Journal

22 Rova- The town is beset upon by a band of goblins, intent on wreaking havoc and death. In response, we stand against the marauders. Some of the goblins are more fearsome then others and wield large, but crude horse choppers. Alaysha proves to be an expert marksman with her bow, killing goblin after goblin, while never missing a shot. Mylaela is grievously wounded but Mark Axis is able to heal her during a lull in the fight. At one point a goblin hints that they were put up to attacking the town and so the group subdues him for later interrogation. We also rescue a nobleman, Aldern, from what was sure to be his death at the hands of another group of goblins. Thanks to Aldern, we learn that some guards abandoned their post, which allowed the goblins to enter without alarm. By the end of the evening, the town is secure and the heroes are treated to drinks at the tavern. 

23 Rova- We begin to explore the town and learn a little bit about each other. First up is a stop by the sheriff's office to interrogate the goblins. We learn that a shadowy human-like figure has been among the goblin tribes and orchestrated the attack. The sheriff points out that the goblin's normally keep each other busy and would not cooperate like they did in this attack. Also arrested and interrogated is one of the derelict guards, Soy Kosamil, who confesses that he had been paid to leave his post so that goods could be smuggled. He is hesitant to share, but does let on that the a criminal from Magnimar, known as the Lord of Underbridge (Hagen) is the guy in charge of the smuggling ring. 

Later that day, we learn that the town crypt was broken into. As we investigate the crypt, we are attacked by skeletons. We learn, through trial and error, that blunt weapons are best against their kind. Afterwards, it becomes apparent that the burial space for the priest of the temple and his daughter have been emptied. A cloak left behind was supposed to suggest that the two skeletons were the father and daughter (Ezakien and Nualia), but Mark assures us the skeletons are much too old for that to have been true. Corrath purposes that the daughter is the person who was parleying with the goblins, and might be the mastermind behind all the activity. 

25 Rova- Aldern Foxglove graciously buys the group riding horses and invites them on a boar hunt. He clearly favors interacting with Mirabelle and takes every opportunity to flirt with her. The boar hunt is an exciting event and once again, Mylaela takes another fearsome hit, this time from the boars tusks as it charged the group. Afterwards, the group brings the boar back to town and offer the boar as dinner to patrons of the Rusty Dragon. Amid the revelry, Mirabelle makes it know to Aldern that she thinks of him only as a friend. Later in the evening, an old man bursts into the tavern, raving about how the town was in danger. It turns out the man is Amekio's father and runs the Glassworks. Amekio, proprietor of the Rusty Dragon, is able to calm him down and then Sheriff Hemlock introduces us to Sha'Lu, an elven ranger, who has been battling the goblin menace for some time. After Sha'Lu explains the nature and groups of goblins, Sheriff Hemlock asks us to watch over the town while he goes to Magnimar to request additional guards for the town.

26 Rova- As we gather for breakfast, Bathana Corwin, the halfling bartender, tells us that Amekio is missing, and that she found a note left behind by Amekio's missing brother. The note says that Amekio must come to her father's aid at the Glassworks. We rush to the Glassworks and hear sounds of mayhem and lunacy. The site is large but Mylaela is able to narrow the sounds to one particular room. The six adventurers burst in only to discover Amekio's father has been encased in molten glass. A host of goblins are destroying glass everywhere. Leading them is an elven bowman who must be Tsuto. The combat is fierce. Tsuto clearly has monk training and is just as deadly as Laesin. The pivotal moment is when he is stunned by Laesin's attack and drops his bow. Once separated from his bow, he begins to retreat but is knocked unconscious before he can escape.

We search the Glassworks and find Ameiko bound and gadded in the lower levels. We also find Tsuto's journal and notes detailing the plans for the Goblin invasion. Perusing his notes, it is clear there other leaders in this effort. He references a bugbear named Bruthazmus. Tsuto also recounts his love and worry for Nualia. She is apparently transforming herself and currently has a twisted arm. He says that she is trying to complete a transformation into a succubus. There is also mention of Mafeshnakor, a barhgest. Although tired, we continue to cautiously search the tunnels.Beyond the basement offices, the tunnels carry on. One leads to the beach and we believe that is the route the smugglers have been using.  The other tunnel lead to an apparently much greater network and we encounter a twisted creature which we identify as a sin spawn. After that we decide to retreat and come back the next day, after we have rested.

Corrath and Mark talk with Quink, the sage, and learn that ??????'s efforts can be linked to a runelord named Elaznist, who focused on wrath. Quink also tells them that Nualia used to date Delic, who left before the "late unpleasantness." Finally, Quink shares that this region was an area caught in the conflict between two runelords, one of wrath and one of greed.

27 Rova- We return to the tunnels. We find a worked tunnel with an alcove in which a statue of Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath stands. The worked area also leads to a torture chamber and some other rooms. The halls lead to prison, in which more sin spawn reside. Leading with ranged attacks, we are able to make short work of them. The cells have the remains of people who dies a long time ago. They are all human, but their clothes have long since disintegrated so we cannot properly date them. What is unusual is that some of the skeletons have misshapen features as if they have been warped through some nefarious process. The prison has an upper catwalk which leads on.  

The next room is a strange arrangement of covered pits, in which we discover a zombie at the bottom. As we investigate the first pit, a misshapen goblin with three arms yells at us to, "Leave Lady's stuff alone!" Corrath asks him to stand down, but he immediately charges us yelling "Corvus kill you!" He is a fearsome foe, a goblin wielding three weapons sized for a human. Fortunately Myleala quickly disarms him of his best weapons. Forced to fight with just a dagger, the goblin falls. Investigating the room we find a zombie at the bottom of each of the pits. Having pity on them, we put them to rest. We suspect the zombies are from the Thassolonian times which means they have languished in their prisons for thousands of years. A hall leads on to an elaborate room shaped as a sphere. The "walls" are a strange metal that glow with an eerie energy and upon which words appear every so often. The Thassolonian words are an incoherent stream of rage related words reinforcing this place's association with the Runelord of Wrath. However, we do find multiple items of interest in the room suspended in mid air, including a spell scroll and a magic wand. Studying the items and the room, Mirabelle concludes the entire room is under a levitate spell. None of us see the point of risking entering the room since Laz is able to use one of his exotic weapons to grab each of the items.
We return to the hall with the statue of Alaznist. Following a hall behind the statue, we find a ceremonial prayer room. There is much to indicate which diety was worshippped here, Lamashtu. A pair of fine double doors leads on. Through them we discover a main alter room. At first our attention is drawn to a large circle of skulls, arranged in a ritual circle. But then a Quasit, perhaps Lady, and some sin spawn immediately attack. "Lady" uses her array of spells wisely. At one point over half the group flees the fight under the effect of fear. Between her ability to fly and go invisible, she proves to be a wily adversary despite her size. Once we defeat the sin spawn and her summoned aid disappears, she falls to the unrelenting fire from Alaysha's bow. 

