Every day the road to Loudwater and Shining Falls grows in danger. Solia mentioned the monsters have grown in strength since the Syndicate was founded. I think the strength—magical or physical— of those of us in the Syndicate are drawing more creatures to the space, making it dangerous in general.

Each day either begets fighting against creatures that you stumble upon or set traps if you leave the Syndicate’s doors. But members are nice, a camaraderie is built here that I’m not yet sure what to make of. But either way—it’s good to have come this way.

I can feel myself getting stronger in my magic and have learnt varying protective spells so I’m grateful for it.

Arlie and I talked briefly about staying with the Syndicate and setting roots here. I have to admit, it’s a nice idea. I wasn't with Arlie or Assy since the beginning but it was enough to know. And having a place that's...semi-safer would be nice.

The strangeness of creatures attacking just keeps getting worse and worse. Mimsy died in the Syndicate’s laboratory—Arlie and I barely made it there to defeat the elemental that caused the mess. And I’m not sure what happened but in Loudwater, I thought I saw Ivor dead on the ground. I had been alone at the time and I am not fit to carry others but Fenris seemed to come across him instead. I think he ended up revived but I haven't seen him since.

The rest of the month was a bit busier and we did get more Syndicate members so hopefully things keep growing.

Dragon Hunting

• Me
• Assy
• Mimsy
• Mila
• Sylk

I received a last minute notice to join on a job to be a guard for a caravan. From what I know we have a lot of spellcasters to be as guards for this caravan but we can probably do what we need to do anyways.

As we went down the road, a...dog showed up on the road. It was a golden retriever that was radiating magic to it. It had a collar on it that said we needed to return the dog to a Wizard Tower in the North Dragonspire Mountains for a reward. The dog's name was Dell and she belonged to Leonardo.

Before we could figure out what to do, Dell began alerting to something off the path and Arlie would kill me if I didn't follow Assy's whims so off we went to chase. Dell led us to a cave opening and well, we went inside.

This cave was incredibly hot and kept getting worse the further we entered. There was a crevasse with lava at the bottom which definitely explains the heat in portion. There was a few rotted crates and boxes all over.

We continued moving through the cave, getting through a steamy space that was being affected by a device from the Elemental Plane of Fire. And then there was a door with a puzzle on it that Sylk figured out the code for, causing it to open and we were greeted by a lot of hobgoblins.

Instead of fighting, we did convince them to come with us back to the Syndicate. Then we found animals that were captured and caused Dell to freak out. Luckily the hobgoblins still decided to return with us but when we exited the cave the dragon that owned this lair and hired the hobgoblins showed up. His name was Torch.

After a moment, we luckily managed to take out the dragon. Thank gods for that.

Municipality of Felgolos, islands near Candlekeep

• Me (Salviron)
• Assy
• Mimsy
• Grandma Tapioca
• Luckyfoot

We were hired by the Lord's Alliance to investigate a dragon that like puns... I'm not entirely sure on all the details but we had to go to the Municipal Court of Felgolos which is inside a bronze dragon's demiplane. They had a sign on the foor that stated "No Loitering, Littering, or Unlicensed Wordplay." We entered the court to sit in and listen. A man was on trial for throwing a tomato at a performer before it was legally disappointing.

I'm still not sure what is going on.

But we had to break some people out of jail...by telling absolutely awful jokes.

I feel like everything involved in this was an awful fever dream.

Cursed Road

• Me
• Arlie
• Assy
• Na'ima
• Jax

We were asked to patrol around the cursed road and make sure random creatures weren't killing travelers that weren't equipped to handle them. So we set off and a bit into our patrol we found a satchel that was full of gold. Arlie threw an axe at it but nothing happened. However when he accidentally kicked it, we were shunted off plane.

After this pressure as we were transported, we found ourselves in a colliseum--where an announcer said we were to entertain the massive crowd in the stands. Before anything nefarious happened, a smaller man called us over to an opening in the colliseum and explained that we were in a dimension within the Feywild. The announcer is the Creator. And anything in the colliseum that we imagine we can create.

He demonstrated by having Arlie imagine his favorite food and a steak appeared in his hand. He also asked for a knife and fork which appeared as well. Everyone else began to try conjuring items and whatever was imagined came true. It was definitely a strange phenomenon. Apparently my schooling from Bardic college is going to come in handy here.

