As we quickly progress towards the castle, we are confronted by another group of soldiers. The party rushes to attack and Porodo uses his ability to “roar,” sending five of the enemy soldiers running. We defeat the rest in short order.

A large group attacks us immediately after, but the Dwarves smash them into a nearby wall en masse, giving us a path through towards the castle. A few of the Dwarves come with us as we near the castle wall.

The Dwarves move to set the explosive charge at the base of the wall and we are suddenly attacked by crossbow bolts from above. One of the Dwarves is hit in the shoulder but he pulls it out and continues with his work. Porodo scales the wall using his Spider Climb spell. The rest of us provide the Dwarves cover and fire back. Josephus fires off a devastating spell and blasts several of them off the wall.

Finally the Dwarves finish setting the charge and yell “Fire in the hole!” We scatter and the wall blasts open. Ahead of us we see the lake and the castle to the left. We see that the castle is almost completely covered by vines.

We approach the rear entrance of the castle and see blocking our way a large group of zombies who seem to be made of mold. We form up and Josephus fires a blast of electricity into two of them. The rest of us run up to attack. A few moments later we cut through them and run through the doors.

Josephus produces a pouch with herbs in it, and he passes them out to everyone. He says that it will protect us from contracting any diseases for about six hours. The Dwarves begin smashing against the door and break it open after a few moments. We rush into the castle.

Reinforcements and siege equipment continue to pour through the portal. When all is said and done 600 soldiers, 40 Berethenu knights, 300 Dwarven warriors with the Black Mountain Brewing Brigade, and also the Shadow Hunters and 100 Rangers from the Long Patrol have joined us.

Josephus calls us together for a meeting after a while, and several members of the other groups join us. He gives us a map that he himself drew, saying that he is something of a cartographer. The map is superb in its detail and shows the area near and inside the city of Dakar, which must sack if we are to turn the tide of the war. The city is surrounded by a 25-foot wall and a river runs through it, but it is also protected by huge gates.

Many suggestions of how to make siege on the city are thrown out, including blocking the flow of the river so it would swell and flood the city, an all-out assault (suggested by Sir Bradford, natch) and digging under one of the gates and planting explosives (suggested by the Dwarves). Josephus is oddly quiet during this time and seems to be listening intently. Sarthisis suggests that he use his “burrowing” spell to dig a small hole in the wall in which explosive powder will be placed and then detonated to blow through the wall.

We discuss the placement of the various buildings inside the city, and realize that though all of its inhabitants are being mind controlled by Galignan’s spores, we must be careful of the civilian casualties and save them by removing Galignan’s control.

Another option discussed is to flood the river with oil and then light it on fire to cause havoc in the city and allow for our assault. On the northeast side is the stable for the cavalry, and we identify this as another possible point of attack since horses certainly are averse to fire. From this area the soldiers would have to cross the whole of the city to attack us, and with the river aflame this would be difficult. Our rangers would be attacking from the treeline.

We decide on the following:

1. At dusk we will move our forces into place. We will have the 100 rangers from the Long Patrol on the northeast bank of the river in the treeline. The siege equipment will be brought from the northeast just outside the treeline. Bradford’s crossbow men will be hidden in the cornfields further to the east. His Berethenu knights and other swordsmen will be hidden in the forest just north of of the wall penetration point and close to the river. The Shadow Hunters, our group and the dwarves will be nearby.
2. From the safety of the woods, we will empty many barrels of oil into the river. We will then light it on fire using Sarthisis’ magic or flaming arrows.
3. The Brewing Brigade will set and detonate a charge at the wall very close to the river.
4. While the Brewing Brigade is setting the charge, the Shadow Hunters will attack and destroy the middle guard station.
5. After the walls are destroyed, the Dwarves and our group will pour through the holes and slaughter the cavalry. We will then slip past the fighting and continue south towards the castle.
6. The rolling towers will be brought up towards the wall to let more of our troops in and the crossbowmen will man them to fire on the enemy inside the city below. The catapults will be fired from the treeline at all areas of the north wall and the northmost bridge to choke the enemy’s advance.
7. While the assault at the north continues, our group along with the 300 Dwarves will continue south towards the castle and use explosives to get through the wall. We will raid the castle and Josephus will free the king from Galignan’s control.

The first part of the plan goes flawlessly and we are able to get inside the castle with little resistance. The siege machines are attacking behind us as we advance. As we come through the residential area we are cut off from the dwarves and surrounded by a group of 14 troops. A furious battle ensues and we cut down the attackers.

We continue on towards the castle as fast as we can manage.

We continue on. There is a large door near the statue and we try to listen at it before it is opened. We hear nothing so open it, but suddenly see several men with armor and weapons before us. Sarthisis slams the door shut. A beat later he opens it again and we run in to attack. There is the slashing of swords and Aliga awakes and decides that he would like to help. The battle is over in a few moments and two of them surrender. Porodo ties them up with rope.

