Editing Journal 5: Diamond Deal (section)

== 15 Broadsummer 807 ==
This Tramm is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is not a pass through the mountains, it is a vehicle to take us under them. I am currently sitting on what people are calling the platform, which is a large waiting area next to the vehicle, while the others do business with the merchants who have set up small, temporary stalls around here. The Tramm itself is a set of three long ornate carriages, windowed chambers with seats along both sides, only no animal pulls them. They are connected to each other, with doors to move between them, and they all hang down from a rope that runs down into a tunnel dug into the side of the mountain. The rope is somehow connected to a mekanisim, through gears and pulleys, to what can only be described as a giant bronze dwarf. After asking some questions, I have found out that this metal statue is somehow animated, though by what they call mekaniks or through magic, I cannot find out, and it turns a crank which then makes the Tramm move along the rope down into the tunnel. Most of the other people on the platform are fellow passengers, including the merchants. We are all going to be boarding the carriages now, while Bucky will stay behind. [Drawings enclosed]

The Tramm ride was not the calm, peaceful ride through the mountains we were hoping for. We are now at a rest stop partway through the tunnel, where we are going to spend the night before resuming the journey tomorrow, but the ride itself was very eventful. When the Tramm went into the tunnel, we found ourselves inside the biggest cavern I have ever seen. Once we had moved away from the entrance, there was no wall, floor, or ceiling anywhere in sight. It became completely dark, except for the lights inside the carriages. There was absolutely no light outside. This had a strange effect on me. For a moment, I felt like I was dead again. I relived the moment when that beholder disintegrated me, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe, my head felt light, and I became somewhat hysterical. The others were able to calm me down enough that I was able to breathe, but I remained on edge. Then we heard a crash from the carriage in front of us and the Tramm shook. A few seconds later, the door burst in and two drow, dark elves, came through. In my panicked state, I jumped and fired a spell at them immediately. The one I hit died, and Bula cut down the other one. Then we went through the door to see what was happening in the front carriage. Two more drow were there, clearly attempting to rob people on the Tramm, though I could not tell at the time how they got there, as we were still suspended in the air in the middle of a giant cavern. One of these two was obviously the boss, and I fired a spell at the other. Aalari told them to surrender and the one I wounded begged his boss to allow them to. In response to this, the boss smacked him down, and he fell to the floor. Then the boss grabbed one of the other passengers as a hostage. Thinking he would not give up easily, I thought with a spell that could not miss, I could take down the boss and free the hostage, so I fired a magic missile at him. Unfortunately, this did not hit hard enough to kill him, and he shot the hostage with his crossbow. When the hostage fell, we all flew into a rage and unloaded everything we had at him, which finally took him down. Then a female drow riding on a giant bat-like animal outside the carriage cast a spell that filled the carriage with gas. I used my own magic to disperse the gas, and she turned and tried to fly away, but Glendower managed to shoot her down. The final drow, the one hit by the boss, finally surrendered to us and we took him prisoner. Fortunately, the hostage just barely survived the crossbow bolt, and Aalari was able to use her magic to revive him. I do not think I could have taken it if he had died because of what I did. After that, things calmed down, and we eventually came to some kind of island of rock in the middle of the cave, which the Tramm staff called a rest stop. There was a small pool, space for people to move around, and a small lodge building with enough places for all the passengers to sleep for the night. Once we were all off the vehicle and settled down, we were approached by a dwarven merchant who wanted to give us thanks for saving the Tramm from the drow attack. He gave us each one object from his bag of magic items. I got a magic razor, which can grant a small amount of supernatural luck, as long as someone specifically addresses me. I tied it to the head of my spear with a quick-release knot so I always have it close at hand. He also gave us a giant leg of meat, bigger than any I’ve ever seen. He said it came from something called a brakiosarr, which must have been bigger than I can even imagine a land animal to be. We all feasted on the leg for dinner. After that, one of the Tramm staff, who called themselves Porters, approached us and asked us to stand guard over the rest stop for the night. We agreed to stand watch in shifts, but my shift is later, so I turned in.

We didn’t get to stay in bed very long. During Aalari’s watch, there was an attempt to break into the Tramm. She spotted some figures on the roof of the rear carriage and alerted the rest of us. Two more drow and a deep gnome were trying to cut their way into the Tramm. We managed to fight them off, but we had to find out what the drow wanted so badly that they kept attacking us. We woke up all of the passengers and asked about anything valuable they might be transporting that would be a target for theft. It took a while, but eventually a human man came to us and said he had an idea what they were after. He led us into the rear carriage, where most of the luggage was stored, and found his bag. In it, he retrieved a cloth-wrapped bundle. When he unwrapped it, I knew immediately why we were being targeted. I recognized the [[Deck of Many Things]], a powerful magic item that can randomly grant people incredible boons or horrible curses. This was an object I would have been happy to never see in my life. The man said he worked as a transporter. He and four decoy couriers were hired to take the Deck to the Allfather of Augsenet, a dwarf king. Though I already knew, he described what the deck did to us and many of the passengers who had assembled around us. We decided we needed more privacy, so we dispersed the crowd. When we got him alone, we asked him about his employer, but he was magically blocked from discussing them. Glendower used her magic necklace to try to go into his mind and find out what she could. She saw in his mind a black-robed human or half-elf with white hair. When she described her vision to the rest of us, the courier seemed confused that Glendower saw a woman. I believe he may have been subject to some kind of memory charm or illusion so he did not know his own employer’s face. I told him to use his Sending Stone to contact his superiors to tell them about the robbery attempt. At that point, Bula decided to interrogate the drow prisoner we captured on the Tramm, but I had enough and needed to rest, so while she does that, I am going to sleep.