We fought a few different creatures and eventually landed on a BALOR. I took a chance with the conjuring and entertainment being the main goal, summoning a powerful magic item and cracking it over my knee causing a giant explosion of damage that luckily did not kill us all but unluckily the balor was able to get out of the way and avoid a lot of the damage.

After we ended up down, we were teleported to a spectator box where a wondrous feast was set out there was a small goblin girl that said we did a wonderful job and that she wanted to watch the rest of the show. The balor made quick work of Na'ima and Jax that survived the large explosion and afterwards when the fight was over a lot of the patrons watching started leaving. The goblin girl let us know that she was so happy that we were participants.

She paid us for our time and gave us a few magic items before sending us home.

Me, Na'ima, Surx, Ivor, and Mila were invited to the town of Parnast and we were to be tracking hobgoblins looking for a wizard tower. These hobgoblins may be working for a hill giant named Badfrual and they want us to investigate and see if there is plans to come after the town. Badfrual usually has different tribespeople that follow her like goblins, giants, ogres, etc.

Near everyone else in this group seems to have beef with the man that hired us...

But anyways we went off to begin our job and a golden pseudodragon sppeared saying "Seer" is requesting access to the wizard tower and that they'd pay us for it. A few of use recalled the Seer has hired the Guild before and has shown trustworthy at the moment now. But it was agreed to give them the wizared tower if we so find it.

We ended up walking through a swamp. :I

As we continued through, we found dead hobgoblins. They were laying on muddy parts of ground and half underwater. So we began our investigation. One of them had a magical Conjuration ring on them but I'd rather not get near them in the event of something dangerous. And as if on cue, the water rippled at its edges as if small creatures were coming. We prepared ourselves for battle and mud elementals bubbled up from the water and then the actual water started to come to life like a dragon. We defeated the elementals and the water but another mud elemental was just...watching. He smelled awful. He called himself Feetor and I really can't descirbe the smell. But he did tell us about a powerful leader called Momma Knuckles that's deeper in the swamp, living on an island.

We proceeded forward after checking the hobgoblin corpses for items. We had to walk for hours. Luckily we didn't get lost. Feetor still smelled bad. But eventually we came across an encampment. Much of the group outside myself and Ivor went ahead to see about communicating with whatever was inside and then I receieved a mental ping from Surx letting us know that they did not succeed in talking to whatever was inside and we had to battle. There were ogres. Smelly ones. This is the worst day and time of my life.

The battle was rough--Momma Knuckles was some type of hag and we defeated her but the ogres decided to run away to joing Badfrual. Mila--for whatever reason decided to yell the Syndicate's name for them to say they should behave or else we'd come after them. Now. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. Why are they yelling about who we are and giving away our identities. I can't.

We investigated the remains and looted everything out, finding the camp was around the actual wizard's tower. I suppose that would be prepared easily. I don't want to come back to this smelly place though.

We decided to head to the tree we were told about on our last job. The druid's name was Khorshad if I'm remembering correctly. He said its the largest tree in the forest but...that may be near impossible to find considering its, y'know, a FOREST.

But I digress.

We headed out with me, Arlie, Assy, Fenris, and a new guy called Yargol. The badges we were given didn't have anything marked but they did have some type of magic on them that after I identified it, I learned was divination magic of some kind.

We headed off into the forest and followed the badges directions as it seemed to heat up while we kept walking. While we kept going, it just felt like we were walking for hours, much longer than we actually were. Having detect magic up was like a beacon of light--everything was magical. It was almost painful.

Fenris seemed to find the right path but then he sunk into a mud bog and we had to drag him out of it. So Arlie checked a different path and found another symbol carved into a tree. This one a bit different than what we've seen previously but Yargol was able to tell that it is the Druidic symbol for "Road". Arlie checked another road and that one had symbols indicating "Pain". We decided to not go down that road.

We went through the path and came to a pool of water that was surrounded by stones with runic symbols on them. Using magic that aligned with the symbols and their meanings seemed to make them glow but there wasn't anything that happened. It took us a moment but we managed to figure out the riddle and a tunnel opened up.

