The Dwarven Forge

After findin' the treasure in the room with the dwarven forge and inspectin' it, I could see that it would require significantly less resources to repair the mirror and the throne at the forge of their creation rather than to do it at my workshop back at the airship. I sent some of the others to start carrying some of the tools and materials up above, with instructions on where to take it. Aurora offered to stay behind with me and help clear out the area, and to offer her protection as I worked on the repairs.

That's when things got a little.... unexpected.

See, we were headin' 'round the corner from where the forge was, and a vampire appeared. He said that he was a follower of the vampire mistress Calderas, and that on her behalf he was offering to set up a mutually beneficial arrangement: we leave alone the lower level, containing the crypt, the treasures, and her minions, and they would leave us to have the top level of the city. When I hesitated, he threatened to beset their army against us immediately... a battle Aurora an' me weren't prepared to fight by ourselves, but reiterated that they would cause us no trouble, no harm, and would not trespass on our area for one year if we would agree to the same.

Now, I'm a reasonable sort. I don't believe in persecuting vampires just because they're undead like some of those divine folks do, and there's nothin' wrong in and of itself with making a nonaggression pact. And these guys don't follow an evil deity, they follow the Blood of Vol, an unaligned religion. So I was willing to consider it. It was better than gettin' killed immediately, and it could buy us valuable time to get the items repaired in the forge, savin' us a lot of money. But I made it clear to the vampire (we learned his name was Danlerna) that I couldn't speak for the other members of my team. He was persuasive, and tried hard to get me to commit, but I told him I couldn't speak for the rest of the lot and we'd talk to 'em about it. I also said I couldn't agree carte blanche to a year... that if his lot were preying on townspeople for example then we couldn't let that be. He did say that in the past that conditions were very poor in parts of the Lower City, and they had offered to convert some of the willing poor into undead, that the life they had under Calderas' care was better than they were being given in their own city. Again, I found it hard to become upset by letting the people choose their lot, as long as it was done willingly. So I told 'im that meantime, me an' Aurora were willing to leave the second level be and do what we came to do.

With this, Danlerna seemed pleased, and ... I have to say it was weird, he then asked us to do them a favor as part of our new agreement. He said his mistress had a history with a lich named Gath, and she wanted the lich killed in return for something of our choosing. We were free to choose riches, treasures, or a favor at a later date, but she wanted Gath to be ended. The vampire said that the lich, who follows the ways of the Keeper, haunts the City of the Dead. He explained that liches are undead wizards who store their soul in an object called a phylactery, but couldn't elaborate on what the phylactery was. He said that Gath trusts a tiefling necromancer, his second-in-command, named Freya Darkmane. Due to the history between Calderas and Gath (which we later learned was personal: Gath had killed Calderas' lover, years ago), it would be difficult for Calderas to go after him directly, which is why they were recruiting a team of adventurers to do it and letting us name our price.

I heard 'im out. An' I just wasn't sure. I'm not an assassin, or a vampire's errand-boy. But I told 'im I'd look into it. If the world has one less evil lich, that could be satisfactory for all parties concerned. At least it was worth learning more about. And with that, Danlerna was gone, and we saw a number of undead leaving the area. Aurora an' I looked around the rest of the place and found it vacant, just as Danlerna said. And with that, I set to work on the throne and the mirror.

They were beautiful, grand pieces once, and it was satisfying to see them restored to their previous grandeur. Aurora waited patiently as I toiled for hours, sweating in the hot forge (and these fires were the hottest I've ever worked at, but as I worked the flames seemed to bend and put the heat exactly where I wanted it... remarkable control). But at last, they were done. An' it was then that Aurora said she didn't want to bother me while I was concentratin', but now that I was done she wanted to bring to my attention that the others had never returned, and the throne and mirror together were more than the two of us could carry.

With items of such value, I was not keen on leaving them in Calderas' lair where they could be appropriated. So we looked in the newly-fixed mirror, thinkin' we might just ask the others to come back down. Through the mirror, we could see the airship, so at least they had made it that far... but there was no one there. Aurora offered to go check on things in the airship, so she did that... after awhile I saw her appear in the mirror and tell me there was no one there. We talked about it a bit and decided it would be worth her going to check in the brothel, which she found rummaged but empty with no sign of the others. And on her way back, she happened across Colvin and a mate of his, getting beat down by some thugs. While I was sorting through tools and materials, Aurora stepped in and gave Colvin an' 'is mate a hand, and brought 'em back. Lucky he had Colvin with 'im, so he could warn Colvin without letting on to Valance that the artificer down in the forge was a bugbear (to blend in better with the part of town that we used to access the forge).

Colvin's friend as a man named Valance Breen. In a set of weird coincidences, Colvin said that he had just been researching Calderas and Gath, but when we inquired he didn't know anything more than we did. In particular, I was trying to determine whether he had learned anything that would expose Calderas as evil, but he didn't know much about her other than that she was a vampire that followed the Blood of Vol. Valance was definitely a "Rah, kill the undead!" type for sure.

Anyhow, I wrapped the mirror and the throne, and the other 3 carried the throne while I carried the mirror topside to the airship. On our way, we found ourselves jumped (Colvin musta been havin' a bad day) by four bugbears, seven goblins, six ghouls, and two necromancers. Aurora fought most bravely, but there were a lot of guys on us and it started to look a little dicey. Towards the end of the battle I got the chance to sit on the Throne of Dominion. That was most satisfying, as I commanded the remaining ghouls to leave, and the bugbears and goblins to drop their weapons and leave, and the necromancers to drop their weapons and surrender. A few attacks later, we'd knocked one of the necromancers unconscious (the other had fled).

After havin' a bit o'fun in the throne, I decided to let Aurora have a turn, so she took the throne during the interrogation of the necromancer. Turns out that Gath had sent them to collect bodies for the lich. It turns out that they were trying to collect the wrong bodies, as it was about all the motivation that me an' Aurora needed to decide to track down the lich and destroy his phylactery. The necromancer didn't know anything about the phylactery itself, but did tell us that the lich resides in the dragon crypts in the City of the Dead, and that Freya was his lover and they both could be found together in the mausoleum. He told us about their meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays at midnight and gave us maps as well as telling us us about the traps and their forces. After he was no more use to us, we took the 300 gold and 40 silver from his pockets, and Colvin and Valance took him to the Temple of the Silver Flame.

Aurora an' I got a chance to talk then, and we decided that for now it'd be best not to mention Calderas to the group, not knowing how Oris and Colvin would react. So when our mates asked for our report, I told 'em the important part of the truth... the part they needed to know, which is that we cleared the area and repaired the items after determining that there weren't any threats.

My day as a kid

It's nice to be in Sharn again. We've spent several days here, and I've been working hard. I made a quickbeam staff for Colvin, and after that I didn't see 'im too much... best as I can figure, he got caught up in a quest for the Silver Flame, not that I've been spendin' much time lookin' 'round for 'im what with all the work I've been doing. Mostly I've been putting a lot of hours into this chest, and it's really coming along as a beautiful piece o' work. Of course, the enchantment itself never takes long, but you can't rush the process of really crafting a fine item down to the details. Having finished the outside and done all the inlay work, once I finish the lining, it should be complete. I've talked to Wynelle about setting up a business arrangement and I think we have agreed on terms that will be beneficial to both of us. It was great to meet up with her again, have a pint, catch up for old times' sake.

The others have set off on a small rescue mission to recover some slaves, and I stayed behind so as not to miss the convention at Morgrave University. I haven't been to one in years and couldn't really pass up the chance. Of course the others understood, as the better I get at my trade, the more beneficial it is to them as well. Anyhow, we also found out about a moneybroker behind the slaves that's here in town, so me an' Aurora are going to look into that in the meantime. Pr'aps my... other skills will come in handy in acquiring information or infiltrating if necessary. And it's always useful to have someone with ye who's handy with a weapon (or two!).

Thanks to my connections with House Cannith, the guards of the town hired us to track down the moneybroker, a man by the name of Aaron Black. We learned that he's rich, likely to be living in the Upper City or the Skyway under an alias. We were offered 10000 gold to capture him alive, and 6000 if we turned in his dead body. They said he was likely to have bodyguards.

With that, Aurora and I started asking around in the Lower City, where we learned that Black has dealings with the Black Market (no pun intended, I'm sure), where deals in slaves and drugs. We also learned that Aaron Black was a drug supplier in House Thurani. That led us to suspect that he was involved with darker deeds as well, given House Thurani's reputation as a house of assassins. From my previous travels to Sharn, I thought that maybe we should then look in House Thurani's group of estates in the Upper City. We went sightseeing around that area, and found ourselves confronted by three thugs (human-looking) who tried to extort 1500 gold from us in exchange for them not reporting our activities to Black. We didn't really want to pay them 1500 gold (first and foremost, I never carry that kind of money to begin with), so after a bit o' fast-talking, I decided that the best way to continue sightseeing without arousing their suspicion again was to pose as Aurora's son.

As Aurora an' I walked past a shop in the Middle City, we saw a man with a long mustache using some sort of device along with a stand consisting of a long tripod and a spyglass. He must've made it 'imself, as I've never seen anything quite like it. Taking advantage of the ability of the young to speak out-of-turn, I inquired about it in my new form as a young boy, but the man shushed me (though he did answer a couple of questions, saying that he could in fact see things up in the Upper City and Skyway through his lens). Then we heard a "pop," and the man went away. We followed the direction we best figured the spyglass was pointing at, and didn't see much but a scrap of rubbery substance that had been magical in the past. Aurora an' I figured it musta come from one of the flying things tied to an air elemental, as they have them all over the city carrying messages, advertisements, and so on. While we were looking, we saw two of the ruffians who had tried to extort us, but they seemed to take no notice of us.

