== 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 ==

Today we discovered undead things were hanging around the insane asylum. Or possibly lunatics were bothering the undead, but it appeared more the former than the latter. Nevertheless, just to be safe, we bound up the insane guy we came to see and I put him uncomfortably on a horse and took him against his will to Sandpoint, where Nothing Odd Ever Happens. We told him we might be able to make him feel better there; that always quiets them for a while. Father Zantus always knows what to do with our less advantaged friends.

I had a good dinner in a soft bed. Wonder what the rest are doing?

== Wealday, Neth 13 ==

Got up early, took a refreshing shower, and felt clean and ready to meet the day. Ah, it’s good to be alive. Retrieved the horse and returned to the party.

Met up with the rest of the party, having left our patient in Sandpoint to heaven only knows what sort of horror of “treatments”. I told him with great sincerity, “you’re now in your happy place” and he stared at me in such a manner that I think he may have believed me, or wished me dead — the expressions are so similar.

And having returned, I see that sure enough, with the insane guy gone, all the undead are much more quiet. It may have just been a neighbor noise issue. I know he was annoying. Could he really been so disruptive so as to literally wake the dead? I suppose that phrase had to come from somewhere.

So, using the key one of the undead gave us, we went over to the Amityville Horror house and looked around. Our paladin gave the obligatory “I sense evil” soliloquy and then we looked around a bit while soaking up the ambience. We found darkness and severed animal heads and mold, but no walls with “redrum” written upon them. Once we were thoroughly disheartened, we took a break and wrote in our journals as our therapists have suggested we do whenever we’re feeling down.

Spirits raised, I’m now pumped to look at more depressing stuff.

== 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.

We left town to talk with the only known person to survive the attacks in Sandpoint. He has goul fever and the doctor was allowing him to die and turn into a goul just to witness the process. When Avia entered the room he went crazy talking about how he had a message for her from his lordship. He lunged at Avia but she handled him without any difficulty. He wasn’t fully turned yet so Trask rode him back to town on the horse to get cured. If it were me I would be paying the doctor a visit to express my appreciation for allowing the goul fever to take its course.

We followed a frantic farmer to a goul infested farm, didn’t catch his name. The people here were being transformed into gouls. To feed the legends they were tying these people to scarecrow poles, once they transformed they had the strength to break free. In the farm house we found what appeared to be the head goul for this farm. This goul had the key to the floxglove house. Also in the farm house was a body with another love note and the star carved in the chest. We spent most of the day killing these gouls, well truthfully I spent most of the day one step behind Avia and Nolan so most of the gouls were killed before I could get close enough to hit them.  Looking down at these foul creatures I am reminded of stories told in my youth about the blood of these foul creatures not being suitable for barbarian war paint. Goul fever, apparently if you get bitten by a goul you get goul fever and then turn into a goul.

Avia clearly has an admirer and this admirer seems to be leading us around like dogs. Her admirer keeps leaving love notes for Avia that seem to be leading us towards some sort of trap. It is not really clear if he has the hots for Avia or just trying to make her mad enough to charge into a trap. It really seems like this is foxglove or in some way related to foxglove but I guess we won’t know until we spring the trap.  I just can’t imagine how Foxglove can think that Avia would be swayed by these actions. Even as a goul I am pretty sure Avia would have an overwhelming urge to kill him. Maybe he thinks that she will accept him as her new deity and become his love slave.  I tend to think that foxglove’s and Avia’s deities do not like each other, or at least the followers hate each other. I can’t imagine a situation besides mind control where Avia will openly share her bed with Foxglove.

I really wonder why Foxglove seems to be leaving us clues to follow and specifically targeting Avia. In the back of my mind I keep wondering if we are being lead around because Foxglove needs us or Avia to unleash some great monster on the world. Maybe I am over thinking everything but as we used the key to open the doors at the Foxglove estate I can’t help but feel that foxglove or someone controlling foxglove is leading us around to suite their own desires. Are we seeing the rune lords of old coming back into the world or do we have those that want to take over from the rune lords. Are we dealing with those that learned about the Rune lords and are trying to bring back the empire or maybe followers of the Rune Lords have been passing the knowledge down through their families waiting for their Lords to return to power.

