During the party’s recuparative rest, they examine the swords Sartan had retrieved from the skeletons. The first is a very old and ornate blade. Elvish lettering is engraved along the blade. Cycek is able to translate the words as “Demonsbane.” The other sword is much simpler in design, but it is clearly a high-quality instrument. The blade is sharp, but the metal no longer shines. Mishok recognizes its nature by its tarnished surface. This is a silvered blade, a valuable weapon indeed.

As they make room among their belongings for these additional items, they hear the familiar vibrating rumble that they immediately recognize as a precursor to the emergence of a mystical orb of light. An orange orb pops into view in the center of the tiled room, much to the team’s dismay, as Davros observes, “Green is good, orange is bad.” This proves accurate as gouts of lava and a squad of red, cackling demons emerge from the glowing orb. Some of these tumble onto booby-trapped tiles, and are immediately impaled upon wicked iron spikes. The bodies of these impaled demons hang twitching on the skewers, and blobs of molten rock trigger spikes from adjacent tiles. The four adventurers decide it’s a good time to run, and rightly so, as four cackling, laughing demons make it through the maze of their dying kindred and burning lava to give chase.

They take the passageway where Cycek had been attacked. It is a narrow tunnel and they must go single file. The faster individuals outpace the slower, but all are slowed by the partial cave-in where their previous battle had taken place. This gives the demons time to close the distance. These creatures are small but furious beasts full of teeth, claws, horns, and hate. They laugh as they pursue the party, throwing firebolts and lashing out with barbed chains. As the party becomes strung out along the length of the passage way, Mishok falls behind, and consequently takes the brunt of the attacks. He is the first to hear the voices. Among the cackling of the demons, he hears voices. Rising distinctly from amid the laughter is the voice of a woman who screams, “No! I’m sorry! Don’t hurt me anymore! I’ll behave!” Mishok feels certain this is the voice of Wendella. A deep, booming voice follows, “You are sworn to me. I granted you the power you sought, and you pledged your service. I will not be denied what I am owed!” The fleeing adventurers are perplexed upon hearing this. But soon, they become aware that these creatures are gleefully repeating back their own random phrases of shouted communication. Realizing that these creatures seem to be parroting phrases they had heard before, Davros remarks, “I think we need to go where they came from.”

A running battle continues as the pursuers and the pursued make their way down the passageway. A couple of demons are slain, dying with a mind-rending barrage of cackling that threatens to inflict as much damage as their barbed chains do. Davros and Cycek are the first to emerge into the outside world. They find themselves on a slope of tumbled rocks, about 30 feet above a plain of grass, trees, and stones. Cycek makes his way down the stones, and secrets himself in the shadows, readying a bow for the first adversary to appear. Sartan, having slain at least one of the demons, makes it to the outside next, and hides just outside the cave opening. Mishok, gravely injured, exits the cave last. On the rock pile in the open air, Sartan impales one of the creatures with a javelin and throws it to the ground. He covers his ears and avoids the psychic damage of the unearthly dying cackle. The final demon is soon slain as well, causing a little more damage to the battered Mishok with the dreadful peals of laughter. But soon, silence falls over the blufflands, and the party reassembles at the foot of the rockfall. They are in the shadow of an 100 foot high bluff. A quarter of a mile to the east, the land falls away again in another tier of bluffs. The sun glints off the surface of the river a mile further east. The afternoon is growing cooler as the sun is now hidden behind the bluffs to the west. The adventurers find a hiding place among the shrubs and rocks, to give Mishok an opportunity to pray and find healing from his deity.

The group decides to leave the relative safety of the kitchen and larder, to investigate the mysterious green light. Mishok leads the way, noticing that it seems to be emanating from two different sources – one from a southern hallway and the other from a room to the east. At a turning of the southern corridor, they see a 2-ft. diameter circle of pulsating green light hovering just inches above the stone floor. The keep their distance and observe for a few minutes. Sartan takes out the glowing sphere that he has carried since they removed it from the heart of Ekso’s gem armature lab. He rolls the blindingly bright globe down the length of the hallway, directly at the green glow. It is a direct hit! The bright orb enters the larger but paler, green pulsating orb of energy and it is immediately swallowed up. Moments later a gush of water spurts out of the green orb, splashing large puddles into the corridor. The brave adventurers keep their distance, wondering what to do. Cycek hits upon an idea to investigate the properties of the water. He goes down the corridor to the spot where they had seen a dead goblin. He drags the gruesome corpse back and tosses it into the puddle, where it falls with a splat. At first it seems that there is nothing more unusual than a dead goblin in a puddle, but shortly they notice that the creature’s wounds are healing. Sartan dabs a small about of the water onto one of his wounds, and he experiences a similar healing. This gives them an idea. Still reeling from the death of Coriander, they speculate that maybe it’s not too late. She has not been dead nearly as long as the goblin. Perhaps the healing property of this water could still bring her back. They retrieve her body and place it in the water. They observe the same phenomenon. Her wounds soon knit back together, but she remains lifeless. Next they retrieve a small glass bottle from the kitchen. They soak up some of the water into a towel and wring it into the bottle. They try pouring the water into her mouth. It does not work. She remains dead, and they give up. Presently, the light begins to flicker, and shortly thereafter winks out altogether.

They decide to explore some more of the compound, hoping for some clue that might help them find Wendella. Their exploration takes them down the corridor from which they had retrieved the dead goblin. They find a room containing a variety of rough benches, tables, and stools, as well as mangy piles of linens and blankets. A curtained-off bed is in the center of the room. The curtains are torn, and the bed is strewn with several random articles of women’s clothing. There is an unlocked chest under the bed. They are hesitant to open the chest, but they steel themselves, and carefully open it. Inside, there are no traps or poisons, but rather a tidy amount of cash and jewelry. Sartan takes these items.

