The Trials of Kurgaz Ulfson

[feniox]

It has not been long since I left my stronghold. I had been travelling for a few days trying to track down the orc tribe responsible for the death of Thurgil. The night had fallen and I took a quick rest behind some rocks near a river, when I awoke I found myself standing before a Dragon! Me and the dragon exchanged a few words and he directed me towards a town named Hlint.

Somewhere along the way I lost most of my equipment, so I had to start by purchasing a new axe! I needed to sort myself out now, and the first thing I needed to do was raise some money for a new armour of some kind, fortunately there are many people in this town who needed help, so of course I had to lend them my hand.  I’ve done a few tasks for people today, I killed a wererat in the sewer on the request of a young woman, and one of the guard masters employed me to take care of some Goblins outside of the town, I did this as quickly as I could, killing a whole tribe of them single handed!

Later in the day I was making a trip into the local crypts to rid it of those vile undead creatures that dwell there, when I met a kinsman! He told me his name was Murin. He and I fought well together, he is a good fighter like myself. We quickly cleansed the crypt of the evil that was there and returned to the inn. We agreed to meet up again for an Ale. It was nice to battle beside a fellow Dwarf again and I have no doubt that we will become close friends, although  I will never try to replace Thurgil.

*the page seems to be slightly water damaged at this point, perhaps through raindrops or tears*

[feniox]

Since my last entry I have been busy indeed, and have made much progress. The first thing I did the day after meeting Murin was take the money I had earned to the bank and bought myself protection in the form of a tower shield and a suit of banded mail. I'd prefer to have waited and saved the money towards a full plate, but I was suffering too many blows, and defence is the best offence, and it has been a wise investment. I have also switched my choice of weapon, I have decided not to use my Greataxe anymore, in favour of a Dwarven waraxe, a weapon which can deal almost as much damage, whilst still allowing me to use a shield to protect myself, and other people.

Today I have mainly been working on odd jobs for a few more of the people who needed help around Hlint, delivering letters and the like, I also venture into the local crypt in order to retrieve a vial of darksoul essence for the undertaker. This man is suspicious at best, and I question his motives and why he would want the essence of such vile undead, however his reasons are his own and I did my best to help him.

I met many new people today, the first being a Dwarf by the name of Dorax, and a human cleric named Logan. They were escorting a girl who I did not get the name of through the Crypt when they came upon me. I joined them and we cleared the crypt and left. The girl did nothing but complain about everything! she complained about having to touch the dead when she wanted their gold, she complained that the cleric was taking their knuckles for his potion, she complained that she had to go into the sewers at one point! Never would a Dwarf female act in such a way!

The other person of interest I met today was a Paladin of Toran by the name of Slate. A thoroughly kind and polite man, it was both an honour and a pleasure when he asked me to escort him ad his friend (a wizard by the name of Nex) into the crypts again...the crypts, it seems I cannot escape the place today! still, many undead have fallen by my axe, so I cannot complain.


Tomorrow I shall commence training with my new weapon of choice, I must master it's use, and also hone my skills at defending myself during combats if I am to become a strong warrior and defender!

[feniox]

It has been a few days since my last entry into this book, and I have accomplished much since my last writings. I have met many new people in the last few days, of all races and backgrounds, and most of them seem to be genuine and good hearted people.

Today I met up with a servant of mist named Rolf. We were sitting on the benches near the Hlint city bank when along came a character in a brilliant green cloak, he was soon introduced as Geir, a warrior bard. I asked him to join me and the three of us had a good conversation about nothing in particular, life, mining and relaxation amongst other things, which as I agreed is a good thing, but too much makes the body go soft and useless for battle or hard work!

Shortly after this, a human barbarian by the named of Skarp-Heiden arrived, it turns out he is the brother of Geir, although they seem to have little to know resemblance in both personality and appearance. Whereas Geir is friendly, wise and well worded, his brother seems to be a man of action and practicality, neither of which can ever be a bad thing in my book!

The four of us left towards fort hope so they could meet up with a young lass called Abigail, I have seen her around a few times but we have never spoken, I don't think she likes me much, and as friendly as she seems to those who know her, there is something about that girl i think is worth being wary of. All the same, we left hope with her and we went to some mines near the dire woods because the brothers wanted to mine topaz gems, giving the rest of us an opportunity to test our skills against the ogres that live there. I did not waste this opportunity, but it seems I still need to prepare myself further before I am to be worthy of the title of a champion.

