Journal of Lt. Tupper, Day 239-244

Day 239
Hangovers and gnomes. These things should not be combined.

The others returned today with Stuckzhah in tow, also known as the gnome bardess that has latched firmly onto the "romantic" idea that I lust for dead people. The reunion was not pleasant. I think I may have convinced her of how utterly stupid it all is, but not before she composed an aria on the subject. I… do not even know anymore.

Insanity aside, we reviewed our mission for the sake of the new folk in the group. As it stands, we have located 6 of the supposed 13 temples of the Sunken City. We have had a hand in dismantling 5 of these, leaving 7 to be found and 8 to be presumably mucked through. This includes Stonekeep and one inside the Sunken City itself. Of the three pieces of the Staff of Ehlonna, a weapon of immense power, we have found two but only kept one. Our current quest is to find the final piece of the Staff and… work out what to do next. Assembly seems the obvious choice, though if what Ragnar believed is true (that Leaf is the fourth component required for operation of the Staff) then doing so would be difficult. At any rate, they're in marginally better hands with us than the faction of drow that have been opposing us.

With all this in mind, we have set about looking for more of the temples; starting with rumors about underwater ruins, the old lair of the kraken, and the potential advice of merfolk up along the northern coast. This means enlisting the aid of the gnomes and their submersible again. This means more gnomes.

Even Herakles is wary of gnomes in large numbers.


Day 243
Dreams have consisted of cheerful gnomes dismantling the submersible as it goes along in order to fix it, leaving us to drown and drift about behind it in a wake of bolts and plating. Have not slept much.

The others investigated the kraken cave today. I stayed inside the boat, because I enjoy the agony that is gnomish freestyle maintenance ballads of concerns about maneuvering underwater. They did not find another temple, though there was a valuable magical gem left behind. Squids and other aquatic wildlife have begun to follow the vessel: though they have not attacked us, the night is young. We are moving on to the site of the underwater ruins.

Herakles, if you can read what I write here, if you know my pain… stay the hells away. It's bad enough.


Day 244
The engines were attracting the sharks. The gnomes can shut them off when they're not needed, but that is still a clear sign to get off this boat.

So we went diving off the side of the submersible while it was surfaced, and found the ruins where they should be. We also found the local mermaids, or mer-elves, or whatever. We found a group of people with gills and blue skin swimming among the ruins. Their leader appears to be either insane or a princess of their people, potentially both. She calls herself Nogori. As for the ruins, we have located the entrance to "The Temple of Deep Satchmo", but were not prepared to investigate it further today.

Note to self: do not use gnomish inventions designed to dry your clothes. The socks I tried it out on are fine, save that they are now a disturbingly bright shade of green and orange respectively. Apparently this does not happen often, but once is enough in my case.
~
Addendum to note to self: Do not drip-dry clothes over the starboard "power coupling," for fear of engine failure.