23 Alturiak 1371

Dear Master Zorthaster,

Please forgive me for taking so long to get this letter off to you. Much has happened since I last wrote as we were leaving on our journey to the stars. We have been aboard ship for quite a while and then found ourselves rather busy upon our return to Daggerdale. Let me explain. The voyage out to Garden was far less eventful than our return, it was a long, quiet trip that I spent investigating the ship and brewing up a few potions for Shane. I learned much about Spelljamming and the hammer ship we were on. I even started to feel as though I was being a bit helpful to the crew at times, although it became clear to me that this crew was both well trained and highly skilled.

Potulous piloted the ship into the vicinity of the Garden with caution. This is the 7^th planet out from the sun in Realm's space and is best described as a cluster of huge rocks held together by a single giant plant called Yggdrasil's Child. Ships can pass between the rocks and into the foliage. This complex maze of stone and greenery is a haven for pirates hiding out or laying in wait for the unwary. On two separate occasions, we ducked into hiding ourselves as pirate ships cruised through the area looking for trouble.

The destination Potulous finally brought us to was a small port on a water body the size of a small lake. It was the town of Seggurah, home of a seer our Captain wanted to meet. He spent almost half a ride going back and forth between the ship and the town before he returned one evening with news. Potulous was seeking information about the missing heros of Daggerfalls. He thought that perhaps he might find something off planet. The seer confirmed that while it appeared that most of them were still alive, something was blocking all attempts to find them. More details could not be discerned and the huge giff concluded that his next best hope of finding out anything required a voyage out of Realms space. He was disappointed, but appeared undaunted in his quest. We cast off and set a course for home immediately.

On the 13^th of Alturiak the ship suddenly lost speed and the officers called for battle stations. When I reached the deck, I discovered that the ship was engulfed in a kind of dry, gray haze. Appearing suddenly out of the haze was a giant skull, followed by the bones of some enormous fish. It was a skeletal ship made from what appeared to be a gargantuan fish skeleton. A catapult stone, fired from the enemy ship, hit our deck and a half dozen skeletons unwrapped themselves and moved to attack. Primula was on the aft deck and promptly blasted them to flinders by the power of her elven god. More skeleton balls came flying at us as the siege weapon crews of our ship fired back. Oskar was helping the ballista crew and he scored a direct hit on what appeared to be a vampire seated in an ornate bone throne. The steel head of head of the ballista could not penetrate the vampire's magically protected body however. Oskar quickly cut the steel head from a ballista bolt and loaded it into the engine. This shaft, once again struck the vampire solidly. This time however, the wooden shaft drove through the undead monster and stapled him to the throne. Skeletons swarmed the throne, and tried to pull the shaft free. Even as they tried, they fell to pieces. Before more than a few breaths had passed, the entire ship had dissolved into tiny bone fragments. Meanwhile our entire ship was cheering and congratulating Oskar.

Five days later we again dropped out of Spelljamming speed with no warning. I was quite surprised for we were nearly back to the Rock of Brall. Amid the shouts and call to battle stations I raced to the deck to find a huge bat like ship screeching down on us with claws out thrust. It slammed into the side of our ship and grabbed hold. The talons of this creature-ship bit into the hull, tearing out huge chunks. One of our small life boats and an entire side fin were completely obliterated. The main mast was snapped like a thin dry twig. From a deck behind the body of the bat, figures began to appear, looking ready to board. The Captain must have thought so too. He shouted orders in a booming voice that carried from one end of the hammer ship to the other.

"Repel borders!" He bellowed. "Hold them off! Do not, repeat, DO NOT board that ship!" He reached up and grabbed a medallion he wore around his neck. From his hand there appeared a streak of blue that headed off to the stars. Potulous then turned his attention to the enemy ship.

