3,377 Chalcanapsion 7
Dear mom,
We set out again to find the abomination lair mentioned in our scroll, but we didn't make it far before our plans changed.
After travelling for a few hours along the coast before heading into the Forest of Fate, we soon met a band of centaurs. They said they were headed to Neolantika to sell wine.
The elder, Brontes, sold Belisarius and Sephiro each a barrel of wine and offered to purchase our bull carvings for 250 gold coins. I said we would consider it, but would prefer safe passage through their lands, but he said that was beyond his ability to promise. He explained that they were the Lagonna centaurs, that Eudoxos had told us about, from the Guroi Steppe. He told us about their trading post, which we could find by following the coast to the old highway, on to the iron hills, and then east and north, or north to bypass Krimnos. He warned us that the Pheres were warlike and would likely attack on sight.
He was intrigued by our scroll, which he considered an ancient artifact and also offered to purchase. I said we would consider parting with it after we found the abomination. He said that the "sunset hills" probably referred to the western hills and the "fingers of the smith" to the fingers of Purphoros.
Suggesting we hoped to see him in the Sward & Board when we returned, we parted ways.
We soon found large feline tracks leading into the Eldenwood. We tried to follow the tracks, but lost them after a few hours.
Soon after, we followed noises from within the woods and discovered a pack of harpies dragging a bear. We made short work of the harpies and ate our fill of bear meat that night.
In the morning, we made our way to the highway toward the Iron Hills where we passed the ancient tower.
We crossed the plains to the foot of western ridge until we reached a narrow pass.
Continuing on, we came upon a burnt out and crumbling group of buildings. Buried under piles of precariously placed stones, we discovered three trapdoors with some illusion magic placed on them. When interacted with, from two of the trapdoors emerged ghostly spectres. Though they seemed like nightmares incarnate, they were no match for my Divine Favor. The two trap doors each contained eight prisoners, all of whom claimed to have been taken from Neolantika. One of them turned out to be the girl that went missing on Ptalmus' watch. They all claimed that the last thing they remembered was falling asleep in their bed. They also all said they did not see these nightmares in the waking world, but were tormented by them in their dreams.
We also discovered seven glass eyes, one of which Belisarius broke, and a teapot as well as some unholy symbols. Nox also discovered some tracks in the area, although we did not have time to explore them; as we wanted to return the poor people home as soon as possible.
While we camped, we discovered that many of the prisoners had some magical minor abilities, which seemed quite mysterious.
We made haste to return them all to Neolantika, even passing up an opportunity to eat crab meat we encountered by the shore, for fear that one of them may have been injured.
Pericles and I brought them to Eudoxos to seek his wisdom on the evolving mystery.
Your son in search of glory,
Aribantes
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