Dear Mother,
As you know, I've been tasked to help find and catch a member of the Dark Priory, and bring them to Phlan for prosecution. Also, I am to secure any magical items and funds recovered for testing and safe-keeping by the church. I am to work with several free-agents, and am happy to have your support, as interdicting their use of these resources until they can be cleansed of any taint might not go over smoothly.

⁂

Yesterday evening I met up with what became my four companions for this retrieval: Maduran - a Rashemi Hag-hunter, Delani - a Dwarven Bardess, Katsu - a Tabaxi enigma and Kefara - an Elvish mage of some sort. Together we were informed by Algernon Martel that we were to sail on the Singing Stagwick to a rendez-vous near the Bell of the Depths, to take charge of the captured Dark Priory-member held there. I noticed the Tabaxi sneak off north towards the graveyard, and not return until the hour had grown late, I hope he is not in league with the likes of Agnash the Necromancer. Regardless, I suppose I will not be able to help myself thinking of him as a Neko-mancer from now on.

Captain Gustov Blackwater welcomed us aboard his vessel, and requested each of us to sing a song before boarding. As I arrived at the docks only just in time to sing my own song, I unfortunately missed the performance of Delani. Undoubtedly, she will have praised the vessel and flattered her captain with it. Perhaps with a song not unlike Faithful? My own performance, a minor adaptation of a classic sung originally by the Bard Baldwin the Great, impressed the ship's master enough to also be welcomed aboard heartily. We left Phlan in good spirits, while the so-called departure song was sung by the captain and crew.

After some hours of relatively smooth sailing, we came upon a monstrous shark-like biped menacing what looked like a damsel-in-distress, but turned out to be a hag trying to lure us to our deaths. We had our suspisions, so we were not too surprised when she revealed herself, although the Elvish mage Kefara was overcome with anxiety and lost consiousness when the Hag fixed her with her glittering eye. Fortunately, I had my healing kit with me and managed to help her body to overcome whatever evil eye the hag had cast upon her, and prevented her from slipping away, while the Rashemi Hag-hunter and the Neko-mancer made short work of the "damsel" and her monstrous lover.

Things did not work out too well on the Singing Stagwick in the mean time. It seems the crew were distracted, perhaps by the colorful curses Delani slung at the hag and the encouraging exhortations she shouted to us? (I should ask her to write some of those insults down for me, by the way). Somehow, they let the vessel hit some crags. The damage to the breached hull fortunately was repairable, and we managed to clear up most of the debris and rubble caused by fallen goods.

We finished today off by enjoying drinks and a feast, topped off by a eating and drinking challange. Unfortunately I seem to have eaten a bad bit of mystery-meat sausage in the first round of this, and had to bow out. The Neko-mancer managed to actually win the contest, stunning everyone by eating the disgusting tankard of what I hope were ground sardines that was supposed to be the fifth and final round, even though he was the only contender left after the fourth. It looks like the tankard he got as a prize is a minor magical item, a Tankard of Sobriety. It seemed common and harmless enough, so I've not moved to confiscate it for study.

Some of our motley band are fraternizing with the crew, but, despite having picked up some "interesting" talk on the stars, I've decided to turn in early, so I could write this part of my letter to you and hopefully get some sleep and recover from my upset stomach. I just cannot muster the energy now to correct even some of the stories I heard, but I noticed Kefara started to. Her elvish patience, and lesser need for sleep will hopefully allow her to put them on the right track.

⁂

Well, Mother, things have gone south over the last days. We took custody of "Yami", but it turned out he was a doppleganger, and the person delivering him up most likely was either Yami himself, or an associate. Delani has been struck with some sort of affliction, that has left her eyes completely white, although her vision seems to be intact. The exact nature of this I haven't yet managed to divine (I could use your guidance here, Mother). Perhaps the phrase uttered by the false Yami, "How interesting, the Initiate is among you." is a clue to the nature of Delani's condition. We have not had much time to reflect on what happened precisely, as our vessel was trapped in a whirlpool and storm, that ultimately sunk her. Our party and what's left of the crew managed to evacuate the sinking wreck, while fighting off merfolk that boarded the ship and tried to take over our jolly-boat too. Although we managed to "convince" Captain Blackwater to come along in the boat, he was wounded repeatedly and despite our combined efforts to save him, ultimately succumbed to the harsh conditions of the voyage, as did almost all the remaining sailors.

