Pax finally listened to reason (and Grizzle and me), that our best course of action would be to go through the mountain instead of trying to go over it, where we would have no cover from the dragon.

 

Dunk had returned and he had brought Jerro and Fingers with him.  They had discovered that Coran and the teenage girl, Neeve Keene (who called herself Nine-Fingers) were part of another adventuring group who were also seeking the Crown of Shadows.  This could certainly pose a problem.

 

With our new ranger escorts (Lesha took point and Leeza gave cover), we set off up the narrow mountain trail.  The trail was so narrow in fact that we were forced to form a single file line.  Fingers lost his footing and tumbled down the mountain.  We threw down some rope and he climbed back up.  I became concerned when I noticed that Fingers was looking at Paladin curiously and I realized that he wanted to use the dog as a mount.  To his credit, Paladin didn’t seem interested in this new employment.

 

We found the entrance to a cave that was covered over with some kind of animal skins and went inside.  It didn’t take long to figure out that this (it seemed up until quite recently) had been an orc outpost.  As we went from chamber to chamber we came upon several infestations of spiders.  At Grizzle direction, Jerro dispatched them with his trusty fireballs.  Along the way, we were also able to rescue several orcs from the spiders’ clutches but they didn’t stick around to thank us.

 

I caught Fingers trying to commandeer Paladin again, but this time the dog disappeared then reappeared when the little thief tried to climb on his back.  Paladin can teleport!

 

Perhaps I’m not the one to talk since I’m the reason Lloth is on the warpath, but now Grizzle has angered Gruumsh, the main Orc Deity by carving the symbol of Kord into the altar and the orcs’ forge.

 

Finally, we found an artifact in one of the chambers that can only be employed by the Elf Queen and is crucial to the success of our mission.  We have sent Dunk and Lesha and Leeza  to get it to the Queen but not before Pax put several blessings on the old dwarf.  If they are unable to convey  the object to the Queen, our mission is doomed.

The next morning the babysitters we rescued took us to the Elven City; on the way we came upon the city’s Eastern Outpost, which seemed intact but was quite deserted.  Finally we had our audience with the Queen and she asked for our help in finding the Shadow Crown (the object that Panril and the Mages believed Lloth was using to make war with Kord).

 

As our guide, the Queen introduced us to Dunk, a crusty older Dwarf who had seen many battles.  She also gave us credit at the city’s more than ample marketplace.  Pax took full advantage of this, loading up on supplies, both needed and not so much.

 

While we were at the marketplace, Fingers drew my attention to a teenaged girl holding a distinctive golden stickpin club adorned with two rubies in the pommel.  I didn’t have to be told who the club belonged to:  Coran , the infamous elf-adventurer and thief.

 

“If he’s here, there must be a hefty prize somewhere in the city.  I’m going to follow that girl and find him.  Then I’m going to find out what he’s after and beat him to it.”  Said Fingers.

 

I fully understood my new friend’s desire to outwit Coran and truth be told, I would have probably gone with him if I wasn’t on this mission.

 

“Dunk wants us to head out first thing in the morning.”  I reminded Fingers.

 

“I’ll try to be back by then, but if I’m not, you’ll just have to leave without me.”

 

“I’m going with you!” Announced Jerro.  “Coran is famous even in my little backwoods town.  I’ve always wanted to see him in action.”

 

I couldn’t tell what the wizard’s real motives were (or even if he had any beyond what he had just stated).

 

“You’re probably going to die.”  Dunk told me, when he learned of Fingers and Jerro’s absence.  But Grizzle and Pax didn’t seem to be worried about our group’s suddenly slim numbers.

 

After two nasty encounters we made it to the Western Outpost and found that it had been sacked and everyone there massacred by the witch the Queen had warned us about and her dragon.  Dunk left us there and returned to the city to report to the Queen.  He promised to guide Fingers and Jerro back to us before we set off up the mountain.

 

The monks at the Temple had taught Pax their resurrection rites and she was able to bring some of the fallen soldiers back to life.  Now all we have decide is whether we go over or through the mountain.  And will we have Fingers’ and Jerro’s help?

