The City

To be fair, I didn't quite know how the Shield Guardian worked at the time that I set that spell in it. I was still experimenting with its capabilities.

The construct had finally caught up to us before we left through the portal - it had been following us since it went overboard before we had reached Halruaa. Of course it accompanied us to the new world, and its capabilities were tested almost as soon as we reached the city.

We had encountered friendly Gith along the way, and he helped us to find a place where we could set up camp - a ruined building at the base of one of the many towers that made up the bulk of the city. Immediately I set Paazbul to scouting the other towers for their layout - it was obvious that the Vampire had set up in the largest of the towers. After determining the basic structure, I sent him to that largest of towers to see what could be gleaned invisibly, but he was unable to enter due to a magical barrier that appeared to surround the whole tower.

We sat down to have a war council, but we were attacked as we were deliberating by creatures that appeared naturally invisible. My magic allowed me to detect them but my colleagues were not so lucky. One of them hit me and I went down.

Here is where my mistake was made manifest.

The Shield Guardian could be set with a spell, to be cast when certain circumstances were met. Several days previously I had been experimenting with this capability, and I set a spell that would generate a cloud of foul-smelling noxious fumes if I were ever to be made unconscious.

Alas, this spell does not discriminate between friend and foe. My allies had to fight invisible opponents while gagging and retching because of my lack of forward planning. Fortunately, they are that good. Of course, I didn't find out about this until Lirin revived me, but when I did find out I was mightily chagrined, and resolved in future to set a different spell.

Fortunately an event occurred later that distracted everyone. We had come up with a plan to approach the largest tower by sea and use the tunnels beneath it to infiltrate by stealth. However, Buff did not like the idea - I got the impression that he was aquaphobic.

Caine attempted to demonstrate how safe it really was, but the moment he landed in the water several very large eel-like creatures grabbed him and attempted to drown and devour him. I wagered a yellow gemstone on his survival. Fortunately Buff was able to bring him back up, showing that even when terrified he was able to get the job done. To my surprise, my admiration for him only continues to grow.

New World

It has been a while since I've had the opportunity to update this journal. I'm sorry if this part of the journal is a bit short on detail - quite a lot has happened since my last update, and I may be nearing the end of my long journey. But there is one more task left to me.

We decided that we would travel through the portal to wherever it led, in the hope that we would be pursuing the Vampire who had escaped us. We discussed the situation with the wizards and clerics of the Crimson Company, and they were able to open the portal for us. We made our preparations, including making arrangements for our return.

One of the mercenaries of the Crimson Company was of the race known as Gith - interdimensional beings who were once slaves of the mind flayers, but threw off their shackles millennia ago. He knew of this place and was able to give us some intelligence before we left.

It was a strange place, but not strange enough that we couldn't survive. There was some interesting wildlife - we battled what appeared to be sentient rocks and got a gift of food from a gigantic bird. We had a peaceful encounter with a party of Gith, and they were able to tell us more.

In the area surrounding the portal, there was a temple and a ruined city. Since it was likely that the Vampire would have headed for the city, we decided to check the temple first. And it was a good thing that we did. There was a being at the temple who claimed to be one of Caine's previous commanding officers, from the time when Caine was a sailor. He gave us some information, but the entire temple complex seemed to be radiating strong magic, so I was quite suspicious of it all. However, we were able to spend the night without incident, so I couldn't complain.

In the morning we set off for the city.

Against the Vampire: Part 3

I have returned to the Library to pen this update. We battled the Vampire and her minions, and remind me to never doubt the efficacy of divine magic. The Crimson Company cleric Lirin, who has been accompanying us on this expedition, ensured the success of the venture by both using healing magic on Caine and Ilyich, and by striking the Vampire's second-in-command with a tremendous blow that blew it to dust in an instant.

First things first, though. After battling more of the Vampire's lackeys in the corridor, we finally came to the throne room, and formulated a plan. Part of the plan was that I would summon an elemental to aid us in battle. Unfortunately, Ilyich tripped an alarm and acted before I was ready.

