Anna's Journal

A journal written by Anna on her journey so far

1. Anna met a lot of people on her first day in this new world, she likes to think of herself as capable and brave but falling out of the sky, being recused and then immediately being accused of witchcraft will take the wind out of most sails... Retja a fisherman did agree to take her to shore (after not too much convincing) where she was led to a small house propped on stilts. Anna left her bow by the door but decided to keep her dagger concealed and her hood up. An old woman was in the house and at first she just asked her to sit, her eyes were milky with cataracts but this woman was far from unseeing. They were joined by Zoks, Gideon, Lily, Oswlen and finally Tomb. the woman asked for tokens from each member of the group and asked in return for the hospitality of Daretik they would help the village, she told Anna (that old name feels so strange but it's familiar enough) she was not ready, what could that mean? Somehow we got roped into going to this island inhabited by Bullywugs because they have been making fishing difficult. It did not take long to realise that our group was not exactly prepared for a fight, we nearly got slaughtered! Thankfully it wasn't a total bust as we rescued a couple of sea nomads who helped us find a cache with some valuables and we brought them back to Daretik.

2. Things keep getting stranger and stranger... this land is so confusing! We are now participating in a festival where people dress as old woman and heroes. Apparently a successful hunt is needed, finally I can put some of talents to use! we set off with Zulan the hunter, they're quite serious but maybe like Retja they're just reserved around strangers. After some amazing planning by the rest of the group we managed to take down the great elk. I had foolishly left myself out of range and was too far away when it looked like the elk may threaten the others. I should be more mindful of their safety in the future. we met up with the others back at the village, apparently Retja wanted to use live bait for a giant shark, a bit too risky for my sake especially considering his history (learn from your mistakes you know?). during the festival I was in the "hero" group, Gideon cast a sleep spell, I only noticed when the others began to drop. My anger got the better of me and I cut him with my dagger, what the hell? Why didn't I just drop to the floor with them. I hope this mistake doesn't come back to haunt us...

3. Retja informed us that were some interesting shipwrecks to be found out on the islands. We spent a fun night at his house, drinking, playing music and his kids are so sweet, especially the young girl Tayna. He agreed to allow us to use one of his boats, I promised to try to bring him something back though he didn't seem concerned, haha I'm glad there's no more witch accusations coming my way! After setting sail for the shipwreck her party learned of, we managed to catch a sea turtle togerther (how do I cook those again?). That night on the first island I was very disturbed by the presence of the green/blue glow that emanated from the island we were heading for. I've seen that before, this is a bad omen, I don't know how to tell them, I like them but can I trust them? Melian always warned me," You think it's bad over here? You think the grass might be greener over there?". We eventually made it to ship, this place seems off, the fish are all wrong, people have not touched this place in some time. In the passage with the glow-worms and where the green, blue glow was strongest we were attacked by ethereal beings, a tabaxi and a Tiefling.

4. Everyone came to while I was setting fire to the ship in an effort to destroy the portal. The portal seems to have effected everyone's memory, but maybe that is for the best. Fuu was still lying unconscious on the ship floor, people were injured and we somehow managed to get him off the ship. The odd cloud that formed over the ship was highly unnatural and full of what I believe to be portal dust, thank the Gods at least something has worked! The portal has been destroyed. There's no time to explain or to stop, maybe they won't remember. However, the ship exploded as the cloud touched down causing a huge tsunami, steering the prow of the boat into the wave and with assistance from the party we rode the wave and made it safely back to the previous island. We managed to wake Fuu, I feel protective over him and slightly baffled to be honest. When the others arrived they informed me that my actions had caused the sprites in the Material Plane to cease to exist. I... I can't have killed them, did they mean for this to happen, did Araniver?

After being consoled by Oswlen, the sight of the stars and Keth'nell's horrific attempt at tea, I re-joined the group. After inspecting the map I noticed it was an astrological map following the path of stars. Maybe this can be useful to locate other portals? we found the wave that swept our boat away from the ship had carried the dust and deposited it among the trees, I managed to scrape some off and saved it in my mess tin. Fuu has a strange knife, the craftmanship seems odd but it's in perfect condition so it must be quite new.

5. Edatsayurn has agreed to help us who were on the ship remember what happened on the other side. I'm trying to contain my nervousness but it would still help as I'm not completely unaffected. Must be the time I've spent here? I don't know what the others saw, do they remember Fuu appearing when we crossed over, what Araniver revealed to them, the sea elves, the minotaur, the centaurs, our capture, Grand Mother Aranthea, giving her my true name, the necklace, the flight to the portal, so many things and so much potential trouble. I have made promises, they always warned me of such things but I felt compelled, the suffering they have endured... and my people. Most frightening of all, who remembers about me.

6. Edatsuyurn helped me learn more about the necklace, she is too intuitive not to know about me I can't pretend otherwise. What happened next was so sudden and startling, uproar, Retik told us his sister had been abducted. I forgot my new company and ran straight to Edatsuyurn. She told us the Festival had failed and the hags had come for Tayna. I know little of this world but, I spilt blood at the festival... perhaps? There's no time to think about that. Apparently we have until the full moon with only three days to find and stop these monsters. I collected my shortsword from the blacksmith, apparently Fuu helped in the forging somehow, it has a strange quality. Poor Retja, he can't lose anyone else.

We set off as fast as we could after them. Once we got to the island we tried to put our heads together and come up with a clever plan to bait out the kidnappers. It didn't quite work, but we did find the tracks we were looking for, they were barefoot and distinct from each other. The forest is where my talents work best and I was glad to speed us up in any way. We found a clearing with a cage and three sets of tracks leading away. This must be where they kept the girl, what a horrible thought. we set up a camp nearby the clearing which was moderately concealed in case they decided to return. This did not work out so well, the creatures of the forest were startled, even Bullywugs were fleeing from something, and wouldn't you know it a bloody owlbear appeared, just our luck! We somehow managed to take it down and then from nowhere a voice called out. I trained my bow in the general direction of the noise and ordered it to come out while the others hid. Eventually a woman appeared, and for reasons that will become evident, I wish I had checked her footwear. She explained she was Salu' Ur and that her and her two sisters (Hildegrim and Del Vica) were protectors of the forest. After a bit of convincing we unfortunately decided to let her stay and go with her in the morning. Thankfully, the others were not as naïve as me, all this time spent not knowing who to trust and I choose the worst person. They sussed that it didn't make sense to follow her and not the tracks but this only made her more insistent, we began to distrust and doubt her story. I asked her if we followed the tracks, would they lead back to her? She then showed her true colours when she attacked one of the others causing them to be frightened. After a battle Fuu absolutely demolished her though, managing to nearly take her head right off with that strange dagger of his. from her wound emanated that damned glow again, I investigated and found a pearl the colours of the night sky, black and purple and blue. Once this is all over I will have to ask Edatsayurn what on earth this could be. After touching the sky I got transported into a vision, I was pulled in two different directions, both in the same direction she was trying to take them, she believed she would be taking them to her sisters. I got the sense that it was ancient magic, it was essentially "anti-faey" and incredibly powerful if I spent some time attuning to it I could use it myself or in weapons.