Surprisingly our journey from Crag Island to Thunder Rift passed without incident.  However, I was shocked to learn that while four weeks seemed to have passed for us at Rocky Harbor, only four days had passed for Pax, Grizzle, and everyone else on Thunder Rift.  I may have an explanation for this now, but I will get to that later.

 

The first thing Jerro noticed as our ships moved from the Torlynn River into Lake Ganif was that Mage Isle had disappeared; not even the fog that sometimes shrouded it could be seen.

 

We were met at the Melinir docks by Panril and Valet with several other Paladins and several of the mages (including that pompous Rogard).  I inquired after Serina and was told she had not returned from the Western Continent.  Sadly it seemed that Menolly was still away on another mission for her father.

 

I could tell that Panril was anxious for us to hike up to the Temple and as soon as we got there, it was obvious that something was wrong.  The usual splendor of the place was somehow dulled and inside I looked aghast at a crack in the Great Symbol of Kord carved into the wall above the altar.

 

Pax and Grizzle were waiting for us in the dining hall.  Their three children, Deirdra, Dorf and Deirf were gleefully hanging all over their father, Deirdra pulling at his beard (I was amazed at how much they had grown).  I wanted to run up and embrace Grizzlegar, I was so happy to see him alive, but thought better of it when he launched several retorts my way.

 

Over dinner, Panril explained that Grizzle had brought back devastating news from the astral plane.  Lloth was waging war with Kord and was recruiting troops from the natural plane.  All this was possible it seemed because of a certain artifact that must have fallen into the Spider Queens many hands.  Panril and the mages had decided that the best course of action was for us to journey to the North where the Elf Queen lived and seek her help.

 

We set off early the next morning aboard the Saphire Zephyr (after dropping off Deirdra, Dorf and Deirf with Pax’s sister) and made good progress until mid afternoon, when we came upon another ship that looked very familiar.  I could tell right away that it had been built by the same boatwright as the Zephyr.  It seemed to have been through quite an ordeal.

 

Fingers volunteered to take a rowboat and attempt to board the vessel and I decided to accompany him.  Jerro sent over his new pet mephit with us. As we explored the ship it became more and more obvious that this was not a ship similar to the Zephyr, this WAS the Zephyr! 

 

After everyone but Pax had decided come aboard the twin Zephyr, we discovered a body hanging off the side of the ship that seemed to have been originally bound to the main mast.  The body was ME!  I can’t tell you how disconcerting it was to see Grizzle lop the head off my body as soon as we pulled it up on deck.  In the captain’s chambers we found maps and journal entries that seemed to indicate that we had tried to reach the Elf Queen at least 15 times (This is what I believe caused the time difference between Crag Island and Thunder Rift). 

 

We searched below decks and found Finger’s twin cowering in the corner.  He explained that each time we had attempted to find the Elf Queen we had come upon a girl stranded on a rock, who gave us directions that lead to our doom.  As we were listening to his story, Grizzle noticed crown that was emitting a strange red glow and he quickly smashed it.  The entire ship disappeared (along with the extra Fingers).  We were able to swim back to the rowboat and as we turned back to the real Zephyr we saw Pax pointing and laughing at us.

 

Now that we had been warned, we gave the siren on the rock a wide berth and made it to the Northern Continent.

 

As soon as we arrived Pax told us we should go to the dwarven city first (instead of heading straight to the elvish city as we had planned), she couldn’t explain it but she felt that something very wrong was happening there.  On the road we were ambushed by a ragtag band of orcs (who first pushed down boulders to block our progress) lead by some kind of shaman.  These orcs seemed tired and were easy to defeat.  The shaman was another matter but we soon killed him as well.

 

We camped for the night at an abandoned trading post.  We did have some more excitement when a dire wolf attacked the livestock pen but Grizzle killed it.  I also have a new canine friend I have taken to calling Paladin.

 

When we reached the Dwarf city we found that it had been overrun by thousands of orcs.  I wanted to suggest a strategic retreat but soon realized that Pax was blinded by rage and Grizzle was bound and determined to back his wife.  Jerro evened up the odds for us a bit with some well placed fire balls and I was astonished when we were able to force the remaining orcs to retreat to their stronghold on the other side of the city.  After freeing some dwarf children we have once again camped at the trading post.

