I think I detect incoming 'fun' for SleepyShadow's party.
Thanks again for the critique, lordhenry. I'm enjoying taking it by days rather than sessions.
Maybe I should have stuck to farming...
Spoiler
Entry three
I wanted the glory of a true adventure.
I'm an idiot.
We went into the forest today. The glimmering we noticed earlier was light. Somehow, the leaves of the trees reflect it, allowing no light into the forest.
Irthos and the dwarf...Logrim, I think?...both have the ability to perceive things without light. For myself, the invocation that grants me darksight did not function within the forest. So we had to navigate by the ability of kobolds and dwarves to see heat. Even blind, we found the beast easily enough. After a fashion. Whoever said that humanoids are the most dangerous game should try hunting this thing. Faster than sight could follow, huge, and able to breathe fire. Given the ability of the trees to reflect light, this blinded us. My eyes still hurt.
A larger surprise was that it could talk. With us helpless, it asked what we were doing here. It was not concerned with the idea that we would try to harm it, but it thought we were trying to reach something in the forest. He agreed to guide us to it after learning our names.
Our arrival was preordained. I've heard bards spin this type of tale, and they rarely end well.
We emerged into a clearing where we could see properly. The beast in question was a great tiger. Substantially larger than us, and bearing the scars of many battles. We never would have stood a chance.
The object it guarded was an immense obelisk. The great beast opened it and bid us enter.
Now, we are to be tested. A figment of a human explained that this obelisk, which predates written history, bears the power to call upon the gods. Each contains a sword, and a stone to place it in. The person who does so can claim the land around the device as an extension of the deity's plane. And it is our task to do so. Our opponent in this race is Asmodeus. Two war-mongers that worship Tempus, a kobold who worships the god of dragons, and a devil-tainted warlock. And we are to oppose the lord of the Nine Hells.
I hate prophecy.
About the darkvision bit: our DM has read several books wherein natural darkvision was infrared, so our group agreed to treat it that way in-game instead of the black-and-white vision listed in the mechanics. The DM had a particular reason why warlock darkvison wouldn't work, but I didn't ask about it.