Shortly thereafter, they find themselves in the “lobby” room where Sartan and Eve had interacted with the strange glass-encased riddler which guarded the gate down to the gem lab. They examine the room and find little more than mundane furnishings. They find their way back to the kitchen and decide to explore further in another directions. They head toward the corridor where Davros had discovered and marked a pit trap. Sartan investigates the lid of the trap, to identify its exact location and dimensions. He leaps over the pit, and the rest of his companions follow. They climb a set of stairs, turn a corner and descend into a large stone chamber. The stairs they have walked down have been fashioned into a giant tongue lolling from the gaping mouth of a huge, carved demonic face. Central in the chamber is a large stone sarcophagus, carved with unreadable Dwarven runes. In an alcove at the far side of the room is a stone pedestal from which it appears something was recently chiseled and removed from its top surface. Additional exploration reveals seven smaller stone chambers, each with its own plain, unadorned stone sarcophagus. The air is still, the walls are bare and cold. There is some discussion about investigating the contents of a sarcophagus, but Davros recommends against it. Mishok concurs that it would be wiser to leave them alone, and the group agrees.

Leaving the final burial chamber, they find themselves faced with a chamber in which hexagonal tiles cover the floor. Each tile bears a carved letter, and two skeleton lie strewn on the floor. The party members are immediately suspicious and stop before entering the room. Figuring that there must be a proper, safe sequence of tiles upon which to cross the room, they rack their brains for any clues they may have seen. Mishok recalls Ekso’s note to Wendella that the Strongbows had given them, during their first meeting to discuss this mission. He recalls the phrase “Safe Passage” and soon finds that these letters do indeed appear in sequence on the floor.  They all cross the floor safely and find themselves standing before a rough, branching tunnel. Sartan, curious about the skeletons, carefully doubles back to investigate them, stepping only on the prescribed tiles. He uses his gooey grabber to get hold of one of them and pulls it toward himself. As soon as it begins to move, five iron spikes shoot up from shafts in the tile, momentarily exhibiting the manner in which this individual lost his life. The spikes immediately retract, and Sartan drags the skeleton out of the chamber. He does the same with the other. He finds that both are clad in the trapping of a bygone age. These skeletons may have been down here for a hundred years or more, and they may in fact belong to different eras. He finds a few old coins in leather pouches carried by each. They also each bear an old longsword. Each of these swords is an old, well crafted, high quality weapon. One of the two is particularly ornate, and the two are overall, stylistically different in their details. Sartan takes these.

They proceed down one fork of the tunnel and find that it emerges high on a cliff face, overlooking the eastern plains, the river, and the road. The sun is a few hours past noon, casting the cliff face in shadow, but the sky is clear and blue.

They backtrack and try the other fork. The tunnel here is no longer solid rock, but partly packed dirt. They come around a curve in the tunnel, when suddenly the wall to their left bursts outward, jettisoning rocks and dirt into the passagway. A huge bug-like creatures sinks its mandibles into Cycek, locks two clawed forelimbs onto him and begins pulling him into a hole in the wall. He kicks feebly at it, having little effect. His companions spring into action. Sartan hacks with his axe, Davros stabs with his rapier, and Mishok calls for divine intervention in the form of sacred flame. The trio are only partly successful. They wound the bug, but the ceiling begins to cave in, knocking Mishok and Davros to the floor, while the creature delivers what might be a killing bite to Cycek. Sartan attacks again, scoring a solid blow, as does Davros. Mishok is able to crawl near enough to Cycek to reach out and deliver a healing touch. This miraculous healing brings Cycek back from the brink of death. But not for long. He is still in the clutches of the creature, and it continues to savage him with its terrifying mandibles. He loses consciousness once more and begins bleeding profusely. The ceiling continues to rain stones and debris upon the combatants, keeping Mishok and Davros prone on the floor. Nevertheless, Davros reaches in with a lethal stab of his rapier. The creature falls dead and releases Cycek from its grip. Sartan, Mishok, and Davros drag their fallen companion out of the rubble, to a presumably safer place near the entrance to the tiled chamber. They administer a shot of healing liquor, reviving the unconscious elf. Cycek, injured but alive, conjures a handful of magic healing berries, and eats them for a greater degree of healing. The group decides it might be best for them to rest for an hour or so.

Cycek and Mishok take their leave of Mayor Strongbow, weighing the many concerns now troubling the city. They decide to pay a visit to the Church of St. Terragnis on their way back across town. They enter the quiet church and the find Brother Tibalt busying himself about the altar. He greets them warmly, and he is pleased to see them. He is a man of faith and hope, but he must share some somber news. He visits Father Baird routinely, and sadly he has found that over time, the fallen priest becomes more entrenched in madness. Tibalt, with the assistance of his loyal acolytes, has continued to operate their church, and continues to serve the public. But not all the public is faithful, or indeed, lawful. Several weeks ago, the church was broken into, and two notable artifacts were stolen. Once was an ancient shield that Father Baird had discovered in his explorations beneath the church. The other was a Throgsden family heirloom – known as a Belt of Dwarvenkind. He laments the loss of the valuable items, but further laments the depths to which people will sink. Mishok tells Tibalt of the events in Blasingdell, and inquires whether Tibalt might have the ability of heal the denizens of that town. Tibalt suggests that he might consider it a worthy mission of mercy. If he brings two of his most skilled acolytes, he believes that he may have the skill and faith to save the people of Blasingdell. He asks if, in turn, Mishok would be willing to serve as interim pastor of the Church. Mishok says that he will consider it. They agree to discuss it further and, for now, say their farewells.

