We continue going west for 3 days. During one of these days we rest and let Porodo hunt for food, but he is unsuccessful.

While we are walking through a small canyon, suddenly two large boulders fall in front and behind us, blocking us in. Thatsaru uses a hearing spell and hears sinister voices on either side of the boulders.

Arrows bury themselves in the ground near us, and we see goblins and orcs approaching. We attack, and several more appear. We kill the goblins and orcs, and take their belongings. Thatsaru takes a java stone, a meteorite, and a crystal rod.

The next day we continue traveling and finally see grass – we have reached the end of the mountains, 25 miles from our starting point. In the distance, we see a small village and a river. This is possibly the river on which the River Rat lies.

We camp again before reaching the village.

After finishing our battles in Y’rzadel’s lair, we return to the storage room to retrieve Dan’tok, Gorin (the Dwarf) and Telly (the Sprite). As we are discussing our plans to return to the surface of the planet, Ennar tells us that he will not be returning with us — since we were successful in our mission, he will stay to combat demons in Mulkra.

Since Ennar will need the use of the port-stone to eventually return to the surface, it is decided that we must find another way. We return to the chamber with the portal, and attempt to decipher the runes on the control panel. Nadia attempts to use the Translating Orb that we found, but it seems to be undecipherable. Krodmich tries pressing the buttons on the console, but there seems to be no effect.

Hoping for the best, we step through the portal and find ourselves in a rocky valley surrounded by mountains. Krodmich and Gorin recognize the landscape, and surmise that we have arrived somewhere on the Spine Mountains, near Skraag. We decide that we must travel west, where we will eventually meet up with Josephus back at the River Rat.

Finding the terrain difficult to maneuver, we travel a mile west and camp for the night in a small cave. We wake refreshed to a light rain and continue moving west. At midday we come across a small encampment that was recently abandoned. Porodo finds orc tracks coming from the north and splitting off in every direction from the camp. Gorin warns that Orc patrols and Ogres are in the area, and that we must be cautious.

We camp another night and continue the next day. As we travel suddenly there is a rumbling that seems to be getting closer. An Ogre and a Giant appear, and Krodmich tells us to stand fast; he has some skill in fighting Giants. After fighting and killing both of them, we find that they have large sacks attached to their belts containing some treasure.

Thatsaru takes a large garnet gem, which seems to enhance his spellcasting abilities. We give a tattered cloth (which grants armor to its wearer) to the Sprite, since he was without any protection. We camp again for the night and heal ourselves.

As we continue through Y’rzadel’s Fortress, we find the torture room in which Ennar was previously imprisoned. Fighting the enemies that remained, we were able to free two Dwarves and an Elf. Unfortunately one of the Dwarves and the Elf perish before we can revive them with healing magic.

We take the Dwarf and the Sprite (that we previously rescued) and hide them among barrels in the entrance area. Dan’tok stays with them to guard the door.

We ascend to the second floor and find a large chamber with an immense throne at the rear. Upon the throne sits Y’rzadel, surrounded by his minions.

Eilenos demands that Y’rzadel give up the holy sword, Berethenu’s Will. Y’rzadel laughs heartily and refuses. Eilenos and Thatsaru begin the attack, and Ennar quickly joins by striking Y’rzadel himself with his Spear of Pain.

Ennar and Thatsaru go unconscious from damage, but Krodmich and Eilenos bring them back so they may continue fighting. Eventually Y’rzadel and all of his minions are defeated.

As we survey the room, we realize that all of the heavy iron doors are locked. We find two keys, one made of metal and one made of a demon’s horn. We use the demon’s horn key to open the surrounding doors and search the other rooms.

In one of the chambers beyond there is an immense pile of gold, upon which rests a statue of Grom. In Grom’s hand is held a glowing longsword. Eilenos approaches and takes the sword — it is Berethenu’s Will!

Our task completed, we scour the remainder of the castle in search for further items which may be of use. In another room we find a large chest, in which lies Y’rzadel’s journal. Thatsaru takes it. In Y’rzadel’s study, we find many vials and human organs in jars. There is also a demonic pendant, and Thatsaru takes it.

