The Joural of Ema Nekafa - The White Wolf

[Ronan]

Tyche, pronounced TIE-key.

And its Githzerai, not zeri.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Twelfth Entry: I went on a long trip down the trade way with Delphi where we talked about a few things. Apparently the Great Oak presented it's self to her and she has decided to fallow the Seldarine, something which i'm actually quite proud of for her. Now that shes fallowing a path more in line with her people i think i shall take an higher interest in her, help guide her as best as i can. We walked all the way to Nashkel and back just talking. I enjoyed the open road. Apparently she makes for a lot better conversation when shes not drunk and with Berendil to make her bold.

After we arrived back in Nashkel me and her went separate ways, i went to the book store hoping to find some information about this thing Senar'smarch and found nothing on it there. The dwarf behind the counter was a annoying woman who eventually caused me great grief. I left there and went over to the only other place i thought i could find help. I went to the sorcerious sundries store where the apprentice there helped me quite a bit. He told me that the word was most definitely "not" a Netherise word but after i told him it activated a portal he explained that it is something called a Gatekey.

His master came down shortly after and proceeded to sold me for looking into things i didn't understand, he told me that I was foolish to be playing around with things i didn't understand and in honesty his advise was sound stuff. Stay away from it was basically what he was saying. However in this case safe is not an option for me. The old mage apparently was so upset that he erased everything his student had written down.

When he left the student however offered me something. He sold me a scroll which he told me should help me. He told it could tell me about the portal and where it went however the magic it's self is arcane. Something which i know nothing about in any way shape or form. I decided to buy it anyways for forty platinum and headed out.

On a separate note iv started to ask around and see if i could locate a priest of Fenmarel, starting in the city of Nashkel where i imagine a remote outcast would probably chose to live. Looking around for elves to ask is more difficult then I imagined, i never realized just how few of us there really are out here.

-- True to what is written here the Whitewolf has begun her search for a priest of Fenmarel, knowing how far and few in-between then would be she starts in the most remote and self sufficient location she could think of Nashkel. She starts by asking other elves in the area but then expands her search outward even going so far as to pass an inquiry along the lines to the customs officer if perhaps he has any records of an elf passing though claiming to be a priest of Fenmarel. If all this fails she heads up the trade way towards Beregost --

[Dyslexic_Author]

Thirteenth Entry: Finally after all the time i know the way down to the underdark. It was a long time coming but this Alyra woman actually knew the way. When i asked her at first she gave me problems about it. She sat there and pretended she knew what was best for me. That she was doing me some grand favor for "not" telling me what she knew. I could have ripped her head off it i wasn't so patent and i warned her pretty bluntly that if she didn't want to become an obstacle for me.

She said "There is a sinkhole, right outside the Gate. At the bottom is a portal that only opens at night. You cannot take armor though it. Beyond that there is a portal you can only enter by having your eyes closed. And beyond that, a portal that requires a toll of some sort. Between you and it, the denizens of the Underdark." Clearly the trip is incredibly dangerous, but then i expected no less. Ill have my victory and ill find the son of a bitches that destroyed everything i knew.

I have to think carefully though about who i want to bring down to explore it. Berendil is an obvious choice, hes smooth and stealthy like i am with a sharp wit and a talent with a bow. Garlus would make a good choice as well, if not for the fact that he wouldn't be able to bring his armor with him. But then i don't know exactly how much his armor really helps him. Trapper would be a good choice as well if i could convince her its worth making the trip. Finally Persephone.. Despite her sometimes foolish notions about what is right and wrong shes got a level head on her shoulders.

I recently purchased a book as well, "Volo's Guide To The Underdark". Iv taken time to study it very carefully memorizing the information within and testing myself on it as i walk the trade way.