Meanwhile, back at the Yur Inn, Davros and Sartan consider how they might strengthen the flimsy temporary façade of the building. They quickly realize that they don’t have the skills to do much with the construction materials that are lying around on their grounds.  Sartan is irritated with Lolly’s overspending on construction, but she is full of enthusiasm for the venture. While she is vigorously describing her vision, the door opens and a man comes in. Lolly immediately becomes nervous. She addresses him as Mr. Livist and she begins making him a cocktail known as a “Bloody Marilith.” Livist is a short but muscular man wearing leather armor. He has an arrogant demeanor, and soon makes it known that he is the collector of protection money, on behalf of the Stoneheaded Bastards. He reminds Lolly that her next payment is due in a week. He sips his drink and scoffs at the two owners of the bar. Preparing  to leave, he “accidentally” knocks his drink off the bar, leaving a big mess for Lolly to clean up. As he laughs and turns to leave (without having paid for his drink) Sartan smacks him in the back of the head with the pommel of his sword. The man crashes to the ground, unconscious. Davros and Sartan promptly tie him up, and plan to interrogate him.

The battle continues! The two fiends with the massive gaping maws immediately set upon the fallen Coriander and deliver a couple more terrible bites. Mishok quickly grabs her and pulls her away. Cycek steps in to assist and the two carry the bleeding half-elf, running with all possible haste, pursued closely by the horrific monsters. Davros, joins them, prepared to turn and fight if necessary. The three flee back to the cave entrance. Meanwhile, Sartan climbs up onto a massive boulder, and fires arrows at the pursuers. He immediately brings down one of the smaller creatures, and also puts a couple of damaging arrows into the others as well. Once the other combatants have reached the cave, Sartan leaps down and follows them. He kills another of the small creatures just inside the cave entrance.

Inside the cave, the party continues to run. They pass the staircase where they had their altercation with the guard, just over an hour ago. The guard has hobbled down the stairs and is sitting at the end of the stairway, clutching his broken knee. He is shocked to see the party running back his way, but even more so at the terrifying creatures that pursue them. They run past the guard, but the pursuers immediate attack him. They tear the hapless guard limb from limb, and in their bloodlust turn there attention away from their original quarry. Davros, Cycek, and Mishok lay Coriander down, and take up positions in the corridor where they can make ranged attacks against the monsters. Davros lands a devastating arrow shot, and Mishok brings down the sacred flame. Sartan in then able to reach the site of the fray. With a couple more arrow shots, he is able to finish off the vile monstrosities.

The group is bloodied and tired. They immediately attend to Coriander, trying to determine if she still lives. Cycek is pretty certain that here wounds and blood loss are so severe that she is beyond help. She is lifeless. Nevertheless, Mishok is helpful. He calls upon the power of his deity and casts a prayer of healing over all of his companions. The healing is immediately effective for the wounded, but not for Coriander. Mishok now realizes that she is truly gone.

The group is stunned and somber, but they realize they need to get somewhere safe. They take Coriander’s body and move into the larder. They investigate Coriander’s possessions, and discover a couple of interesting things, most noteworthy a pair of leather-bound journals. One contains notes on the Staff of Wizardry. It asserts that it is a very powerful item, which has the capacity to contain great eldritch energy, enabling even an inexperienced wizard the capability to cast complex, powerful spells. The drawback to this, is that a low-level wizard who leans too heavily on the power of the staff, can easily become consumed and distorted by that power. Furthermore, it describes a property by which the breaking of the staff will cause an explosion commensurate with the amount of power remaining in the staff. Anyone caught in the explosion could be very badly injured and, even more interestingly, be teleported to a random plane of existence.

The other journal is Wendella’s personal diary. It contains her entire story – how she has long been enamored with her innate spellcasting abilities. She has been visiting the library at the Visitor’s Center for years, and has discovered clues about the region’s history. Although she was unable to read the ancient Duergar, she has gleaned that the humans and dwarves here both became involved in demon worship, the undead, and dark rituals. Two years ago, she met Ekso as he was there to study the same subject. He was much older and much more knowledgeable, but he instructed her in the study of the Duergar language, and encouraged her to learn necromancy spells. He spoke of an important research project he was conducting in the blufflands. He was working with a crew to excavate an ancient subterranean sacred site. He needed a variety of materials, and he recruited Wendella, and made use of her contacts within the city and their network of bandits to comb the underworld black market for the material components for conjuration spells. Most importantly, he sought the largest, clearest Shadowfurst Sapphire he could get his hands on, for the power to trigger his greatest conjuration.

“We have had Hack’s people bringing in all kinds of items that we never would have been able to obtain otherwise. The golden skull, the ground elven bone, even the mandrake root would have been hard to find in this backwater town. Thank Orcus for the black market! But we’ve had no luck with the gem. Berniece prepared some smaller sapphires for us. It was was just enough to enable us to call forth some dretches, ghouls, and vulchlings. Even a death dog! But we need something more. Ekso sent the goblin crew to check into a lead south of town. We haven’t heard back yet. Those fools probably botched the job. I never would have trusted goblins to something so important. But, we also have to focus our efforts on the key. Our last ritual produced a ghast… an impressive and terrible creature. We sent it to the eastern tunnel., and our hopes are strong that it will retrieve what we seek.”

