In search of the crown of Duvan'Ku

Our adventure began in a tavern in the town of Vyriscally. A noble man approached us offering gold in exchange for an ancient artifact---a crown belonging to Duvan'Ku. None of us had any knowledge of who or what Duvan'Ku is or was. The noble wasn't very knowledgable either. He knew they were an evil cult waaaay back. But that's about it. He did not know if the crown had any magical properties. We readily accepted for a payment of 20gold upfront, and all travel expenses paid and 80gold when we returned the crown. That should read, 100gold each. The crown was last known to be in a castle atop the Misty Mountain. It seemed easy enough....

Our days of travel to the mountain were many, but easy. Finally we reached the foot of the mountain and left our provisionals with the local townspeople....for a fee of course. The six of us (myself, Moon Moon, Te'los, Lillian, Krusk and Brand) started our long journey up the cold mountain. I'm afraid we were not as prepared as we should have been, given the state of cold we constantly were in.

About 5 hours in we came across a strange looking tent, and a crazed old man. I'm afraid we never even asked the old man his name. Or if one of my companions had, I may have missed it. For now I will refer to him as Crazy Eyes or CE. He had several hides hanging up that we were coveting pretty badly. He was friendly enough, inviting us into his tent home. When we asked him about Duvan'ku and the castle on the mountain, well that's when the crazy came out. He was adament that we should not go up the mountain. It was then that we noticed several wooden crosses with names carved on them. We inquired about them and he told us he was making grave markers for people killed in the name of Duvan'Ku. Oddly surprising....

He said that over the years many many lives had been lost to Duvan'Ku. He had been making markers for 50 years or more. We all exchanged knowing glances. Te'los asked about the hides--if we could have some, or buy them for our journey. He less than politely declined. He promised to give us the hides if we went back down the mountain. We tried to tell him we would leave and not come back but he asked us if we thought he was stupid. He said something to the effect of "I wasn't born yesterday."

I had a bad feeling about Crazy Eyes. It made me ponder whether he was truly Crazy or part of the whole Duvan'Ku scheme. I quietly suggested to Te'los that we should just kill him. Te'los being the asshole he is agreed with me, but only because he wanted the hides. Brand of course was firmly and rather stubbornly against it. Lillian was neither for or against and Krusk thought we were nuts. We did not kill Crazy Eyes.

We decided to stay for the night, where Crazy Eyes showed us his best hospitality. He left sometime in the night without sleeping. We awoke and thankfully, he had not returned. We decided to each leave a gold piece in exchange for the hides (Te'los was rather reluctant, but Brand insisted. Brand is the man who will argue over two gold to stay in a damn tavern, but he'll gladly give up one entire gold for a shitty hide that we hardly even used....I confess, I do not understand him). After taking a hide we departed the tent and made our way up the Misty Mountain once more.

After sometime Moon Moon stopped and refused to walk any further. Any time I would approach him to pull him across, he would back away from me. Brand and Te'los checked, and it seemed like there was a dome, a line right where Moon Moon originially stopped. We had to press on, it seemed prudent to finish this quickly. We left Moon Moon there, putting a bad taste in my mouth....

We pressed on until we came across the graveyard Crazy Eyes spoke of. It stopped us in our tracks. The sheer amount of markers was beyond our comprehension. Beyond counting. There was a low moaning sound coming from under our feet, from the snow, from the ground, making the hairs on my arm stand at attention. Across the field (and I use that term rather loosely) there was an old, decaying tree. Krusk and Brand approached to investigate. They circled the tree, but found nothing except a long broken rope.

The next thing that happened...well...let's just chalk that up to Krusk being half-orc...The sheer stupidity of what he did....I still cannot comprehend it(though to be fair, I have made my own share of stupid choices, especially on this adventure). He pulled on the rope, snapping the branch. That's when the tree came to life.

After a long and weary combat, we defeated the blood tree. I call it the blood tree because it literally bled red red red humanesque blood. The screams were deafening....

We gave the dying tree a wide berth as we continued along the graveyard. Ahead of us, we saw a cabin, standing randomly in the middle of the snowstorm....this is where my memory gets fuzzy.

Te'los and Brand looked into the windows, but it was pitch black inside. Lillian and I went around back to check it out....We found a dead body 3 or 4 feet from the door with fresh snow covering him. It was clear he had died pretty recently. A shiver ran up my spine.

The back door was easily acessible, I wasn't too keen on trying either the front or back though. If I remember correctly it was Te'los who entered first. When the door opened, all we saw was darkness. Even after he entered, still darkness. His head would occasionally pop out, but still, only darkness.

