bern

Bern Selaena managed to get us an update: the Princess was overjoyed to hear that her True Love yet lived and sought her embrace, but insisted on seeing the ring before actually doing anything. So we tried to arrange another distraction. The guests kept demanding new and obscure dishes (everything from roast swan to pizza rolls) and sending the waitstaff – us – down to the kitchens to get it.

Bern We returned to Westkeep for a few days to heal, sealing the tomb again on the way out. On the trip back, we noticed a strange tree shaped like a gigantic foot, and a flock of hawk-deer hybrids. We avoided both. In Westkeep, I passed on the news about the gnome and his grain to the local priest. Seleana volunteered to look for herbs to help our recovery, and I went hunting to help pay for her room at the inn in return.

Bern I had been putting this damn arm problem off long enough. I got the Glorious Blades back together in Westwood, planning to explore the Dolmenwood and make contact with a fae who might be able to fix my arm… somehow. It wasn’t as well planned as I’d like but I was out of ideas and so were the local churches. Oscar offered me the shield he had been using, a huge piece of twisted iron that I was surprised he could even lift, much less fight with.

Bern So we stumbled around in the forest for a while, looking for a mound and finding nothing. We did find a nest of phase spiders, which are like normal spiders except they can disappear, and have an absolutely vicious poison that takes ten minutes to kill you. We didn’t realize they were phase spiders at first; the kid shot one with his bow and hurt it a bit, but I put in a solid hit with mine and it just bounced off.

Bern Oscar sent word that he had found a sword that might work well for me. Apparently it has some history with the White League, a group of rangers dedicated to opposing … things. It’s a little unclear exactly what things. This one is supposed to oppose scales, even though we found it in the barrow of a dead lizard king, and the blade itself is covered in serpent markings.

Bern When I woke up the next morning, the weird barbed sword was gone. We looked and couldn’t find it anywhere. Weird. We took our two mules, 3 fighting men and a torchbearer. Well. Lantern bearer since I paid for a lantern. Feeling guilty about that damned box for some reason. And went back to the grotto after the magic box, in case it was worth something, whether still magical or just as a curiousity.

Bern Once we finished picking up the treasure from the box, we took the time to search the bodies of the dead trogolodytes and the rest of their throne room. They were keepin’ skulls of their dead in a display case, complete with little labels. We took four of those. There was a snakeskin map and some blank snakeskin parchments. And, there was a short sword with jagged, serrated edges hidden in the cushion of a trashed sofa of some kind.

Bern I was itching to try out my new trained wardog Snausages. Got him from Feverborne when I mentioned buying some wardogs, he figured three were better than two and he ain’t wrong. Sanfire mentioned he figured out the riddle of the mystery box, and told me the answer… didn’t make me promise not to go get it first. His mistake. Since the Gray Company had been pestering us to change our name, we talked it over and decided we should become the The Glorious Blades.

Bern So I was drinking with the Butchers of Helix when a couple of the new recruits stumbled in telling tales of some caves to the north full of treasure (and also goblins and kobolds). Sounded worth exploring so I grabbed Ahnjela and Ygnas (not literally) and we talked out our plan. They didn’t want to pay for any cannon fodder. I don’t get along with people so good. I did buy two war dogs, complete with their armor.

Bern When I saw that thing with too many mouths behind the secret door, there was only one thing to do. I braced myself to resist it’s gurgling and slammed the door shut, then took a good look around me. Everyone else was nuts, even the jelly skellies. I did the only thing that made sense. I ran to the middle door, the one the skellies didn’t care about, opened it and ran in, closing the door behind me.