From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 28

1st of Spring, Year 257

I had planned on leaving this be. Not many pages left, but it seemed worth writing in it one more time future plans taken into consideration.

Things have changed a fair deal since I last used this journal. Caskfire has grown more than I would have ever expected during our first Spring. We finished digging on the fourth level just last week. I think they expect to strike magma in another level or so, so effort is being put in to prepare for construction on magma forges and an expansion of ore production.

Thanks to Rikke’s bandits and the farmers from Dunhill, we have had plenty of food to make up for our surface farms having been destroyed. Both are fans of dwarven leather goods and metal work. Both seem to be warming up to each other, given that safer roads benefit everyone and farm folk are more than willing to toss a coin or bushel of whatever might be in season for those safer roads. Not, mind, that the necromancers are all too happy about the recent harmony. They no longer have a source of Goblin corpses with the Eater of the Dead gone. And since we officially never found out that they are, in fact, necromancers there is little they can do to request a new source without revealing that they lied to us and losing the trade agreements they so desperately want to keep.

Caskfire has evolved from an expedition seeking more materials for the Mountain Home into a proper fortress.

Which makes it feel wrong to be leaving, even if I plan to return eventually. Chonck’s letter came at, I do not want to call it a good time, but at a time when my thoughts would have lead me away from Caskfire soon regardless.

With his, our, younger brother having been born Chonck seems to have figured that a dwarven tiefling will make a fine Eater of the Dead when he eventually dies. With that decided, he wants to write the tale of his grand adventure last Spring becoming the Eater of the Dead and slaying the demon Eebaku. More than that, he wants to ensure that it can be read by as many people as possible, so he is off on a quest to collect as many languages as he can so that he might write his story in as many languages as possible.

Eclair is, of course, coming along to prepare the many bodies he plans on eating to gain these languages. It seems that the elf had nothing better to do and, as for me, he figured that since Aunt Frense’ new baby is both of our brother that makes the two of us siblings as well.

I find that I do not want to argue the point.

Also, I already sent letters out to the Bards College to see if Azurei could be contacted. We might need as many voices of reason as we can lay hands on. It might also be nice to see everyone again.

The first leg to the Guga Dulum enclave should be much shorter than last time. I hear Aunt Frense visited enough that the road from the Mountain Home has been paved. Churt already approved leave for both Bearrender and I. Officially we are joining the party to seek out an artifact for the glory of Caskfire. Unofficially, I have a number of gifts for each of my companions and my room will be kept sealed until we return.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 27

89th of Spring, Year 256

As it turns out, Chonck ignored instructions and ate one of the embers from Eebaku’s death. I confess, that was not unexpected. It did turn out better than expected. It would seem that being trapped in Chonck’s head with all the other souls has rendered Eebaku incapable of rebuilding himself in a demonic plane and eventually returning.

Clean up has been finished, mostly, repairs will take a little longer but nothing seems permanently damaged.

The Sunsets left yesterday. The elf, Eclair, and Chonck are planning to head back to the Guga Dulum enclave tomorrow. I am, I admit, glad to have another day to visit with them before they go back into the mountains.

Waiting for Churt to write a writ of passage and letter recommending that Eclair’s sentence for disrupting the peace be considered served given her service in the protection of Caskfire is certainly a portion of why their stay is extended. All contingent, of course, on Eclair not providing a repeat performance. There might not be anyone willing to stuff her in a bag this trip. But I still appreciate the time.

It will be quiet once they have left.

Even more so in a week or so when Azurei leaves as well. She mentioned returning to White Hall to offer the young bard there more mentorship if he wanted to continue learning. Beyond that, it seems she is set on returning to adventuring.

When she does leave, the guardsdwarves are seeing to it that she knows as many drinking songs as they can collectively remember. If she gives them long enough by the time she leaves she will be able to sing the full history of the Boatmurdered clan.

That would be greatly entertaining to hear out in the wider world.

