== Wealday, Kuthona 18, 4707; Magnimar, Kyver’s Islet; Afternoon ==

Having followed up on the contact information for payments to “B7” from Aldrin Foxglove we have found ourselves in a lumber mill called “The Seven” on Kyver’s Islet in the south of Magnimar. We’ve overcome attacks from the evil masked workmen there only to find ourselves in custody of one of the chief justices for the city itself, Ironbriar.

Avia had detected an evil presence in the room where Ironbriar was found alone and cloaked with invisibility. He was no longer radiating an evil aura by then, but we did detect two spells had been cast upon him — an enchantment and an abjuration. The latter could have been the result of his hiding his alignment.

And while Ironbriar did attack us at first, when the enchantment spell was removed he calmed down a great deal and became informative and almost helpful.

He claimed he had been enchanted by an evil enchantress named Xanesha, and that it was she who was responsible for the series of ritual murders that had plagued Magnimar for these past months. He admitted that he had played some part in the grizzly killings, but only while under Xanesha’s control. He was angry with Xanesha and wished her killed, but knew his influence and power in Magnimar was compromised, and he wished to leave the city as quickly as could be arranged.

Avia was dubious of his most of his claims, and thought the two best courses of action were to either hand him over to the city officials, or execute him ourselves.

The problem with the first proposal was that Ironbriar was the head of the city’s judicial system, and it was unlikely that our word would be taken over his. And the second proposal assumed his guilt with only the circumstantial evidence we possessed.

And yet to me he seemed to be telling the truth, or as much of the truth as concerned us. I spoke long with him about his faith, and found that he was a follower of Norgorber, which would indicate he probably did have an evil aura when not masked by magic. Followers of Norgorber are split among various factions, each following some specific aspect of their evil god and mostly ignoring one another. It made little sense for a career politician, of which Ironbriar was certainly one, to work toward destroying the very fabric of society from which he derived his power.

Ironbriar promised that if we let him go he would take care of the cultists (both dead and alive) that remained in the mill, and leave the city within twelve hours — just long enough to take care of some personal matters and provide an official reason for his extended absence from Magnimar.

He said if we allowed him this, he would provide us with information about Xanesha that we could use to find and eliminate her. Furthermore once he was safe and established in a new location he would send a reward back to us, as well as check up on our progress with Xanesha.

We debated his offer long among ourselves, and finally agreed providing that Ironbriar allowed Sabin and Trask to accompany him until we received the promised information. To this he acquiesced, using the cover of hiring the two as body guards to explain their sudden and constant presence in his company.

Unknown to Ironbriar, Kane and Rigel provided support for Sabin and Trask by using their stealthy skills to follow Ironbriar, and to make sure there was no obvious attempts at treachery.

They left for Ironbriar’s house a short while ago, and we are about to leave the mill ourselves. We gave Ironbriar the name of the inn at which we had been staying, but we plan to move to different part of town today. We will keep one room at the old inn for future correspondences with Ironbriar.

== Oathday, Kuthona 19, 4707; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Midnight ==

Kane arrived at our new inn just after midnight with news that Ironbriar was leaving the city via one of the southern gates. Task and Sabin were still with him and Rigel was tailing them.

As we quickly walked to catch up (at a discrete distance) can told us that Ironbriar had immediately gone from the mill to his grand house in the swanky Alabaster District, where he proceeded to send letters to various associates about town. He had been cordial to his two guests, even inviting them to share in his dinner, and hid nothing obvious from them. In fact at one point he apparently offered both long term employment, which they both declined.

Rigel caused a bit of commotion by sneaking into the house and setting off an alarm of some kind, but if he was suspicious of our party, he did not show it.

Shortly after midnight he changed into traveling clothes and left for the south of the city.

We ran into Sabin and Trask on their way back from seeing Ironbriar leave the city on foot. At the gate he had told them what he knew of Xanesha.

She had set up her headquarters in the ruinous structure known as the Shadow Clock. This tower was built in the Shadow district of Magnimar, an unsavory part of the city that resided completely beneath the ancient ruins of the Irespan.

The Irespan is nothing short of a massive bridge, perhaps built by or for a race of giants, that stretched westward over the bay from Magnimar. Everything about it is massive, although now all that remains of it is its eastern terminus. And yet even this tiny fragment is so large that it dwarfs all other structures on this side of the continent, and it covers an entire district of what is by no means a small city.

The name of the Shadow District itself may have its origins by being in the shadow of the Irespan, but it now reflects the nature of its businesses and inhabitants.

The Shadow Clock is a tall tower that was built many years ago to house a clock, but it was never completed and it has fallen into neglected decay. It is considered structurally unsafe, and the city has closed it off from the public.

Ironbriar said that Xanesha lived there with five “misshapen” men to do her bidding, and that it was she that taught him the vile sihedron ritual used in the murders.

She had also sent Aldrin to Foxglove Manor to collect the evil fungus that grew there, knowing full well what it would do to him.

Ironbriar also told us that Aldrin’s payments to the sawmill were for hush money to keep hidden the fact that he had murdered his fiance, Iesha.

We returned to the inn and briefly discussed our plan of action. Although Ironbriar saw to it that his departure from the city would not draw any undue attention, at least for a while, it would be obvious to Xanesha that he was no longer under her thumb. We decided to wait a couple of weeks before making our move against her in the hopes that she will have once again relaxed her guard.

This would also give time for Avia, Sabin, Kane and Rigel to train.

Trask, Nolin and I plan to make a short trip out from the city after sunrise to see if we can find a trace of where Ironbriar has gone.

== Oathday, Kuthona 19, 4707; Yondabakari River Valley; Evening ==

We set out on horse back as soon as it was light, leaving Magnimar by the southern gate and following the likely route used by Ironbriar. Despite the overcast sky and chill air our trip was at first pleasant as we traveled next to the Yondabakari flowing within the banks of its wide valley.

Small farms and hamlets lay on either side of the river with their fallow fields and prickly orchards of bare trees. Inns also lined the road, and after a pleasant break for lunch in one such pub we continued on.

The sun slowly wheeled around behind us and cast long shadows on the road ahead. Inns ceased, farms came further and further apart, and the number of people we passed on the road dwindled to a few hearty souls before petering out altogether.

The next village was an hour or more ahead and grey sky darkening with the fading light as we debated whether to push on to the comforts of a night indoors or find a suitable camp site near the road.

The road had dipped into a boggy stretch of land and was just beginning to rise back up again when we came upon three large mounds of mud and clay.

A grotesque toad-like head rose up from behind one mound and stared at us with protruding eyes. As we approached to investigate three slimey green creatures lept up onto the mounds and waved spiked clubs threateningly at us.

Boggards!

As a child my guardians had told us stories of the evil frog-like men who haunted the swamp lands, capturing and eating unwary travelers. I had thought these tales told to keep restless youth from straying far from the farm, but here they were in the flesh (warts and all) menacing my friends and I.

No doubt they thought we were farmers on the road at dusk hurrying to our home and fields and ill prepared to meet any attack. They thought wrong and were quickly slain.

Alas, but we found the remains of several hapless travelers on whom the boggards had feasted earlier. Little remained but 20 pieces of gold and a few basic weapons.

We wound up pushing on to the village and reserved a nice set of rooms for the evening. We had missed the usual evening sitting in the dinning room, but after hearing about our victorious encounter with the boggards the inn keeper was happy to stoke the kitchen fire and prepare a delightful late supper for us.

== Fireday, Kuthona 20, 4707; Yondabakari River Valley; Evening ==

An altogether uneventful day. We continued along the undulating road as it passed through a land of low hills which fell away to the south into a wide expanse of marsh.

By chance this evening we encountered a small caravan from Wartle heading towards Magnimar and we all agreed to share camp. They had seen nobody on the road matching Ironbriar’s description, which confirmed our suspicion that while he may have set out as a lowly traveler on foot, Ironbriar was a man of too many resources to remain so for long.

Our companions are a lively group, and we are all gathered about a small but bright peat fire which is keeping the fog from the swamplands at bay. While in stark contrast to the night before, our evening has proven to be no less accommodating.

== Starday, Kuthona 21, 4707; Yondabakari River Valley; Evening ==

A soft but prolonged drizzle started late in the night and we broke our sodden camp just before dawn. Being lightly burdened we left caravan behind as kept a brisk pace, and rode long until after dusk. We are but a few hours from Magnimar, but there is no urgent need for our return and the horses have earned a rest in a dry tall with hay and fresh water.

To be honest I too am glad to have a place to sleep indoors out of the persistent cold mist that followed us all day.

== Sunday, Kuthona 22, 4707; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Evening ==

We returned to Magnimar by mid day and Nolin has has decided that he too should hone his skills and sharpen his abilities before our encounter with Xanesha, leaving Trask and I to fend for ourselves.

We decided to reconnoiter the area about the Shadow Clock tomorrow.

== Moonday, Kuthona 23, 4707; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Evening ==

Like virtually all residents of Magnimar, I have seen the Irespan, and have even approached the top as close as city officials allow the public. But I have never before been at the feet of this cyclopean structure, and I must admit that it takes some getting used to. I walked about looking up and gaping like a yocal from the sticks who has wandered into a city for the first time.

The locals who we passed were completely oblivious to the thing under which they spent their lives. We followed their example and plunged deeper in the the Shadow District with eyes level. We kept a short distance apart, with me in the lead, but still close enough to rush to one another’s aid if needed.

The day was already dim with cloud cover, and it was like walking into twilight as we passed under the shadow of the bridge and made our way to the massive support near which the Shadow Clock had been built.

Had it been completed the Clock could have been a local wonder to lift the district up and above the unsavory reputation it now held. Now, however, it simply served to reinforce the feeling of sinister doings, secrets, and decay and ruin that permeated the area.

With a square base about sixty feet on a side the tower lumbers up on itself some one hundred and eighty feet, gently narrowing with its rise until it is capped by an ornate belfry. A large clock face frozen at three o’clock glares down upon passerby and the figure of an angel perches atop it all.

But it is all a ruin. The mortar between the stone and brick crumbles, the wood is gray and warped with age, and the windows gape out with no glazing. In some places metal framework pokes out from the ruptured skin of the building, and near the top on one side a teetering mass of scaffolding, itself now derelict, fights a losing battle to keep the structure from toppling down upon the business and residences that surround it.

We spent some time walking about the Clock, taking side streets and alleys so as not to be obvious in our intent, but saw nobody approach the tower, nor indeed pay any more attention to it than they did the bridge above.

Trask and I returned to the inn where we compared notes and drew a few diagrams and maps. We had seen no other entrance at ground level than the heavy doors which had been chained and locked by city officials, but it seemed like that was as good an approach as any.

The rest of the day began to weigh heavily on me and so I found father Tyrion at the Temple of Sarenrae and volunteered to help out with the local outreach programs that aided the less fortunate citizens of the city.

== Fireday, Kuthona 27, 4707; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Evening ==

Sabin and Kane have completed their training.

== Wealday, Abadius 1, 4708; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Morning ==

It is New Year’s Day! There was a midnight ceremony at the Temple of Sarenrae in which I participated, just as last year. I cannot help but to reflect back upon the old year and all the changes it brought.

== Fireday, Abadius 3, 4708; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Evening ==

Avia returned to the inn looking confident and ready to resume the hunt for Xanesha. Rigel also returned from training, but is often the case with her we did not notice her arrival so much as we simply became aware that she was once again with us.

When we returned to our old inn for our daily check of message from Ironbriar we found a cloaked man waiting for us in the common room. Without exchanging any names or details we informed him that we were following the advice of our common friend and being cautious about tying up a certain “loose end.” We told him we ought to have more to report in two weeks time.

He stated that the parcel beneath the table was for us, and got up and walked out.

After the usual checking for traps and magical devices we took the box up to our room and opened it. Within were seven small bars of gold — each worth five hundred gold pieces.

This was more awkward for some of us than others, but I know that what is not immediately spent defeating Xanesha from my share — for I view the gold as payment in advance for services to be rendered — will go toward the local charities the Temple of Sarenrae supports.

== Sunday, Abadius 5, 4708; Magnimar, The Copper Griffin; Evening ==

There was another ritualized murder last night. While rumor of the killing swept through the city in the usual way, we sought out our contacts in the town guars to glean additional information.

The more than two weeks since the previous killing was the longest interval between any two killings since they began — typically there was a murder every few days. We could not help but connect this to our activities at Aldrin’s townhouse some two weeks earlier and Ironbriar’s departure from the city.

We found Nolin, and although he had a week of training left he agreed that we could not delay our investigations while the murder spree continued.

== Moonday, Abadius 6, 4708; Magnimar, Shadow District; Dawn ==

Well before dawn we made our way to the Shadow District and approached the doors enmasse. Our plan was to simply walk up to the doors, disarm any traps, unlock any locks, and then move inside as if we were authorized to do so. It seemed likely that any attempt at a covert operation in this shady district would generate more notice (and possible interference) than a direct approach.

Our plan worked and soon we were inside. But the interior of the clock, while perhaps fascinating to an architect or builder, sadly dissapointed us.

From within the Shadow Clock looked more decrepit and tumble down than even its ruinous appearance from the outside indicated. It was a single, massive chamber towering up into the darkness above with no floors or partitions beyond the handful of ramshackle walls leaning against one another along the eastern wall.

Windows were cut into the tower higher up, but the pre-dawn sky still looked inky black from within. We brought out our magical torches and looked about the place in dismay.

The floor was made from stone, and showed no signs of any secret trap doors leading down. A rickety stair led up and up, connecting with the outer walls some fifteen feet up and following them around and around as it spiraled up to the top, which skulked in darkness.

A few piles of rubbish littered the floor here and there, and through the gaping doorways in the eastern interior walls we could see that the ceiling for the rooms had collapsed and they were now open above the the main chamber.

We noticed a large number of foot prints in the dust on the floor leading up the stairs, and checked the stairway very carefully only to find that it was as unstable and unsafe as appearance made it appear.

One door to an interior chamber in the northeast corner was intact and closed, and as I made my way towards it to see what lay within, a huge creature stood up from what I had thought was a pile of refuse and attacked. It looked like someone had stitched together various parts from animals, humans and other creatures into a single nightmarish form. It wielded a scythe with unexpected skill and from a belt around its middle hung an assortment of shrunken heads.

It proved resistant to fire and damage our normal weapons, but Avia switched to using the adamantine sword and was dealing the thing deathly damage. After a fierce battle Sabin finished it off by planting his axe in its face.

[241] +1 scythe (Nolin)
[242] cloak of Elvenkind (Avia)

Beyond the door was yet another room with a collapsed ceiling and nothing more.

Trask and Sabin volunteered to clamber up the rickety stairs to see what was at the top of the tower, and as they began their ascent the rest of us continued to search the base of the tower, uncovering a sack with coins and a few other valuable looking oddments.

125 gold pieces
309 silver pieces
a tarnished silver ring with “To AV, with love” inscribed on it (not magical)
an ornate silver mirror

We heard a loud creaking sound as the stairs complained of their load and threatened to come down. Trask and Sabin came down, and Sabin, who could cast Feather Fall and save himself in the event of an emergency, climbed up alone.

Three times around Sabin ascended the stairs and came to the level where a window was set into each of the four walls. By now the sky was pale, and we could watch his progress in the wan light.

Sabin then paused, as if listening to something above, and all of a sudden there was an incredible cacophony of clanging and clanking as one of the massive tower bells came crashing down. It smashed through the stairs where Sabin was standing and tumbled to the ground, crashing into Trask before coming to rest on its side.

Sabin drifted slowly to the ground and said he had heard someone sawing through the ropes that held the bell just before it came down. We healed him and Trask and were debating our next course of action (a Fireball shot up to the top was momentarily a popular idea) when there came a great banging at the doors.

The entire west end of Magnimar had no doubt heard the frightful noise of the bell, and the City Guard had showed up to investigate.

