[[1493-03-28 - Hour 1|<< Hour 1]] | [[1493-04-02 - Hour 4 - 5|Hour 4 - 5 >>]] ## Hour 1 - 3 Today was bad. There's the fact that Ezmerelda's here and we still haven't found her. Ireena and Selise are here too. Selise is down a heartbeat, but she seems okay despite it. Ireena is alive and with us also. I don't know if she's okay. We have no idea if Yesper and the kids are here. There's no reason to think that they are — but there was no reason to think that Ezmerelda and the others were here either. But dwelling on it isn't going to do anything. I need to write down what happened today, rest, and then find her. And then we can figure out how to help Ireena and Selise, and then we can leave. The bookstore — Sneerian's — was sandwiched by two taller buildings. As with most places in Elysium, it was in disrepair. Inside, there was a shaft in the middle of the room, about a hundred feet across, filled with countless rows of books that went as far down as I could see. The manager, as he called himself, used his tentacles to pull himself up from the bottom of the shaft. He had words along his insectoid body. They were writhing, for lack of a better word. I think they were the names of spells. The manager was helpful despite his fucked up visage. Half helpful, at least — when he turned around, the mouth on the back of his head (if you can call it that) started speaking, and that part of him wasn't at all happy to see us. But we managed to stay on the right side of him after we figured out that we were dealing with two different entities. We asked the calm side about Amelia; the manager didn't know her by name, but someone matching her description had come through a long while ago. She tried and failed to find a missing journal of hers. The manager let us look for the journal. I flew down and Nia climbed down. Skoll turned into a big vulture; Rictavio was awkward about getting on his back. It took us some time to find the journal. While we were looking, we found: a train ticket; schematics for something called an "apparatus of Kwalish," which Rictavio was annoyed to see; some kind of spider pendant that could've been a holy symbol; and an unlabeled crate, which I forgot to open thanks to all the day's terrible excitement. I'll open it tomorrow. Hopefully whatever's inside doesn't kill me. Rictavio also found a book, but not the one we were looking for. And I'm not sure if it was the book that did it, but — while he was reading — we heard that clock chime twice. It was hour two. Rictavio thinks it was a book about astrology; however, there wasn't anything on the pages when he showed us. He was still able to relay what he got from the book: the stars are alive and watching us. I thought that it was a bunch of bullshit at the time. Rictavio started getting frustrated. He was acting like he was going to climb down the shaft before Skoll got him to calm down and breathe. I was able to find the journal. It was even engraved with her full name, Amelia Hawthorne. We bought the box, the train ticket, and the journal. I asked the manager if anyone else other than Amelia had been through recently. He told us about a tall, stressed woman wearing a nice shirt. He didn't catch her name. I wouldn't know for sure that it was Ezmerelda until later, but it was like I could *feel* it, right in my stomach and in my chest. When I asked which direction she headed, the manager didn't have an answer for me. We left the bookstore and took a look at Amelia's journal. The text was written in jumbled, fervid scribbles and was accompanied by half-finished diagrams. Almost all of it was illegible, with the exception of two entries: > I don’t remember how we got here. Strange to think it was almost a week ago that we lost Alec and Andromeda. The rain is constant. Alec said it was magical, but he didn’t know why. This place is cursed, and if we are to escape we must solve the mystery. > The sewers hold horrors I cannot describe to you in words that would be sufficient. The tunnels twist and turn, defying all logic and laws of nature. We were attacked by a creature which smelled of sulphur. It was masquerading as Andromeda, but I saw through the deception before it could strike. It paid dearly for that particular stunt. Not very helpful, but it at least confirmed my suspicions that Amelia is probably as innocent in this as we are. I guess it also let us know that we should stay out of the sewers. Back out on the streets, Rictavio started talking about how he's putting us all in danger. Nia snapped him out of that bullshit pretty quickly by calling him "Rudolph." We didn't have much time to breathe, though, because it was then that every surface on the street turned black as ichor seeped up and out of the ground. Nia ran up the wall; I grabbed Skoll and Rictavio and flew into the air. The winds were battering and it was hard to stay upright; Rictavio must've recognized this, because he told me to drop him. When I asked if he had a plan, he said yes, but he failed to mention that his plan was dogshit. I dropped him; he cast telekenesis on Skoll — *who I was still fucking holding* — and