Purdue Fantasy Club

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====== Journal of an Unknown Adventurer in Nahrūl ======

==== 04/12/2554 ====
About 6 months after the threat of Kali, a vengeful nature spirit who attempted to take over all of Cahyali, Heifa Berns, CEO of Berns Inc. Limited, and upcoming political nominee, was hosting the Stockholders Benefit at the Berns Center in downtown Ley’Ork Spire. There, Heifa unveiled new plans to Berns Tower, the replacement for the Spire that was destroyed half a year ago, which included safety precautions such as improvements on Structural Integrity by Prof. Granin, and a Automated Weapons Defense System by Dr. Abbond. Chaos broke out that the benefit as 3 attempts to assassinate Heifa occurred in a simultaneous frenzy, as well as a shootout, killing all of the shareholders and Mr. and Mrs. Berns. The Berns Center was burned to the ground, countless lives and millions in property value reduced to a pile of ash. Our nine adventurers, including two arsonists, two assassins, two bodyguards, a professor, a weapons expert, and an accountant, were divinely transported out of the chaos to a dark overcast road - Madzulo Road, deep in the Madzulo Woods of Southeastern Nahrūl. Journeying northwards towards the Village of Djin-Serai, they discovered a mass grave of burnt and charred bodies, and continued north to find a small defaced hidden shrine, which was promptly destroyed by our accountant, Tesco Samson. Before long, the group found their way to the village, and rescued a starving dog from behind a portcullis at the keep, and then went shopping at Grimothy’s Wares and Peculiarities. Some of them sold various intrinsic aspects of themselves, as part of a contract with Grimothy, the Deals Warlock.
They then went to the church, where a few misguided decisions brought upon the wrath of a swarm of about 200,000 bonebats. After securing themselves in the church, they met Father Grysam and his daughter Sonya, who told the group that the Oracle of Djin-Serai, Yazdel Nahrūli, has not been heard from for a time, and that the dog they rescued was the Oracle’s, who is named Rufus. A group of four: Crow, Ricky, Kyger, and Tesco, decided to head back towards the Keep to find the Oracle, while the rest (Nova, Fue, Steven, Sato, and Erik) were intent on journeying to Tajsun, a walled city to the north, but not before Father Grysam asked them to potentially help out around town.

==== 04/13/2554 ====
Those at the Church (Erik, Steven, and Fue) decided to help Father Grysam with his Haunted House on the North side of town, first stopping at the Five-Legged Osser Tavern and Inn on the way. There, they met Kristen the Barkeep, a half-elf twink named Aelynn, and two new party members (Shara and Ira). They made their way up through the Northern Plaza to the Haunted House, a tall 3-and-a-half story Victorian building. As they made their way through the house, they were assailed by a Mirror Wraith, before finally destroying it in the attic. The group then left the house, discussing the philosophical implications of turkeys, ducks, and chickens.

The second group (Crow, Kyger, Tesco, Ricky, Sato) that headed off from the church made it back to the Green Hill Keep, Kygar attempted to lift the portcullis but was unable to until the new party member (Tyrone) aided him by flipping the chain and pulley system. The group then proceeded to assail the keep after nearly being shot at by bandits. Once inside (after Kygar decided to batter down the main door) a massive brawl occurred in one of the rooms, that same room held the second party member to join (the mysterious Ravanal). After some clever use of lantern fuel and fire, the party defeated the bandits to find the Oracle tied up. Before they could free him they encountered the strange and insane Puppet Meister who told them that they were in the way of the demon king Azeroth's plan to conquer Narhule. The Meister then sent two creatures to the party, a mistling and a snapjack. After dispatching the two creatures (and the Meister making his escape) the party learned that Djin-Serai had been attacked by Azeroth's army from the Oracle who had allowed them to stay for the night. Also Tyrone made two deals with Grimothy, he now has a jug of neverending lantern oil and got rid of a mark left by the Meister.