The chief constable was highly suspicious of our presence at the tower, but we managed to deflect his concerns toward the corpse of the scarecrow monster we had slain. He asked the crowd that had now gathered around the doors if they had seen anything like this in the area before, and one man said he had seen it coming in and out from the tower, and another reported that things could be seen flying in and out from the top of the Clock.

The constable inspected the bell and commented on how it looked like the ropes had been partially cut through some time ago, and then the rest of the way quite recently.

We told him that we wanted to climb the tower to catch whoever it was that dropped the bell on us (and who was no doubt responsible for the strange monster), to which he acquiesced. He set up a watch about the tower to keep and eye on our progress and to see if anything flew in or out while we were scaling the Clock.

We are currently discussing how best to climb up now that the stairs are impassable, and have decided upon some combination of Spider Climb and ropes.

The sun is just now peeping over the horizon although it is still dark beneath the Irespan, and it is time for me to pray. We shall have full need of the spells Sarenrae can grant me this day.

== Starday, Neth 16, 4707; Sandpoint, Mid Morning ==

Our first morning back in Sandpoint went well; and we were quite productive going through the items we had accumulated, and determining what to keep and what to sell. In the end we all have more than enough gold to train, even after tithing and other expenses.

I never thought before that I should be in possession of such sums of gold, but equipment and training for our line of work is expensive, and I am not in jeopardy of becoming wealthy.

Speaking of expenses, I have purchase Nolin’s horse and tack, which he no longer needed now that the splendid war horse he rescued on Thistestop has recovered. I was surprised that Nolin had not named his old horse, and so I gave him one: Leopold Butters Stotch. Butters has proven to be a feisty but reliable mount.

Most of us begin training today, which will keep us busy for some time now.

== Sunday, Neth 24, 4707; Sandpoint, Morning ==

Kane has completed his training and began to investigate the loose threads we unraveled at the Misgivings. I have free time today as well as most evenings, which I will use to help as I am able.

I used a Make Whole spell to repair Vorel’s broken seven sided box — we might have use for it later.

== Sunday, Kuthona 1, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening ==

Kane, Rigel and Avia have left for Magnimar. The rest of us will join them once we have completed training.

We deem the trip necessary for several reasons.

First, the worthies of Sandpoint are either unable or unwilling to provide any information about the Brothers of the Seven — that accursed organization we believe is responsible for the tragic events at the Misgivings, and the grizzly murders around Sandpoint.

Second, we have heard stories from Magnimar that tell of the same sort of killings in Magnimar, complete with the sihedron rune carved on the victims’ chests.

Third, Aldrin returned to Sandpoint from Magnimar, and perhaps he left behind some sort of clue as to the nature of the Brothers, for whom he was working. Also we believe his sisters may still be living there — perhaps they can recall something useful about their family history.

Nolin’s family lives in Magnimar, and he has written a letter of introduction to his parents for Kane and company; thus providing them with a place safe to stay while they familiarize themselves with the great city.

Likewise I have provided a letter of introduction for Avia to take with her to the Temple of Sarenrae, where I was trained.

With luck they will have done much of the initial legwork for this investigation by the time the rest of us arrive.

== Toilday, Kuthona 10, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening ==

We have received a letter from our compatriots in Magnimar, providing us with news of their journey and what they have found thus far in that fair city of ancient ruins. Kane, Rigel and Avia have been gone more than a week, and it was reassuring to hear that they were well and safe as may be.

Their trip was not uneventful, and serves as a reminder for us to be on our guard when we follow their route four days from hence.

Late on their first day they beheld an amazing and horrible sight: they heard and ungodly scream in the distance, and watched as a huge winged horse reared up and flew away. Kane recalled a local legend that circulates up and down the Lost Coast Road about a nightmarish horse that stole cattle and unattended children. We’ve heard the locals refer to it as the Sandpoint Devil, but up until now I had assumed it was a story used to subdue misbehaving children.

The next night they found their camp invaded by hideous goblin snakes, which they managed to kill or drive away with little hurt to themselves.

They arrived in Magnimar on the third of Kuthona, where Nolin’s parents gave them a hearty welcome, and a brief introduction to the layout of the city.

Wasting no time they set out at once to the Marble District, where they thought the likes of a family as old and wealthy as the Foxgloves would live.

After spending a little time (and some gold) with a city bureaucrat they found that Aldrin Foxgloves’ two sisters had moved away some time ago. Far, far away — perhaps they possessed more wisdom than their fool hardy brother.

At an inn in the district they found an old acquaintance of Aldrin’s, who said that Aldrin was up in Sandpoint, but he still kept a a townhouse in the Great Arch District. A few gold coins later and they found themselves before Aldrin’s home away from home.

The ground floor windows were boarded over, and the windows of the other two floors above that showed no signs of life within. A large and unkempt fountain was choked with fallen leaves, which had stained the stagnant water a sickly yellow.

Out back an eight foot wall hid a garden rife with weeds and trees strangled by grasping vines. The gate was barred with boards hastily nailed across the entryway.

They decided to save the closer investigating of the dwelling until the rest of us could join them.

In the meantime they found a place to stay (not wishing to wear out their welcome at Nolin’s parents place), and settled into life in a big city.

One thing they noticed right away was a great civil unrest. The murders, of which we had heard rumor in Sandpoint, were an almost nightly event, with the victims representing a complete cross section of the Magnimar social strata.

The public felt threatened, and felt the city officials were doing little to protect them.

The same said city officials were tight lipped about the entire affair, and our friends could find little information about the murder spree, other than the each victim had had a sihedron carved in their chest, the same as the victims in Sandpoint.

== Starday, Kuthona 14, 4707; The Lost Coast Road, Evening ==

Ah, to be back on the road again! It is a marvelous thing, despite the toil or dread ahead: for the road represents a fresh start, a new place, and more than just a hint of adventure.

True, we are but heading back to the place from where I set out on this grand adventure some five months before, but still I find my spirits lifted all the same.

Whereas on my earlier journey the days were warm, the trees wore jackets of deep green, and the air was redolent with the fresh smell of all living things; now the days are chill, the trees naked, and the crisp air smells of flint.

We have made comfortable camp with a blazing fire, enjoyed a dinner of fine rabbit stew, and have set the watch as the stars have come out and peep down at us.

== Sunday, Kuthona 15, 4707; The Lost Coast Road, Evening ==

Earlier this day as we trotted down the road with the sun blazing overhead we came across a scene of much carnage. The bodies of three horses, still tacked, and the people who had been riding them were arrayed across the road. Feasting on this gruesome supply of flesh were some half a dozen giant geckos.

Nolin charged his war horse directly at one of the beasts as the rest of us dismounted and took to the attack on foot. After fierce but brief battle all of the lizards were dead, but alas there were no survivors from the waylaid party.

We pulled the corpses from the road and arrayed the saddles and other equipment neatly nearby as a windfall to the next travelers who came this way. We found 20 gold coins, which we kept for ourselves, along with a wand that Task took.

[230] wand of knock [18 charges]

== Toilday, Kuthona 17, 4707; Magnimar, Noon ==

We arrived in the city early this morning, and immediately met with the others before heading out to search the city for what clues we could find about the recent series of murders and the Brothers of the Seven.

Nolin was once a member of the local constabulary, and he was able to confirm with his friends of the guard the details of the killings. He also found that the officials were intentionally keeping as much secret as they could, to avoid panicking the public.

It seemed very much like the intent of the slayings was in fact to cause as much public unrest and terror as possible. The common threads between this butchery and what we had uncovered in Sandpoint were the sihedron carved into the corpses’ chests and the Foxglove family, who had secret dealings with the Brothers.

We found obtaining any information about the Brothers of the Seven in Magnimar was just as difficult as it had been in Sandpoint. People either claimed to have never heard of them, or had only heard the name as some mythical organization from long ago.

I spent much of the morning over at the Temple where I had spent the past eight years of my life. Father Tyrion was pleased to see me again, and quite taken aback at all that had happened in Sandpoint since he had sent me there earlier this year.

Tyrion had heard of stories of a very evil, brutal and blood thirsty organization called the Brothers of the Seven, but had thought them merely legendary tales of horror from another time. Oddly enough he did seem uncomfortable talking about them, almost as if he had just realized that those stories of vile and despicable deeds and the group behind them might be for real, and possibly responsible for the recent killings in Magnimar.

Avia, who had accompanied me to the temple, and I joined our companions at an inn near Aldrin’s town-home. We plan to pay it a special visit after lunch.

== Toilday, Kuthona 17, 4707; Magnimar, Late Afternoon ==

We left the inn and made the short walk to Aldrin’s place. We gathered around the back gate — except for Nolin, who remained out front — and removed the boards barring our way. We discovered that the old iron key we found at Foxglove Manor unlocked the latch, and after fetching Nolin we entered the yard.

A sort of solarium was attached to the house in back, and its door was unlocked so we filed in. Beyond that was a formal dining room, with doors to the north and south.

Avia was detecting evil from in two locations within the house, and the room to the south was a study. The desk had been rifled through, with all of the papers thrown about the room and the drawers smashed against the wall.

The door to the east led to a pleasant living room, and there, sitting on a sofa, hand in hand, pleasantly smiling at us were Aldrin and Iesha Foxglove!

“Oh, welcome,” said Aldrin, “we thought we heard someone come in. Are you hungry? We can prepare something for you.”

Knowing the fate of the real Aldrin and Iesha we were quite puzzled and taken aback, and talked with these doppelgangers for a while to try and discern who they really were and why they were here, posing as the dead couple. That they were evil Avia had assured us.

Dispel Magic did nothing to change their countenance, and they continued to merrily chat about the weather and their life in town as if they weren’t dead as dust back up at the Misgivings where we had last found and left them.

Aldrin seemed really insistent about preparing dinner, and stood up to make his way into another room.

Meanwhile Nolin had opened the north door of the dining room and came face to face with some hideous creature with slavering fangs and a nasty set of claws. He quickly closed the door, but the beast burst through.

Having heard the commotion from up north, I confronted the Aldrin-thing about its evil persona, at which point he ceased to be the charming host as he and Iesha lashed out at those of us in the room. They too now looked like the monsters they were.

They proved incredibly tough adversaries, and with a great deal of skill and effort (and not just a little healing) we managed to kill them.

Sabin or Trask thought they were same ancient monster — the very first of such things to curse the world with their presence. Although why they were here posing as the lovely couple was still a mystery.

The Aldrin look alike had been carrying a fine sword, which we confiscated.

[231] masterwork long-sword

We then set about exploring and searching the house. We found the signs of a thorough search in every room, with furniture ransacked and items slashed and tossed about the place.

Someone was looking desperately for something, and it became apparent that they had not found it, and resorted to more destructive means of searching as their frustration grew.

The top floor boasted a grand master bedroom with an attached study to the south. The study had a zebra skin pelt on the floor, and a fireplace with an interesting mantle, sporting two lion heads. I began to search the lion heads for some sort of hidden mechanism to a secret compartment, but it took Kane’s clever eyes to spot the tiny, deep hole in one lion’s mouth.

The odd lion head key we had found earlier activated the mechanism, which dropped a panel to a hidden space in the mantel.

Within was 200 platinum coins, a case with legal paperwork, and documents for the townhouse itself, including a ledger of expenses.

In the paperwork we finally found written evidence for the existence of the Brotherhood! They had financed a large part of the Misgivings, as we had learned from the family journals found at the manor house.

The ledger held unusual entries for expenses (200 gp a week) paid to “B7” for “Iesha’s trip to Ashalon.” The entries appeared to be in Aldrin’s hand writing and dated as recently as a month before. Iesha in Ashalon? But wasn’t Iesha already dead a month ago? And why keep paying B7 for her expenses in that far away city if she were not actually there?

It looks like we have another mystery on our hands.

== Oathday, Neth 14, 4707; The Misgivings, Evening ==

While I was updating my journal, Sabin and the others spent the past half hour investigating the odd basement room in which we found ourselves.

Sabin was convinced this was an arcane workshop at one time, with work tables and rusty tools and paraphernalia scattered across their surfaces.

The northern stained glass window depicted a gaunt man drinking from a vial filled with a shocking green fluid. The southern showed the same man, but with the familiar signs of rot and corruption associated with undead. His arms were uplifted in triumph as his form turned to smoke which was consumed by a seven sided box.

A set of moldy books on necromancy occupied Sabin, but when Rigel touched one she paused and stared out with vacant eyes. It lasted but for a moment, and afterward she described a vision where she was Vorel at his moment of triumph just as he was to consume the potion that would transform him into a lich. But as he drank the potion he doubled over in pain. This vision was quickly replaced with a powerful sense of anger — anger that a loved one could do such a thing to themselves — followed immediately by fear and a sense that she must save their children.

We took the books, which Nolin stored in his pack.

[214] 10 Necromancy books (Nolin)

A second door in the southern wall led to a short hall and another door, which opened onto a flight of stairs leading down and around to the north.

At the base of these stairs was a square room with walls carved from the surrounding rock. The floor was littered with blocks of stone and in the center of the room was a staircase, spiraling far down into the darkness.

Picks and chisels were laying about the rubble; and it looked as if the stairway had been bricked over with stone and mortar in the past, but this had been recently torn apart.

Wafting up from the pit was a terrible stench of death and decay.

We prepared to descend with Sabin, who can see in the dark, leading the way; but as soon as Avia stepped onto the stairs she gasped and began to flail about with her sword and buckler as if she were fighting some unseen foe.

Gashes and bite marks appeared on her skin as we raced to her aid, but we could neither see nor feel anyone (or thing) other than ourselves in the room. Detect Undead revealed nothing.

After a few moments she stopped struggling, and said she saw Aldrin frantically chipping away at the stone on the floor with a pickaxe, all the while repeating, “For you, for you!” He finally broke through the barrier sealing off the stairs when a stream of ghouls filed out from beneath and attacked her.

After a bit of healing we began the descent anew, carefully picking our way down the ancient cracked stone steps as they plunged downward into the darkness and ever growing fetid reek.

At last we reached the bottom, which ended in a large limestone cavern. Sabin estimated that we had come down 80 feet.

The air was damp and water dripped from the ceiling and oozed from the walls, which were covered in blue and black mold that spiraled about in crazy patterns. Bones from various animals and humanoids cluttered the floor, and a sound like a great beast breathing echoed out from the three tunnels that led from the cavern.

The tunnel to the north was narrow, while the one to the northwest was wide and looked well traveled. There were rocks and dirt around the entrance to the southwestern tunnel, which indicated that it was recently opened.

We moved out through the northwest passage into a large natural chamber when a gang of ghouls sprang out from the shadows and attacked. After a short and bitter fight we killed them all, and decided to make sure nothing unpleasant would sneak up from behind.

To this end Nolin volunteered to guard the entrance to the southwest tunnel, and Kane crept into the north tunnel. Unfortunately the northern tunnel was choked with thick matts of mold, which Kane breathed in and was incapacitated for a short time.

We then continued on to the west, winding our way around as the chamber narrowed and bent to the north where it opened into a vast circular grotto.

A side tunnel led due west, but the main chamber was nearly fifty feet across and towered up into the darkness. A wide pathway, or ramp, spiraled down past several cracks and openings before ending in a dark pool of water some fifty feet below.

Large cracks gaped in the wall to the northeast, while a doorway and a dark opening were to the northwest and west.

More bones (fresh and not so) and body parts were strewn about, all of which showed signs of having been gnawed upon, and the stench was horrific.

We took the west tunnel, which led to an oddly shaped chamber with a sloping floor that dropped down to the opening we had seen in the west wall of the circular chamber.

Sabin led us over to the nearby door, which he opened and passed through. I was right behind him, and Avia and the others behind me.

By the seemingly feeble light of our torches we saw a rickety table with a damp surface and all sorts of detritus scattered about it. Fine china and plates and bowls were filled with rotting flesh. A painting sat upright facing away from us.

Behind the table was a high backed leather chair facing the wall.

And behind the chair protruding out from the wall was a thick mass of mold which formed a humanoid shape. From the moldy figure came the most offensive and foul of the odors that had yet assaulted us, and it was all we could do to keep from gagging — indeed some of our team found themselves gagging and choking and could come no further in to the room.