Walking into the house the feeling of magic comes from every nook and cranny of the house. This feels like old magic that at onetime covered this house or the magic used by one who caused the death of the Lord and Lady was so strong that remnants of this magic still linger. Avia looks to be disturbed by the house but we move forward. The stained glass window is eerie reminder that this family is in some way connected to the Rune Lords, although it almost looks as if the stained glass window was showing that this family may have been working to keep the power of the Rune Lords trapped. I am really not sure if we are being lead into a trap or just lead into something that someone wants use to get cleaned up. Either way we are here at the estate so we might as well investigate the secrets of the home of the Foxgloves.

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.

Sunday, 3 Neth

After much discussion among ourselves, we determined the highest level of comfort seemed to be reached with everyone maintaining their own finances. We shall sell off much of the items we’d recovered and then split the proceeds evenly. If a weapon or armor or magical item is found that somebody else wants to carry or use, they can make a case that it is a ‘group item’ and ought not count against their share, or failing that, have the value of that item deducted from their share.

Things like healing potions and magic weapons we have generally agreed benefit the group as a whole even if wielded or used by only one person at a time, so they have an almost automatic exclusion from group sales. We do not have enough healing potions to have one per person at this time, and while my quarterstaff skills are indeed impressive, those wielding edged weapons are generally closer to the front lines and even more impressive in their ability to slice and dice foes, and it is no small surprise they also tend to be in greater need of healing. I was, however, granted a silver dagger [107] as I do have skill with a dagger, and silver weapons sometimes serve a useful purpose.

It was in the midst of this accounting that we learned Sedgewick was leaving us. He did do us the courtesy of letting us know. Shalelu, the ranger elf, had mentioned something of undead in Magnimar to him and quicker than you could say “ooo, shiny” he was off with her to go score another original tail — oops, I mean original tale, and song.

So we had one less share to allocate so while it was sad to see him go (Rigel seemed particularly affected by his leaving), it did mean a little more for the rest of us. We did decide to allocat one share of the proceeds for ‘group purposes’ which is to say the healing potions I spoke of. If we are wildly successful, it may someday be enough to buy larger equipment like carts or the like. This time, we bought 3 cure moderate wounds potions [177][178][179] at 800gp total and that used up all but 16.8 gp.

Besides, since learning the additional spells I have less need of the weapon physical; a thing I think I will grow to appreciate as time passes. But I get ahead of myself.

My share was 816 gold, 8 silver (or the equivalent, at least.) Add that to the money I already had and I appear to be a rich man indeed. I need to consider how best to carry such wealth around with me. If carried all in coin, it weighs me down some 16 pounds! But some things constrained to reduce this problem for me.

For one thing, I’ve known for some time that I wanted to consult with other sorcerors to learn more spells. It’s not going to just happen one day that I wake up with a new spell, so this newfound wealth provided me the means to seek out a … well, perhaps not a master, but more of a mentor. A paid mentor, of course, but Elgin charged a fair price of 100gp per week, which covered materials, a solid but utilitarian lunch on Moonday, Wealday, and Fireday, and even, I suppose, repairing the bit of fire damage his laboratory suffered as I practiced new spells.

But I can say that after 3 weeks and 300 gp, I do now exhibit a hesitant mastery of the spells detect poison, mending, mage armor, color spray, and flaming sphere in addition to my others. And as with my other fire spell, the flaming sphere seems to burn a little hotter than one might expect. I did not reveal all my secrets to Elgin, but being a sorceror himself he did raise his eyebrows and remark, “I suspect there are some scales in your heritage,” but said nothing again on the subject.

I also bought for myself a better distance weapon than a sling. It’s not fancy, but at least my heavy crossbow [182] might actually hurt something physically rather than emotionally (“mommy, that man threw sling pellets at me and almost got me in the eye”). After all that, my funds were down to 516.8gp – 50gp – 2gp for some bolts + 90gp I had previously for a total of 554.8 gp. Still richer than I’ve felt in a while.

That man Foxglove still is taken with our group and wants to come along sometime. I’ve not been rude to him, but several others in the group think that even socializing with him is a waste of our time. Perhaps so, but my father raised me better. I’ll make no promises but see no harm in an occasional conversation.

