Kaywen is a stocky, young human female with brown hair and green eyes. By her dress you can easily decern she is a druid. She wears brown leather armor under her traveling garments which are in green, brown and grays. She has a backpack on and a scimitar sheathed at her side. Her black panther Peren is usually at her side.

To say that Kaywen is an odity in an odd family would not be far from wrong. Her family is legendary through out the kingdom for the superub riding dogs they raised as well has their long and standing in the druidic community. However, when Kaywen came home with the panther cub she had rescued from a pochers trap no one in her family had the heart to tell her no. Peren as she called him became her constant companion. Kaywen was always aware that her family was different. The fact that they lived in the druidic grove and not in the village was testament to that. But she enjoyed her life and her studies. She especially enjoyed hearing the stories about her ansestor Daria, who with a small band of friends had saved their world just six generations earlier. Kaywen would spend every available moment with her cousin, the half-elf Taryn begging her mother Dara to tell her the tales again and again.

Discover identity of Dwarf

Locate pieces of shattered crystal and return to The Order of the Kethend.

July 29, 2004

Taryn and I were just working around the grove this morning when Peren made us aware of the villagers coming to the grove. As we set out to meet them we realized that they were carrying someone. At first I thought it just another routine injury being brought to us for healing but as I neared the group I realized that the figure they were carrying was not that of a human but a dwarf. He was unconscious, bald on top with long red hair and beard, wearing purple garments of a design I had never seen before. Other than a large lump on his head I could discern no other injuries. I sent Taryn to find mother and did my best to make him comfortable. After I was able to get the villagers to settle him in a cot I noticed he was wearing a medallion with an unknown inscription on the front and a strange crystal on the back and clutching a piece of parchment.

Once mother arrived I began questioning the villagers as to where they had found him and what he had with him. Apparently he staggered into the village babbling incoherently and then collapsed. I was able to retrieve his weapon, a strange device consisting of two sticks connected by a chain. Mother by that time had revived the dwarf but he appears to have no memory of who he is or why he was there. Taryn examined the amulet and stated she thought the inscription had something to do with a sword and a fist, but she couldn't be sure. The paper he was clutching turned out to be a map.

Mother took the map and went to speak to the rest of the druidic council about our strange guest. When she returned she told us that the Council had decided that Taryn and I should accompany this strange dwarf and attempt to determine who he was and what his mission might be. The council believes he is a monk of some type and suggested we check with the monastery in Vethikethend.

After talking with the dwarf the three of us decided the best bet would be to travel the four days to Vethikethend first rather than follow the map, and get as much information on our mysterious dwarf as we could. Our journey was over all uneventful. We encounter a brown bear who was just wondering along the road looking for food on our second night. It wasn't until we had almost reached Travistatown that we had trouble.

Peren as usual, noticed it first. The forest was just too quiet and I was unable to sense ANY animals in the area. We soon discovered why. Two large spiders had made their home across the road, weaving their web like a net in our path. Taryn attempted to hit one of them with an arrow but missed, alerting them to our presence. We were eventually able to defeat them but Peren was seriously hurt in the process. Taryn (as usual) decided we needed to take time to see if we could find anything before we moved on. I healed Peren and then helped Taryn and the dwarf search.

I must admit, it was worth it. We found 300gp, 4 bloodstones, 4 Alexandrite, 2 violet garnets, a black pearl, a golden-yellow topaz, and a potion of some type. Once we arrived in Travistatown we went in search of an appraisal on our loot and then did a little shopping. Taryn of course LOVED that part of it. The dwarf seemed indifferent though amiable to the idea. As it was getting late we decided to spend the night in town at an Inn. We will continue to re-provision and our journey in the morning.

August 13th 2004

We finished our re-provisioning and headed out for the village of Vethikethend. The monastery should be located just beyond the village. Our journey was uneventful until we reached the village. There the dwarf was cheerfully greeted by the populace much to his great discomfort. It was obvious that they knew him and held him in high regard.

Once we reached the monastery we were able to get some of our questions answered. It appears our dwarf's name is Grimbar Telomartorgul and he is a monk from the Hand and Fist Order of the Badlands region. He was specifically sent to this monastery over a year ago to help them recover a lost/stolen artifact. He had left the monastery about a month ago in search of the "Crystal shards" which make up this artifact. They expected the trip to take no longer than a week. When Grimbar didn't return as expected one of the acolytes went looking for him. He found a camp site about a day's journey from the monastery in which there had obviously been a confrontation of some sort. He was suspious that something had happened to Grimbar, but unsure what or by who.

So we know a little more about our dwarven companion but there are still about three weeks that are unaccounted for.

After re-provisioning at the monestrary we left early in the morning and took another route to Grimbar's original destination, an abandoned dwarven settlement on the edge of the Crystal mountains. The trip was uneventful, other than Peren snacking on rabbits and bringing down a small deer. As we neared the settlement we discovered the area to be claimed by goblins.

Upon entering the cave we discovered three doors. One was locked and trapped, one was locked and one was stuck. By listening at the door we discerned the first had some higher ability goblins behind it and the other two seemed to be to the mess hall. We decided to take care of the intellectual ones first. Taryn picked the lock and narrowly avoided the needle trap. We then rushed in on a pair of Blue Goblins. Peren took one of them out easily. Grimbar and I attempted to take out the other to no avail. Taryn was able to get one good shot in before Peren took out the other goblin as well. Both Grimbar and Taryn are spoiling Peren outrageously as a result. He is going to get very fat before this journey is over!