We got to see a huge ship fight in the Upper City, where a ship of warforged were chased off by another ship carrying half-elves and one warforged. We saw a half-elf woman on the second ship shooting with her wand at the first, and the sky was filled with explosions. In the crowd watching, we learned that this isn't terribly uncommon here, where rogue warforged attack dragonmarked houses (usually House Cannith.. bah!), and House Lyrander defends.

None of this, however, was helping us to find Black, so we decided to go to the library and check out the genealogy records. Here we learned that the family had started out as an offshoot of the Phiarlan line, and had changed their name and joined House Thurani as it started out. The Black family had sought favor with the royalty of Breland but had been turned down. The long an' the short of it is that one of the Black ancestors had a residence in the Skyway, and we thought that'd be a good lead. We watched the house for a bit, and we saw ship come down from the house into the Lower City. We followed it and saw 3 elven men go into a circus. I learned that the bouncers at the circus don't like kids much. As we were leaving, we then found ourselves jumped by a dwarf-looking guy and two human-looking types, which we later learned were wererats. Anyway, they looked a little weirded out about attacking a kid, especially once I gave one of 'em a solid bolt with my crossbow. I think one of 'em figured it out, but it was too late for him and we took 'em down. Along the course we learned that they worship the Keeper among the Dark Six. We found an Adamantine Mace, some thieves' tools, two daggers, a short sword, and a card with the Thurani emblem on it. It said "Knock twice then thrice to gain entrance to the back of Black House." Hm, this made things easier. We followed the three elves out of the circus and watched them go into the Cogs. Aurora an' I decided that we had learned enough and didn't want to risk our cover by chasin' 'em, so the next day we went to Black House. I disguise myself as one of the human forms of one of the wererats we killed.

So we knock twice. Then thrice. They let us in, easy enough, and don't take much notice from there out. So we wander up some steps, there are hundreds of 'em it seems. We find a hidden door in the wall that leads to a hidden elevator shaft. Apparently Black was superstitious, as there is no floor 7 nor was there a 13, but there were 20 floors so maybe I wasn't so far off on my guess as to how many steps there were. Aurora an' I talk about it, not real sure where to start, but we figure the old man probably lives on one of the top two floors, so we stop at Floor 19. The elevator leads to a short hallway which dead-ends with another door, and we see a horn coming from the wall and goggles into the wall. I didn't find any traps an' Aurora's a pretty brave lady as she just put it on without even knowing what-all it did, but she told me she could see into the room from there, and this is how we learned that Black used the secret elevator and the equipment to spy on the servants and on the goings-on in the house. Aurora said the maids were getting ready for breakfast, and talking about how Lord Black had headed out in a huff earlier in the morning. She said she could see the two elves we'd followed into the Cogs, murmuring something about how there's an issue among the royalty in Breland relating to the King's health and the royal line. Apparently Black had received a letter from the Breland throne and had retired with it up to his room.

...and that's about all we needed to figure out that the next floor up is where Black's room would be found. Up we go, and this hall was also short but led to a corner, and we could see a foot stickin' out. Now we weren't sure if it was a guard or what, and also weren't too sure what else to do, so Aurora drew her weapons and got ready, while I shot at the foot with my crossbow. Well, what else would we do, eh? Anyway, the shoe goes flying off and we realize that the owner is long-since dead. We found 200 gold, a jeweled dagger, and a vial of poison on the skeleton.

We found a secret door leading into Black's quarters. He wasn't there, so we decided to look around. On his desk, I found an open envelope that contained a letter addressed to him. Enclosed was a picture of a young man, who Aurora said was Black, as she said she had seen a portrait of the same man, though much older, when she spied into the dining hall. The letter said,
"Dear Mr. Black,
Long ago your grandpa sought benefactors and was rudely rejected. If things happen as I desire with your assistance, things will be better. Also you can deal a devestating blow to Phiarlan. Lord breland has a daughter connected to the rival house, and I do not want to compete with her. Signed, "Uncle""
We were tryin' to figure out what all this meant when a man came in and shot at the wererat. Oh wait, that was me. Aurora an' I chased him down out of the house and he got into an airship. We got a taxi ship and followed, an' as we got close, Aurora leapt onto his ship. I'm not as fit as she is and wasn't about to go leapin' from ship to ship at high speeds thousands of feet into the air, since I don't have any sort o' a deathwish. But I shot from afar with my crossbow and when our driver managed to get us close enough, I walked carefully from one ship to the next. We learned from Black, as we exchanged shots, that the skeleton we had encountered was an assassin that House Tarkanen had hired to assassinate Aaron's father, who had failed. Little did he know that the same poison that was intended to kill his father would have an effect on him, as I animated the poisoned dagger and directed it to attack him from behind as Aurora attacked from the front.

Now poisons, if they aren't stored in the right environment can lose their efficacy over time. Certain environments are worse for 'em than others, of course, but still without the proper storage the generations had taken their toll, and the once-lethal poison merely made Black turn sickly. However, with Aurora swingin' 'er weapons all 'round in front of his face, it was a bad time for Black to become ill. We were just about to capture him when he... took a step off the ship, plummeting to the ground below.

Oh, I cursed. I didn't even want to look... bastard just cost us 4000 gold because now we'd have to deliver 'im to the guards scraped up off the pavement. But I did look, because we needed to know where he was goin' to land.

And I saw him, not plummeting, but floating gently down like the lightest of feathers. An' by now, of course, he was too far away for me to be able to shoot him. But then, we saw him get shot with somethin' else, and fall unconscious. We told our driver to go down, and we grabbed 'im where he was. We didn't find any bullets on his body, but we did find one of those rubber jobbies from before in his shirt. Yep, that old man with the long mustache had seen the whole chase and did 'im in.

We tipped our driver handsomely, for his skill and speed. 20 gold from us, and he was tremendously grateful. His name was Ralph, and he gave us a whistle which he said would be able to summon him to us from wherever we were. He said if we summoned him from afar, like a few days' travel, we'd have to pay handsomely for the service, but given how excited he was about the 20 gold, I think a hundred or two gold would make 'im a very happy man. I wonder what he'd think if we summoned him from a place as far as Cragwar?

Black had 6 platinum on 'im, and we turned 'im in to the guards. When we asked for our reward, they looked nervously at one another before a brave one admitted that they didn't have the funds to cover it. They offered us property in the Lower City instead, which they valued at 4000 gold. We have to choose between two places: a repossessed warehouse in Dura and and repossessed brothel in Cliffside. I like the idea of the Cliffside property since it has more rooms an' I like my privacy an' quiet for working. But I'll have to see what Aurora wants to do. Maybe we should even check the properties out first, make sure they're all clear like the guards say they are.

Thorn returns

So Aurora's hidin' on the barge, and I'm crackin' the whip an' shoutin' at the slaves, when we all see the airship appear on the far opposite side of the courtyard. There were too many enemies between me an' them, so there wasn't much we could do for 'em, and Aurora and I decided to hold our cover. I could see that our guys on the airship disembarked and were met with somethin' of a welcoming committee, as a whipmaster, a zombie, and a ghoul greeted them. A skirmish ensued and they managed to not die, which was about all I was hopin' for.

After, they freed 35 of the slaves as they ran around the cathedral. When they were upon us, chaos ensued at our camp. Brogar took 35 slaves they freed on the way (now armed, thanks to the armaments we'd hidden on the ship) and another five from our loggers, and headed to the east to liberate more slaves. Aurora came out from hiding, and some of our slaves armed themselves too, and we found ourselves setting upon a whipmaster, a cultist, and two zombies. As the battle was underway, a ghoul came from behind and began eating the slaves. It was a scuffle, that's for sure, as I shot at the ghoul before running up onto the scaffolding so he couldn't charge at me. The slaves fought bravely although several of them lost their lives. After we had taken care of the foes in our immediate mist, Colvin pointed out that we could shoot at the death priests guarding the doors of the inner sanctum of the cathedral. He must've shouted it out loud or something, because as soon as he said so, they shot at us instead. Colvin maneuvered forward so he could attack 'em both, and when the double doors burst open, he found himself uncomfortably close to a newly-undead Thorn, who immediately started swinging at him. Colvin barely managed to stay standing, being the only one of us close enough to take the full brunt of Thorn's rage. So we found ourselves set upon by Thorn and two death priests.

The death priests in particular tried to curse us in an attempt to make Colvin & me fall from the scaffolding, but in this they were unsuccessful. Thorn, having lost Colvin as a target, raced into melee combat with Aurora. Morangan managed to inflict a very devastating blow on one of the death priests, while Treble in the end was the one who finished Thorn off (and kill-thiefed the death priest that Colvin, Morangan, and I had been attacking).

In the end, from this we had gained the following: mundane hide armor, a greataxe, Thorn's Ring of Orkus, some magical Gauntlets of the Ram (which Colvin snatched up and put on before hardly anyone'd gotten a chance to look at 'em), a set of Iron Armbands of Power (likewise which Aurora quickly claimed) and two amulets from the death priests: an Amulet of Mental Resolve and an Amulet of Physical Resolve, which Aurora volunteered to hold in the meantime in case they may come in handy. Brogar rejoined us, along with the slaves, saying they had cleared out the remainder of the enemies from the courtyard. Several of the slaves seemed to recognize Morangan, but I don't know the whole story there.

Now we're tryin' ta decide whether or not to rest up before confronting Alhunder. I have plenty of resources left, myself, but some of the others don't, as they used some against Thorn. Either way, I'd quite enjoy Alhunder believing he was betrayed by Leshna, and this might be my last chance to pose as her, so I might see if Phelaia still has that dress handy........

Ghouls, ghouls everywhere

We had a few moments to retreat and prepare for the onslaught of ghouls that we saw advancing on us. About fifteen it was, and we all did various preparations to be sure that we wouldn't be caught unawares by 'em. In the distance we could see another group of slaves taking on a whipmaster and a cultist, and as our own battle waged on, we could see them winning the fight. Fortunately for us, the ghouls didn't all arrive at once, and rather were spread out in four waves. The ones that did arrive, we did our best to hit swiftly and hard to increase our chances of success. A bunch of ours in the front line were caught immobilized by 'em, but that didn't hinder 'em from holdin' the line so that those of us in the back could keep doin' our jobs. Somehow Aurora seemed to take on most of the attacks, but she didn't do too bad for herself.