 

From the Journal of Gerard of Kleine

 

 

 

It has been raining here at Rocky Harbor ever since Jerro and I returned from the South side of the island so our voyage has been postponed going on four weeks.  Kahalla sent a letter to Serina via her little pet, Frosty and the mage decided to journey to Western Continent herself (I believe she used a spell similar to the one that that transported Pax and Grizzle to Thunder Rift so it would only take her a few hours to get there).  She told us to set sail when it stopped raining whether or not she made it back.

 

To pass the time while we wait for the skies to clear, I was looking for something to read, and I have stumbled across a journal with a name I recognize:  Wixerand Sapherage.  This seems to be the same Olunese Paladin who visited the Temple of Kord on Thunder Rift a few months ago.  Strangly the journal ends with Wix’s friend, Skye’s death, but it also contained the name of someone else I have become familiar with the last few weeks, a halfling by the name of Fingers.

 

Like Gurmadden, Fingers is one of the people we rescued from the Spider cocoons.  I showed him the journal and he has no idea why it ends where it does, but he assures me that Wix was able to resurrect Skye and they found and rescued the Princess.  The unfinished journal is just another tantalizing clue to the mystery that is Wixerand Sapherage.

 

Fingers has signed on as a crew member on the Saphire Zephyr and we have become fast friends. 

 

 

 

                                                ***

 

The rain finally abated and we are planning to set sail today.  I will captain the Saphire Zephyr and Jerro shepherd the rest of the children (most of whom were stolen from the ophanage on Thunder Rift) on the Azure Eagle, captained by Akino, who I just promoted from first mate.  We have heard nothing from Pax…or Grizzlegar but hopefully we will see them both in a few days.

 

And so begins a new adventure.

We awoke the next morning to the sound of screaming, and soon found a man fastened to a tree with some kind of webbing.  Before we could free him Skye and Speckles were both hit with the same webbing and stuck to two different trees.  The source of the webbing turned out to be huge spider creatures that we finally fought off.  After freeing the man (Skye, in her bear form, and Speckles freed themselves) Dyrian told us that this was the wizard who had been picked to accompany us on our mission; his name was Phoenix Black.  Dyrian decided he would return to Moonbrook and tell his father of our progress.

 

Phoenix and Skye immediately got off on the wrong foot when he explained that he had had some dealings to take care of and wasn’t able to join us at the start of our mission.  Skye thought this was a flimsy excuse.  It didn’t help that Phoenix seemed to think he was now the leader of our group.  The wizard fared much better with Finger and two of them shared a pipe filled with herbs and they ended up dancing naked around the campfire for most of the night.  Skye and I declined to participate.

 

After some arguing the next morning, we decided to check out the next “dot” on the map, where we discovered wolf like creatures guarding a cave with a locked door across the entrance.  We killed the wolves and Fingers tried to pick the lock on the door but broke his thieves’ tools in the lock.  I smashed in the door with my axe and we went inside.

 

Fingers scouted ahead and came back to report that several goblins were sitting around a fire in the next chamber.  Phoenix (who was the only one of us who spoke their language) addressed the goblins and was greeted with grunts then silence.  The wizard then said he wasn’t going to stay where he wasn’t invited and since we all had broken into their home we should leave as well and left the cave.  As for me I agreed with Phoenix, unless they attacked us I felt we should leave them alone, but I could tell that Skye desperately wanted to start a fight with these creatures ( I remembered later that she had told me that it had been goblins who raided her village).

 

Hoping Skye could control herself I went out to talk to Phoenix.  I told him I agreed with his position, but I was worried that if we couldn’t get Skye out of the cave something bad was going to happen.  He refused to go back in the cave but would wait for me to talk some sense into her.

 

When I went back into the cave, Skye was fighting the goblins and Fingers had chased another one deeper into the cavern.  I had no choice now but to join in the fight to protect the group.