Others in the group had also taken some time to find trainers/mentors and improved their skills. So it was we all met together again at roughly the same time to return to Thistletop and deal with some unfinished business.

We arrived without incident, although we did find that the “bramble camp” appeared to have been used and there actually was a few goblin bodies there. Oddly, they were not Thistletop clan. (I’m actually able to recognize this sort of thing now.) But we hadn’t seem these markings before.

The bridge was still down, as we left it. We thought about camping here but felt that Thistletop was much more defensible in case of attack, and unanimously agreed to raise the bridge and enter the “fortress”.

This was done without any trouble; Kane and Nolin climbed up with ropes and we restored the bridge. The area around and in the fortress appeared undisturbed.

Olithar was going on and on about something with his maps, and we found out why it pays to have an anal — I mean, detail oriented cleric along. His map seemed to indicate a room or closet or something which seemed to have no door. Since this was close to the, ahem, bathroom, the room with the wall we wanted to search had a less than favorable coating on it, but Olithar and Kane worked their priestly spells to purify the area. Upon an intense search Rigel did find an entrance, and there was a chest behind this door. Rigel checked for a trap, found none, then picked the lock and managed to dodge the trap she didn’t see 🙂

The chest was old, pre-Nualia for sure. Upon opening it we found a giant pile of coins, and items. A treasure chest to be sure.

After a period of time, we compiled this inventory:

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

for a net value of 442.32 gp. Not bad! Being lightly loaded, I volunteered to carry the gp and pp as they could be taken without need for cart and oxen 🙂

Plus there were

[183] a leather pouch with 34 malakite gems (badly flawed); perhaps 1gp each
[184] a medium chain mail shirt
[185] a medium masterwork scimitar (Olithar groaned; he’d just bought one)
[186] a set of masterwork manacles
[187] a gold holy symbol for Sarenray
[188] a jade necklace
[189] a fine blue silk gown w/silver trim

This seemed a good time to sleep, so guards were set and rest was had.

All but Olithar, who slept but had a dream where a voice said to him from somewhere deep, “The Whisperer will have vengeance.”

Perhaps an undigested bit of beef.

Monday, 4 Neth

And so it was that we arose rested and returned to the lower levels. I and Sabin cast Mage Armor upon ourselves and trudged on. Didn’t take long before we found a room that didn’t quite seem empty. Olithar cast detect undead and did indeed find a moderate aura centered on some sarcophagi. 3 shadows emerged from 3 alcoves. We learned, unfortunately, that these creatures could sap strength from our fighters, and they not only became wounded but weak. Kane, Avia, and Sabin all were affected. However, my flaming sphere proved most useful in helping defeat the shadows, and the fact that I could create it and manipulate it from a modest distance made me very happy. Thank you Elgin!

Olithar was able to restore most if not all of Sabin’s strength, but that was all the magic he had for today. The others would need to cope until tomorrow.

Not too far from here appeared to be a couple of rooms with access to pools! Upon further inspection, we concluded it was one pool that had flooded both rooms. At some time in the past, an earthquake, explosion, or some other significant force had cause the walls to collapse and allow water to enter. It was unclear if there was a flow, or whether this was actually a stagnant pool. The rooms themselves seemed ornately decorated; not in an extravagant sense, but in an artistic sense. There were murals and carvings on the walls of the rooms. One mural depicted a tall mountain, and a stern face above the palace in the picture. Below lay an immense city of spires.

This was all interesting enough, but then we noticed in the pool was a giant golden helmet. I mean GIANT, as in “was once worn by”. Couldn’t tell if it was gold-plated or actually gold but all that became irrelevant when it turned to face us. The water here seemed to be 3 to 10 feet deep, so ropes were brought out and people secured before approaching the water (and the helmet). Olithar tried speaking Thasselonian to the helm, whereupon it stood up and we saw the largest seafood dinner EVER. A giant crab was using the helmet as a home. Weapons were launched but between the armor it effectively wore, and its own natural carapace, we didn’t seem to be doing much.

Then Olithar used magic to heat the metal. Clever! He essentially cooked it in an upside down pot! Yes it took some more blows, but it was like cooking a steak without cutting it from the flank. In no time at all, the water around it was steaming and it had stopped moving. Get me some butter! (We did eat well this day.)