We continue following the tunnels and find ourselves ascending a long flight of stairs. It leads to another macabre room , this time a small circle where we are attacked by strange flying heads. The damage from their bites is sinister as even a cleric has a hard time overcoming its damaging nature. The combat is awkward because of the close confines. At one point, Laz falls into the small pool of water and we instantly fear that there will be an ill effect. Besides the strange pool of water and the skulls, there is nothing of interest in the room. Mark examines Laz and feels confident that he has not been affected by anything. Beyond that we find a collapsed tunnel with stairs that are blocked.

We leave the dungeon and some of the group goes to see Mayor Deverin. The team recounts their discoveries and tell her about an entire underground complex that lies beneath the town. She is taken aback by the revelation that the Runelords are real and that the town is in such close proximity to such a site.

Rova 28- We return to the complex with Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, Sabyl Sorn (head of the House of Blue Stones), and Quink. We show them the statue , the sphere room, and the temple. Quink is entranced by all of this and is clearly enthralled with investigating as much of this as he is allowed. In the temple room, those who study the triangular font of strange lava are unable to discern it's nature. Whatever it is, it is powerful. 

Regarding the sphere room, Sorn thinks it was once a room for quiet contemplation where a person could be suspended in midair and meditate. If that is true, then we suspect that the room was eventually corrupted by the Runelord of Wrath. Our theory is that the copper panels have been influenced by some effect.

Rova 30- Mayor Deverin comes to the Inn and tells us that Das Korvut, the blacksmith, claims to have seen his dead child walking near his house and that the ghost fled to Chopper's Island, a nearby island associated with the serial killer that killed his wife and child.  No one seems to be able to dissuade him of the notion and the mayor asks if we would be willing to investigate what happened. The island is accessible by land at low tide, and it turns out that that will be in an hour. Quickly gathering our gear we make for Chopper's Island. When we reach the area, almost the entire village has turned out to watch us.

We climb the cliff and once at the top, Alaysha finds tracks that lead across the small island to a cliff on the opposite side. We also finds the remains of a house that has long since burned down. The center of the building is trapped, but in one corner lies a stone that a cover a tunnel that descends into the earth. The tunnel leads on for some distance but then enters a large foyer with double doors on the far side. The stonework matches the craftsmanship found in the Thassalonion complex under the town.  Beyond the double doors, lies a large circular room with a commanding  wooden statue, which Corrath identifies as Pazuzu, a demon who was once a lover of Lamashtu until they had a falling out. We hear a child's sobs turn to laughter but we cannot see the child. The voice tells us that he is Simon, whom we know is the son of Das Korvut. Mirabelle asks Simon about a fair that the town had years ago and when he is able to answer with clear details, it is evident that this really is the blacksmith's son. Simon tells us about a "bad man" who hurts him and that he is a prisoner and can't leave. We ask Simon about the rooms nearby and he shares details about the adjoining rooms. On one side, we find Simon's "bedroom" that seems to be a converted study or something. Unfortunately, now is is just filled with tongues and eyes, taken from other bodies. In addition, many forms of disturbing imagery are found throughout the room. 

In the other direction is a long descending staircase that ends in a large foyer with double doors on the other side. As Laesin enters, a ghost is bashing his head against a wall. As we enter, he turns and his eyes are missing and dripping blood. as he closes the distance he dissipates. We cautiously approach the doors and then open them. Beyond the double doors lies a round room with a small hole in the center of the floor. On one side of the room, we find a blanket with the remains of a small humanoid figure. As Mark touches the blanket to analyze the bones, Simon's voice echos through the room in a startling scream. He appears next to Mark and attacks us. Mark recognizes him as an attic whisperer, a form of undead. Despite his creepy appearance, the attic whisperer is not a problem. After defeating him, we take his remains back to town so that he may be put to rest by Abbot Zantus from the Sandpoint Cathedral.

Lamashan 1- A little after breakfast, the blacksmith, Das Korvut, shows up at the Inn asking to see us. He thanks us for our efforts and invites Mark to use his forge. Das also offers to make each of us a masterwork weapon.   Later, some of us stop to talk with Quink. He is still going on about everything in the Runelord complex. We ask about the Sandpoint Devil and , based on what he says, we suspect that it is too fearsome an adversary for us to take on. 

Lamashan 6- After a few days resting and pursing individual endeavors, the six of us are having breakfast, when Sheriff Hemlock approaches us and tells us that Shaylu has been noticing more activity with the Thistletop Goblins. These are the ones led by Ripnugget.  By midday, we are on our way. Sheriff Hemlock gave us directions and the goblins actually live fairly close. It takes about two hours for us to reach the general vicinity. Thistletop is apparently names for the massive thistle hedges that grow here. Alaysha is able to track the goblin prints to a concealed "door" The plant growth is so thick that we are essentially walking in plant tunnels. We find the paths lead toward the bay, which matches our understanding that the goblin village is located on the coast. Scouting ahead, Alaysha tells us that goblin dogs are blocking our way. They appear to be tethered, but they are close enough to a bridge that goes to a stronghold of sorts. We decide to come back tomorrow to deal with the animals, our plan being to use silence to keep the dogs from alerting anyone.

Lamashan 7- We use a combination of Darkness and Silence to move past the Goblin dogs. Once the animals are covered in the magical effects we race past them, as much as we can, squeezing ourselves through the small tunnels. Predictably there is a guard room just before the bridge, but to our surprise, it is empty. The rope bridge looks study enough and we begin crossing over it. Alaysha is the first across and sees a bunch of goblins are totally distracted, throwing rocks at birds. Once across, she opens fire on the goblins. As the rest of the group makes its way across, the bridge gives out, apparently being rigged to fall once too much weight is on it. Mirabelle plummets into the water below, while Corrath, Mark and Mylaela manage to hang on. Laesin is close enough to the other side that he is able to jump to the land on the avoid the trap. The goblins swarm Laesin and Alaysha. Laesin devastates the goblins with his combination of tripping them and and then hitting them when they try to stand up. Alaysha is able to continually back up and fire dropping goblins at a steady rate. By the time Mark resets the bridge and climbs his way along the bridge to the fight, a good portion of the goblins and their dogs are dead. Reinforcements join the goblin side from inside the fortress and the party breaches the fortress with the goblins in retreat. Mirabelle is stuck in the water below, and uses the time to heal herself and then tries to climb up on the rocks, but to no avail. Eventually Laesin lowers a rope and pulls her up. Inside, Corrath convinces the last goblin to surrender and then begins asking him questions about the area and its inhabitants. 