Finally, Lillian and I stepped inside with Te'los, leaving Brand and Krusk outside. Once inside, the cabin was lit just fine. We could hear harpsichord music that wasn't audible outside. The cabin was quite roomy, having several doors leading off into various rooms.

"Come check this out!"Te'los yelled from inside one of them.

We walked into the room on our right (I believe, this is all from memory which by now may have faded with the passing of time). Inside was the harpsichord and a rather large painting....a painting of Te'los drinking from a human skull whilst Lillian, Krusk and myself lay dead around the altar upon which he stood. Brand was reaching out for him....Lillian and I looked at Te'los with frowns on our faces.

"What type of sorcery is this?"I asked.

Te'los shrugged. Ït was like that when I got here. Pretty awesome though, isn't it?"

I exchanged looks with Lillian, but we said nothing.

We turned our attention to the harpsichord, which was no longer playing.

"Te'los," I said. "Tell me if that's magical."

He shrugged and began to investigate the insturment. After a while he stepped back and shrugged. "Yep, it's magical."

We stared at him for a few beats.

"Care to share?" I asked sarcastically. "You are a wizard." (and thus began the joking--ÿer a lizard Harry....)

Te'los shrugged again. Ït's magical."

I rolled my eyes and stomped back into the hall and stuck my head out the door. Krusk and Brand were standing outside looking alarmed as hell.

"It's safe, come on in."

We showed them the painting making Brand turn to Te'los. "I've got my eye on you."

Te'los shrugged. "I've got nothing to do with that painting."

After the argument between Brand and Te'los ended, we methodically searched the other rooms. One was barren with nothing but a strange purple powder in it. Brand pocketed the powder. One had what I assumed to be the dead man's belongings inside. When we got to the main room, I noticed a rather large Elk's head above the door. It's eyes were....well they moved. I stupidly shot an arrow at it.

A horrible scream filled the room and my head. The pain was indescribable. The others recovered almost instantly, but I felt the effects of the scream for a little bit. When I finally came to, Brand and Krusk were touching a clock in the corner.

I have to pause and say, we spent HOURS in that room while Brand messed with the clock. It was some sort of time travel device. Eventually, he stopped being a shit (he wanted to go around and poke everyone while time stood still) and went back in time to before the dead man...died.

Let me say, for the record, Brand is horrible with people. I cannot imagine why he became a Priest. Though I understand the War Priest's allure. He has a certain....ardor for....glorious battle (a phrase I have thus come to hate and when he says it I just feel like punching him....). I digress.....according to Brand the man was violent and very very nervous. Brand says the man was ready to fight him, but eventually he packed up and left. Luckily, Brand saved his life by doing that. We have no known cause of death from before, per Brand the man was healthy as a stout and fled fairly easily. I'm pretty sure Brand went in there brandishing his weapon and yelling at the poor man. But we may have left him a fate worse than death. More on that later.....

Backing up a little, before Brand went back in time we discovered a mirror where the only reflection that did not show was Te'los. Of course then Brand had to go and say something like “I've got both eyes on you now.” Te'los merely rolled his eyes at Brand.

Going forward there was a book bound in human leather.....absolutely disgusting and awful....it was very old and fairly worn. We flipped through, only to find thousands upon thousands of names. One of the pages fell out, proving it's frailness. None could pick it up. So I did what I do best....I stabbed the book....and it broke my sword. My stupidity knows no bounds, and apparently my lesson was not learned the first time. Per Te'los, the book was magical (definitely not something we could've figured out for ourselves....).

At one end of the room there was a trap door. Once again it was darkness...Brand grabbed a goblet and threw it in, hoping to hear a clatter. But that wasn't the case. It fell into the hole and then fell from the ceiling back into the hole....an infinite loop (at which point Brand stopped time with the clock and tried to move the goblet. It wouldn't budge). We poked around the room some more, looking for clues, for anything. At some point Te'los even stabbed the painting, but nothing happened. It was then that I knew we would have to jump....

….It was Brand, of course, who made the first leap. He jumped in and then nothing. We waited, but still nothing. Finally Krusk, Te'los and myself followed. There was no word from Lillian....

I have never seen anything like it....The walls were covered, floor to ceiling, in faces. Krusk slammed his axe into the nearest face and they all screamed. The sound was like a thousand deaths, over and over. I cannot even begin to elaborate on the awfulness of that place.

Anyway, there was a key inside the door at the end of the corridor. We were sure it was a trap, but we were in luck. No trap.