plummeted toward the ichor. Nia launched off the wall and grabbed Rictavio, but she couldn't find purchase on the other side, and they both fell right in. I thought to get out the immovable rod, then, which I hadn't used since me and Ezmerelda killed that weird ooze in Borca. When I reached in my bag, it felt like I was gutting a sick animal — beyond that, though, there was something pulling on the rod from the other side, and it was strong. I nearly dislocated my shoulder, but I got the thing out. I used it to anchor myself so I could pull Nia and Rictavio out of the ichor; it fell off them, and soon it all receded back into the ground. Me and Nia took turns calling Rictavio an idiot. Skoll slugged him, then healed him, then healed Nia. Rictavio's defense was that he was thinking on his feet; he didn't want him and Skoll both to end up in the ichor. He figured he'd be fine, and he admittedly was, but only because I saved his ass. We decided that it was time to deal with whatever asshole was taking up residence inside our bags — by this point, it was becoming a headache. It had even broken Nia's broom back at the bookstore. I unsheathed the sunsword. Then, the sword disappeared right out of my hand. That sick feeling from the bookstore returned all at once — I knew, then, that Ezmerelda is in Elysium. I told the others. Without explaining himself — because of the stress, maybe — Skoll walked over to a boarded-up window and ripped the board away; in the window was that thing I saw in Ewyn's reflection, with all its shifting and illogical angles. Nia threw a dagger at the window; it shattered, and the thing was gone. I was too busy thinking about Ezmerelda to ask Skoll what the hell he was thinking. Rictavio was plenty able to ask, but Skoll didn't give an answer. We knew that the manager didn't have anything for us about Ezmerelda — he had said as much — but it was the only lead we had, so we turned around and headed in that direction. Soon after we set off, however, Nia stopped in the middle of the street. A newspaper headline had caught her eye: > FLAMING WOMAN FOUND IN RIVER; alleged to drown, so "No Worries To Be Had," say authorities Nia was convinced that it was about Selise. She turned out to be right, but it was hard not to pursue the lead about Ezmerelda, even if it wasn't much of a lead at all. We followed Nia to the printing press. Johannes was outside again. He said that he had a gift for us, but he couldn't point us in the direction of the river, and we were in a bit of a hurry. As with the first time, Rosa wasn't happy to see us. The fact that Nia had her rapier in her face probably didn't help matters. Not that I blame Nia. We got what we came for; Rosa pointed us toward the Gloomrot River. She let us know that the headline about Selise was from two days ago, which didn't exactly fill me with hope. The Gloomrot River was waiting for us. It looked like it was flooding — not with water, but with the dead. Nia broke for the river; Skoll had to stop her. That's when we saw the bridge spanning the river and the light underneath. I knew it was trouble. Down a sword, I told the others that I'd need to get another weapon out of my bag before we did anything. Inside my bag, something grabbed my wrist. It was a good thing that I still had my immovable rod out, because I was able to anchor myself and stop it from pulling me in. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop it from climbing out. The huge, incomprehensible thing that climbed out of my bag introduced himself as "Sackville Grabbins." He was kind of polite, all things considered, but we couldn't get him to agree to stop messing with the things in our bags — "a man's gotta eat," apparently. We did learn that we aren't the only people walking around Elysium with bags of holding; which makes sense, since I know for a fact that Ireena and Ezmerelda both have one. And, with the exception of our own, two bags is exactly the number of bags that Grabbins was aware of being in Elysium. So Skoll cut a deal with him. He offered everything in his bag to Grabbins; in exchange, Grabbins will stay clear of the rest of our bags for now. He'll also be delivering notes to (presumably) Ezmerelda and Ireena that instructed them to meet us at Cicero's. Grabbins towered over Skoll when he put a hand on his shoulder. Then, he climbed into his bag. We haven't seen him since. I'm hoping that he somehow decided to fuck off forever. Having dealt with that particular eldritch entity, we headed for the light under the bridge. We spotted Selise as we approached. She was hanging by a hook through her stomach, which is the first thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was the complete lack of blood around the wound. Nia rushed toward her. Something started rising out of the water. It was bigger than anything I've ever seen. I still don't know just how to describe what I saw — it looked like a man, but also a squid, and a lizard, and most of all an angler fish. For some reason, I knew what to call it: the Fisher King. The thing was so big that I was worried I wouldn't be able to put a dent