Thatsaru realizes that the iron key must be for the foot locker in the demon’s bedroom that we were previously unable to open, and we descend to the bedroom to try. The foot locker opens, and inside we find a large emerald, demon armor repair kits, and a potion of full healing (Krodmich takes it).

We continue through the demon fortress. Presently we find a small room with what appears to be a portal. A keypad rests next to the portal gate, ostensibly for choosing the portal’s destination. We decide not to go through the portal until we have searched the rest of the fortress. We hear screams from the next room, and find that it is the castle’s torture chamber.

In the tower’s torture chamber, we fight a large monkey-creature and a crystaline entity who were torturing a Sprite. After the battle we attempt to heal him, but he is in very bad shape and does not seem to know where he is. We attempt to explain that he is in Mulkra, but is very confused. He passes out from exhaustion. Deciding that we cannot take him with us, we hide him underneath a large bed and move on.

The group finds an “orgy room” with succubi who have (nude) men in their thrall. We kill the succubi and the men recover from the spell. Porodo is only momentarily affected by the succubi, and does not manage to cause any damage to the other party members.

The (nude) men seem to know each other, but are confused as to their whereabouts, similarly to the Sprite. They ask us if we know a way out of the castle, and we explain that they could either help us defeat the rest of the demons or go through the portal that we found. They decide to go through the portal, so we lead them to the room and they depart.

We continue through the fortress, and fight a roomful of stunted demons.

The party continues through the citadel. Tha’tsaru goes off on his own and encounters an Abyssal Maw, a hideous creature who attacks him with a flaming mace.

We find several foot lockers containing a wealth of gold, though there is no way that we can carry it all. We take a few coins and move on. We also find an armory room with demon weapons and equipment, and Tha’tsaru dons a suit of black plate mail.

The group continues through the fortress, exploring and fighting many demons. Two succubi (female demons) attack us and we defeat them.

We continue to set up camp, along with our 150 ranger companions and 30 dwarves, at the River Rat Inn. A bald, greasy man approaches us and demands to know why we are here. We tell him that we bear bad tidings from Elleday. Eilenos and That’saru accompany the man (who appears to be the proprietor of the River Rat) into the inn. The place is crammed with rowdy patrons; mercenaries, traders and merchants, and also several guards armed with swords and shields.

We find Josephus speaking with a hooded man at a table at the back of the bar. We notice, strangely, that he has gray hands protruding from his cloak, but we cannot see his face. Josephus gathers us and introduces the man as Ennar, the guide who we met at Dunnerton several months ago. His skin, as we saw, is a pale grey and he has a strange rune tattoo over his left eye. His eyes have an eerie, reddish hue to them.

Josephus explains that he sent Ennar on an “errand” after our adventure in Dunnerton. He traveled to Mulkra, the center of the planet, to find one of Antinius’ Trappings: Berethenu’s Will, the paladin’s fabled longsword. He reached an evil fortress in Mulkra, the home of Y’rzadel the demon and many other sinister creatures. These demons, the servents of the evil god Grom, were charged to protect Berethenu’s Will from falling into the hands of the righteous. Ennar was able to find the resting place of the sword, but was captured before he could obtain it.

Ennar was held captive at the tower for over four months, and was horribly tortured. The demons attempted to turn him evil by casting spells on him, but he managed to escape. While he was fleeing he was able to find the Ring of Restoration, another of Antinius’ Trappings.

Since his return to the surface, Ennar has been studying ways to combat and kill demons. He shows us a weapon he has obtained, a spear with orange glowing runes. He explains that it is the Dark Lance, imbued with runes of pain to slay nearly any foe.

Josephus explains that he will remain and gather more forces to stand against Necros, but we must accompany Ennar back into Mulkra to retrieve Berethenu’s Will and the other artifacts which reside in the demon’s tower. The dwarves and rangers will assist Josephus in his task, as only a small group of us can be transported to Mulkra. The Shadow Hunters, too, will continue their mission of warning the outlying towns of Necros’ return. They have already encountered scattered bands of undead in their travels.

Agreed on our task, we retire for the evening. The next morning we pack our belongings and say our good-byes to everyone. Presently, Ennar produces a black stone from his robes, speaks in a strange language, and a swirling red vortex surrounds us. We feel nauseous, and things go black. We come to and find ourselves on barren rock, with an angry red sky above us.