Porodo asks Eilenos to touch the altar to see if it is magical. Eilenos does and he is healed of all his damage. The others try this and their damage does not heal. While searching the defeated thieves the group finds 36 gold. Eilenos and Sarthisis see that the decorations in this room look like a shrine to Berethenu. The fungus that has penetrated the room goes up to the altar but does not reach it.

Sarthisis whispers to Eilenos to take one of the prisoners out of the room and make him yell as if we are torturing him. Eilenos does this and the other man becomes afraid suddenly very cooperative. He tells us of the areas of the temple and that one area leads to the Priest of Krokus. He says that the priest does not use any weapons but uses a staff in his ceremonies.

The prisoner goes with us to the door and knocks. A voice comes from the other side in a language we do not understand. The doors open and two zombies who look like they are made out of plant material open it. Krodmich and Eilenos immediately attack. The zombies take damage. Krokus casts some sort of spell and Eilenos feels that his skin is burning off of his bones. Sarthisis fires off two ice spells and the priest topples over, dead. The rest of his zombies follow a few moments later.

We search the room and the bodies. Krokus has a long knife (magical), a pouch of spell components, a coin purse with 70 gold pieces in it, a staff, a scroll case with several scrolls in it, a necklace, and a ring (magical). Josephus says that the ring gives the wearer protection. Sarthisis takes this. Inside the scroll we find orders from King Randar of Salgrin to release the plague to the eastern portion of the kingdom. We move on.

Through the next doorway to the north, a mixture of bluish and greenish light comes through. Two braziers glow with strange light. Between them is a large dome with pulsating light in it. There is a panel next to the portal. Josephus begins tapping at the controls.

We are currently waiting in Hovelton for reinforcements before we quest towards Dakar. Josephus says that he has a small task for us before our reinforcements arrive. We will go to a nearby temple for a mission.

The temple is a temple of Shalmar, the Goddess of Life. Shalmar was the only god that did not twist humanity to her own ends after the beginning of time, and has mostly left the life on the planet alone. She had approached Necros about his doings, and he murdered her. This angered Berethenu and began the war of the gods, which ended in Enigwa casting Necros into the darkness.

Shalmar’s followers are still active, however one of Galignan’s disciples named Krokus entered the nearby temple and killed all who served there, defiling and turning it into a temple of Galignan.

There in the temple the clerics of Shalmar had a device, a gate of some sort, that could transport people to and from faraway places. They had used it to bring their healing to those all over Juravia but the gate may now be in the hands of Krokus and his minions. We must gain control of this gate and use it to help bring our reinforcements more quickly.

Josephus says that he will accompany us on this mission. Eilenos asks if the group is no longer trustworthy, but Josephus responds by saying that that is not the case, we just may need his help taking down Krokus and his men.

Josephus asks if we have any better ideas since he is not really of a tactical mind. We respond that we will have to see what the situation is with the temple and figure out a plan at that point.

We decide that we must gather as many supplies as possible from the town, though we don’t want to be disrespectful to the dead. We take food, healing roots, armor repair pieces and Eilenos takes a large shield.

We pack up our gathered belongings and head off to the southwest towards the temple. As we get deeper and deeper in the forest, the stranger the vegitation looks. After several hours of riding we see a stone structure; the unnatural vegitation looks like it is creeping up the sides. We see at the front of the temple four huge dogs, roughly the size of donkeys, guarding the area. They are dark and furless, with dense scales. Josephus awakens and says that they are Mul Hounds, which are very dangerous. They apparently have not seen us yet.

We discuss several strategies but then simply decide to charge in and attack. The dogs soon see us and let loose a shrieking bellow as they see the intruders. The party attempts to surround them. After a few minutes of heated battle the dogs are killed. During the battle Eilenos drops his sword (which unknown to him, is cursed) and decides not to pick it up. Krodmich hands him the sword and Eilenos says “I don’t think I need this anymore, it is just extra weight now that I have a warhammer.” Krodmich does not understand why one would not want as many weapons as possible. Eilenos stabs the sword into one of the nearby dog corpses and leaves it there for the time being.

Sarthisis leads the group into the temple. There seem to be no other guards in the area. We soon see two statues, apparently of Shalmar, however the offerings in front of the statues are covered with a thick layer of moss. We see large doors on the left and right and decide that we should tack them closed with metal spikes so we can explore them one by one and not be ambushed. Once this is completed we hear from behind one of the doors loud voices and one man yelling “Get an axe!” Sarthisis squirts oil underneath the door and the the man hacking at the door slips and falls on it.