We learn that the chief is under the influence of Nualia. The goblin, Wezzat, accepts our deal to heal him once we are done and he will help us. First he helps us pass a bunch of goblin dogs that we distract by throwing food in the far corner. Then he leads us down a set of stairs and the entire construction changes. The goblin fortress had a hard-packed earth floor and the building itself was constructed from reclaimed timber from ships. As we descend, the structure changes to well made stonework, consistent with what we saw underneath the town. We surmise that this area too was constructed by the Thassalonians. At the bottom of the stairs we find a planning room full of maps, notes and other evidence that details Nualia's plan to ruin Sandpoint. Corrath secures some of the doors and then we take a moment to talk with the goblin. the goblin, Wezzat, turns out to be a font of information. He believes Nualia is manipulating the tribe by controlling Ripnugget. He also believes that if Nualia were removed, the goblins would go back to how they had always been. We make a deal with him that if he helps us remove  Nualia and those faithful to her we can leave the goblins alone. He likes the idea and we move on. A series of hallways takes us to some very official looking double doors. We open them to reveal a chapel type room with column and a dais at the far end. As we enter some of us are surprised by strange dog like creatures, that Corrath identifies as Yeth Hounds. One of the dogs utter a terrifying howl and Mirabelle, Mylaela and Alaysha all begin to run away at full speed. They make it to the meeting room, where Corrath had locked the doors. After an initial effort by each of them, Mirabelle is able rip the door off and the trio flees upstairs. Fortunately, the goblin dogs have made their way to the food stores and are too busy gorging themselves to notice the adventurers fleeing past. Below, the Yeth Hounds are fearsome opponents. Corrath, Laesin and Mark begin a fighting retreat and make it back to an access room between the meeting room and the chapel. Fortunately, the Yeth Hounds do not come out of the chapel. Mark heals the two who are holding the line, but it is clear that the Yeth Hounds are a foe beyond our ability, at least certainly while we are divided. After recoveing from the shock of the attack,  Alaysha, Laesin and Mark move back toward the chapel. After getting near where the Yeth Hounds are, they coordinate their movements to spring to the chapel doors and shut them. By now, Mirabelle, Alyasha and Mylaela are no longer caught in the throes of fear and make their way down again. Rejoining the others, the group spares a moment to heal up. 

Moving on, the group heads towards where Wezzat said some of Nualia's henchmen live. As we move on, a door opens and a fearsome bugbear steps through and says "Why are you down here?" He is a brutish individual with a  string of elf ears around his neck. Mirabelle yells wait, and Laesin, who was about to attack pauses. Mirabelle uses a spell to charm the bugbear, and calls out to him. He relaxes, his shoulders dropping a little and utters a friendly greeting. Mirabelle moves forward and talks with him a bit. We learn that besides Tsuto, Nualia has other allies here including a human fighter (Orik Van Casterkin), and a human wizard (Lyrie Akinja). It becomes apparent that while Bruthazmus views Nualia favorably, he does not care for Orik. Furthermore, Orik is somewhere down here. Mirabelle convinces the bugbear that he can take this moment to prove to Orik that he is the better. The group agree to allow the bugbear, who must be Bruthazmus, to challenge Orik and if Orik has allies with him and they attack, then the group will help Bruthazmus. We ask the Bruthazmus what lies ahead and in one direction, he snickers and says that Tenemore lies in one directions. We all look at each other and no one has a clue as to what he is referring. In the other direction, he says, are more living quarters.

The bugbear leads us into the next room that has multiple exits. As we enter, a door on the opposite side opens and human walks through as he finishes putting on his war helm. He looks startled to see us and then gives Bruthazmus a withering look before springing to attack him. The two of them battle fiercely for a few moments, but it is clear the fighter is better skilled. With his last attack, he buries his bastard sword in the bugbear's chest. Without missing a beat he readies for our attacks and we move in. Mylaela immediately takes his sword from him with a rapid disarm. The rest of us move in and, now that he is forced to fight with a dagger, the fighter is quickly overwhelmed. Corrath offers him the chance to surrender and after Myleala takes his dagger he puts his hands up and yields. 

The fighter is, indeed, Orik Van Casterkin. He tells us he has been working for Nualia for a couple of months. This matches up with the timeline of the trouble Sandpoint has experienced. He think that her overall plan has something to do with sacrificing Sandpoint to Lamashtu. He is also able to tell us that Nualia is downstairs along with Lyrie, the wizard.  He convinces us that he has only been in it for the money. We agree that we will let him leave armed and armored as long as he doesn't bother Sandpoint again, but that he has to remain confined to his room for a little bit. 

We explore the other exits and find a room full of cages and goblin children. We also find the king's harem resting on squalid pillows and lost in a  drugged haze. Finally we find an exit that leads away from the worked stone and into a natural cavern with a narrow opening. Alaysha thinks she smells fresh air and it is possible it leads to the outside. But we also are concerned that it my lead to this mysterious "Tenemore" and so we leave it for later.

Returning back to the meeting room, we pass through a door and find ourselves descending to an even lower lever. We burst into a room filled with statues and find Lyrie, the female wizard, in a far corner brandishing a wand and a scroll. She yells out, "They're here!" and casts a spell that creates multiple images of herself. Mylaela sprints forward and grabs the wand out of her hand as a look of disbelief washes of Lyrie face. A moment later Laesin runs in and trips her, but hits her as well despite the distracting images. Mirabelle follows and tries to move around her. Lyrie retaliates with flames that shoot out of her hands, catching Mirabelle and Laesin. The rest of the group moves in and she is quickly surrounded. Out of options, she raises her hands and surrenders. Laesin calls out to knock her out and Mylaela renders her unconscious with a swift backhand. We press on, reluctant to waste the spells we have in place. The next hallway has more statues but our attention is drawn to the shiny floor between the statues. Recalling Orik's warning about the trap, those who traverse the area jump clear of the space. Taking the lead, Laesin moves down the passage and stops at the end of the hall with doors on either side. He opens one, then quickly turns and opens the other and yells, "They are in here!" The room is a large circular room with disturbing containers of body parts on shelves and desks. But it is Nualia and one of the Yeth hounds that commands our attention. The hound bays and Mirabelle and Myleala run for the stairs. The others advance but the hound and Nualia are vicious attackers. Alaysha stays in the back and shoots Nualia repeatedly while the others run interference. The hound's relentless attacks put Corrath and Laesin in jeopardy, but the heroes do not falter. Too late, Nualia realizes that Alaysha is the threat and springs forward to attack her providing Corrath an opportunity. His scimitar sweeps out and, catching Nualia across her open back, she falls as the last of her strength fails. Laesin moves in with a silver dagger and finishes off the Yeth Hound. Looking around the room, the truly unsettling nature of this place strikes us. The only redeeming feature of the room is a clear pool of water, which only makes us suspicious. Nualia has some enchanted possession that we distribute. This results in Mark wearing her breastplate, creating an incongruous image.

After resting, we move through the door Laesin originally opened, revealing a room with a column of coins. It turns out the coins are an illusion but there is an opening that allows us to see past, revealing a room with double doors. Unfortunately, we cannot figure out through; while the coins are an illusion the barrier is real. Reluctantly we move on and enter a room with  sarcophagi and a commanding statue. Corrath immediately recognizes the statue as Karzoug, Runelord of Greed. Almost simultaneously, shadowy creatures emerge from some of the sarcophagi. Their attacks are not overly strong but they sap us of our strength and multiple people are left severely debilitated. Afterwards, we investigate the sarcophagi and notice they are all stylized, suggesting that whoever was entombed here was not worthy of individual recognition. 

Lamashan 8- We rest the night in a room, loomed over by statues. Its dry and safe, but creepy. In the morning Mark is able to restore some of our strength. Alaysha uses magic to detect secret doors and we learn that the illusory column of coins is, in fact, a secret door. We also find a secret door in the crypt room. It leads to two passages that go to the same room, a room that is partially filled with water. Looking in we see the remains of a treasure horde, but also a giant gold statue head; and then it moves. We study it for a moment and then reason that it is a giant hermit crab that has taken up residence inside the statue head. We draw its attention and lure it into attacking us. Once it emerged from underwater, Alaysha shoots it with arrows and and Mirabelle uses the recently found wand of magic missiles. The crab grabs Corrath and hoists him into the air. The crab fights valiantly but the group is able to overcome it. With the crab dead, the group is able recover gold, coins and even an amulet that helps protect you.