We see before us our destination, a huge black tower. As we travel toward it, Ennar explains that demons are generally immune to lightning attacks and poison, and can communicate telepathically. In order to resist demon mind control, the party consumes emerki roots before entering the tower.

The party approaches the front door and Ennar proclaims our purpose to the demons within. A small demon appears, and Ennar jabs his wicked spear into it. We advance into the castle and fight the demon hordes in the entryway. After defeating the first wave, we take in our surroundings. There are murals and carvings everywhere, and it is lit by red torches. We move through the fortress, led by Ennar.

It has been four months since the defeat of the Gnolls. The party has been aiding in the efforts to reconstruct the fort and bury the dead. A stone masoleum is constructed for Cardollan by the Brewing Brigade at the spot he was killed. Cardollan’s body and all of his belongings are placed in the shrine.

As we see Cardollan’s body, we finally understand the reason for his longevity. By his telltale ears, it is apparent that he is a Half-Elf.

There have been no reports of Gnoll activity in the area since the battle. The remaining Gnoll forces have either fled Gnollwood entirely or have remained in hiding.

The rangers of Fort Talathas are now leaderless and seemingly aimless, not knowing what to do next. Josephus approaches Porodo and suggests that he consider taking command of the ranger forces, to assist our group and the Dwarves in their efforts to regain control of Skraag.

We call a meeting between our group and Josephus late that evening. We decide that we will return to Daemyr to seek the advice of the Matriarch. We will take the rangers with us, and close down the fort. Porodo decides to take the responsibility of leading the rangers.

The next morning, Josephus announces to the rangers that Porodo will be their new leader. The rangers cheer with approval, and Porodo makes an empassioned speech, saying that they must assist the Dwarves in retaking Skraag, because they came to the aid of the Elves. The Dwarves join in the cheering.

Porodo then pays his respects to Cardollan. Josephus tells him that Cardollan mentioned before he died that he would have stepped down from his command to allow Porodo rule the rangers. Josephus gives to Porodo a gift from Cardollan — a magical ring with the etching of a shield and a unicorn.

The group starts packing up the fort for the long trek to Daemyr, and this takes the remainder of the day. The next day everyone is prepared to leave, and we decide on the (longer) easterly route to get to Daemyr, since we would travel through less forest.

We travel for three days with no incident, but as we near the northern border just 20 miles from the city, we hear a strange whistling roar on the wind. In the night sky we see a giant flaming ball that seems to be hurtling down to earth. It is coming down to the southwest of us, towards Daemyr.

Upon seeing the object and closing his eyes for a moment, Josephus orders us to ride to Daemyr, as fast as our horses will carry us.

We ride as quickly as we can to the city, but soon we hear an immense explosion that shakes the ground under our feet. Ahead we see the town of Fionna, which stands just north of Daemyr. The entire city had been leveled — blasted flat by the fireball.

We continue to Daemyr, riding on through the night. As we near the city, however, Josephus stops us. He informs us that Daemyr is gone, and a black citadel has arisen in its place. At that moment, Eilenos hears Necros’ voice in his head, mockingly saying “I am here!”

Josephus tells the party that Necros will raise all of the Elves that had been killed in the attack and use them as his undead army — we cannot stand against his might, even with the strength of the rangers and the dwarves together. We must travel to the Midlands, he tells us, to the River Rat tavern, to meet an “old friend.”

The Shadow Hunters agree to stay in Elleday and warn all of the villages in the area that they must evacuate. We travel north again to River Run, and tell the inhabitants there what has been happening. Josephus gives a small glass orb to the Shadow Hunters and one to Porodo — apparently this is something of a two-way radio so we can communicate directly with them over long distances.

We ride north, and on our way to River Run we warn as many towns as we can. We finally make it the River Rat tavern, more than a week later. We unload our gear and set up camp nearby.

As we are at our camp in Gnollwood that evening, we hear a strange noise and a flash of light blinds us all. A 20-foot tall man appears with a large huge hourglass in his hand, which is turned sideways. Time slows and stops for everything except for us. The man tells us simply, in a booming voice, “It is happening.”