Now able to search the pool, we found

3537 silver pieces
645 gold pieces
[190] 40 precious stones (about 10gp each)
[191] a jade amulet (radiated magic)

The amulet, we found, added +1 natural armor. It was determined this magic could not help me, as I already have developed, it seems, a tougher skin and thus already have a better natural armor than others. It went to Rigel.

We discussed if the helmet might be more valuable as a relic than as something to be melted down. Need to think about that some.

[192] helmet, giant (~300 pounds)

This seemed a good place (and time) to rest again. We set up “the usual guards”.

Toilday, Neth 5

The night passed uneventfully. After searching around some more in the laboratory (and seeing the results of what could only have been gruesome experiments) we found a seven pointed star object that looked like it might be the key we need to enter the room behind the double doors.

[193] surgical tools
[194] silver and gold 7-pointed star studded with nodules and spikes

Key inserted, door unlocked, and …

This room was very warm, in no small part to the brazier-style fire in the middle of the room. For an old room, this fire seemed very active. That suggested it was magical. Nevertheless, heat is heat and while it seems to affect me a little less than my companions, it was still uncomfortable. Corners of the room had golden candles. There was a 7-sided star on the wall opposite us. The entire room radiated strong magic (enchantment).

And Avia immediately detected evil.

Trask and Sabin, consequently, immediately cast Mage Armor. Kane blessed us all.

And then the giant wolf-like creature with primate hands and feet stepped into the light and was a bit clearer to us. It didn’t look pleasant. Olithar cast protection from evil on Nolin, and I started up a flaming sphere. It seemed that only magic weapons could hit it.

The creature started blinking, which indicated it was sometimes in our plane and sometimes not. That made it harder to hit, but also made it harder to hit us. I started up a second flaming sphere. After a round or two of maybe hitting it, maybe not, and after what appeared to be a ferocious blow by Avia, it disappeared.

After a moment of making sure it had not reappeared, we searched the room. We found

[195] ever-lit candles (30)
[196] coffer
[197] seven-pointed ring — magic

The ring, we learned, generated a wall of force shield in front of the wearer.

There was some discussion about who should wear the ring, but it sounded like I was not going to be gifted with it.

Training has been completed and I have at least a week to myself as the others are still training. I have new spells transferred into my spellbook and have given that stuff to Kane to return. On the way back from the Cathedral to see Kane it occurred to me that I could try out my new spider climb spell by climbing to the top of buildings. I secured my axe and began to climb straight up the side of the closest house. Once on the roof I began running from roof to roof, combined with feather fall I easily traveled across the roof top in sandpoint. The chimney sweeps were a little nervous at first but you can’t under estimate the calming effect of a couple of rounds of free Ale. Three days after starting my roof top running routine a couple of town guards met me coming out of the Rusty Dragon and informed me that the duty commander wanted to have a discussion about my activities of late. At the garrison I was informed that running on the roofs was not proper. I tried to explain that I was training for the day when Sandpoint was invaded once again and I would need to chase those invaders across the roof tops to keep sandpoint safe. I even told him that the chimney sweeps were fine with my activity. Turns out that people are nervous about see a half-orc running across their roof tops. I have reluctantly agreed to not run across the roof tops any more, unless sandpoint is under attack. It’s not like I was hurting anyone and no one complained about any damage or noise as a result of my training. Something about law abiding citizens expecting some measure of law and order in their lives. Well at least I got in several days roof running before I was oppressed by the law. So my days of roof running have come to an end, at least until the next attack against Sandpoint anyway.

After spending a couple of days buying rounds of ale for the watch commander to ease over the tension over the roof incident I decided it was time for something new. I was walking over by the glassworks near the cliff when it suddenly occurred to me that this is a great cliff for improving my timing with feather fall. This is a great place to jump off, free fall most of the way and then use feather fall near the bottom to prevent injury. I always wondered what it was like to fall off a cliff; unfortunately it is only a few seconds of failing. Given enough height this free falling thing could be a lot of fun. Everything was going great, and after a couple of days I was able to get the timing down. I could easily run jump off the cliff, cast feather fall just before the ground and keep running. As I said everything was going well until I was handed a note by a guard from the watch commander with a very simple message.

