D&D Journals [Cynde] Plague and Penitence

Day 302

I am currently taking a break from our new pirate friends. I am exhausted. Without a day cycle, it's nearly impossible to tell how much time has passed since we embarked on the repaired ship. I am certain we should be sleeping at this point, or at least that's what I would prefer to be doing.

Aria and Cora seem to be having a great time with the others, drinking, singing, dancing. I merely pretended to drink whatever concoction they gave me. I couldn't risk letting my guard down with all the Goblins around us, not to mention all the strangers.

Ah, I realize I forgot to mention that we had to make a detour on our way to the golden palace. Although Benzul, Detulio, Cora, and Aria did their best to repair the ship, it wasn't perfect. Even with Benzul and Detulio performing their music with such vigour to power the craft, it traveled much slower than before.

Tordek, having his mind back, wanted to look over the nurse's notes on him while we slowly sailed, the ones I had taken from the Gnome facility. We were reminded how important it is for Tordek to ingest food (which we lacked) or else the insects inside him would begin feasting on his brain. Seeing as how we really had no idea how far the palace was or how long it would take us, we decided to head back to the pub to stock up on provisions.

While we travelled, Tordek tried using a fire staff he had taken off the Goblin pyromancers that had attacked us. With the aid of a spellbook, he was able to cast small balls of fire. Aria was immediately intrigued and wanted to learn as well, but as she copied the spells into her own book, her book burst into flames. It seems the Goblins had placed magical runes inside the spellbook to prevent against such copying. She was quite upset.

Afterward, we discussed what we would do with the orb of knowledge. Cora wants to use it to find her friend who was abducted by the frost giants. I want to use it to find a cure for the plague. Tordek said his holy order wants him to return it to them, but most of us are a little wary of such an idea. I think most of us agree that the orb of knowledge is simply too powerful to be in anyone's possession. I suggested that we use the orb of knowledge while we are in pandemonium, and then we leave it there. I hope none of us are tempted by its power.

When the conversation turned to how we could survive Pandemonium at all, Tordek began to moan and shut down. It seems Cora was incredibly lucky and avoided the worst of pandemonium, but Tordek wasn't so lucky. Thankfully, she was able to calm him down, this time. He's going to have to learn to work past that trauma, if he's going to come with us.

Part of the reason Cora was able to avoid going insane when she was taken to Pandemonium, is because of the spider god, Rayu. Tordek, being educated in such things, explained to us that Rayu is a neutral god of giant spiders and she has a web that spans the many realms. After hearing that, we began to wonder if Astilabor could get us an audience with Rayu, and whether Rayu could be trusted, or if she'd even be willing to help us. It might just be our way into Pandemonium, but so much is unknown!

Like these pirates. I'm not entirely certain, but I think I overheard them mentioning something about a train they use to traverse the realms. Could they be our key to Pandemonium? Or perhaps they could take us to Astilabor's golden palace, which I'm sure they mentioned as well.

There are too many unknowns, and I'll need time to trust these pirates. But one thing is certain, I cannot trust the Goblins here. The prince, which had escaped our ship when the pyromancers attacked, is here with more guards. He recognized us, even though we had disguised ourselves to reenter this place. However, he was more concerned whether Spike was with us or not. I don't trust the prince one bit.

And then there's the Goblins who work here. We had a little...situation when Cora killed one of the humans that were insulting Tordek. Our Goblin server had the chance to stab me in the back, so I struck first and thrusted my scimitar into his stomach. However, Tordek stopped us all before the entire pub joined in the ruckus. I'm sure the Goblins want their revenge, or they want to attack us when we least expect it. So, I won't rest until we are far from here, no matter how much my body wants to sleep.