On a separate note. Garlus and the rest of us went up to the mountains again.. seems like giant activity is one the rise.. those ice giants are hitting caravans heavier each and every day stopping trade back and forth. We were sent up to take a look into it and reported the dead scouts. We found a caravan that had been beset but never found the one that was assaulted about two days ago. With the number of frost giants up there I'm beginning to think there is something more going on up there. The trip went well enough.. i was able to lead our group along the tracks and we encounter a Winterwolf which i was able to skin. Hopefully ill be able to make something of the pelt.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Fourteenth Entry: Yesterday was pretty eventful. I learned from Leif that there was a drow scouting party in the cloakwood. We did some investigation and learned that the drow apparently came from the portal within the cloakwood cave and then went to the underdark entrance. We also learned that the drow have a habit to come up from the underdark to trade with the goblins once or twice right before the moon is waxing full. Next time they come up I'm hoping to set up some kind of ambush on the place where they go to trade. Maybe i cant learn a little something about what they are up to down there.

The goblin who revealed this to use told us that if we went down we would need an oak branch to pass though the portal. However i don't believe that really as that's what the drow told him was needed. Even he was telling us what he thinks is the truth there no saying if the drow told him that to misdirect.

Leif found out about the portal and got it in his head that it needs to be broken. Luckily hell never find the thing. At least not without being shown how to reach it. That much is a godsend. Beyond that the only thing of note is a sword i recently came into possession of. An ancient Eleven Sword-blade apparently hailing from Occeian dating it back easily twenty thousand years old. Its in great condition which is not surprising since I'm told it was forged by the same elf that created the Dracorage Mythal.

-- Ema continues her search after writing this journal for a Priest of Fenmarel spreading her searches up towards Beregost after learning that apparently elves are not welcome in Nashkel from her other elvin friends. While there she send a missive to the Temple of the Seldarine in Silverymoon. It reads as fallow and is written entirely in Elven. It appears that she took a great deal of time and care to make the letters in as perfect a script as possible. It is sealed with a wax stamp shaped as a fang. --

To Whom It Concern

I will keep this short. My name is Ema Nekafa and i would like to request that should there be a willing priest Fenmarel who visits the temple there in Silvermoon that they be directed to Baulder's Gate at the Elf Inn. I have given direction to the Innkeeper there to put up any priest who claims to be of Fenmarel for the Nights that they stay. I wish to discuss with a priest of my faith the validity of divine inspiration I have recently been having in my meditations. It is my belief that Fenmarel desires me to construct a shrine in his favor near a waterfall. A vision of flowing water and the howl of a great wolf have been persisting in each meditation I have had.

Signed - Ema Nekafa to kin, "Whitewolf" to those who are not.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Fifteen Entry: I have good reason to believe that Garlus' body was brought to a dwarven fort in the marches. I learned this when i traveled to the marches to do some purchasing in Silverymoon as i do to save gold. The trip is long, but the gold i save by making the trip prevents me from getting ripped off by the merchants in Baulder's Gate.

I hope to go there and pay my respects to Garlus.. Though rumor has it the fort is off limits to non dwarves. Ill have to make the trip meaning when I'm sure i can get in.

There is not much else to write about at the moment.. seems like things are slowing down.

--Added later--

Some drunk human slob with burn marks across his face wearing red tried to give me piss water wine and then insisted that i take off my mask. He was clearly in need of a good face beating but instead i dipped out. Just another piece of evidence that humans are worthless.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Sixteenth Entry: Olaf has agreed to help me. It took some convincing and i had to tell him everything know but he will at least now come down and use this scroll to learn about the portal. Hopefully we can determine the exact nature of the portal and learn where that githzerai woman came from and why.

Iv given up on visiting Garlus' resting place. It was a foolish notion to think dwarves would ever allow an elf into their halls. Frustrating defiantly but foolish still.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Seventeenth Entry: I don't know where to begin this entry.. so much has happened and so little time has been given to me to write it all down. I suppose i should pick up where i left off last. The portal. I went down with Olaf and the others. Persephone, Berendil, Olaf, and some other unimportant people. We found that the portal had indeed been leaking some kind of demons though it. And we learned from the orc there who calls himself the kind of goblins now that Drake and his gang have been down there as well. Confronting them about them about it is a whole nothing tale which ill get to later.

The Goblin King told us there was a number of drow down there about a dozen in all which we never encountered. We ended up turning back before reaching the portal and using the scroll to learn about the portal. The devils it turns out were some kind of dragon faced monsters that Tiamat apparently employs, the goddess of evil dragons. The entire trip in my opinion was a waste of time. The only useful information which i learned was where the orc "the king of Goblins" was from. Dirk Hargenan, which iv never heard of but judging by the way the way i was able to communicate with him fluently in undercommon I'm guessing its some underdark location.