We searched the room and bodies and found 3 cure light wounds potions (lv2), a small half spear, a small scimitar, a small wooden shield, a set of small leather armor, a small MW breastplate and a black opal. We also discovered a secret door at the back of the room.

Taryn didn't detect any traps so she opened the door and almost got roasted as a result. Thankfully she was able to avoid the worst of the blast. After drinking one of the potions we found she was fine. Behind the door was a large natural cavern containing a small pool and a Gelatinous Cube that had taken up residence. Taryn quickly dispatched with the cube and we were able to find our first piece of the shattered shard. We also found some gold cloth, a beautifully carved harp, a black velvet mask and 2pp. Near the pool we found another piece of the shard and Grimbar was able to put the two pieces we discovered back together.

That new piece is now pointing in a northwesterly direction.

After recovering from our first two encounters we went back to the locked door leading to the mess hall. Taryn easily picked that lock and we burst into the room. One goblin was asleep on a palate, two were eating at a table and another was sitting in a chair. Peren took out the nearest one (the one in the chair). Grimbar and I attempted to take out the two at the table and Taryn the one asleep on the palate. What ensued was a comedy of errors. Peren was the only one who was able to get his job done. Grimbar was doing some beautiful air karate but not connecting with anything. I could only manage to make sparks on the goblin's armor. Taryn kept setting the bedding on fire. Thankfully the goblins were just as bad, stabbing themselves in the leg and falling over chairs. Eventually we were able to overcome them. After a good laugh at our own expense we searched the room.

We found a small MW Scimitar, a small MW set of Brigadier armor, a small MW wooden shield, a small MW short sword, a set of small MW studded leather armor, a gold armband, six potions of cure light wounds (lv2), a pair of silver ear rings, a gold nose ring, two small MW half spears, a set of small MW scale mail, a silver armband, a silver broach, a jade, two amethysts and a set of small MW leather armor. We also located a set of stairs going down.

We decided to go back to the cavern where we met up with the cube and camp, continueing our investigations in the morning. Taryn set a trap on the secret door and we settled in for the night.

August 27th 2004

After a restful night in the cavern we headed out to investigate that stair case leading further down into the settlement. Unfortunately we got no further than the door before encountering a revolting blob of molten flesh, about five feet tall. It’s features twisted into a permanent expression of anguish. I was able to identify it as a Lamure. It didn’t take us long to dispatch with it. On it I found an interesting Druidic belt covered with pouches, the largest of which seems to be a small bag of holding. This item I decided to keep and put on immediately to await further investigation.

We continued to the stairs and descended into what appeared to be the entrance to a mine. (No surprise there, this use to be a dwarven settlement.) There we encountered another Lamure and disposed of that one as well. Buoyed by my success with finding the pouch on the first Lamure, Taryn searched this one quite throughly but got nothing more than a lot of slime for her troubles.

We entered the mine but no further than sixty feet in the tracks abruptly stopped at a shear cliff. Apparently some natural disturbance had caused the ground to shift dropping the mine down about twenty-feet. Peren jumped down with out a qualm so we took Taryn’s silk rope and climbed down to the tracks below. Grimbar’s amulet kept pulling us forward. Another forty feet and the tracks branched. Not wanting to leave an area open behind us we choose to investigate the cavern to our right.

We had no more than reached the end of the tracks when we discovered six dwarven skeletons. Three archers and three long spear men. Peren took out two all by himself and assisted Taryn with a third hiding up in the rocks. Grimbar took out one and assisted me with another. A quick search revealed two short bows, three MW long spears, 45 arrows (which is helpful considering how many Taryn burns up with that bow of her’s) and about 2 lbs of gold nuggets. We continued to explore the cavern and discovered two more skeletons. These were also quickly disposed of, though I was heavily injured. On one of these we found another piece of shard, along with a MW light mace, two large steel shields and a MW long spear. Further search of the area resulted in the discovery of a locked and barred door.

With our way blocked we decided to heal up and go back to the main hallway. This lead to a storage room which held nothing but empty crates (much to Taryn’s disappointment). We also located another door. This one was trapped. Taryn easily disabled the trap and we entered a small room with a pool in it. Once again we encountered a skeleton. This one’s head glowed and you could quite clearly see a piece of shard rattling around in his head. Grimbar and Peren promptly smashed this one to bits.

Those two pieces of shard that we discovered have now somehow bonded with the shards already in Grimbar’s amulet. I’m not sure what exactly it means but it seems to be a good thing. Searching the room resulted in finding another MW large steel shield along with the skeleton’s obviously magical short sword. Taryn asked which of us wanted the short sword only to be greeted by laughter from Grimbar and I as neither of us can use a sword. It is against our natures. Grinning a little sheepishly Taryn decided that maybe she should keep it for herself.

A further search of the pool in the room resulted in 2pp,7gp,4sp,49cp and a lever of some sort.

Finding no traps on the lever we gave it a pull and heard a bang back in the storage room. It appears to have opened a trap door with stairs leading even deeper into the mountain.