The men continue to try and break through the door but the spike holds for quite a while, however they eventually bust through. Sarthisis squirts fiery oil in another one’s face as they break through and we begin to attack. They are well-armored humans with blades, axes and chain mail. Sarthisis continues to attack with fire and Eilenos rushes into the room to strike with his sword.

Krodmich uses the Horn of Summoning on one of the men in the room and he charges out through the fire to attack the dwarf. Unfortunately he is burned horribly as he tries to advance and expires in the hallway before he can reach his target.

The rest of the warriors are either slashed or burned to death; Josephus helps out with his staff. As the last one is being taken care of Sarthisis yells for everyone to get out of the way and charges across the hall to the other door. He continues to attack them with fire until they are all killed.

Sarthisis goes towards the large doors at the end of the hall and tries to push through, but they seem to be barred. As he is doing that, a tendril wriggles from a hole in the ceiling and stabs through his armor, wrapping itself around his bones and internal organs. Eilenos begins to load his crossbow to take a shot at the tendril. Just then another one protrudes from the ceiling and stabs Sarthisis in the midsection.

Josephus yells “Get back!” and his hands glow with magical energy. He shoots a ball of flame at them. Eilenos fires a crossbow bolt and misses, and Krodmich slashes it with his throwing axe. The tendrils wither and withdraw from Sarthisis’ body.

We explore one of the hallways to the left and see a statue of Shalmar that seems untouched. We search it and find a secret compartment. Checking it for traps, Aliga accidentally trips the trap and a sleeping gas seeps out into his face. He falls into a deep sleep. Sarthisis finds a necklace with a rose petal carved charm. As he puts it on he feels healthier. Josephus says that Aliga will not be out long and was in no danger of dying, since the clerics of this temple would not have built deadly traps.

Sarthisis throws the Merikii over his shoulder and we continue on.

The party (except for Eilenos) cleans themselves off, trying to get rid of the dragon’s slime that he had expelled onto them. They are feeling slighly sick. They take a look around and find more and more gold, but they can take no more.

We come out of the cavern and see below us, at the bottom of the cavern, is a huge pool of stagnant and fetid water. It smells horrible. We go back and ascend the tunnel, there is a platform there. We carefully walk out onto it and see that it is deserted. However there are weapons lying all around.

Eilenos discovers a magical hand-axe among the scattered weapons. It is very cold; Eilenos gives it to Krodmich. We continue climbing until we reach another platform. Some of us hear moaning coming from above. We take the path up and look around, but see nothing. Porodo dons his “cloak of eyes” and takes a look, but still sees nothing. Eilenos notices that when he puts it back on the second time, different eyes appear.

We come out and see we have ascended to ground level. It is eerily quiet, and almost night. We decide that we will camp here for the night using part of the tree’s trunk. Eilenos heals those who are wounded, but we still feel a bit sick.

We take watch and see nothing during the night. Sarthisis rests to regain his spell power. In the morning, Porodo looks around the area and up in the tree using his cloak. Krodmich fixes the lizard’s ring armor.

The party leaves and travels east and then south, along the border of the Five Kingdoms towards Hovelton. After we get a mile or so out of the Phantom Hollow, we notice that there is unnatural growth around. Vines protrude from the forest, however they look veiny and fleshy. Eilenos pokes it with his sword and a vile ooze trickles out. The party is distracted as a lumbering green mound, appearing like a moss-covered zombie, comes out of the forest near us.

Eilenos jumps from his horse and begins to charge the creature, however as he gets nearer to it he sees a large green cloud protrude from it. He holds his breath and charges through, slashing at it. He takes off an arm with his stroke. The others rush in and attack as well. Krodmich attacks with a torch, attempting to burn the creature. It catches aflame and falls to the ground, no longer moving.

There is moss on the ground near the creature, and we notice that it is quivering. Eilenos doesn’t seem to know what to do about it, but Nadia rushes forward and attacks it with her sword. Sarthisis douses it with oil and Krodmich throws a torch on, starting it on fire. We flee and see that the fire is extending into the forest as we go. The vines are also engulfed. The moss explodes in a huge cloud of spores. We take our cart and leave quickly. We can see the smoke in the distance.

As we travel further south over the next couple of days, we still see the vines everywhere. In several places there are carts by the side of the road that contain dead people and animals. They don’t necessarily look diseased, just as if they died quickly.

Two days later we reach Hovelton, a very small and poor-looking shanty town and farmlands. People and animals all around are dead, lying on the ground. As we come into the town we see someone standing at the center. He is wearing a tattered brown cloak with a hood drawn over his face. He is bent over a dead body, leaning on a gnarled staff. We come closer and Porodo jumps off of his horse to come up behind him. When Porodo is only a few feet away, Eilenos says “Ho there!” in a loud voice. The man turns around and we see that it is Josephus.

“I have much to explain, my friends,” he says. “But first let us give these people proper burials.” We all help him dig a large grave and we put the bodies into it. Josephus says a few words for them.