Facing Drake and his gang about the portal i was brought into a circle of them and had my life threatened at least a dozen of times however Drake himself did none of it. The man seems despite the stories iv heard about him to actually be quite reasonable. More reasonable it seems then Persephone who constantly throws about her ego and condescending tone like it would make anything she says more valuable. If there's one thing i hate about her, for all the good she does, its that condescending tone.. I swear if i wasn't sure she would overreact id give her a good ear full.

Apparently Drake and the others think the portal is not as broken as it seems. That it is functioning exactly as it's supposed to. Something which i teased them a little bit that should I be given more access to the portal i could determine for certain the validity of. Long story short some further talking and some careful suggestion and i may very well have these two groups working together.

That all aside, as iv made no progress with it, i finally got the chance to put down a whole band of drow. At least twenty of them. Apparently they were in the employ of a mindflayer which to me means that they could be connected to the candlekeep business somehow. Perhaps those drow lingering around that portal are even in the employ of the these mindflayers working together to some common goal. Its all speculation but thus far speculation is what works.

On a separate note, Rogen died. Idiot got himself mauled by a bear leading ever more foolish people who would fallow "Him" around into it. Good riddance.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Eighteenth Entry: I went though the portal.. and what i found beyond was harrowing. At first it appeared we were in some kind of crypt cloaked in shadows and we searched the entire place. There was nothing to be found there but what looked like dwarven scripts on many sarcophagus. I couldn't tell you what any of them read however. Finally it was time to leave and we thought simply leaving by the portal we came though would bring us home. We were wrong.

Instead of sending us back.. it sent us to some kind of room.. and in it appeared to be four portals.. One of which was cloaked in black darkness.. We assumed it would bring us back to that crypt, one which appeared it has clouds behind it and to be smokey, one which was cloaked in blue flames, and finally the last one which didn't appear to be functioning. Given our options we went though what appeared to be most friendly of the two we were certain would bring us somewhere new. The one of clouds and smoke.

What a foolish thought we had that it would so easy. Were we arrived I'm half certain was the underdark.. the portal behind us closed and in front of us was a brazier which spoke out it's command to us. It was some kind of puzzle saying something like. Gold is like a thousand star.. but what is gold to one? It demanded we feed it something that carried the weight of a ton a gold. We had no idea what it wanted so Drake scouted ahead. He came back and said we needed to figure it out quickly. Id later have ti confirmed that it was a whole squad of drow were not far from where we were. Me and drake with no idea what it wanted just started throwing everything we had into it.

Eventually after drake thew the heads of some undead that he claimed he had into it the portal behind us opened and we rushed though. We were back in the nexus chamber. We decided this time to go though the portal of blue flame. It lead us into some kind of cave. This one was lush and growing and we explored it carefully leading to a dead end on the left and a portal down the right tunnel.. We almost went though that portal but Drake wanted to make sure we toughly explored everything before we left. Though another tunnel we found another portal but then i heard something from the direction we came. Drow... speaking in their dialect.

We had no choice but to run though the portal in front of us water flowing it appeared over the surface of the portal. There was no other way to d=go and the way we came was filled with quickly approaching drow. We ran and where we arrived suddenly drew together in my mind so many questions. We were in the wood of sharp teeth standing right in the middle of a circle of mushrooms. The very same circle where me, Olaf, and Berendil found all of those drow. I didn't have time to stop though and muse, the chase was still on. We ran to Gullykin where we were able to catch our breath.

There we stayed for a short time.. despite Drake's protests we left quickly to head to Beregost. The path was dangerous however and even i knew it was more then likely the drow would pursue us however i simply did not trust the halfling guards to be able to stand up to drow if they decided to raid the place to get to us. On the path there was a man, he was overly friendly, and he tried to strike up conversation. Not twenty steps past that bridge we were ambushed. Drake gave alarm.. i have no idea how he could spot the invisible mob but he did. I ran but before i could get away their poisoned bolt tips knocked me out. I felt the world go black and wondered if this was it.