Returning to the illusory coin-column, we notice a set of slots in the wall that make us think of we have to pay with coins to trigger the door. We deposit 7 gold coins and the door rotates down and out of the way. We find a pair of double doors that are locked. Corrath is able to easily unlock the doors and we hear the sounds of casting as we open the doors, but see no occupants on the other side. Using a newly found scroll, Mirabelle is able to see invisible things and says there is a creature straight ahead. The group moves in and forces it into a corner. Alaysha and Mirabelle attack from range while the others harass it and keep it busy. Mark is seriously wounded but the group prevails. Moving on we find another room devoted to vivisection, yet another indicator of the perverse nature of the runelords.. Finally we find a throne room, that has a repeating illusion that shows Kourzog addressing people about Starfall.  After that, we take a moment to recover and then Alaysha magically searches the area for secret doors and we find none. We feel that we have thoroughly searched the level set to resting for the night. That night we review Nualia's notes and discover several interesting points that point us in a new direction. Her notes talk about a Skinsaw Cult. She also describes how Erylium was tutoring her in the ways Lamashtu. Apparently Nualia was was pregnant and when she told the father, he ran off. This began her cycle into madness and eventually resulted in midwives taken off with her stillborn and malformed child, her hunting down the father, Delek Vishkanta, and then returning to Sandpoint and enacting her scheme of vengeance. She also mentions the minor runewell underneath Sandpoint. This must be what the triangular font was that we could not recognize. 

Lamashan 9- After resting the night we start with the Yeth Hounds in the chapel. This time it goes much better. Mark used silence so that when the hounds howled, no sound was actually heard. The fact that they flew, still made it difficult to pin the creatures down but eventually, the party is able to dispatch them. Examining the chapel, we conclude that the chapel could serve other purposes, but we must first try to cleanse it of the influence of Lamashtu. Mark uses his ability to break through material with his hands and shatters the statue and breaks down the bas-relief.  We then move back upstairs to confront King Ripnugget. We burst into the "throne room" and demand to talk with him. King Ripnugget, however, is not at all interested. Jumping astride his lizard mount he begins attacking Laesin, so quickly that even Laesin can't respond. But things change when the goblin druid Dogmurt entangles the entire area. Most of us get stuck in the think vines that sprung up from the ground floor, but so do most of the goblins. Even the goblin king and his mount are entangled, which prompts Dogmurt to say," Let me go and I no attack Sandpoint." King Ripnugget counters by telling to kill Dogmurt and he will not attack Sandpoint. Unhindered by the vines, Dogmurt makes for the exit and we let him go. With the king unable to attack from his mount and the goblins unable to use their usual gang attacks, they all fall. A few minutes later the vines disappear and all that remains are the bodies of the dead goblins. The party does a systematic search of the entire fortress and finds a few other things things that appear valuable. Throughout the place, crude examples of artistic choices could only be termed, primitive. In one area, the group finds a door that has been nailed shut. Once pried open, a war horse bursts out. It takes some doing, but Alaysha is able to calm the horse down. We find a mark on the horse's gear that we believe is associated with one of the caravan guards. This confirms our suspicion that the goblins have been ambushing the traffic between villages.  We make our way on top of the structure to get a better view and to see what is on the other side of the complex. There isn't much space beyond but the view from above affords us a better understanding of the layout. We finish by finding a room that has an old sea chest filled with the accumulated loot of the goblin king.

Satisfied with that we have ended the threat from Thistletop, we debate burning it all down, but decide not to. With the heavy weight of collected treasure and a war horse in tow, we have to carefully secure the bridge and then patiently ferry the loot over. Alaysha is able to guide the horse over the bridge and then we set to hacking the thistle hedge so that we can get the horse through. As we do, Dogmurt come yelling at us frantically. We explain that the horse can't fit through. He shakes his head and then is somehow able to speak with the horse and gets it to crawl through the plant tunnels. After carefully maneuvering our way through the brambles, we emerge from the massive briers and  part ways with the goblin amicably and head for Sandpoint.

Lamashtan 26- Following Mirabelle's purchase of the Glassworks and the revelation that it is haunted, the party begins using what they have learned to identify the haunted spots.  The bedsheets are the first troublesome spot. Mark enters and then is overwhelmed by a desire to lie down on the sheets. Fortunately Alaysha uses magic to give him a second chance and Mark is able to resist the effect. We then  take the sheets and wash them in holy water. Between Mark blessing the area and us washing the sheets in holy water, that particular area is cleaned of the haunted taint. The group then moves to the main room and approaches the furnace. The translucent figures of golbins sacrificing people fades away as the adventures approach. Gather the ashes, the party resolves to take them to Abbot Zalanthus who can consecrate their remains. Feeling satisfied in their efforts, the group is about sit down and relax, but the sinister form of Lord Kaijitsu manifests and moves threateningly forward. He is highly resistant to the attacks, whether spell or weapon. But bit by bit, the heroes attacks begin to wear the ghostly figure down. Alaysha finishes him off with a well placed arrow.

Lamashtan 28- Mylaela is approached by Savah Bevniky about recovering a magic dagger that we sold to her. We track the thief tracks out of town into the woods and then towards the Egan's Woods. As we go, we find ourselves entering the heart of Egan's Woods. Mirabelle recounts the story of the Mutterer and how the story was used to scare children into behaving correctly. 

Alaysha incredibly follows the tracks from the city and all the way to the woods known as Egan's Woods. Once inside the woods, Alaysha follows the trail to a gully. The group is rushed by a strange creature, called an ettercap, who mutters, "give me the children" over and over. It is spider-like and lures Alaysha into stepping on a trap. The combat does not take long and the heroes are able to quickly put the abomination down. Alaysha is able to continue to follow its tracks deeper into the woods. Eventually we find a its lair where a number of desiccated corpses are piled together. Like some spiders, the ettercap must paralyze its prey and then bring them home where it can feed on them. Fortunately, the creature seems to be living alone. Satisfied that the threat is over the heroes return to Sandpoint and return the dagger to Savah Bevaniky.

Lamashtan 27- The heroes travel to where the Birdcrunchers dwell. It is a short and uneventful walk. As we approach, a cadre of goblins and a pig come out to receive us. We are met by Renwaddle Gutwad, Wise Mummy Spratleharsh, Hob Glob, Glorious Bees and a war pig names Squeally Dan. We talk for a bit and tell them that we tried to talk with King Rignugget of the Thistletop Goblins but, becasue he would not listen, he was killed along with many of his tribe. The Birdcrunchers seize upon the news that Thistletop is weak and say they are eager to get revenge for past events. We get them to agree not to attack Sandpoint. Alaysha is captivated by Squeally Dan. At first the goblins think she is not being serious, but she eventually gets them to believe that she is very interested in finding a mate for Squeally Dan and eventually getting a war-pig of her own.