Against better judgement, we went through the tunnel and the magic here was ancient...much older than anything else I've felt. Roots were stacked together into the form of a giant face. It spoke in our minds and asked what we were doing there. Arlie gave a very direct response but there was no interaction from the form face. I told it about wanting to help with the animals that are suffering and the brand and was invited inside to enter the tree essentially.

It took them a moment, but everyone else joined in behind me and we found ourselves in the heart of the Emerald Enclave. We saw Falken who introduced us to the others in the Circle of Leaders. He said one is a researcher so I beelined it to her. She'd be the best person to talk to in my opinion. I explained to her about the runes we found and she says they seem to be ruins that change a creature's natural instinct. The symbols seem to be returning to how it was before people started settling on the land and once it was returned to how it was supposed to be--the brands magic fades because that is no longer a target.

We explained everything and the Warden said there was a prior Enclave member that broke from the Enclave itself and may be one that would have the strength and belief to do this. A couple of the members got into an argument-- one believes there is too much industrial growth while another does not think that should be halted.

We agreed to assist the Emerald Enclave in following this through.

Assy, Arlie, and I joined the Syndicate this month. A kobold exploded in our faces when we signed up. I don't even know anymore.

Otherwise, we went with Tem to explore Shining Falls and some nobles tried to tax us while we were on the street! Do they not understand how taxes even work???? I'm so lost. But we continued back to the Syndicate and ended up finding the dumbest child I've ever met. I hate children. He was abandoned by his friends that ended up being FAKE people--not even real. But whatever I guess.

Before we even learned that though, Arlie took the kid back tot he Syndicate with us since he lives in Loudwater (what kind of name is that???) and then we headed out after a couple days to return the kid home. This tentacle cats stole the kid and then we had to do some weird convincing to get him back before he died. But we got him back home and learned his mom died and his dad is a mess and the kid is stupid.

Another day I went out with Arlie to go and get a new spellbook and these woods are stupid and dangerous but we stumbled into Assy that was off the path and picking flowers. So of course we had to go see what she was doing and then she fell into some sticky web cocoon. There weren't any spiders...at least that we saw but oh my, that could have ended so badly.

We had another job that involved more of the same symbols and this thing called the Emerald Enclave and apparently there's some kind of nonsense happening with them. I don't even know anymore.

I guess it'll just have to be a trip from here. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that.

Thrax gave us a memo stating he was please with our work with the Emerald Enclave and wants us to investigate around and report anything we learn back to the Enclave. I, Arlie, Assy, Fenris, and a changeling met up outside the Syndicate. Apparently, their name is Surx and they've been sober for 7 years. But we finished our introductions and headed on out.

We went down the cursed Delimbiyr road--and I don't care what anyone says its cursed and stupid and terrible.

Of course I got detect magic up again and we searched around to see what nonsense we could find. Everything was strangely quiet. Being outside is not my forte but it was way too quiet. Fenris reminded us that it was quiet when we came across the white wolves from before. This gave me the thought to check for the symbol we found again and I found one that seemed residual in its magic, not actually active right now. I had Surx carve through it and the remaining magic vanished--so it could not be reused.

Fenris found some footprints that were faded but it could be determined that the rain and the vegetation around the space have faded the prints but the plants in this space is overgrown. They are growing faster than usual. I've read enough to know that this may be the work of druids. The symbol and the plant growth don't seem to correspond but are in some way connected.

We followed the path and it seemed to be the correct choice as we found more symbols. We destroyed each one we found and as we kept moving there were just so many vines growing all over. We came to buildings that were covered in vines and seemed to have pulled things apart. The road remained fineand the vines covered everything that led a perimeter to what looked to be an old homestead.

Arlie and Surx moved forward first, they were much quieter than the rest of us. Surx did something that connected him with me and Arlie telepathically. It was a strange sensation and was very whispery. It was quiet for a moment and then we found strange spiked vine creatures. They attacked us and as we started engaing them, a troll came out of one of the buildings. It took some effort but we defeated the vine creatures and the troll after shooting them with fire.

We started wandering around the place and found more of those symbols. We found some left over gold and magical items but as we were doing so, we spotted a cloaked figure coming down from the mountain. It stopped and...stared at us, doing nothing but watching. He introduced himself as part of the Emerald Enclave.