After the battle was over, a quick search of the battlefield yielded some nonmagical weapons. Some of the slaves agreed to come with us and help free those who were being held at the cathedral. The group told us that we should expect to find some whipmasters at the cathedral and some undead as guards of the approximately 100 slaves remaining; as well as some death priests ad zombies. Like the others, they suggested that Alhunder could be found in the inner chamber. They told us that the town contains about 200 citizens, mostly farmers and hunters, who are forced to worship Orkus under the looming threat of the undead. After a bunch of discussion, a plan started to form: I would pose as a whipmaster, with Aurora hiding aboard my ship. The slaves were willing to spend the day loading one boat full of lumber so that we could all get down there safely. I would take about ten of them aboard my ship, and another ten or so would go with the others, followin' behind in the airship. Three on our ship were willing to man the ballista, at Brogar's suggestion. They would arrive a bit behind, and then Aurora, myself, and the slaves would be in position to flank from the other side. Let's hope it works out for us.

Before we rested, we finished analyzing the journal we had found on the death priest at the excavation camp. The journal contained a bunch of prayers, death poetry, and much expounding on his personal beliefs and convictions about his commitment to Orkus. It only mentioned Alhunder briefly, and we didn't find anything of tactical use. We did find three rituals in the book: one ritual for desecrating ground, and two ways to raise the undead (one to be used on helpless living people to turn them into ghouls like those we faced earlier, and one to be used on ancient skeletons to turn them into a weaker zombie-like version). Upon reading the rituals, Colvin became somewhat agitated and enraged, and insisted vehemently that the book be immediately burned. He was probably even too fired up to hear Phelaia's faint protestations, for before we knew it, he had set it aflame in a trash can aboard the ship, with him muttering about "unholy rituals" and "vile, evil magics." I had no use for the rituals myself, and don't sell things of the sort in the shop, so I had no objections.

Anyhow, we all slept through the night, in shifts, and the next day started implementing the rudiments of our plan after dawn approached. We had plenty of time during the journey down for me to ask the slaves to give me clear detail about the best way to fit in, so I've been updated on the usual routine, schedule, mannerisms of the whipmasters, and so on. Wearing the chainmail and clothing of the deceased, and brandishing a whip, I feel prepared to do the part. As we sailed down toward the dock, I could see about 20 slaves and 1 whipmaster near the docks; and another 35 slaves, a whipmaster, and a couple of zombies towards the back of the cathedral. As we docked, I could see two death priests standing guard outside the inner sanctum where Alhunder more than likely is (for if he was not there, why would it be guarded?). I hailed those on shore and shouted at my slaves, every once in awhile covertly looking skyward for signs of an airship. My guess is that we have another couple of hours before Aurora's hiding place will be revealed to the others on land, so hopefully we can find a good tactical time to get this party started before we find ourselves in trouble.

Taking out the slave camps

We tied Charles and George together and left them near the river. Then we flew up and scouted the area around the town. We found the church on the outskirts of town, and after a bit more searching, we found a grave site northwest of town where about 40 slaves were digging out mass graves from the great Battle of Dragonwood Forest in the Hundred Years' War about 40 years back. A great pile of skeletal bodies were piled up near the excavation pit... poor souls, so much for "rest in peace."

The slaves and their masters spotted us as we flew over, so we had to engage them. I leaned over the railing and hailed them, telling them that we'd brought more cargo. After we disembarked, Treble stuck a dagger into one and battle ensued: us against three human cultists, two dragonborn whipmasters, one dragonborn death priest wielding a sceptre, and four zombies. The whipmasters were skilled in wrapping their whips around our ankles, grabbing us and knocking us prone. The death priest shot bolts of black ice at us, and the zombies were weaker, though still they charged at us and protected the others. It was a skirmish, for sure--especially for Aurora, who took a lot o' heat.

Afterwards, we searched the tents and the bodies of the fallen, finding a False Blood Amulet (which will help with my disguises) and Luckbender Gloves, which Treble put on. We found a journal that the death priest was keeping, whose code we have already made good progress in deciphering (I think we're a little more than half done with it). We also found 200 gold worth of gold, gems, and so on. We freed the slaves and talked to them, advising them not to return to the town. We found that there wasn't much else in the way of viable alternatives, so they agreed to wait at the camp until we cleanse the town of the slavery operation when we plan to return and tell them that it's safe. Many of them, however, had worked around the facilities, and they had a lot of useful information about the various operations. We learned that there are two kinds of undead that the slavers are using: zombies, raised from the ages-old skeletons and relatively mindless; and ghouls, turned from misbehaving slaves as a threat to keep the other ones in line (these have some level of intelligence and use their claws to immobilize a target before biting).

The others all agreed it would be best for the bodies at the mass graves here to be burned, which the slaves agreed to do after nightfall so as not to attract attention from the church. They said that the slavers go in rotation, and they weren't expecting a shift change until another day or so, so we had some time. We also learned that this is the only mass grave that was currently being excavated; others having been excavated in the past.

Some of 'em drew us a most useful map of the cathedral itself and the surrounding area. I found it interesting that they are shipping slaves from the mass graves while the graveyard right in front of the church had not yet been emptied, though the slaves said that they were already excavating slaves beyond their capabilities to raise them so far. On the map, they pointed out the inner structure of the old church and the new inner chamber constructed where Alhunder spends most of his time. They pointed out the two docks where slaves bring lumber from upriver on the barges (giving us a rough heading so we could pursue this remote camp as well), and a bunch of sleeping tents on the opposite sides for the slaves who are working on the cathedral itself.

The slaves told us we should expect to encounter scores of undead, a couple of whipmasters in the logging operation and a couple in the cathedral, three more death priests, and another six or so cultists. They also told us something new about Alhunder: that he is human, but one of his arms and hands is skeletal. It sounds like he has had the necrotic skin grafted onto his body, which we suspect should grant him some of the abilities of the undead.

We went along the river up to the logging camp, which was easy to find thanks to the trees felling in plain sight. We saw two whipmasters and about 70 slaves, as well as a couple of barges onto which the slaves were loading the lumber. We also saw three cultists, as well as some ghouls and zombies. The slaves had told us to be prepared for more undead at the logging camp because the slaves were armed with axes, so the ghouls would be used to help keep them in line. We landed near the smaller group, consisting of one whipmaster, one cultist, two ghouls, and three zombies. I told 'em we were bringing more cargo and should be unloading, and after we disembarked, Aurora attacked the whipmaster, stirring up a battle. We did a little better this time, though again somehow Aurora ended up in the thick of things. It was really tense for her there for a few moments before she regained her composure and helped to defeat the foes flanking her on all sides. One exciting turn in the battle happened once we had most of the enemies under control: while many of the slaves understandably ran for their lives, five brave ones came and fought against their captors alongside us! We cheered them on, and they seemed to have regained some vigor! Although once their immediate masters were dispatched, they thanked us and ran as well before the second wind of foes was upon us.

Aye, a huge ruckus arose and the rest of the enemies rushed across the battlefield towards us. We're ready to finish them!

The pit of the snake gods; a sexy body

First we went after Thorn into the secret passage. We came upon three horned drakes (easily defeated), but four piles of hay, from which we drew the inference that Thorn had ridden one of the drakes away from the compound. We followed the tunnel to its end, leading outside the compound to the other side of the hill. We followed the drake footprints a ways, but lost them.

Treble scouted the garbage pit in the dining room of the lodge, reporting back that he heard some hissing. Meanwhile, I freed the slaves, and Colvin helped convince them to watch Leshna while we investigated the pit. They were relieved to be freed and several of them agreed to help.

In the pit, we fought two carrion crawlers, six huge centipedes, and two spiderlike otyughs that kept grabbing Aurora. She seemed to be frustrated by this, but she held her own pretty well. When it finally looked like we had gotten a solid hold on the battle, a powerful earth elemental came onto the scene and started sending quake shocks through the region. Once all were defeated, we headed down the tunnel, ultimately finding a vast cavern... the entrance to the Underdark. Some among us have interest in pursuing this new area... but for now we have more pressing matters ahead.

The trip beneath wasn't entirely useless: we had found 100 gold in the trash, and another 300 gold in gems littering the walls of the earth elemental's lair.

After this, we went aboveboard and freed the slaves. They cheered when they heard our suggestion to take everything that wasn't nailed down, to take the boat and the wagons, and to go the nearest port town Galethspyre to sell the loot and split the proceeds. We encouraged some of them to make way to Cragwar to assist the other slaves we had left behind, telling them there was a monetary reward offered for the help.

Then, we put Leshna in the hold and headed for Woodhelm. She dropped out of the boat about an hour down the road. I was kind of pissed about it because we had already checked the hold for holes before leaving her in there, so I have no idea how she got out. I didn't have time to obsess about it for too long, however, as a group of five big, blood-red hawks attacked the ship, swooping at Treble and Phelaia and causing us to veer slightly off-course. Of course it would be this exact instant that our ship veered into a writhing cloud of dire giant mosquitoes that engulfed Brogar, Colvin, and Aurora, who were swatting themselves trying to get them off. Eventually we rid ourselves of the pests, and a bit later we come upon a boat going to the south. We weren't sure, but Phelaia suggested that it might be the boat coming to the south to pick up the slaves from the compound, and she suggested that we intercept. We talked about the best way to go about it, and ultimately decided that it would be best for me to disguise as Leshna.