 

Three bugbears charged into the chamber.  Things just kept going from bad to worse. Thankfully, Skye realized we were outnumbered and agreed to leave but Fingers was still missing, I could just make out the thief still exploring the next chamber.  How was I supposed to protect the group with them split up like this?!

 

Hearing the fighting, Phoenix returned and joined the fight, casting several well placed spells.  The Bugbear who had been fighting me attacked Phoenix and I took the opportunity to try to find Fingers but Phoenix cried out and I went to his aid.  The battle raged on like this for what seemed like an eternity and when it was over, Skye lay dead at our feet.

 

Olu had charged me with protecting this group and I had failed

King Eroan’s daughter, Ava is missing, and he wants us to find her.  ‘Us’ being the interesting characters I mentioned earlier.  We have Skye, a forest druid, Fingers, a thief and Dyrian, Eva’s brother and a trained fighter.

 

We started out by visiting the local inn.  There was a bard playing there named Brittle and Fingers thought it was odd that a bard wearing such rag-tag clothes should have such an expensive lute.  He wanted to steal it.  He said it could be a possible clue to finding the princess (this of course was highly unlikely and if I wasn’t already uneasy about Fingers this made me all the more so).  Skye talked him out theft but she suggested he should talk to Brittle to see if he knew anything about the whereabouts of the princess.

 

Brittle ended up relating a tale about a sea king who had befriended him and given him the lute.  During the story, he mentioned a place called Fisherman’s Cliff so we decided to continue our search there.  However, other patrons at the inn had told us of a path that the princess liked to walk in the morning so went there first and discovered a cave just off the path.

 

I led the way into the cave and found a room filled with wererats.  We killed them all and continued deeper into the cave.  On a table outside a locked door, we found a candle and piece of paper with writing on it that just seemed like gibberish.  Fingers picked the lock and discover a man asleep on a cot in the corner of the room, but of course what Fingers found more interesting was the chest at the foot of cot.  He crept into the room and tried to unlock the chest but he must have made some kind of noise and the man woke up.

 

“Who are you!!?” The man demanded.

 

It wasn’t long before the man found out that we had killed all the wererats in the cave and he exploded with anger.

 

“MY RATS!!! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY RATS!!! I WILL KILL YOU FOR THAT!!!”

 

The man transformed into a wererat hybrid and attacked Fingers.  The rest of us now had no choice but join in the fray and the creature was soon dead.

 

We located his journal and found that the man’s name was Murry.  He had been bullied as a kid because he was only a halfling and he retreated to this cave to live the life of a hermit.  At first he had tried to rid the cave of wererats  but he and the wererats came to understand each other and as the years went by, he became their guardian.  He had suffered so many bites that he himself became a wererat hybrid.

 

As the entries went on Murry’s thoughts became more and more scattered until they descended into the same gibberish we had seen on scrap of paper on the table outside the room.

 

We left the cave and continued our search for Fisherman’s Cliff.  Fingers said he had seen something shiny in the woods and went to investigate.  He was attacked by some kind of vine creature.  We left the path to help him and found ourselves ensnared by more vine creatures.  We finally fought them off and to our horror found a pile of dead bodies presumably victims of the vine creatures.  Among the dead, we found a cache of weapons including a throwing axe that I wanted to keep.  Skye warned me about using it until we can find a wizard who can tell us if the weapons are cursed.

 

We also found a map.

 

We decided to postpone our search for Fisherman’s Cliff and followed the map to a clearing where there stood a tree elemental.  Sky seemed to recognize him.  She approached and the elemental gave her something.  Fingers did the same but came back empty-handed.  And then I thought I saw something familiar entangled in the creatures branches.  It was Cora stone!  I could swear the elemental was smiling at me.  Olu had put his stamp of approval on our mission.  I am very however still very concerned about Fingers….

 

We have decided to spend the night in the clearing.

From the Journal of Wixerand Sapherage

 

And so my punishment begin’s.

 

My name is….Wixerand Sapherage (at least I remember who I am and why Olu is punishing me, but that’s not important right now).  I am a mountain dwarf and a Paladin of Olu.  This morning I woke up in the forrest outside of a cave, and that’s all I really remember about myself.