==== 04/14/2554 ====
The two parties met back up at the Five-Legged Osser Tavern, had a brief discussion about "the demon king", when Aelynn (the half-elf twink) approached us with information on Azeroth, the Nightmare King, telling the party that Azeroth can be found up in the large black castle on Agshdof, the volcano, pretty hard to miss. His forces have been trying to take the city of Tajsun, focused on breaching Tajsun's walls. Meanwhile, one of the nomads sitting in the back table gestures for Tesco Samson to come over. She offered to sell him some wares, and told him to go to the alley out back to view the wares so the bartender does not get suspicious. Sato sulks around the corner to listen in. Tesco gets his fortune told by a female nomad, she casts a single bone for free (she saw a “Dark figure on a balcony looking down at the desolate land beneath his feet”), and offers to tell more oracles for coin. 

Steven, Ricky, and Shara ride on Smokey to Saint Rana Church to turn in the haunted house quest. Father Grysam tells that the winery to the east of town might have a cart for us to use.

Kygar, Erik, Ravenal, and Tyrone went to Grimothy's to purchase more goods. Having a bit of banter, Ravenal attempted to get hired by Grimothy (only to be told that any new hires would start at minimum wage), our local sociopath, Erik, had the most concerning shopping list of all time, including Vlapberries (the Cahyali equivalent of bananas). Getting directly to the point, Grimothy made a deal with Erik, who sold both of his sisters in order to have bigger explosions. Kygar bought a couple of Raz-Beri’s Berry Tonics for healing down the line. Tyrone had an extreme shopping list. Ravenal requested three mermaid souls, to which Grimothy responded that he had half of a mermaid soul for sale. Ricky shot the ceiling in order to get everyone’s attention, and unfortunately forgot what he was going to ask Grimothy to purchase.

At the vineyard, we see many vine creatures attacking the outside of the winery. A dozen of these creatures were annihilated by Steven as he fireballs them, which sets the vineyard and the roof of the winery on fire. Tyrone heads around the house and finds even more blights on the opposite side of the house, calling everyone to attention. After clearing away the monsters, they talk to the vinery owner, who asks them to deliver a couple of barrels of wine to the Golden Dawn Tavern in Tajson in return for our usage of the wagon. Bringing the entire shipment without incident garners a bonus.

Ricky and Tesco hunt Himblehops (the Cahyali equivalent of a rabbit) for dinner and pelts, while Erik and Steven perform a “science experiment.”

The next day, on the road, a large white raven was shot by Ricky Lawbringer. It disappeared when shot and a funeral toll immediately began originating from the castle on the volcano. A little while later, a horrific smell begins to filter through the air. Father Grysam immediately yells at the party to speed up as fast as we possibly can. Something smashes into the cart from above the canvas melts away with the putrid smell of acid. A squad of 3 Cacodemons begin attacking, closely followed by three more from the opposite side. The party managed to kill them, and ended the session arriving at the Nahrūli Plains Crossroads.

==== 04/15/2554 ====
The group left the crossroads and journeyed northeast towards the great walled city of Tajsun in the distance. Along the way, the group stumbled upon another defaced stone shrine, hidden in the underbrush by the side of the road. Ravenal and Crow were able to discern that the shrine was pointing towards the West, in the general direction of Azeroth’s Castle. The group continued until they reached Tajsun, with its 1000-foot-tall stone walls, and piercing spire of Saint Rabbican Cathedral. Father Grysam provided documentation for the party to enter, and Ricky was able to convince the guards at the gate that his guns and ammo were holy instruments of his religion, Mishrism. Erik slid his contraband over to Crow, who was able to hide it within his shadow. Ravenal decided to stay outside of the city and keep an eye on things outside. After entering the city, the group was able to see the miniature sun held aloft over the pinnacle of the cathedral, illuminating the entire city in holy radiance. The party split up into two groups, one to deliver the wine, and the other to escort Father Grysam and Sonya to the cathedral.

Ricky, Kygar, and Crow made the successful delivery to the Golden Dawn tavern. After delivering the wine, the gang decided to get a drink and Ricky participated in a wager where he successfully drank the tavern's strongest drink (the Black Mist) and won 50 gold coins as a prize. Crow said that they may want to ask the bartender for any of the local going-ons. 