After spending some time thinking this over, and debating what to do next, they sense with foreboding the vibrating sensation again that seemed to precede the previous emergences of the mysterious anomalies. Davros, keeping watch in the corridor sees a shimmering of green light reflecting on the stone walls. He cannot see the source of the light, but he returns to the larder to alert his comrades

During their resting period, the group examines the books they had hastily taken from Ekso’s library. It seems they made some choices that may hold potentially valuable information, as they appear to be of arcane subject matter, rather than mundane information. Coriander is able to identify what appear to be spells, alchemical instruction, and in a book that seems to contain crude drawings of magical items, there is a sketch of what is almost certainly a Staff of Wizardry of the kind that the team broke, resulting in the explosion and the disappearance of Wendella and Eve. There are handwritten notes accompanying the diagram, written in dwarvish characters, but in a language that even Mishok can barely read. He is able to discern a few common words, including “invisibility,” “fire,” and an unmistakable term for “Hell.”

Uncertain where to go from here, vacillating between returning to Ekso’s compound in search of answers, and heading up the trail, they explore the immediate vicinity of their hiding place. They discover the bodies of slain goblins and hobgoblins. At least one of the hobgoblins is pierced by goblin arrows. Sartan, low on arrows himself takes 14 goblin arrows from two of the fallen creatures. They see that the grass in the area is quite trampled down and bloody. They follow bloody footsteps back to the main trail.

As they pause there, discussing which way to go, they detect a rumbling sound and vibrating sensation. Presently another “blurry spot” materializes. This one has an orange hue, and has wisps of black smoke wafting off of its surface. Mishok and Cycek approach from around a large rock and peer at the anomaly. A voice emanating from the orange blur addresses them:

“Well, well… if it isn’t my newest friends. Going somewhere are you? You made a bit of mess in the wizard’s playroom and lost your little girl. Now you’re buggering off to who knows where. Well it seems your shenanigans back there have maybe caused a little more damage than you thought. The curtain is a little threadbare. I can see you through it… I can see you through the worn spots and the little holes. When a hole gets big enough… well, maybe I’ll step through and pay you a little visit.” 

Cycek tries to interrogate the voice, asking, “Who are you? And where’s Wendella.”

The voice is indirect in its answers, laughing and saying, “I’m he who will come someday to claim your lives. But I do appreciate you sending me my favorite helper. And you do have spirit. Maybe I’ll let you live and you can come here and join the ranks of my “helpers” too. In the meantime, here are some “friends” to play with.”

There is a deep laugh, and three bloated, fleshy little creatures come tumbling out of the orange spot. Their filthy skin is covered with sores. Their eyes are wild with hatred. They gnash their wretched teeth and rush to attack, clawing with their jagged claws. Several blows are exchanged, and two of the blobish creatures fall dead in puddles of rancid black fluid, and it looks like the battle is well in hand. But at that moment, 3 more creatures emerge from the weird orange blur. These are squat black fiends like hairless, wingless bats crossed with apes. They resemble the creatures that had been present in Hack’s dogfight pit in the Stoneyard. These creatures rush forward to attack, biting and clawing, and releasing a noxious fume. One of these creatures is killed as the melee intensifies. The party is hard-pressed in battle but manages to kill the last of the initial trio of attackers, only to have ranks of assailants again swell as two more horrific creatures come rolling forth from the orange portal. These two bizarre creatures are almost spheroid lumps of disgusting flesh with oddly placed stumpy limbs, goggling eyes, and most frightfully, enormous gaping maws lined with crooked, dagger-like fangs. The heroes attack these with gusto, unleashing arrows, vicious sword-strokes, sacred flames, magical frost rays and more. Mishok slams one of the bat-like creatures into oblivion with a massive swipe of his warhammer. Sartan improvises a molotov cocktail with a flask of pure alcohol. He lobs a perfect throw directly into one of the hellish maws, where it bursts into flame. The creature is only slightly phased as the smoke billows from its mouth.

The fiendish creatures press forward, and start to overwhelm the heroes by sheer force of numbers. Davros wisely puts some distance between himself and the fray, heading down the trail. He is followed shortly by Cycek, who has concealed himself in the natural cover just off the trail, moving with ranger-nimbleness from rock, to shrub, to shadow, avoiding the notice of the monsters. Mishok and Coriander begin to leave next, and are pursued by their horrific foes. Sartan disengages from the fight, and separated from the rest by the crush of bodies at the heart of the battle, heads the opposite way. One of the giant-mawed monstrosities grabs him as he attempts to move out of range, and delivers a brutal bite wound. He is able to break free and move away, although bloodied and seriously injured. The other maw monster catches up to Coriander and grabs her as she flees. The gruesome bite brings her to the ground, where she lies bleeding out as the scene comes to a cliffhanger end.

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The cautious party decides to explore the kitchen and see if this will be a suitable area to hole up for a while. They find two people hiding behind the counter – a man and a woman. These two are frightened cooks, who have witnessed a number of disturbing things over the past day. They heard the fearful voice that boomed throughout the compound after the giant worm creature was slain. The heard the clash of fighting on several occasions, including some particularly fierce and nearby clashes the previous night. They fear the hobgoblin guards that they saw coming and going, and they fear the large bloody man who barged through theIr kitchen in the company of a wounded goblin just after the fight concluded. The two of them are fearful. They have worked in the kitchen here for a few months after living on the road previously. They say that they came to work for the wizard against the advice of Moose Maynard, but they wanted steady work rather than the wayward lives they had been living. They indicate that the way out is through the adjacent store room. A trembling sensation and a rumble interrupts their conversation.