I borrowed a silk dress from Phelaia and changed in privacy. As Leshna, I could feel a new spring in my step... I hadn't looked this good in ages, and it felt great. I even caught Colvin looking appreciatively. Heh. I sauntered a bit around the ship, and it helped that we had interrogated Leshna for so long, because I was much better able to affect her attitude and speech mannerisms when I leaned over the rail, showing off my new assets, and hailed the ship below. I told them that they were late, to which they seemed surprised to see me, and stammered that the slaves weren't cooperative. I asked if they were better-equipped this time, to which they replied that they weren't. At the suggestion of the others, I suggested that we had brought some recruits to help keep the slaves in line, and asked if they could use the help. They seemed relieved and docked so I could send my "recruits" aboard. I did, at which point "my" guys (Morangan, Treble, Brogar, Aurora) easily overpowered their two, and when they asked more about what was happening, I told them that we were following orders and were told to take over their ship.

We took them (Charles and George) belowground as some of the others made the ship unseaworthy. I ordered them to answer the guards' questions, and then I went aboveboard with a few of the others who were preparing to set sail. The others reported back that they learned the following: their group consisted of Alhunder (a "brilliant" leader who could raise the dead and create undead; talks to Orcus every day), ghouls, zombies, four death priests, 8 more guys about their level, and two whip-wielding guys in town and more at the gravesite northwest of town. They learned that Leshna was about the level of one of the death priests in the organization.

Now we have to figure out how to get them out of the way so we can go in and destroy their operation. I don't mind at all being in Leshna's body for awhile longer.

Thorn is betrayed... again

In the morning, I enchanted a rapier for Treble, and tried my hand at brewing a couple of potions. The potions are a new craft for me, and I'm pleased with the results. I gave one to Brogar and one to Morangan. We made a rough plan for the others to follow somewhat behind, and I headed up to the lodge, dressed as one of the battleragers. An orc was there, with a white flag of surrender. When he saw me, he ran up and shouted with relief "Brock! I'm so glad to see you. What happened?" ...so I guess that made me "Brock." Check. He said he was trying to find Agrawal, to give him a message from Thorn, but since I reported being unable to find Agrawal, he suggested that we go together to give Thorn the update. I was a little worried when he looked expectantly at me, being as I didn't know the layout of the place, so I told him to lead the way. We passed a hall on the right where it's clear that slaves are being kept... I saw their cages out of the corner of my eye and heard the ruckus from the room. And right down the hall we went, through a door into an office. Behind a large desk sat Thorn, dressed in black chain. There were two warforged against the wall behind him, holdin' quarterstaves. To the right of his desk was a striking Eladrin archer lady, and to the left of the door was an ogre, noisily chugging some foul-smelling concoction from a mug the size of a bucket, his giant club resting on the wall next to him.

Thorn asked what happened, and I relayed (uh... basically) the truth: that Agrawal must have betrayed him, that he and his men had drawn "our" guys out with a ruse and then stormed the lodge, killing most of its occupants, with only a few of us left to drive him out. I told him I had been searching for him and his crew but had been unable to find them. He was extremely angry, and ordered me and Murg (oh, so that's the guy who led me in here...) to clean the place up.

Murg helped me carry one of the bodies out of the lodge to the river. Next time I disguise myself as such a high-ranking officer, I should remember to give orders with more confidence to avoid arousing suspicion. Thankfully, Murg was naive and stupid, so he didn't catch onto my blunder. As we exited the lodge with a body, I said somewhat loudly, "Let's take him over to the mouth of the river and give him a water burial," unsure of whether my allies were within earshot. Apparently they were, though; that shiny rapier I'd just enchanted and polished for Treble appeared, sticking through Murg's chest before we even reached the river. I shouted "Murg, get down!" and brandished my greataxe. I fully intended to take a swing at Treble if need be, to keep my cover, but Murg was running like hell for the lodge and I swung at a post instead, to give the appearance of attacking our "common foe."

Poor Murg never made it to the door. I did a quick once-over on his pockets to see if he held any keys of any type but found only a few silvers, which I left on his person. I stood guard in front of the lodge, where Aurora approached and asked what she should do, posing as one of the shifters we had fought the previous day. I ordered her loudly to search for the intruders, and in a softer voice I told her to relay to the others what we had seen.

Shortly after, Thorn roared down the hall, ordering me back to his room. I obeyed, and he was properly livid. He accused me of working with Agrawal, and I denied it. He said he had just seen Murg be killed, a magic I will have to investigate when I have the time to devote my attention to it. The lies dripped glibly from my mouth as I told him Agrawal's guys were out there launching an assault on our lodge while I was trying to defend the outer doors. He totally bought it; although he seemed somewhat confused, he couldn't help but believe my convincing story. Then, to my surprise, he told me to go find Agrawal or whoever was in charge, and send 'im in.

I headed back to the front, and found my party there, about to launch an assault on the lodge. I told 'em that the boss wanted to see whoever was in charge, and backed away from them into Thorn's office, where he told all of 'em to come in, which they did. Brogar posed as the fellow in charge of us all, and told Thorn that he intended to take the slaves. Thorn didn't appreciate this too well, and ordered us all to be killed, as by now he had begun to believe that Brock had betrayed him. (First Agrawal, then Brock... Thorn wasn't having a good day.)

The ogre attacked Brogar, and battle ensued. Soon into it, Thorn escaped to save his own skin. Between the two warforged and the eladrin, we found ourselves often knocked to the ground. Some of the others got up, just to be knocked down again. I saved myself the trouble and stayed down. I think I need to work on my tactics a bit, but the others did well here: Phelaia launched a round of devastating attacks, Colvin erected a wall of bolstering light, Brogar bravely fended off the ogre and a tiger as well (until the ogre finally crushed him, at which point I healed him and he got back up and kept fighting), Aurora whirled her blades around like a madwoman, Morangan shot arrow after arrow, and Treble teleported to flank the ogre and bring the massive creature down. This battle was another tough one; at one point we had Phelaia, Morangan, Brogar, and Treble all bloodied before Colvin healed them with his wall, saving Morangan from falling unconscious the next round. In the midst of all this was the Eladrin, shooting pot shots at us from down the hall until Colvin went to chase her down as the battle wound up.

In the end, Colvin, Phelaia, Brogar, and Morangan went after the eladrin while Aurora and Treble searched the two rooms in the back. I was somewhere between the two sets of my allies, waiting to act as a reinforcement. After several minutes, we all rejoined together. Colvin, Phelaia, and Brogar brought the eladrin back with them as their prisoner, Treble reported finding a secret passage behind a bookcase in Thorn's bedroom, and Aurora reported finding some papers, a secret lever that opened a trap door to a fifteen-foot-deep pit in front of the desk, and an odd mirror (which I plan to investigate further).

We all healed up, and the questioning of the prisoner commenced, as I rifled through the papers that Aurora had found and examined the eladrin's magic items: a ring and an amulet. I think we'll be going after Thorn through the secret passage next, to try to stop him from getting away. The next likely plan is to free the slaves.

I think they're on to us...

Treble went to check out the stream... there he found a portcullis in the mouth, which he didn't swim down to investigate. In the meanwhile, Phelaia, Colvin & I dragged bodies away from the lodge while Aurora and Brogar smashed the archer's gallery so that it could not be refortified before our return. I was just in the middle of picking up the feet of a dead orc when the door opened and a Harrier looked at us, mouth agape, and ran out shouting. While he was looking, I did my best to look menacing at my... uh, teammates, and look like I was cornered. But I have to admit that my position looked pretty bad and probably ruined my cover. We attacked the guy, managed to pierce him bloody, but he still ran into a door shouting for backup.

From two directions came a total of four of the wimpy guys, three harriers, two bloodragers, one mage, and one alchemist type. The son-of-a-bitch mage cast those damned flies again. I hate those. At least I was outside the zone this time, and we managed to kill him before he had a chance to do much else. I did plant my Battle Standard of Might, so all of our attacks were just a bit more deadly. One of the Bloodragers was wearing an amulet and a set of fancy armbands, and I heard several among the party exclaiming over how nice they'd be to have among our loot. The alchemist started throwing these vials at us which were pretty annoying in their own right (ongoing damage, penalties to our ability to attack accurately), but he kept cover behind his allies so he lasted longer than he otherwise would've.

This battle overall was somewhat of a challenge, I'd say. A bunch of us had to use healing potions (and I had to use mine on Colvin). Not to mention that at some point in the battle, Brogar, Aurora, Colvin, Phelaia, and Morangan were all openly bleeding. For awhile there, Colvin looked like he was barely standing. But we came through, even though it wasn't easy. It woulda been an easier time if we'd had a chance to rest first, but I guess next time we need to ask our demolition crew to try to hack a little more quietly lest we rouse the whole lodge.

When it was all over, we had found a bunch more mundane weapons: scimitar, longbow, spear, greataxe, club, and quarterstaff. When we came upon the quarterstaff, Colvin snatched it up excitedly, saying he had plans for it. We also found some of the alchemical potions: acidic fire, alchemist's spark, eyesting, and stink bomb. Lastly but certainly not least, we had come upon the following, on the bloodrager: Amulet of Life, Belt of Sacrifice, and Iron Armbands of Power. I claimed the belt for myself, as Colvin took the amulet and Brogar snatched up the armbands. We dragged a few of the bodies out and retreated to the ship to rest.

Before resting, we divided up our loot and traded among ourselves for Arcana components. Even though I was tired, there was still work to do today, but the crafting is a comfortable work for me and isn't too taxing. I actually found it somewhat relaxing to be alone with my tools and my art. I crafted Phelaia a fine pair of gloves, that would have looked finer had I better materials at hand, but I had to work with what we found at the compound. I did my best to dust them off and repair any holes before empowering them with magic. I took Colvin's new quarterstaff and imbued it with the power of lightning, sanding down the rough edges and balancing its heft. My own crossbow was next. I enjoy working most on items that I've crafted myself, and this was a special case, as taking a precision item like this and improving its effectiveness even more requires a lot of skill and challenge, which makes it a rewarding task. After that, I decided to call it a night, and start fresh the next day.

My plan? Is to go into the lodge, by myself, disguised as the bloodrager. Not sure what I'll do after that. Hrm.

