Written by: Nixon "Jasper" Showalter
I have finally had a moment to sit down and reflect on the wide variety of things that took place over this past weekend and there was a lot. What matters most is that we all made it back alive and were able to help the lands and people of Blackwood rid themselves of corruption.
I arrived at a small tavern in Blackwood on Friday after a long hiatus of adventuring, spending most of my summer in Alifon. While it was good to be back and see many familiar faces, there was a problem in Blackwood that needed our attention urgently. In the back of the tavern was a small doctor’s practice. Here I found two patients who had been dropped off days before, asleep, and had yet to wake up. Apparently there were two of many that the doctor had seen. Before I was able to do anything, a local arrived at the tavern telling stories of a werewolf gone feral, terrorizing the area. Most of the adventurers in the tavern left to handle that situation luckily, however Makhta and I decided to stay back and focus on the patients left in the tavern. The doctor had tried many homeopathic methods but none were successful. Being a spellcaster myself, I was able to show the doctor some spells I had acquired during my time in the Realms. Healing magic was able to awaken the sleeping patients for a few moments, however they quickly returned back to sleep. Questioning them about their condition proved futile so we looked for other avenues to explore. The doctor mentioned that these villagers were from a nearby lumber town that was just down the way a bit. A noncontagious sickness that makes people sleepy? This is a problem two lone adventurers can handle!
If you have any experience going on adventures yourself, you might be able to imagine that this was in fact not a problem two lone adventurers could handle. After trudging through the darkness for a bit, this vampire duo arrives at this quaint village that did appear to be quiet and sleepy. Not much more than a moment later, however, Makhta and I were brutally attacked. While Makhta may be a very proficient fighter, I am more of a talker. Unfortunately for me, these villagers were not quick to do more than hiss aggressively at us, quickly killing me. I have been told that Makhta stabbed them many times with no luck at breaking them down. Lucky for me, I have a tendency to keep getting back up and get back up I did. Unlucky for me, one of these very unhappy villagers was standing right next to me and quickly put a stop to me being alive. For the moment I was conscious, I saw that Makhta had lost all of her limbs. According to Makhta, after killing me the second time these creatures began consuming my flesh until they were satisfied, and then promptly fell asleep similar to how the patients in the tavern were. Through sheer will and determination, Makhta was able to drag me back to the tavern by my tabard with her fangs where I was able to get back up yet again (this will be a trend as you continue reading). Here we were able to relay information to the doctor and our adventuring friends about the state of the village and the people left within it.
We all decided that going back to the lumber village was a good idea given we now had more than two people to face the problem with, so that is exactly what we did. Heading back with a much larger group, we were able to kill some of the ravenous foes at least temporarily, but they seemed to just keep coming back. However, we were able to recover a box of food from the middle of the village that had some apples, bananas, marshmallows, and most notably a bag of fresh flour. I found this box and was quickly told to leave the area so I did just that, heading back to the tavern. The doctor was kind enough to point me in the direction of the baker who was set up down by the water. Now while I have heard some vampires get heightened vision in the darkness, I was not so lucky. I stumbled my way alone through the woods and nearly into a lake but eventually found the lone baker right where the doctor told me he would be! I learned that while the flour was helpful, he needed yogurt to make the bread. With this, he also needed the power of a fire spirit to cleanse the ingredients and make the magic recipe he had in mind. So off I went to help find the rest of the things we needed.
While we had been doing all of these things, we had begun to notice spirits following us around and offering us guidance. Sebon, the water spirit who also was a dragon (that’ll be relevant later), was the first spirit I met. They were very kind and were offering a trial to test your strength and earn mana crystals which proved to be very helpful. The next spirit I met was Cernunnos, who appeared to be wearing a hat of his dear friend. Cernunnos was extremely helpful and one who I interacted with a lot, often looking to them for guidance during the night. Akki was the next spirit, one of nature taking the shape of a bird. Akki had a unique personality and was someone I quickly became fond of and who delivered the magic bread we made to those who needed its power. Agatha was the last spirit I met. She was very kind and introduced me to an Oolie Boolie spirit they had with them. Unfortunately, this spirit that was following her around happened to spontaneously die as we were introducing ourselves, which I assure you was not my fault. I did however say some kind words trying my best to give it a smooth transition to wherever spirits go after they pass which seemed to be successful as I was given a vision of the spirit in a beautiful garden nodding to me as it flew off to where it was needed next. The last.. spirit (question mark) that we saw that night was Princess Kalia. I did not get to interact with her much but she will become important tomorrow.
