Since I last set pen to paper in this book, I have eaten two people. The first time could be chalked up to an occupational hazard. The second time, I had worked up a hippogriff-sized appetite.
We dispatched the deserters, received our reward, and then moved on to more personal pursuits. We decided we should track down the wizard Nordo, and which led us to Abernathy, which led us to the belief that Nordo had set out to the west of the ruins of Norhall in search of something related to Yallathune. Our group decided to follow.
Outside of town, we were beset by bandits. Their mistake.
Seeing the city from the outside of town was revealing. At the far west end, we found ruins that seemed to come from a great battle. Later, we saw the tree - and while camping in view of it, Orenthal was subject to a spiritual encounter with the god of death. Unfortunately for us, this encounter went from spiritual to material quickly. However, because we saw them coming, I was able to prepare in a way I had not before. These preparations made Mome Rath a particularly formidable foe. It was hard to argue with the results, though I do not wish to fall into a rut with our combat style - my preference is to keep our enemies on their toes.
There were wights, skeleton giants, and spectres, but our fighting was focused mainly on ghouls, who were the first wave. They slew two enhanced dire wolves I summoned to our aid; though they are but returned to their home plane, I lament their loss regardless. There were many ghouls, but our strategy prevented our losses from being too dear, while they were destroyed utterly.
In this midst of this fighting, the spectres came and took hold of Orenthal, taking him we knew not where - they evaporated with him when they made contact.
When the ghouls had been defeated, the remaining forces began to chant, and an ancient structure emerged from the ground. Before the chanting was complete, though, a massive being stepped forth to call an end to their machinations. He was - well, for lack of a better word, maimed. He was missing limbs, and had been repatched with inorganic materials.
He strode forward, and chastised Nerull, who materialized. They argued out of earshot, and then the army of undead retreated, and we were given a jar. Inside was a figurine of Orenthal, and our limited arcane knowledge (without him) revealed to us that there would be a way to bring our flesh and blood compatriot back, though we could not suss out how in the moment.
The Maimed One (in whose presence we were in awe, Soromir most of all), bid us enter the building, and bade us be respectful inside. We went in, and discovered a tomb and a ghost keeping watch. The ghost introduced himself as a former cleric of Frumious, whose resting place this was. In that moment, we understood the Maimed One's objections to Nerull's actions, for it seems he had intended to raise the body of this slain god to use for his own purposes.
The ghost told us the story of the war between the god-king of the giants and the civilized world, which included a breach of this realm and the introduction of the eye tyrants and Yallathune to this world. He also chronicled the gods Frumious, Feador, and Bajol taking the field to fight, and the god-king luring the gods to a magical relic which rendered them mortal, then killing two of three and severely wounding the others in a great blast. Soon after, the mortal form of the ghost was killed by a falling gargoyle, and so ends his memories, and his ability to provide us with new information. Oh, and he told us of the Gnome of Gnomewood, the Isle Librarian, and Blackbriar fighting together on the same side. This action seemed so unusual to our ears, we resolved to seek out Blackbriar - he's the one we had prior contact with, anyway - for him to illuminate us.
Entry concluded.
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