We find ourselves beached on what looks like a small island somewhere in the Moonsea, and things are looking bleak. Yami is likely back in Phlan now, and we may not make it there back in time to help stop whatever he is up to. We have found a letter to an Annabelle and a ring inscribed "High Tide" on the unfortunate captain's satchel. Perhaps we can at least find Annabelle to tell her of her Gustav's and his Singing Stagwick last voyage.

Dear Mother,
Our quarry gone, our vessel sunk, our captain and many of the sailors dead or lost, we landed on a strange coast, perhaps an island. When a wild boar came rushing at us from the heavy forest covering much of the place, some of the rashest of our companions rushed to try and kill it for a much welcomed meal. Seeing they were hardly armed with the proper spears for this, I called upon the art to stop them, and perhaps the boar, too. The simple sleep charm worked beyond expectation, and dropped the charging boar into a slumber, as well as one of the remaining sailors. This proved the boar was not a very vigorous one and that perhaps something was off with it. Those attacking it did not realise anything was wrong, and slaughtered the beast. This attracted the ire of a group of Yuan-ti hunters that promptly accused us of poaching and force-marched us to their village somewhere deep in the jungle, after we had wisely given ourselves up to them.
We are now stuck in a prison, somewhere in the Yuan-ti pyramid we were brought to, awaiting execution by sacrifice. There was a kind of trial, where the members of the hunting-party, who presented themselves as guards now, kept coming up with more and more trumped up charges, like wanting to kill their obscure god Suntao or coming to the island to destroy it. The pinnacle of these was accusing me of robbing a grave, the proof of which was to be an obviously (to us at least) planted necklace, smelling of oranges. There were several judges, but after the one most critical of the charges was stabbed with a scimitar, the others all ended up finding us guilty. I hope my small application of the art in the form of a healing word will have saved the stabbed judge's life. We find ourselves hiding away in a small secret room. I tried to get some rest to recover from our ordeal in the jungle, but not having much success, so I'll write a bit more.
Our group tried to make the best of things in the prison by having an improvised performance. We met an interesting prisoner there, that we spoke to afterwards. He turned out to be Alistar Aimes, brother to Annabelle, who was looking for captain Gustov for her. He has decided we were leaving to deliver ring and letter to Annabelle in Phlan. He then picked a fight with a brute of a lizardfolk, almost completely melting its face with fire. I managed to find our gear stashed in a locker, and we ran down the hallway Alistar pointed us to, while he lead the prisoners in an uprising.
We were given a hint that if we were to take 'the chute', to beware of the pit keepers by another symphatetic judge, who also pointed out a staircase to his chambers. We also found the barely alive body of the stabbed Judge, the scimitar still embedded in the wound. While the group pulled out the blade, I managed to stabilize the vital functions although consciousness still has not returned. It looks like the magical enhancement of the blade, made for such a clean wound, that combined with my prayers and bandages, the Judge may survive.
It is time for us to move, and see to escaping the guards and chaos of this place. Escaped pyramid. Carried off by Dragonturtle Suntao, 'through Time and Depth'. Arrived at the docks of Phlan. City covered in a bubble of darkness. Screams of people, sounds of battle. No memory of travel, feel refreshed. Must make haste. Write more later.

Dear Mother,
We turned out to not just have travelled through the depths but actually through time, arriving in Phlan to stop Yami when he first ravaged the city, 20 odd years ago. We managed to stop him, but got sucked to a dark future where he was holed up in a monolithic clock-tower, only to be sent back to the present for the last leg of out confusing jaunt through time and a final confrontation with him to try and expose the Priory and save Phlan's children.
It was a bit of a shock to realise I was actually one of the Elegant Few that stopped Yami the first time. Our contact in Phlan, Algernon Martel, himself seems to have been the mastermind behind everything, to rid the Dark Priory of Yami, and perhaps gain a replacement for him. I am happy the Initiate failed their initiation, even though we defeated Yami in the end. The Dark Priory seems nothing but bad news. Them having access to chronomancy makes them that much more dangerous though.
It's still a bit hard to figure out exactly what happened, and if we really traveled back and forth in time, or that it was all an elaborate illusion, woven in with Phlan's history, and the dark deeds and unknown ends of this Dark Priory.
Poor Annabelle, the deaths of her family were no illusion and we had to break the news to her that both her husband and brother are lost to her, because of the Dark Priory. Perhaps one day I can take her up on her offer to teach me how to properly sail a ship - and hopefully learn a few new sea shanties in the progress.