Heh... gets 'em every time

After a bit more debatin' about what to do next, we decided to try to draw some orcs outta the cabins and towards the horse corral where we could ambush them quietly without arousing suspicion in the lodge. The party waited behind some o' the wagons and I headed forth, in my best imitation of Agrawal, shouting to the orcs in the cabins to come help get the horses which had all run away. One of the orcs called back "They're not our horses anyway! They are the shifters' horses, make them go get 'em!" to which I replied "Everyone knows the shifters are lazy, incompetent bastards," and after a string of cursing, one of the guys sent the other 8 from the cabins out to investigate the corral.

Our ambush worked perfectly, and all eight were quickly dispatched before they could shout an alarm. It helped that they had been ready for bed, so none of 'em had armor on. After that, Treble went to scout out the last cabin. We saw 'im waiting outside for a few minutes, and then we heard the orc captain in there screamin'. Brogar and Morangan finished 'im off, and we took a short rest to decide what to do next.

After weighing all the options, we docked our airship, left the crew on the boat, and I marched confidently up to the lodge and knocked on the door. I told 'em I was here with the slaves ("Who are you?" "Agrawal! What, Thorn didn't tell you I was coming?" "What took you so long?" "Eh, had trouble with the crew, a bunch of those idiots got themselves killed and I had to hire a bunch of new guys"), and that we needed a hand unloading the slaves from the ship. He sent out three guys: one to find the dockmaster, and two to help with the slaves. I led the two back to the boat (or should I say, to their demise), as Treble (who had been waiting in the bushes) took out the third.

So far, so good, but we needed to draw more guys out of the lodge. Aurora and Brogar disembarked and stripped down the two orcs that we'd just killed, and put them face down behind them, so that from a distance it would appear that Aurora & Brogar were my crew, dragging resisting slaves. Morangan waited on the docks, and Colvin and Phelaia went onto the ship. Treble went off into the bushes somewhere, and I went about halfway back to the lodge, shouting at the top of my lungs in my best impression of Agrawal, "We need more guys! The slaves are revolting!!"

Out from the lodge stormed another 4 or 5 guys, plus two burlier ones, as I again led the way to the ship, and when they were almost to the ship, Colvin hit a bunch of 'em. The jig was up and although they put up a feeble resistance, they were quite overwhelmed. We did overhear the burly types coercing the minions to fight, threatening to feed them to the ogre and toss them into the pit of the snake gods. Gulp.

We looked back at the lodge, and the door had been shut. Now they all knew it was an ambush, but the hope was that by this time we'd divided their forces enough that we could more easily take the lodge by force. We headed up, and saw two scouts in the windows. Aurora shot one of the windows out and thus began the fray. She's also the one who finally went and re-opened the doors so that we could see in. Inside, they had created makeshift barricades out of their sofas and tables. We were facing maybe 6 or 8 guys up in the arrow slit wall, another maybe 4 wimpy ones on the ground, two burly ones, and one even more heavily-armed one wielding a greataxe. Not much of a deterrent, as most of us just picked them off from afar. Brogar spat some dragon breath in there and killed several of 'em. They realized they weren't much use against us in their tactical situation, and came forth and re-shut the doors, until Morangan opened 'em back up again and back in we went. The eye that I conjured aided our allies to land more devastating blows; Morangan in particular landed two devastating sets of dual-blows, all four blows of which were aided by the eye, against their lead captain. It probably helped that Phelaia had knocked down his defenses. Quickly the orcs were outmatched, and we cleared the room of our foes. Was nice to see that our tactics had worked in our favor this time; we must be getting better at it... had we tried to storm the lodge to begin with, we'd probably have found ourselves in trouble.

Treble teleported into the arrow-slit to make sure it was clear up there, and found a door leading back into the mountain, but not forth into the main room we were occupying, so he began hacking at the slit with a short sword until Brogar upended a sofa, climbed atop, and used the dead bloodrager orc's greataxe to wallop a huge hole within.

Today, after having searched the lodge and the cabins, we found that the riches we found did not even near those we had discovered on the first wave of shifters near the horse corral. Rather, all told, we found 40 gold around the campfire, 40 silver on the guard captain in the cabin, a mundane glaive, chainmail, club, and hide armor; then in the lodge, 8 copper pence in the sofa cushions, 30 silver and 40 copper on one of the minions (I bet he thought it was his lucky day when he won the night's gambling winnings earlier... but not so much, I guess), and another 5 gold along with slave gear in the cabinets.

Meanwhile, we are tryin' to figure out where to rest for the night. Some of us want to go back, move the airship, and sleep on it before returning to the lodge in the morning; others are hoping to use the furniture to barricade the three sets of doors to this room and to sleep here. At any rate, hopefully when we enter the next area, the slaves will be within and we can free them on the morrow.

Agrawal fights to free the slaves

We arrived at the slavery compound. After a buncha humming and hawing, we ended up deciding to park about a mile up the mountain and walk down, to reduce the chance of our new airship getting carried away. Before we went down to the camp, I assumed the form of Agrawal, to help us talk our way out in case we ended up caught by their scouts. I told the others I was employing "powerful magic" to take his form. It makes me a little nervous to alert the others too much, but I may as well make use of my skills if it will help keep us all alive. We walked down and came upon the camp and Treble and Morangan went about scouting, as we watched through the spyglass that Colvin obtained from the ship. Things looked a bit dicey for a few moments as Morangan alerted the guards by mistake, but he managed to avoid drawing too much attention.

Treble came back and told us of the situation: a bunch of guys around the campfire, several in the nearby cabins, and a lodge full of another ten at least. The lodge goes back into the mountain, so our best guess is that the slaves are kept there. We quickly decided that we weren't well prepared to take the whole band on at once, so Treble decided to create a diversion. He went over to the pen and let the horses out. He told us that they were happy to stay inside the pen, so he had to use a little "incentive" to get them out of there. I think he might've poked one in the ass with his dagger. It whinnied loudly and 8 guys came from around the campfire... as they approached, we attacked. It was a bit of a scuffle, and Morangan barely managed to stay standing. Meanwhile, several of the guys were exchanging lewd comments with Aurora. We hung in there, though, and managed to finish 'em off.

The best part? These guys were loaded. Each of 'em had 2 platinum and 50 gold on 'im. We gathered 'round the flag for healing as we prepared to take on the next wave.

An airship full of starving slaves

As we headed back to town, we came upon the burning ruins of a caravan. There were several wounded, many of whom I aided when we arrived. We quickly found the leader, an elderly man named Dryan. He told us that on their way, an airship led by half-orcs hailed and wanted to trade with their caravan, but instead attacked. He told us that he was the leader of a group of pilgrims, whose life savings of 200 gold, that they had planned to use to establish a new church, had been stolen. In the meantime, I found myself healing the last remaining caravan guard, a ranger named Morangan. He pointed us toward the last standing caravan, inside which was Ned, an accountant-type. He told us some information about those in the airship and pointed us toward where it had gone. Overall, he was very rattled, and came across as a greedy and cowardly type. He said that he was ruined, and estimated his losses at around 1500 gold.

Phelaia and Colvin were shocked and very sympathetic to the pilgrims' plight. They offered to go chase the airship and get the money back. Now I wasn't real set on chasin' a long-gone airship to get a couple hundred gold back for the pilgrims. It would have been a different situation had we been hired to do it, or if we could still see the airship. Me, I woulda rather helped 'em all get healed and give 'em an escort back to town rather than leavin' 'em without any guards. But I reluctantly agreed to go along with the team, under the condition that if there was no sign of the airship by nightfall, then we head back to town. Mishaan left us to stay with the pilgrims and go back to Greenwood Villa, whereupon he would take the Wrathstone to his employer to have it properly disposed of. Morangan volunteered to come with us instead, as he wanted to be part of taking down the bandits.

The airship had a four-hour lead on us. Dryan had given us a bunch of (Ned's) horses, now that their wagons were fewer in number, to help us catch up to it. We rode hard, and Morangan spotted the caravan as dusk was falling. We rode somewhat into the night, and when we (and our horses) became too weary, we rested to begin again the next morning. We caught up to the ship during the day, and waited for it to anchor to a tree at nightfall. We then found ourselves the difficulty of climbing up the ropes to board and overtake it. Treble came up with a great idea, and tied us all what he called "Prousic knots," to tighten and catch each of us should we fall. Treble and Morangan went up first, letting down a tied rope to ease the trip for the rest of us. Eventually, we all (save Colvin) made our way up, as Colvin threw lightning bolts in the air on the other side of the ship as a distraction, trading profanities and insults with the half-orcs.

The situation on the ship itself was not optimal, at least not without Colvin there. I think he would've been able to do us a lot more good above than below. Instead, their damn mage conjured a swarm of biting flies, so between those little bastards and the mage himself, I was close to going down. Not to mention that the flies kept flying in front of and into our eyes so we couldn't see, either. It was thanks to Brogar that I didn't die, but the whole takeover was a pretty shitty situation and we probably should have used much better tactics. I guess what counts is in the end we got ourselves an airship and routed all the guys out. I sure heard the crowd cheerin' when Aurora threw that mage right off the deck to the ground. Served him right. Bastard.

Anyway, then we looted the place. In the captain's pocket, we found a letter to Agrawal (captain) from Thorn. It said to deliver the cargo to the Dagger River Compound (we found it marked on a map in the captain's quarters), and "between your load and the others, we should be ready to begin Stage 2." Sounds nefarious. Loot-wise, we found 1 platinum, some magic boots that Treble showed a quick interest in, a quarterstaff that Phelaia claimed, some sailing equipment, jewels worth 800 gold, a smashed, empty, lockbox, and 4 healing potions.

After we all healed up, we opened the hold, from which we could hear movement. Inside, we found about a hundred, starving, scared, chained people sitting in their own sewage. Poor folk. I started healin' 'em right away, and talked to 'em to learn that many of 'em were from the northern area, near Cragwar. I told 'em that we'd do our best to get 'em close to home, and several of them told me that they thought they'd never have hope again until we came upon 'em. I found a few of the prisoners knew a bit about sailing, and asked 'em to help give us some pointers so we could get 'em home faster.