We then saw a broken seven sided box at the foot of the mold man thing.

The chair then slowly turned towards us, with Aldrin calmly sitting there staring at us. He was no longer human, but he also did not look quite like the regular ghouls we had seen thus far.

He caught sight of Avia and became quite excited. “You’ve come to me! I knew my letters would convince you. Now let us consummate our love.” He gestured to the piles of rotting flesh on the table.

Trask made some sort of pert comment and Aldrin’s good humor vanished as he sprang up and attacked.

Avia struck him hard and he collapsed to his knees and began to cry. He sobbed, “The hurter is gone.” He looked back up at us and seemed about as pathetic a figure as a ghoul could.

We asked him what had happened to him, and he said he had to run errands for the Brothers: they wanted him to collect rats and the fungus to find out about the disease down here in the caverns.

Avia quietly confirmed that poor Aldrin was evil, but that the mold man creature behind him was an evil of a far greater power.

Aldrin sobbed on for a few minutes more, crying piteously for us to “Be kind to poor little Aldrin” when all of a sudden his face went blank and he looked up with a huge grin on his face.

“I am the Skinsaw man!” he proclaimed as he jumped up and put on a mask he had been holding. His face changed and morphed into that of Avia as he laughed and charged at us.

A few moments later and he was the dead Skinsaw man.

We then cautiously searched about the room while staying away from the mold man against the wall. On the table we found quite a few items of a personal nature that Aldrin had collected from Avia, like strands of hair and paper on which she had written. More disturbing were a series of drawings Aldrin had made of Avia, many of which had her posed without clothes.

I could not tell if the sudden flush of red on Avia’s cheeks were from anger or embarrassment, but the worse discovery was yet to come. The painting was a portrait of Iesha, but Aldrin had replaced her face with Avia’s by applying gore, blood and other bodily fluids.

We quickly grabbed the seven sided box from the floor.

[203] Seven sided box [broken]

We searched Aldrin’s body and found a handful of interesting items.

[204] +1 War Razor
[205] Ring of Jumping
[206] +1 Ring of Protection
[207] Stalker’s Mask: Crafted from leathery sections of cured human skin, stitched together in overlapping pieces like scales. This item can make the wearer translucent [+5 to hide]. Once per day it also allows the wearer to assume the shape of anyone within 60 feet. This latter ability improves as the mask feeds off of the wearer’s rage and jealousy.
[208] Cameo broach [painting of Avia on inside]
[209] Small iron key

We then torched the mold man with a flask of oil and a little flame, but even though the was mold burned into a cloud of greasy black smoke, the evil remained.

A handful of us then carefully made our way down the ramp to the pool of water. It was frothy sea water, and very deep. A rocky shelf formed a small island to the northwest, but there was little else to see.

I was quite puzzled about the water. How did the sea water get here? The top of the bluff on which the Misgivings was built was at least 300 feet above the sea below, and we had only come down some 140 to 150 feet (at most) from when we climbed down the stairs to the basement.

We returned to the main cavern, where I carefully retrieved a fine pick that Kane had spotted earlier when he had been engulfed in mold spores.

[210] +1 Heavy pick

Joining up with Nolin we passed through the opening to the southwest and into a long and large chamber that stretched to the west.

All manner of remains lay about, including the bodies of two Varisian nomads and another human. Searching them provided no clues to their identity, but we did find several useful objects.

56 gold pieces
[211] Pearl ring
[212] Adamantine long-sword
[213] Hat of disguise

As we were looking over these bodies we heard a loud thump from the west, and a gigantic bat flew in and attacked.

It took some effort, but we killed it and traced its arrival to a small round cavern to the northwest. A small circular opening in the ceiling led up to the surface, and to where I estimated the well was for the servants’ quarters.

We then returned back to the manor’s main hall to see if the odd mold stairway was anything special. Kane pulled the rope hanging from the mouth of the mounted monkey head, and the head shrieked, but nothing else occurred.

[215] Magical monkey head

Just then Trask and Nolin smelled something burning as the old stuffed manticore burst into flames and it whipped its tail about to hit Trask, singing him somewhat. And then it was just a stuffed (and now singed) manticore again.

I decided to experiment and carefully swept away the circular stairway pattern the mold had formed in the center of the hall.

We then decided to investigate the water level of the subterranean pool and using ropes verified that the top of the bluff was indeed 300 feet above sea level.

We then found some additional rope from the attic and returned to the pool where we found that the water level had changed with the tide, indicating a direct linkage of some kind with the sea beyond. How could this be?

Tying a rock to the end of our ropes we dropped it down to 140 feet before it touched bottom. That would put the base of the pool at or just above the level of the sea outside.

On the way back up we checked out the mold man room and found more mold was dripping down from the ceiling, replacing the mold we had burned away and forming another mold man shape.

Back up at the house some of my companions read the books on the Foxglove family while others studied the books on necromancy.

The Foxglove journals revealed a few interesting bits of information:

• Rogers Crazby was the caretaker of the manor while it was deserted
• The Foxgloves have long been associated with a shady organization called “Brothers of the Seven” and the their meetings had been hosted at the manor from time to time
• Vorel original built the house, but his family died and it remained empty for 20 years
• Aldrin’s family moved in until his parents went crazy and killed one another
• Another 40 years and Aldrin returned to a tragic end
• Construction of the manor was funded by the Brothers of the Seven After 100 years ownership of the house and lands would revert to them

Insightful as this information was, we had reached a dead end. Obviously some powerful evil force was still at work in the house, and our work was not yet done here. We needed to return to Sandpoint for extra training and more research before we could finish what we started.

We then experimented with the flocks of undead crows outside and verified that while they were indeed undead, they were not summoned creatures, and that there were more than enough of them to keep us trapped here at the house.

I devised a simple plan for escape that we can try in the morning light.

== Fireday, Neth 15, 4707; Sandpoint, Afternoon ==

Simple plans oft work the best. And so it was with our escape from the Misgivings this morning.

I cast Hide from Undead on all of us, including Nolin’s horse.

Nolin and Rigel then mounted the horse and galloped away, drawing off the undead crows that were unaffected by the Hide from Undead spells.

The rest of us then quickly ran to the northwest, away from the manor and avoiding the birds, until we returned to the road, rejoined with Nolin and Rigel and returned to Sandpoint.

We need to go over our list of recent finds to see what we can sell and how much income this will generate. I think all of us are ready to train, and that will require a large amount of gold.

And while we train we will continue our research on the Foxgloves and the Misgivings.

== Wealday, Neth 13, 4707; The Misgivings, Evening ==

After our break for lunch we continued to explore the house, and exploring the main hall in more detail revealed that the grotesque monkey head with the rope dangling from its mouth was magical. We also found that the bookcase beneath the circular stairs held tomes of the Foxglove family history as well as a few religious texts.

The last entry was made by Aldrin himself, sometime within the past year. He describes arriving at the house in order to prepare it for his fiance’, Iesha, who would be arriving soon.

The very first entry in the oldest book was dated 4620 and discusses the family’s search for a new home; and mentions that perhaps the “Brothers” would help.

To the south of the dining area was a large library with an extensive collection of books. Unfortunately most were suffering from damp, and had mildew growing on their spines and covers. Of more interest to us were the two chairs in the center of the room. One of the chairs lay on its side with a bright red silk scarf draped across it. The other faced the toppled chair, and between the two was a book on Varisian history. In the fireplace a stone bookend had been smashed.

As Kane entered the room he paused for a moment and turned very pale. He then described the vision, or memory that had enveloped him. He heard a woman’s scream and the scarf leaped through the air and around his throat. Suddenly Aldrin was before him, his face contorted in rage and his hands twisting the scarf tightly around Kane’s neck. And then the vision passed.

At the same time Avia had detected a cold, evil presence around Kane, but it too passed with the vision.

Kane left the room, clutching the scarf in his trembling hands.

[200] silk scarf (~100gp)

Rigel had discovered that the bookend in the fireplace, which was of the shape of a praying angel (sans one wing, which had broken off), had bits of bone, hair and blood smeared on one end.

Other than the impressive accumulation of books (albeit moldy), we found nothing more of interest.

A sitting room lay to the north of the dining area. A large sofa facing a stone fireplace with capering imps and birds carved into the mantel. The sofa was coated with a thick layer of white fungus, which we carefully avoided.

We pulled back the drapes, as we had done in the other rooms, to let in some light, and there before the fireplace, Rigel saw that the dust was churning about, as if invisible person were walking back and forth.

Avia said an evil presence was in the room as Trask bent down and set out caltrops in the path of our invisible host. The dust stopped moving, and at just that moment I heard a voice whisper, “Laurie.”

We decided to check out the door in the west wall when Trask became quite agitated and insisted that Rigel not open the door. He then demanded that she leave the house because it was not safe for her. “It is dangerous, and no daughter of mine…!” I cast Remove Fear upon Trask and he fell silent. After a moment he said he was concerned because he didn’t want “her” to go into the basement.

Another vision, or perhaps possession? Or maybe a warning.

The west door opened onto a hallway, and the first door on the right was a washroom, with a rusting metal tub set against the far wall. Something was scrabbling about in the tub: it was a hideous rat, half eaten away by some wasting disease, and its empty eye sockets rimmed with white fungus. Nolin put it out of its misery.

The next door off the hall was a conservatory, and a grand piano sat off to the side while a giant glass chandelier sat in ruins in the middle of the floor. The walls were paneled with rich dark wood, and frescoes of dancing figures decorated the lintels, but everything was coated with mold, and the floor boards of the dance floor were twisted and warped.

I pulled back the curtains and opened the double doors, which led back out to the drive along which we arrived. I then walked over to the piano and played a simple tune I was taught as a child back in Magnimar. While I am no musician, and my training on the piano was limited to one or two hours at the keyboard of the temple’s old upright, it was obvious that this ancient thing was in perfect tune!

We all then noticed that Kane was standing in the center of the room; his eyes vacant as he swayed from side to side. Suddenly he started and looked around at us as if trying to remember where he was.

As soon as I had begun to play on the piano he was swept into a dance with a beautiful woman. As they danced she changed as bruises formed on her pale neck, her eyes bulged and her lips turned blue. She then dropped to dust, leaving Kane back with the rest of us.

We made our way back through the small corridor and into the main hall and then across to the circular staircase, which we ascended.

The first room was obviously a child’s room, with a child sized bed, a toy box and a fireplace in the corner. The sound of a child crying wafted through the room, although I could not hear it.

The crying affected Avia, who hid in the fireplace as best she could and refused to speak to any of us. After a few moments she came out of the fireplace looking confused. She said thought she was Aldrin, frightened and running into the room to get away from his father, who had bulging eyes and a knife in one hand while chasing Aldrin’s mother about the house. His mother was also running around with a burning torch, trying to kill his father.

The room to the north had been a music room, with a few music stands scattered about and old harps, violins and flutes against the wall. The east wall was bowed, like the eastern end of the great hall below, and its windows were also of stained glass, depicting five scenes — one in each window.

• A pale ghostly scorpion
• A gaunt man holding our his arms while a dozen bats hung from them
• A moth with strange skull like patterns on its wings
• A tangle of dull green plants with bell shaped flowers
• A young maiden sitting astride a well while a spider the size of a
  dog descended from a large web

Kane noticed right away that they represented the following:

• scorpion venom
• bats wings
• death wing moth
• belladonna
• the heart of a maiden killed

Sabin commented that a lich based apthiousis was based on these ingredients.

Across the hall from the music room was a gallery of sorts. A stone fireplace crouched in the northwest corner, while cobweb covered portraits lined the north and south walls.

The north wall appeared to boast paintings from an older generation than those on the south, and on the frame beneath each painting was the name of the subject. The paintings on the north wall all appeared to have been painted at the same time in the same style (and no doubt by the same artists), just as those on the south, while different in age and style from those on the north, were done by one artist.

North wall portraits, from east to west:

1. Vorel Foxglove: a tall middle aged man, clean shaven with dark hair and blue noble clothes.

2. Kasanda Foxglove: a stern faced brunette with slightly graying hair, cut short, and wearing a blue dress.

3. Laurie Foxglove: a doe eyed little girl, much the same in the face as her mother, although less severe and stern.

South wall portraits, from east to west:

1. Trevor Foxglove: a tall and thin man with a narrow face and a long thin mustache.

2, Cyrlie Foxglove: a young woman with long red hair.

3. Aldrin Foxglove: a boy with the same foppish weak chin he sported as an adult.

4. Sendel Foxglove: a girl — obviously Aldrin’s sister.

5. Zeeva Foxglove: another sister.

Zeeva’s portrait was especially obscured with cobwebs, and when I brushed them aside the temperature in the room suddenly dropped, and our breaths came out as steamy puffs.

And with that all but two of the paintings underwent a change.

Vorel’s portrait turned to fungus, which spread about the room at a frightening rate, and, as we would soon learn, infested Nolin and Rigel with some sort of disease.

Kasanda and Laurie slumped into misshapen, tumor ridden forms.

A long cut opened in Trevor’s throat and blood washed down his chest.

Cyrlie blackened and charred and suddenly her arms, legs and back fractured in a dozen places.

Aldrin’s hair fell out as his face rotted and he transformed into a ghoul like creature.

Sendel and Zeeva remained unchanged, and we speculated that we had witnessed the end of each of the Foxglove family members as it had actually occurred. We assumed that Aldrin’s two sisters remained alive and well in Magnimar.

Moments later the room returned to as it was before, but the air was still heavy with the powdery mold that sprang from Vorel’s painting, which left us with little doubt that what we had experienced was real and not an illusion.

Nolin and Rigel both claimed that they had red spots on their arms, but the rest of us could not see them, nor could they see one another’s. We had them draw with ink where the spots were, and saw that both formed similar patterns.

Curing of diseases is currently beyond my skill, and we resolved to quickly explore the rest of the house and perhaps return to Sandpoint on the next day to seek a cure.

West of the gallery was a large bedroom, dusty and unkempt. A desk was set under the north window with a dark stain on its surface. Oddly enough there was no mold in this room.

I looked through the desk, hoping to find some document or clue about what happened here. Suddenly I became aware of a dagger and I picked it up and held it to my throat. I had just killed her! The woman I loved most in the world, and without her, what point was there in living? No. Wait. That wasn’t me, but I found that I had picked up a large sharp splinter of wood.

The papers in the desk indicate that it was Trevor’s room, and from the mental image I had just had and his painting’s transformation we deduced that Trevor burned his wife and threw her out a window onto the rocks below, and then returned to his bedroom where he slit his own throat.

Next we went to the far northeast bedroom — perhaps a guest room — caked with a thick layer of spongy dark green and blue mold. In here we heard a ghostly child’s voice ask, “What’s on your face mommy?”

Sabin started to claw at his face, and we had to restrain him until the fit left him. Poor Kasanda and Laurie ended this way. We carefully backed out from the room.

The washroom was off the north wall, with an iron tub perched upon a floor, sagging beneath its weight.

In the northwest corner was a large bedroom. The bed had been smashed and the mattress slashed, along with the walls and paintings. One painting was still intact, but turned around such that it faced the wall.

A voice shrieked high and piercing, “What do you do down in the damp below?!”

Rigel staggered about and then charged at Avia, screaming! Avia simply held her away with one arm until the evil mood passed.

I turned the painting around to reveal a portrait of Iesha Foxglove, wife of Aldrin, whom he murdered in a fit of rage.

We estimated that the damage done to the room was recent — within the past few months. And so it seems that each generation that lived in this house was destined for some great tragedy… or evil.

A door next to the bedroom led up a flight of stairs to the attic.

The first room was a work-room, with large holes in the roof and pots and urns strategically placed to catch the rain. Woodworking and carpentry tools line the shelves and rest on the work table.

The next four rooms were simple storage rooms holding furniture, bedding and all manner of household goods and supplies.

The southeast corner held a small bedroom and had a low ceiling slanting down to the east. From this room we heard a shriek from the north, and we ran out and over to a door at the end of the hall.

