Today was a sad day. While moving further through the keep, three of my new friends lost their lives... Jhaartael, Jossa, and Ophum. I have vowed to avenge their deaths by bringing death to all "Gloop Gloops". But, before I rest for the night, I wanted to further memorialize their sacrifices by recounting the day's events. Deeper Into the Keep After defeating the Red Pawns, the group decided to cross the bridge to the next building. While crossing the bridge, we noticed a small boat in the canal below, so we headed down the spiral staircase in to the building. We found ourselves in a room with four doors. There were strange gurgling sounds coming from the door to the South, so we decided to head West instead. The first room we found was in shambles and there was not much to note other than three strange piles of dust. Each pile had a wooden dagger lying on top of it and there was fine garments of clothing within the dust piles. Jhaartael changed in to some of these "fresh" clothes and looked very awkward as the clothes were barely able to hang on to his small frame. Thanks to the earlier bath in the fountain and now new clothes, I was glad to be rid of that awful stench. The next room that we found was some sort of storage room. There were shelves lining the walls. The shelves were filled with jars of blood. Margrave's first reaction was to destroy the jars, but before he could do that, the group convinced him that it would only create a need to kill more innocent people to replenish the lost supplies.The next idea was to poison all of the jars, but we didn't have any poison. Or did we?! Jhaartael had a sack of night soil with him, so he and Margrave put a little bit in to each jar... hopefully that is toxic to vampires! Battle of the Gloop Gloops The next door we came to, we heard more gross gurgling noises, as well as the muffled cries of a human woman. With no time to waste, the Gemstone Ogre smashed the door down just in time to witness five of the strangest creatures I have ever seen plunging a wooden dagger in to the woman's chest. She immediately turned to a pile of dust, just like the ones we found in the other room! These ooze men turned their attention to us and were speaking in some foreign gurgling language. The wizard cast some sort of spell and seemed to be able to understand them, but I do not think we needed a translator to tell us that raised swords means the same thing in every language... "Kill Them! As we engaged in melee combat, I heard the wizard casting another spell. This time his magic made the tile in the stone floor get bigger and it knocked two of these goops over! The next spell made one of the goop's hat get so big that it covered his entire head to the top of his shoulders. These disruptions, gave the rest of our group the advantage to overcome the Gloop Gloops, but not before one of them had driven his sword deep in to Jhaartael's chest.... I guess I might actually miss that awful smell after all. He followed that up by cutting Jossa's head clean off of her shoulders! What is this madness?! Witnessing the death of my friends and surviving the battle filled me with a new surge of power that I had never felt before. At this point, I vowed a new vengeance against all types of oozes and slimes. I also muttered something about needing two longswords so I could properly avenge my friends' deaths. Upon hearing this, Margrave presented me with his longsword and offered to let me use it temporarily until I could find a proper secondary sword of my own. More Gloop Gloops! With this new found power, and armed with two longswords, I continued on with the group as we pushed forward in to the next room. There were six more of those Gloop Gloops in this room and one of them was wearing plate armor! The wizard cast that spell again, only this time I saw the Gemstone Ogre grow even bigger!! Naturally, most of the oozlings in this room focused their attention on the large Ogre. Seeing these Gloop Gloops, I could feel this new power surging inside of me, so I charged at the nearest one and cut off both of its legs! Feeling confident now, I attempted to kick this legless creature to the ground so I could thrust both of my swords in to its chest.... but I slipped in the slime and fell flat on my face! Then I heard more words of magic and felt wads of slime flying everywhere. Picking myself up, I noticed that the legless oozling was no more. However, there were still several more standing. As I looked around for my next target, I heard the strange words of magic once again, only this time the entire room was filled with some sort of explosion! Once my vision returned, I could see several more dead Gloop Gloops, but I also noticed Ophum lying dead on the floor! This renewed my rage and I moved toward the last two oozlings. When I tried to attack both of them with a spinning attack, the hilt of my cheap longsword fell off of the blade and I nearly fell again. Luckily, while I was fumbling around, the rest of the group was able to finish off the last of the Gloop Gloops. Many of us were hurt pretty badly in the battles today, so we decided to rest in the storage closet we found earlier and have the Ogre sit in front of the door to prevent any unwelcome visitors during the night. As I sit here recalling the battles from today, I realize I need to stick with this new group of friends, so we can find our way out of here. Then maybe I can find some additional training, so I can continue to learn what new powers this surge in side of me might grant! Farewell my friends. Hope to see you again in the next life! ~Bheldor
