Enola Yarn – blogpost 1

Hi. I’m Enola. I grew up in a rich family and could grow in all ways possible, I like learning stuff, so I became a wizard. We had a stable family with enough money: me, my sister Valentine, and my parents. I did not have a great bond with my sister. She is kind of a flirt, and I’m not. I am kind of the geek, and she is the complete opposite. The day came that I figured out that my mom cheated on my dad. I waited a while because I could not tell my dad… I suspected Valentine had something to do with it. She always made sure mom could be alone with the other guy… One night, when I came back from the library where I studied, mom and dad were both dead. My dad left a note that said he and mom had a fight: she dumped him for the other man and he killed her in an uncontrollable, passionate rage. He then went mad from guilt and took his own life. He asked me to strengthen the bond with Valentine in the years to come and take care of her: I had to make sure she made good decisions. I cried my eyes out, I was 20 years old. Valentine seemed emotionless (then 16 years old). We stayed in town for a while and lived together for about two years. Valentine constantly tried to match me to other men in town. She is interested in the concept of love but doesn’t understand. She often impersonates me and then goes on a date, so often I get attention in the streets from men I don’t know, but they seem to know me… Annoying… I decided we needed to go away. I want to learn more about magic and to strengthen the bond between us, I took Valentine with me. She is jealous of me because of my wit and wizardry and became a warlock. She never really told me, but I could do the math. We are now investigating Undermountain in search of a library for me to study, and to find the wizard academy.

Introductions
The forest doesn’t seem as vibrant as it should be, I think while standing on a balcony watching some unfamiliar creatures. I hush my sister Valentine and inspect the situation somewhat more. I see a Half-Orc crying, a Tabaxi pacing, and a Gnome. I conclude there is nothing wrong with them, and want to comfort the Half-Orc. He thinks he hears voices inside his head, and I want to clarify he isn’t mad, but it was just us. I try and comfort him after introducing myself, but Valentine shapeshifts to look like the Half-Orc and makes him feel even worse. He is shouting and losing his mind. He tries to attack Valentine! Whoa, whoa, back up, big guy! I stand in the middle, blocking his view and keep some distance. I cast mage hand to comfort him and say: ‘There, there.’ He’s getting calmer, that’s nice. I look around for Valentine and see the Tabaxi clawing the tree making a shrine of some sort. Attempting to offer my help, I say I could do that better when I was five years old. The Tabaxi looks hurt and walks to the other side of the tree. Oh, I guess I insulted him… The Half-Orc is still crying and approaching the shrine. He is saying something about his fallen comrades Ladrengielle and Borac. I get what this is now. They were just in a big fight and lost two of their party members. How awful. Seeing their pain reminds me of losing mom and dad three years ago.

The Gnome approaches me and asks if we want to make some money – his name is Farryn; he wants us to keep watch tonight so that they can rest. I ask the Half-Orc his name. He responds angrily; his name is Pethar and wants to be left alone to grieve. He suddenly explodes and approaches with waves of lightning. He grabs his hand axe in an attempt to throw it but lands face-first in the grass. Farryn asks if we can knock Pethar out for eight hours or so, to let him rest. Valentine asks Pethar to go to sleep, and he does; I think she used her suggestion skills on him. I ask the black Tabaxi what its name is: Smoke on the Water, he says reluctantly. He really hates me already, I think. Valentine transforms into a Tabaxi too, and Smoke curiously walks up to her: ‘Fire? Is that you?’

We eat together and share some stories. Smoke tells us about their adventures before Undermountain, about a quest where he saved Borac and Ladrengielle from shadow monsters, a dragon named Aurinax, and much more. Farryn did not know the party for long, so he doesn’t have many stories to share. Valentine sneakily tried to get into bed and have me keep watch alone: I pull her out of bed. She really isn’t in the mood. I am tired too, so I cast faithful hound to keep watch for us. So, I get some money AND sleep.

The next morning, the shrine in the tree looks different: the stick figures with sun, tree, and flower are gone and the sun is carved instead. Smoke interprets it as a sign from the ones who died; they’ll watch over them. Pethar says he feels normal but still weakened. He asks where the naked man is… Naked man?! Oh gosh, I did not even see him last night! Seriously? The man is meditating in front of the tree – he is a Half-Elf and his name is Crissan. He is sad Wyllow is dead: he loved her, but the last time they spoke, they had a row. Crissan says it’s all Hallasters’ fault: Wyllow did not want to do what she did. She needed to kill Crissan but didn’t. Wyllow was a student of Hallaster at the wizard academy. I am very interested but cannot ask for more information… We walk to the place it all happened: I can see the golden bodies, the dead dragon, some Duergarr, and Wyllow – I presume. Crissan wants us to bring Wyllow back to him. According to him, we need to take Wyllow to a preacher in Waterdeep. Valentine and I are from Waterdeep, we could assist him, but the rest of the party wants to go through the portal they’ve discovered while fighting Valdemar.

To activate the portal, we need to do a dance. Farryn asks me to dance with him, and awkwardly I stand next to him. He is performing a whole routine and is shouting something about ‘lover of the Russian queen’? I am not good at dancing, so I just stand there making some hand gestures. We walk through the portal, entering a hallway filled with armor and statues. The armor looks old and rusty, just like the door at the end. Smoke tries to open the doors, but they fly open: he pushed a bit too hard. We enter what looks like a library – I am instantly excited – but see that some Duergarr are inside. Pethar holds up a pendulum and says we’re allowed to be here – Skella said so. I know Skella is dead, but fortunately, these dumb Duergarr do not. I walk up to the nearest bookcase: I can see many books about Dumathoin the Dwarven Diety. All books seem to reference a temple, but I can’t quickly deduce where that temple is. All are holy texts. I am astounded by the fact that the Duergarr and Dwarfs have recorded their history and ancient texts – originally, this isn’t the case, so this is a unique situation! I close my book and start to search for secret doors; Dwarfs occasionally build them in their dwellings to store treasure. Smoke pushes me aside: ‘Hold on little girl, I have something for that.’ He holds up a wand. I guess that he did not find anything, because within minutes we walk further. With my thoughts still buried in the books I just read, I am a bit distracted. Without me noticing, Pethar is now riding a construct made of wood in the shape of a donkey. Odd. We come across some floating eyes of a Beholder, and we are drawn into a room with weird lights. Farryn finds a crown and asks me to help to investigate it: it may be a trinket or a key, but nothing more than that. Pethar triggers a creature of some sort while we were investigating, so we have to fight. However, the creature is invisible, so we cannot see it. I just ready every time with a magic missile or fireball to attack it – the latter with pockets of relative safety around the others, except for the wooden donkey. It turns out to be two Invisibile Stalkers and with my fireball, I kill them both. After the fight, I finally have time to check out the room in more detail: two gates stand on opposite sides. One with dancing Goblins with the letter ‘D’ engraved in it, the other with Elves. What could this mean…?