We then split up. Alaysha, Laesin, and Mylaela go boar hunting. It does not take them long to find a nesting spot for boars. The boar are cautious, but the team is able to ambush a sow , knock it unconscious and secure it to take to the Birdcrunchers. In the meantime, Mirabelle, Mark, and Corrath go back to town to pursue their own projects. 

Neth 1- Sheriff Baelor approaches us at breakfast.  There has been a double murder at the sawill. But apparently it is the second murder in a few days. We learn that a few days ago, three men were murdered, all of whom were from Galduria. The men all had the 7 pointed star carved into them. Their guard has lost his mind and is currently a resident at the sanitarium. 

First we go the the scene of the current murder. Danny Harkner and Katrin Vinder were killed at the sawmill. As we approach there are whispers in the crowd and Ven Vinder steps forward and accuses Mark of having killed his daughter. Corrath is able to get Ven to back down and then Ven's wife ushers her husband home. Investigating the site, we find muddy footprints go up the wall, into the mill, and out the front door. The footprints smell of rotting meat. Katrin was pushed into the log spitter, thus we suspect the creature that killed her was very strong.  Danny is pinned to the wall and a 7 pointed star is carved into his chest. His lo wer jaw is missing which precludes using speak with dead. But that means whoever killed him is intelligent enough to know how to thwart speaking with the dead. There is an axe with the remains of some flesh that does not belong to a normal race. It is extremely smelly. Putting it all together, we suspect that a ghast came in and attacked Harkner. Then Katrin attacked it with the axe. Katrin was then shoved into the log splitter. The ghast ritually murdered Harkner and then left.

We are able to track it to the river where it both came from and left by. We search for tracks on the other side of the river and we lose track of the creatures movements. We did find a place where it must have been waiting and watching the mill before moving to attack Harkner. This again supports the notion that the killer was specifically targeting these individuals. We have to find out who they were and what they had in common.

We decide to interview the guard the same night rather than resting.  We travel to the Saintly Haven of Respite.  The doctor, under whom the sanitarium is run, is curt and abrasive when we ask to see the surviving guard. Reluctantly, he allows us to see him. As we go through the facility, there are occasional occupants who are clearly crazy. We are escorted by three burly orderlies who seem overly serious. The doctor tells us the guard's name is Grayst, but that he is non-responsive. When we arrive, he is muttering in a corner. Mirabelle approaches and he suddenly focuses on her and says, "The Master is waiting.   If I came to his Misgivings and joined his pack, he will end the harvest in your honor." Mark notices Grayst is inflicted with ghoul fever and says that he is going to die unless he gets healing. The doctor's face went pale and exclaiming, 'I didn't know!", he runs off and downstairs. Laesin immediately follows him. In an instant everything devolves into chaos. 

Alaysha and Mirabelle run down the stairs to the second floor where three orderlies prevent them from following Laesin and the doctor. Even after Alaysha shoots one of the orderlies, he doesn't back down. Mirabelle tries to help but is quickly cornered by one of the ordieries. He savagely beats her with repeated strikes. Alaysha continues to back up and shoot, but she know that if all three orderlies corner her, she would fall quickly. Fortunately Mirabelle is able to keep one of them occupied as he relentlessly strikes at her.

Upstairs Mylaela, Corrath and Mark secure Grayst in his cell. While they are occupied, an orderly  opens a room door and a wererat in its blended form emerges. At first he is just staring at Corrath, but then when Mylaela attacks him his eyes go feral and he attacks back. 

Down on the first floor,  Laesin keeps hounding the doctor, who falls to the ground helpless and cries out that he didn't know how sickly Grayst was.  Finally Laesin knocks him unconscious, and then sprints upstairs to help. 

On the third floor, the wererat has perplexed the adventurers. Mylaela keeps trying to shove him back in his cell but the wererat is too nimble. 

By now Alaysha had run down stairs, while Mirabelle was sneaking a peek around the corner. A moment after Alaysha reaches the ground floor, a man come out of the basement and commands a cluster of zombies to attack. Alaysha retreats towards the entrance firing at the zombies. Her snake is waiting outside and is her best chance to not be overwhelmed by the zombies. The necromancer and the zombies follow Alaysha which allows Mirabelle to come down the stairs in relative safety. She shoots a pair of magic missiles at the necromancer but  he is able to magically absorb them.

Upstairs, Laesin burst out from the stairs and shoves the wererat into his cell. Seizing the moment, Corrath locks the cell door. Once inside his cell, the wererat becomes strangely docile. Myleala, Corrath, Mark, and Laesin then sprint for the ground floor.

Alaysha's and her snake attack the zombies from one direction while everyone else attacks from the other. Quickly the necromancer realizes he is losing the advantage and quaffs a potion. Turning into a gaseous cloud, he floats under a door into a locked room. Mirabelle tries to pull the door off its hinges but fails. Corrath, though, is able to pick the lock. As some of the party enter the room, they realize the necromancer has since floated out the window. On the outside Alaysha keeps firing her bow and Laesin throws javelins but the necromancer is able to float away. 

Alysha recalls that that there was a famous wererat named Pidget Tergelson. He was a former bodyguard and his employer was a notorious smuggler. His father was a well know wanderer. Pidget was a mistake with a "Lady of the Evening" and he got more than a good time. After turning he became convinced he is a god of Disguise. As such he has left his human form behind and only assumes hybrid form. Alaysha is also certain that Mylaela is infected and must be cured before it is too late.

 We begin going through the building, investigating every room. We find a creepy surgery room with sadistic tools. In the basement, we find a map that shows places of interest to the south of Sandpoint. We realize that when the insane man upstairs referred to the Misgivings, he was talking about Foxglove Manor. Also in the basement, we find a zombie storage room and the bedroom of the necromancer. We find a wand, spell book and a notebook detailing Thassalonian Runes and the seven virtues. 

Neth 2- We rest the night and in the morning we make sure that Grayst is recovering. He has not fully recovered, but Mark is sure that Grayst could recover with care. Using divine magic, Mark cures his affliction. Mylaela takes the wolfsbane and is able to survive the poison and throws off the curse from the wererat. We are all relieved to know that Mylaela has rid herself of the wererat's curse. 

Interrogating the doctor, we learn that his name is Erin Habe, and that he originally was from Magnimar. The necromancer, his "Glorious Benefactor", is Caezarlu Zerren. Doctor Habe is sincere in his desire to help people with mental afflictions, but his demented methods suggest a tortured background of his own.

Following that, Mark uses divine magic to support Grayst and then we take everyone back to Sandpoint. Once at Sandpoint, we turn the doctor, orderlies, and patients over to Sheriff Baelor. The group takes the rest of the day to attend to their own objectives. Mirabelle, Corrath, and Alaysha visit the blacksmith, Das Korvut, and pick up their masterwork weapons.

Neth 3- We head out to the Foxglove estate now known as The Misgivings. The beginning of the journey is uneventful. As we pass by the swamps, an old man, looking disheveled and exhausted approaches us. He claims that scarecrows are animated and are plaguing the countryside. The scarecrows are coming from Old Hamblby's Place. We travel to the farm and discover scarecrows are standing in various places in the fields. At first, the scarecrows seem normal, but then a pair of them lurch towards us and it becomes clear they are ghouls. After defeating them, we find others that are people who are infected with Ghoul Fever. 