in it. Despite this, it bled all the same when my axe met its flesh, even if that blood came in the form of a strange mist. At some point during the fight, there was a moment where I got disoriented and forgot where I was. Then, I was somewhere else entirely: an unfamiliar house, Ezmerelda with me, trying to cook dinner at a stove that could've been her own. I felt safe and happy. But it wasn't real. I knew it wasn't real, and that was all it took for me to snap out of it. The Fisher King was looming over us. Me and Nia fucked it up. Skoll turned into a crocodile and hit it with his tail. We managed to not get crushed to death when it fell over, and then Rictavio did something that I didn't even know he could do: he called lighting from the sky, and a black bolt crashed down into the writhing mass. It groaned like a dying man, or animal, or machine. Whatever the case, its body started to collapse, and Selise fell off the hook. Nia caught her. The clock chimed three times. We got Selise out of the water. Nia healed her with the Icon of Ravenloft. She vomited black liquid. She looked dead, all gaunt and pale with bags under her eyes. As I sit across from her and write this now, she looks the same, and we've been informed by Rictavio that she's without a heartbeat. But at least she seems like herself, for the most part. I wish I could say the same about Ireena. We headed toward Cicero's Bar. Selise told us that she woke up in the river during the first hour. As we were walking, the rain cleared and the mists lifted, just for a little while. There were stars in the sky, and an empty space where the moon should've been — except it wasn't actually empty at all, with the way Nia and Rictavio were talking about it. I didn't press, because I frankly didn't want to know. But I found out later when I saw that eye looking down on us for myself. Cicero's was nearly empty; the only people present were Foulsham and the man himself. As soon as we sat down, Rictavio started going on about his curse again. I couldn't help it — I told him the truth. I told him whose fault it is. I told him about Borca and Achlys. Skoll tried to tell me that it isn't my fault, either — but that wasn't the point; the point was that it *doesn't matter* whose fault it is. Not when Ezmerelda is still out there. I still feel bad for snapping at Skoll. Rictavio also told me something that would have me snapping at *him* later: he's been leading Ezmerelda through domains since she was a child. Apparently, she was 13 years old when she first showed up asking to be his apprentice. I was stunned and angry all at once. I managed to restrain myself, at least for the time. Skoll and Nia had to catch up with me because I left the bar right then in search of Ezmerelda. That's when I noticed the eye in the sky; on instinct, I checked Amelia's journal once more, finding that I could decipher one more entry. > Today I met a powerful creature, perhaps even something of a *genius loci* for this place. It did not give me a name, but it claims to know the deeper secrets and forgotten tales of Elysium. I do not think I trust this creature, but it may be a useful source of information. So Amelia might've met the dark lord of this place. I have a suspicion that we already have, too. We walked the streets, heading for what we hoped was the bookstore. There were plenty of things to avoid — rats with exposed brains, an unseen choir singing a melancholy song, and a metal giant made out of clockwork. By then, I felt like I'd been awake for days. But resting wasn't an option. Eventually, we came across a man — Miles, I think — who was attempting to repair a pretty nasty hole in the roof of his house. I described Ezmerelda and Ireena, asking him if he's seen anyone of the sort. He was nervous to talk; "bad luck," he said. Five silver was enough to loosen his tongue — or fingers, rather, since he wrote us a note: > damn bad day today. first'n in the morning i saw someone get grabbed right off the street by a spirit. then i saw a fancy-dressed lass heading past who was definitely baiting some sort of trouble towards this place, and she didn't even help me with with my roof or nothin'. swear i'm goin' to die out here one of these days soon. too bad there ain't nobody around t' read this Skoll started to offer the man help with his roof, but we didn't have that kind of time, so I told him that we'd be back later. But I have the sinking feeling that he's not around to be helped anymore. We headed in the same direction as the "fancy-dressed lass." We ended up at the auction house, which seemed like exactly the kind of place that Ezmerelda would be. Except she wasn't there. All we found were Mr. Fiddle, Mr. Blind, and a cloak that was on sale. But we learned that Ezmerelda *had* been there — she had bought the mariner's armor that was on sale the last hour. The cloak that they were selling makes it so you can breathe underwater. Given the armor that Ezmerelda bought, I thought it'd be a good idea to secure the cloak as well. Mr. Fiddle told me that they don't deal in money. I offered up a couple loose things I found