I had prepared a spell that would allow me to see invisible creatures, and I am very glad I did. Not only did the lead Vampire turn invisible as soon as we broke into the room, but there was an ethereal face invisibly overlooking the throne room. I think it vanished at about the time I abandoned the summoning and hit the Vampire's minions with a fireball instead.

In the end, the lead Vampire escaped through a portal similar to the one we found in this Library, which we are still preparing to test. However, given the overlooking invisible face, I no longer believe that this Vampire is the main enemy. It appears to me as though there is a greater enemy, of which the Vampire is merely the minion. I hope it is not the Lich that Joan was chasing.

Against the Vampire - Part 1 & 2

We were going to war.

The Crimson Company was arrayed in battle formation, facing the Vampire's forces. It...

Well, it was a battle. What can I say? There's not much to distinguish one pitched battle from another. Thanks to the flower potion I had concocted, we were able to prevail in this one, and we either destroyed or routed the army by afternoon.

After the Crimson warriors had been resurrected, the army marched to lay siege to the Vampire's fortress. We (being me, Caine, Ilyich and the Crimson cleric Lyrin who seems to want to accompany us for some reason) gathered small groups of Crimson infiltrators and descended the chimneys into the fortress' cisterns.

Forewarned is forearmed, and a little knowledge can prevent a small force of infiltrators from wandering randomly through tunnels hoping that they will bump into what they are looking for, so I sent Paazbul to invisibly scout the way to the holding cells where we hoped we would find Buff.

When he returned, we made our way through the tunnels. The Vampire's garrison was distracted by the Crimson siege out front, so we did not anticipate heavy resistance. We did find some resistance, but I would not say that it was heavy, and we were able to dispatch those that noticed us while my spells were able to block any additional forces from reaching us.

We found the cells, but it didn't appear that Buff was there. Ilyich moved faster than I have ever seen someone move, and killed several of the guards before their hapless prisoner-slaves could react. Once again Ilyich and Caine expressed their desire to free the slaves. I didn't see any particular reason to, but I didn't stop them.

Without warning, Buff arrived, casual as you please. He had apparently been fighting in the ring for the entertainment of the Vampire and her forces, but when the siege happened he was being returned to his cell. Needless to say, that did not happen.

I was of the opinion that we should simply leave the fortress then and there, but the others wanted to try to take out the Vampire and put an end to the problem once and for all. Reluctantly, I agreed. My parents' book told me some things about Vampires that made me think that we would not be up to the task, but the others were determined to try.

We were on our way to the main hall when we encountered a strange misty portal that seemed to be a security system of some kind. Fortunately it was not much of a barrier, since Lyrin simply made a hole in the wall.

I looked about in amazement - we appeared to be in the Vampire's library. The sheer number of books in this place was near-overwhelming. I could spend a long time going through these books. A long time. Unfortunately I was unable to do so since our presence triggered the fire elemental guardian.

I had been waiting for an opportunity to use this magic in some time. I summoned an earth elemental from the stone floor to do battle with the guardian, a task that it performed admirably. The earth elemental was able to distract and soak the fire elemental's attacks while the rest of us worked on killing it. Once the battle was over, I dismissed the creature back to the Elemental Plane of Earth.

I have stopped here in this amazing library for a moment to pen this chapter of my Chronicle. In a moment, we will be seeking and doing battle with the Vampire herself. Hopefully this will not be my last entry.

Little Devil

One of the advantages of being a Wizard is that you are not obliged to go on military expeditions, unless you really want to. The Crimson Company was accustomed to capturing the undead creatures that the vampire was using in her army and experimenting on them to find out better ways of destroying them. I joined one such expedition and we were able to capture several of the creatures.