Sabin,
Please stop jumping off the cliff, people keep reporting someone falling to their death.

And so ends my Sandpoint Cliff jumping days. I guess being 1 of the 2 half-orcs in Sandpoint make it pretty easy for the watch commander to figure out it was me. If we were back in Magnimar there would be a lot more half-orcs so they wouldn’t know that it was me. Being linked with the other half-orc who smells like his garbage is not making it easy to get along with the folks in Sandpoint.

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?

Dear Father,

This. Is. Awesome.

This letter won’t get sent for some time, of course, because I’m still in danger of being fried or stabbed or electrocuted at any moment. If it is found on my dead body I hope somebody will have the good grace to send it along. The last time I was this close to death was, I think, when I broke our magic pitcher that we normally kept on the kitchen table. It always had cool, fresh water and I vividly recall you had me by the throat for “carelessly destroying such a valuable item”. As a ten year old, of course, I couldn’t imagine why you might not just go buy another, but that’s not always possible, is it? There is nothing like living on the edge and by your own wit, and going without fresh water for a time to drive home the value of such an item, and to really understand why, of course, glue or even a skilled glass artisan could not restore such an item to working condition.

I get it now. It’s magic. Sorry about that, almost 8 years later.

You had said that adventuring “gets in your blood” and you made it sound like some sort of horrible yet fascinating disease. And it is, really, isn’t it? You do come to like that prickly feeling that runs down your back when you hear a sound behind you and you remember with a sinking feeling that you did not close and lock the door you just came through, don’t you? And you can’t really explain it to anyone who hasn’t been there and felt it too.

Someday when I return you’ll get to read my entire journal, of course. And I hope that my writings will raise the temperature of your blood like my reading of yours did. And speaking of blood .. there’s more to our heritage than you’ve said, isn’t there? Sure, I knew about the claws, and you hinted at other things, but you said they would only reveal themselves “in due time”. And now I find that fire captures my fancy, and the one spell I have that sets my hands aflame … it seems to be stronger than the ones others do. It seems I have an affinity for fire, or it for me. What other secrets will I learn?

No matter. It’s all good. And you can probably tell I’m greatly enjoying this search for adventure I’m on. I’ve found it, by the way. I’m with a group that is trying to defeat some sort of demon seductress or maybe succubus, or — I don’t know. It’s hard to keep up. She wants to destroy a nearby town, and there’s been plenty of evil around this place, including shrines and altars to LaMashTu. But it’s not too hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, and the bad guys ARE losing.

At Thistletop (I don’t know if you know where that is, but I’ll assume you do because I’m not going to give a geography lesson) we were trying to find out more about this Nualia and her actions here. We killed a goblin chieftain, or king, or something, and declared a whole lot of stuff ours now: healing potions, weapons, and armor. The goblins have taken over the surface and created some crude structures, but this rock has been here lots longer than they have and there are subchambers below the surface where people – or creatures – are digging up old artifacts to assist Nualia in her plot to destroy Sandpoint. We’ve killed all (I think) of the goblins here, but there are others — bugbears, giant geckos, and the like. Even other humans!

We discovered two very different ones. One could have been me in a different universe — she was a scholar first, and she gave no care to the effects of her research. It was all about the knowledge for her. The paladin said she was evil, but is that just what happens when the books rule you? We nearly killed her at first, but then revived her, talked with her, and sent her on her way. She was so … cold. She was respectful but really into her research. Had I not taken this journey, that might have been me in a few years. The room she was in was a wealth of knowledge to the right person. I recognized bits and pieces of it, but she freely admitted she was helping research ancient artifacts and yes, spells. Lyrie, her name was, but she wasn’t anything special to look at.

Nolin, of our group, took pity on a horse we found that likely was destined to be a goblin meal. It’s interesting; he seems to have a way with animals while also having a way with a particularly big looking sword. Glad he’s on our side but who could have known he was an animal handler too?

Oh, and the other human was mercenary through and through. And really, not very good. He surrendered rather than be killed, and then offered to join US! I should think not. If he changes sides that easily, I’m not sure I’d trust him at my back. We took his possessions and sent him on too. Unfortunately, as a sorcerer, I found his booty of weapons and armor to be wholly unsuitable for my use.