Cycek, standing near the door to the store room notices a weird visual anomaly in the corner of the next room. It seems to be a “blurry” spot, roughly 2-feet in diameter. The effect is almost like looking through a smudged lens or a distorted piece of glass. They approach the anomaly to investigate, and out of pure curiosity consider tying someone to a tether of some kind, and letting them touch the “blur.” Before they can execute this plan, Sartan tries to smack it with his Gooey Grabber. When it makes contact with the “blur,” it gets flung aside as if hitting a spinning object. Before long the blurriness begins to clarify until it is no longer visible.

The rumbling and mysterious “blur” give the party some concerns about the stability of the compound. The cooks want to join them for protection, but the party declines this invitation, explaining that they still have dangerous work ahead of them, and recommends that they go their own way. Naturally, the cooks can only accept this, and bid farewell to the team.

They decide that they still need to rest and recover from some wounds, but this is not the place. They return to the saferoom and lock the doors. An hour later, they emerge and decide to continue investigating. They are curious about the voices and clanging they heard earlier, and Coriander is eager for clues as to Wendella’s whereabouts.

They unlock the gate in the “lobby” and descend the stairs. Sunlight is softly illuminating the center of the room. They see that some of the wires have been cut and removed, making movement in at least part of the room easier to manage. And there is a tarp tied down over the opening in the center of the floor. Bodies of slain goblins, hobgoblins, and ghouls have been piled up along one wall.

Next they go back into Ekso’s quarters. Here too they discover that some kind of clean up has happened. The disgusting remains of the worm creatures seems to have removed at least in part. And iron bars have been roughly bolted over the opening to the spiral staircase. Coriander moves into the adjacent library and begins searching through the books, hoping to hit upon something that may reveal the nature of the broken staff that triggered the explosions and apparently Wendella’s disappearance. She is frustrated that there is so much material, and so much of it in languages she cannot read. Irrationally, she wants to stay here and research, but it is obvious that they are not alone here. Furthermore, Sartan asserts, this place seems unstable as another rumble is felt. They decide to each take a couple of books and leave.

They retrace their steps out through the kitchen, stopping to replenish their food supplies, and head into a rough cave-like passageway that seems to slowly ascend. There is no sign of the cooks they had met earlier. They pass another passageway that branches to the left and which seems to angle back down. Up ahead they begin to discern what appears to be natural light. The passageway ahead seems to open into the outdoors, but there is also a rough, narrow flight of stairs along the right-hand wall of the cave. Sartan heads up the stairs, followed by Cycek, and Davros, walking single-file up the narrow steps. At the top, they are met by a man clad in the attire of the Shadowfurst Town Guard. He is in a small room with a window at his back, which looks out over the outside. The man is nervous and defensive. He brandishes a spear in his right hand and holds aloft a metal sphere in his left, demanding, “Who are you!? Where do you think you’re going!? Back off! Get out of here!” Sartan, Cycek, and Davros are all rather taken aback by this and decide to assert themselves. They ask who he is, and he replies that he is “Officer Waldo” and that they had better leave. He tells them the way out is just down the stairs. The party is very suspicious of him and keep up the pressure, arguing with him and insisting that they be allowed up the stairs. Davros pulls out his bow and the guard reacts, lobbing the metal sphere over Sartan and Cycek. It bounces off the stairs and explodes in Davros’ chest, blasting him back off the stairs and flat on his back.

In the fracas, Sartan pulls out his fidget spinner and the guard promptly falls for its hypnotic power. Davos, in a fury, barges up the stairs and exacts a violent revenge on the helpless guard – kicking him in the crotch, snapping his knee, and breaking his jaw, and finally urinating on him to add insult to injury. They leave him bleeding and unconscious while they investigate his small lookout perch. Peering out the window they see a rocky, scrubby landscape, bluffs, blue sky, and a trail down below. They do not see any movement.

Heading down the stairs and out into the open air, they determine that they are likely along the same trail they had followed to arrive here the previous day. Coriander is horrified by Davros’ treatment of the guard and wants to strike out on her own. Sartan, asserting that they will have a better chance of finding Wendella if they stick together, convinces her to stay. They find a hiding spot amid the rocks and hunker down to rest.

The group gets a good night sleep, disturbed only by the occasional sounds of raised voices, dogs barking, and screams in the night. In the morning, they treat themselves to a breakfast of oatmeal, and then decide to explore the cellar. They descend the steep creaking stairs and find a couple barrels of beer, a couple small casks of brandy, and various small crates of food staples. A secondary, earthen room lies adjacent to the main cellar, through a large hole in the south wall. Within, they find a strange well. A three foot high stone apron surrounds a 10’ x 10’ square well – partitioned into four 5’ x 5’ shafts. A wire grate caps the shaft. Removing the grate and peering into the well with a light reveals moving water welling up from below. A series of indistinct, roundish shapes slowly materialize from the depths, slowly revealing themselves to be large, apple-sized snails. They find this curious, and return the grate to the top of the shaft.

Hearing movement upstairs, they return to the main floor of the tavern, and find that Lolly has arrived for work and is making breakfast for Shaggi and Skids. They inquire about the snails in the well, and Lolly tells them that they are mildly venomous. Back when the Yur Inn was owned by Yuri Rattal and frequented by her son Hack, the two used to collect the snails’ secretions, and sold them for use in the the production of poisons.

Mishok and Cycek decide they had better get on with their day, and head to the Guard Tower to discuss business with the mayor, while Davros and Sartan stay behind at the pub. They travel through the town without incident, although they do seem to get the stink eye from passers-by, especially in their own neighborhood, the squalid southwest end.

When they arrive at the grand stairway of the guard tower, they are met by a pair of the mayor’s personal guard. These are officers with whom the adventurers are acquainted, so they have no difficulty explaining the reason for their visit and gaining admittance. They mayor is pleased to see them and invites them to his office to discuss the outcome of their journey to Khundrukkar.