Rigel and Kane fumbled with the lock and Avia burst inside. It was a cold and damp bedroom, with a mold encrusted chimney in one corner and a mirror leaning up against the slimed bricks. There, huddled on the floor and wrapped in a sheet was a woman rocking back and forth and staring at the mirror.

It was Iesha. That is, it was at one time Iesha, although what it was now we were not sure. Avia said she was evil. No real surprise there.

Avia broke the mirror, and then the Iesha thing screamed out, “Aldrin, I can smell your fear! You’ll be in my arms soon.”

Someone suggested letting her go and then following her to find Aldrin (and perhaps provide an unlikely ally in the ensuing, but inevitable conflict), but we had stood in her/its way for too long and it was grasping at us. It had got a hold of Nolin and squeezed him with almost bone crushing strength.

We killed it, and if there was any part of Iesha still present, we ended her misery. The body rapidly decomposed as it lay there, and we covered the remains of the remains with a sheet.

Across the narrow hall from Iesha’s place was a locked door, and beyond the door was an interesting room filled with books, skulls with candles, scroll cases, statues, an empty birdcage, tribal fetishes and other odd but interesting paraphernalia.

A small desk stood squat before a fine leather chair, and as I sat I was overwhelmed with the sound of book pages rapidly turning, and my thoughts turned with excitement over planned expeditions and sea voyages to far away and exotic lands. But these were just pipe dreams now: all forsaken and lost because I had to settle down and marry that harpie!

Hmm, yes, well now I do hate it when that happens.

Two of the scroll cases held magical scrolls:

[201] scroll of lightening bolt
[202] scroll of keen edge

The books were all of tribal cultures, and the Ashanti tribes. A painting of a bull fight hung on the wall caught our eyes as being of high quality.

The final room was over the music room, which itself was over the dining area of the main hall, and this room shared the same bowed alcove and stain glass windows of its fellows. A desk and chair sat in the middle of the room.

• Northern window: a dark haired woman with pale skin and large green eyes, wearing red and black clothing and wielding a jagged iron staff.

• Southern window: the bottom has been broken and the hole covered by canvas, but in the top half we saw a handsome man wearing an ivory and jade crown.

The frame around the broken part of the window was burned, as if something (or someone) was set alight and pushed through.

On the desk was a battered telescope, and in the ceiling above was a trap door, secured by a series of ropes and pulleys. Nolin managed to get the contraption working and we climbed up and out onto the roof. It was late in the day and the sun was close to setting.

We climbed back down from the roof, and then down to the main hall on the ground floor. There we decided it would be prudent to walk the three miles back to the Lost Coast Road to make camp.

Once outside we noticed that in the clearing that had once housed the out buildings for the manor a vast flock of black birds or ravens had roosted. Only these birds had glowing red eyes, and they followed our every move.

Anytime we tried to walk away from the house they would drive us back.

We debated trying various tactics and spells to escape, but decided instead to conserve our magics in case we could not get away and had to camp here anyway.

We set camp between the main hall entry and the ballroom entry, beneath the bare limbs of a twisted tree. We expect trouble overnight, and despite the watch, sleep does not come easy.

== Oathday, Neth 14, 4707; The Misgivings, Morning ==

The night passed quietly and uneventful, if you can call having thousands of beady red glowing eyes staring at you uneventful.

Nolin and Rigel do not look good, and now everyone can see the angry red sores that have erupted from their skin. Kane and I used our healing skills to help as much as possible, but I fear we must escape this place and return to Sandpoint for any hope of a cure.

And apparently the only way to escape is to confront what awaits us in the basement. We’re fairly certain we will find Aldrin, or more precisely what Aldrin has become. No doubt this trap was of his creation, but he may have underestimated our abilities, or so we hope.

We scrambled down the regular stairs, leaving the mold stairway and the magical mystery monkey head as a last resort.

A kitchen. We were not expecting a kitchen, complete with table and fireplace.

The table top was covered with mold (imagine) and rat droppings (disgusting).

Disturbingly large and wide cracks, a foot wide each gape from the southwest wall. Kane has volunteered to go in if we run out of options.

As we explored the area the sound of chattering rats came from the cracks, but with some oil and a little fire we kept the diseased rodents at bay.

A door in the north end of the east wall opened onto a large room with bunks and a chair, but very little dust.

To the west a door opened onto a pantry and the rats. We quickly slammed the door shut before any could squeak through.

Next to the pantry was a door to wine cellar, filled with racks and broken bottles.

A door in the south end of the east wall opened onto a hallway, which turned north and ended in a locked iron door. Rigel and Kane worked hard to pick the lock, and when it opened we found ourselves in a chamber beneath the dining area above.

Of course the east end was bowed, and held two stained glass windows.

Sabin thought this was an arcane workshop at one time, and there is a work bench in the center of the room with three iron bird cages set upon it. In each cage is a diseased rat corpse.

It is too dark to see the images in the stained glass, and I will need to hold a brighter light source near them to see what they portray.

There are no other exists from this room than the way we came in, and now we are deciding what to do next.

Searching for secret doors is high on the list of priorities, but I fear we will need to tread the fiendish ways of a more ethereal stairway to find where Aldrin awaits us.

Postscript:

I have just completed a sketch of the basement floorplan, and noticed that we have not found a way into the area beneath the mold stairway.

== Toilday, Neth 12, 4707; Hambly Farm, Night ==

The night passed with nothing untoward occurring at Ibor Thorn’s place, which was almost disappointing in that it resulted in no new information about the recent murders.

The sheriff had mentioned a scholar camped out at the Old Light who might be able to provide insight in the sihedron rune carved into the victims’ chests. There was also the mad man found wondering near the first murder site, and he was at the Saintly Haven of Respite, an asylum south of town.

We took leave from Prickleback Lane as Ibor left for the lumber mill and made our way to the ancient ruins which the locals called the “Old Light.” There in the midst of the rubble was a small camp, composed of a single tent, a fire ring, various crates containing tools and quite a few provisions. It looked quite comfortable, although I fear our arrival startled the scholar, who was softly snoring within his tent — no doubt recovering from the previous days’ toil… or the bottle of rum that lay empty just outside.

Our mysterious scholar proved to be Quink, the head of the Sages’ Guild, with whom we had an established business relationship. Quink was delighted at having visitors, and assumed we had come to talk about the ancient Thassilonian ruins. He quickly launched into his pet theory about them: conventional wisdom suggested that the Old Light was a beacon that warned away ships from the rocky shore, but Quink was sure it had been a massive flame thrower used to repel invading forces from the sea.

We mentioned the carving of the sihedron rune on the victims’ bodies, but he was unaware of any significance such a desecration would hold. He explained that originally the symbol represented the Seven Virtues, and only during the declining years of the Empire was it subverted to the Seven Sins.

When we mentioned that Aldern Foxglove was missing, Quink said that misfortune appeared to follow that family. Foxglove Manor, on the Lost Coast Road to the south of Sandpoint, was built before the city was founded, and the Foxglove family was wealthy and prominent, and remained so until the “Late Unpleasantness.”

Aldern’s mother was found dead on the rocks beneath the cliff upon which the manor perched, and his father apparently took his own life in an outbuilding nearby. The children, Aldern and his sisters, were found hiding within the house and were taken to Magnimar to be raised. The Manor has been called “The Misgivings” ever since.

Noting that Foxglove Manor and the asylum were in the same general area we left Quink to his research and began our journey south along the Lost Coast Road.

The grey funk that had enveloped Sandpoint over the past few days lifted and our journey south became a pleasant walk through wood, rolling hills and quaint farm-steads. before long a small sign directed us onto a narrow lane that wandered about the foot of a green mound and ended in a meadow beneath the eves of a forest.

Sitting in the meadow was the Saintly Haven of Respite, a large three story building of stone. At first glance the building could have been mistaken for a large manor house for the nearby farm lands, but closer inspection gave lie to the illusion. A few grimy windows peered out from the main floor, but the upper levels were blank walls; and the single heavy, iron bound wooden door made the place feel more like a prison than a hospital.

We knocked and waited. And waited until we knocked again. Presently the door creaked open a few inches and a dirty, pinched face man peered out and demanded to know what we wanted. We explained that we were here to see Graist, the lunatic from the first murder site. The man’s face twisted into a scowl and he replied that the doctor did not wish to be disturbed, and we would do well to be off.

Immediately we became suspicious and my friends fanned out around the building as I informed the unhelpful servant that we were here on official business of Sheriff Hemlock, and they would do well not to obstruct our investigation. He burped and wiped his face with a filthy calloused hand before opening the door and telling us to wait in the office while he fetched the doctor.

Naturally we did not sit passively but explored the first floor, but saw nothing untoward. The doctor appeared and while cleaner than his henchman, was no more polite nor any more helpful. He introduced himself as Erin Habe and said his patient was far too ill for visitors. We persisted and he granted a few of us a brief visit with the invalid.

Sabin, Avia and I followed the doctor up a flight of stairs to a large dim hallway with many narrow doors lining either side, and then across and up another flight to the top level.

There, huddled in the corner of a small room was a pale, gangrenous looking fellow bound in a straight jacket. He was sobbing and his greasy hair stuck out wildly like the straw in a scarecrow.

We could make out snatches of what he was muttering, over and over, “Razors! Teeth! Too many teeth?”

Sabin used a mind reading spell and picked up thoughts of being bound and forced to watch the carving of the bodies. He also picked out a name, the “Skinsaw Man”, as the identity of who or what had done this.

Graist suddenly realized he had visitors, and he quickly gazed first at Sabin and then I with a puzzled expression, but when his glance fell to Avia his eyes practically bulged from their sockets.

“You would come,” he raved, “He saved a space for you! You come to the misgivings and he will end the killings.”

The madman was filled with rage from what look to be unbridled jealousy over the thought of Avia and… the Skinsaw Man. He suddenly dropped to the floor writhing in agony as he screamed, “Me! Me! It should have been me!”

He then burst out of his straight jacket and lunged at Avia, but he was subdued before he could do any harm to us or himself. Doctor Habe confirmed what I had suspected: the man was in the final stages of “Ghoul Fever”. But his condition was curable, and I was puzzled at why Habe would allow anyone to suffer for so long when relief was half a day away in Sandpoint.

Meanwhile the rest of our group had taken up defensive positions outside the asylum (old habits die hard) when an old man came running up the lane, crying out something about scarecrows.

Rigel was able to calm him down and found that his name was Crump, and that he had just been by the Hambly farm where dire things were afoot. “People was dead, but they was still movin’, and eatin’ animals alive like what is unnatural. And some was hung up like scarecrows, and with the full moon tonight they’ll turn and he’ll be back!”

We had heard the commotion from inside, and came running out along with Habe, who knew Crump and said he wasn’t known for his flights of fancy. We could only assume the worse.

We first sent Trask to Sandpoint on horseback with the securely bound Graist in the hopes that Father Zantus would be able to cure him. Then Crump led us south, towards the Hambly farm where unnatural things awaited us.

Crump provided an informative narration about the lands through which we walked. For instance the nearby wood was “Whisper Wood, where gnomes and pixies play and lay traps for mortals foolish enough to go in. But the best land is right up agin them woods, and so that’s where the farms are.”

Fields of corn stretched away to the south, interlaced with paths and roads. According to Crump, scarecrows were set out about the fields, and some had come to life.

We made straight for the farm house and barn, where a scarecrow was perched outside on a post. The thing began to struggle wildly on its perch and sprang down, lurching towards us. Avia confirmed that it was evil, and we quickly dispatched it. It looked vaguely human, but with strongly ghoulish features.

Avia then detected half a dozen evil entities in the barn, and a single strong source of evil from the house. We silently barred the barn doors from the outside, and then rushed into the house from the front and side doors. A very large ghoul awaited within, and cried “Ghouls to me!” as we charged it.

We quickly killed the ghoul and found that it had a leather cord about its neck from which hung an iron key with an engraved symbol upon it: a flower surrounded by thorns. Avia recognized it as the Foxglove family herald.

[198] iron key on a cord with Foxglove family herald

On the floor, beside the ghoul, were the remains of a man with a seven sided star carved into his chest. A note next to the body read, “Take the fever into you, my love. It will be my first gift to you.”

Crump identified the body as having been farmer Hambly.

So was the ghoul with the key hung from its neck Foxglove, or was it his emissary and the key intended to go along with the message? At the time it seemed unclear, but now, as I pen this entry the latter seems far more likely.

Over at the barn there was a great deal of commotion as the ghouls we had trapped within banged against the doors to get out. We opened one of the doors and killed them one by one as they tumbled out.

Oddly enough the barn was built on top of old stone work that looked like the top of a giant helmed head.

We then set about the gruesome task of walking the roads through the fields and checking on each scarecrow. When we encountered ghouls we killed them.

On the way back to the house we found a small boy hiding in the fields, whom we put in the care of Crump, who was ready to head back to his farm now that the ghoul infestation was under control.

We returned to Hambly’s house where a search uncovered a small cash of gold coins in a strong box beneath the floor boards, and a key to the box on Hambly’s body. We kept them to return to his next of kin.

With dusk drawing nigh we set up camp in the farm yard.

I am spending the hours of my watch making this entry, as wolves howl from the nearby wood. It would be a tranquil scene, but for the mayhem and carnage of the past few days.

== Wealday, Neth 13, 4707; The Misgivings, Noon ==

In the morning we returned to the Lost Coast Road, where we met up with Trask who was returning from Sandpoint. We continued south and crossed the Foxglove River through covered bridge, where we turned west.

The way had once been a grand and stately avenue lined with trees on either side, but had been neglected an disused for decades. Weeds grew thick beneath the tangled half dead limbs of the trees, cutting off the view and making it feel stuffy, despite the cool weather.

Following the twisty road some three miles further we came upon the glowering hulk that was Foxglove Manor — it gave off both a sad and sinister air, and we realized why the locals all called it “The Misgivings.”

An irregular low tumble of stone was all that remained of the out-buildings that crouched in a clearing before the house. The drive led past this and up to the house itself: a tall and ungainly thing perched right at the edge of the cliff — as if it too meant to cast itself upon the rocky shore far below.

The grounds were on a narrow, high headland that jutted east into a crescent shaped bay that had cut back into the mainland. Thorny brambles choked the hanful of trees barely clinging to life, and the wind came in from the sea in a raging shriek, cold and bitter.

We searched the site of the service buildings first, but found nothing but scorched stone and bits of charred wood. A well sat at one end, and sickly looking ravens hopped about the place, staring at us with their beady black eyes, and occasionally objecting to our presence with croaking caws of reproach.

The house. That forlorn structure, crooked, sagging and neglected waited for us. And I mean just that: it felt as if the thing were alive and waiting for us, but whether with malice, benign intent, or total indifference I could not say.

We walked about it, peering into windows and trying to get a feel for the layout within. But the windows were clouded with grime and most were blocked by heavy curtains. On the east side the house crept to within inches of a precipitous drop of some 300 feet.

Looking at one another we realized we had nothing left to do but enter the house. Rigel did her usual checks for traps at the front doors and used the key to unlock them. The wooden floor stretched away from us into the gloom.

As we walked into the grand hallway Nolin said the place reeked strongly of burning wood, but nobody else noticed it, and a few moments later Nolin reported that the smell had gone. We all heard the creaking as the wind hammered on the house. And we all could smell the dank smell of mouldering wood and plaster.

The wide hallway ran the entire length of the house and a massive, rotting stuffed manticore faced the entrance. Large stone fireplaces lined this part of the hall, and heavy blue curtains covered the windows and gave the place a dusky feel. The lintels over the doors boasted freezes of gargoyles and angels, and a circular staircase wound tightly up and out of sight in the southern wall.

Avia said the place was evil. Not any particular part of the house, but the house itself, as if evil had soaked into the walls, floors and ceiling.

I wandered further in and past the stairway I found a door which opened into a drawing room. I pulled aside the curtain to let in some light when just for a moment I saw the likeness of a beautiful woman, face forlorn, reflected in the glass.