We advanced down the corridor, and let me tell you, this place was winding and so full of rooms, I barely even remember all of it. But I will record it to the best of my ability....Anyway, we ended up in a chapel with these horrific murals of death and I guess Duvan'Ku committing whatever awfulness....At the end of the chapel we came upon an altar with a dagger and a necklace. Behind the altar was a set of bronzed doors and a basin with black sludgey water. After close inspection, Brand declared the dagger and necklace cursed, so no one should touch them. Which meant someone had to touch them. This time it was Krusk. And guess what? They were in fact cursed. No matter what he tried, Krusk could not remove the necklace or drop the dagger.

Brand turned back to the bronzed door and attempted to open it, but it wouldn't budge. It wouldn't even budge when Krusk used the dagger on it. We circled the room, looking for a key, for anything. Finally Brand came back to the basin on the wall and tipped it over. What seemed like thousands and thousands of teeth (but probably less than a hundred) spilled from the murky depths of the basin.

Brand nodding knowingly. “Teeth. It needs an offering.”

An idea occurred to me at the time, that I am now nearly ashamed to admit. “Why not use the teeth from the dead guy?”

“Because he's not dead anymore,” Te'los pointed out.

I remember thinking, well fuck, I'm not giving my teeth up. Brand looks around at all of us and we shrug. He rolls his eyes and pops out a tooth. Even now the thought of....well, anyway, the bronze door opened into another corridor with many rooms. We methodically searched several of the rooms, but they contained little. Mostly rotting books/scrolls and worn/run down beds. We finally came to a locked door, which Krusk and Brand broke down with little effort. We all armed ourselves in prep for whatever lay in waiting behind the door...

But there was nothing to fear in that room, only old and tarnished furniture. Once very ornate and rich, the room was now in ruins. We searched and searched, but found nothing. The battle with the blood tree earlier was wearing on us, though. We barred ourselves in to take a short rest. Not our best idea, but we had no choice.

Just to be on the safe side, we searched the room again after our rest was finished. Te'los found a ring. Of course he had to put it on, and when he did, he vanished. Quite a useful ring, he mused and pocketed it. Brand scowled at him and reminded Te'los he was being carefully watched. The tensions between the two were on high, when I stepped in and suggested we continue on.

At some point Te'los (why is it always Te'los?) found a spiky eyed monocle. I can't remember where, but Brand or Te'los decided it could read the old Duvan'ku language. I forgot to mention, littered around the halls were sayings written in an ancient and strange language that not even I could understand.

At this point in time the four of us were snappy, jumpy and more than a little on edge. We expected a trap at every turn, and so far nothing. It constantly increased the low grade anxiety between us. Onward we pressed, determined to find that crown and get the hell out of there....

Guilty and worry wracked my body whenever I thought of Moon Moon, alone in the cold. Maybe Crazy Eyes took him in...

Anyway, we went through several more rooms, one containing four marble (tables?), a room stained with blood (though what wasn't stained with blood in that place?), numerous crypts with bodies upon bodies of the Duvan'ku and another room with a basin full of mucky black water. Brand stuck his hand inside and pulled out a copper coins. He flipped one in and walked through the doors. The three of us immediately followed him, believing only one sacrifice would be needed, same as before. Boy, we were wrong wrong wrong. All three of us fell ill and began to vomit; the room began to spin and whirl. Brand dragged us back where we each dropped a copper into the basin. The effects of the copper were immediate, instantly we felt better and were able to walk through the doors.

We came upon a thorny mass of vines, blocking our way. I should also note, throughout the entire crypt areas, there had been an eerie haunting noise, like a low grade buzz in our ears. When we reached the vines however, the music (the only other word I can use to describe it) was loud and clearly emanating from the plant. None of us could speak to plants, so we decided to hack it apart. Why not? It's not like anything bad ever came from hacking a plant...And combat....(sorry, glorious combat according to Brand) is always preferable to talking things out right?

Anyway, after our glorious battle, the sounds stopped, the silence was deafening. None of us gave it the mind we should have....

Beyond the vines, we found a temple. This is where we found the crown of Duvan'ku. It lay upon an altar with a cup and a rather large book. We left the goblet alone, Krusk was still encumbered with the necklace and the dagger and we didn't want a repeat. Brand picked up the crown and put it in his bag. Te'los opened the book and well, to put it lightly he became severely retarded. 

We left the temple area and that's when things started getting seedy. We heard a great noise and turned....All the dead had arisen....

Now I don't like to think we are bad people, but...we did send Te'los to hold them off. Well, to hold the door closed. Afterall, it was his fault, right? Okay not really, but the three of us needed to find an exit and fast. Of course we went back for Te'los. Anyway, in all our frantic searching we came across the most evil....