Churt is already drafting requests for new adventurers to fill their posts. There have been multiple suggestions that Bearrender be given one of the appointments. I am only responsible for three of them.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 26

87th of Spring, Year 256

Eebaku’s army arrived this morning, a hoard of Goblins so large it blanketed the areas we had cleared for farming and reached out into the forests.

He asked if we had considered his offer. Would we join his empire?

I let him know how little I cared for being lied to before invoking Maia. Eebaku’s horror as the demon Maia flung a great number of fireballs into his army was delicious. Even more so his fear when Maia summoned a flaming whip to ensnare him leaving him for the party to do as we would.

Chonck had re-enforced his maul with the complete History of Fish set. When it hit Eebaku, knocking out teeth and showing that he could be harmed I knew that we had won. I knew that I could harm him with the Eater of the Dead’s Fangs.

It was more satisfying to stab out his eyes than it should have been. Even more so to tell him he could keep his tongue so that he could scream. Probably not the best thing to have done, looking back, but I let my anger catch up to me.

After that is something of a blur. I left Chonck and Eclair to deal with Eebaku and joined the rest of the party and the guardsdwarves in dealing with his army. They broke nearly as soon as their leader was injured. The few most loyal who stayed still ran after he finally died.

I do not like to say that it was a clean battle. Tomorrow we will mourn our lost and begin repairs. Tonight we celebrate the victory.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 25

80th of Spring, Year 256

Once we reached the Mountain Home the party split up to restock more efficiently. Azurei and the elf went to gather their half of the list. I took Eclair with me to collect the rest. And Chonck decided to introduce the Sunsets to his mother.

We met back up at the library to find a lovely dinner prepared and Aunt Frense making eyes at the Demon Maia. Given how pleased with themselves the Sunsets looked we will likely be staying at the Inn tonight.

81st of Spring, Year 256

I left a note for Aunt Frense on our way out of town. She should be fine. At least, I hope she will be fine.

84th of Spring, Year 256

We reached Caskfire in good time despite our unexpected night at the Mountain Home.

As expected, the fortress has been preparing while we were gone. The guardsdwarves are drilling every able bodied dwarf old enough to hold a weapon or wear armor. There are racks of newly smithed spears and shields, all manner of fortifications have been prepared, the only thing left is to get it all in position and ready to use.

Given what we are fighting, it was not a surprise that a few dwarves reacted poorly to the Sunsets being here. Most shrugged off their concerns after being told that they were here to help. Others needed to be reminded that they did not intend to stay after this was over.

Churt nearly spat out her beer after I reported that we intended to summon an even bigger demon to ensure Eebaku’s defeat.

She seems much more concerned with having the fortress checked for traps or recent damage though. The trap maker, Gimbal Deathweaver, disappeared shortly after our party left. It would seem that he had been Eebaku’s informer the whole time. I suppose that we will have to report that to the Mountain Home at some point, no sense in making it easy for him to get back into a fortress if he finds another demon to work for.

Eebaku’s army will be here any day now. I need to prepare.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 24

73rd of Spring, Year 256, Evening

Chonck returned before the rest of us could get even a third of the way down the path.

It would seem that the village has a Goblin named Sacrifice for exactly this purpose. Given that he told us that he would return in a week, I can only assume that the village has a sort of reincarnation myth for this specific name. It makes me wonder what indicates that a newly grown Goblin is the new Sacrifice and if other names are, for lack of a better word, inherited rather than earned in this particular village.

In any case, as soon as we had returned to the temple Eclair begged to be allowed to perform the sacrifice. It would seem that she has been holding back a special jeweled sacrificial dagger for an occasion such as this. Her face lit with a truly deranged look of joy when Billius Vile agreed that she could perform the sacrifice.

The Goblin laid on the tablet in the cult’s ritual circle and Eclair’s knife struck his heart dead on. It had to have all but exploded for all the blood that came rushing out before it was all drawn into the tablet.

It feels more than reasonable that Azurei chose to stay with the cart for all of this.

The demon Maia’s horns would scrape the ceiling of most of the rooms at Caskfire. It is easy enough to believe that this is a demon who grants people children. She reminds me of a sort of warped reflection of an elven love goddess. There are likely many who would not bother waiting to see if other solutions failed them or not.