The topaz mining was not the most successful, I think only one gem was taken away from the whole expedition, but nobody complained and we had to move on to meet up with some others outside Velensk in order to venture into the berhagen mountains, they did not tell me why, but I was happy to lend hand in assistance, and it was during this adventure that I felt my both my strength in battle and efficiency with my Waraxe to improve.

We were led into the mountains by a fierce Dwarf named Bruenor, he seems aggressive on the outside, but he made a trustworthy ally and a strong leader, I would follow him to my death if he asked it, and I almost did. We were deep beneath a cave within in the Berhagen mountain range, we had cleansed it almost entirely of ogres when we were ambushed on the way back. I followed Bruenor and charged them head on so as to stop them getting too near to our archer and caster companions. The fight raged in a confined space and in the ensuing carnage I fell. I dropped to the ground and as my life drained I could think of only how I had failed my companions, as I had failed Thurgil before them, luckily, Rolf managed to revive me from the brink of death just in time and enabled me to continue, now I owe him a debt for he saved my life and allowed me to continue towards fulfilling my oath.

On the way back through the mountains I decided to depart from the group and rest for a while in the city of Shoufal, they did not need my help any longer and I was tired from my near death experience. So I rested in town for a few hours. When I left I had an uneventful journey back through the mountains. and the walk I took from there to the forest beyong blackford castle. Here I gathered two pelts for a local trader in Hlint who had asked for my help. It was also at this time I met a young sailor named Reef. An odd young warrior who fights with a boathook, and enjoys life at sea rather than to have his feet on firm ground, never-the-less he was likeable enough and proved to be a good companion to me in the short time we were together until we returned to Hlint and parted ways.

[feniox]

Today was most interesting, I followed the letter than I had received with regards to the Grety circle advertisement, it let me to the scamps mug tavern on the docks of port Hampshire. As I enter the inn I immediately came across two kinsmen draped in grey robes, although their faces were concealed behind hoods. They led me into the back room, where we awaited the arrival of the others.

Once the group had assembled the talk began, the one I took to be the leader spoke well, obviously trying to conceal his accent. He told us of the grey circle, and of what our duties will be should be pledge our allegiance, and that no action should be made against those we oppose without full support of the law. We were also given a name of known "targets" to keep our eyes on and report back to, although these names I will not write here, incase this book should fall into the wrong hands.

Then came something I was not expecting...mind probes. One by One the assembled were led into a room with one of the Dwarves and a druid, one who can change his form! in the room he changed into some abomination from the deep underground, an illithid I think somebody called it. He was lithe and withered, with tentacles forming a large part of his body and face. We had to take it in turns to take a seat, where he then probed our minds and asked us questions telepathically. I had nothing to hide, but I could not keep my discomfort over his form hidden from him, although it seemed only to amuse him.

We were all cleared, we each undertook the oath of the grey circle, to uphold the law, never stray from the path of the good and just, and to remain secretive at all times for in our secrecy lies our greatest strength.

It was at this point the two mysterious leaders revealed themselves to us as none other than Kobal and Hargranar. Now we knew we were in company to be trusted, and the group were led to the Grey circle safehouse. Once again I won't include the location here, for fear of being discovered, however I will say that it was certainly impressive! Kobal gave us a tour of the building, training and storage rooms, libraries and rooms to call our own are all at our disposal here, to use freely.

After the tour Kobal gave each of us our own key to the building and sat us down
to fill us in on the rest of our forthcoming duties and concerns. They were long and detailed, and I will not repeat them here for further security, and the fact that they are written in the many logs and tomes within the grey circle building.

One thing is assured, the near future will certainly test my abilities to the full, but I feel ready for the challenge, and knowing that I am working towards to Defense of the people of Mistone is a great honour, even if they will never truly know of my deeds on their behalf...

[feniox]

It's been fair too long since my last entry into my trusty old journal, though I can't say much of important has happened until recently. The circle agreed to meet in the arranged place in preparation for the cleansing expedition, but even that didn't go to plan. Celgar Magnus was hanging around outside the Inn at Hlint, bothering hargranar, he said he "needed to speak to him" and then got upset when Harg told him to sling his hook...the foolish human never learns.