Afterwards he suggests that we rest in one of the nearby buildings and discuss the matters at hand. He comments about the plague and says that it is our fault. By visiting Phantom Hollow, we have unleashed this plague — apparently it is one of Galignan’s largest strongholds, and the slime dragon one of his pets. Josephus has been in Dakar since we returned from Mulkra. Galignan has assumed mortal form as King Randar of Salgrin, training and strengthening his forces in Dakar. The disease he created is transferred by spores, and is meant to infect men’s minds. This is how he has gained control over Salgran. We tipped him off to our presence by entering Phantom Hollow, and he has infected everything east of the Tarkin River with the plague, causing most everything to perish.

Josephus feels that we must go to Dakar and finish Galignan, which should be possible because he now resides in mortal form. However before that he will need us to follow instructions. He says as an aside, “Why did you travel there?” Eilenos says that it was the easiest way to get to Hovelton while avoiding the forest and Dakar, and he thought that by clearing that area of evil they would be striking a blow against Grom.

Josephus continues, and says that we must travel into Dakar and avoid his army, even before we adventure for Grom’s Bane. As it is, Galignan is only going to get stronger so we must strike now. Reinforcements are on their way and will be here within a few days and our purpose here will be clear. If we do not succeed, Kith-Katal (the lizard kingtom) will likely be his next target.

We leave Old Durnick and travel towards Phantom Hollow, despite Josephus’ warnings. It takes us a few hours to get there. We see in the distance a huge tree as we approach the town. We estimate that it is between 200 and 250 feet just to the bottom branches. The roots are spread out all around and there is quite a lot of slashes and sap covering the trunk of the tree.

We get off the cart to explore; Sarthisis tastes the sap of the tree and it tastes very bitter. Eilenos and Sathisis see that there are small burrows underneath some of the exposed roots. We also see a skeleton laying on the ground nearby. It is clothed in leather armor which is in perfect shape, and he also has a backpack on his back. In the backpack we find 3 torches, 50 feet of rope, a waterskin and a pouch with 17 gold at his belt. He has a longsword, a dagger and an undamaged wooden shield next to him. Also in his belt he has a pouch with 3 leaves and 2 healing roots in it. Porodo identifies the leaves as Brye leaves, which counteract poison from a creature called a Mevoshk (a 12 foot long snake with black and yellowish coloration and a cobra-like hood).

Sarthisis smells the water in the waterskin and it seems to have a film on it. He decides to dump it out in one of the burrows nearby. As he does this he sees something slithering down the side of the tree — it appears to be one of the Mevoshk snakes! Sarthisis fires a magical icebolt at him and scores a hit. Krodmich also scores a hit and the mevoshk strikes back, biting him in the arm. The dwarf goes immediatly rigid and falls to the ground. Sarthisis kills the snake and Eilenos rushes to Krodmich to administer the cure. The first leaf doesn’t work so he uses the one the Dwarf had, and he is no longer paralyzed.

We notice a large one of the burrows in the ground and go to explore. We sense the stench of death emanating from it. We decide to descend and see what is down there. The ground is slimy and muddy, there are various insects here. Eilenos lights his lantern and Porodo pulls out his peysha mold to help light their way. Looking around, Krodmich sees small heat signatures above us. In front of and below us there is a huge opening where there is only darkness, except for torch lights that we can see. The area expands to a huge area. We see also hordes of bird-like creatures with huge spanning wings and large stingers protruding from their beaks.

Our torchlight seems to have attracted them, and they fly towards us to attack. They hit Eilenos, Sarthisis and the lizard with their beaks and they begin bleeding out. During the fighting, Eilenos loses grip on his sword and it falls into the darkness. There is no sound of it hitting the ground. Soon afterward Krodmich loses the grip on his axe and it also falls into the void. The creatures are defeated and we bind our wounds so we do not continue bleeding.

As we look below we see a small sliver of white light among the torches. It looks to be the same white light that Eilenos’ sword gives off when it detects those loyal to Grom. Porodo confirms that it is the sword with his excellent vision, and also sees a wooden platform down below with several goblins on it. They are looking curiously at the sword and have picked up Krodmich’s axe to look at it. Porodo fires an arrow at the one holding the axe and it goes through the top of its head, killing it instantly.

Sarthisis has an idea — he will tie all of us to him and cast his levitation spell so we can all be carried over to the platform. We do so and jump off of the platform, even though Eilenos is wearing plate mail. We freefall for several seconds and then Sarthisis casts his levitation spell so we float to the ground. As we are falling, Porodo catches a glimpse of niches in the wall behind us, and there seem to be zombies in them. We float in and begin attacking the goblins with missile weapons. We land at the center of the platform and continue attacking them. They are all killed except for one inside a small structure on the platform. It does not attack; it is cowering behind a box in the corner. Sarthisis decides to try and communicate with it but cannot. He puts it on a leash. Eilenos sees that his sword does not glow white around the creature so he may not be loyal to Grom.