Erik, Ira, Stephen, and Tesco decided that they were going to fulfill their promise to Father Grysam and his daughter Sonya and take them to Saint Rabbican Cathedral in Tajsun. Upon arriving they temporarily were separated from Grysam and Sonya as they left to have a discussion with High Priest Mazdek Nahrūli about setting up the ceremony to have Sonya instated as the new priest of Djin-Serai. While they were waiting, the adventurers decided to go through four of the portals located in the main atrium and began to explore a bit. They ended up partially exploring the living quarters, a private chapel, a few sections of a library, and some of the catacombs. In the library they found a piece of paper hidden in an economics book that appeared to be a desperate missive from an ‘L.M.’

Meanwhile, the group at the tavern learned of rumors that there might be Azeroth sympathizers within the city and that the criminal cabal called ‘The Silhouettes’ were getting a bit more active. They left the bar and headed to Echo Bazaar where Kygar got his money stolen from a pickpocket with a strange tattoo on his face. Before they had a chance to turn the thief in he was killed in broad daylight by a smoke ghoul, a chase ensued and the ghoul escaped. However, they were then approached by a man named Gil (short for Gilian), the leader of a small band of Mishrites who operate within the Echo Bazaar. Upon arrival the group reunited with Ravanal. 

In the catacombs, the other adventurers decided to follow some suspicious chalk markings which eventually led them to a trapdoor that was being weighed down by something heavy. After Steven Burns did his thing (fire) the trapdoor collapsed, sending a crate full of potions cascading to the floor. Steven, Tesco, and Erik all ascended into what appeared to be a storage room while Ira kept watch down below. After Tesco heard the general sounds of people talking behind a door he tried to stealthy turn away, but accidentally knocked over some empty vials from a shelf. The shopkeeper, Haggard Juliaborn of Haggard's Potions and Oils then discovered the party camping out in the backroom and quickly retrieved a glowing stone. As Steven was attempting to explain his way out of the situation and buy potions, the stone gradually shifted from green to red and then went dark as approximately 8 bandits showed up with a strikingly dressed woman (Sierra Lavorre, the current leader of the Silhouettes). After a brief discussion with the shopkeeper, Sierra and her goons started to attack Steven as he was still attempting to buy potions. After almost killing him, managed to maneuver his spell to create a wall of fire that separated him and the party from the Silhouettes.

Back at the Echo Bazaar, Gil asked Ricky, Kyger, Crow, and Ravenal if they could help with the smoke ghouls, as the Tajsun Mishrites have been covertly eliminating any monsters or overly active sympathizers of Azeroth. The group was led to Yazdelborn Morgue and Mortuary where they discovered that the Silhouettes have been secretly commissioning specially designed coffins to smuggle in illicit goods via secret compartments - they found some Sago Weed, Bottled Darkness, and a Vampire Ring. A fight started in the street when the smoke ghoul appeared, after killing the one, more appeared. The group managed to fight them off as people ran away from the scene and panic began to grip the city. The group then came face to face with Kissin’ Katie Lawbreaker, Ricky's rival. who destroyed the morgue and briefly killed some of the party. The group managed to bring back the fallen party at the hospital where they encountered a red-eyed moonglow, shortly after leaving the hospital they heard alarms ringing out across the city and a red glow on the horizon, Azeroth's army now approaches the city in a much larger force to lay siege to Tajsun.

==== 04/17/2554 ====
The Siege of Tajsun begins in full force, Azeroth’s demonic army marches to surround the city. Our intrepid adventurers join together at the main southern gate to face off against the incoming horde. They meet Sybil Dævian, the commander of the artillerymen on the wall. Bear traps are laid in front of the walls. An initial bombardment of white phosphorus decimates the charging army, but leaves the battlefield clouded with smoke and fog. 