As we continued exploring we found a few unusual things. One was some sort of land squid — it looked like a squid but could walk on land. We chose not to disturb it, as we weren’t sure if we could handle its tentacles. It didn’t see us. And there was a room ..

The door to this room had raised figures of human women giving birth to horrible abominations. Our bard, just had to go in … and upon entering what appeared to be a place of unholy worship, he promptly drew the attention of 4 hellhounds, or something resembling that. They took great gouges out of him and — even THIS exhilarates me — they had an unearthly howl that drove Rigel and I away in unexplainable fear. We both tried to crowd into the same corner of the same distant room which, truth be told, wasn’t half bad until we awkwardly regained our senses and pretended we actually hadn’t been huddled against each other.

Being that close to her, I suppose I should check my belongings!

We returned to the room in time to see the last of the hounds reduced to ashes or dust by our fighters. The bard was barely alive — actually, I was told he had been near death several times — and the party was exhausted. It was in this state that we met the bugbear and the mercenary (did I mention the bugbear?) within a few minutes of catching our breath. I guess noise carries underground, eh?

My friends were surprised when I jumped into this fray but I just felt so … alive. Of course our claws were something you told me about early on, but you didn’t tell me everything about our heritage, did you? Oh I know you did say “more will be revealed when you are ready” but I’ve noticed an increasing fascination – no, that’s not the right word – study, perhaps, of fire. The one fire spell I have I seem to be able to cast better than our other mage but I can’t describe the technique I’m using to him. The flame is brighter and I believe the fire is hotter. And yet, for all that, I seem to burn myself even less easily than before.

Ah, but I mentioned the fire already didn’t I? It’s hard to focus sometimes.

What surprises await me? Part of me wishes you’d told me more, and part of me is looking forward to the discovery.

No matter. But I don’t see how you ever gave this up. The thrill is addictive. Did Mother make you stop? Would that be enough? I don’t know if it would be enough for me to simply be ordered to stop. I feel like there’s so much more yet, and I simply MUST experience it.

When we chased the bugbear, it went into a room that seemingly had a secret panel, because when we killed him he was frantically searching along a wall. And now, briefly, we are collecting our thoughts and belongings before descending deeper into this rock via the secret passage we’ve just opened.

I’m sorry if this letter is hard to follow. It is hastily written in an uneven hand by your very excited son, and I fear I haven’t related things in exactly the order they happened. But it’s pretty much right. I mean, if it — oh, it looks like the party is ready. When I return you’ll have to read my entire journal, as it is more structured and pedantic and proper and calm and easier to read. But after today I just felt like I had to send a letter that would get there sooner. I had to share. Even if it won’t really get sent until I return to the city. Or my body does.

But I think I’m getting more powerful. I think I feel it. I think I’ll survive. Perhaps .. perhaps even vanquish. Was it this way for you?

your giddy son,
Trask

Fireday, Lamashan 11

Wow it is Fireday, Lamashan 11 already. I had to ask Olithar what day it was and if he wasn’t a stickler for putting the date in his journal entries I would have no clue what day it is. Since getting away from the strict guild regimen I seem to care less about keeping a strict account of days. His attention to the details and always working to record everything is well kind of disturbing, although the healing that Olithar and Kane have been doing are the only reason that we are still alive. Those flying creatures would have easily slaughtered us had it not been for the great healing.

We found a war horse that Nolan has become fast friends with. The horse has been mis-treat by the goblin, but what do you expect they are goblin. Besides to them this was just food. Olithar believes that this goblin king/warlord’s name was Ripnugget and that he is linked to the invasion planning. Kane spoke to him and made an offer to allow him to die with honor. In the end Kane finished him off and Ripnugget has taken his proper place in society, Ripnugget won’t be bothering anyone anymore.