Dear Mother,
I'm very happy to be back in Waterdeep, a pity I arrived so late yesterday that it was not practical to visit the House of Wonder or call on my family right away. However, today looks like a good day to do both of those things, right after I finish the bowl of porridge that smells so appetizing that the nice keeper of this fine establishment (The Green Lantern or Rest or something like that, it was late yesterday - I mustn't forget to take another look at the sign when I set off after breakfast).
Although it was rather busy last night, the place is nice and quiet this morning, a couple of studious mages - that I shall endeavour to ask for their names and interests over breakfast, and an adventurous looking man with a shield, axe and sturdy looking armor. Now, for some breakfast,
Change of plans... It seems the innkeeper found a treasure map that he thought belongs to one of the four of us, and although we do not claim to own it, we did agree to try and follow it and find the hidde treasure marked with an X. Looks like it spells out a route through the City of Splendors from Trollskull Alley — a narrow, little-known passage winding through the interior of a city block just north of, and parallel to, the eastern end of Delzorin Street — to somewhere in the City of the Dead. Although there are not too many actual names on the map, there are some hints that identify some of the waypoints: looks like Three Thrown Daggers Alley is the closest one, so we might as well swing by there first, and then walk up past the Walking Statue enduring the birds over Gull Leap.
Trollskull Alley's deadend is a favorite night haunt of gambling gangs, I have heard, but it should fine by day. Well, we're waiting to be let in the luxerious restaurant at the Walking Statue at Gull Leap. We visited Three Thrown Daggers Alley, or rather, the sewers underneath it, and there, from a secret set of rooms probably used by miscreants, retrieved a clue hidden under the false bottom of a chest marked with the same sigil as on the map. It looks like we need another clue or maybe the puzzle or riddle it is a clue to, to make some sense of it. Something needs to be arranged; perhaps we'll find out what here.
On our way over, we helped break free an abducted urchin. Although we had to rough up the Dark Dwarf leading the gang that held him a bit, we managed not to kill or seriously hurt anyone. The henchmen I took care of by putting them into magical slumber, and the Dwarf was put to sleep with the flat of an axe. We managed to leave the scene just as a couple o people looking for the map caught up to us. Perhaps it was their map, but it seemed like they were under some magical influence to try and retrieve it from us instead. The Watch is dealing with them now.
We managed to skip to the front of the line with a bit of creative cantrip use, but still have to wait for the next patron to leave. I'll use the waiting time to cast a detect magic ritual to help find the next clue.
Retrieved another clue or hint, it seems a bit redundant with the other one we have, as it doesn't really seem to matter if you arrange whatever things we need to into rows of 4 or 6 columns, and we still are missing the actual puzzle, so that's why we are now on our way to Trollskull Alley.
I feel a bit bad about messing with the restaurant people, they were hard-working, and we didn't really buy anything there, just messed with the toilets.
We got the puzzle, and also retrieved a box of stole property. We returned a wedding band to a gambler and brought the rest of the goods to the attention of the Watch. The puzzle seems to just be a confirmation of the unmarked location on the map as the Crimson Brush, a small art shop in the Southern Ward. There was a picture with the sigil on it there, and although the shopkeeper told us it was only inspired by the City of the Dead's mausolea, it seems to us the marked building might actually exist. It's so far our best clue, so that's why we're now going to the City of the Dead to explore further.