Back out in the middle section of the hall an antique monkey head was mounted on the wall, and a bell pull ran out from its gaping mouth. The floor was covered with a tattered rug, which barely concealed a large patch of mold. I pulled away the rug and revealed a large swirling pattern of blue, green and black mold growing in the floor boards.

Concentrating on the swirling pattern I realized that it depicted a spiral stair case leading down, with skulls and bones littering the steps. I quickly stepped back from the moldy image and warned my companions of what I saw.

I then opened the door in the southern wall to what looked like a closet and found regular stairs leading up. To the north a similar door opened to stairs leading down.

The eastern end of the hall bowed out like the prow of a ship. A large mahogany table with high back chairs filled this end, and another pair of fireplaces to the north and south lined the room. A great chandelier covered in dust and draped with cobwebs hung over the table.

The real interest of the hall, however, was the bank of stained glass windows in the eastern wall. Each depicted a stylized monster pouring out like smoke from a seven sided box with spiky runes. Looking closer we realized that the runes were necromantic and that the monsters were being pulled into the box, with snarling faces.

One window depicted a gnarled and tangled tree with a face.

The next an immense hooked beak bird with blue and gold plumage.

The next a winged centaur like creature with a lion’s body and a woman’s torso.

The last window showed a blue squid like creature with evil red eyes.

As we gazed at the windows my companions all heard the sound of sobbing coming from upstairs, but I heard nothing.

I found it odd that these intricate stained glass windows had been placed in the eastern wall: the wall that overlooked the bay and must provide an amazing view. And yet the Foxgloves chose to block out the view in favor of… well, some rather tacky glassware.

There are stairs to explore, both up and down, and more doors on this level to open; but we’ve taken a moment to think about what it is we came here for, and I have taken this opportunity to enter the morning’s events and review my entries from the past few days.

Postscript, or things we know and things we suspect:

• We suspect Aldrin Foxglove of being behind the murders in Sandpoint and the ghoul fever outbreak in the farmlands to the west of here. The key to the manor taken from the ghoul along with the accompanying note makes it seem obvious that either Foxglove is responsible, or someone wants us to think he is.
• Our presence is expected here at Foxglove Manor, and we should expect a trap.
• Recall the words of the lunatic Graist spoken to Avia: “You come to the MISGIVINGS and he will end the killings.”
• Also recall the name Sabin pulled from Graist’s mind: Skinsaw Man.
• If this is how Foxglove Manor was built, then they were odd people when they arrived here some 80 years ago.

Toilday, Neth 5, 4707; Thistlestop, Evening

And so our adventures at Thistlestop have come to an end at last, or will by morning when we take leave of this place.

Shortly after our noon break we conducted a final thorough search of the lower levels and found no more than what our previous efforts revealed.

This left only the natural cavern to explore with its cephalopodic resident.

The first thing we discovered was that the squid-man beast’s chambers stank. After overcoming a wave of nausea from the noisome air we next noticed that the floor of the cavern, although uneven and natural, were worn smooth, as if this creature or members of its brood had shuffled about down here for countless years, polishing the rock with their flappy feet.

To the south was a room used by the goblins and Nualia’s ilk for disposing of refuse.

To the west a large cave that opened onto the bay below through a screen of brush and thistle (what else?).

To the north was another chamber, and the source of the horrific smell that filled these caverns. It was within; passively waiting.

We made a little noise in the cave and withdrew as the squid thing shambled down to investigate. As it hovered near the cave opening above the bay — though whether it paused trying to discern the source of the noise, was lost in thought over its lot in life, or because it simply forgot why it had moved in the first place I cannot say — Avia and I crept into the north chamber, gagging as the fetid odor enveloped us.

There, lying in a large heap on the floor were many dozens of bodies in various states of decomposition. Birds, small woodland animals, goblins and various other unidentifiable bits and bobs of flesh.

Some of the bodies were quite recent additions, and I managed to rescue a few items of potential use (or value) from their former owners.

[198] masterwork dog skin armor (small)
[199] masterwork short bow

After a quick search for secret doors we retreated back to the entry and closed the door behind us.

The squid-man creature was not evil, and it or its kind had been living there for generations. Furthermore it served as an effective guard against unwanted entry via the cave opening to the west. We left it there, and I gave a silent prayer that it would remain there unmolested, living as it had for so long.

On the way back up to the goblin fortress we stopped and looked once more at the goblin drawing depicting a goblin-giant beneath Thistlestop. What it actually meant or represented we will probably never know.

We have set up camp in the fortress after gathering the items to take back to Sandpoint tomorrow. Sabin will use a spell to create magically floating disks to carry the heavier items, which will save us the time, trouble and expense of going back to town to hire a horse and cart.

Wealday, Neth 6, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

We are back in Sandpoint. I must admit a certain fondness for this village, huddled quaintly on the promontory above the mouth of the Turandarok River.

The sun was shining brightly when we arrived, slanting down at its morning angle, glancing off the shingled roofs and casting beams of bright and dark in the dusty air between the buildings.

The salt smell from the Varisian Gulf mixes with the vegetative smell of river bottom and is spiced with the tang of fish from the docks along the harbor; thus giving the city an interesting, but not at all unpleasant aroma that is uniquely Sandpoint.

The townsfolk were already out and making headway against the day’s toil. But even then most had a friendly word or polite nod for us as we came in through the north gate and entered the city.

I had lived near or in Magnimar for all of my life, and while I was comfortably familiar with life in the big city, I never felt I was at home anywhere until I came here.

While the rest of our team proceeded to the Rusty Dragon with our loot, Sabin, Kane and I took the gold plated giant helmet up Tower Street to the Sage’s Guild.

Master Quink was fascinated with the helmet and the tale of our explorations at Thistlestop, but he remained skeptical about there being actual Runelord ruins beneath. “After all,” he reasoned, “these ancient Runelord dwellings have been lost for centuries, and now you claim to have found two within as many months?”

We have arranged to take them on a trip to Thistlestop tomorrow so they can see for themselves what lies beneath.

We also broached the topic of the well of power in the ruins beneath Sandpoint. According to Nualia’s notes these can be used for great evil as long as they are active, and so we expressed our concern about this to Quink, offering our services for removing the threat. He was receptive, and we will work out the details when we return tomorrow.

Trask spent much of his day making the rounds to his usual social haunts. For some unfathomable reason he was looking for Lord Foxglove, the dandified local whom we rescued during the first goblin invasion. He had seemed infatuated with our group, badgering us attend one of his hunting trips, and when that failed to pique our interest begging us to let him come on one of our exploratory trips.

Most of us tried to avoid him when in town, and so it came as a surprise when Trask returned to the Rusty Dragon this evening with news that Foxglove had been missing for the better part of a week.

Apparently he had left quite a few debts about town, but the only surprising thing about this piece of news was that anyone was foolish enough to extend him credit in the first place.

On an unrelated note, I have been wondering and worrying about the reason for Sedjewick leaving with Shalelu for Magnimar. An undead uprising sounded ominous, and so I posted a letter to father Tyrion asking if he has heard any news of such goings on.

Perhaps I will be able to sleep well tonight.

Oathday, Neth 7, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

The morning dawned chill, overcast and misty, and I dreaded the damp dreary trudge with the Quink and his colleagues to Thistlestop that awaited me. But my misfortune turned to fortune as we approached Thistlestop from the beach just as the mist cleared to reveal the island as if it were floating upon a cloud.

I heard the gasps of surprise and delight from the sages and knew they were sold.

During the tour of the Runelord complex they ran giddily about, talking in loud excited voices like school boys.

I took great care to explain the squid creature’s presence and how it was an asset to be appreciated and treasured rather than a liability to be remedied.

By the time we returned to Sandpoint we had agreed upon a fee of 1,000 gp for Thistlestop plus another 150 gp for the giant helmet. We included the Thassilonian scrolls and books from Nualia’s lair with the understanding that we could access them when needed.

The Sandpoint Sage’s Guild is well on the way to being an important and central resource and authority on Runelords, and I am delighted to have had a hand in that.

Those of our party who had not made the return trek to Thistlestop had not been idle in Sandpoint, and the excess items we had collected were sold for a tidy profit, which netted each of us 375 gp. We have maintained our tradition of giving an equal share to a “group fund”, which now has a balance of 389 gp. I find myself with a staggering balance of around 400 gp, even after tithing a share at the cathedral.

My friends had also updated Mayor Deverin and Father Zantus on our finds at Thistlestop. Father Zantus asked to be present when we deactivate the well beneath Sandpoint, and the mayor invited us to attend the upcoming Moonday Festival as guests of honor.

Fireday, Neth 8, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

A tiring but productive day.

We returned to the temple beneath Sandpoint and, using a few drops of blood from my hand, summoned sins-pawn from the well until its evil red glow faded and then winked out altogether.

Three times we summoned and destroyed one of those hateful creatures as Father Zantus and Master Quink looked on from the far end of the room.

We left the well dark, grey and inactive.

Starday, Neth 9, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

Spent most of the day resting and puttering about Sandpoint.

I stopped by the old Glass-works, but the doors were locked, and there was no obvious sign of recent activity.

I walked through Wet Dog Alley on the way down to the harbor. There was a funny smell here I could not quite place, and while it was not particularly offensive, it was also not particularly pleasant.

Foxglove is still missing. Some of us are concerned, while others merely curious.

Sunday, Neth 10, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

I spent most of the day working at the cathedral, while outside the sun failed to make her presence known on the day named in her honor.

The noon service was disrupted by one of the local down and outs who had changed the copper pieces he had begged earlier to wine, or something stronger, before staggering in to get out of the cold and damp. Usually these sorts of visits are both tolerated and even encouraged, but this worthy decided to relieve himself in the hall.

I feel restless. Obviously the sedentary life is not for me.

The Moonday Festival is tomorrow at noon.

Moonday, Neth 11, 4707; Sandpoint, Night

The day began well with the arrival of a letter from Father Tyrion saying that there was no need to worry about any undead problems in Magnimar. He was glad to read that I was making myself of use around Sandpoint and sent his warmest regards to Father Zantus, which I passed on.

The Moonday Festival was a pleasant diversion, with the mayor and other local dignitaries speaking about the bright future waiting for Sandpoint. The food was tasty and plentiful and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves.

Everyone except for Sheriff Hemlock, who glared at us through the entire proceedings with a perpetual from upon his face.

Intrigued I asked him what was afoot, but he quickly whispered, “Not here and not now. Later — in my office.”

Later, in his office, Hemlock revealed grim news. There was a pair of grizzly murders at the lumber mill the previous night. One of the victims had been mutilated in a particular way; and two nights earlier three other victims had been discovered at a nearby farm, each mutilated in the same way.

He thought the murderer was known to us, and was hoping we could help with the investigation. Hemlock then handed over a note, splattered with blood, with Avia’s name written upon it (in blood). The note read thus:

You will learn to love me, desire me as SHE did.
Give yourself to the Pack and it shall all end.

Your Lordship

That we were surprised is an understatement, and oddly enough my first thought was, “So that’s what Foxglove has been up to.”

We first followed Hemlock to where the corpses from the first murder were kept.

These bodies had been found by the town patrol when a crazed man, screaming and laughing, ran by them and into a barn where the corpses lay.

The crazed man was a local thug, but his days of being a ruffian for hire are over, and he has been sent away to an asylum.

The three victims were all local con men, and had all been slashed with what must have been a five fingered claw. On each of their chests was carved the shape of a seven pointed star.

At the lumber mill the two victims were Harker, who was comanager of the mill, and a local young woman, named Katrine. of the two, Harker’s body was mutilated in the same way as the other victims, while Katrine had been thrown into the giant circular blade of the log splitter while it was still running.

Harker’s partner, Ibor Thorn, who had discovered the two bodies, was in custody on suspicion of murder. Katrine’s father was also in custody, but mostly for protective reasons as he was insane with anger and grief.

Some of us had actually met Katrine and her father just after the first goblin raid. She had shown herself to be more than a little over sexed and uninhibited; a trait ignored by her father, who assumed anyone who came near Katrine was after her virtue, which even then seemed likely to be a commodity already well consumed.

From the evidence at murder scene we deduced that someone (or thing) had crawled up out from the river and left muddy prints (they appeared to be bare human feet) and broken into the offices on the second floor of the lumber mill, and from there tracked down and attacked Harker.

Katrine and Harker had been seeing one another at the mill in the evenings to hide their affair from her father. She came upon Harker and his assailant and had taken an axe to who or whatever it was. The price for her bravery was her death.

The attacker finished his job with Harker and then hung him from a hook on the wall.

The scene of the murders reeked of rotting flesh (the barn where the first murders occurred was said to have held the same stench), which made us suspect something unnatural was at work. Most of the yard had been splattered with sticky, red blood — fortunately it was cold and the flies had not yet descended in droves to feast upon the gore.

Trask went to the garrison to question Thorn while I searched Harker’s place for evidence. Thorn was angry and unwilling to speak, and at Harker’s I found only love letters from Katrine.

I also checked out Thorn’s residence, and as I was leaving I came upon Thorn himself who had just been released. I commiserated with him about the injustice of the legal system and offered him a drink and dinner, over which we talked about the mill in general and Harker in particular.

Thorn confirmed what we already knew about the couple being an item, and that they would regularly meet at night at the mill. The mill was owned by the Scarnetti family, an infamous name with which we were already familiar, but for the time being he was unwilling to say more.

I then took Thorn to the Rusty Dragon, where we were seated in a private dining room. After consuming much brandy Thorn confessed that Harker had been cooking the books at the mill, and that he, Thorn, knew trouble would come of it. The Scarnetti family would never allow such a thing to go unnoticed or unpunished.

Thorn thought the Scarnetti’s knew that Harker was acting upon his own and wouldn’t take action against him, but he was obviously nervous and seemed to be trying to convince himself that this was the case rather than stating it as fact.

As Thorn progressed through the brandy my fellow team mates showed up, and we discussed what we had each found, and tried to make sense of it all.

That something unnatural and possibly undead was haunting Sandpoint seemed obvious.

That this thing was operating under the orders of the Scarnetti family seemed plausible. Those con men could have tried to take in the Scarnetti’s in some sort of scam, and of course Harker was cheating them. But then how does the seven pointed star carved into the murder victim’s chest fit in? That image is an obvious Runelord symbol, but were they put there as a distraction?

The connection to Avia was more disturbing, and I fear my original impulse to blame Foxglove may prove to be correct. But the Foxglove we knew was not capable of such acts, and so we suspect something has happened to him or done to him to change him into some sort of monster.

Tonight we are keeping watch at Thorn’s place while he sleeps. I almost hope that the creature comes for him in the night so that we may have some answers.

The clouds are out, but thining, and the moon brightly illuminates them from behind, and casts the entire town in a feeble diffuse yellow light.

This is a most disturbing ending to a Moonday.

Sunday, Lamashan 27, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

It has been more than a fortnight since our return to Sandpoint. We were fortunate in that the proceeds from selling the loot we recovered thus far at Thistlestop were more than enough for all of us to train and purchase equipment and supplies.

We’re all quite busy with training and preparations for a return to Thistlestop. All of us that is except for Sedjewick.

Earlier tonight Sedjewick met with us at The Rusty Dragon and announced he was leaving south for Magnimar. In fact he would be accompanying the ranger Shalelu, who was heading down to investigate rumors of some sort of undead uprising within that ancient city. Sedjewick seemed quite enthusiastic about the journey, and exceptionally excited to be traveling with Shalelu. Rigel seemed oddly put off by this entire chain of events.

We felt compelled to join them on this trek to ensure that any infestation of undead was exterminated, but our first priority was to complete the exploration of Thistlestop. And so it was with a heavy heart we bid farewell to Sedjewick, our trusty bard.

Master Foxglove, the stylish young man we rescued from the initial goblin invasion weeks ago, has begun to hang around our group and asking to be taken along on one of our quests. I am afraid he little realizes the perils of our activities, and his death would seem the most likely outcome if his wish were granted.