When the circle had gathered in the pub we sat at a table and discussed the plans for the evening, it didn't take long before we decided to cleanse storan's crypt in the grey peaks. Many undead have been spotted there lately, roaming around the hills, as if the crypt had started overflowing, so it seemed that it needed a good cleansing.

We left the Inn in groups of three, so as not to raise suspicion, and so Celgar wouldn't be able to tell we were all together if he had seen us, this didn't go to plan either as he started to follow on the trail of Harg and Kobal. The rest of us snuck around the north of Hlint rather than go directly past Celgar or anyone else who may be watching the group. When the group met up again in the grey peaks they told us that Harg had called down the power of Vorax to cause an earthquake on Celgar and stop him following, but he deserved it and more!

The expedition didn't start too well either, the circle proved it's strength by clearing out the first few rooms quickly, but there were no keys to be found so we couldn't proceed further down into the crypt of Storan. Instead we left and headed for the broken halls and agreed to return to Storan's crypt in the near future in the hope that the keys come out of there hiding place, along with the foul creatures that hold them.

The trip into the broken halls was well needed it seems, the first couple of levels were relatively light, with only diseased rats and the like to take care of, but something much worse was dwelling further down. The closer towards the heart of the earth we got the more the danger increased, at one point we were surrounded by great werewolves, wererats and even werebears! seemingly crawling out of the walls they were, on they came but all of them fell, they couldn't withstand the combined might of the circle.

Still further we went, and then the tragedy happened, we entered into an area and all of sudden...darkness everywhere, but not normal darkness, magical darkness, and then they were upon us...the vampires...hundreds of them, even more than the werecreatures it seemed. We fought bravely in the darkness for what seemed like forever, I heard the screams and battlecries of my fellows all around, then all went silent...

when the darkness lifted a terrible sight was before us, three of our number lay dead, Geir, rolf and Jacchri. As we stood around cursing their deaths and bandaging our wounds Bruenor prayed to Vorax to return his good friend Rolf to us, and Vorax did not abandon us! A legendary hero appeared, I thought it a vision at first, but then it spoke, and we all heard it. He told us Vorax had been watching, and that he was pleased with all of us. He granted Rolf his life, but it drained Bruenor of his energy for a while.

As myself, Kobal, Bruenor and Harg gave our praises to Vorax rolf returned life to the bard Geir, but we could not help Rolf. We were about to gather up the body and take him back when a dog walked in, it was one of those wild types, but didnt seem dangerous. The mutt went up to Jacchri and licked him on his face, then a whole pack of the buggers turned up! they held their heads and started howling into the air. None of us knew what to think, but then Jacchri rose to his feet, it would seem that his god had been pleased with his efforts also and granted him his life back, all of us were truly lucky, but we were also inspired, we had the gods attention on us...and they were happy.

The next level of the crypt brought more death upon our group. A small doll came around the corner whilst we were fighting other vampires and attacked us, I fought it off for a while, but then the damned thing struck me down! The next thing I knew I was lying on my back looking up at the dungeon ceiling with my friends faces looking down at me, I clambered to my feet wearily and was told that Vorax had again granted us the strength to carry on!

What happened after all seemed quick, the ground shook as we entered the final chamber, and from all corners they came at us, the foul undead...and the mud dragon. I ran at it with me axe but couldn't get there in time, the others in the group dispatched it quicker than I'd have thought even possible! the ground shook one last time as its huge carcass fell to the floor in a heap. Then we realised we were in the company of something far worse than a wyrm....Stood in the corner...some malevolent beast spawned of the dark gods. A red demon with claws and the ugliest face I've ever seen in my life, but even this thing fell to us all in little time!

Since that glorious day nothing much has happened to me, but I write this now with fond memory. I am glad to have pleased Vorax, and we did a grand deed that day by cleansing the crypt, The cities nearby are much safer now because of us, and it doensn't even matter that they will never know about it. Now I wait in anticipation of the next cleansing expedition, I don't know where we are going yet, but I am expecting to face things far worse than we have so far...