Dear Mother,
I hope nothing bad happened to Karoth and Zook when they went off to follow the dark elf that dropped the painting of the marked scene in the city of the dead when they bumped into Mr. Nettle. He, the wizard Aronath and myself went into the park where we ended up wandering around a bit, before locating and then checking out a small tomb and adjoining statue were we found a crumpled map like ours.
We then helped out the groundskeeper to find out what had been killing and eating his goats. This turned out to be a small band of ghouls hiding out in one of the tombs. Fascinating creatures, very cunning if not fully intelligent, good thing these creatures of the night loathe the light of the sun. In return, he pointed out a safer way into the catacombs than the one we'd turned out to have been looking for.
It seems we are, or, at least, were, not the only people following a map, according to the groundskeeper, at least 3 other groups were around before us. We went through the catacombs and met another creature of the night, far more intelligent and dangerous than the Ghouls. Luckily we were forewarned of its presence after helping some poor girls that had gotten into trouble down below. One of them was lost and turned out to have been infected by Lycanthropy. On her request, we managed to hide this from her sister, who had gotten killed and was unwilling to fully pass on until she knew the faith of her sister.
Of course, the ghostly sister was not happy to hear of her sister's death, but she was satisfied and told us a bit of what to expect and how to continue. After pointing out a safe way up to the surviving sister, we explained her about the repressing effect silver might have, and how to get to the Temple of Selûne, where the Moonmaiden's faithful will hopefully be able to help with her condition.
We then proceeded through another secret passage as we were told to, and came upon the vampire lair. As we knew he was not happy with people disturbing his rest to come look for treasure, we presented ourselves to his minions and himself not as adventurers but as a group tasked to get rid of grave-robbers and tomb-raiders. How well this worked remains to be seen, but at least we got out with our lives, and with a mission to help out the vampire against the organisers behind the treasure hunt.

Dear Mother,
We tracked down the origin of these false treasure maps to a group of drow operating from a tavern. Unfortunately, a couple of them died when a fight broke out in the common room after hours when they were confronted with their deeds, and they were unwilling to come peacefully, or even talk things through like sensible adults. Too bad for them that they brought smoke powder powered projectile weapons to what turned out to a battle of the Arts. Technology may have its uses, but professionally wielded Art will trump it every time.
Well, we'll certainly have a tale to tell in return for being given custody of the map by the innkeeper. I'll keep up that part of the bargain, and then I will go see my family. I am looking forward to see my brother again...

Dear Mother,
Unfortunately my Brother hadn't returned to Waterdeep yet by the time I had to set out on my next mission. Hopefully this trip to the north of the Moonsea won't take too long and I'll be able to return before he leaves again. Glip Dak sounds like an interesting place, so hopefully we'll be succesful and able to help them with their food problem. Well, we've all arrived and been given a brief overview of what to expect by the leader of the Kroth Magg. A Behir has been eating the livestock and was seen retreating into a cave relatively nearby. I'll be working with Elesto, Moto, Maduran, Harold and Kefara; although I haven't worked with Elesto and Moto before, the others are known to me and I have high hopes we will succeed. There were three ways to approach the lair of the monster, and we took the one that is a bit of a gamble, but if it works out, we will be better informed about our foe. It turned out fortunate that I brought the lantern of revealing as the dark dwarf that we hoped could give us some more information was only found when we reached the monster's lair. It turned out to be the fell beast's ally! We defeated them both and also ran into a curious creature masquerading as a beholder, but exploding on touch. The Kroth Magg bestowed their honor on us for our help, and we secured an interesting magical shield, that I'll make sure gets back to the vaults of the church for testing.

Dear Mother,
I managed to get myself hired by Lillah Whitewinter of the new Cloaks of Mulmaster to investigate the rumors of the hauntings at Soward Manor. I have joined up with a small party of adventurers, Magnifico - a magician of light, Jubilee - a performer of arcane tricks and Silvanus - a draconic sorcerer. May you guide us to success We scouted the approach to the mansion and ran afoul of a group of goblinoid scouts. They tried to scare us with illusionary ghosts, but since they were not able to make them react properly to the weave, we saw through their ruse and managed to defeat them without too much trouble. Embarrasing enough, I managed to fall down a pit and missed most of the fighting. The sole survivor of our opposition claimed to also be interested in investigating the house, but even though they accepted my offer to work together, gave us the slip by jumping into a shadow...
Currently we are nursing our sprains in the inn close by and we will visit the house on the morrow Well, that was bit of a bumpy ride. We managed to evade most of the 'hauntings' by being cautios, although Jubilee managed to tick of some shadowy clock-creatures and I launched a chair through the chimney testing out a magical fireplace. It was clear why you needed me to be here in the end, as we found a small community of wild mages squatting in the basement. Unfortunately, the most vulnerable member of their community, Florah, was abducted by a Dwarf Pirate. We've conferred with your faithful, the Von Finklesteins and will be trying to rescue the girl. The cloaks have been told we took care of the bandits squatting in the Manor, and that should buy the community the time they need to reorganise.