Among us in the little party, quite a debate erupted upon the best course of action. Phelaia was pretty passionate about going to the compound with great haste (and Brogar was in support), suggesting that we take the slaves to the capital city of Wroat before going to the compound; while the rest of us weren't necessarily convinced that the situation was as urgent (after all, the letter indicated that Stage 2 couldn't begin without the rest of the slaves). We all agreed we didn't want to drop them in the nearest small town, Woodhelm, because of the tax on the infrastructure, but some of us would rather've gone back to Greenwood Villa, to give the money we'd retrieved to the pilgrims and stock up at a familiar town before heading out. And I wasn't real sure about leaving the pilgrims 500 miles from their homes (and we could have gone back to get them later, but it seemed like a good idea to get the people we had as close to home as was feasible before worrying about the unknown). In the end, that's what we did, as Greenwood Villa was only two days or so out of the way. The slaves were overjoyed to be free, and the pilgrims were falling over themselves with gratitude for returning their savings. Some of the (ex-)slaves tried to convince us (or maybe I should say bribe us) into going to Cragwar next, but I don't think we can afford the time for it, although I'd be glad to offer to return a couple weeks hence after finding out whether there are more slaves to free. Ye'd think of all people, they would be understanding to the plight of others who were enslaved.

Artifact recovered

After a bit o' arguing over where we were going to go next, we decided to go through the sealed door. Here we found a cavern filled with mushrooms, a pool of water, and the remains of food storage. We found ourselves confronted by some type of huge mushroom king and his minions, who shot spores at us, stuck us with spines, and sprayed acid on us. Also, there was a huge monster in the water that leapt out and tried to kill us. This battle was somewhat difficult, especially for Mishaan, who found himself in somewhat of a precarious situation, but thanks to a tactical retreat and some good area spells on the part of Colvin and Phelaia, we managed to recover the situation and defeat the mushroom guys. Treble found a chest containing 2 moonstone gems, worth 50 gp each, and 40 gold pieces. While he was doing that, I couldn't help but search throughout the fungus-filled cavern for Arcana components for future crafting. I found 210 gold worth of 'em.

We decided to pass the rest of the day away so we could be at our strongest when we entered the vault through the teleporter. Colvin came up with the idea of gambling, where the winner gets to have me augment their magic item for the following day. Phelaia pointed out that the augment wasn't his to give away, but I figured 'twas all in good fun and I went all in, too. In the end, Colvin, Mishaan, and I were left standing and gambled another round. This time Colvin came out victorious, so he got to have it for the second day in a row. I suspect that's why he wanted to gamble for it in the first place, is that he knew that his turn wouldn't come 'round again for awhile, and he was angling to get another chance. Well, it worked out for 'im, and as it turned out he used both days to his advantage and the reserves I put in his weapon helped him to hit both times.

After resting, we decided to go through the teleporter two at a time. Treble and Aurora went in the first round, and I gave them some energy reserves before they went through in case they met a bad lot on the other side. They came back in to let us know that the coast was clear, and we all went through. We found ourselves in an empty room, with a huge mess everywhere... stuff smashed, broken, overturned, papers strewn. I went ahead in to plant my mighty battle standard in the ground, and the body of Agera stood from the altar screeching "It's mine! You can't have it! You'll never get it!" Then six suits of armor rose up from the ground around us to do her bidding.

Creepy.

One of the first things that Agera did was attack us, and she musta used some kind of charm effect on us, because we found ourselves attacking each other instead of her. I attacked Phelaia (the last one of 'em that I'd ever attack in my right mind... I was horrified when I came to my senses and realized what I had done!), and the only good that came of it is that I was standing near my allies so they all benefited from my magic weapon. This helped their attacks land true as they went after the magic armors, who were soon reduced back to lifeless armor on the ground. As they were vanquished, we found her gaining strength, but of course in the end we were the victors. Once the armors were gone, Colvin took an aiding role on the battlefield for once, lending Aurora some vitality and strength. Once Agera was defeated, we looked at her necklace, and Mishaan told us it is the artifact that we were searching for, and he put it in the Bag of Shielding that I had crafted for him.

After we did that, we searched the room, finding the following:
An Amulet of Life,
A healing potion,
Trinkets worth 200 gold,
19 platinum pieces,
632 gold pieces,
324 silver pieces,
811 copper pieces,
Ghoststride Boots,
Couters of Second Chances,
Duelist's Dagger,
Boots of Surging Speed,
Siberys Shard of the Mage,
4 pearls worth 50 gold each,
1 diamond worth 200 gold,
3 rubies, each worth 100 gold,
a wall painting valued at 250 gp,
and a stack of papers which I plan to examine at the next opportunity.

All in all, a good day!

Traps and living statues

Next, we went to the force wall and Treble checked it out for traps. He noticed pressure plates in the floor and a hidden control panel. Treble assured everyone that the pressure plates were disabled, but when he stepped on it, he and Aurora were blown back. He managed to trigger the trap two or three times before managing to disable the force wall. At that point, we decided to head back up to rest. Brogar was laying on the trap door, but he let us in when Phelaia spoke to him with her mind. We rested there, and the next morning, under the ostensible cover of augmenting her weapon's accuracy, I got to take a good look at Phelaia's staff. By the creator's sigil imbued onto it, I could see that she is still using the weapon that Nasira made for her. I'm glad to see that it is still serving her well.

We went into the underground lair and again, we drank the magic water. This time, I got the power to discern lies, and Phelaia got the ability to speak with the dead. Colvin, on the other hand, didn't fare so well and ended up feeling quite ill. (That same night, Aurora, Brogar, and I healed him, so he did not have any lasting effects.) We proceeded through the now-disabled force wall and into another room. Through there, Treble told us that he saw a lightning trap ahead into the next room. So several of us crowded into the small anteroom to check it out, and found ourselves shot with poison needles. Ouch. In the end, I bolstered Phelaia with strength and she and Treble headed in to disable the lightning trap.

We found ourselves at another large room with runes on the floor. We were debating the best cautious and tactical approach to take, when Colvin exclaimed "It's time to be bold!" and charged in. Immediately four fire elementals appeared in the runes and all attacked him. He dropped and found himself dying, until I healed him. That's twice now that I've saved his life. Then, after I brought him back up, he was trying to find the best way out of the pickle he'd got himself into, and the best plan he could come up with was to roast the area before fleeing. Unfortunately, Brogar was standing there and wasn't looking too hot, and Colvin pretty much did him in, too. I brought Brogar back up, too, and together we all destroyed the fire elementals. Weaker ones kept appearing as time passed, and Aurora ran over to the brazier and pushed it over, causing it to break into rubble. The runes went dark and the summoning stopped.

We entered the next room, which was filled with statues and a grid of letters on the floor. We checked out the statues (except Aurora who was knocking them over and vandalizing the place). Between Phelaia and me, we weren't able to figure out how to work the puzzle or how to disable the trap. Treble got tired of waiting and put his foot on the letter "C," immediately causing five of the statues to come alive. The statues seemed pretty strong--one of the fist ones dealt a pretty devastating blow to Phelaia right off. I shot some bolts at the crossbow one, hindering its ability to attack, while boosting the abilities of my allies to attack and cause damage to their targets. The cobra statue poisoned Brogar and Mishaan, and after taking a bunch of hits, Brogar dropped again. This time, Colvin helped bring him back up, offering an apology as he healed the paladin.

After defeating the statues, we determined that the puzzle activated a magical teleportation device. After a number of unsuccessful tries, we finally decided to have four of us stand on a letter each spelling "CROW," and the statue that we had put into the teleporter disappeared. Now we know how to activate that when we are ready to come back and go into the vault tomorrow. In the meantime, we healed Colvin and Phelaia talked to the dead, asking them how to get safely to the vault and inquiring about their next planned quests before their deaths. I suggested moving the enchantment from our unused longsword to another weapon, and Aurora was interested in upgrading her mace, so I spent some time in the evening imbuing the magic onto her mace and removing the enchantment from the longsword. I'm happy with the finished product, and I think it will serve her needs well.

Magic water

I found myself urgently awakened in the middle of the night by Colvin, who alerted me to two people descending upon our site. After a few tense moments, Mishaan told us that he had been expecting these two travellers, Phelaia and Brogar. I know Phelaia well, from an encounter several years back where we ended up spending a few months together, but she doesn't know me. She looks to be well, and I am glad to see that. I still carry a lot of gratitude for her for what she did for my mother. I'm still in a bit of shock that she'd wind up here with this lot, and I know I'll have to be careful. At least if I look out for 'er, then I can feel to myself somewhat like I am repaying some of the kindness she showed to my mother way back then. Anyway, she brought a dragonborn with her as well. His name is Brogar, and he said he is Rhogar's brother.

Brogar agreed to watch for attacks from the back, and we went into the underground. It was dark down there, and kind of stinky to boot. Aurora kept insisting that she heard a baby crying. We pursued our way in, and found ourselves up against a bunch of javelin-wielding crow men. They had a witchy type with 'em, who dazed me with force magic, but I retaliated by landing a vital shot with an exceptionally accurate bolt. Treble found himself eaten by a gelatinous cube. We finally took it out, and he saw a sword in the pit. I've never known Treble to pass by any loot, so he climbed into the pit after it, at which point he found himself engulfed in another gelatinous cube. Much cursing ensued on his part, and I did my best to cover my chuckling at 'is predicament. He found a magic longsword down there. None of us carry much interest in it, but when Brogar joins up with us, we might see if he is interested in it.