[feniox]

An interesting few days it has been since the last entry, many tales have been told about the undead around mistone getting worse, just the other day a group found undead infiltrating the Haven mines and killing the ogres there, until Bruenor put an end to them by destroying the summoning circle...ah, poor bruenor. Last night on the circle experidition into the nameless dungeon the umberhulks used their foul magic to rob our minds! They took mine a couple of times and made me attack Kobal bluntaxe...kobal! A good thing for me he didn't attack me back.

Old Brue wasn't so lucky, twice he lost his mind to the beasts, and twice he took the lives of our companions, the first time he cut down little Bido the halfling monk...the little 'un didn't stand a chance against the strength of Bruenor. The second time Bruenor lost his mind he was forced to slay Rolf the cleric. Although no one blames him, the incident took it's toll on Bruenor and he blames himself, I just hope for the sake of all of us he can clear his mind of it quickly.

Slightly further down in the Dungeon we found a puzzle of doors locked by pressure plates on the ground, it didn't take us long to open a couple of them up though, at which point we found a room of powerful vampires protecting their summoning circle! Bruenor made light work of the circle, repeating the process he had used in the mine at Haven. It is indeed worrying how these foul undead are spreading though....

I met Kobal again today in Fort Llast, he had some armour for me. We agreed on a price of 10,000gold, reduced from 16,000 because of my circle membership, I only had 6500 so I still owe him a bit, better get that before he sends kramir after me...The armour itself though is magnificent! a fine example of Dwarven craftmanship, and a fine wall of protection it will be, though I'm going to have to start training hard for a while before I will be able to use it properly.

I still haven't managed to find a Dwarven defender in the area, I was hoping to find one to teach me and help me to grow strong and worthy enough to redeem myself for the death of Thurgil....but I have only met one, Fenrir his name was, I only met him once though and that was when I was new in the area. Regardless, it's still my ambition and I'm going to train hard to achieve it! I have learnt many things about defending both myself and others in battle, and will continue to study the mistakes of both myself and my companions so that I may learn more, my battle prowess has already increased considerably, and I've now devloped some sort of expertise with my chosen weapon!

[feniox]

Today I made a mistake, a stupid mistake, one I swear by Vorax I shall never make again. I wandered down into the crypt in krandor by myself. I knew the dangers there were high, but I was overpowered quickly and eventually killed, despite my best effort at escaping. Vorax smiled on me though, for he did not take me to sit with him in the afterlife, but instead sent my spirit to the bindstone, obviously he has use for me yet.

On the way back to the crypt I was encountered by a warrior in dark clothing, he seemed a bit suspicious as first, but we seemed to get along well, and he offered me assistance in returning to the crypt, on the condition that I bought the drinks in the inn after! He introduced himself as Derrick, he gave me no last name, and we headed off into the crypt.

Though an aura of danger surrounded my new companion I felt a lot safer for having him with me, and he proved trustworthy enough, although never seeing his face makes me suspect him still, I only hope I haven't assisted some Dark force by accompanying him. Never-the-less, I learnt many new things from him during our short time together, he taught me a few things about ambushes, how to defend myself whilst fighting in confined spaces, and about using terrain to better advantage during combat. Through the tactics he showed me we managed to win more than one fight that I thought would be impossible, and my respect was raised for him. After our expedition we went to the Inn, and as promised I bought the round of drinks, shortly after he slipped away to continue on his business in Port Hampshire, whilst I returned to Hlint.

I have a feeling I will be seeing this man again, although a horrid feeling in my gut tells me the next time might not be so pleasant...I hate to be so distrustful of one who had helped me so much, but still...better to be suspicious than dead...

[feniox]

well, It's been a while since I wrote here, so I shall write a quick update of all the things that have happened since last time.

I recently received a letter from a cleric of the church of Vorax from my home city, they have granted me sponsorship, and with a little more training I shall be entitled to call myself a Defender. Finally my lifelong ambition has been reached, but the occasion seems soured, mainly because Thurgil is not here to share the moment with me, and shall never have the title for himself. I had originally planned to return home once my goal had been reached, but I now feel that I am better served where I am, there is still much that needs to be done, and the numbers of those strong enough to help are dwindling.

The grey circle is still strong, although activity has not been much of late, we must keep a low profile for a while, in order to let the false rumour appear to be truthful. We did recently embark on another trip into the nameless dungeon, once again we were foiled by the puzzle of doors the place presents, and despite many vampires it seems we are not going to be able to rid the place of its true heart of evil until we can get a skilled locksmith to accompany us into the place.