Ricky and Steven join with Gil to lead a squadron of Mishrites on horseback, Kygar charges into battle with Tajsun’s pikeman guard. Ravanal brings an order of robed clerics swinging incense censors to the battle, while Tyrone leads a cavalry of horseback archers. Tesco Samson stays as a last defense with a wall of Tajsun archers.
A chaotic battle ensues, with heavy losses on both sides. Chaos breaks out within the walls of the city as hundreds of Vine Blight monsters begin climbing up the wall, ripping apart civilians and tearing Sybil Dævian limb from limb.
Fuego Berns appears on the battlefield, riding atop an infernal scorpion, leading a small troop of fire mages, seeking revenge on his brother Steven, who abandoned him a week ago in Djin-Serai.
After Fue kills Smokey, Ricky makes a dark deal to become a vampire, purging him of his divine priesthood, and transforming him. He charges ahead to kill Fue with an inhuman bloodlust. Kygar receives the blessings of the Dawn as his hammer becomes empowered with divine light.
The demonic generals begin calling for a retreat as the tide turns, and Fue is killed by Ricky. Steven drags Fue’s charred corpse back to Tajsun to get it resurrected so he can burn him alive.
Festivities ensue as the heroes successfully beat back the enemy, however, Steven and Tesco are both drugged when handed mugs of ale, as they fall, paralyzed, to the ground. Tesco remains conscious to see bandits wearing the symbol of the Silhouettes dragging him down into the Piso.

==== 04/18/2554 ====
The party regroups after a night of revelry in the Golden Dawn tavern, where they realize that there are two missing members; Ricky, now a vampire, snuck into the city, while making sure to avoid any Mishrites around.

Kygar and Ravanal travel through the streets and alleys of Tajsun amidst the celebrations looking for the missing Steven and Tesco. They eventually find a trail of ashy footprints and drag marks down a dark alley. Meanwhile, Steven and Tesco are interrogated, as Steven's elemental energy is drained by a Yartz. During the interrogation, Kygar and Ravanal find a hidden entrence into the Piso, and handidly deal with three Silhouette guards in the sewers, one of which was a beloved member named Debbin. Kygar and Ravanal find their way into the second level of the Silhouettes HQ, a large black market level in a massive cistern. They see a prison on the lower level, and decide to head there, after doing a little bit of shopping. A fight breaks out as they are discovered to be infiltratators in the HQ, and they defeat a squadron of guards as Tesco and Steven breaks out of the interrogation room. They escape from the HQ and head back to the cathedral through the tunnels.

The other half of the party (Erik, Tyrone, and Ricky) went to Sawbones Mill after an extended black market shopping trip, during the time Kygar and Ravanal were tracking Steven and Tesco. They purchased weapons, ammo, black powder, and a wagon to carry supplies. Party then met the demon hunter Marya Yivniva who pointed them to the direction of Kissin' Kait Lawbreaker, and then Marya rode off to Tajsun to try and find the other adventures to give them some information on Azeroth. On the journey there, the party got trapped in a nightmare sequence where they faced their fears and even briefly met a projection of Azeroth himself and the Puppet Meister. After facing their fears they made it to Sawbones Mill where everything quickly went to hell, one of the Liyečnik sisters was killed, as was Kait Lawbreaker, and they broke up the sisters' terisium ring (where they gathered 4 oz of terisium). They also found a chest of 3000 gold pieces.

==== 04/19/2554 ====
Those at Sawbones mill (Erik and Tyrone) discover that their chest of 3000 gold is haunted with a child’s spirit, who instructs them to return the cache to Zhemenka, or face consequences. They resolve to do so, and journey with Ricky in the cart back towards Tajsun. They eventually meet back up with the other party members, who have arrived through the tunnels to Saint Rabbican Cathedral, where they meet Cal Trout, who has been working on tailoring priestly vestments for the last week. They meet Abeforth, who shows them some of his research into the monsters Azeroth has brought to Nahrūl. He also suggests the party go see the Dawn Oracle.

They journey to the Oracle’s Room, when Ravanal gets his wallet stolen by Crow, and chases Crow around the streets, out of Tajsun. The party gets a prophecy foretold to them, and decides to set off towards the village of Zhemenka. On the way there, they stop by Avelód Tower, overlooking Avelód Lake. Remembering something about a “holy blue mirror” and “touching the clouds,” a few party members (Cal, Tesco, Steven, Ira) stay behind as the rest (Erik, Tyrone, Ricky, Kygar, Ravanal) journey in the wagon to Zhemenka. 