Mayor Strongbow is pleased to hear that the expedition was successful, and that the four of them have returned unharmed, with a cache of the sought-after Durgeddin blades. He is, however, horrified to hear what has befallen the people of Blasingdell. Mishok mentions that he has considered approaching Tibalt Throgsden, to see if he has the means to help restore the catatonic townsfolk to health. Strongbow concurs that Brother Tibalt might be able to help in this way. Sadly, he reports that the imprisoned Father Baird is in a bad state. His madness has deepened, and is in fact manifesting in physical ways. His jailers report that the wretched man is not only raving, but is often contorted with pain as if wracked by some physical malady.

The mayor is also very concerned about the report of hobgoblins trying to establish strongholds in Khundrukkar and the Blasingdell Mine. He is certain that war with the hobgoblins is coming, and these concerns are confirmed by the stories coming from the rural areas to the south. For this reason, he is all the more appreciative of the Durgeddin weapons. He is authorized to make payment and take possession of the weapons on behalf of the Countess Velnarion, who left a significant war fund.

Strongbow apologizes for Velnarion’s absence. A tenday ago, the countess left Baldur’s Gate with a company of Flaming Fist soldiers on a diplomatic mission to New Elturel, accepting a formal invitation from New Elturel’s High Overseer, Thavius Kreeg. Velnarion did not go eagerly, however. It took weeks of persuasion by the Shadowfurst Council to have her accept New Elturel’s invitation. Councilwoman Vanthampur-Wend was especially convincing, having gathered petitions from the working class people. This meeting had the stated goal of sharing resources to stave off any incursions by hpbgobliins.

However, since she has been gone, something has befallen New Elturel. According to reports, New Elturel has disappeared… the entire city has. Now refugees have been flooding to Shadowfurst, and Velnarion’s  guards, without her leadership have taken things into their own hands. The people seeking refuge in Shadowfurst from the south are a minor concern compared to the crowds of New Elturelians crowding outside the North Gate.

Among those fleeing New Elturel have been several Hellriders — paladins who have sworn oaths to defend New Elturel. Those warriors escaped the city’s fate only because they weren’t in Elturel when it fell. Arriving at Shadowfurst and finding their people shut out or mistreated by the Flaming Fist, the Hellriders have adopted a defiant stance. The Flaming Fist, imturn, has taken to arresting them on sight, lest they try to stir up trouble in Shadowfurst. The Hellriders are not going quietly, however, leading to violence and bloodshed.

Mayor Strongbow expresses his frustration at the situation his city finds itself in. Things had seemed to be turning around following the downfall of Councilman Donwald, but now, just a few months later, all is in a state of chaos. The Flaming Fist and the Royal Guards have essentially taken over most of the security on the city, and often find themselves at odds with City Guards and with the citizens in general. Crime is on the rise… not only gang activity, but now there has been a spate of murders. The Flaming Fist, headed by Captain Zodge, has been unable to tamp down this violence. There is great uncertainty about how to handle the refugees. There is great fear concerning the disaster at New Elturel. And all this comes under the threat of hobgoblins and gnolls rampaging through the countryside, and perhaps having their sights on strategic locations, like the city itself.

Mayor Strongbow will pay 500 per weapon. He will use these weapons to arm his most elite guard members. He also expresses a need for help. Mishok and his companions have proven themselves to be capable where organized forces like the City Guard and the Flaming Fist are not. While Captain Zodge and the Flaming Fist are preoccupied with the crowds at the gates and the Hellriders, perhaps they can help get to the bottom of the murders in town.

As the party travels east, they reflect upon their recent adventures. Caso and Foreman Sy have shared some interesting news regarding the goings-on in Shadowfurst. Before leaving town the adventurers had a deadly street fight with a band of thugs. Several of the thugs were slain before the rest fled. These were members of a rival gang to Hack’s “Mange Gang,” calling themselves “The Stoneheaded Bastards.” They have been causing trouble at the Yur Inn. The Stoneheaded Bastards hold great malice toward “The Four.” Furthermore, the slaying of those thugs has resulted in a turn of public opinion against “The Four.” Many of the local citizens simply cannot abide the killing of local young men by needlessly violent outsiders. Meanwhile, the citizens of Shadowfurst are chafing under the heavy-handed policing of the Countess’ personal guards and the royal soldiers who remained in town following the summer uprising. These outside security forces have been dominating the local guards, but carry much less understanding of the local situation. On the bright side, Caso informs them, the renovation of the Yur Inn was moving ahead quite aggressively last he had seen it.

The first two days of travel are uneventful. The temperature slowly drops, as do autumn leaves, while the skies remain clear. On the third day, as evening falls, rain starts to fall, and shadows deepen. They warily pass between low bluffs, when Cycek comes to a halt. He detects a low growl. He points to the right hand bluff. Davros picks up the signal and springs into action. He quickly takes a position of cover and prepares to fire an arrow. A moment later a vicious creatures leaps from the opposite bluff and charges into Caso. It’s a gnoll! It attempts to spear the young man, and failing that tries to bite him with gnashing fangs. Caso is miraculously unharmed. An instant later, Davros unleashes an arrow, injuring the aggressor. Before another breath can be taken, more gnolls take the field, attacking with spears, teeth, and arrows. The skilled adventurers believe they have the battle in hand, but out of nowhere, a cold, shadowy presence is felt. Mishok senses the deadly evil, and seems to see a demonic form. Sartan lights his magical torch and throws it at the feet of this shadow. The creature seems to momentarily flinch. At that moment, a familiar voice shouts in excitement and frustration in Sartan’s mind. “What are you doing!? Don’t mess with hammers and gnolls! Let me kill the demon! I want to kill it! It’s been too long! Let me at him!”