We take a methodical approach to investigating the rest of the scarecrows, in order to avoid killing an actual person. After clearing the field, we go to the farm house and barn. Flinging open the barn doors, we find the barn has more ghouls but we are able to defeat them using a combination weapons and magic. All of the ghouls appear to be former farmers. After clearing the barn we head for the house.

The house turns out to be full of ghouls and they appear to be under the command of a central figure, who is also some sort of ghoul. Unlike the barn, the doors to the farm only allow limited access. The ghouls simply beat on the walls and start to come at us through their unconventional exits. The ghouls try to swarm the party but we are able to defeat them with minimal injury. However, the paralytic attacks were a significant challenge. After they have been dispatched, we examine the one that seemed to be directing all of the others. Despite the poor conditions of his clothes, we are able to make out a fancy "F" on his jacket that we suspect is the mark of the Foxglove family. We take a large set of keys that clearly do not go to the doors here.

We rest after the battle and start by collecting the people from the fields. The survivors tell us that the farm was infiltrated and then overrun by ghouls. They saw the gardener was the leader. After talking with the two survivors, we have them meet Maester Grump, and then head to Sandpoint. We then travel to the other nearby farms and talk with the farmers. We learn that some of the farms have lost people.  That night Mark uses magic to cure the farmer girl and then provides care to Alaysha and the farmer boy. She is able to help both of them out. 

The next morning we ready for the day and Alaysha is feeling better already. We make for The Misgivings. The road leads to a river, where we find tracks that go from land into the river. The road lalso eads to the old mansion, The Misgivings. Next to the house is the burned remains of an old building that must have burned down a few years ago. Alaysha finds tracks that show at least one ghoul has been going into the house. The house has two sets of double doors that are locked. The keys recovered from the master ghoul unlock the door.

We enter the house and it seems to be deserted. But then we find a music parlor and encounter a ghostly figure of a woman. We think it is the wife of the builder of the estate. For a brief moment she dances with Mark before fading away. In another room, we find a swarm of rats but Mirabelle is able to blast them away with a single spell. We next move into a lounge and we think we hear the crying of a woman someplace upstairs. In yet another room we find a series of stained glass windows that depict all sorts of mythological creatures coming from or going into a box. In the hall we find an enchanted monkey's head bell (with an Alarm spell) with a sinister spiral pattern on the floor that is either paint or blood. We do not choose to ring the bell. In another room, we see a ghostly reenactment of Aldern killing his wife by strangling her with a scarf. We find the scarf draped over a chair. Mirabelle, noting its quality grabs the scarf. We also find a heavy object with dried blood. In a drawing room of some sort, Laesin looks out the window and sees the ghost of Iesha again. We enter the other part of the long great hall. This part serves as  trophy room with taxidermy sculptures. Corrath now recognizes the creatures in the window as being part of the rituals needed to become a lich. The trophies belong to Vorel Foxglove, so we think the family started down a dark path log ago. 

Upstairs we find a child's room and see a portrayal of two parents trying to kill each other. The mother wielding a torch and the father festering with tumors and wielding a knife. In a bedroom we find a ghostly woman who says,"What did you get up to down in the damp below?” 

In another room we find a collection of paintings of the family members. When we entered, some of us felt overcome by a sickly feeling. The room has a mold or fungus all over the place. The paintings help us fill in the missing members of the family. The family had an unfortunate and twisted history. We learn that the original builder of the house was Vorel Foxglove and his wife was Kasanda. They had one child, a daughter, Lorey, who had no children of her own. The estate then passed to Eugeni Foxglove, Vorel's brother. He had one child as well, a son named Vasile. Valile had a son, Traver who eventually married Cyralie. They had three children, Cyndely, Zeeva, and Aldern.

We believe that when he was a child, Aldren saw his father kill his mother. Aldern eventually married Iesha, whom he apparently strangled. 

An elaborate room has an intricate sculpture of a gaunt man with bats hanging off of his arms.

The telescope room. Two intricate stained glass windows. One is a woman, Erashmi, Southern Queen of Geb. She has a staff in both hands. The other window is a male human, Socorro, a very handsome man. 

We enter another room and encounter Iesha, as a revenant. She reacts to us showing her the scarf. She shreds the scarf and cries out, 'Aldern I can smell your fear. You will be in my arms soon!" Then she moves quickly quickly out of the room. We quickly follow her out the room.

Rats attack us in the basement. We follow Iesha out the room, down the stairs and into the basement. [What hit me and dropped me in one shot? A haunt drops Mirabelle] It is unclear how she knows where Aldern is but she moves with total certainty. Below the house we enter a rough hewn cave complex . Our first obstacle is a set of ghouls that allow Iesha to pass, as if they are afraid of her. But when we try to move forward, it is clear they will stop us. We dispatch them but Iesha is able to put some distance between herself and us. At one point, three tunnels branch off, but Alaysha is able to hear which one Iesha when down. Following the sounds of her footsteps, we make our way to a large circular room. The floors are sloped towards the center where it drops to water below. Iesha has already made it rown the spiral path to a door about 35 feet below. She is clawing at the locked metal door and screaming. Corrath makes it to the door first and tells Iesha that he can open it. The rest of the group catches up as Corrath picks the lock. Mirabelle takes the delay as an opportunity to cast mage armor on Iesha. Once the door is open, Laz goes in but returns and says, "Let Ieasha go first." Iesha bolts in. As the rest of us enter, we see Iesha and a figure that is garbed like Aldern but has hideous features. The room has minimal furnishings, a chair, a painting and the broken remains of a seihedron. He is flanked by a troop of undead goblins, and they all converge on Iesha. Aldern potificates about how he is dedicated to Iesha, but as soon as he sees Mirabelle, his demeanor changes and he professes his love for her. Iesha continues to furiously attack Aldern, but he just smiles. The goblin ghouls are hard to hit but slowly the group is able to eliminate them. Finally it is just Aldern, or what was left of Aldern. Mirabelle targets the painting with a magic missile and Aldren reacts visibly to it being hit, and suddenly his demeanor changes yet again. Finally, Alaysha buries an arrow through Aldern's throat and as he dies, Iesha crumbles and disappears.

Amongst Aldren possessions, we find a letter that references the Brothers in Magnimar and is written by Xanesha, Mistress of the Seven. Whoever she is, she understands the Sihedron ritual and its role in powering the runewells. She also is marking people who are noted for their affinity for greed, suggesting she is also aware of the runelord spheres of influence. We take a moment to recover and loot Aldern's posessions.

We continue to explore the caverns and in one part find an enchanted pickaxe. Down another tunnel we encounter an undead bat and a maggot swarm. Laz engages the bat and over the course of a few moments, is able to kill it. Alaysha gets swarmed and paralyzed by the swarm. They gnaw on her for a while before Laz reaches her and is able  to finish it off. We also find the corpse of a wanted criminal, that we behead adn take for the bounty. We double check the basement and then move to the upstairs. We retrace our steps through some of the rooms and check for anything we might have missed. In the attic, we find a study opposite where we found Iesha was. Laz has a sense of bitterness upon entering the room. We discover a loose brick that reveals a niche in the wall with a bunch of coins. We also find two scrolls.