Eilenos checks the items around that the goblins dropped, and the short sword that Eilenos was stabbed with appears to be magical. The blade is very cold. (The sword does standard short sword damage but when it hits it will do an extra D6 of cold damage. There are no bonuses to hit or to damage, etc.)

In the wall adjacent to the platform is a cave that lies in the cavern wall. We explore this area and see that it also smells rather rank. There are five large rats, one of them an extremely large “stink rat.” We run towards and attack, however Krodmich cannot because he is overcome by the stench. Eilenos, in the heat of the moment, loses his composure and pulls out his evil sword to attack. As he does, he thinks to himself “I could easily kill all of these rats in this room by myself. Hmm.” We quickly dispatch of them and Krodmich kills the stink rat after several more tries.

We check a dead adventurer that is nearby. He has a short sword, a light crossbow with 6 bolts and 9 gold. None of his items are magical. We see that there is a cavern that goes down further, and outcroppings to help climb upward to the next level. We decide to descend and see what lies below. There is about 50 feet of tracking back and forth and we see a fork where we can either go out the side of the cave or continue down. We come out the side and see torches and another building. There are two goblins guarding the area and we take them by surprise. There are more goblins on the platform, and one of them has a staff and robe like a magician. He leers at us and begins attacking with magical power from his staff. We manage to kill him and we search the area. His staff is certainly magical, Eilenos gives it to Sarthisis. (The staff has 26 charges of Ice Burst, with a range of 70 feet).

We return into the tunnel in the side of the cavern and go down another level. It is about 150 feet down. This area is completely empty. The next one down goes across the entire width of the cavern — we crawl across to the other side into another cavern the size of a small room. There is here, piled to the ceiling, an enormous amount of gold coins from all over Juravia. Sarthisis searches through it and finds a burgundy colored robe inside it. Eilenos ascertains that it is indeed magical. Krodmich finds buried on the opposite side a Dwarven axe — it is also magical. Sarthisis puts on the cloak and can suddenly see in all directions and heat signatures as well. The rest of us see two gold clasps appear that are eyeball-shaped. Soon eyeballs of different shapes, sizes, colors and races appear all over it. The party members are repulsed; Eilenos pokes his sword at one of the eyes and it blinks in pain, he recoils, disgusted. Sarthisis decides that he cannot wear it and gives it to Porodo.

The axe that Krodmich found seems to want to leap out of his hands. He tosses it and it returns to his hand after sweeping a wide arc.

Porodo, with his newfound powers of sight, sees a large dragon crawling through the hole. His scales are black and slimy. He says “Find anything interesting?” Eilenos says “Away, creature. We are protected by my lord Berethenu!” The dragon laughs and says “You live and die by my leave while you are here. Why are you here?” Eilenos says “We came to investigate the evil that is said to be in these caverns.”

Sarthisis begins casting a magic spell, and the dragon, seeing this, says “How quaint. I’m not an unreasonable dragon. Just leave all of your things in the pile and I will let you leave.” Eilenos says “I took nothing from your stash and I don’t mean to take anything, I just came here to kill you!” With that both sides attack.

Eilenos rushes forward and the dragon spits out a disgusting slime attack onto him. The initial impact causes damage, but the slime immediately sloughs off of his armor. The rest of the party moves to attack. After several moments of heated combat he falls down, dead.

We rest for an entire day while party members regain their spell power. We then say our goodbyes to the refugees in the cave, leaving the horses in their care temporarily.

We return to the graveyard and into the crypt underneath. There are destroyed zombie bodies and bones here from our previous visit. There is a double door at the back of the room. This leads to a small rectangular room with descending stairs. Sarthisis hears noise from below.

We go in to investigate and there are three skeletons with swords and one is wearing plate mail. We defeat them and Eilenos takes the plate mail though it is certainly foul with the stench of the undead. He also takes a shield since his own was recently destroyed. Presently we get to a large door with Berethenu’s symbol on it. Above it says “Just Enter.” No amount of trying will allow Eilenos to enter, even as he presses the items of Antinius against the door. He removes his “evil” items and still cannot get through.

The party tries at the other doors in the dungeon but they are similarly blocked off. In the last room we find two necromancers, a male and a female. This must be the dark magic that Eilenos previously sensed. They cackle as the party enters, and the male says “I knew he would come back, they always do. Eilenos, join us in your rightful place by our side!”

Eilenos struggles with their words and looks angry. He hears in his head “Join me, Eilenos!” It is Necros’ voice. “Never!” Eilenos says. “I will destroy your minions and you as well!”

