First things first - Lae’zel totally came on to me out of nowhere so that was something. I declined but uhhhh a’ight. She’s an interesting one for sure.

Went to go pick up Shadowheart to continue on into the goblin area and she talked about the artefact a little, though I think something skipped the track… either way she confirmed that I have the artefact because it has a will of its own and is meant to be with me. At some point she has to take it for “reasons” and will deal with it then but for now I get to keep it. Neat.

Oh the undead lich guy or whatever is in my camp. I can get hirelings from across the realms that were bested by the Absolute from him, and he can revive party members. Nice.

Came upon an inn or something - Waukeen’s Rest - half burned down and actively burning. A bunch of Flaming Fist members were outside trying to put out the fire and through the front door. With a rallying cry my paladin burst through the doors and everyone fanned out. They were looking for a Grand Duke, but I heard a man calling from another room, and went to investigate. This turned out to be a bad idea as it immediately exploded and sent me flying back down to the main floor. Oops. Well I got back up and tried again, and with Shadowheart using Create Water to give us a path, I got the man outside. Once outside he started shouting for a Miri, his wife, who was supposed to be outside. I head back in and meet up with the Fists, and help them bash down the broken door. Inside is a woman named Counsellor Florrick, who once outside starts giving orders. Once finished she asks me to hunt down Grand Duke Ravengard, who was taken West by drow. On my honor as a paladin I agree!

Okay so to go further into getting annoyed about the search, I went back upstairs to a locked chest, DC20. Not a big deal for Astarion truly. Except I rolled a 5. Inspiration. 5. Another tool. 5. Inspiration. 1. Another tool. 15. What the hell. I have a clip. I needed proof of the bullshit.

https://twitter.com/GodsGameFreak/status/1711205573419794675

I also search around and sadly find Miri’s body upstairs in another area. I bring her back to Benryn who breaks down, upset that their last words were a fight over a poor joke he made about her sister’s dowry. He isn’t sure where it is now as she took it and left. I did end up looking it up cuz I was dying in the fires and annoyed, but there was a whole-ass area off to one side and it was in a haystack. Nice. I also found a spooped ox and rolled an animal handling check to read it, and then persuaded it that everything is okay. It relaxed after that and I was happy. Went back and gave it to Benryn who was grateful, though still obviously devastated. Poor guy.

I’m out of spells and HP at this point so I head out and take a Long Rest. I start feeling pretty terrible once camp is set up… This is the tadpole isn’t it? Sure enough Lae’zel draws a knife to my throat, saying she’ll take me first, then the others, then herself. Better that than to lose ourselves to the transformation. I convince her it’s just a fever, and she pulls back, promising that if the fever persists to morning, she’ll go through with it regardless. Fair enough, and the smart move honestly.

Course she never gets the chance, since we all get a dream visitor, a hot wood elf who promises to keep the tadpole’s corruption at bay—as long as we work to utilize its powers in order to help win some kind of extra-planar war for all of Faerun. I’m not exactly sure about all that but she doesn’t have time to wait for an answer, and simply sends me back to the waking world. I talk to everyone about it. Astarion is eager to use our presumed misfortune for our own gain. Shadowheart isn’t sure what to think, aside from not being able to escape our situation even in our sleep. Lae’zel assumes the worst and wants nothing to do with it. Gale is suspicious, but curious if its true, which it certainly seems to be, and is maybe worth learning more if nothing else.

I like Gale.

I head back towards the goblin camp since there’s no way around from here, and took a stab at some gnolls… but they kicked my ass something fierce so I reloaded LOL. Went around and found some hyenas instead, using my paladin purification to heal a bloated and dying hyena of its curse, preventing the spawning of a gnoll. Apparently they are born from dying hyenas which I didn’t actually know. Messed up. The other hyneas however roll initiative and I’m thrust into combat. I kill the one living hyena just in time for the three dying ones to spawn as gnolls. But thankfully I’m in a good position to take them out, and they’re not equipped like the first group. I wish I could’ve healed them all but alas.

Back on my way to the camp I find a windmill with a gnome attached to it spinning around with a bunch of goblins watching. Presuming a fight I hit the switch in the back secretly and then have everyone climb up to the next level and stealth. When they come in to check, Astarion sneak attacks one felling it instantly. There’s a couple rounds of “combat” as the goblins run around but lose sight so reset aggro. While I’m struggling with the controls, they come in and set the windmill to go even faster. Oops. I retrigger combat with another sneak attack and we get to fighting. I set myself up at the top of the ladder so when Fezzerk comes climbing up I push him back out of the tower! Asterion is sniping out the front with Shadowheart tossing fire, and Gale drops a Grease at the bottom of the ladder. I ignite it once Fezzerk comes back in, which works great except that it also blows up the ladder… Oops. In the end it works out fairly well though, we manage to take out all the goblins with only a few solid hits landing on us, and Fezzerk gives up. I ask for info and then let him go… upon which he dies to his burning condition anyway, pfft.

After that I find some ogres, one of which actually seems fairly intelligent. We talk a little but I don’t feel like entreating with ogres, so I leave them be.

I walk deeper towards the camp and head around the cliff edge after crossing a bridge, which I think is what Fezzerk was talking about. As I get closer I see a familiar bard entreating for his life… Oh Volo…

Been creeping around the inside of this goblin temple place. I freed a prisoner from the adventurer group, who informed me that there’s supposed to be a treasure called the Nightsong under the temple somewhere. One of their number, a dwarf named Brian, had a map leading to it. Nearby I found Volo and convinced his captor to let us take him for a walk, and gave us his key. Once freed he used his invisibility potion and peaced out.

After that I jumped over a gap and through a locked door and into the Priestesses’ room. Asterion managed to convince the guard of this room that we’re supposed to be here, and found some stupid floor puzzle I couldn’t figure out. I looked it up and I had the right idea but did it opposite 🙄 oh well. It opened a door that led to the Underdark.

Once down here I found more locks and had more bad luck! screams more

https://twitter.com/GodsGameFreak/status/1711248892568977863

Had a cool helmet inside it though, and after reloading a save and needing to do it again (see below) I found a secret door that led to even more loot. One of them looks like cool paladin-based armor but I just bought a shiny new set from a merchant earlier in the temple…

Moving on I found a locked gate, and going up above it showed two magical turrets rip a minotaur to shreds as it tried to get through. Trying to go around I found an open window, climbed around, and got blasted by some stupid fire plant. As soon as I did… it apparently awoke a BEHOLDER that instantly finished me off and started in on the others. What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I reloaded my safe and had to go back and get my loot again. The Journal update also implies that I won’t be able to figure out where to go without Brian’s map. Back up to the temple I go.