited from whatever knowledge we might have of tigers, as it batted us about like a housecat playing with yarn.

Walter-Tupper busied himself firing arrows into the fight, but without notable effect.

Then we witnessed an astonishing thing.

Alcander, seized by courage bordering on madness, leaped to the back of the tiger and proceeded to try to throttle it! It panicked and ran into the forest, with him riding it like a horse, and so far as I could tell, roaring with glee and triumph! Once we had gathered our wits about us, we set out to follow, and met Alcander returning on foot - he having fallen off while the tiger ran onward. Hrefna revealed that she had blinded the tiger, which accounted for its sudden panic. Still, never have I seen such a thing!

Wounded, but alive, we returned to town. The next day we returned south, while Hrefna, with business of her own, went north. Our trip back was marked by what I would call the normal oddities of our travels, but was otherwise uneventful. Fflam began to acquire more spiderlike qualities, including a strange click when he spoke that, for some reason, seemed to emanate from another voice entirely. It was not pleasant, and it seems that at some point Alcander offered to slay him to put him out of his misery. Alcander's is a strange path, and I never truly understand the workings of his mind. Still, none can deny his courage.

In Izmir, the priests of Thor were eventually ready to conduct the ritual. Among other elements, it included challenges for Fflam to fight avatars of the spirits or beings which plagued him. With suitable arrangement of magic circles, we his companions stood by, armed and awaiting our call.

Fflam faced the first two by himself, aided only by the bolstering of Sztuczka's music. The third, an avatar of a powerful drow mage, required our help. We joined Fflam in battle. Praise be to Pelor for the strength to see this through! I found myself filled with power on the opening attack, much like the fury with which Alcander charges into battle. Together we smote the avatar of evil mightily! Our victory in the fight was perhaps thereafter a foregone conclusion, though it was far from easy.

The rituals done, the herbs used, the foes defeated... Flam was free of his curse!

We rested for a while in town. We heard disturbing news that something was dreadfully wrong with the sea, at least in the area of Point of Origin. No longer were fish and other edible creatures being caught. Shipments of such things to Izmir had ceased, though normal imported cargo from other lands remained. We also heard rumor that an entire village had been abandoned in the mountains, with no sign of its former inhabitants. Having some time on our hands before needing to return to the north, we went to investigate.

There we found it - a place whose inhabitants had seemingly vanished without a trace, meals half-eaten, tools dropped as if they had been in the middle of use. There was a faint remnant aura of truly mighty magic over the place. We camped overnight and saw a weird glow from one of the houses. In the morning we investigated and found a crystal, much like those we'd seen in other sites of evil. We then found some magical items hidden under the floorboards. THIS house, unlike the others, showed signs that its owner had backed up their belongings and left deliberately.

One of the items was a logbook, which recorded conversations between someone, presumably the owner of the house, and shadowy others living near or on the sea. The last entry was a message from those others warning the owner to leave, as "they are coming". Whoever "they" might be was unclear, but no doubt foul minions of evil. Something occurred to me at this time... praise Pelor for clarity!... the people who disappeared showed signs of leaving on foot, not simply vanishing. Chairs were pushed back from the half-eaten meals, other items were disturbed in ways that would be accounted for by the townspeople simply walking off into the night, much as had our predecessor paladins so many months ago!

Disturbing, that the minds of reasoning beings could be so easily wiped blank, and their bodies controlled from without!

This evil crawls everywhere. How I long for the chance to face it - to shine forth the light of Pelor, revealing that which lurks in the shadows, and cleanse the earth of it!

*A*