My friend,
I apologize but I do not feel like writing much now. Playing translator for my associates has left me fairly drained.
We questioned the heretic today and have come to an agreement. We help her retrieve her stone and she takes us to the nearest city… With the strong suggestion we get out of Vos as soon as possible.
We haven't learned much that would aid us yet, but at least we have a little to work with. Apparently the Gnoll is a minion of the heretic. The mushroom men are enemies of her since she seeks to drive them out of the caverns. The last bit of info we gleamed is that the stone is apparently sensative to bloodline… And it is highly likely that she is blooded… Though from which diety I don't know…
Its time to gear up and get the stone…
Be safe… I'm sure we will be fighting soon.

I am quite pleased I focus on ranged weapons… While the others are busy cleaning the blood and spores off their gear, I have the chance to write to you.

At last we can rest, Kahles is completely sure we are safe and I don't have the energy to question him.

We brought back the heretic and her stone and were taking a brief rest when we heard a commotion from the mushroom forest. Apparently three mushroom men wanted the stone… I have no clue why, and I have no clue why nothing bad happened when they took it… It sure looked trapped to me… Those lines of energy tying it to the heretic…

The battle with them was fierce, but we killed two of them before the finally one got the stone and fled. Regretably none of us could hit the fleeing fungi…

Tomorrow we interrogate the prisoner and resume our exploration.

 

Dear friend,

This will be short for I am exhausted… This crew I have assembled seems to have boundless energy. Even after a long battle, and lugging our supplies to a secure location, they are still forging on ahead.

I personally want a nap, but they are so eager to hunt down the heretic that it would just be cruel of me to hold them back.

We did not get into the building quickly enough to prevent the sacrifice, but at least we made sure that most of them paid for it… The priestess escaped and we are hot on her trail… Kahles was quite vocal about making her pay, and the others were scared of chasing the gnoll through the toxic mushrooms… 

We shall see what today holds…

Once again I fear this will be a short missive my friend. The screaming in the background is highly distracting. I'm just waiting for the muscle to kick down the door so we can get a little peace and quiet. And potentially do a good deed.

We delayed longer than we should have before fording ahead, allowing the gnoll and his minions to prepare for our arrival, but the delay was well worth it. We found a handy (literally) weapon rack with enough gear to make everyone happy. The hand crossbow I found was supurb. Maybe now I can fully utilize my skills.

The next battle took place at an underground farm. The gnoll appears to be using human bodies to fertilize the giant mushrooms. It is unknown what end he hopes to achieve, hopefully we catch and interrogate him soon.

We learned under a hail of poorly shot bolts than the gnoll has human lackies as well. They appeared to be followers of the Ice Queen, but they died too quickly to get any real info out of them. Unsurprisingly we encountered even more constructs.

I could go on about how we slew them, even though they had the advantage, but really what need do I have of further touting my glory?

After we slaughtered his troops the gnoll fled yet again. He dove down the toilet and fled deeper into the mushroom farm below us. Next time he won't escape.

My dear friend, I write you once more while taking a five minute break from battle.
My adventuring company and I have discovered a remarkable land under these frozen wastes. We have discovered the land where the One Armed Gnoll is king.
He seems to have a lonely existence, so far the only "life" we have encountered were demonic toys. The goelms seemed to delight in attacking us unprovoked.

While we camped last night, we realized there was a blocked passage in the back of the cave. Since we need to take several days to prep the bear remains for traveling it was only logical that we explore it. After all exploring here meant we wouldn't stray far from our catch.

The first wave of monsters we encountered was fairly easy to put down. I wasn't aware machines could have a maniac look in their eyes, but somehow they did. One even was chained to the wall it was so berserk… Regrettably it also had a ballista.

The gnoll himself managed to escape down the tunnel… We will see him again shortly I'm sure. I already hear the steps of the second wave.
To victory!

I write this to you while resting in a field full of my enemies. The escape went smoothly, the guards were nothing against my hidden steel. My crew and I were relishing our victory as we approached our supply cache. As we grew closer though, the air was full of a horrible stench. It seems that the region our supplies were hidden in was had been infested by an army of the vile creatures known as Orogs. I did not waste time counting how many of the beasts we slew, but the blood was pooling on the icy ground. Just you wait, word of the battle will echo from the mouths of bards for decades to come.

As we pause to catch our breath on on journal to freedom, I think back to the shenagans that were attempted by the others to help us gather enough supplies. With my skill I could easily get out of the camp any time I wanted, but even I must admit I would not get very far without reliable… men… to watch my back.

I am unsure exactly how I should refer to the individuals I am currently traveling with. I will stick with "men" for now, though I am traveling with a dwarf, a halfbreed, a halfling and another human.

These individuals are not skilled in the covert arts, and as such they had difficulty following my lead. Nonetheless the managed to get us some much needed gear. My fellow human had a practical approach. He admitted that he was not one to overthink things, he simply found an influencal prisoner and did his best to service his needs. I dare not think how many hours he spent hauling rocks when he could have been resting.

The halfing put his tongue to work, padding pockets and sharing words. He also played the part of the fool, utalizing his acrobat skills to distract those with watchful eyes.

I'm not entirely sure what the halfbreed was doing… It seemed as if he spent a substancial amount of time trying to get into the minds of our captors. He spoke religion and  performed some minor healing.

The dwarf was fairly creative. He tried all sorts of things, some of which worked, some of which… Well… You know, I'm just going to list off the things he did…

• He prayed for the guards, that their lives would be easier. Do you believe that?
• He let himself be beaten so that a younger guard could make a good impression. Some of the worst acting ever, but it worked.
• We worked together to try and frame a guard we didn't like.
• One of my favorites! He convinced the guards to drug OUR food. That made life so much harder, at least I was able to partially correct that by drugging the guards in turn.
• And I won't get into what happened with the hawks…

But it all worked out in the end. Even if some of their actions were rather creative, they provided the help that was required for us to have a chance at escaping this wasteland.

And now I should get ready, another wave of Orogs could arrive at any time… Take care and I will see you soon.