“Very well, kill them!” Necros says, now in a voice that everyone can hear. The necromancers attack. Sarthisis uses fire spells to attack them and defends himself with fiery armor.

Eilenos approaches the woman to attack — she points towards him and he falls to the ground unconscious, victim of whatever spell she put on him. Sarthisis runs towards the male and burns him severely. He throws a flask of oil on him as well, causing more damage. The necromancers are defeated and Eilenos is revived, though he nearly was killed by the woman’s spell.

Eilenos now tries the door to Berethenu’s chamber and it lets him through now that the necromancers are dead. There are two braziers in this room burning, though it has remained sealed for many years. In the center is a statue of a man with armor on made of shiny plate and chain and Berethenu’s symbol emblazened on the chest. His arms are outstretched and he carries a scabbard at his waist. Around him are stuck vertically into the stone several weapons and a parchment behind a pane of glass in the center. It is discovered that only Eilenos can read it. It says:

Twin Allies of Justice, Regal and Stout
Their Past, Present and Future Tragic
Steel and Stone
Wood and Magic
Their Crafts Joined Together to Shield and Protect
Berethenu’s Champion Against Darkness, Chaos and Neglect
Instrument of Evil’s Demise
Return to the Just
Claim Berethenu’s Prize

The party studies the riddle and after a few moments think that they have figured it out. Eilenos’ sword, Berethenu’s Will, is placed in the scabbard. The “wood and magic,” the arrows (which Eilenos ascertains are indeed magic) are placed in one hand and the warhammer of “steel and stone” are placed in the other. The riddle represents the cultures of Elves and Dwarves coming together to forge this armor for Berethenu’s Champion so they may all be protected from darkness.

As the items are placed the statue crumbles and only the armor remains. This is truly the Justice Guard, the armor of Antinius the Lightheart! Eilenos removes the skeleton armor and puts this on. He feels stronger as he does this, and he notices that dirt simply sloughs off instead of accumulating. He takes the warhammer as well since he knows in the future he will be wielding Grom’s Bane, Antinius’ own warhammer. Eilenos gives Porodo the magical arrows found at the site since he would be able to best use them, and also his (extra) magical longsword which he no longer needs.

The group searches further in the room and finds several more magical items possessed by the deceased necromancers. Eilenos finds one of their spell books and leafs through it — he thinks it is fascinating, but he suddenly notices that his paladin powers have disappeared temporarily (for an entire day, in actuality). Krodmich wrestles is away from him and throws it in the fire; he says that Eilenos will thank him later. Eilenos sulks but does not say anything.

The party opens the two sarcophogi in the room and there is much gold and jewels contained within. There is far too much to take so we simply grab as much as we can, load it into the bags we have and leave the crypt. We return to the caves and inform the refugees there of the remaining gold and that the necromancers were destroyed. They thank us, and several of them marvel at Eilenos’ armor.

We rest in the caves for two full days to regain our strength and then prepare to leave Old Durnick.

Opting not to take the quiet approach, we charge into the lutemaker’s shop. There is nothing here except for broken instrumetns. We decide to hole up here for a while and Krodmich fixes some party members’ armor.

Sarthisis checks out the window periodically and sees orcs tending to the bonfires in the center of town. We are not sure why they are doing this.

We decide to make our way across town to an abandoned cave for a more defensive position. We search the entire area and find nothing. Eilenos checks the walls at the back and senses something magical, perhaps a doorway. However the group cannot figure out how to activate or open it. We decide to stay for 10 hours and watch both the front entrance and the “magic door.”

Aliga watches the front entrance and sees three skeletons in the graveyard — there are certainly undead active here. They never go out of the gate and seem to be congregating in the southwest corner.

At morning we decide to take care of the giant. We sneak around the town and approach the silos, near a large farm. The giant’s tarp is hung over two silos and we hear snoring from within. Sarthisis tosses his lit torch towards the tarp. As he does this he casts a spell on the torch and a 4-foot being made entirely of flame emerges and walks towards the tent. It scales the tent and the entire lean-to collapses on the giant as it lights on fire. The giant awakens. The flame being, at Sarthisis’ direction, goes around the perimiter and continues to burn the canvas.

The giant emerges, roaring and rushing angrily towards us. Aliga strikes with a wind attack from Kili’s Storm. The elemental also moves to attack the giant. Other party members do ranged attacks at the giant and then surround for close combat. We kill him and grag the tarp off of the silos to see his home underneath.

Sarthisis finds a locked banded chest in the hay and realizes that the giant is wearing the key to this around his neck. After prying it off of the giant he opens the chest and finds many riches inside. Piles and piles of gold and jewels — much more than we could ever carry.