After conferring, we feel we have searched all of the house. We move outside to check out the burned down building. As we leave, over 1000 crow like creatures, watch us in eerie silence. After a moment they all move in to attack. They are annoying but we are able to eliminate them quickly.

We search the remains of the burned down building and find only bones. We then return to Sandpoint. We inform Sheriff Baelor about Foxglove Manor and the corrupting influence of the Runelords. Sheriff Baelor is not pleased to find out that the town is situated above a source of corruption. Mark cures the diseases on Mirabelle but Alaysha can't shake the disease she contracted.  

Neth 4 - Neth 13- (downtime)- Mark begins enchanting the tailored boots and also the Spell Page of Knowledge for Fastidiousness. Mirabelle learns that both of the Foxglove sisters were taken to Korvosa and raised by relatives.   The older sister might have gotten married. The younger sister used to live in Korvosa, but her whereabouts are unknown. From other sources we are able to piece together that the Foxglove Manor fire happened in 4693. Aldern was 5. He got married at 19 and later kills his wife Iesha less than a year later.  

We return to the runewell and drain it of its power. Then destroy it through both holy cleansing and physically destroying it.

Neth 14- We head out for Magnimar. Our plan is to stay at the Kaijitsu Manor in Naos, a district within Magnimar. I also take letters for Scarnetti family members in Magnimar. It takes the party two days to get to Magnimar. The roads are fairly busy and the travel is uneventful.

Neth 16- We arrive in Magnimar, shortly before dinner. The most commanding feature of the city is a broken bridge of massive proportions. Out first stop is Kaijistsu Manor in Naos. When we arrive, we realize the Kaijitsu Manor overlooks half the city. Magnimar has a wealthy part, which takes up the top of a cliff. The poorer section is built at the lower land adjacent to the water.

 We enter the house and are surprised to find a dead body with Ameiko and Tsuto looming over the corpse. They look at us accusingly and Tsuto yells, "Guards, guards! They killed someone. Caught off guard we are taken aback by the presence of the Kaijitsu's when we know that  Ameiko is back in Sandpoint. A moment later, the two of them bolt for the back of the mansion. Regaining our composure, we spring into action. Laz, Mylaela,and Corrath chase after the two "Kaijitsus." Mirabelle enchants Alaysha and Alaysha speeds up her movement and climbs up the side of the house to shoot and watch from above. Marc moves in to investigate the body and immediately notices that the person has been killed in the same ritualistic method, where the jaw is removed and the seihedron sigil inscribed. Mirabelle follows him in after hearing guard whistles and closes the door. Tsuto keeps screaming for the guards. Laz is able to trip him up, effectively slowing him down. Mylaela catches up with the Ameiko imposter. Certain she is not her girlfriend, she knocks her out with a well placed blow and then drags her into a side room and ties her up. Mirabelle, exits the house and yells, "Help my friend's house is being robbed by imposters!".  Tsuto makes it to the back door, but Laz keeps tripping him and now Alaysha is able to shoot him from above. Still, he yells for the guards. Corrath uses magic to appear as Ameiko and emerging through a windows. "She" then points at Tsuto and proclaims, "He killed our father!, arrest him." The guards come storming in and tell everyone to stop what they are doing. A few moments later the city guarda show up. As they arrive, multiple people are yelling accusations in every direction. The sergeant of the city guards commands the city and estate guards to arrest and manacle everyone. With both us and the "Kaijitsus" making accusations, the guards refuse to listen to much of what is being said.

We are taken to the  jail where we languish for the rest of the day. The jail stay is uneventful and the two imposters are not jailed with us. Later we are released, given our possessions back, and escorted to the Lord Mayor's office. He is a fat old man with a clear love for sweets. We are surprised that he is granting us an audience, when it is just him with no security. In between helping himself to occasional confectionery, he tells us that his staff contacted Sheriff Baelor and confirmed that Ameiko is still in Sandpoint, and the Tsuto was sent here to Magnimar as a prisoner. 

We guess that he is facing a string of grisly murders similar to what we uncovered in Sandpoint, and he confirms it. We fill him in on what we have discovered about the murder victims and the way they are being used to power sinister magic. When we ask about the Brotherhood of Seven, he acknowledges that they are a semi-secret cabal of high influence individuals. He then offers to pay us to continue the investigation. We reach an agreement and he tells us that we should talk with Judge Einbrier. We also ask who had been investigating the murders so far and he tells us it is a woman named Malia Gabor. We then go to the jail to talk with the imposters, only to discover that they have been released by someone pretending to be Malia Gabor. This further supports our belief that we are facing a group of shapechangers. Specifically, we learned that they were Faceless Stalkers.

From there we decide to investigate Foxglove's  townhouse. The neighborhood is a nice place and unassuming. As we approach, we notice the townhouse is boarded up and we cannot see through the windows. Corrath moves closer and reconnoiters the outside. We choose to enter through the back door where our presence is less likely to be noticed. We enter the back garden without alerting anyone. Once at the door, Mirabelle casts invisibility on the door and reveals what looks to be Aldern and his wife, Iesha, sitting down for a meal with a servant. They look up in surprise and Aldern calls out to Mirabelle to join them. We are certain this is a trap as we know both of them are dead. Mirabelle uses the key to open one of the doors, and then the imposters spring to the attack. As they do, their fingers elongated into wicked looking stiletto points. Corrath recognizes them as Faceless Stalkers. The imposters try to fight us but nothing goes right for them. In short order, the group kills them and secures the townhouse. As the imposters die, they revert to a creepy looking humanoid form devoid of facial features. Taking a moment to recover, we are sure no one else is in the house and then we search it thoroughly. The significant find is a lockbox with money, the deed contract for the Misgivings,  a ledger of payments covering for the death of Iesha, and a note showing the Brother's Mill is getting the payment.  The Mill was also put up as collateral for the Foxglove Manor.

Alaysha and I stop at  the Scarnetti estate and ask for an audience with the matriarch. We are granted a meeting and  are able to  arrange for servants. We reconvene at the Kaijitsu estate a little before dinner. Discussing what what we have learned, we plan to divide and conquer tomorrow.

Neth 17 - Alaysha and Mirabelle go to the libraries and research old maps, the runelords, and rune wells. They meet an amicable scholar are are able to arrange for him to gather some information, but it will take a few days. 

Mylaela and Marc go to Beacon's Point and arrange to craft things. Marc meets with the owner of Pug's Contraptions. At first, the owner gives Marc a simple task to create a simple task. Finishing the work is a simple matter for the priest of Bree. [owner] is impressed and the two begin to talk in earnest. By the end of their conversation, [owner] is willing to teach Marc the intricacies of crafting clockwork devices. Mark also learns that Pug's son was killed by Chopper, the serial killer. When Mark tells him we brought Chopper to justice, Pug is very appreciative. 

Corrath and Laz spend the day scouting the mill.  Watching the mills reveals nothing out of the ordinary. The two are even able to get inside and can't find anything untoward.