It was strange though, during introductions she claimed to recognize her own. Me. I cannot say that I do not see it. Much like the Sunsets she has red skin and grey hair, her eyes glow an amber brighter than my own. The scales and satyr legs are different, but I find myself believing a demon who cannot change her shape is my father more than a shape changing braggart like Eebaku.

Chonck is going to be obnoxious about this though, the demon used the orcish name he took for himself from a book rather than Stonecask as his family name. I cannot help but wonder if the names she used for each of us were pulled from how we consider ourselves. The elf has several names, but the demon referred to her as Wren, which lends credence to this thought. I doubt that I should think too far into this, I doubt that I would like where it lands me.

Somewhat more entertaining, Chonck has determined that because the demon Maia is my father, he must also be his uncle. I did not expect to see a demon surprised today, much less five of them. Because, of course, if Maia is his uncle then the Sunsets must be Chonck’s cousins. He was quite happy with this turn of events and none of the demons had a good argument against it.

It should take a week to reach the Mountain Home. Then a short restock and a further three days to Caskfire. We should be back in time to help with any last minute work on the defenses. The demon Maia has given us permission to invoke her name to help kill Eebaku, so I feel much better about our chances of saving Caskfire than I have in some time. The Sunsets will also accompany us to protect the summoning tablet. I do not expect them to help fight, but they might if the tablet is endangered. Not something I want to test.

I confess, I am ready for this battle to be done and over with.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 23

73rd of Spring, Year 256

The leader of the Guga Dulum cult, Billius Vile, is willing to allow all of us except Azurei into the vault. This is hardly ideal and Azurei seems to be a bit nervous about the whole plan, but what else can we do?

After another warning about the dangerous demons further in, a warning occasionally interrupted by Eclair chanting about stabbing things, we were directed down. The way to the vault was almost boring in retrospect. The stair way was lit by magic torches, so the elf and I both took one just in case. Chonck attempted to light his maul, unsuccessfully and much to his frustration. At the end of the stair way was a cultus gate. Chonck tore the lever off opening it.

Behind the gate though, behind the gate there was a banquet table laden with food richer than most feast day banquets I’ve seen. Four demons sat around it. The looked so like me, but different. Red skin where mine is grey, grey hair where mine is red, in all other respects they could have been my siblings. Even our horns were the same. They claim their father is the demon Maia though, one who cannot shape shift, so it has to be some strange coincidence. Doesn’t it?

The demon Maia is apparently the only demon to have resided here, and his summoning tablet was broken in the “adventurers incident”. We agreed to try fixing the tablet to see if there was any other information that Maia would be able to provide us. Chonck’s first attempt involved wrapping the broken tablet in his old librarian robes. It worked about as well as one might expect, but he made the effort.

When it was eventually suggested that we might be able to carve a new one he near instantly pulled a flagstone out of the floor. Based on what is left of the old one, the new tablet should look something like this I think. [A sketch interrupts the writing, neat lines and geometric shapes form a ritual circle around the name INANNAMAIADRA. The matching invocation is worked into the circle.] With the loan of my dungeoneering kit, Chonck crafted an excellent copy of the tablet. Fine craftsdwarfship there.

But, it will need to be charged with a live sacrifice’s heart’s blood.

The demons, Chonck has taken to referring to them as the Sunsets, lead us back up to the cult’s sanctuary. Billius Vile seemed surprised, and a little scared, that the Sunsets were out of their vault but was quite excited at the prospect of a new tablet. According to him there is a village of Goblins near by that offers sacrifices to the cult in exchange for healing. Chonck ran off before we could get a party together. I think he might be a touch over excited to help his new cult friends, but they have done nothing to harm us thus far. He was even able to talk the Sunsets out of fighting us.

He should not take long to make it back, but I will stop here for now and write more once we have finished the tablet and have had a chance to rest. There is something that I want to mull over some before we summon this demon Maia.