We found a researcher/mage named Akenja that Olithar offered freedom if she answered questions honestly. She was employed by Nualia to do research on stuff that they have been finding down below. We allowed her to take her cat, dagger, and gown as we sent her over the bridge. I thought that we should just throw her over the side into the water but luckily for her Olithar, Avia, and Nolan were insistent that she be able to just walk away. We still need to identify those magic items and see what spells she had in her spell book. Looks like I will be able to add some spells to my spellbook when I can afford it. I’ll have to have Sedjewick or Trask look through the spellbook to get an inventory of the spells Akenja had in our new spellbook that I can copy into my spellbook.

I have begun to feel some kinship with this thrown together group of people. I really thought that my pursuit of magic doomed my chance at any such kinship. I was even glade to see Avia pull annoying Sedjewick’s limp body out of danger and back where the healers were able to get him back on his feet. It was kind of funny that Sedjewick moved forward into the room while Rigel and Trask ran away in fear. I tried to stop them to make sure that they were safe without success and luckily they both ran into the room and hid under the table. In spite of my instincts I stay back to make sure they were safe. I jumped into the fray in time to cast magic weapon for Noplan and to hand Avia a healing potion. At that point Avia and Nolan had the fight well in hand and it was just a matter of time before we defeated those evil creatures. Once these creatures were defeated Olithar and I began working to destroy that alter. It turns out that we were a little too loud.

Nolan heard the door to the south open and after waiting and waiting Avia confronted the bugbear threatening us. Soon after she engaged the bugbear an arrow shot from the north. Luckily Nolan was ready to spring into action and take care of the threat, this human took a hit and surrendered. Down south I join the fight with Avia on the bugbear. This bugbear took a lot of damage and just kept hanging in there, I am not sure that even Avia could have survived that much damage. Avia and I chased the bugbear as he ran up the stairs and around to the other side back to the room we found Akenja in. Avia broken down the down and we found him looking for something on the wall. All along there was a secret door that we missed that leads down. Now we have to decide if we have time to rest and allow the healer to recharge or do we move ahead possibly without healing.

I have decided that my true path lies in both magic and arms. I need to find a way to walk in both the mage and warrior paths at the same time. For me life consists of a balance between these two sides of me, the barbarian and the mage. For too long I have tried to ignore the warrior inside and to become a true mage. I will never be a true mage, Sedjewick is more of a true mage then I am, at least he would fit in with the other mages in the guild. Today I am perusing greater understand of wizardry which is providing me we access to new spells but my new mission is to find a way to walk both paths.

Oathday, Lamashan 10

It’s a shame, really, that we more or less ran out of goblins. I must give credit to the group for the clever ways in which we lured one goblin after another out onto the bridge and into the woods to their ultimate demise. How many total? Six? a dozen? I lost count. Finally, they stopped coming out, but it wasn’t clear if natural selection had thinned the herd of the stupid ones or whether they just had no more to send.

So a last final attempt, Sedgwick tried changing his illusion from a hated dog to what we thought would be a respected Tsuto. However, I found myself eyeing the goblins with a newfound respect. I’d thought the goblins to be vermin, slightly more evolved than rats and unfortunately bearing a slight resemblance to we bipedal humans. But when the goblin at the gate saw Tsuto, and saw him gesturing to come over, and responded with a rude gesture involving a single finger, I finally found something likable about the butt ugly critters. Wow, they hated Tsuto too! Really sucked to be him. Well, to have been him.

It made me chuckle a bit at Tsuto’s expense, seeing that gesture. And it reminded me that the goblins really could think, even if they chose to react most of the time instead. Nevertheless, we were still on the wrong side of the gate. We thought some more.

We decided to inspect the base of the island. Maybe there was some clever, secret way in. And after a few hours of nighttime swimming later, we could tell that .. well, no, there didn’t seem to be.

We decided that we would need to do a frontal assault after all. But perhaps our illusion of Tsuto could still do us some good if he appeared to be bringing us back as prisoners. Even if they hated him, they’d probably not fire upon him as he neared the gate. And then once the gate was opened …

Only hiccup in this plan was that if were were challenged, still none of us spoke goblin, and that would serve to end the ruse quickly. But there was no way around it. The best we could do is comprehend languages, so we could understand but not respond.

And then fate smiled.

A returning goblin party stumbled over our camp in the morning, and we made quick work of them. But more importantly, they bore a halfling prisoner, who was soon freed. Kanelbene, was his name I think. (It’s always tricky spelling people’s names, as they can be so creating in spelling it sometimes.)