As we still needed the yogurt and fire spirit, two groups split off to tackle these acquisitions. Myself and some others went to find the fire spirit while another group went to find the yogurt, and find the fire spirit we did. Wandering around for a bit we stumbled upon a gelatinous cube of magma. I am unsure whether we ever needed a fire spirit or if this was the fire spirit, but I digress. I tried the classic asking it for help before murdering it and what do you know, it wasn't much of a talking type. It was however a kill-me-and-envelop-me-with-magma type so that was something I did not try twice! I decided to take my place in the backline while some proficient fighters took stabs at the creature. We were seemingly able to break it into pieces that slowly reconnected, so if we could destroy the pieces before they had a chance to reform we could defeat the creature! During this time, Cernunnos was standing on the back lines with me. I fell back to them and had a very nice conversation about what it meant to be an adventurer and my perspective on what I do. It was very nice actually and they seemed to agree with my perspective on doing what was right. This conversation, taking place while I was healing my friends and allies, took us to the end of the fight with the magma blob, which dropped some sort of magma bits we were able to pick up and use. These ended up being helpful in getting the yogurt I believe as Agatha wanted them and she was who we got the yogurt from.
At the end of the night, the baker was able to bake some delicious bread that he was kind enough to share with the party as well as give to Akki to fly and provide to the villagers who needed it. As an extremely eventful night came to a close, there was a sense of calmness. While the sick villagers were still… sick… we were able to begin taking the steps to help the lands of Blackwood.
With the end of day one, the beginning of day two was upon us. As news of what we were facing spread through the Realms, we were accompanied by many more adventurers than the day before. One of these adventurers was one I had not met before but ended up helping keep the vibe high throughout the day and night. We quickly learned that our friend Akki had set up shop! I had gathered some mana crystals the night before the Akki seemed to be very interested in. I of course immediately bartered nearly all the goods I had on me for some bracelets that looked to be very important. These bracelets will not come up again in this story because they were not in fact important whatsoever. Before I had more time to sell more of my important items for random knick knacks, we were informed of a cult doing some sort of ritual with these mana crystals, always a good sign. As we arrived we heard screams that the ritual was going wrong as they attempted to summon what I was told was the Three Faced God. We had to pull the spirits out of the cultists to defeat them and stop them from fighting us. While all of this was happening, many of our friends were getting their souls pulled to another plane. Given I keep my soul in a.. sword.. I was not one of the people who got pulled away but apparently those who were there killed Princess Kalia’s, also known as Kali’Rex’s, father. These people who had transferred planes all seemed to return home safely, however, breaking the news of her father’s death to Kali’Rex did not go well, she was very upset as one could imagine. It is important to know that the plane these adventurers went to was Tartarus, Kali’Rex’s father was a demon of sorts, very corrupted and beyond saving from what I have been told. While we were off doing this, a different group of us had gone to help some small fairy-esque creatures called Nixets. This would come up occasionally as some adventurers would transform into these small creatures becoming extremely difficult to hit.
Once back at the tavern and things had died down, a few kobolds wandered to us. I immediately made friends with them to some success! I believe they were named Gleeb and Gloob, very sweet and friendly, ate gold. Around this time another joined us as well, a vampire hunter named Jorgen. Now you could imagine my feelings towards a vampire hunter being one myself. Yes you are exactly right, potential friend. So when Jorgen asks me to walk into the woods with him I do just that! However, to my dismay, some more kobolds appear and before I can introduce them to Gleeb and Gloob, they throw a nice piece of dynamite directly at me, scattering Jasper bits all around. I was told that Jorgen then took my body and impaled me with a wooden stake but hey, things happen. Upon getting up, we see that there are now vampire thralls we need to fight. Jorgen is able to teach us how to fight them effectively and we push them all the way down a trail until we see that Sebon had been captured with anti-magic chains. We fight off waves of enemies and using the dynamite we got from the kobolds, are able to free Sebon! If only this was the last time he was captured…
Once we return to the tavern again, Kali’Rex is around and so is someone I will refer to as “Yesper”. This is Vesper from another timeline who does not like to be called Yesper, however for the sake of your reading that is how I will differentiate them. Kali’Rex and Yesper are immediately at eachothers throats, screaming about how the other is not helping the land and is evil and how they themself can fix the land. Kali’Rex wants power, Yesper wants Kali’Rex dead. From Yesper we learn that like her father, Kali’Rex is a demon and through a Knights of the Sable Dragon question, we learn that Kali’Rex is evil. Everyone is in little groups discussing what is best while I run between Yesper and Kali’Rex trying to best understand what is going on until I realize that yes, Kali’Rex is evil. Yesper eggs me on as I approach Kali’Rex and Kiddo is able to stab her in the back before I do anything, solid move. Downside is, she seems to be resistant to just about everything. Cressida had been speaking to her the most and as all hell breaks loose, Kali’Rex goes to Cressida for a hug. She whispers something before exploding, killing a fair few of us in the blast.
A small aside. While Yesper and Kali’Rex were having their arguments and the adventurers were generally confused and collaborating, Vesper showed up! He is also screaming about.. a lot? Not important. What is important is that Vesper comes over and completely kills my moth friend, Hecatthee. Not cool. So if you remember there was someone around keeping the vibe up of the quest, this was none other than Brorion. So of course when Brorion asks me if Vesper is killing the vibe, I say yes! Hecatthee was a vibe that was very much just killed! So naturally when Brorion asks me if he should lighting brolt Vesper… I say yes! Now in hindsight, was this a bad call? Absolutely not. Vesper dies and is quickly raised. Now I was standing in an inopportune spot directly next to Brorion as Vesper approached and absolutely annihilated both of us. Worth it. Hecatthee deserved better.