The gnoll ambush turns into a fierce battle, made even more harrowing by the presence of a shadow demon. Sartan’s demon-hating sword, however, gives him an edge in the battle, causing substantial injury to a foe that itself appears insubstantial. Davros fires arrows from a concealed location, a tactic that proves lethal to his adversaries. Despite the fearsome enemies, the four adventurers prove victorious, destroying the entire ambush party. Before the demon itself could be dispatched, it utters a malevolent threat, insisting that the fight would prove hopeless to the mortals, and that more like him would be upon them soon. Be that as it may, they hack at the creature creature as it flees, undoing its wispy flesh with many cuts from arrow, sword, and crystal axe. 

Combat over, they loot the bodies. The gnolls carry the usual gruesome trophies of battle: ears, teeth, fingers, scalps and such, many of these most likely once belonging to hobgoblins. One of the gnolls bore the blistered scars from either fire or some kind of caustic substance. They take what little of value they can find, and then return to the road.

Farther down the road, the group begins to encounter small groups of travelers, primarily rural folks from the south. These people are heading to Shadowfurst, seeking refuge from the purported hobgoblin incursions. Many had only heard rumors, but others had direct experience with the interlopers.   One traveler from the Greenfields area tells a tale of a clash between hobgoblins and gnolls. He reports having seen an scaly black lizard-like humanoid in the company of hobgoblins… fighting for them or with them. It is unclear whether he saw a dwarf among them.

When at last they arrive at the south gate of Shadowfurst, there is a small crowd waiting to be allowed into the city. This is apparently a new procedure, as folks generally had been free to come and go as they pleased during daylight hours. But these new arrivals are being not only questioned and inspected, but are apparently being shaken down by Countess Velnarion’s “Flaming Fist” guards. The group intervenes on behalf of the travellers, paying their way through with a hefty bribe. In doing so, they also learn that there are a large number of people coming to the city, and the guards stress that is is imperative that they thoroughly screen new arrivals. It’s even worse at the north gate, where refugees are arriving from New Elturel.

The four adventurers are allowed into the city. They cross the bridge, and can see that work is being done to fortify the seawall on the inner bank of the river, crowning the stone structure with metal spikes. They drop off Caso and the Foreman at the Stoneyard and are soon at the site of the Yurr Inn. It is immediately clear that much work has been done in their absence. Piles of cut stone lay stacked in the dirt yard among other bits of construction debris. It appears that about a quarter of the building has been demolished. It now has a decidedly smaller footprint, and a temporary wall of rough-hewn boards has been erected where the building original façade and entry way have been removed.

Inside, they find Lolly at work arranging furniture (which appears to be new). Some of the flooring also appears to be new. In fact, the remaining original parts of the barroom seem to be quite clean and orderly. Lolly greets them excitedly, expressing her relief that they are safe, and gushing about her progress in renovating the bar. Her expression falls, however, when she recounts the extortion attempts by a gang called the Stoneheaded Bastards. She has run out of money to pay for masons to build the new stone façade, and this gang is demanding “protection” fees. She has already paid them for a month, and unfortunately, she only has Shaggi and Skids to protect her. They have been doing their best. They have stood up to the thugs who have come to cause trouble, but they recently took a bit of a beating, outnumbered by gang members who came to intimidate the money out of her. This gang is headed by a thug named Mortlock – one of councilwoman Vanthampur’s sons. The Stoneheaded Bastards have long been rivals of her own son Hack’s “Mange Gang.” With the Mange Gang disbanded, and Hack gone, the SB’s have become the most powerful gang in the city. They have a grudge against Lolly and and even deeper grudge against “The Shadowfurst Four” for killing a few of their own on a street corner last summer.

Despite these issues, Lolly is proud of the work that has been done. The bar is stocked with new, higher quality liquor. She has in fact been open for limited hours, simply to bring in a little income. She shows them four paintings on the wall, each a somewhat amateurish, but remarkably recognizable portrait of the four new owners of this establishment.

The four head upstairs to find rooms where they can get some rest. They find that this part of the inn has seen little improvement yet, other than clean linen on the beds. The floors are still warped and rotten in places, the paint still flaking off the walls, and the windows still grey opaque. They find some loose floorboards and stash their Durgeddin weaponry within.

They decide to get a good night’s rest and pay a visit to the Mayor the following morning.

Having suffered injuries from the magical blast, the party takes an hour to hunker down in the now-wrecked safe room to recover. The wrack their brains over what may have happened to Wendella and Eve. Coriander asserts her determination to find her and return her to her parents. Eventually they leave the room and cautiously explore, seeking a way out. They hear a dog barking and decide to investigate a nearby door. Sartan cautiously opens the door as his companions guard the passageway, only to be rushed by a vicious 2-headed dog. It resembles the two-headed dog ridden by Berniece the Dwarf, but this one is smaller, and one of the heads seems to be of normal dog-like proportions, whereas the other one is distorted and monstrous. Sartan tries to bribe it with a bit of food to no avail. The creature shows no interest. He quickly slams the door.