But he also spoke goblin! He’d been waylaid before the original raid on the town and held prisoner.

A halfling who spoke goblin! What better accomplice for our disguised Tsuto! Now our plan could not fail. Much.

So after carefully secreting weapons on our persons so that each behind us could easily grab them when battle broke out, we were “led” across the bridge. But upon coming out to meet us, the gate goblin quickly recognized the ruse when he recognized a cape from one of the goblins we’d killed, and called out “intruders!” Immediately a fog (of our making) surrounded us and obscuring us from both the archers in the towers and the fighters rushing out at the alarm. I think we killed six or seven before they stopped coming.

From the outside this had looked like something of a garrison, but once inside it looked a little better than a hovel. It had clearly been constructed from reused lumber of various types and sizes, and “decorated” with horse and dog head trophies. A pair of bat wings stood out on one wall, and provided just the right ambience for a roomful of decaying small critter heads. Olithar snagged a steel, pearl handled knife [1100].

Avia and Sedgwick headed up the west tower to take out the guards. It proved exceedingly easy, from the account they relayed later.

Another room led to a partially covered outdoor area, in which there were several of the goblin ‘dogs’. We chose to not go there right away.

But inside another room we found the king, or chieftain, or head honcho of this tribe. And he had some well trained warriors with him that were either training or demonstrating to him their consummate skills, and a chanter or sorceror by his side as well. Add in an unusually large gecko and it looked for a while like we may have bitten off more than we could chew.

My attacks at close quarters aren’t anything special, and I am less able to survive hits my companions take, so I was tending to attack from the rear. I especially was trying to take out the chanter, as I suspected he was generating magic to aid the fighters. The one time I found myself in close quarters, my burning hands worked nicely to heat things up. But most of the time, it was magic missiles. Avia and Sabin were their usual effective bloody selves and ultimately we did triumph. Healing all around was dispersed before we started gathering their — er, I mean OUR — belongings.

We have decided that at low tide we will go back down to the beach and check for another way to get into the complex. Trask and I sat watch while the other slept four hours. Nothing interesting happened while the other slept and Trask and I moved around to make sure nothing got in. After four hours we woke up the party and got ready for travel back down to the beach.

Down to the beach we go. A lot of standing around as Avia and Nolan swim out to check for alternative ways to get to the goblins other then walking across the bridge. I was a little concerned about swimming out there as I could see that Avia and Nolan were struggling, I think it would be safer to dodge arrow then make that swim.Nolan found hand holds under the bridge but we decided that the effort to swim out and climb was not worth it. Next they checked out a very little island, yah more standing around. In the end we decided to just go back, sleep and go across the bridge during the day.

I have discovered that Sedgwick does not know undercommon. He seemed disturbed that I was speaking in a language that he did not understand. Sedgwick’s obsession with language is kind of funny and at the same time frightening. Did I make the wrong choice; I don’t seem to be the same as the other wizards. I was so obsessed with learning magic that even banishment did not matter to me. All that training to learn magic and in the heat of the moment I revert back to the old ways and just hit things with my axe.

The next day when I woke there was Halfling . It seems that he was supposed to be fed to the beast when Avia, Rigal, and Olithar saved him, even more dead globins. After regaining our spells we began the raid on the goblin fortress.

We devised a plan to get through the doors. It worked well enough that one goblin came out and he was killed before he could close the gate. We quickly killed the goblins from the barracks and the goblins in both towers, seems the goblins in the towers didn’t even know they were being attacked. Looks like we over planned and over estimated goblins at least to this point. Chanting from behind double doors provided guidance on where to go next. Leading the way Avia headed into the room, these were a lot tougher then the wimpy goblins as evident when Avia was dropped by a pair of commanders, and luckily our healers were able to heal her up again after the battle. I was able to get in a couple of killing blows and the mighty Sedgwick was also able to show some skill with the bow as the last remaining commander fell. All is as it should be, we are alive and the goblins are dead. We kept the king alive so that we can question him before we finish killing him. Well I guess he is the king, given how many goblins we have killed I am not sure how much of a kingdom he has left. After we get some information from him it will be time for us to reunite him with his followers.

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.