 

I sat up and looked around.  Saphire, my pig and constant companion, during my years of training to become a Paladin, was looking at me from the edge of the clearing.  I motioned for him to follow me and we began to walk through the forrest.

 

Several hours later we stumbled across a huge city that seemed to be populated mostly by elves.  All diferent kinds of elves, with a scattering of humans, dwarfs, gnomes, halflings… I tried to talk to some of the inhabitants, but as soon as they realized I didn’t speak elvish, they wouldn’t have anything to do with me.  Finally a guard approached us and said

 

"Dwarf! You need to stable your horse over there."  Oh, I neglected to mention my mount, whose name is Citrine.  I called him into service just before we entered the city.

 

“Oh thank Olu you speak common.  Can you tell me is there a temple of Olu in this city?”

He pointed toward the east.  “And your going to have to do something about that pig!  We can’t have livestoke roaming our streets!”  Saticfied that he had done his duty the guard turned and left us

 

I dismounted and as soon a the guard had turned a corner, I told Citrine to kneel on the ground so Saphire could climb into my sadle, then I dismissed them both to the celestial relm.

 

When I got to the temple I called Citrine and Saphire back and put them in the temples stables.

 

“Good morning stranger.  I see that you are a servent of Olu.  My name is Selindus and I am the abbot here.”

 

Most Temples of Olu are small and Selindus’s was no exception.  As a rule we Olunese generally do not proselytize.  As a result the abbots are dependant on the patronage of officials from their home city to maintain the Temple’s upkeep.  That’s why I was not surprised when Selindus approached me for a favor about a month into my stay (during which time I had received a crash course in Elvish)

 

"Wix. We have noticed your dedication to Olu. And so has the King or rather I have pointed you out to him.  He has need of adventurers of your calibir for a mission.  He has not revealed the details to us. He will only make those known when you and the others he has chosen accept the mission.  Will you do this for us?”

 

I agreed and that’s how I found myself at the palace with many other paladins, I recognized symbols of Pelor, Ehlonna, Corellon Larethian, and numerous others

 

"You! Dwarf! I have not seen you or your symbol before!"  Said an elvin guard appearing at the door.

 

"I am a warrior of Olu. I wish to help the king in the name of my God."

 

"You may be just what the king is looking for. Follow me."

 

And so I did leaving behind a room full of disgruntled knights.

 

 He led me to a room with a long table full of food and surrounded by some interesting characters.

 

Gur's father was obsessed with the Singing Stones and refused to leave Blingdenstone until he could get them to sing. So about 20 years ago when Gur was about 10 and his baby sister Miriam was 5, their mother decided to take the kids on a vacation and booked passage on a ship to the Western Continent. They sailed into West Port and decided to visit a local marketplace. Outside one of the stalls they see a gnome tied to a post that they recognize as Jengal Tumthub, Jalles’s Husband (Jalles was the head nurse at the Blingdenstone infirmary) whose been missing for years.

The proprietor of the stall is a beholder merchant named The Worthful. Gur’s Mom demands that the Worthful free Jengal at once. The beholder ...looks her up and down, then he eyes the kids (yes I know there was a huge pun there). He tells her I am in a charitable mood today. If you give me one of your children, I do no care which, you may leave with Jengal. If you refuse to give me either of them, I shall kill them where they stand. After much agonizing, she turns over Miriam and leaves with Gur and Jengal.

Jengal tells her he can’t thank her enough for freeing him and gives her a gem that can make her forget that her daughter was ever born. She takes it but refuses to use it on herself. Instead she uses it on Gur and he forgets his sister ever lived and she does the same with Gur’s father when they return home. Jengal is reunited with Jalles and a few days later Gur’s mom comes back to check on couple and then leaves Blingdenstone and goes back to the Western Continent and thows herself off the highest mountain.

So Gur hopes to find his sister now that his memory has been unlocked.

We all survived!!! …Well almost…But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

 

********************************************

 

 

I’m going to try to make this short, for this will probably be my last correspondence with you for quite sometime.