After the battle, I decided that the best use of my time would be in research. And I am very glad that I chose that path, because I discovered something quite disturbing. Certain of the details of the undead seemed somewhat familiar to me, so I cross-checked it with the book I have been carrying around for years - the one that I took from my parents. Sure enough, there were similarities. The details aren't important, and would probably only be understood by another wizard anyway, but I am now utterly convinced that my dear sisters, Ubrial and Andiel Nightwood, are directly involved in the vampire's army.

With this knowledge, I set about concocting an alchemical substance that would help to disrupt the necromantic energies that were animating the army's dead. According to my research the pandan flower would be an essential component of this substance. I was advised that the flower could be found growing in the nearby Duskwood. A small team was dispatched to collect the flowers, including Caine and Ilyich. I went back to my research.

Next thing I knew, I felt the telepathic link that I share with Paazbul snap back, as though suddenly severed. It snapped so hard that it gave me a headache and I had to lie down for a while. The last image I received seemed to be something to do with a tree.

It was clear that Paazbul was no longer on this plane. Somehow he had been sent back to the Hells I had summoned him from. I set about conducting the ritual which would re-summon him and bind him as my familiar.

Once that was done, I set about the process of extracting from him the story of exactly what had happened. It took some time, and I had to threaten him with torture, but in the end I got some information out of him.

Caine and Ilyich, along with two Crimson Company members - an armsman and a cleric - found some of the pandan flower growing in a cave. After a fight against an enemy that Paazbul was reluctant to describe, they found a shrine of sorts, with several of the flowers arranged atop the altar. It appeared - it was particularly difficult to extract this information - that Paazbul desecrated the altar.

This awakened a sentient tree, which attacked the group. Paazbul was banished during this fight, so I did not find out the outcome until later, when Caine and Ilyich returned to the camp. Needless to say, I kept Paazbul out of their sight while they filled in the gaps in his account.

They were forced to kill the animated tree that Paazbul's desecration had awakened. The tree was the deity of a primitive tribe that lived in the woods, though, and they were forced to make reparations. Fortunately the cleric that had accompanied them was able to return the tree to life and its position as god of the tribe.

I chastised Paazbul for his role in the situation and set him to the most laborious of manual tasks in the alchemical lab.

Negotiations

Invisible, we attempted to find a way out of the vampire's stronghold. It was probably going to be impossible to return the way I came in - the elemental I had used to create a distraction so I could sneak in had seen to that. Caine bore Joan's body and invisibly we continued deeper, hoping to find a way out.

We came across a library of sorts, where a drow and two spawn assistants appeared to be doing some kind of research. Though I ached to study the books myself, I sent Paazbul in to create a distraction so that we could sneak through. I was sure that we were noticed at one point, but if so, we weren't followed.

Further down we came to a huge cavern where slaves appeared to be quarrying stone. It appeared that many, though not all, of the slaves happened to be dead. Again, we were able to sneak through without being noticed. As we exited the quarry, Ilyich said that he saw something weird, though he couldn't be sure exactly what it was, so we ignored it and pressed on.

After a few more encounters with guards, easily avoided, we came to what appeared to be a cistern. There were several corridors leading away, but most important was a chimney. I could impart the ability to fly to my two other party members, but I would need to rest and reprepare the spell first.

Caine was on watch, and while I was preparing my spell he alerted me to the fact that there was a mind flayer in the corridor and he asked if I could speak with it.

Needless to say, this was quite startling to me, and of great concern. I immediately surmised that this was likely to be the same illithid that Joan had given the medallion to earlier. There was absolutely no way that I wanted to engage it in conversation, but I did so anyway. It spoke Abyssal, which I suppose was obvious in hindsight.

It turned out that the illithid considered itself to be in our debt after the return of the medallion. It gave us a small package that consisted of some keys, a mysterious gem, and Buff's headband. It said that Buff was still alive, and that it believed that the items in the package would help us to rescue him. The gem immediately got my attention, as it was obviously magical. I thanked it for the package and asked politely if it could please stop following us now. It returned to the shadows.