in my bag as a bid: a packet of pixie dust, which I got at the Witchlight Carnival, and some oil of sharpness, which I think I picked up from the Baba Lysaga's hut in Barovia. Even though most people in Elysium don't wield anything other than "non-electric firearms," Mr. Fiddle thinks that people could use the oil on ammunition, at least. We'll have to check during the next hour to see if I got the bid. I'm hoping that we'll have found Ezmerelda before we find our way back there. We weren't back outside for long when we came across a ritual of some kind. There were three of them performing it — druids of a sort, and they looked as sick and fucked up as anything else I've seen here: their eyes were darkly clouded; there were scars where mouths should've been; they were bleeding that ichor from their eyes, their ears, and from under their fingernails; and they were tinted a light, sickly blue. It seemed like they were offering up pieces of strange technology. Understandably, Skoll didn't like it — he ducked into an alley to avoid walking past them. Me and Nia followed. We weren't alone in the alley. The man — if you could call him that — introduced himself as "Smilin' Jack." Two things became clear very quickly: one, Smilin' Jack was a serial killer, and two, he had seen Ezmerelda and Ireena. He said that he didn't feel like messing with Ezmerelda. However, he had no problem trailing Ireena — until she started wandering a little too close to the pharmacy for his liking, that is. He contorted into a strange creature with big knives for arms when I attacked him. But we killed him. It was easy. Before he died, Smilin' Jack told us that Ezmerelda had been heading toward the train station, so that's where we went. The station was bordering the mists at the edge of the city. The place was covered in dust and cobwebs, which made it pretty easy to see the two sets of footprints leading up to the platform. One of the sets was dusted over; the other set, however, seemed more recent, and it looked like whoever it belonged to didn't stick around for long. There was some kind of machine outside the station. I used it to dispense 10 train tickets, just in case — though we didn't see a train to board, we definitely heard one pulling in as we were leaving. There was a mind flayer near the station, holding an advertisement sign for the pharmacy. They told us their name was "Nurse Joy," which still pisses me off when I think about it. Nurse Joy said that they'd be happy to take us to the pharmacy. With nowhere else to check, we agreed. We took a few minutes to get the lay of the land once we were at the pharmacy. There was a garden, a fountain, and a brazier lit with green flame; there were also a handful of "patients" and a handful of mind flayer "nurses." There didn't seem to be a place where they were holding people, but I noticed that the fountain ran a lot lower than it should've. The air smelled like chemicals. I figured it was doing something to Skoll and Nia — they were being way more forthcoming to the nurses than they needed to be, and neither of them could explain why. We left the building. I treated them for poisons, which seemed to do the trick. And then we got ready. Nia and Skoll disguised themselves as mind flayers. I prepared myself to cause a scene. Nia and Skoll dragged me in while I was kicking and yelling about the eye in the sky. It worked perfectly, and soon we were heading into the fountain. Right as I hit the water, everything that had happened in the last "hour" left my mind. Nia had to psychically catch me up once I stopped trying to get away from the mind flayers in front of me. Later, Skoll was able to heal my memories — until then, I was even more out of sorts than what seems to be the standard for this hellscape. Skoll and Nia got in the water; I explained the situation; we swam through the tunnels. A set of doors led us right to the prison. There were ten cells, but a lot were empty, and Ireena wasn't in any of them. We spoke with the captives who were cognizant enough to be spoken with and told them that we'd be back for them soon. There was another door further down the shaft. Through that door is where we found Dr. Brains, operating on a body. It wasn't Ireena's. Nia talked with him in her mind flayer disguise. She was able to find out that someone was being kept in maximum security, somewhere past Dr. Brains — but by then he was suspicious of her. He told her to wait outside until he could escort her to a cell. We didn't wait outside. Skoll cast that sneaky spell on us, and we walked right past him. We were met with two locked doors; they weren't a problem for Nia. Past the doors, there was a hatch on the ground. It was heavy as all hell — I had to use my immovable rod to prop it open. The room that we dropped down into was damp and dark. Ireena was on the floor, barely breathing, black ichor running down her face from her eyes. I healed her and she came to. She looked like Ireena and felt like Ireena when I hugged her. For the most part, she acted like Ireena. But something felt wrong. It was like her smile was casting a shadow