Yesterday I purchased a scimitar from the local smithy. It is a fine weapon, and of much better quality than the old second hand model I have been using. Tomorrow I resume my training and hope to improve my fighting techniques with my new and improved blade.

Saturday, Neth 2, 4707; Sandpoint, Evening

We’ve purchased additional healing potions and are set to return to Thistlestop in the morning.

Sunday, Neth 3, 4707; Thistlestop, Evening

The trip back to Thistlestop was uneventful.

We carefully scouted the mainland encampment and found signs that goblins had indeed been there while we were away. There were goblin corpses from a tribe we could not identify, but they were already rotting and there was no sign of recent activity.

I do wonder about those goblin bodies, and if we have created some sort of goblin power vacuum that will increase the conflicts among the local tribes. One can hope.

Nolin and Kane climbed up to the top of Thistlestop and cast over a rope to the rest of us waiting at the cliff’s edge. We then pulled the rope bridge over and made it secure.

Once back on Thistlestop we searched for signs that anyone had been on the island, but found nothing. Kane climbed over the fortress wall and opened the gate for the rest of us to enter.

We decided to leave the rope bridge intact even though we knew it would no doubt encourage visitors of the goblin kind while we were within, but we did bar the fortress gates closed behind us.

Our first order of business was to explore the chamber we had missed last time. I had discovered this omission after we had returned to Sandpoint where I updated my journal and looked over the maps and sketches I had made of where we’d been.

Sabin and I spent a little time magically washing out the goblin latrine, which was next to the chamber, and indeed behind the privy itself Rigel found a secret door that opened into a small dusty room. A very large sea chest with a heavy lock invitingly lay on the floor.

Rigel picked the lock and managed to avoid a poison blade trap and we moved the chest into the nearby conference room.

The chest was heavy, and contained a fair amount of coins and a number of valuable items.

7432 copper pieces
2490 silver pieces
89 gold pieces
3 platinum pieces

While it might take some effort to get the coinage back to Sandpoint, the total value of the coinage was still a respectable 442gp, 3sp and 2cp.

[183] leather pouch with 34 flawed malachites [~1gp each] (Rigel)
[184] medium chain-mail shirt (Nolin)
[185] medium masterwork scimitar (Olithar)
[186] masterwork manacles (Rigel)
[187] gold holy symbol of Sarenrae (Avia)
[188] jade necklace (Rigel)
[189] fine blue silk gown with silver trim (Avia)

The scimitar was as good as the one I had just recently purchased, and it is indeed a pity we did not find this treasure earlier.

It took most of the afternoon to sort through the items in the chest, after which we stored it back in the secret chamber.

We’ve set up camp in Ripnugget’s old throne room.

Moonday, Neth 4, 4707; Thistlestop, Morning

The night passed without event… sort of. I had a very disturbing dream from which I awakened suddenly and found that I was breathing hard and my heart was racing. I remember hearing a voice from way down deep below saying, “The Whisperer shall have vengeance!”

Most peculiar. Typically dreams don’t bother me, but this one gave me the creeps. And who or what might a “whisperer” be?

Moonday, Neth 4, 4707; Thistlestop, Afternoon

We spent the early morning hours in the level below the fort, making sure nothing had crept in (or out) in our absence. We then descended to the lower level and proceeded to the chamber where Avia had detected evil.

I used a Detect Undead spell to find three entities of moderate power hiding in or behind the sarcophagi at the far end of the room.

We marched in and opened each sarcophagus as we slowly moved toward back of the room. There was naught but old bones and dust in these, but before we were half way across the room three humanoid shadows floated up and hovered above their sarcophagi.

We attacked, but with disastrous results. The lightest touch from these ghostly fiends weakened those of mortal flesh. Avia, Kane and Sabin all felt their strength ebb before we managed to destroy the shadows.

I had some restorative magic memorized, and I was able to restore Sabin’s strength with two Lesser Restoration spells. The others will have to wait for tomorrow, or even the day after for full restoration.

While exploring the remaining sarcophagi Rigel noted their asymmetrical placement, and discovered a secret door on the west wall. Beyond it was a narrow corridor that branched to the north before turning north itself.

Rigel, Trask, Nolin and I crept in and found that beyond both the branch and the turn were steps leading down. Each of the stairs ended in a door, and from behind each door we could here the soft sound of moving water.

The door at the far end of the corridor opened west into a flooded hallway that ran north, disappearing in a large dark pool of water.

The door at the end of the branch opened north into an empty room, the north- west corner of which had caved in, revealing a dark space beyond, and through which water had poured, flooding that part of the room.

The walls of this room had been carved to depict a treasury filled with coins and gems, while the right wall had a carving of a mountain. Upon the mountain’s peak was a stern face, and at the mountain’s foot was a city of many spires.

Rigel moved to the corner of the room and peered in through the wide crack and saw shiny objects glittering in her torch light, and a giant gold helmet that pivoted to face her. She quickly backed away.

I then crept down the flooded hallway and saw the submerged chamber where the huge helmet sat, partly below and partly above the water’s surface. It rotated around to face me.

I then plunged an ever-burning torch into the water, which lit up enough of the underwater scene that we could see that a large portion of this lower level had collapsed and tilted towards the west (the same as the statue lined hallway above). Part of the floor had given way and slid down into a natural cavern farther below.

There was no magic that we could detect within, and how the helmet moved to apparently track our presence puzzled us mightily.

Sabin can see in the dark, and so we covered our ever burning torches while he peered into the flooded chamber from the empty room. The helmet pivoted around to face him.

I moved a little closer to the helmet from the hall as Nolin did the same from the room. All of a sudden a pair of large crab-like claws snapped out from beneath the helmet and hit Nolin.

A massive crab must have taken up residence in the helmet like a hermit crab, but on a much grander scale. We struck back and between the physical blows and magical attacks (I used Heat Metal on the helmet to some useful affect) we managed to kill the giant crab and cook our dinner all in one fell swoop.

Using ropes and a lot of elbow grease we pulled the giant helmet out from the pool, and then extracted the crab meat. The helmet was an actual plated gold helmet, but made for a giant.

I remembered some bit I read before about how the Rune Lords had equipped giants in their wars, and realized this helmet must be a relic from that period.

We scoured the underwater room for valuables, and Sabin even swam down into the lower cavern to fetch a few gem stones we saw glistening below.

3537 silver pieces
645 gold pieces

This added another 995gp and 37sp worth of coins to our haul, but we also found some interesting objects as well.

[190] 40 precious stones [~10 gp each] (Olithar)
[191] jade amulet : +1 natural armor (???)
[192] helmet [giant] [~300 pounds]

We were quite disappointed that we did not find a seven rayed star to use as a key for the double doors in the hidden area of the complex. We decided to rest for the evening, restore what strength we could in the morning, and then search the two rooms we had only briefly looked at last time.

We’ve made an early camp down here and set up the watch. I hope I don’t have any more peculiar dreams tonight.

Toilday, Neth 5, 4707; Thistlestop, Noon

We returned to the area hidden behind the column of gold coins.

Our first stop was the “king room”, where we had seen the ghostly image of an ancient Rune Lord giving a fragment of a speech over and over again. We found nothing new here.

The laboratory was a different story. Looking more closely at the tables and their contents we found a gruesome collection of bones that gave the appearance that someone was trying to graft parts of one creature (or person) onto another. It brought back memories of the disfigured skeletons we found in the cells beneath Sandpoint.

On one of the tables was a collection of surgical tools, and beneath these was a silver and gold seven rayed star. We had found the key to the mysterious double doors!

[193] surgical tools (Sabin)
[194] silver and gold seven rayed star with knobs and blades (Kane)

Out at the doors Kane used the key and the doors opened into the room as a blast of hot, humid air enveloped us.

In the middle of the room was a fire pit ten foot long and five wide, and on either side was a wooden bench upon which candles brightly glowed. On the far wall was engraved a huge seven rayed star. The entire room radiated magic.

Avia detected a strong presence of evil in the southeast corner as we filed into the room and arrayed ourselves for battle.

Avia charged in and slashed at some invisible foe just as it became visible.

It was a large wolfish looking creature with primate like arms and hands. It growled something evil sounding — Sabin later said it spoke in Abyssal, and said “I will devour you!”

It was a strong creature, and incredibly difficult to hit, or even when hit it appeared somehow resistant to injury. None the less we were many, strong, and undaunted and pressed our attack. Soon the creature blinked over to the other side of the room, and from then on winked in and out from sight as we hewed and hacked at it.

Eventually it simply vanished in a cloud of greasy black smoke.

Other than the candles and fire pit, there was not much of interest in this room until we found two secret alcoves. While one simply contained empty shelves, in the other we found a silver box filled with sand.

Carefully sifting through the sand we found a magic ring with a seven pointed star inscribed upon it. This ring proved to be able to generate a wall of +2 force shield that can be quickly and easily activated or deactivated.

[195] 30 ever burning candles (Olithar)
[196] silver box (Rigel)
[197] ring of +2 force shield [free action to activate/deactivate] (Trask?)

We must now decide what is left to do here.

And what of this room itself? What was its purpose? Is it now a simple benign location, or is there something more sinister to find here?

The part of the complex that houses the squid beast remains unexplored, and we would be remiss if we were to leave it so. Still, I’d rather not kill some harmless beast that happens to live there if that can be avoided.

And what about the bizarre drawing of a huge goblin beneath the island of Thistlestop? We appear to have explored all of the way down to the sea level without finding any such chamber or creature — I wonder if a goblin had wandered down in years past and saw the giant helmet, and then embellished his report of the helmet with the tale of a suitably sized goblin to go with it.

Fireday, Lamashan 11, 4707; Thistlestop; evening

Sedjewick, Kane and Avia all spent time talking with our captured mercenary, during which time Trask and Sabin guarded the secret entry down, and the rest of us continued to explore this level.

The man’s name is Oric, and he was hired in Magnimar by Nualia to be her personal bodyguard. Oric had traveled with her as she searched ancient sites around the region, including the ruins beneath Sandpoint. He understood that Nualia was hell bent on revenge for some great wrongs done in her past, but exactly what those wrongs were or how her revenge would result in the slaughter of the innocents in Sandpoint he seemed to be oblivious.

Oric recounted how as time went by Nualia became more fanatical and driven than when he had first been hired, and that recently she had remained sequestered in the lower levels of the complex, where he was forbidden to go. He had effectively ceased to be her body guard and became more a regular guard who, along with the bug-bear, patrolled the first floor of the ancient works; a position that until our arrival had been mundane and superfluous because of the goblin fortress above.

Oric was extremely concerned about the location of the sorceress, Akenja; and apparently he and she had developed a relationship over the months they were confined together at this outpost. He was grateful that she had been spared and set free, but greatly troubled about her chances for survival on her own without her spell-book or armor.

Meanwhile Rigel and Nolin had developed a method for handling unopened doors: first Rigel would check for traps and locks, and then Nolin would open the door and enter. Sedjewick and I provided backup should anything aggressive or nasty await within.

Our first door was in the cathedral, and opened onto a short flight of stairs down that ended in a locked door. That door opened into a prison ward, with six empty cells lining the south wall, and torture devices, some showing signs of recent use, hanging from the walls or set upon tables.

A north door from the prison revealed another short hall, and another door, beyond which was a gruesome room with a bench and more hideous devices for torture laying upon a work bench. Sedjewick found a key in here, but what it unlocks we have yet to discover.

[162] key (Rigel)

East of the cells was a hall leading to the south room that Nolin had seen earlier in the day, and from which the bug-bear had come. Three doors lined the southern wall, and through the first was a quartet of female goblins, who alas showed no more concern for personal hygiene than their male counter parts.

We were deciding what to do with them when they shrieked and grabbed bows and arrows, and prepared to shoot us. I launched a Flaming Hands spell that incinerated one and severely burned a second, and Nolin stepped up and swiftly put the others out of their misery.

The further southern door opened into what must pass for a nursery among goblins. Shelves lines the walls, and cages were stacked upon the shelves. Within two cages were two goblin-imps. What shall we do with them? We closed the door for now and left them to the darkness.

The center southern door led to a hallway that turned west that ended in a door and had doors opening on either side. These proved to be the bedrooms for the non-goblin work force. Oric’s (north side) and the bug-bear’s bedrooms were first, followed by Tsuto’s (north side) and Kanja’s bedrooms. There were papers in Tsuto’s room, prattling on about how he would take over his father’s estate, and another ever-burning torch glowing in Kanja’s.

[163] ever-burning torch (Kane)

At the end was Nualia’s room behind a locked door. While her room was larger and more ornately furnished than the other four, we found nothing of use within.

We returned to Oric and the rest of the party, and then agreed to let him go with a weapon (the horse slicer), so he could find his beloved Kanja and escort her back to Sandpoint. We told him that if in two weeks’ time she went to the Sandpoint cathedral and ask for Kane, he would return her spell-book to her (after our magic users have had a chance to copy them) along with her puch of components.

Nolin and Kane escorted him to the bridge, and watched as he vanished into the brush.

Sedjewick and Sabin spent this time reading Kanja’s spells:

Level 0:
All available spells.

Level 1:
Comprehend Languages
Detect Secret Doors
Floating Disc (with the name “Tensor” scratched out)
Identify
Obscuring Mist
Sleep

Level 2:
Locate Object
Minor Image
See Invisibility
Spider Climb

Trask and Sabin then examined our newly acquired magic items:

[134] steel wand of Magic Missiles [38] (Trask)
[135] potion of Cure Light Wounds (Olithar)
[142] cloak of +1 resistance (Rigel)
[145] ever-burning torch (Sedjewick)
[152] potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (Sabin)
[153] +1 banded mail (Nolin)
[155] ever-burning torch (Olithar)
[156] potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (Nolin)
[161] 4 elf-bane arrows

We have decided to rest for the evening before tackling the secret door and the ominous stairway down into the dark unknown.

Rigel has spiked the secret door to prevent it from opening, and we have taken the adjacent “board room” for our sleeping quarters. Rigel and I have the first watch.

Fireday, Lamashan 11, 4707; Thistlestop; near midnight

Nolin and Kane had just started the second watch when a troop of goblins came down the “back stairs” from the fortress above. Another returning patrol of goblins had found the fortress deserted, and set themselves up as the occupants. An exploratory party was scouting out the rest of the complex when they stumbled upon us.

Kane and Nolin awoke the rest of us, and blocked the doorway, protecting the rest of us as we woke to the gibbering yelps of surprised (and outraged) goblins.

Kane warned them to be off or die, but goblins are not very good at logic, and the thought that whoever was down here must have already decimated an entire fortress full of their kind was lost on them.

While the fighters chopped down the invasion force, Trask and I slipped out the back door and quickly scanned the hallways and chamber for any incursion from above, but found it empty. Our search led us to the main stairs up, and from above I could hear the sound of combat. Trask swiftly ran back to notify the others that more goblins were in the fortress while I ran upstairs.

Nolin, Avia and the others had cut down all of their goblins, and after going up the back stairs to check on the war horse, they found more goblins above, shooting arrows at them from the two towers. They ran back into the fortress to find anf engage the enemy.

Fairly quickly the entire party was on hand — except for Trask, who remained on guard at the secret door much like a canary in a mine: if we came back to find him dead, we would know trouble was at hand — and the goblins from the towers and at the entrance were dead. From the throne room, however, we heard chanting and what sounded like a heated argument underway. Avia burst through a door with the rest of us following in her wake.

A goblin commando and chanter were at work readying a small squad of goblins for combat, but they had little time to respond to our entrance. Avia savagely slashed the chanter, while Nolin charged in and engaged a group of their fighters. From the south doors Sabin, Rigel, Kane and Trask attacked, while Sedjewick sang a tune that countered the goblin chanter’s harsh melody.

I stepped up to the commander to protect Avia’s and Nolin’s flanks, but felt ill equipped. I am not much of a fighter, and had not had a chance to put on my armor. Fortunately the commander was not as skilled as he appeared, and I gave better than I got in our exchange of blows before Avia stepped up and chopped him in two.

Soon the rest of our foes were dead, and we tossed all of their corpses off the cliff into the sea.