 

 

********************************************

 

 

At the end of my last letter I told you we had decided to visit Reginald, the Caravan Master before we set off for the Monastery of the Morrow.  That turned out to be a big mistake. 

 

At first I thought that Reginald was driven to action because Arty was goading him with the Medusa head; holding it up in his face.  But now I realize that we walked into a trap the moment we entered Reginald’s agency.  Reginald reached into his desk and we were all knocked unconscious (All except Kahalla, but the last thing I remember before blacking out was three goons rushing into the room and beating the sorceress to the ground).

 

We woke up sometime later chained to the walls (Frosty was in some kind of magical cage) of a room that felt as if it was moving.  Valla immediately tried to get Arty to help her get to her lock picking tools, but it quickly became clear that he was in an almost catatonic state.

 

Kahalla ignored all of this and cast a spell that freed us all (Frosty too).  I went over and put my ear to the door.  I could hear two people in what sounded like an argument on the other side.  I made out the word ‘dagger’ and then my eyes widened as I recognized one of the voices.

 

It was Reginald!

 

But he had dropped the country gentry affectation he had been putting on for us. When I told the others, we came to the conclusion that Reginald was Redsith.  Kahalla also told us that she had learned from Frosty that we were aboard an airship.

 

The door was flung open a man dressed in a captain’s uniform was roughly deposited on the floor.  The door slammed shut just as quickly.

 

Valla was able to pick the lock on the door and was almost trampled by Arty, the second she got it open.  He rushed through the door and disappeared down the hallway.

 

We soon learned that the captain’s name was LeRoy.  A man who carried himself as a country gentleman had rented LeRoy’s airship for the day, but then he had had three thugs escort him off his own ship while the man loaded some mysterious cargo (which was probably us) on board.  LeRoy was able to pilot the ship without any interference until they got close to mountain.  One of the thugs then took over the controls and LeRoy was brought down here to visit us.

 

Kahalla was happy that at least we had finally found the Monastery of the Morrow.  It didn’t take much convincing for LeRoy to join us in our fight against Redsith.

 

Out on deck we caught a glimpse of Arty as he jumped from the ship right onto the side of the mountain he climbed down the face and disappeared into a cave.

 

It appeared that Redsith and his thugs had abandoned the airship to drift as it pleased.  LeRoy was able to pilot the ship to the side of the cave, moor it tightly with some ropes and then extend the gangplank to the cavemouth.

 

In the first chamber of the cave we came upon a friendly ghost named Curly.  He told us the story of Theodore, the original Abbot of the Morrow.  He had wanted to bring peace to the land by sacrificing himself in huge Morrow bowl at the center of the mountain.  Peace of a sort had come to the land but in the form of the blue glow and Theodore’s soul had been trapped here along with the souls of every other monk who was residing in the mountain at the time.

 

For years the monks of the Morrow had sought a way to free Theodore and the other’s and bring true peace to the land.  In the last few months a rumor had circulated that a child had been born whose sacrifice would bring this to pass.

 

It didn’t take long (with Curly’s help) for us to figure out that that child was Arty.

 

Over the next few hours we fought a multitude of beasts that populated the cave and corresponded to a series of force fields that held the dagger that must be used to sacrifice Arty.

 

Once the force fields were down, we went back to the chamber where we had seen the dagger and found that it had already been taken.  We stood on the platform where the dagger had been and were raised into the Morrow Bowl Chamber.

 

Arty stood in center of the bowl (that took up the entire chamber) pressing the dagger to his throat.  We all stood transfixed for a few seconds and then an arrow seemed to come out of nowhere and pierce Arty’s heart.  Arty’s body disintergrated and we saw his soul floating in the air until it was drawn into the body of the man who had shot the arrow:  Redsith!

 

Redsith told us that we would now help him complete his rise to greatness by sacrificing our loved ones.

 

That’s when we saw them.

 

Behind where Arty had stood lay three figures.  Somehow I knew without being told that the young woman was Miriam, my sister (the others were a man named Salty, Valla’s mentor and the Lady Serina).