After clearing the room, we found ourselves with two choices on where to go. We were speculating which direction to take, when Colvin started incanting a ritual and a ghostly hand appeared and suggested that we go to the West. Immediately after getting that divine direction, Colvin decided to go to the East instead, to see what was there. A few of us were debating what to do, and someone mentioned that it could be an idea to seal one of the doors so that nothing would appear at our flank. Colvin exclaimed, "I know just the thing!" and pulled out a nail which he used to seal the East door. After a bit more grumbling we decided to go through the East door, which Colvin had just sealed, in which we found a bunch of stairs, and I could hear dripping water. After determining that it was not a dead end, we turned back, resealed the door, and went through the West set of doors. Through here, we found two rooms: one containing a water fountain, and one containing a bunch of coffins. I saw something hiding between one of the coffins, and I shouted out to it to identify itself. Since it didn't respond, I fired a warning shot and battle ensued. They started exclaiming about "Nobody touch the dragon!" and Aurora went in. A bunch of guys threw javelins at her, and she touched the dragon skeleton, which only succeeded in making them enraged.

I went in so I could help watch Aurora's back, and a bunch of the bastards shot javelins at me, too. One in particular caught me completely unawares since I couldn't see so well in there and I had to retreat and heal myself before going back in to keep an eye on Aurora. I intervened during a few of their attacks and shortly thereafter, the battle was over. We found two of the coffins to be labelled with the names of two of the dead adventurers from the Stormcrow Company: Ullugi Swordbreaker, and Emerald Warlock. After clearing the room, we went to check out the fountain. It was clear to me and to Phelaia that the water was magic. I speculated that drinking it would give us some magic effect, but couldn't be sure without more research what the effect would be. Phelaia's an impulsive young girl and went and took a big swallow. She told us that she felt great and thought she could resist elemental damage. I'm glad she was alright, and to be honest, I really wanted to see what it was like, too, so I drank some as well. I felt like I could commune with the dead.

Colvin didn't believe me, and challenged me to go ask them a question, so I went and asked Ullugi if he could hear me. He said "Yes," in a ghostly voice. That was all the reassurance that Colvin needed, so he drank as well, and said he felt like he could determine whether someone was being honest. I thought it'd be a good idea to take him with me as I went to ask Ullugi and Emerald another question, so he came as I asked them to recount the events of the past fifteen years. An argument ensued between the two of them, and I think I've broken it down to the following main facts:
1) It's a definite possibility that the Wrathstone, the artifact we're looking for, has been made into a necklace. If so, Agera took it.
2) They got the necklace from the lich; Ullugi took it from the Lich after killing it; Emerald had had it paralyzed and he and Agera were killing its bodyguards.
3) Agera killed both Ullugi (dagger) and Emerald (trap on the force wall)
4) Emerald trapped her in the vault and cursed her; likely resulting in her death.
5) The platinum key that we found is the last remaining key, either to the vault or to the force wall, they weren't terribly clear on this point.

I think I'll drink the water again tomorrow!

An adventuring job

Last week, this fellow, Mishaan, who I've crafted items for several times in the past, came into the shop. He told me that he wanted me to craft him a Bag of Shielding of a particular size, that could help give him some protection against the contents of the bag. I told him I had just the thing in mind, and we settled on a price. This time, though, he said he was in a hurry to organize a mission, and instead of waiting for the item, he asked me if I would go to Greenwood Villa and deliver it to 'im. I told him that usually I charge a travel fee, but being as I appreciate repeat customers who pay promptly and in full, I'd waive the charges and do it for the cost of travel expenses. He agreed, and we made plans to meet in a tavern a week hence. He told me that actually, he was recruiting for the mission as well, and he invited me to join along as long as I was there delivering the bag. He said that I could expect a hefty sum if I joined along, and for me it was a safe investment to at least listen to his spiel, given that I know he pays as promised.

Then, Mishaan asked me if I knew any other adventurers that I could recommend recruiting. I told 'im about that time I went to the cemetery to go after Volkir, and about how of that lot we took along with us, only a few of 'em really would have the mettle for a serious mission. I told 'im that Treble has worked in this area a long time, so I was pretty sure I could find 'im and ask 'im if he was looking for a job from someone who pays reliably, and if so, I'd see if he wanted to come along with me. I told Mishaan that I don't know Colvin, Agathor, and Balthazar as well, but that he could get in touch with them by sending a message over to the Temple of the Silver Flame if he wanted to see if any of them were available. I told him that of the three, especially Colvin really hung in there with us when it got nasty in those crypts. He's a brave fellow even if I did have to save his life when he got himself in a pickle. I said that Agathor led the mission, but he and Balthazar went to stave the Children of Winter off of our flank, so they weren't there in the thick of the action, although I thought they would be useful if they were available. I told him that the other fellows, Horadric and Rhogar, were adventuring types who aren't from this area, so I don't know how he'd get in touch with them, but if he managed to find them, they would be worthy allies.

During the intervening week, I crafted Mishaan's bag, putting as much care into it as I do to all of the items that I craft. I met up with Treble and we headed out to Greenwood Villa to meet with Mishaan at the tavern for drinks and information. Colvin was there too, and sitting with them was Aurora, a strong-looking (if hairy) woman with a bunch of weapons at her disposal. Mishaan offered us hefty doses of excitement, fame, and most of all treasure if we joined him in his mission to retrieve an artifact from an old hideout. He promised us each 100 gold for our time and trouble even if the artifact was not there, which seemed fair enough, so we all agreed to join. He told us that the old hideout we would be looking for was that of the Stormcrow Company, a trio of disreputable adventurers who had disappeared fifteen years ago, and showed us a map he had drawn of the area where he thought we might be able to find it.

The next morning, we headed out toward the area that Mishaan had indicated on his map. It took us pretty much the whole day to get down there, and I suggested we make camp a little away from the woods and enter the woods in daylight. The others agreed, even Colvin, who was reluctant and had to be convinced not to make camp right in the middle of the woods with wolves all around. The next morning, Aurora and Treble climbed up a tree to look for the rock outcropping we were using as a landmark to decide from whither to enter the woods. They pointed the way and we all headed that direction and went into the woods. It was dark and the brush and undergrowth were overgrown in the woods, so it was slow going. We all tried to use our skills to the best of our abilities to help, but some of us were more successful than others. I especially gave a long look to Colvin, who told us all that he was skilled in Nature, and then instead of tracking his way through the woods he started incanting prayers and calling forth lightning from the sky and bring blasted trees down all around us. Poor Treble out in front there almost had a close call when a limb came crashing down right in front of him. Hopefully this was an anomaly, and Colvin will prove himself to be more useful in the future, or Mishaan might not give as much weight to my recommendations in the future.

As it neared dark, we found the outcropping. As dusk surrounded us, so did a pack of wolves, as we approached the clearing. Our team was somewhat divided on whether we should make a run for it or stand and fight, so our tactics were not ideal, as Mishaan and Treble tried to make a run for it while Colvin and I decided to choose a patch of ground and defend it. The fighter lady stayed with the two of us, and I planted my deep red battle standard in the ground to mark the ground as ours. Colvin and Aurora quickly found themselves surrounded by wolves, and so I conjured an arcane eye to help them see the weaknesses of their foes. At one point there, Aurora was knocked prone and rather than help her up, Colvin stepped aside and roasted the whole area with fire and hail. I had given her an elixir of protection, so she didn't seem too much worse off for the wear. While I have to admit that his fiery hailstorm was effective in dispatching several of the wolves, I can't help but think that the bloke must have been having an off-day, first bring trees down around our rogue and then bringing fiery hail down around our fighter. Off-days happen to the best of us, so let's hope that the lad learns from this to temper somewhat his youthful impulsiveness.

Anyway, the battle was over in short order, so we decided to sleep in the hideout ruins for the night. Aurora volunteered to sleep on the trap door, and Treble volunteered to keep watch, which worked for me. Tomorrow, we plan to go into the burrows underground and look for Mishaan's artifact.

Artificer's shop

Horadric leads the party to a small stall off of Market Street. "This is the place," he says, and you all step inside. Behind the counter, you see a middle-aged man calibrating some dials on a shiny artificer's rod. He is human, stocky, and broad-shouldered; his brown hair is receding on his head; and he has a short full beard on his round friendly face.

"Howdy there, fellas!" he says, nodding to Horadric, Rhogar, and Treble. "Don't tell me you're off adventuring for the Silver Flame again, eh?"

Treble says, "Nah, not for the Silver Flame. We're on a job, though, just one that doesn't pay as well."

"Ah, I see. Does that mean those rumors about the dragon are true?"

Horadric says, "Yes, they're true. We're going after the dragon."

"Aha, well good luck to ya. If anyone can get him, I'd put my wager on you lot. Well, let me know if there's anything I can do for ya. I've got some potions in stock that might come in handy, if you're looking for that sort of thing."

Treble says, "Yes, we'll definitely check out your stock and see what might be useful. Hey listen, Derrick, last time we met, you said something about being able to cut us a deal?"

Derrick smiles and says "Sure thing, mate. You know, I haven't met many folk who live here in Brindol, or travellers either, who would have the mettle to stick around that graveyard with all the things we saw there. Hell, the whole town guard ran away. You're solid people. Here's what I'll do." He pulls out some worn-looking books from behind the counter, and piles them on top. The books are obviously well-used. He says, "The rule of thumb in this business is to charge customers 20% over cost, to cover our operating expenses and give us a little bit of profit so that we can make a living. For you, I'm willing to sell you items at cost. If there's something you're interested in, you're welcome to look through the books so you can figure the expenses."

Treble nods with satisfaction.

"Of course, if you want something I don't have in stock, I'd have to make it for ya. I'm willing to do that, but obviously you'd have to give me a little bit of time."

Rhogar asks, "How long would it usually take?"

Derrick says, "Eh, an hour or two."

The group looks over Derrick's wares. Elaira asks diplomatically, "I think this Potion of Lightning Resistance could be useful. How much does it cost?"

Derrick looks at Horadric and asks, "These guys with you, then?"

Horadric says, "Yes, they are aiding us."