We rush back to the fort, knowing that the warning must have meant that the battle had started, and find it being assailed with many siege devices. It appears that most of the battle has been fought, with many Gnolls lying dead on the battlefield. Arrows from the rangers’ bows stick into the ground like so much wheat in a field.

We quickly attack the Gnoll forces from the rear, managing to disable several of their siege devices, but the Gnolls topple one of the fort’s battlements.

The party gains entrance from the back of the fort and begin assisting the rangers and Dwarves with the battle. The Dwarves open the front gate, flanked by Cardollan. After attacking for several minutes they retreat back into the fort and close the door. Cardollan, unfortunately, had been struck by many arrows as they fought, and seemed in dire shape.

The party leads a charge out of the front gates, and Krodmich blows the Horn of Summoning to challenge the Gnoll Leader. We kill him and his captain, sending the ranks of Gnolls into despair.

The Gnolls finally retreat, and we count our fallen numbers. 175 rangers and Elf warriors were killed in the battle. We tend to Cardollan, but realize painfully that he is too far gone. The arrows that slew him, we find, bear the mark of Necros’ Assassins, the same ones that previously attacked the group.

The long process of rebuilding begins.

It has been four months since we raided the Gnoll hideout, and winter is fast approaching — there is already snow accumulated on the ground. We have been spending most of our time practicing our fighting skills with the rangers and doing scouting missions. We are now well acquainted with the fort and all of the rangers, and seem to have been accepted whole-heartedly by them.

The Gnolls, however, seem to have been gathering their forces. We have seen them moving siege equipment to their base, so they may be readying a large-scale attack on the fort. The rangers are waiting for reinforcements from Daemyr before they can act against the Gnolls.

A group of 30 dwarves, a band known as the Black Mountain Brewing Brigade, arrive at the fort. They have come to assist us in our battle, and we are greatly relieved by their presence. Krodmich is elated to be with his kinsmen.

That night, as the rangers are celebrating with the Dwarves, Eilenos sees a vision of Berethenu in his drunken haze. Berethenu warns him that Necros can see everything that he does, and that he, Berethenu, must undo it yet he does not know how. He tells Eilenos that he must trust in his friends, and to continue searching for Antineous’ trappings.

The next day, several hundred Elves appear — the reinforcements from the Matriarch of Daemyr! Josephus arrives a day later.

Josephus informs Eilenos that he has found the names of all of Antinious’ Trappings:
*The Hands of Justice
*Charm of the Righteous
*The Ring of Restoration
*Berethenu’s Will (Longsword)
*The Helm of Truth
*Justice Guard (Chain Mail)
*Holy Ward (Shield)

Josephus tells the party that he will remain at the fort for the duration of the battle.

The next morning, Cardollan tells the party that we must go to the forest to scout the area, and report if the Gnolls are beginning the attack. We leave for the forest and set up camp, beginning our scout. Porodo hunts and kills a wild boar for us to feast on as we wait.

Arriving in River Run, which is a town only 15 miles from Fort Talathas, we stop briefly to rest and re-supply.

The next day we finally arrive at the fort. We meet the leader of the ranger forces there, an impressive man named Cardollan. He tells us of the Gnoll creatures that have taken over the forest to the north of the fort, which is now known as Gnollwood. They reside inside the fortress Grath, which is in the middle of the forest, and it is guarded by a force of 1000 Gnolls.

We spend four day settling into the fort and celebrating with the rangers. We also find out a few tidbits from our time with the men: apparently Cardollan is much older than he appears. We also learn of a small group of rangers that all hunt together, who call themselves the Shadow Hunters.

The Shadow Hunters consist of five individuals:
Rayner, a Human
Shiera, a female Elf
Beorn, a Dwarf
Dorgal, a Dwarf
Kerry, a Sprite

In the days that follow, we raid a small Gnoll “nest” that is near to the fort’s supply route. They had previously been attacking shipments to and from River run. We wait until they attempt another raid (which was really a caravan of rangers, meant to suprise the Gnolls and wipe them out), and infiltrate their lair. Killing the Gnolls that stayed behind, we wait for the raiding party to return and dispatch the remaining Gnolls.