The Sunsets say that, before his summoning tablet was broken, couples would come to the Guga Dulum cult’s temple and beseech the demon to give them a child if they had not been able to have one by any other means. I do not know how that makes me feel.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 22

Night, 72nd of Spring, Year 256

It would seem that our scouting party made a fantastic impression on the cult of Gugu Dulum. We rushed in to help when Chonck rang the bell, signaling that they were in trouble. The stench so unholy terrible that it took the elf and Azurei to their knees momentarily. It was nearly as bad as the time Chonck mistook the Inn’s window for a latrine.

Apparently the cult is dedicated to “destroying beautiful things” and a powerful demon called Gugu Dulum. After a great deal of conversation in which the frog demon that seems to be their leader all but pulled examples from our scouts and made attempts at drawing examples from the rest of us, all of us except Azurei were invited to join the cult. Eclair, Chonck, and the elf all readily joined, drinking the frog demon’s blood.

It seems almost sad, the elf told the cultists that she never had anywhere to belong and yet she seemed to do everything she could since arriving at Caskfire to avoid belonging. I wonder if this would have turned out the same if, instead of choosing to be brash and rude and to complain about the work we were asked to do, she had made attempts to be welcome at Caskfire. If she did more to socialize with the rest of the party or to interact with the dwarves of Caskfire? Too late to go back on that now I suppose.

More importantly, when I asked the frog demon about finding Eebaku’s true name he told us we would need to venture further into the vault. According to him thirty-four years ago the cult was attempting to summon Gugu Dulum into this plane of existence when they were interrupted by a band of adventurers. The summoning failed, adding to the chaos and mostly closing the portal. It would seem that they are still working on recovering from this “adventurers incident” and that the area we need to go through if we want to find the stone with Eebaku’s true name is full of demons that have wondered through the shrunken portal. He says these demons are not nearly as civilized as the cultists.

Hopefully they are not as aggressive as the frog demon has made them out to be or are at least comparatively weak due to coming through a lessened portal. Not that we can count on either of those things. There is also little we can do to prepare for a big fight if it comes to that. Too far away from the Mountain Home to return and restock. Too dangerous to forge ahead without a good night’s sleep.

The frog demon’s story about an “adventurers incident” makes me wonder about several things though. It seems to coincidental. Thirty-four years ago a party of adventurers interrupts the summoning of a mightily powerful demon, leaving the portal mostly closed. Thirty-four years ago mom’s party fought a cult in these caves and returned to the Mountain Home with baby me. Clearly the two are different sides of the same event, but what really happened. The king of the Goblins claims that I am his child. I had assumed until now that he was the big demon being worshiped by the cult here. Has he just taken the chance to make more of himself in the intervening years? Why have a baby at a demon summoning? Was I meant to be sacrificed as part of the summoning? Or to become a shell for Gugu Dulum? What happened here back then? So many questions.

I do not know how well I will sleep tonight.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 21

72nd of Spring, Year 256

It seems that strange occurrences land together anymore. After a full week of travel and no notable troubles we came across tremendous amounts of recently churned dirt that seemed connected to something that I could only describe as a massive fin a couple of hills away from us. I can only compare it to the creatures that dogged our ship once when mom took me with her on a guild job, sharks she called them. This fin reminded me of theirs only many many times larger.

Somehow Azurei and I were the only ones to notice it at first. Though once we directed the rest of the party’s attention to it no one could quite decide how to continue. None of us quite knew what it was or what it might do if it somehow noticed us.

Eventually Chonck simply picked the wagon up with one hand and Bearrender with the other and proceeded to, as best I could tell, tip toe past the thing and onto undisturbed ground. I do not know what being, divine, infernal, or otherwise, wanted us past the beast so much that that worked, but it did work. Chonck set both the wagon and the dire boar down as lightly as if neither weighed anything.

Shortly after we found a sign advertising some kind of weekly temple meeting, likely demonic given our location and that the sign was written in infernal. With Chonck pulling the wagon it seemed likely that we could make it to the temple, to the old strong hold, in time to arrive during the meeting.

We managed to fit the wagon above the temple entrance and tuck Bearrender away where he should be safe.