He knew of the Syndicate and told us that while he doesn't trust us, it is a matter of making sure the information we know stays in certain hands. He gave us these tokens to an Enclave Bastion. They weren't the ones marking the symbols, he didn't seem to know about the symbols that we've found. He said they are cold brands and that a powerful creature is the one that did these brands.

As we discussed, he said the Enclave itself may not be safe. The token he gave us to the Bastion is for the Circle of Leadership. Find the tree at the center of the forest and we will find where we need to go. He changed into an animal before I could ask how much he trusts the Circle of Leadership.

We received a wanted poster of sorts...for griffons. They wanted us to get them out, dead or alive. We got to a tavern and met our contact, Gundar Shornshield, who informed us that there are two adult griffons and unknown how many children ones. The griffons showed up at their town around two months ago and have been attacking horses and taking them back--partly indicative that they are taking them back to feed their babies.

Before we could even go out to handle the issue, a scraggy guy came bursting in and said the griffons were attacking the market. We headed out that way and found 5, FIVE baby griffons attacking some horses. WHY are there always so many creatures??????????

We engaged them and this was a shit show. The horses ran off and killed their handlers, the griffons killed the horses and flew off with them. I don't even know what happened. Gundar came with back up archers by the time everything was finished--THANKS I guess. We headed off with Arlie leading the way to the StarHill Mountains or whatever it was and ran into malnourished coyotes.

Why is everything malnourished? Is this more yetis? Are the griffons stealing their food? The world may never know.

I used ten days of rations to convince them to ignore us because I'd really rather not fight them. Looks like I just need to carry hoards of rations on my person if every creature here is just malnourished! Everything is going to continuously try and eat us. Mimmy and I used magic to make up an illusion with sustenance to further distract them as we ran past.

Arlie led us further through the mountains and we found starmetal! It was a decent sized chunk too so we tucked it away to sell later. Afterwards we came to a cliffside with a bunch of corpses at the bottom. The corpses had magic gloves on them so we took them--learning the griffons are more than liekly at the top which is why the gnomes died. After putting on the gloves I just felt even more connected to their magic. They make climbing much easier.

I have never climbed something before in my life.

These gloves did all the work. I was lucky enough to not just fall off the side. But Fenris caught the attention of the griffons and we were immediately attacked. Great. After a worrisome time we managed to defeat them all and take the eggs as well as getting magic staffs.

We met before the Syndicate with Falken of the Emerald Enclave that was to take us to our client which we learned as Teela Hodgkins. We headed to her farm and learned of some issues she was having in regards to strange sounds she has been hearing.

She's been hearing howls and many of her animals have been disappearing and some being killed. She's not able to keep up with the lot of things that have been getting hurt. She had seen shadows skulking about her farm--different ones a few other times. One was large and hulking that crashed through a fence while others have been on four legs.

She let us know that other farmers in the area have also been experiencing the same thing and even the hunters have noticed less game in the woods--which may give reason to why those large cats we had to rescue Milo from were so starved. Chappo can apparently speak with animals and learned more from them and I guess that makes sense since he's a not-capybara.

We were given the run of the place to investigate and as per usual, I brought up detect magic to assist and found an aura around a large barrel that was supposed to hold water but has been destroyed and not usable now. I stuck my head inside and saw a strange symbol branded into aa piece of wood that was in the barrel. The symbol was like a frost brand and Assy was able to gauge that the brand is like a calling card and drawing attention and energy to the farm itself.

This gave me reason to believe there are more so around the farm I went, searching for more brands. We found additional brands through the farm and removed them, their magic fading when we had to scratch through one on a tree. Chappo found some fur by a pond and believed it to be a yeti's fur so we headed out to search outside the space and through the forest.

I found another symbol on a tree and when Na'ima scratched it out this time the magic seemed to flare up before vanishing as the brand was ruined. Before we could get any further, a cloud descended upon us and descending from above was some white wolves and what I assume to be are ice elementals. It was rough but we managed to take down the wolves and then the elementals caused fog to cover the entire field and when it dissipated they were gone.

We investigated around and found another symbol on a rock and scratched that away before we learned that the yeti has moved on. We went back to the farm and told Teela about what occurred.

Attraction Symbol Link