Dear Mother,
With some help from your faithful, the Von Finkelsteins, we managed to get a ship to Peril Island. The 'we' in question being Jubilee - a performer of arcane tricks, Silvanus - a draconic sorcerer, Maduran, a Rashemi on Dajemma and myself. We are going to try and recover Flora, the abducted wild-touched girl from her captors. We have a detector that should guide us to her.
The weather is getting a bit rough, I'd better stow my writing utensils in the chest for now. We weathered the storm, and thanks to a heroic action from Maduran, everyone that was washed overboard was returned safely. We took a longboat for the last bit of the trip to Peril Island, and were attacked by two Chimeras, that seemed to bring even worse weather with them. With nowhere to go on the small boat, it was a close call, but we managed to defeat them and reach the shore. I set up a Tiny Temple on the beach for us to recover for a bit; we'll need to rest for a short while after the ordeal in the boat. Especially after this was followed by a discharge from a magical trap set off by Jubilee. After her inspired jump on the back of a chimera, it was shocking to see her drop her guard just to try and 'liberate' a glass statue of a gnome, however lifelike it looks. We traveled through the forest of the island, fighting off some agressive plants with remarkable fruit-bombs. We reached a warded door, the magical wards were easily dispelled thanks to my training in the art door, but the two wardens gave us a bit more trouble, one of them nearly got away after a surprisingly unlucky hit decapitated his fellow. We managed to persuade him to give up fight and flight and he even gave us some information of what to expect beyond the door.
It lead into cave and cove were we managed to sabotage the two anchored ships and defeat the pirates manning them. We freed a contingent of sailors and wild-touched folk, but poor Flora was abducted once more, this time by what looked like a fanatic Talassan. It seems we have to start over, as the detector is no longer picking up Flora's tracker.

Dear Mother,
We have returned from Talos Sound with the girl Flora. Silvanus and Jubilee once again accompanied me on this endeavor, Aurora also came along. We had an unhappy landing after an exhausting swim. The Tiny Temple gave welcome shelter once more, but I fear it caused the minions of evil to attack some of the other poor stranded people instead of facing us.
It turned out we were on a demi-plane of sorts, doubtless this was also the cause for the tracking magic to fail. After passing some tests of faith, which we passed, even though they were focused on Talos' faith, we reached the anchor-point of the demi-plane and defeated the Talos-fworshippers, freeing Flora of their attempts to conver her. I took the liberty of not claiming the control water scroll, as it is much more likely to be useful in the hands of Silvanus than it would be in the vaults of your houses. The other relics kept by the Talassans, such as the trident and rune-covered pearls are of course on their way to Waterdeep.
I should look in to taking up Annabelle on her offer to learn how to handle ships properly. Skill in handling water-borne vehicles would have really come in handy on these adventures and is likely to be so on future jaunts as well.

Dear Mother,
We were asked by Miriam, a follower of Amaunator that came from the Anauroch, to investigate the strange shard of a devastation orb that she had recovered. She tried to convince me to swear some kind of oath, but I won't dilute my service to you and will help her on my terms anyway. In Elmwood, we've helped the local mage Tinker Nimblefingers reclaim his laboratory and he and Miriam are now setting up some way for us to explore the history of the shard.
Following the history imprinted on the shard we found out that because of well-meaning Adventurers, Elmwood was destroyed by accident rather than design. Although it is in a way comforting, it also makes the whole thing worse - the road to Hell is paved with good intentions... I can only hope that my own good intentions never cause a tragedy such as this. Unfortunately, one never can tell if action or inaction will cause the bigger tragedy. Also, we seem to have been marked by Imix: an indelible mark has appeared on my left hand.
We visited the site of the explosion of the Devastation Orb with Miriam, and found that there was still a lingering presence. We defeated him and retrieved another fragment of the Orb. It didn't contain memories like the first one, but instructions on crating a hybrid Fire and Earth Devastation Orb, and a location for it to be set off in Mulmaster. Next stop: Mulmaster.