<4th Letter>

Dad,

So, the Guardians of the Grove are pretty big shit now! We just stop a bandit raid on Woodberry and cleared the sewers of the remnants of the Master! No big deal, Dad, but ya’ boi and his crew are crushing it!... It’s me… I’m ‘ya boi’. Anywho, added a new party member. He’s this super dark and mysterious guy from the north. Pretty sure he was an assassin of some sort. Very intense fellow with an odd accent. He seems alright though. OH! And so Corvus’ sister is alive and she has his old powers! I mean, it was kind of a bummer for him cause she’s all dark and possessed and shit, but I think it gave him a little hope knowing that she “ok” for now. I think we can save her though, so there’s that. Speaking of Corvus, he finally got some powers back and thank the gods for that! I was really getting worried about him. I don’t know if he would’ve been able to stay with us for much longer just due the fact that it would be too dangerous given all of the shit we keep finding ourselves in. 

We’re about to join a huge tournament in a few days here in Woodberry. Will we win? I’m gonna venture to say YES!! HAAAHAHA! I mean York just beat down this super awesome dwarf fighter.. Barely. But if he can do that, then I’m certain the rest of us will fair well. Either way, I’m hoping we place at the very least and I think we’ve earned a little bit of time to let our hair down. Well, at least those of us that HAVE hair. I wonder what Nirruk would look like with hair? Oh, speaking of ol’ frog face, I made him an arm! It’s basic right now, but I’m gonna keep working on it to hopefully improve on the quality and functionality of it. I really like the guy and I think I would call him a friend. Not to his face of course! Yes, yes Dad, I know what you would say if you were here. I’m TRYING to be nice and not pull pranks on him, but ugh.. Sometimes it’s just funnier that way!! Most of the time… Fuck it ALL OF THE TIME!! HAHAHAHA.

Um, what else? Oh, turns out there’s some kind of body snatcher or doppleganger thing going on, because Mira, who we thought was dead (thanks Corvus), is alive and kickin’. Plus other people who were supposedly expired. We’re likely gonna have to look into that eventually, but after the tourney, I think we’re making a trip to Zandonia to help Corvus repair some swords he got from this priestess. 

Dad., there’s so much we gotta do! Fix Corvus, save his sister, go visit these gnomes for my secret invention I’m working on, find out what happened to the kid you gave the Withered One and find out how to get you back. Plus we don’t even know if there’s something that York or CC want to do! Oh right CC, I mean Atheya. I don’t know if I’ve written to you about her yet, but she is pure chaos! But she’s great! Except for that one time when she jumped into a random portal.. Oh, and the time she and Corvus tried to rappel simultaneously off of each other using a raggedy tree as an anchor, into a barely waist high pool, from 100 or so feet up! Oh and the other time when she happily agreed to murdering people. Oh and when she tried to start an illicit drug ring at our new home. Other than that, LOVE her!

Before I let you go, I went looking for her again. :/ I just want to make sure she’s ok. Plus, I thought she might be able to help me find a Fey patron for Corvus and teach me more about the natural magics and how to be a better shamanistic barbarian. I’m going to keep looking, Dad. she was, IS still my first and best friend. Ok, well.. I love you and miss you. I’m getting closer to finding a way for you to come back. I WILL succeed.

Forever Your Son and Number 1 fan,

Wulf

<4th Letter>

 

Bloodwulfs Journal 8/19/21

 Dear future family, 

    I’ve decided to start keeping a log of my adventures in order to retain what little bit of soul and empathy I have left and hopefully gain a bit more. I know my past is full of shame and it is my hope that I can do enough good deeds to outweigh the horrors of my bloody past.

    The start of this particular adventure begins like most; In a tavern. I was just being friendly with the waitress when a peculiar group caught my eye. I know adventure when I see it, so I bought them a pot of coffee and struck up a conversation. I learned they had just accepted a job to clear out the monster infestation from the local sewers. I thought this was a noble way to make a few coins so I asked if they could use my bow. After some delegation, the eventually agreed to let me join them.

    As soon as we got into the sewer we were attacked. A giant slime creature was waiting for us. We made quick work of this creature and cautiously continued on our way. While traveling though the sewers, it became apparent to me that not everyone could see quite as well as I could, so we decided to stay close together. I had the forethought to cast Pass Without Trace to make sure our footsteps didn’t gather any unwanted attention. That was all in vain though because the Druid of the group, Atheya, walked into a room and immediately got caught in a gelatinous cube! Don’t let the mental image of this foe fool you. This creature was fearsome, and there were two of them! We fought hard through acid damage to finally help Atheya free and defeat the first cube. We started in on the second and I’m ashamed to say one of my arrows missed its mark and hit one of my new teammates, Nirruk. Thankfully, he was okay, but the cube escaped. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of it, but I think we’ll be ready next time.

    We walked into the next room, and the door disappeared behind us. If that wasn’t enough the only two doors in the room were locked and a hole appeared on the other side! We peaked into the room and if was full of these disgusting giant bug creatures. We showed them what we were made of, and we thought we were safe when they crawled into the ceiling. Until we looked above our heads and saw all the holes above us. We braced ourselves and got ready for a fight. 8 of them filled the room and whenever they touched metal, it would rust away! Despite that, we destroyed them all, thankfully.

    From there, the doors were unlocked, and we went though one of them. We ventured forward, keeping close together and found a room with a gem towards the back of it with a strange energy surrounding it. We knew it would be too easy to just take, and we were right. Nothics dropped from the ceiling, and we had just enough time to prepare for these ugly one-eyed creatures. I started doing what I do best; firing a volley of arrows, while the rest of the team did what they could to kill these foul creatures. Atheya even turned into a bear! 

    After killing them, our focus turned to the gem. Nirruk tried to reach out with his mind to grab it, but to no avail. We eventually learned that we needed to use a certain number of spells on the energy field. While the team worked on that, we heard a pounding noise coming from the room across the hall. With the gem secured we decided to investigate the room with the mysterious pounding, but not before Nirruk found a pendant from one of the dead Nothics. 

    We slowly opened the door and were immediately hit with a wave of necrotic energy. Chained inside was a giant creature with tentacles. But it was sleeping. Behind it, another gem! We decided that we were too weak to fight this thing head on and decided to have one of us sneak past it and grab the gem and run.

    Nirruk decided to take the risk and sneak in and somehow, he managed to grab the gem without waking the monster! But no sooner than the door was shut, the monster was awake and ANGRY! It’s tentacles thrashed about and lashed out at us. We ran for our lives having to jump over a stream of sewage on our way, and eventually having to crawl through a disgusting wet tunnel. As soon as we made it though, Atheya used a spell to cave in the tunnel. We are safe for now, but I’m sure when we wake up from our short rest, we’ll have to fight for our lives to not only clear the monsters from this sewer, but to make it out in one piece. 

    I know I wanted to find a way out of my current lifestyle and career choice, but I’m not sure if this is what I had in mind. I’ll stick with this group for now, though. They seem to be a hardy bunch that has seen their way out of plenty of hairy situations. Maybe this is the way to help me erase all the guilt I have and earn some coin by doing some good in the world. Until then I will continue to strive to be the elf I know you deserve. 

-Bloodwülf