At the tower, Cal, Tesco, and Ira explore around the tower as the sun sets, and find a game of Witch-Queen’s Gambit happening behind a tent. There, they lose a decent day’s work of gold, and meet a few colorful characters: Simon, Smokey Joe, and Silent Johnson. They eventually explore the slippery steps down to the thin beach over 500 feet down the cliff, and see submerged ruins buried in the lakebed. They resolve to explore there tomorrow morning. They rejoin the Witch-Queen’s Gambit game and learn that the ruins are cursed, and there is some tension between Simon and Smokey Joe regarding Smokey Joe’s step-sister, Sloppy Jo. They then all rest in a hostel tent for the night.

As the others approached Zhemenka, they encountered the two ghosts who are now bound to Erik and Tyrone (whose names are Gentle Mina and Hanged Tom, respectively). Ravanal tried to exorcise the ghosts but failed and only made it worse. That night, Erik had a nightmare. They went to the Mortimer Manor where the Puppet Miester put them through a partial death maze, and then the party killed him (or did they?).

==== 04/21/2554 ====
After returning the gold to the Mortimer family manor, the party of Kygar, Erik, Ricky, and Ravanal traveled down to the village of Zhemenka. There, they were greeted by an angry mob of religious fanatics, however after some quick thinking and mentioning that they killed one of Azeroth's minions, the fanatics welcomed them as heroes and let them stay within the hunting lodge, which had been converted into a barracks.

Erik cultivated a working relationship with the leader of the fanatics, Father Gasper, a Priest of Dawn and inventor who believes that the only way to fight the demons is to create new weapons for the Dawn. Erik however learned that the ghost who tried to possess him earlier has now bound itself to his soul. The next morning (or what would be morning), the party learned that the healing church of Saint Heliana had been taken over by the forces of Azeroth. Party set about cultivating the good will of the fanatics in order to recruit them as potential allies.

Meanwhile, those who stayed at Avelód Tower awake in the morning, Tesco walks into the tower to see a Priest of Dawn performing a ritual over the pool, sprinkling various holy oils, powders, and blessings on the waters. When the ritual completes, the pool swirls with varying colors and patterns similar to a night sky. During this time, a lizard who refers to himself as “the Traveling Jew” (TJ) remains in the doorway, eyeing the ledger an assistant is keeping notes about the ritual in. After the ritual and blessings, Tesco and TJ break into the locker and inspect the various ritual components, as TJ steals the ledger. Steven manages to accidentally affix a magical ring to his - ahem - member, which resulted in a series of various attempts to remove said ring. It was eventually taken care of with the assistance of TJ and a burning pool of oil. The party members at the Tower also did some shopping, buying some Raz-Beri’s Berry Tonic, Breath Gel tubes, and also getting scammed out of some coin.

Erik spent the day working with Father Gasper on new weapons; Ravanal set about training with members of his religious order who happened to be in the town; Ricky, noticing that a strange messenger delivered something to Jin (the apprentice to Father Gasper), pursued the messenger. Kygar set about training with Ravanal and the other monks when he met with Mira, one of the residents of the lodge who had fallen madly in love with Kygar after hearing his stories of heroism.

After the ring-related debacle, the adventurers near Lake Avelód tried asking the priests near the tower about their prophecy - Steven falls under the delusion that he is a holy prophet, while Tesco leaves after getting little information. TJ manages to learn the verbatim prophecy through a spell, and asks the priests a series of questions, including how to make an omelette without it crumbling into scrambled eggs (a very detailed process was given), as well as where, and when, to go for discovering the secret to the prophecy.

Ricky hunted down the messenger and soon learned that Jin was planning on murdering Father Gasper and turning the town over to the Silhouettes in exchange for a cut of the profit. One angry mob later, Jin was taken captive by party, given a "fair and impartial judicial trial", and is being used to lure out more of the Silhouettes. The party sets up an ambush in the manor with Jin as the bait; Sato appears and after some tense negotiations, decides to turn on the Silhouettes and aid the party in hunting down the 11 remaining Silhouette lieutenants that are still in the town.

Now armed with knowledge, the party at Avelód Tower rests for the night and wakes up before dawn the next morning to venture to the top of Svjetlo Bridge, where Tesco sees a blue holy flash from the ruins submerged in the Avelód lakebed. They journey carefully down the Path to the Dawn, Steven opts to stay on the beach due to water and fire being a bad mix, and the others journey into the ruins. After distracting some larger-than-average crab creatures, TJ uses Location Scan (Rank 5 Mensa), finessed for 1000 years, to see the history of the fort. They then journey further in, finding a shark swimming in the lower section of the gatehouse. TJ attempted to seduce said shark by asking if it was into vore, but only succeeded in drawing its attention as it charged.