The enchanter had a potion which we confiscated before committing his mortal remains to the sea.

[164] potion of Cure Light Wounds (Kane)

We have returned to the board room and are preparing to resume our rest, with an additional watch (Rigel and I again) tacked on in the morning to ensure that everyone is fully rested and restored for the day ahead.

Starday, Lamashan 12, 4707; Thistlestop; mid morning

Though the morning light did not penetrate our underground lair, we could feel its blessing spread across the land above as we awoke, rested and ready for the challenges of the day ahead.

Sabin and Rigel were to chosen lead the party, because Sabin is fearless and can see in the dark, and Rigel has a very special way with doors and traps.

Down the stairs led, then around and back again to a stone door sitting slightly ajar. The door had been ornately carved with images of gem stones and crowns, but it had been defaced and marred by heavy hammer blows and chisel gouges.

Sabin peered into the darkness beyond to a large chamber with statues nestled in alcoves on either side and another door in the far wall. A closer look revealed that the entire room and floor was tilted back to the west: a tilt that extended through the door and into the hall from which we entered. This was not part of the chamber’s design, but rather the result of some great upheaval that had thrust up the east side of the room, causing the statues in their alcoves to fall over against their western walls.

The statues themselves were all the same, and of a robed man holding a book in one hand and a glave in another. But these statues, like the door, had been hacked and gouged such that few details remained.

Columns supported the ceiling, and the room glowed faintly with magic, like the residual magic of some spell long cast. The air in the room was unexpectedly fresh for such a confined space so far down, and we speculated that a spell had been used to make it so.

The east door was closed, but unlocked, and it too showed signs of a vicious attack. Sabin cracked the door open and light peeped out and around the door from the far side.

A hallway, with an alcove on either side in which were two statues, the same as those in the previous chamber, but these were not so damaged. The hall ended in a third alcove, where another statue perched, but this one had been hacked off above the mid section, although no sign remained of the top half. A lantern on the floor gave a soft and comforting light.

Opposing one another to the north and south were stone doors, each engraved in ancient Thassilonian with the words,

“The Great and Glorious Empire of Thassilonia, May We Always Defend Her”

Sabin had entered the hall, but noticed the floor just before him was a little more polished than the rest of the surrounding stone. Rigel stepped up and discovered that there was a pressure plate there, that if stepped upon would release a block of stone from above. She worked intently and disabled the trap, although it was more than a little disconcerting to watch her tumble past the pressure plate, as if she did not trust her own work.

After Rigel had declared the doors to the north and south un-trapped and unlocked, she returned to the entry room while Sabin, Nolin and I prepared to open the north door.

With the door opened, a vast circular room could be seen beyond, with a red marble ledge running around the circumference and a font of frothy water bubbling away in the back. The entire chamber was brightly lit by four brightly blazing skulls.

In the center of all stood a brooding figure figure of power and menace. Beautiful she was as a celestial maiden, and yet hideous too, like some perverted demonic spawn. Her hair was silver, and one hand clutched a large bastard sword, while the other was no hand at all, but a loathsome red claw that bespoke corruption.

And she turned, and she looked at us, and then she smiled an evil grin as if she had been aware of us all along and had in mind to play with us before putting us to some horrible end.

It was Nualia.

All of this passed before my mind in an instant, and then there was Nolin standing beside her and hacking at her with a mighty stroke of his two handed sword. She smiled no longer, and struck at Nolin fiercely, drawing blood.

I quickly launched a feeble cone of flame at her, which no doubt caused some minor damage, but this was a foe that I could not stand against exchanging blows.

Avia raced in from the hallway and was poised for a strike as Sabin launched his ax at her. And then, as Avia was about to smite Nualia, a hell hound appeared from the ledge and leaped down upon Avia, causing her grievous harm.

But Avia, Paladin of Sarenrae, was not to be distracted from her purpose, and she smote Nualia with a bitter righteous rage, and the evil she-hag momentarily staggered beneath the onslaught.

I became aware that Kane had entered battle, and in the distance I could hear the encouraging song of Sedjewick, and I then knew my part in this battle.

Often I have wondered just what my overall contribution to this party should be as we investigated the threat to Sandpoint, explored mysterious catacombs, and fought evil. And in those engagements I often joined with the fighters to more quickly overcome our enemies, or to heal those of us seriously injured so that they might continue the fight.

And certainly I shall continue to do these things as need arises, but now I could clearly see that my primary purpose was to bring the fierce holy light of Sarenrae to aid my fellows in just such a moment as this.

I stepped forward and with a touch to Nolin’s armor infused him with Protection from Evil.

As the battle continued, with the hound and Nualia wreaking terrible damage against Avia — I watched in horror as scars across Nualia’s mid section glowed when she struck Avia — and I enchanted Sabin’s ax, and then stepped over and healed Avia as she dealt a killing blow to Nualia.

The dog-beast was swiftly slain, and we were victorious!

Avia cut off Nualia’s head — you can never be too cautious when dealing with such beings — and we removed all of her possessions..

[165] breastplate (magic)
[166] bastard sword (magic)
[167] silver medallion of the sign of seven deadly sins (magic)
[168] masterwork composite long-bow
[169] 20 arrows
[170] gold holy symbol to Lamashtu (evil)

From the room we found a few other items of interest.

[171-1740] Four burning skulls (magic)
[175] holy texts to Lamashtu
[176] Nualia’s personal papers

The fountain was briefly examined and found to be instilled with a complex set of conjuration and divination magics.

Sedjewick perused Nualia’s personal notes and found they contained her history, as well as notes on the Rune Lord’s well of power beneath Sandpoint.

We already knew that Nualia had been born with Celestial blood, and as such she was constantly pestered and badgered by the townsfolk of Sandpoint.

She had made close friends with a stranger, “Deleck Visconta”, and the two of them explored the tunnel complex beneath Sandpoint to escape the notice of the people of the town. They became romantically involved, but when Nualia told Deleck that she was pregnant, he ridiculed her, and calling her a slut he stormed off, leaving her to face the shame alone.

Worse yet, Nualia’s unborn child had been conceived in the very chamber as the well of power — the only one known to be active — and her child was still-born as a monstrous deformed thing that the midwife took, burned and buried.

All of this twisted Nualia’s perception of her Celestial blessing and made her think it a curse. And so she ever sought a way to remove the taint from her blood and to seek vengeance on the town of Sandpoint and all of its people, whom she held responsible for her misfortunes.

Included in her notes were instructions for how to call sin spawn from the well of power. The well must be energized by a vengeful death within a mile of the it. A few drops of blood in the well will then summon the creature.

Nualia also recorded a warning to not summon too many sin spawns from the well without energizing it first, or the well would become inactive; and she knew not how to reactivate the wells.

It is likely that we have yet to find all of Nualia’s possessions: she must have had a store of gold or platinum pieces on hand she used to pay her staff.

And what of the “humans that dig for her” that Kanja had mentioned?

But for the present we had another unopened door to explore, and so Avia opened the door and we moved to the unusuall hall within. It was roughly “L” shaped, with the east half ending in an alcove with magic column of gold coins, and the south half ending in a pair of double stone doors.

The doors were carved with two skeletons holding a single skull between them.

I found a hollow behind the stack of coins, and two slots on either side of the stack, which appeared to be the perfect size for inserting real gold coins. The coins on the column appeared to be fused together (if they were indeed coins or even gold).

Kane and Rigel put a coin in each of the slots, and the column sunk into the floor, revealing a T shaped hall beyond.

Dust was thick and undisturbed on the floor of this hall, which had three sets of double doors.

Behind the northern doors was a throne room with a throne set upon a dais flanked by two statues, and a ghostly image of a robed man with a book in one hand and a glave in the other, and it repeated the same short speech over and over again to a long absent audience.

The speech appeared to be a command for his followers to remain through the dark times that had descended upon them, and that he, Karzoug, would ultimately triumph over the rival Rune Lord, Alaznut, who’s statue we had found in the catacombs beneath Sandpoint.

The east doors opened onto steps leading down to an oddly shaped oblong room with three work benches covered in bones (from more than one body), and various tools.

Upon the southern doors was carved the image of the seven pointed star, which was indented as if a matching key should be inserted here. An intricate collection of slots and indentations were within the star, indicating some complex key was required to open the doors.

We decided to leave the doors and more detailed explorations of the rooms off of this hall for a later time, and so we returned to the L shaped hall and the doors at the southern end. But first we put another gold coin in each of the slots, which caused the column of coins to rise, closing off the eastern hall.

The skeleton doors were opened and we looked through into a large room with a domed ceiling held aloft by four pillars. At the far end in the center of the room was a statue of a robed man with a book in one hand and a glave in the other. Alcoves were set about the room, and vertically positioned sarcophagi stood in each.

Avia quietly announced that evil emanated from the farthest three sarcophogi.

We decided to close all of the doors down here along with the secret entrance.

Above we will pull back the rope bridge and isolate the island fortress so we can return to Sandpoint for training and supplies before we brave the new evils that lurk beneath the surface at Thistlestop.

Back in the fortress I have released the bunnies, and paid one last visit to the goblin-grubs locked in the cages.

We have gathered together on the far side of the bridge with the spoils of war, and Nolin is about to pull back the bridge and use a rope and the hand holds to climb down to the base of the island, where we (along with the war horse) will meet with him and begin the trek back to Sandpoint.

And in looking forward to our return to Sandpoint I have made an inventory of all the interesting items we have found in this quest, so we can decide what to keep and what to sell. We will need gold in order to train and adequately equip ourselves for the trials that lay ahead.

Fireday, Lamashan 11, 4707; Thistlestop; after noon

As I completed my previous journal entry the bodies of the fallen goblins were searched and anything useful was taken:

[123] potion Cure of Moderate Wounds (Avia)
[124] potion Cure of Moderate Wounds (Nolin)
[125] breastplate (small)
[126] +1 dog slicer
[127] dented crown (small)
[128] key ring
[129] wand of silent image (5 charges)
[130] potion of Cure Light Wounds (Sabin)
[131] horse slicer
[132] masterwork studded leather armor (small) (Kane)

While scanning through my earlier journal entries I realized that this goblin king must be Ripnugget, whom (according to Tsutso) helped plan the attack on Sandpoint. The little oaf was still out cold, and nobody wanted to waste healing energy on him so we tied him up and Rigel and Sedjewick dragged him along.

To the north of this throne room we found Ripnugget’s bed chamber, and upon seeing the squalid room reserved for goblin royalty, my opinion of goblin kind plunged to a new low.

From within a desk we found an ugly silver holy symbol of Lamashtu, with her lovely three jackal heads staring back at us with garnets for eyes. At least the gem stones and silver will be worth something.

[133] silver holy symbol of Lamashtu (ugly)

Next was the elimination of the threat from the goblin dogs in the yard, which Avia, Nolin and Sabin dispatched quickly.

In the yard, before the door of an out building were two dead goblins with crushed heads. The door of the out building had been nailed shut, and within was a war horse in a piteous state. We left the horse until we had explored the area.

To the north of the yard was a door leading to a series of small hallways and yet more doors, which in turn led to the goblin privy (words cannot describe the stench), an office with a round table and five chairs, and stairs leading down.

To the south of the yard was a door leading to a storage room (tools, tack and harness), and within was a cage with two rabbits. I brought the cage out and we provided fresh food and water, plus food for the horse scavenged from outside the fortress and clean water.

Nolin and Avia then brought the horse out from its prison and after calming it, Nolin led it outside where he decided to remain for the time being, tending to its needs. We pulled a few boards off the wall of the stockade near the stairs leading down so Nolin would have easy access if we called. We left Ripnugget with him.

The rest of us crept down the back stairs, which were stone and of a quality exceeding the skill of the goblins to delve. The steps ended in a rickety wood door of goblin make.

Beyond the door was a large room that had been used for the planning of the Sandpoint attack. A large table was in the center of the room surrounded by chairs, and on a wall was a large slate board with many chalk markings. A map of Sandpoint had been drawn amid various other scrawling comments, including the following:

Once the Whispering Beast has been tamed.

Sin-spawn will invade Sandpoint from beneath.

The room boasted another door to the east and one to the west. We opted for the east door, which led down a hall to a small room. The lower four feet of the walls in this room were covered with crudely drawn goblins — goblins attacking humans and doing all sorts of nasty and disgusting things to them. The drawings appeared o be made with mud, dirt, and if my nose was not deceived, goblin dung.

On the north wall of the room was something more interesting: a drawing of a sideways view Thistlestop island complex. The goblin fort squat atop the top, with the rooms and halls in which we now stood drawn below. An beneath all, in a large cavern in the center of the island a huge chained goblin was depicted with a dog slicer in each hand. If the scale of the drawing was consistent (and believed), then this was truly a goblin giant, towering some thirty feet high.

Sabin decided that it was bad policy to leave an unchecked door behind us, and so he opened the west door of the large planning room.

Within was a smaller room with a table covered by scrolls, stone tablets, and bits and pieces of ancient relics. Excavation tools lay against one wall, and a lantern on the table lit the room. On the near side of the table was a hooded figure.

The figure looked up just as Sabin struck her with his mighty ax. She fell to the floor, mortally wounded. I stepped in and stabilized her so she would not die, and then searched her to see if she carried anything that would explain her presence and function here.

[134] steel wand (magic)
[135] potion (magic)
[136] scroll of Sleep
[137] scroll of Comprehend Languages
[138] scroll of Minor Image
[139] scroll of See Invisible
[140] scroll of Whispering Wind
[141] dagger (returned to Akenja)
[142] cloak (magic)
[143] silver comb
[144] silk gown (returned to Akenja)
[145] finely crafted torch (magic)
[146] pouch of spell components (probably)

Most of the books and scrolls on the table were written in Thassilonian, and described the ancient empire. There was also a spell book.

[147] Books and scrolls from this room
[148] Akenja’s spell book

The woman was obviously a spell caster, and according to Avia, evil. She was young (in her 20s perhaps) and had dark skin. Sedjewick had seen her around Sandpoint, although he did not know her name.

We gagged and bound her and decided it was time to get some answers. We hauled her up to where Nolin was waiting and I channelled enough energy to revive the goblin king.

Ripnugget was a boastful and vain little cuss, and gave us little more than threats and braggadocio at first — even after we pointed out that his great empire of goblins had just been decimated by a handful of strangers. But then Kane said something to him in that yapping sound I’ve come to recognize as goblin language, and Ripnugget began to provide slightly more useful answers.

His excuse for attacking Sandpoint was that the goblins were destined to rule the world. I imagine this would be similar to the way cock-roaches have managed to infest much of the world.

Old king Ripnugget hated Tsutso and had nothing but scorn for him, but he was either in such fear or awe of Nualia that he would say little about her.

He did think that the large goblin in the drawing on the wall below was real, and that all of us “long shanks” would get our comeuppance when it was released upon an unsuspecting world. Of course the fact that he told us meant that this event would hardly be a surprise, but there’s no talking logic with a goblin.

With his reticence for answering questions about Nualia, Ripnugget had out lived his usefulness, and he fell in combat, as promised, with Kane.

With a little more channelled energy our other guest awoke. Having just spent the better part of half an hour questioning Ripnugget with little to show for the effort, I decided to try the direct approach with our spell caster.

“You have two choices,” I told her, “Refuse to answer, lie or distort the truth and die slowly, or answer honestly and live.”

She opted to live, and proved quite cooperative.

Her name is Akenja, and her primary job on site was to research ruins and relics for Nualia. She specialized in Thassilonian society and had been in Nualia’s employment for several months. Side note: it seems to me that Nualia pays rather well — indeed far more than anything we could hope to match had we thought to buy off those working for her with coin.

Akenja spent most of her time working here, although she had been to various other ruins. Mostly Nualia brought her items to identify here, and she felt certain that Nualia was looking for something specific, although she had no idea what that might be.

She said that there were others working below, mostly human, who did the bulk of the dirty work.

Tsutso and Nualia were close, but Akenja could not hide her contempt of the vain little man.