I saw an opportunity and cast a flaming sphere onto the narrow deck where the pirates were massing. There was a scream and a mad scramble to get away from the burning ball before it suddenly went out. There were spell casters over there that snuffed out my flame. My suspicion was confirmed when a lightning bolt crackled across the deck and shattered one of the big glass shark eyes of our ship. Glass and wood flew everywhere. Primula, using a sling, cast a thunderstone at the bat ship and all the hells erupted. The bat ship started shaking its head violently and beating its wings wildly. Almost everyone aboard our ship was slammed to the decks, bounced off the railings and blown over the side. I smashed into a railing and tumbled over onto a fin. I tried to grab the canvas of the fin as the bat ship let go of the hammer ship and flew off, shaking its head in pain and fury. I couldn't get a grip on the slick canvas of the aft port fin and was getting panicky. My friends who had stayed on the deck of our ship had not forgotten me! After a few moments of flailing about, I grabbed hold of a line one of them had thrown to me. They hauled me in just in time to see the bat ship heading away at speed. Three new ships had come on the scene. These were great green crystal butterflies, crewed by elves that looked to be the same race as Kora. Elven Man of War ships!

They had come to rescue us. They showed respect to Potulous but it was clear that these were an arrogant people. That was fine with me. A little arrogance was easy to deal with when compared to being torn to shreds by a bat ship. One Man of War towed us in to the Rock of Brall while the other two took up positions on either wing. I learned that they had not gone after the Bat Ship because it was easily a match for two of the elven ships.

Potulous did not seem too upset about the catastrophic damage to his ship. He paid us 750 lions each and gave me a scroll to take to the Shou embassy. They would see us home. The giff told us that he would be tied up with repairs for a while, but was going to head out of Realms space on his quest for information. We told him that we would be interested in helping out again some time and he promised to call on us when he needed our services.

The Shou that took our scroll passed us on to another who did the same until finally we got to a guy who could actually do something. He led us into a room with a magic circle where he transported us back to Daggerfalls.

We arrived in the middle of a war! The Zhents had sent an army to reclaim Daggerfalls. It was an army of orcs and half orcs and it was camped outside of the city. It took us a while to figure out what was going on and to find someone in charge. We finally found Broeder who filled us in on what was happening. The army came out of the Flaming Tower last month. They had spies inside the city, but the spies were discovered before they could do any real harm. So far the walls were holding, but there had been some very close calls. Now the fear was that Korgul the Reaver, a brutal Half Orc General had discovered the tomb of Bursales, a one-time hero of the Dale. The rumor was that Bursales had a horn that could knock down walls. The Zhents were after the horn and if they could find it, their army could overrun Daggerfalls and slaughter everyone. Korgul had never before taken prisoners.

We immediately volunteered to race the Zhents to the tomb, trying to get the horn before they could find it. Randal Morn had passed along a map to the tomb and a sketch of the lower level. He was confident that the horn, if it existed, would be found in the trophy room near the stairs.

When we arrived in the vicinity of the tomb, we were shocked to find an entire battalion of soldiers encamped on the hill. The dark banners flying above the watch fires told us that Korgul's own personal guard was here. This was a bad sign. They were blocking the entrance, they may have already retrieved the horn. As we were scouting and watching troop movements, we were discovered by one of Lord Morn's own scouts. We had a tense moment until we were certain that we were on the same side in this conflict.

When we explained our mission, the scout reported that he had discovered a cave that might lead us in to the catacombs below the temple that once stood above this tomb. The location of the cave matched up with a wine cellar marked on the map. We decided that this was our best chance of getting to the horn before Korgul's troops. The scout wished us well and left us to our mission.

Upon entering the cave we discovered that we were not alone. In the cave was a bedraggled and unhappy looking tribe of lizardfolk. Again there were tense moments when violence could have easily erupted. Fortunately, neither we nor the lizard folk really wanted a fight. We found ourselves negotiating with Fishik, the leader of this tribe. This place was there home, but the had been driven to the outer caverns by an evil mage that took the ruins above and populated them with undead. The tribe had closed off a portcullis, blocking the undead from reaching them here, but had not been able to defeat the mage or his minions. The evil one had taken a holy book from the tribe long ago and Fishik was willing to allow us passage through his people's cavern if we would help retrieve the book. As it seemed only fair to do what we could to help the lizard folk, we agreed.