I tried gleaning some information about the gem in all ways I knew how, but it stubbornly resisted my every effort. Caine and Ilyich also were unable to unlock its secrets, so I stowed it for now. I assume that whatever function it has will become clearer when we try to rescue Buff. For now, our first priority was to escape, which fortunately was easy after resting.

Paazbul had scouted the chimney and found an exit to the mountainside, so as soon as we were ready we flew up and escaped the underground fortress, where we rested.

From the mountainside we could see a long way over the plains of the Shaar. In the distance we could see a town, but there was smoke rising from it and it looked as though it had just been attacked. Further north we could see two armies camped on the plains. This was probably part of the war that we had been hearing about.

Caine and Ilyich were keen to go back and rescue Buff, but I was still of the opinion that infiltrating a vampire's stronghold would be beyond our capabilities. After some discussion we decided to head for the town that we could see. We are worried about Buff, of course, but there isn't a lot we can do for him right now. We need an army.

It took us a few days, but we made it to the town. It seemed that most of the young men and women had been killed or captured, but we sat in on what appeared to be a meeting of the remaining town elders. Some wemic tribesmen were in attendance as well. While Caine went off to find a silversmith's shop, Ilyich and I discussed the situation with the elders.

They had been attacked by the vampire's army - it was clear from the black banners. They were unaware of what the allegiance of the second army that we saw on the plains was, but they agreed that if the second army was fighting against that of the vampire, it was a good idea for us to try and connect with them. They had not heard of Sharani.

The wemic offered to act as guides through the Shaar - an offer that we gratefully accepted, as bypassing the vampire army was going to be tricky.

Hopefully Buff will be able to hold out for a while. I shudder to think what might be happening to him as a captive of the vampire.

A Brief Intermezzo

Having returned to Halarahh, I really needed to do some study. The others went off to look for some lich or other off east while I hit the books. I sent Paazbul along, invisibly, just to keep an eye on them.

Some time later, Paazbul reported back to me that they had found an unusual amulet, so I started looking for any references to it. What I found was a little disturbing. An amulet matching the description was reported to have been in the possession of the Dimensionalists Guild some time ago. I went there to check, but it seemed that the amulet had not been in their possession for some time.

However, much to my surprise, a group of Abjurai came to the Guild to arrest me! I tried to explain that I had never been a Necromancer, but they seemed to believe that I had something to do with the missing fugitive Sharani. Since I was indeed in Halarahh with a group that was looking for her, I could not deny the charge. More disturbingly, they were charging me with murder and piracy as well.

I spent much of my time in the underground prison complex coming up with my defense. While I was there I continued to get messages via Paazbul - apparently the party had been foolish enough to give the amulet up to an Illithid. I sent them a message asking for their assistance, but it turns out that I didn't need to.

Sharani has friends, apparently. There was a guard in the prison complex who helped me to escape, on the promise that if I really was a friend of Sharani I would contact him later.

Needless to say I had no intention of doing any such thing until I was able to rendezvous with the rest of my companions. They were some days' travel away, so I made use of all of my magic in order to get to their location as quickly as possible by land and by air.

I did keep up my surveillance of their progress through Paazbul's eyes, and I can't say that I was impressed. They seemed to be attempting to infiltrate a vampire's stronghold under the mistaken impression that she was a lich. After their prisoner gambit failed because they had no idea where the prison was, they got into a fight with some very powerful vampire spawn.

Fortunately I was able to reach their location just as they worked out how to kill the undead. Unfortunately, the genasi Joan had been killed. That was rather unfortunate, as I was coming to like her. Alas, as Ilyich and Caine were alone in the stronghold with an army looking for them, I suggested that we might turn invisible and try to come up with a plan to rescue Buff. Turning all four of us invisible is beyond my present capabilities, but I'm sure that now I'm on the scene we can come up with a sensible, well thought out plan.