All of that being said, we were back on track. We wandered into the woods where we found a new spirit, one that was being fed on by Kali’Rex trying to garner her power, now known as Crimson Fang. Together with the spirit, we stormed the place Kali’Rex was defending. This fight was rough on our party. Creatures who could be slayed with some effort, but once they were done continue to explode again and again. The issue with this was that these creatures needed to be searched to weaken Kali’Rex. It may not have been easy but we managed to find all of the crystals and weaken Kali’Rex enough for Crimson Fang to finish her. Though the fight was difficult and well fought, we were able to defeat Kali’Rex for the foreseeable future, her body exploding as one final act of defiance.
I look back on the events of this day, sometimes with a heavy heart. I believe that often we all act and do what we believe is best, I spoke to Cernunnos about this for a while the night before. What does it mean for one to be evil? While I didn’t hear it first hand, I was told that Kalia whispered to Cressida, “at least you tried.” Maybe in another life, another timeline, a different group of adventurers would have ended the situation differently. I believe I will think about this for many years, maybe for the rest of my days in the Realms. We will never know what would have happened to Blackwood if Kalia was given a spot among the current spirits, I will try my best not to ponder what will never be.
Even as we head back to the tavern, the day is far from over. Rumblings spread throughout the land as we realize that locations are being attacked and kobolds are heightening their use of explosives. We split into four groups and defend points of interest until the sieges stop, when we are able to settle down to eat.
As night breaks through, a kobold named Jeffery shows up to the tavern, speaking of their dragon master eating all of their friends. They had managed to escape this cult and were looking for help. We follow Jeffery’s lead, fighting through tunnels against spidorpians, trying to find the dragon's lair. After some time we arrive at a door guarded by a puzzle. For quite a while we grapple with the puzzle, trying our best to understand the intricacies of it. After a while of being unsuccessful, someone uses their knightly power, Force of Wills, to be able to enter through the door. On the other end we find a maze of electric energy that we have to carefully navigate through without being shocked. Once on the other side, we are able to finally enter the dragon’s lair. Here we finally see the corrupt dragon that has been plaguing the people, spirits, and lands of Blackwood. We all knew what needed to be done. The battle was intense, with the dragon spewing arcane breath at us and eating the bodies of those who fell. However we are nothing if not persistent, and with persistence we were able to slay the foe. Slamming its body with magical blows, cutting it with silver swords, and feeding it anti-magic chains, the dragon was slayed. As its body decayed, the magic energy it had been absorbing was able to return to the land, ridding the corruption from the sick townsfolk who had been sleeping for days on end.
The night turns to morning as a new day begins. Sunday was spent tying up the loose ends of the day before. While the dragon was slain, Blackwood still needed to be divided among the spirits. But before we could do that, there was a problem. A kobold food pantry down the way had been posting wanted posters for some adventures for whatever crimes they were accused of. While the kobolds in the food pantry were armed, they had one rule, no weapons. If you entered without weapons, they would not harm you and everything was fine. They were actually quite nice to talk to. However, this was not good enough for some people who decided to barge in and begin slaughtering the kobolds!! I tried my best to communicate that they were not looking to murder us all but I can only do so much. What I did do was escort out some kobolds who were completely harmless and just wanted to live their little life in their little food pantry. Apparently they had a map of where Seban was being kept, who was kidnapped for a second time. If I have any advice for Blackwood, it is anti-kidnapping classes for your spirits. I stayed with the kobolds trying to comfort the ones who were still alive. While I was doing this, apparently some adventurers went off and rescued Seban. I learned after the fact that he was kidnapped, we found a map, and freed him. Now that we had all of the spirits saved, we held a meeting to first dub Crimson Fang as.. Crimson Fang, as well as divide up the lands of Blackwood for each spirit to watch over.
The night we slayed the dragon, meteors began crashing down. This caused some damage as you can imagine, but it also released some space orcs and.. Cows! This mission caused me to lose the plot a little but it was a joyous time. Apparently, if you belittled the orcs enough they could be slayed. So while people ran around bullying the orcs, some of us began wrangling the cows. Most of these seemed to be straight forward except one who was prancing around happily making mooing sounds. I noticed it had a bit of rhythm to its moos and that it wanted to be sung to. So I began singing to this cow as I led it to the post we were going to tie it to. I don’t know what we ended up doing with the cows but we defeated the orcs who wanted us dead and stopped the cows from trampling the villagers. The very last thing we did was help the Nixets. They were hit by lightning when we bust the puzzle door down and also the dragon’s corruption caused their magic to weaken. We gave the Nixets some magic to make them feel better and defeated some creatures keeping them captive. We ended the day with a small ritual to get a better understanding of the events that took place.
Overall, this was one of the most chaotic and enjoyable weekends of my adventuring career. We appeared to be successful in helping the sick villagers, purifying the corruption through the land, and fairly dividing Blackwood among the spirits to watch over.