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.