Wealday, Arodus 15, 4712 afternoon
Ravenscraeg

Radella and Ivan led the way down the stairs, and the rest of us followed into the dim light below. Ivan paused and pointed down at the last step where a barely visible wire stretched across, waiting to grab our feet.

We stepped over it. Well, almost all of us did. Olmas stumbled and a bell rang from down the hall.

A score of zombies moved up from some alcove to the left. We began to hack our way through when we heard a shout from the far end of the corridor and a crossbow bolt sunk deep into Sparna’s shoulder.

Some sort of troll… or mini-troll had joined the fray, but it was using magic and ranged attacks in a very un-troll like way.

Kali summoned an archon lantern to keep the troll (trolling? trollete? trunchkin?) occupied as we mopped up the zombie horde and pressed our attack forward.

It didn’t like that, and quickly retreated after magically delving a formidable sized hole between him and us.

We each began to use whatever means at our disposal to cross the gap. Olmas walked across the air carrying Ivan. Etayne flew across and cast Burning Gaze. With Beorn screaming in my ears, “Don’t let it get away,” I flew into the air, grabbing Kali along the way.

The trollkin was both injured and a coward, and so it fled down a flight of stairs. It would not do for the damned thing to escape and heal itself or call in reinforcements, and so I flew after it, clubbing it to death with my flail as it slumped against a closed door.

That’s when I noticed the statues: four of them, each fashioned into the form of a Samurai warrior. Two sprang to life and attacked me, but when I brandished the raven figurine before them they stood down and retreated to their alcoves.

I searched the corpse and took several useful things.

[330]	fugitive’s grenade
[331]	wand of Command Undead [11 charges]
[332]	masterwork heavy crossbow plus 19 bolts
[333]	masterwork heavy pick

I rejoined the others up the stairs. The pit had vanished, and there were a pair of doors we had ignored in the heat of battle.

Radella quickly unlocked one, which was for a store room with a wide variety of stores and provisions, ranging from exquisite to disgusting. I took a few bottles of fine wine while Etayne snooped around for the sort of gross goo that appeals to her.

[333]

6 bottles of Korvosian wine

Meanwhile Radella was busy at the other door, muttering to herself as she fiddled with the lock. After nearly half an hour there was a soft snick as the final tumbler fell and the lock was defeated. But Radella raised her hand, holding us back, as she squinted suspiciously at the latch. “Trapped,” she said, and after minute or so of additional fiddling she opened the door.

We had found the treasury, which explained the very complex lock and trap. Coins and bars of precious metals gleamed in the torch light. Counting would have to wait until later, but Detect Magic directed my attention to a wooden chest.

I began to pull items out of the chest as we identified them. Based on what was there, we were confident that we had found Ulf’s possessions.

But there was more.

As I continued to bring items out I could see Kali reacting with alarm, and only some moments later did I realize the cause. We had found Ameiko’s stuff.

But Ameiko was supposed to be back at the caravan, safely guarded by Shalelu and the others. She must have been taken shortly after we left and brought here overnight. I was worried about Shalelu, because there is no way she would have let them take Ameiko while she was still standing.

There was only one place left to find her: down the stairs and through the door.

Helgarval detected a number of evil creatures beyond the door, including one with a much stronger aura than the others. Likewise I detected a primary source of magic on the other side.

We used the Ring of the Ram to blast the the door into splinters and swiftly swarmed in. The large room beyond had a pyramidical ceiling and multiple levels, with a waterfall cascading down a far wall.

Silverscor quickly ducked behind a decorative screen as a squad of ninjas advanced upon us. The ninjas proved no more difficult than before, but now they were supported by a powerful spell caster. Whenever we could we focused our primary attacks on Silverscor, who had a nasty habit of vanishing and appearing elsewhere.

Never the less, we were taking a heavy toll on her, and her ninjas were crumbling like dust. She appeared on a platform, changed into her true form of a purple ogre, and I managed to fly up and cast Touch of Idiocy on her, but it was a feeble attempt. She then flew up to the top of the ceiling.

We followed, and despite some nasty attacks and area effect spells, we were inflicting great damage upon her when she vanished.

Apparently Suishen granted Olmas the ability to see our invisible foe, and with his direction we brought her crashing to the ground with a dull thud.

We made extra sure she would stay down by removing her head, and then pawed through her belongings.

[368]	wand of flaming arrow [9 charges]
[369]	scale male (large)
[370]	+1 te-tsubo — a mace with studs (large)
[371]	masterwork composit longbow (plus 18 arrows)
[372]	lesser bracers of archery
[373]	keyring with 3 keys
[374]	pair of silver braziers (from the room)

Radella discovered a secret door by the ogre’s body, which opened onto a passage with a locked door on the immediate left and another further down on the right.

We could feel intense cold radiating out from the first door, and we heard a soft menacing growl. Helgarval said something evil lurked behind the door, but not inherently evil. We left it for later.

A large dark cell lay beyond the next door with a pool of murky water spreading out from a corner. Two figures were slumped on the floor nearby, and one of them was Ameiko!

Helgarval announced that there was evil in the water, and weird, giant frog-like creatures clambered out from the pool.

Olmas ran in with Ivan, the latter quickly and grabbing Ameiko, carrying her out to the corridor, while the former slashed at the frog-beasts. I followed and grabbed the other figure, a man we assumed to be Ulf.

Ameiko cried out, “Don’t look them in the eyes!” and we soon discovered what she meant. Lurid yellow green rays of sprang out from the frog things’ eyes, striking us. We later learned that these had the power to blind, but we killed them quickly before anyone suffered ill effects.

I channeled to lend some much needed healing to Ameiko and Ulf, as Ameiko told of her capture. She had left the safety of the caravan. Alone. Without telling anyone where she was going. And of course she was quickly captured and brought here.

Seriously? That seemed more than a little careless and a lot foolish to me, but I held my tongue. Perhaps she learned a lesson from all of this.

The blindness that the frogs inflicted upon Ameiko and Ulf slowly lifted while we discussed our next steps.

We have found a lot of loot, not even including what was in the treasure room, and this should help us on the long and difficult journey ahead.

But get this, some of the others thought the treasure and loot we found needed to be returned to the Rhyme Runners Guild, because “It was theirs and they legally owned it.”

Others said the same thing about Ravenscraeg when I suggested we sell it to raise cash.

Kali was among the latter group, and she looked pityingly at me as if I did not understand the concept of property, legal rights and the realities of the world.

I am much more familiar with legal “property rights” than she imagines. I was — and in fact still am — the legal property of another. Should I be returned to them because “they have a legal right to me?”

Fortunately Suishen itself spoke up, clearly disgusted with the turn in the conversation. It could not believe we would risk our mission by throwing away the hard earned treasure we found here.

As far as I am concerned the Rhyme Runner’s Guild gets jack shit. It has no moral or ethical claims to what we have recovered from Ravenscraeg or from fortress itself.

In fact I think we should march into their office with Lute and Ulf in tow, and explain to them what we found at Ravenscraeg: all of the illegal and immoral activities we discovered with evidence linking all of it back to the guild itself.

Let them know that this evidence was ready to be sent to the King and Kalsgard’s leaders, along with announcements to be posted on the city walls denouncing the guild if we did not leave their office happy with the outcome of our discussion.

I suspect with their precious leader gone they will not have the will, fortitude, or courage to argue with us.

And speaking of Lute, we need to find him before he tries to head back to Kalsgard on his own.

And there is the not small matter of the treasure we have yet to count or collect. It looks heavy, and I wonder if we currently have the means to haul it away.

And something very cold and very unhappy is locked down here.