Nualia had been present at the fort just the previous evening, and was probably somewhere down below even now.

The sin-spawn were nasty, and could be summoned from the wells of power that the ancient Rune Lords had created. The only functioning well of which she was aware was the one beneath Sandpoint.

She already knew that the under caverns of Sandpoint had been opened up and were actively being researched by the Sages’ Guild. Most likely this meant that Nualia was also aware of this, and we should warn the sages that there was a greater risk of invasion than we had already thought.

Akenja promised to leave the area and not return — in fact after telling us so much she thought her only option for personal safety was to flee as far from Nualia as she could. We led her to the bridge and allowed her and her familiar (a cat) to leave.

We regrouped and returned to the complex below.

South of the “island diagram” room was a large hall with double doors off to the west, a short corridor ending in a door east, and a door south.

A waft of air with a salt tang came in through the cracks of the east door, which made us suspect that the tentacled creature Nolin had seen the day before lurked within. Cracking the door open Avia saw rough hewn (or natural) tunnels leading off in various direction, and an opening directly ahead partially blocked by hanging nettles but looking out over the bay.

Avia stealthily stepped in a few paces before she saw a giant squid creature hiding in a small chamber to the southwest. She quickly returned and shut the door.

Meanwhile Nolin had opened the southern door, beyond which was a large room with several ramshackle doors to the south, doors east and west, and another exit to the north. A lantern hung from a hook in the north wall and dog pelts were piled in a corner. Nolin backed out from the room and closed the door.

The double doors were stone and carved with figures of pregnant women of different races with demonic creatures crawling out from their wombs.

These doors opened onto a large cathedral chamber with columns lining either side. The west end of the room was raised above the floor and accessed by stone steps, which lead up to an altar of black marble and a statue of Lamashtu the Hideous beyond. Braziers smoked on either side of the altar, and on either side of the door were fonts containing dark frothy water.

Sedjewick rushed into the room, and in his eagerness did not wait for the rest of us. Two pair of dark red glowing eyes peered out from the smoke rising up from the braziers, following him has he confidently strode up to the steps.

Kane called out just two large hairless hounds stepped out from behind the braziers. Sedjewick pulled up short, but before he could make it back to the doors two more hounds flew down from the ceiling blocking off his escape.

The hounds ripped into Sedjewick, who dropped unconscious as the rest of us flung ourselves into battle.

The hounds were the most difficult things we had yet encountered, and it took the combined efforts of our entire party to slay them. Our front line fighters were doing their best holding off the damnable things, but they proved difficult to hit and difficult to harm. Avia grabbed Sedjewick as Nolin and Kane provided a rear-guard, and we fell back to the hallway.

Avia and Nolin stood their ground in the doorway while Kane and I provided healing and magic support. Sedjewick was back in action and singing encouragement as Sabin entered the fray with his ax and offensive spells.

Alas, but Rigel and Trask fled the battle early on, for the hounds occasionally let loose with a horrific baying that filled the listener with dread. Eventually they mastered their fears and returned to the battle to aid in the final defeat of these dastardly demonic dogs.

With the hound menace removed we cautiously explored the cathedral. The left and right hands of Lamashtu held glowing kukri, but these were part of the statue and glowing orange and blue by means of continual flame spells.

Ashes upon the altar appeared to have been the cremated remains of some poor soul — possibly Father Tobyn. We removed the ashes and used picks from the other room to hack at the altar and roll it off the dais, and then proceeded to hack off the arms and heads from the statue.

While we were engaged in these activities Nolin was standing guard at the entrance and heard the southern door open and close. He peered around the corner to see a bugbear loosen an arrow at him, which missed and clattered to the floor. Nolin anxiously signalled for the rest of us to keep quiet and of the presence of enemies in the corridor.

Trask scampered out the doors and across the hall before he could be shot, and Avia charged in to engage the bugbear in combat. Avia took an arrow for her efforts, but she carved into her opponent as Sabin stepped up from behind to offer support.

A short while later a well armed man appeared at the north end of the hallway and shot an arrow at Avia. Nolin raced over and disabled the man, who tossed aside his weapons and cried for mercy.

Meanwhile the bugbear ran off back through the room to the south, up the main stairs into the fortress, then around to the back stairs and down into the room where we had found Akenja. It was frantically searching the west wall for something when Avia kicked in the door and finished it off.

Searching the west wall revealed a secret passage and a stair leading down.

Meanwhile Nolin had disarmed the man and searched him for possessions while I questioned him.

[149] masterwork bastard sword
[150] composite long bow
[151] 20 arrows
[152] potion (healing, according to the man)
[153] banded mail (magic)
[154] masterwork heavy shield
[155] magic torch

2 platinum pieces

The man is a mercenary and knew very little of use. He and the bugbear were the guards on this level, but he was not allowed to go to the restricted lower levels. He had come up the stairs when they first heard us arrive and then down the back stairs to launch a sneak attack.

Avia assured us he was not evil, and so we gagged and bound him in the slate board room and promised he would live provided he remained still and silent.

The bugbear was carrying the following:

[156] potion
[157] studded leather armor
[158] heavy flail
[159] master work composite bow (+4 STR)
[160] 16 arrows
[161] 4 arrows (magic)

4 platinum pieces

We have gathered together in the board room and are deciding on our next course of action. According to the man the rest of this level should be foe-free, and and so we ought to finish exploring and mapping it before we tackle the stairs down.

It may be that Nualia lurks below along with other allies, and we are currently tired and low on spells and energy.

But can we wait?

Fireday, Lamashan 11, 4707; Thistlestop; two hours past midnight

Goblins are slow on the uptake, but they do eventually catch on. After the silent image of a frisky pooch failed to bring any additional goblins over, and firing arrows and balls of fire resulted in just more of the same in return, we decided to change the bait.

After a few minutes study, Sedjewick created the image of one of the most recent goblin guards sent over, happily holding a large greasy bone with copious amounts charred bits of flesh hanging from it. He then positioned it at the foot of the bridge, beckoning to those in the fortress to come over and enjoy the feast.

How could any goblin resist? Certainly three of them could not, and soon the garrison was short handed by a trio of guards.

When the same image failed to bring over additional suckers, Sedjewick changed the image to be Tsuto, who then stood on the near side of the bridge and sternly glared at fortress, gesticulating firmly that they were to send aid.

Unfortunately having already lost nearly a dozen guards in less than an hour, someone in the the fortress had become suspicious, or at least confused enough to stop any additional goblins from heading over.

One of the goblins stuck his head out of the gate and shouted a few words. Unfortunately none of us speak goblin, and so after an awkward moment of silence, the goblin made a rude gesture towards the image of Tsuto and closed the gates.

We then decided it was time to explore around the foot of the island in the hopes that there would be another entrance.

We spent a fair amount of time discussing whether we should leave the bridge intact, cut it down, cut the ropes such that if anyone tried to cross it would collapse, or cut the bridge down but tie ropes on our end so we could pull it back up.

In the end, after noticing that the bridge was most probably trapped at the far side such that the goblins could send intruders plunging to the rocks below, we decided to leave the bridge as it was, and just head down to check out the beach.

But low tide was not until midnight, and so we decided that most of our party would sleep for four hours, while Task and Sabin kept watch, and then we would all catch on sleep up in the wee morning hours after the search.

At 10:00 we propped up some of the dead goblin guards near the bridge head and lit a camp fire near them, hoping it would give the illusion that watchful eyes held vigil.

We then scampered back down the trail and onto the beach. The sea was out far enough that we could walk to where the island was closest to the head. It did not look encouraging. The island was eighty feet off shore, and while the water was relatively calm in the ebb tide, small waves still splashed against its rocky feet. I estimated that the water plunged at least twenty deep at the shallowest point.

The island itself was round — incredibly so; almost like a huge stone ball had been dropped and sunk halfway. There were no obvious caves or access routes up the eighty feet to the top.

This prompted a discussion on whether we should tackle the cavern on the main- land side first. The fierce creature that guarded the room was apparently not nocturnal, and should be fast asleep having gorged itself on all of the goblins we had tossed down its hole earlier that day.

Once again Sabin was the logical choice to enter, because only he could see in the dark. At least this time he was able to walk in from the north cave entrance and look for secret passages without having to swim.

The only thing he found was satiated bunyap.

Back to the island. I volunteered to swim out to the island and work my way around the base to see if there was some other way in or up on the far side, but Avia and Nolin were far better choices for this task, and they agreed to head over.

Because this was a scouting foray, and because they would be swimming for most of it, they shed their heavy armor, and with a silk rope tied to Nolin they splashed into the cold water and swam to the island.

Nolin made his end of the rope fast to the rocks, and we did the same on our end, providing an easier passage to and from the island. Avia then remained on guard where the rope was tied while Nolin, who had the greater skill for both swimming and climbing, slowly worked his way around the island.

It was disconcerting to watch him work his way around the side of the island, occasionally falling into the sea and having to climb back out, and finally vanishing from view. After maybe a half an hour he appeared around the other side of the island. A few minutes later he and Avia were back with us as we listed eagerly to Nolin’s report.

It was not good news. There were crude hand holds just beneath the rope bridge, which would still leave a nearly impossible climb for most of us, but there was no other way up, or secret entrance.

On the eastern side of the island he had seen a large patch of overgrown vegetation hanging down over a hollow in the cliff’s edge. He watched as a bird, disturbed from its roost by something, fly out and under the vegetation. Just as the bird flew by a long tentacled arm shot out and grabbed the hapless bird with an explosion of feathers, snatching it into the darkness.

He also noticed a small island just to the east, closer to the main land. Earlier in the day the sea mists had obscured it, but now its wet rocky surface gleamed in the moonlight.

Avia and Nolin swam out to this island, with Rigel following after a rope was secured, but other than the remnants of an old camp fire perhaps a few months old, they found nothing of interest.

On the beach we held a brief discussion about what to do next.

It was obvious that the rope bridge was our only way across. It was also obvious that we needed to get to the far side to prevent anyone from releasing the bridge’s suspension ropes while we crossed.

We decided to use the image of Tsuto again, but this time he would be leading a gang of “prisoners” into the fort. Sedjewick would create the image over himself, and Avia and Sabin would pose as his able assistants, with the rest of us each playing the role of down trodden captive.

The Tsuto image would include a bloody cloth around his neck, explaining (or so we hoped) why Tsuto could not talk.

We then set up a watch and most of have prepared for sleep.

Fireday, Lamashan 11, 4707; Thistlestop; morning

Some time after the sun came up, those of us who were awake and on watch heard the sound of goblin squeals coming from the entrance to the bramble encampment.

Rigel had placed caltrops there earlier, which gave us an early alert. Avia and I raced over to the sound of the squeals while Rigel ran to the head of the bridge to see if we were attacked on two sides.

Avia and I saw a small band of goblins sitting on the ground and pulling caltrops from their feet. They looked disheveled (even for goblins) and injured, as if they had been in a fight before arriving.

In their midst was a small naked halfling tied to a pole held by several of the goblins. A prisoner!

Avia and I charged in, slicing and dicing goblins and making short work of the unhappy band. Rigel arrived then and may have shot an arrow or two into the fray because one of the goblins was tormenting his prisoner while we dealt with the his fellows.

A short time later and the only goblins around were dead.

I cut the bonds on the halfling and untied the gag in his mouth. Out streamed a long string of words in some foul tongue, which I was fairly sure was a curse aimed at his dead captors.

His name is Kanelbene and he is a priest of Desna! And he speaks goblin.

He was heading to Sandpoint for the Swallowtail Festival when he and his companions were attacked by a large band of goblins. They were overwhelmed, and all killed except for him. Kane, as he calls himself, was only taken alive because the goblins realized he was a follower of Desna, and planned to sacrifice him to Lamashtu.

We explained what had happened in Sandpoint, and why we were here. Kane was all too happy to help us in quest to find Nualia, and to help kill any goblins that might stand in our way.

We revised our plan to include Kane as one of Tsuto’s cohorts, and dressed him in the goblin armor and robe we had liberated earlier. A blood soaked rag for a hood to conceal his face completed the disguise.

We are rested and ready to put our plan into effect. I feel highly confident that we will be able to easily gain access to the fortress with no fighting at all, and then… well then we will see what we find.

Fireday, Lamashan 11, 4707; Thistlestop; before noon

All appeared to be going well as Sedjewick, posing as Tsuto, and Kane walked over the bridge. On the far side Kane called out that his master, Tsuto was injured and demanded entrance.

The gate opened and a single goblin guard came out. We then discovered that the goblins hated Tsuto, and hated Nualia even more. He was incredibly suspicious and wasn’t buying our cover story that Tsuto had returned and captured those who had been luring goblins across the bridge to their deaths the previous day.

He recognized the cloak Kane was wearing, and realized that something was amiss.

As he called out a warning about intruders, Kane released a cloud of obscuring mist before the gates (part of our back up plan), as the rest of us grabbed weapons and raced across the bridge (the rest of our back up plan).

The goblin guard was dead in an instant and we all passed through the still open gates, closing and barring them behind us.

The floor in the entry chamber was packed dirt, and on one wall were mounted the poorly preserved heads of horses and dogs. On another wall a pair of bat wings were pinned with some rusty knives, but there was also a much nicer knife, which I nabbed for the group.

[1100] Steel pearl handled knife

From behind a far door we heard the shout of goblins and half a dozen or so charged in and attacked. They died rather quickly with minimal effort or cost.

We then began to explore the fortress. The walls and doors were all salvaged from other structures (mostly ship wrecks we guessed), and were poorly assembled, but none the less quite sturdy.

Avia and Sedjewick quickly moved on to take out the guards in the west tower — I later heard Sedjewick guarded the base of the tower while Avia killed the two goblins that we sleeping above by herself.

Sabin and I made for the east tower, checking on a few doors before we got there: the most important thing we found was a set of stairs leading down.

There were two guards in the east tower who gave us little trouble.

We looked out over the rest of the fortress and saw that most of it was under cover. Some goblin dogs ran about a large yard at the foot of the west tower, and it looked like two goblins were sleeping (or dead) next to an out building.

We met the rest of our party on the main level, before a pair of double doors at the end of a short hall. Kane was listening at the door and he reported the sound of chanting, and goblin voices calling out commands.

We burst in, with Avia in the lead, and the rest of us close behind.

This was a large room used for ceremonies — perhaps a throne room of sorts. In one corner was a curved raised dais, upon which sat an ornately clothed goblin with a big head and a crown (a goblin king?). Next to him was another goblin chanting and on his other side a giant chameleon that hissed menacingly at us.

There were four posts in the center of the room that supported the roof, and set with iron spikes, impaled on which were hands. Furs and pelts clad the walls, and a large horse skull was mounted above the seated goblin.

The goblins in this room appeared better equipped and better trained than any goblins we had encountered before, and for a brief moment I was worried about the outcome of the battle.

There was a group of goblin fightewrs in the center of the room, and we took these on first.

We realized that the chanter was supporting these goblins much like Sedjewick does when he sings, and he became the target for our ranged attacks.

Rigel, Trask and occasionally Sabin launched attacks at the chanter and it fell, removing that advantage from our foes. All the while Sedjewick sang on and provided what ranged support he could.

Avia and Nolin provided our first line of fighters, with Sabin and I providing the second line. We were all fighting quite well and had already dropped two of the uber goblins (Avia took one out in her first attack) when the king called out some orders and the three or four goblin fighters who had held back near him all leapt into the fray, with two of them attacking Avia.

Kane was channeling energy from Desna to heal us, but I was caught in combat and could offer no immediate healing assistance. The king sent his chameleon against Nolin and lept into the fray himself, felling Avia with a mighty blow.

I had always known that Nolin was a quite capable fighter, but I did not realize how effective he could be when motivated. He quickly finished off the chameleon and then turned to face the king and slew him with a single swing of his great sword, cleaving the great goblin’s head in two.

Avia was quickly healed, and we bound the goblin king, and I stabilized him so he would not die.

We have questions.

Rigel and the others are gathering the equipment and possessions from our fallen foes so that we may use them for good.