 

Kahalla told me the best tact I could take was to keep singing my special empowerment song while the others fought Redsith.  That was fine by me; the only thing I cared about at the moment was my sister.  I edged closer and closer to her as the battle raged on.  It seemed the more they fought the bigger and more powerful Redsith became.  I reached Miriam and tried to shake her awake hoping she knew some secret we could use to defeat Redsith.  But it was to no avail and I was losing hope.

 

Kahalla’s cold power seemed to be turning the tide; it was the only thing that was doing much real damage to the now giant creature.  Redsith reared back and cut the sorceress down.  Her body disintegrated just as Arty’s had done and her soul was drawn into the creature.  I looked up and saw that her essence was still intact and she was still fighting against the creature.  That was all I needed to rekindle my hope.  I bounded across the bowl and sank my sword deep into Redsith’s foot.  At the same time, LeRoy’s blade had found the creatures neck and loped the head off.  Redsith’s lifeless body collapsed into the bowl and it cracked in two.

 

Somehow we all got our loved ones out before the whole mountain came down around our heads (Kahalla’s body had been regenerated and I quickly offered her my cloak to cover herself).

 

So I have learned from Miriam the full story of our mother, which I have attached in a separate document for you to peruse.

 

Miriam also told us that her daughter had been kidnapped as a ruse to get her to come to the mountain.  As soon as Serina heard this she insisted that Kahalla assist Miriam and me in finding the girl…my niece! Valla is taking Salty home while Serina will return to Rocky Harbor to join you on your journey.

 

As I said, I have no idea when I shall be able to write you again but I wish you all the luck on your journey

 

Yours Gurmadden Stonesinger

With the newly resurrected Frosty flapping discreetly above our heads, we hit the streets of East Port.  Amid the hustle and bustle we saw none of the lewd behavior we had encountered that first day.  Although the blue glow was not as pronounced here, as it had been in the quarry town, it’s effects still seemed to hold sway. I noticed another bard playing the xylophone in the bar at the inn (The Cup and Copper), but with no passion whatsoever.  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch with Reginald, the caravan master that had lasted all afternoon.  He wanted us to stop by his agency before we left town:  He thought he could give us a lead on Redsith’s location.

 

We noticed a crowd had gathered in the middle of the street and decided to investigate it.  As we pushed to the front, we heard a voice that seemed to be berating the crowd and then we saw that it belonged to an older gentleman in tattered clothes.  He was speaking ill toward the Church of the Morrow (Yes, the one that Tomas had been connected with).  The crowd regarded him with disdain, and several people were wagging their fingers at him.

 

I felt sorry for the man (whose name we later learned was Oscar of the family, Grump) and cast a spell that made him more poised and his speech, eloquent.  The crowd was not impressed and soon disbursed. 

 

Although we had just eaten it was getting close to suppertime, so we invited Oscar to have a meal with us at the inn.  I soon realized that my companions’ (Kahalla in particular) only interest in Oscar was how much information they could wring from him.  My spell, even if it had done wonders for his tongue, had not abated his aroma.  So, as soon as he had given up the location of the Church of the Morrow, Kahalla sent him on his way, with the mistaken belief that we would find him again and take him with us when we searched for it.  Several hours later, when we did set off for the Church I chanced to look back and saw Oscar patiently waiting for us behind the trashcans at the inn.  I could only shake my head.

 

 

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Two sleepy guards greeted us at the entrance to the Church of the Morrow, so it was an easy matter for Arty to charm one of them while I used some bard tricks I had up my sleeve to charm the other.

 

From what Oscar had told us, we believed that people who had spoken out against the Morrow were being kidnapped and ‘dealt with’, in the rooms below the Church.  Once inside, we told the guards to go and take up their positions at the door, then Kahalla remembered that they might help us gain access to the lower levels so we called them back.  The now eager-to-please guard, stood at the organ, trying to remember the note that would open the secret door to the cellar.  He became frustrated and slammed his fist down on the keyboard.  As you might expect, the cacophony had the desired effect of opening the door but it had also awakened every monk in the building (or so it seemed).