==== 04/22/2554 ====
The party in the submerged ruins defeats the charging shark quickly, and they scavenge through its remains and strip it of its teeth and meat. As the Traveling Jew (TJ) investigates a statue, Tesco breakf of its hand, which appears to be grasping a stone hilt without a blade, and also one of its feet. TJ casts Object Delve on it, and learns that the statue once depicted a holy paladin of the Dawn, Azeroth. Notably, the statue appeared to be wielding a blade of pure sunlight. The party continues deeper into the fort, distracting and avoiding that large crab like creatures as best they can. Using a map scroll, they reveal a layout of the submerged fort, and decide to start heading towards the armory. On the way there, they pass through a banquet hall filled with dark shadowy creatures, fish-like faces with black pupil-less eyes, rows of lamprey-like teeth as well as spined claws. TJ warns the party, but Tesco charges in to collect some of the rusted silverware lying in the sand. The creatures attack, and the party is able to fend them off. They enter into the armory and find many bits and pieces of rusty equipment from ages past, as well as a crack in the stone above that leads out onto the open lake. They then make their way towards the chapel, where they see the blade of sunlight from earlier, wedged between some rocks and sticking up out of the ground. TJ place-delves, and is able to see that the rubble in the room is actually a sea golem, a protective construct placed to guard the fort once, long ago. He rushes in quickly, and casts spell scan on the sword blade, and is able to receive the Daytime spell from the blade. Running back, he casts it quickly as daylight erupts out of his form, causing the golem to de-animate, at least temporarily. They leave the fort ruins and return to find Steven Berns constructing a sand castle around their various belongings. They finish up some shopping and bartering at the various wagons and stall around the tower, and decide to journey and meet the others at Zhemenka. TJ decides to stay behind for a day and learn the basics of reviving and subduing from some Asetities (Cahyalian Isisites), promising to avoid killing any living thing if at all possible. The others journey down the road and then through a series of moldy wooden arches, with wooden wind chimes clinking in the breeze. They eventually come to the town, meeting with a blind beggar, who gives them a minor prophecy and some guidance, before they see a large mob gathering in the town..

==== 04/23/2554 ====
Party went into the Convent to fight the corrupted form of Saint Heliana and free the convent of it's demonic influences.

==== 04/24/2554 ====
In the aftermath of the Convent, Tyrone and Kygar lie dead on the floor as the rest of the party quickly gather their bearings and head back into town to find an Asetite (Cahyalian name for Isisites) to get the two their free Isis res. After they regained consciousness, they met a new adventurer named Lavare who joins the party just in time for Kygar to be reunited with the dog from Djin-Serai, and they surmise that the village had been burnt down. The adventurers have quite a lot of bonding time with new interpersonal revelations and tensing relationships as they slowly come to the agreement to stop by Tajsun to restock up on supplies before they go attack the Castle of Nightmares (and to allow Steven to carpet bomb the Black Market). Here they had some discussions about Azeroth with Abeforth and illicit dealings and reintroductions with the Mishrites in Tajsun. Steven goes through with his revenge plan and ends up being killed via magic item destruction repercussions. The party rushed Steven's corpse to an Asetite who attempted to revive him, and after a long trial before the gods themselves, they decided to allow Steven to live for the time being on the stipulation that he become a better person and he take damage every time he hurts someone innocent. The party bought him clothes and started to head over to Lyanova Cliffs, on the way to the Castle of Nightmares.

//The rest of the journal appears to be heavily burned, as if exposed to a large explosion of some kind. Whether or not any entries remain, they cannot be recovered. We know from first person reports that Azeroth was defeated, and the armies of undead and demons were dragged back into the Nightmare Realm, which by all reports seems to be a shadow reflection of Cahyali, similar to the Kurago but much, much darker and filled with evil. Perhaps it is a glimpse into what our Kurago may have become if the demonic presence were not removed...//