Sarhtisis takes nine diamonds as “magic components.” Aliga finds a suit of dull silver Elven chain mail that bequeaths major protection from harm, dexterity and little noise as it moves. As we are fawning over the armor, Sarthisis is pocketing over 800 coins and all the gems and jewelry he can find. Even though this must be incredibly heavy inside his robes, he seems to be able to move normally and it sounds as if he only has a few coins in his pockets.

Sarthisis takes the key from the ring and we see that Nadia is moving towards the house. We remember that she said this is her house. The place is completely trashed. She goes upstairs to investigate and finds four orcs in the bedroom. We kill them, and Nadia breaks down in tears. She regains her composure after a few minutes and searches through the rubble. Under a floorboard she finds a master-crafted longsword which she says belonged to her father. She leads us out of the house.

We get the cart and load up the loot from the Giant’s dwelling. We find that there were 8,000 gold coins and 3,000 gold worth of jewelry and gems. We drag the giant into the barn and burn it. We work our way through the town and burn the rest to make sure that nothing survives. At the smithy’s we find some armor repair kits for Aliga’s armor and some other random items. The rest of the town besides the mausoleum is burned.

The party finally ventures into the graveyard. Eilenos senses great evil here and is uncomfortable. We go in slowly with torches lit. It is about 8am. A large chimney comes out of the main room and light streams through from above. There are two zombies and six skeletons in here. We briefly have the idea of burning the place down and them with it, but then just decide to attack. Eilenos uses the bludgeon spell on his sword to destroy the skeletons.

After the skeletons are destroyed, Eilenos checks one of the sarcophagi. Nadia scolds him, saying that these are people she knows buried here and she will not have him defiling their graves. Eilenos apologizes and says that he was merely trying to ascertain that they had not been previously defiled. Sarthisis checks and sees that none of them have been disturbed. We re-light the brazier at the center of the room and depart from the crypt.

The party returns to the cave at the northwest end of town for an entire day to rest. We play dice games together and Krodmich regales the group with stories from Ironhallow Hall. Sarthisis inspects the back wall further with a spell from his reportoire. He sees that there is certainly a secret door here, and that a group of Elves passed through here five days ago.

Sarthisis speaks Elven to try and pass through, but nothing works. Nadia presses her Elven sword against it, and again nothing. Krodmich closes his eyes and charges at the wall, and he passes through! He sees a corridor with torches along the walls ahead. Sarthisis brings the horses into the cave and we all go through the tunnel. The tunnel appears to have been built by Dwarves. We come out into a large hall with thirty foot ceilings and huge stone columns. Nadia is amazed that this is here — she has never heard anyone speak of it.

In here we see several small “buildings” carved in stone, and lights emanating from them. We call out towards the buildings and say that we have come with Nadia and have purged the town of evil. They come out and greet us; there are fifteen in all.

Nadia rushes to embrace one of the Elves. The rest come out and begin to ask us questions. An elf named Talamir explains that a week ago they heard the mausoleum gates thrown open and they went to investigate. In the catacombs they saw two robed figures and then were attacked by zombies. A horde of orcs and the giant came later while they were preoccupied and took over the town. The survivors hid here in the secret area of the cave.

The party says that they will leave soon to purge the crypt of the undead. The people here say that they will care for our horses in the meantime. We give them the chest of gold and the jewels that the giant stole. Talamir and a Dwarf, Ulfgar, take us to a nearby building and explain that the crypt was built not only to hold the dead, but to protect a very powerful item, one of Antinius’ trappings. He draws a crude map of the area where the item lies in the crypt. There are three doors at the center with Berethenu’s symbol on them and no key. They do not know how to open the doors. Perhaps agents of Necros have been raising the dead in the area to ask them questions about how to enter the crypt and steal the magical item. Talamir apologizes but he says that he knows no more about the tomb. We say that we will waste no more time and leave immediately to purge the crypt.

The party has soundly defeated the pack of bandits and mounted their heads on sticks. They continue along the plains towards Old Durnick.

At midday they come upon a large stand of trees and see smoke on the horizon. They continue around the woods. They come to a clearing to see the town completely destroyed. Two bonfires burn at the center and the town’s silo is disused and covered with a tarp.

Nadia immediately breaks down in tears. The party sees a greenskin coming out of a building nearby. Sarthisis pelts him with an ice bolt and Nadia slashes him with her sword. She continues to smash his inert body even though he is most certainly dead. Eilenos calls “Hey, we were going to question him!” She gives him the evil eye and continues smashing the orc’s corpse.

Sarthisis rushes into a nearby building and finds nothing except a pair of fine boots. Eilenos goes to comfort Nadia ans she breaks down in tears.

The group ties off the cart in a clearing nearby and continues towards the town clandestinely. Sarthisis and Aliga (the bird) sneak into the town quickly. Sarthisis uses a healing spell to tell how many orcs are in each building. He signals the numbers to Eilenos.