They walk through the passageways, taking note of the faint hint of distant voices, and the occasional clang of metal. They try another door, and find what appears to be a study. It is furnished with a large oval table, chairs, several book cases and shelves. Among the items found here, Coriander identifies what must be a spell book, although she cannot read the writing. The cover bears an embossed 8-pointed star. Another book’s leather cover appears to have the skin of a human hand stitched into in. Inside are drawings and diagrams of body parts and bones disassembled and rearranged into grotesque and evil shapes. There are several unidentified scrolls, and various small containers of what appear to be spell components. Sartan, very suspicious of the “hand” book, decides to destroy it. Initially, Coriander is resistant to the destruction of arcane knowledge, but relents and Sartan points out that only something evil can come from it. He builds a pyre using some of the mundane books found on the shelves and throws the evil book on top. The heavy tome is slowly engulfed, and despite Sartan’s concerns, nothing unnatural seems to come of it.

in a nearby passage way, Davros encounters a pit trap. It is only his roguish dexterity that enables him to react, and jump back rather than plummet 20 feet down to a stone floor. He marks the location of the trap and returns to the study. There he and Sartan open a metal hatch in the floor. A wretched, undead creature leaps out and attacks. But Sartan and Davros, now much more experienced in battling such things are able to dispatch it.

Further explorations reveal the body of a dead goblin and bloody footprints leading into a rough-hewn passageway. The passageway seems to lead into a kitchen area. Here the party discusses taking a break and recovering from their wounds.

Following a fight in which Slender James is killed, and Scaythe sent running, the party rests in Croncho’s cave. They consider several options for next steps. Croncho indicates a pair of tunnels, one of which wends deep into the earth… a passage to the legendary and much-feared Underdark. The other tunnel ultimately will open upon the surface world, miles to the east in the wilderness. Before they can decide, they are assaulted by another group of Scaythe’s minions. This bunch appears to be the squad of searchers they had seen leaving the mine the previous day. Lead by a fearsome hobgoblin captain, this band of enemies includes a huge, hideous, multi-legged reptile, a hulking jerky golem, and a full complement of foot soldiers and goblin archers. In the ensuing fight, Mishok is turned to stone (granting him an enhanced affinity for the nature of stone). In the midst of battle, they learn that the reptile is in fact a basilisk – a very dangerous creature. However, Croncho looks kindly upon the “misunderstood” beast and seeks to protect it. The battle is fierce, but the heroes prevail. The hobgoblins, goblins, and the jerky golem are slain. Croncho subdues the basilisk, and adopts it as a pet. They cure Mishok with the generous application of a slimy substance from the basilisk’s gullet.

The group decides they must take their leave of Croncho. Conferring with Caso and the foreman, who had previously spent some time in the service of the evil taskmaster Scyathe, they determine that the number of foes within the mine must be significantly diminished by now. They learn the location of Scaythe’s main headquarters and decide to seek him out, and hopefully retrieve Krago.

They backtrack through the mine, and soon find the steel sliding doors leading to Scaythe and Slender James’ workshop. Inside, they find a pair of large chambers, into which are built several tiers of iron catwalks. The main floor of the space is filled with at least a dozen prone, catatonic villagers. Bodies float and bob in a pool of aromatic water, like a ghastly stew. A gnoll prisoner screeches and gibbers, manacled and chained to a stone wall. Goblin archers nimbly scamper along the catwalks, firing arrows from above. The adventurers fight their way into the room, slowly cutting down the archers one at a time. Those who stray too close to the pool are subjected to an unsettling, soporific sensation, as if a spell has been cast upon them. In fact, Cycek for a time is put to sleep by some unseen magical force. The group eventually makes its way to a curtained area at the back of the chamber. There they find a ghoulish lab, in which the horrible jerky golems had been created. A body with disarticulated limbs is strapped to a stone slab. A workbench is strewn with cutting utensils and jars filled with herbs and assorted strange substances. A huge stone column houses a brazier outfitted with a grate, chains, and other weird hardware. It is clearly a smoking chamber. This appears to be the bottom of  the chimney down which Cycek had climbed just a day before. Mishok discovers Kheldegan Tolm (owner of Tolm’s Superior Out­fitting and Dry Goods) among the catatonic victims. He is still faintly breathing. Mishok calls upon Divoc for healing power, and finds that he is able to get the good Dwarf back on his feet. Unfortunately, his strength is such that he can only channel this power once before resting and regaining his strength.

Once the adventurers have cleared the space of enemies, they quickly move from combat-mode to the rescue of the stricken townsfolk. They bring in the cart from outside the mine and load it up with the unconscious townspeople.

They cautiously travel back to Blasingdell, keeping a close lookout for enemies, particularly Scaythe. They see no sign of him, nor of Krago. They arrive in town within the hour, returning the men to their concerned families. There is relief for some few, and deep sorrow for many others. An unfortunate number of good men were lost to the monstrous experiments of Slender James and Scaythe, including Shadwick, father of Wicklow. Many of the men are still stricken with the frightful catatonia. Mishok rests enough to recover some healing abilities, and assists some few victims with recovery. But, the team knows they need to move on. They simply cannot linger for the weeks it would take to restore all the men. Mishok offers what advice and wisdom he can, in the hopes that the local clergy will be able to successfully perform the healing rites themselves. Kheldegan, himself an new adherent of Divoc, commits to lead this effort.

The adventurers prepare to leave Blasingdell. The traumatized but resilient townspeople resolve to hold their village against aggressors as well as they can, but acknowledge that they may need to pull up stakes and retreat to Shadowfurst. First, however, they intend to retake the mine as a defensible stronghold. The foreman advises them that there are valuable crystals in a newly discovered lower chamber which may prove an economic boon for the town. Of course, they may face legal challenges from the Wend family. That will be a concern for a later date.

The group sets out to Shadowfurst, keeping their eyes on the sky, still fearing an appearance by a vengeful black dragon. They travel with a horse-drawn cart, hauling their cache of weapons and other loot retrieved from Khundrukkar. They have approximately six days of travel ahead of them, which are certain to be fraught with peril.