 

At the end of the ensuing battle many monks lay at our feet.  The poor bewildered guards, who had just seen their friends massacred, gave us the room.  We took the dagger amulets that the monks wore around their necks (we had learned from the guards that these were used by the monks to sacrifice themselves, if another suitable sacrifice could not be found) then proceeded to search the cellar.  We found several rooms that appeared to be sleeping quarters and in each one was a statue that didn’t seem to want to be a statue. We surmised that these were actually people who had been turned into stone.  At the moment there was nothing we could do for them.

 

At the end of the hall we found a room that had a special lock.  My last clear thought for a long while was of Valla trying to pick this lock.  A fury bubbled up inside me directed at Kahalla for her treatment of Oscar.  Why did she always have to look down her nose at everyone?  But with this came a deeper hatred…Of  myself and my guilt that I harbored about not being able to save my sister all those years ago (I know I’m going to have to tell you the whole story of my sister at some point, Gerard, but I just don’t have the time or the heart right now).

 

Kahalla and Valla were shouting at each other and Valla was pulling Kahalla’s hair.  All of this was just too much for me to deal with so I collapsed in a ball in the corner of the hall.

 

Finally I think I shouted something and all the emotion drained away and I was calm.  Arty (who was the only one not effected by the spelltrap) had been trying to charm me the whole time but my hatred of myself must have been too strong for him to overcome.

 

Valla suddenly remembered that one of the statues had a key in his hand, so she ran to retrieve it, thinking it would unlock the door.  We heard a noise coming from the stairwell at the other end of the hall and when we went to investigate, we found a hooded figure standing at the bottom of the stairs with her back to us.  Kahalla whispered to me that it could be Lady Gahgah (This is the first time I had realized that the sorceress might have had bad dealings with the carny hag as well) 

 

At the thought of having my tormentor cornered I quickly grabbed for my sword and was about to launch myself down the stairs when Kahalla put her hand on my shoulder and motioned for me to look at some thing.  There were more of the statues lining the wall behind us. It started to sink in; just who we were dealing with. Kahalla quickly came up behind the figure and pulled down her cowl.  The figure turned and met the sorceress’s gaze.  This was a Sister of Medusa!

 

Kahalla was turned to stome.

 

The next thing I knew, Arty had jumped on top of the Sister and cut her head off in what seemed to be one liquid motion.

 

With the Sister dead, not only Kahalla but all the statues around the walls came back to life and we realized that they had already been chained to the wall when the Sister turned them.  We started to free them but they protested, saying they were there as willing sacrifices.

 

And then we heard a commotion from the hall above us and soon found Valla wrestling with tall man in a long flowing robe with the sigil of the Morrow on it.  I realized that this was one of the statues come back to life and I also noticed he was missing a finger.  So Valla had resorted to extreme measures to recover the key.

 

He told us his name (while still struggling with Valla) was Master Simon and it was imperative that he use the key to unlock the door at the end of the passage.  And that he would need Arty’s help once we were inside.  More of Simon’s followers poured into the hallway, subdued Valla, and took the key from her and unlocked the door.

 

Inside the room another of Simon’s followers was standing in one of the Morrow Bowls with a Dagger Amulet to Oscar’s throat.  Simon said he needed Arty to charm Oscar so he would willingly submit to being sacrificed.  Arty refused and in a matter of seconds had sent Simon to meet the Morrow.

 

Even with Simon dead, his followers continued to fight.  But it was Frosty who ended the battle when she was able to kill the follower standing in the bowl with Oscar.  The ground shook and the bowl split in two.  The blue glow faded.

 

Now we knew the secret to destroying the bowls:  An unwilling sacrifice must be killed inside the bowl.  Kahalla wanted to go right then to the Monastery of the Morrow and destroy the Master Bowl there.  But we had a few loose ends to tie up or untie as the case may be.  We found that the sacrifices on the wall were not so willing with the blue glow gone.  Arty picked up the Medusa head and took it with him.

 

Back in town we have found the people much changed.  Their passion has returned but not the erratic behavior.  Kahalla still wants to go straight to the Monastery of the Morrow, but I have reminded her that Reginald wants to see us before we leave town.  Hopefully with the caravan master’s help we will be one step closer to completing our mission and afterwards maybe I can complete my own personal mission.