When i woke up.. it was in the cave by the Mushroom circle back in the wood of sharp teeth. Apparently they wanted me alive, and drake was no where to be seen. I cursed at the drow when they first kicked me savagely after i tried to get out of my binds. But they didn't respond.. I even went so far as to curse them in their own tongue but again no response. it was like they didn't care, like my foul language fell on deaf ears.. then i saw why.. coming down the tunnel an Illithid. Suddenly i also understood why i was kept alive. I was lunch.

I fought my bindings... but it was no use. I was about to give up when suddenly i felt my bindings give way, as if cut and quickly i realized drake was there.. He kept his promise and risked his own life to come and save me from the drow. Without hesitation i reached for my potion of invisibility and drank it. I watched the confusion on the drow and illithid's faces as i did so standing up and then i bolted.

Me and Drake, the both of us invisible ran as far as we could all the way out to the bridge before we were panting. Then we walked quick as we could. My body felt like it was one fire.. and my wounds were so grievous i thought i might lose consciousness at any time but we made it to Beregost where i stayed for a few nights until my wounds were able to seal with divine aid.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Nineteenth Entry: I was turned into a cat.. and very well could have lived the rest of my life as a household animal as well. I have Olaf to thank that it was not the case. As for the drow threat and everything else. I think i'm just going to take a step back from things for now. The water seems to hot right now better to let things cool off and then jump back in.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Twentieth Entry: Delphi is dead she died in the cloakwood against goblins, if that were only the case Berendil and i could end our quest and slay goblin for the month and bury her remains. Instead we learned that her body was desecrated, her bones ripped from flesh and made to walk though necromatic arts. Two men in red robes, and one in brown robes. We fallowed their trail all the way to the underdark entrance in the cloakwood hills.

Berendil allowed his level head to hold him back again. I'm not sure if i'm upset with him or not over that. His students remains were turned into the walking dead and he just stops his pursuit. I supposed it doesn't matter anymore.

[Deviant]

Very nice reading, allthough you have mixed up the names and some other things about Ragnar and Rugnar.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Twenty First Entry: FINALLY! They pieces of the puzzle fall into place.. everything is and has been tied together from the start, just as i said it was. The Drow.. the Illithid. Candlekeep, Ach'Ali, and Strom Wakeman and from the horses mouth at that iv heard it. Ach'Ali knows something, something which "must" be kept from the Illithid. Its got something to do with Strom's current state. The whole reason candlekeeps been acting the way they have is because anyone knowing outside of them is a danger, apparently when a mindflayer eats your brain he not only eats it but gains all of your knowledge and experiences. if one of them ever got to someone who knew something it would all be over.

The Speeking Stone is real as well.. I was told to seek it out with the Sword's Edge and that if i helped i can finally have my access to the keep like iv always wanted. Thank the heavens. Iv waited so long. Strom claimed to be responcible for the speeking stone.... wait... a moment.... holy gods.. I just figured it out.

STROM IS THE SPEEKING STONE!

It fits! Hes the one inside of the speaking stone.. he didn't want to be found at that point because it might have revealed where we was hidden to the Mindflayers or the Lich who was looking for him! Strom is dead.. Ach'ali said. She spoke of him in the past tense like he was gone.. he is gone.. but his form is changed.. Strom is the speaking stone! That's what she knows that the illithid cant know. She said that the Strom studied the mindflayers.. that he was a schollar who studied them. He learned something that the mindflayers either want to know or didn't want him knowing.

Well. I know its not solid, but its a working theory which is slowly coming together. maybe I'm wrong. Whatever the case.. she said doing this would be a blow against the Mindflayers so I'm helping.

[Dyslexic_Author]

Twenty Second Entry: The Shrine is done.. its been built and it looks just as i imagined it would. All the effort put into it.. all the work that has been done is finally paid off. And now those true to the Path of Fenmarel have a place to go. Those of the Seldarine a place to pay respect. Ill be staying here.. watching over it. My home here in the woods and ill wait until Ciron comes around. I want to be present when he final blesses the place. I pray for the favor of Fenmarel and his approval of the work we have done.