Fishik came with us as we struggled to lift the portcullis. The gate was rusted and jammed, but with a bit of lamp oil and a lot of muscle power, we got it open and went into the room beyond. The tunnel here was unstable and one route to the trophy room had completely collapsed. Carefully and quietly we crept through and around the corner. A door closed off the room beyond and when it was opened, skeletons attacked. Primula blasted them away and led us onward. The next room held a more dangerous foe, a strength draining ghostly figure that we fought in terror. I singed it with a flaming sphere from behind as my brave companions stood before it and hacked it down. A black hand adorned the wall in this room until I burned it away with the fire of my sphere. Next was an animated suite of armor. A helmed horror, I presume. It was standing, statue-like, in an alcove until we approached. It attacked and again we fought. In a store room we faced huge spiders before reaching a room lit by the eerie light of a fountain in the wall. In the water of the fountain we spotted a string of beads and shells. Fishik seemed excited by the discovery and we allowed hi to reach into the fountain and pull out the string. As the item emerged from the water, a huge, scaly behemoth of a lizardman appeared out of thin air. It readied to attack until its beady eyes focused on Fishik. It hissed, bobbed its big head, and disappeared.

Fishik told us that this was the holy book. He showed us that it is a book of sound. Held under the water and swished back and forth it tinkled and clicked and told its tale. I wanted to find out more, but just then the ceiling shook with a series of huge explosions and dust fell all around. Ahead we could see what looked to be the trophy room. Between it and us were spiral stairs leading to the upper levels. We could hear the shouts of Korgul's men as they discovered the stairs and began to descend. Kerith mad a dash for the trophy room and grabbed the horn that was displayed upon a pedestal. Two huge minotaur guards appeared as the bard raced out of the room. We all bolted back the way we came as Korgul himself came down the stairs. He sized up the situation quickly and began to chase us, his bodyguard trying to follow and fight minotaurs at the same time.

I stood near a trap we had discovered earlier, guiding folks around it safely until Oskar, the last of us had gone by. Then I bolted past him and ran. Behind us, Xan knocked over crates soaked in oil and lit them. On our way through the first time he had stacked then near the door to the storage room. Now they created a barrier of roaring flames. On we ran. Aramil threw down a pouch of marbles near the shattered helmed horror. Korgul roared in rage as he slipped and fell. The diversions gave even Oskar the necessary time to reach the lizardfolk's cavern ahead of Korgul. Kerith was there waiting with the horn ready. As soon as we heard the enemy enter the unstable part of the passage, Kerith winded the horn, bringing the roof down on The Reaver. Despite our best efforts at timing the blast, Korgul, battered, bloody and singed, stood before us as the dust settled. The fight was on. I blasted him with a pair of magical missiles while my friends tied into him. The half orc general fought savagely, but he was cut off from his guard and surrounded by determined adventurers. He went down in a bloody heap and everything fell silent. We had defeated the Zhent general!

Korgul's head and Bursales horn were presented to Lord Morn as soon as we could sneak back to Daggerfalls. The head was put on a pike and displayed on the main gate. The Zhent army seemed to melt away at the sight of it. We were euphoric! The people of the dale cheered our names!

When we were called in to see Captain Briggah I thought it was perhaps to make arrangements for receiving medals. I knew I was mistaken as soon as I saw the look on the Captain's face as he finished shouting at the Tooka. The strange man from Sigil was led away and we were let in to see Briggah. Somehow he had discovered that the magic longsword and the mirmar, both from Sigil and apparently non-magical here, were more than what we had reported. We had cheated on our taxes and landed in jail after a severe dressing down by the Captain.

It seems only moments ago the crowd was cheering our names. Now I sit in a prison cell. How suddenly everything changed. With a heavy heart and much regret, I remain,

Your Student,

Cedar

p.s. It is now the 26^th of Alturiak and Randal Morn himself has released us from our jail cells. He said that he would have done so sooner if other, more pressing matters had not kept his attention elsewhere. He gave us a stern lecture about how much the dale needs the tax money he collects to keep things running. I did not really think about it at the time, I just kind of thought that we needed the gold more than Capt. Briggah did. I guess I should have thought it though a bit more. As we were leaving the compound where the jail cells were I looked around the town. It was still overflowing with war refugees. I feel worse than ever.