After a good deal of discussion it was agreed that Eclair had the best chances of getting in unnoticed and back out again. She was just meant to listen in and come back to report what was happening. Unfortunately, Chonck got it in his head that she needed protecting and decided that he would accompany her.

Instead of sneaking in they will go in as travelers who happened upon the sign and decided to investigate. If anything happens Chonck will use the bell he bought when we were stocking up to signal the rest of us to come in and save them.

I will write more later in the day. For now I need to ready my gear just in case they need rescuing.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask Chapter 20

65th of Spring, Year 256

After spending the night at Aunt Frense’s home in the library we spent a fair amount of the morning finishing our preparations to leave. I found a smith willing to sell me some blessed bolts for my crossbow and Azurei arrows for her bow.

It turns out that the elf can produce holy water. Apparently she’s a cleric of some stripe and simply never let any of us know. Useful, but it could have been more so if we had known earlier. Worth taking into account if there are any cultists left or minor demons.

We have food. We have water and tools for a trek through what might be the strong hold’s ruins. We have no back up.

I tried to find mercenaries to help us. No sense in going in unprepared after all, and I do not trust that the remains of the cult or worse might not have moved back in. The ones that I would have trusted to survive a fight wanted far more than I could provide immediately and would not accept partial payment up front.

The ones I could afford were chased off by Chonck. While we were discussing the trip and the risks they faced he began talking about how any of them who did not survive would live on in him. He would not stop repeating variations on that in response to their confusion. They left while I tried to quiet Chonck before he and Eclair could draw the guards’ attention again.

(The next line is scratched through viciously.) If the demons do not kill those two, I might.

We set out shortly after. I doubt that I will write much until we reach the strong hold. There are many miles and unknown dangers between here and there. I will attempt to note anything of interest we encounter.

From the Journals of Sunshine Stonecask, Chapter 19

64th of Spring, Year 256

In any other city I would have worried about attracting pick pockets as often as I checked on the request for aid. But it has been turned in and I made certain they understood how important this was. How urgent the need could be with the attention of a balor on Caskfire and us as under staffed as we have been.

There is nothing further I can do on that front.

Something that I could and did affect, though perhaps should not have, is convincing one of the guardsdwarves not to arrest Eclair just now. I will have to return her to the city to serve her sentence once this is over, but the fellow was convinced readily enough that we needed her as part of the attempt to keep Caskfire from being overrun. It would seem that while I was away some conversation convinced her that it would be a brilliant idea to brandish a knife and shout to the entirety of the market district that they were edible. Further, once the guard showed up to try quieting her down, she apparently offered him one of her Goblin cookies fully acknowledging that it was made with the flesh of an intelligent being.

It should be noted that Chonck was also very nearly arrested for helping Eclair in her argument and offering the guard another Goblin cookie. I am certain that the only reason I did not have to argue for a stay on his arrest is because the guard recognized him. Easy enough to do given he grew up here and is one of two half orc Stonecasks.

We got Chonck back to Aunt Frense at the library so he could return the books he had taken. She was overwhelmed with joy when she found out that he finally had learned how to read. Even let him keep the books he had not read yet and take a few more yet. Azurei helped get the books cleaned from all the Goblin bits and other detritus from Choncks bag using her magic.

The guard had tracked down cousin Dundee for me while we worked. Turns out he had been part of mom’s party back then and was visiting between tracking ever larger crocodiles to wrestle. Good news is, he still remembered where the cult’s strong hold was well enough to give us directions. Strange news is that he and the elf hit it off sooner than introductions could happen. I assume it was the helmet he had crafted from a crocodile’s skull, it could be a match for the elf’s scale armor I suppose.

In any case, Aunt Frense asked us back to the library for dinner. We will spend the night there and then do any stocking up that needs doing and head out tomorrow.

I do worry a little about Chonck though. It seems that having become the Eater of the Dead might have rattled away some of his memories, when I addressed Aunt Frense as family he seemed shocked. Distraught even. Did not remember in the least that we were cousins. Makes me wonder what else he has forgotten.

Time for those worries later I suspect.