Treble adds, "For now," with a sideways glance at the bard.

Derrick looks at Elaira and says, "Okay, then, if these guys vouch for you, then you're okay by me too. I'll sell to you at cost as well." Elaira smiles. Derrick adds, "Besides, if you guys go and slay a dragon, you'll get a reputation around Brindol. And when people ask you where you got your nicely-crafted magic items, you can tell them where to find me, eh? Besides, maybe we can help each other. If you come across any formulae for alchemical items, bring 'em on over and I'll add 'em to my formula collection... once I know how to make it, I can make it when you need it."

Elaira says, "Of course."

Various potions are purchased and money exchanges hands. Derrick says, "You know, part of what drives the price up on all these things is the cost to get the components. If you come across any components when you're out... residuum, rare herbs, that kind of thing, bring 'em by and it'll reduce the cost. I can also disenchant magic items for you for free if you ever need some residuum. Hey, while we're at it, if you do manage to slay the dragon..."

Keh'r says, "Yes?"

Derrick continues, "Well, dragons are magical creatures, and there are a few parts of 'em that I can use in my work to create magic items for you. If you're interested, I can give you some tips on which parts ya need and how to find and get 'em."

Keh'r says, "We're definitely interested."

The party listens as Derrick describes the process of extracting alchemical items from dragons. Well, that is, the members who are interested in anatomy and magic rituals listen, while the others start browsing through Derrick's catalogs. After the description is finished, Derrick wishes the party good luck as they leave.

Game mechanics: At shops throughout the land, magic items are houseruled to cost 20% more than the prices listed in the game books. Derrick can sell you magic items at the cost listed in the books (which is the cost he has to pay to craft them). He can Disenchant Magic Item for free. Our DM will be in charge of deciding what is "in stock" on any given day, but Derrick is willing to craft for you a specific magic item if you're looking for one. He can create alchemical items of our level plus 3, and magic items (including potions) of our level plus his Intelligence bonus (which is currently 4). So at the current time, he can make alchemical items of level 5 or lower, and magic items of level 6 or lower. He levels up when we do, so as we grow in power, so will his abilities.

The recapture of Volkir

So this wizard-type stopped by the stall. Seemed reaI confused, puzzled look on his face and all. Don't know if he had one too many last night or what, but he was all "Where am I? What is this place?" and so forth. Weird. Anyway, I'm trying to show him some of my wares but he's looking around all confused when three guys approach on horseback and totally ruin any chance I had at a sale. One of them was a heavily armored guy, human; another was a dragonborn guy wearing light armor and carrying a wand; the third was a priestly-looking guy who was wearing light armor and looked a little odd. They go on about how they are hunting some criminal who escaped a prison and are trying to amass some kind of posse to go rout 'im out. All three guys have emblems on their chests that they say represent the Church of the Silver Flame, and offer us gold and goodwill of the church to go along with. They seem like they're telling the truth and they did just ruin the sale I was making, so I agree to come along. The guys say their names are Agathor Brightwind, Balthazar, and Colvin Shadowbane. They round everyone up in front of my stall a couple hours later. They got a bunch of guys together, like some guardsmen and some townspeople and this confused wizard guy who was shopping at the stall, some dragonborn paladin and Treble, a mercenary who I've seen 'round. He might have come by the stall sometime or maybe we had a couple drinks together at the tavern, can't say I really remember the circumstance but I do remember him to be a pretty okay type. Seems like the kind of guy who pays promptly. Anyway these Silver Flame guys go on about "On to destroy the undead beings!" and so on... sounded kind of creepy to some of us townsfolk type but money is money so off we go, walking two and a half days to some deserted-looking village.

We saw four figures in the distance: one in a robe, one hunched over and drooling, and two soldiers wearing green foresty clothing. The wizardy guy (I later learn that his name is Horadric) does actually seem to know something now and says he thinks they are unfriendly druids called of a sect called the Children of Winter, who are some kind of death cult who want to destroy the weak and promote famine and disease. I don't really get how they haven't died out already then, but there you have it. Treble snuck ahead and said that they were talking about an intruder messing around with their lands. He wasn't sure whether they meant us, or whether they meant the guy we're all chasing after, but the consensus was that either way, they probably wouldn't appreciate the lot of us tromping all around the place. Treble said he saw that the hunchback guy was a shifter... kind of a canine-looking face, werewolfy/animalistic-looking guy. Balthazar and a bunch of the guys start going on about how they want to just fight 'em but some of us weren't real keen on fighting battles that we didn't come out for. I mean we're getting paid to go get some criminal, not to risk our necks to clean all the scourge of the woods. I decide to see what I can do, and offer to "employ powerful magics" to bluff them to head another direction. We agree that I should try to talk them into heading north while we head 'round another direction, so I ask a bunch of questions and then hide behind a tree and do my best to look like that slavering shifter guy. I walk up from the north and tell 'em I saw some guys thataway that were intruding on our lands, and they buy it. That never gets old. Anyway, off they go and I hide behind a tree and do my thing and rejoin the party. While we're waiting around I augment Treble's dagger.

We came upon 3 stone crypts in a graveyard called Col Fen, approaching from the south. Agathor says that they followed the trail here so somewhere in here is our guy. We see one grave is open. Treble starts sneaking over the wall and all of a sudden an arm starts trying to dig out of the open grave. This skeleton and another one come out of a couple of graves and start going towards the entrance to the East. We wait for them to head off that way, and we head 'round to the west before hopping the wall. Treble scouted out and said he thinks our guy is in one of the crypt buildings. As we climbed over the wall, we couldn't help but notice the stench of the place and the chill in the air raised up the hairs on our arms. We heard a woman screaming and a baby crying... sounded like it was coming from the northern crypt. Treble scouted the crypt entrances and said that the southmost one was closed, the middle one had no door, and the door of the north one was ajar, and all were dark. Agathor told us the guy we were looking for was a half-elf with a scar on his left cheek and black ratty hair. He sent a reluctant and grumbling Balthazar to check on the Children of Winter and make sure that they weren't doubling back to find us.

When we went into the north crypt we saw a decayed zombie farmer, a four-foot high sarcophagus, two skeletons, and a ghost standing over a trench. We heard sobbing coming from the trench, and the woman and baby were in there. Colvin was talking inside of our heads and told us that we could do it too as long as he was with us. Horadric pushed the zombie aside. I took advantage of the opening he provided and went inside the room to attack the ghost before he was able to kill the woman and baby. The ghost became insubstantial, and he attacked me with his hair from ten feet away. Once I had him distracted, the woman took her baby and ran away. Along with her went about half the mob of guys we had brought with us... some of the younger ones just weren't ready to confront the horrors in the graveyard. Can't say I totally blame 'em, though they did leave the rest of us in a pretty tough spot. In the meantime, Balthazar came back to get recruits to go battle the Children of Winter, so Agathor and almost all of the remaining men went with him. Inside the crypt, Rhogar the paladin and Colvin were cursing the undead. Colvin killed the skeleton and Horadric finished off the zombie. The ghost disappeared through the wall and went into the middle crypt. Treble searched the room and found a map in the sarcophagus, which he gave to Horadric.

We headed into the next crypt; there were two half-eaten dead bodies just inside. A pretty gruesome scene. One was of an elderly man, looked like it'd been there about a day; the other was of a woman and looked like it'd been there about a week. We saw a door ajar in the back that headed downstairs, where we heard chanting at the bottom of the stairs. Treble checked over the door and noticed a bucket of acid resting atop; he carefully took it down and put it in the corner (several of the men were highly amused to see the ghost step into it later). Inside the downstairs room were two zombies, two ghouls, two skeletons, and the ghost, as well as a man chanting over something behind the sarcophagus. As soon as Colvin saw the man he shouted, "That's Volkir! He's our target!"

I headed in first and killed the zombie. However, Volkir raised it along with two skeletons for us to fend off who appeared behind our lines. I noticed that Volkir was holding some shriveled-up looking black monkey head thing or something. I didn't get a good look at it, but there were green flames in its eyes and also green flames in three braziers on the walls. Colvin came in and threw lightning bolts across the room, catching a skeleton and Volkir along with it, but Volkir laughed at him and Colvin cursed, saying that it seemed to have no effect on him. In the meantime, more and more undead minions kept appearing, just about finishing off Horadric in the anteroom. As Colvin went further into the downstairs room, he triggered some kind of spear trap and looked like he was in a very dire situation, surrounded by zombies, ghouls, and skeletons in the center of the room by himself. I did my best to heal Colvin and shield him as he and Treble put the fires out on the walls to diminish the power of Volkir's magic artifact. As the fires went out, the undead minions around began to crumble into dust. Horadric knocked the last torch down and we finished the fight, subduing Volkir. Horadric took the monkey head artifact thing out of his hands. Treble checked into the sarcophagus again and found a gold bowl, and a magical gold ring with an onyx stone. Colvin took Volkir's artifact and smashed it to bits, giving the fragments back to Horadric.

Agathor and Balthazar returned, and we noticed that Balthazar wasn't looking well. I guess he had some sort of disease. They said that they encountered the druids again and led 'em on a wild goose chase before defeating them. We took a quick look at the third crypt and found it to be in ruins, and not safe to enter. We started on the long trek back to Brindol, and Balthazar started looking better along the way. He spent a lot of time speaking the dragon's language with Rhogar on the walk back. Along the way, the Silver Flame guys were questioning Volkir, and pretty roughly at that. He mostly laughed at them and taunted them, saying something about the Shadow of the Flame and Bel Shalor. The Silver Flame folks told us that Bel Shalor was a dark god who had been trapped away by their order 200 years ago... this recounting only caused Volkir to laugh even more maniacally. They assured us that they would re-imprison him and do a better job at keeping him captured this time, and paid us twice what they had promised, so with my 400 gold and my share of the loot, I headed back to my stall in Brindol to craft more magic items to sell. I told the guys that if they ever needed anything, to come on by and I'd cut 'em a deal.