behind her or something. It's hard to explain. I'm hoping that it's just this place getting to me. I'm hoping that she just needs to get out of here and be safe again and she'll be back to normal. I'm hoping that she's going to end up okay. Nia carried her out. When we came up the hatch, Dr. Brains was in the process of chaining the rod to his desk. I swiped it when he wasn't looking. I shouldn't have. He did...something. Whatever it was caused the body on the operating table to start gasping and pleading until the entire thing just exploded. Ireena didn't seem phased. We went back to free the other prisoners. The human and the svirfneblin were able to walk out just fine, as was did the mass of flesh and eyestalks. One of the cells had a tunnel burrowed into the back of it. I called down the tunnel; once I was satisfied that the person inside wasn't going to try to ruin my day even more, I headed down the way. There was a terrified woman back there in a plain white dress. Her name was Isabella. She was holding a pot of basil, which I think contained the remains of her girlfriend and was being possessed by her or something. This place continues to suck shit. Regardless, the basil was keeping Isabella safe from the mind flayers, attacking any one of them that came near. She wouldn't come with us; she felt better holed away in that little tunnel. She did give us some basil, however, as well as a room key. Hopefully she manages to stay safe. There was an elf in one of the cells who didn't end up making it out. She was slumped against the wall, completely dazed. She started freaking out when Skoll healed her. Skoll called me in, but by then she was begging to forget, or to be killed. I didn't kill her. I told her that she'd be stuck there forever if I killed her, with how the domains work. That didn't stop her from taking matters into her own hands. We gathered everyone else up. Thanks to Skoll's sneaky spell, we got them out without issue. They were dazed. None of them followed us to Cicero's. But they're out, at least, even if part of me wonders what good it will do for them in a place like this. We encountered Damháin on the way back to Cicero's. He saw us despite Skoll's spell, and he asked us how the pharmacy and the bookstore was. I couldn't see them at the time, but Skoll told me after the fact that his eyes looked like that of a spider's. I'm thinking that Damháin is our guy — the dark lord of Elysium. Nia thinks he might be too. I only wish that knowing that helped us in any way whatsoever. Cicero's met us with a quiet scene. Rictavio and Selise were sitting together, Selise wearing Rictavio's jacket. Skoll gave Cicero the basil we got from Isabella, and Cicero got to work making drinks. According to Nia, Skoll, and Rictavio, they were good drinks, and they all seemed a little less stressed after the fact. But he only had enough basil to make three. I wanted to keep looking for Ezmerelda. I still wish that's what I was doing right now, because I can't make sure she's safe if I don't even know where she is. Everyone keeps telling me about how capable she is, like it's something that I don't know. Rictavio told me that there's only so much I can do. Like it's something that I don't know. I'm not proud of it, but I snapped at him. I had been stewing on what he told me about Ezmerelda all day, and it was a long damn day. I asked if he's every apologized for any of it. He didn't answer. Cicero said that he's not running an inn, so we had no choice but to head for the Dancing Spider. Before we left, I wrote a note for Cicero to give to Ezmerelda, just in case. The journey to the inn wasn't a straight shot. We came across a very large creature — Mr. Wolf, he told us — pushing a merchant cart. He had a service to offer; the short of is it that he can grant wishes, but that we should only make two, otherwise "things will go badly." He didn't seem malicious. But I still didn't trust it, and no one else did either. Especially since he said that he can only grant wishes "within the bounds of the place," meaning that he can't get us out of Elysium, essentially. We left Mr. Wolf and made it to the inn. Skoll had to bribe her, but the Proprietress agreed to hold onto our new key without giving it to anyone else. Me, Nia, Selise, and Ireena are sleeping in the library. I'm set up in the corner just so I can see everyone. Ireena tried to invite Skoll to the library with us, but he hesitated, and — while I am mad at Rictavio (even though I feel like kind of an ass) — I'm not mad at Skoll. So I told him that he's not invited; he's staying with Rictavio. I'm really, really tired. I feel sick thinking about that elf at the pharmacy, about Rictavio, about Ireena, about the possibility of Yesper and the kids being here, about Ezmerelda being out there on her own. I really do need to rest. It's too bad it's not going to come easy. --- ## Page Tags/Properties **Tags:** #Journal **Category:** [[Journals and Writings.base|Journals and Writings]] **Character:** [[Krue d'Avenir|Krue]] **Campaign:** [[City of Eyes]] **Date ([[Calendar of Harptos|Harptos]]):** 03/29/1493