There is something happening, over the last weeks notes have been posted all over mistone, on trees and in the taverns, calling to all dwarves to attend a meeting in the Dwarven city of Lar, situated deep within the grey peak mountains. As a Dwarf, and accepted Defender of Vorax no less, i felt it my duty to attend such a meeting, and that I did. It appears an army is to be built, entirely of Dwarves, in order to train as a solid unit to partake in the fight against blood. It is a notion I support fully, but I will not assist in a suicide mission. Those assembled seemed to take my ideas on board though, and it was decided that over the next couple of weeks recruitment shall take place, and then the election of a governing council, each with their own assignment of men. I am hoping that with my tactionary skills I shall be able to get a position on the council, then I can train and lead my dwarven brethren in the fight coming fight.

There are vampires on the move, I have just returned from a hunt with Quantum windword on behalf of the church of Toran, I dont know the details but there seems to be a master vampire on the loose, one of three known as "The ill". The other two are dead, but the third, the female, is very much at large, I learnt of a ruby used by the vampires to sustain life, and I learnt of the curse placed upon Na-Hani by them, though I dont know specifics at this time. Our journey took us through bloody gate to the bone hills, and to a meeting with a necromancer by the name of lkol. As much as it pains me to consort with his type instead of cutting him down it appears to be the only way to find the vampire. Now I must wait until I am called again.

[feniox]

It’s been a few days since my expedition out to the dragon isles, my many wounds have healed well since then, and the  memories have become comfortable enough for me to feel write about them, though these notes will still be short. We were summoned to meet in Leilon, by special invite of Kobal, of course I arrived, and the group came together, powerful warriors of all faiths, many of which are well respected adventurers. It turned out that the purpose of our party was to travel to the serpemt isles and find a flower, by the name of “dream sky” which could be used in an antidote for the poisons that the Drow had placed in the local water supplies a few months ago.

As we sailed across the sea Kobal asked a favour of me, which I was honoured to carry out. He asked me to protect one of the members of the group, Katrien Hommel, should we meet Drow resistance, which he was certain we would. I took the assignment and stuck close to the pregnant lass for the trip, making sure that I would fall before they could get to her, so that at least she could run away.

It was as expected, we hadn’t stepped far onto the island when we came across the first of what was to be many Drow scouts. Soon it lay dead, but we knew far worse was to come, and we were right. The island was covered in Drow froces, some small, some not so, all of them full of powerful wizards and assassins.  

We also met Satyrs on the island, they were hostile to begin with, and as such died, but then one of them spoke to us and told us that they were being held ransom by the evil Drow! They had captured the spirit of the wood, or some such, and imprisoned her, she was said to be “the heart” of the satyr people, and the Drow would kill her if they did not fight us. They agreed to help us overthrow their Drow oppressors, and we were only too happy to help.  The satyrs fought bravely in the battle to free her, many of them lost their lives, specifically after the summoning of a Balor, but even more of them survived, and freed their heart. We were rewarded by being given a bracelet each, primitive bracelets made of interwoven strands of green hair, it doesn’t look much, but I can sense power in it, it still hangs around my wrist now.

The remaining Satyrs accompanied us to “The place of many bridges” where we found the Dreamsky flowers that we had been searching for, at this point some bizarre ritual involving connor garvill began, and I realised my role in this adventure. I had to help Kobal and the other defend the bridge, we could afford to let nothing pass as the ritual was underway, and we made sure nothing did. Many lost their lives and felt the brush of death on that bridge, including Kobal and Vigg Belber themselves, but overall we held strong, and kept the hordes of onrushing evil from passing us.

To cut the story down, the day saw much blood, and many deaths on both sides. Not one member of our powerful group escaped the touch of death at least once, although the soul mother was kind to most of us. I fell three times myself, which made me feel…redundant, but this enemy was not one to underestimate and I continued to fight all the same. My only hope is that our attempts were not in vain, and that the flowers can be put to some use.

This was my first encounter with the Drow filth, and from what I can see, it will not be the last. Now I must train harder, and pray to Vorax to give me strength so that on the day when I am given the word to charge into them again, I may send even more of them back to the darkness!