Tales from Etheraz: 3/7/26 Adventure Day Recap
Greetings, flabbergasters, fellows, and fools!
I, ATLAS THE BARD, have returned once more to report on the group of Coalition Adventurers known as the PC Party. I’ve been receiving reports from the Coalition and my informant within the PC party, Kyran, and I feel it is my duty as Arancis’ most mediocre Bard to spread the word of the adventurers fighting to make this region a better place!
[Transcript: Hello Atlas,
We were in Niv’s Fort, her soldiers don’t know we are Coalition. Agarion and Balon were with us, they used fake names, Nemo and Aaron. The rest of us didn’t need to. Kilgore said he recognized my name but didn’t remember where from. We said that we were from a mercenary group called The Order and that we had worked with Niv before. A few of the soldiers seemed skeptical but I think they believed us.
We were sent to go get some aged fungal spores so that we can make the Hollowed Cure in case we need it. I hope we won’t but it’s nice to have. While we were getting the spores we ran into a dead Blakka Soldier, they looked like they had been attacked by an animal but I don’t know what kind of animal could kill a Blakka Soldier. We found them near aged spores and a group of hollowed, so I find it strange that they were killed by an animal and not hollowed. On the body we found a cipher, translated it said that Amon Luv is being executed in 2 weeks. Why was it encrypted? If they wanted to keep it a secret why not just kill him and not make it an execution? From what I know about Blakka it seems like they would want as many people to know as possible. We’re going to go after him. I don’t know what state he’ll be in when we find him but at least we know he’s alive.
Blitz found a note telling people to join Qinulactic, it was the 759th print so there’s a lot of it. Niv found out about it and said it was probably put there by one of her soldiers. Sylvana was acting weird so I think it might be her but I don’t have any proof.
We found a letter from Valens offering Niv 100 gold in exchange for Katrinka’s capture. We didn’t show it to Niv. I feel bad about not showing it to her, we already abandoned her in the Eiravale and now we’re stealing her mail but we can’t risk losing Katrinka. I don’t think Niv would betray us but 100 gold is a lot of money and they need supplies. I think Valens is working with Qinulactic, if Valens wants Katrinka captured it’s most likely because he doesn’t want us to have access to a Hollowed Cure. That or he suddenly cares about the Cuprous Lodge for some reason. He didn’t seem to care back when they were an actual threat to The Bowers. The only reason I can think of for him not wanting us to have access to a Cure is if he’s working with a Coltar Spawn and Qinulactic seems most likely. It would also explain how he got through the Eiravale without being killed by Hollowed.
Agarion told Jay to show me a Blakka Military Report he found. It said that someone named Elden had completed the “Compliance Process” and is now Myr Veyl Thren. I don’t know what that means but based on the rest of the Report it doesn’t sound good. He now serves Blakka and it seems like he isn’t the only one this happened to. The report was made by Myr Galdur. It seems like Elden is currently at the East Delves but I might be wrong. I wonder what Myr means?
-Kyran Greyling]
Last I’d heard from the party, they had set up camp at Bradvlad camp with Commander Niv, an ally of the Coalition within House Blakka who said she’d work with the party to help take down the Lord Commander. Though Niv was aware of who the party was, she told her troops that they were a mercenary group called The Order, and instructed her soldiers to train them. The party had to do what they famously do best: be subtle and keep secrets! They couldn’t reveal who they truly were, lest Niv’s soldiers turn on them.
The party was sent to gather a special type of fungus necessary to concoct Hollowbane elixir, a cure for someone who had been parasitized by a Coltar Spawn. Next to the fungus, however, was LOTS OF HOLLOWED and also a DEAD BODY of a Blakka soldier that looked like it’d been mauled by an animal. Not something you’d really want to run into. The party dispatched the Hollowed with practiced ease and gathered the fungus. And then left. And then came back. And then left again. And then came back ONE LAST TIME because they “remembered” (were reminded several times by several different people) that hey, maybe the corpse of an enemy soldier would have valuable information on it! It’s a good thing they did, too, because they found an encoded note. When they returned back to Niv’s camp, they translated the note quickly (with minimal help from Niv’s forces), and read that Amon Luv was set to be executed in two weeks.
(Who is Amon Luv, you may ask? Amon was a prominent leader of the Coalition from House Luv who had been betrayed and kidnapped by Erath, a wayward member of the party. Erath turned Amon over to House Blakka, where Amon had presumably been imprisoned since. Erath, rewarded by Blakka for his betrayal, was renamed “Myr Galdur” and given control of the West Gate). The execution announcement was BAD NEWS — Amon was deeply valuable to the Coalition and a good friend to the party.
As the training progressed, the party (aka The Order) mingled with Niv’s company. They were an odd bunch of soldiers, but civil enough and willing to train these allies of Niv. However, they were deeply suspicious of this bunch of mercenary children and unsubtly trailed party members everywhere throughout the camp, causing the party to resort to increasingly desperate and absurd methods to hold private conversations. The party managed not to blurt out that they were Coalition and get killed instantly, so that’s a win! Some party members ventured out into Bradvlad pass to look for information or correspondences. Bad news: these discoveries were inside locked boxes. Good news: it turns out that Blitz, a party alchemist, is a lockpicking prodigy and unlocked SEVEN boxes!! Wow, Blitz!! His commitment to his locks lasted all night, even after he was found with them and they were confiscated, as he managed to secretly pocket some picks!!
But, Blitz’s newfound passion for lockpicking got him in trouble with Niv as he failed to immediately show her what he found (and instead went to go find more locks to pick). Inside one of the boxes was something dreadful: a piece of propaganda heralding the greatness of DESIRE! No, not the ambiguous concept: the Coltar Spawn of Desire (named Qinulactic). Niv HATES Qinulactic with a burning passion, going so far as to kill over 200 Blakka soldiers who were loyal to him. So, his propaganda popping up in her camp? Uh oh.
Niv lined up all her soldiers and demanded to know who had brought this disgusting thing into her camp!! (And when I say demanded, I mean yelled. A lot. Violently). Shockingly, none of her soldiers stepped forward to be murdered in punishment. Who would’ve guessed? Faced with either wholesale slaughter of her remaining forces or letting them continue with business as usual under a watchful eye, Niv rationally chose the latter option. But she was watching them!!
(Readers, I have learned from my trusty informant Kyran that a Blakka soldier, Sylvana, was acting strange and may be the informant, but he has no proof. They also spoke about this topic EXTREMELY LOUDLY in front of her brother who was rather offended at the accusations. Perhaps more knowledge will come to light in the future…)
As the party strategized to rescue Amon Luv from the bowels of Blakka in the West Gate, SOMEONE, I won’t say who but whose name rhymes with “Shmuzo,” blabbed to one of NIv’s soldiers about the plan. That’s right: Shmuzo went up to Kilgore, a BLAKKA SOLDIER, and told him that The Order was going to bust Amon Luv out of prison. Remember how they were supposed to be keeping their identities a secret? Yeah. Uhh. Not sure how that’ll work out. I guess only time will tell!
SO, dear readers, here is where my correspondence ends: with the party planning on going after Amon Luv, but still deep in Niv’s camp, lying about their true identity to all but Niv. As the party formulates a plan, will they be able to keep their cover? Will Qinulactic’s Blakka spy come to light? Will Blitz find more locks to pick?!? We march into the future, looking ever onwards. Until I have more news: fight together, or die alone.
Signed,
Atlas the Bard