Sarthisis, Aliga and Krodmich sneak into one of the buildings and slash the sleeping orcs’ throats. They move to another building across the street and hear fighting inside. They burst in and dispatch them handily.

The party reconvenes and Nadia informs them of the specifics of the town. She assists in going into another building to kill more of the orcs. The party moves to the temple and it smells horrible. Eilenos peers through a window and sees three orcs inside praying. The party tosses two flasks of oil inside and the orcs start on fire. Eilenos runs to the front and blocks the doorway with his shield and prevents them from escaping. They are killed and their shrine to Grom (covered in feces) is destroyed. Eilenos hacks the head off of the statue with his sword.

The party moves towards the farm in the northeast corner of the town, and as they do so they go past the graveyard and see that it is mostly unmolested. Eilenos senses evil here, and it appears that some graves have been dug up. We wait to investigate and go to the farmhouse. From there we see orcs patrolling the area. We also see a Giant’s head protruding from a silo tent.

The group continues to the tailor’s building and rush in. There is nothing in the main room but an ogre is in the back room, who is attacked and killed. Krodmich takes the ogre’s giant mattock even though it is four times his size.

The party moves on to the Town Hall. They peek into the window and it appears to be a dining room. There are six orcs feasting on what appears to be human body parts. The party rushes in to attack, and Nadia calls out that one of them has a horn at his belt. Before the party can get to him he reaches for the horn and blows it to call in reinforcements. The party kills him and his five friends.

Porodo rushes outside to take on any reinforcements. Six orcs, two with bows are approaching. He uses the “roar” spell on them and they all flee except for two. Another ogre crushes one of those fleeing as he approaches and runs into the battle. Porodo dips an arrow in poison and fires it into his chest. The others join Porodo and the enemies are killed. The party loots their bodies, Sarthisis takes the leader’s horn.

Eilenos finds a mgic belt with Grom’s image, it is magical and helps to increase his strength. He decides to take it despite the fact that it is an item of Grom, or perhaps because it is so it can be used against the agents of Grom.

The party, consisting of Krodmich the Dwarf, Porodo the Ranger and Eilenos the Half-Dunnar are traveling through the Midlands from the Spine Mountains. Upon reaching the south area along the river they come to the River Rat.

In a booth toward the rear they see a Meriiki and a Kithsara. Porodo sees that they carry Kili’s Storm and robes similar to Thatsaru’s. They approach the party.

The bartender motions for Krodmich to come forward. He gives Krodmich a letter from Josephus. There is a map and the letter tells us to go to Old Durnick (for Nadia) on our way to the Port of Gredaine and then the Island of Nyambe-Tanda. He says that Grom’s Bane, the enchanted warhammer of Antinius the Lightheart, resides here in the possession of the “Jungle Protector.”

The lizard introduces himself as Sarthisis and says that he also got a letter from Josephus. The others ask if he will be accompanying them on their mission. He says that he is not sure; the person who delivered the message saved his life and he felt bound to respond to it. Eilenos says that they do not have to answer now as the party means not to leave until morning.

The party speaks with Brom Amerton, a riverboat captain, to book passage to Salgran. The man says that the trip takes about 4 days. Sarthisis listens around and hears that one of the barges were attacked by thieves recently.

The group is able to procure two free merchant suites at the River Rat. Before they retire, Eilenos plays dice and wins a whole 2 silver after several rounds. Krodmich arm wrestles and wins twice against patrons from the bar.

The next morning the party comes to breakfast and asks the two newcomers if they will be coming along on the journey. They agree and all leave presently on the barge. The trip is very boring. Porodo asks the lizard and the bird how they came to be here. Sarthisis (the lizard) says that they were kidnapped.

The bird says that he was jumped by Necros’ assassins and he awoke in a dungeon. A week later there was a battle and another Meriiki appeared and saved him. He was given the swords and the other Meriiki died. The rest of the group realizes that it was Dan’Tok. We explain that he was our friend.

We continue, on the second day we encounter a tradesman on a raft. He is selling pelts and we buy none. We move into the area of the Blood Marshes. The next day another barge passes with 15 soldiers, the River Patrol. They stop us and demand to know why we are traveling in this area. Eilenos says that the party is making a delivery to the River Patrol in the amount of 50 silver. They accept the bribe and continue on.

The next days we come across another ship with many people on it. They are drowning someone and we ready to attack them, but realize it is just “pirate justice” and move on.

On the fourth day we come to the Trader’s Post. There is a stable, a smoke house and some other building. We stop and purchase repair pieces for our armor and some other supplies. We buy two horses and a modest cart. Krodmich purchases a keg of ale.

We leave and Nadia leads us around the forst to Old Durnick. It takes us three days to get to the town. On the second day we are attacked by brigands, but they are greatly outmatched and we kill all of them. The lizard mounts their heads on pikes as a warning for other brigands.