The six of us meet again for dinner and after discussing what we have learned, we decide that tomorrow, one team will watch the lumber mill and the other will go to try and find out who is the manager of the sawmill. 

Neth 18- Laz, Mylaela, and Corrath set up watch on the mill. Over time, three individuals, wearing nice clothes and clearly not workers, enter the building. Laz climbs up the outside and finds a rookery with messenger ravens. There is no way in except for an opening big enough for the birds. However, Laz notices a trapdoor, so the rookery can be accessed from inside the building. 

While Laz is up on the roof, Corrath and Myleala see the three individuals leave. But then a little bit later, another set of the same three individuals leave.  Corrath signals for Laz to come down, suspecting that they have been discovered. He casts a detection spell and notices that the woman shows as chaotic evil. He follows her as Myleala follows the second group. By the time Laz descends, a third group, looking like the same three individuals has emerges and Laz follows them. 

Myleala's group goes to the port area. At one point while they walked through the city, their appearance changes to that of three workers from the sawmill complete with sawdust all over their clothes. The three reach a tavern and settle in for a lunch. The entire time Mylaela watches them, nothing seems unusual. At the end of their meal the three people return to the sawmill and presumably continue working.

The three people Laz followed head west from the island where the mill is situated. The three walk for some time and then one by one, a person breaks off, as if heading to a residence. The final person leaves out of the city gates and Laz returns to the house certain that t three people were decoys.

Corrath follows the woman and she leads him back to the city hall. Using every tactic possible, Corrath follows the woman into the interior of the building. The two of them snake through the building, leading Corrath to suspect that she either knows she is being followed or is just paranoid. Suddenly she disappears from sight, but Corrath can make out the sounds of her running away. He chases the sounds of her into a hallway upstairs. Upon reaching the hall on the upper floor, Corrath hears the sound of a window breaking. Abandoning all subtlety, Corrath sprouts winds and jumps out the window. Scouting from above, Corrath uses the buildings to try and avoid being easily seen. After searching for a bit, Corrath is unable to find any trace of the woman. Stymied for now, Corrath returns back to the Kaijitsu mansion.

The others spend the day trying to track down the manager of the sawmill. Unfortunately we only learn that the mill is overseen by a human man named  ????. We learn that he is quiet and unassuming. There is not much more information. he doesn't seem to be very social or have a strong reputation one way or another. We look for him but can't find him, at least during the day.

Once everyone is back, the group debates the possible choices but decides on returning to the mill, armed and armored.  Later that night we all return to the sawmill and, upon entering, find a single worker loading a cart. After he sees us he reaches into the cart, retrieving a mask and a weapon. He don's the mask and waves the weapon, which we now recognize as a war razor, the same weapon used by Aldern. He yells an alarm as we ready for combat. Some of us engage him while others move up to the next floor. Laz opens the door on the second floor, revealing more shifty characters, all wearing the same cult outfit, representing teh Cult of Norberger . It is clear that we have discovered one of the cults central operating places. While he and Marc engage the forces on that floor, Alaysha moves partially up the stairs. Because the stairs are not fully walled in, she is able to shoot at some of the cult members attacking Laz. The center of the building features a hoist shaft that is open on each of the floors except the bottom. Mylaela and Corrath move up to the third floor. Similar to the floor below, opening the door on this floor unleashes more cult followers. They are all skilled opponents and are trained as rogues, making us wary of flanking attacks. Mirabelle stays between Alaysha and her snake and begins doling out spells that will help the others. Corrath bolts even further up and finds his way blocked by a web spell. Undeterred, he weasels his way through the webs and finds Tsuto taking opportunity shots at whichever heroes happen to be visible through the hoist shaft. Corrath also finds Lyrie, the woman in love with Tsuto. She too uses the open shaft to fire down on the heroes. Corrath moves in to attack Lyrie and then notices a figure step out from the shadows. Judge Einbrier looks sternly at Corrath as the heroes below hear Corrath utter a loud expletive in his native language. And then he yells out "Einbrier!"

On the second floor, Laz continues to block the door and the cult members are unable to get past. On the third floor, however, Mylaela is flanked by cultists and then Tsuto, with a look of seething hated, places three well aimed arrows into her and she drops. Mirabelle, still invisible and standing next to Mylaela, yells "Leave Einbrier alive!" as she heals Myleala with a wand, but the limited healing it provides is not enough to wake her up and then scampers up to the fourth floor through the hoist shaft. Fortunately, Marc moves partially up the stairs and a moment later bathes the party in healing energy and Mylaela regains consciousness. Simultaneously the lantern archons are bobbing  up and down blasting out bright rays of light at some of the villains.  

With a deft maneuver, Corrath drops Lyrie and then moves toward the judge, menacingly. Laz, having finished the cultists on the second floor moved to the third floor where he could aid his sister. Alaysha fires at Tsuto through the opening, and when he catches the first shot, we know it is the real him. Below, Alaysha's snake is squeezed into the limited space, but is still able to capture and constrict cult members. A moment later, Alaysha takes a risk and, witha spell, burns the web that Corrath had squeezed through Fortunately the flames only cause minor burning in the wooden structure. Moving to the fourth floor, she sees Tsuto. Tsuto knows he has the firing advantage over Alaysha and instead fires at Corrath after Judge Einbrier calls out for help. 

Below the last of the cult members are dealt with and Laz sprints up the stairs through the dying wisps of fire from the burned webs. The archon orbs continue to fire at Tsuto and the entire floor is riddled with flashes of light. Einbrier uses his clerical powers to bath the area in negative energy but it is clear that he is in trouble. Suddenly Mirabelle appears next to him as she forcefully slaps his shoulder and instantly Einbriers face loses his composure. Panic shows on his face as he realizes he cannot recall any of his more powerful spells. 

Tsuto is now cornered by Laz. In the same instant, Alaysha fires a single arrow catching Einbrier in the shoulder and the judge staggers back, almost falling unconscious. Laz knocks Tsuto unconscious and Corrath give the judge a solid smack with the pommel of his scimitar. With all of the cult members and their leaders neutralized, the group takes a moment to recover. After talking it over, the group concludes that Tsuto has to be executed as he has already escaped prison once. Corrath administers a hefty chop and the half-elf's head falls to the floor. The group uncerimounusly dumps Tsuto's dody in the river. Judge Einbrier is secured and the group agrees to try Mirabelle's plan to get him to confess to the Lord Mayor. 

In the offices below, the group discovers records and log books noting payments, some of which are linked to Vorel's Phage. There are also more horrific masks, which the group unanimously agrees should be taken to one of the good churches to be destroyed. The evidence is collected and valuables secured and then the whole group goes back to where Laz, Mirabelle and the judge are waiting.

When the judge regains consciousness, Mirabelle charms him so that he is a little more cooperative. He clearly tries to hold secrets back, but the group learns quite a bit. It turns out the Einbrier was the founder of the Brotherhood of Seven. he knows Xanesha' is paying the SKinsaw Cult to  kill  people who are especially greedy as a way to power the runewells.  He explains how his personal quest for power was worth any risk and that, even now facing his possible death, he is resolute in his conviction that an afterlife in Hell will only be  chance to try and vie for power again. Mirabelle, serving as the principle interrogator, is both aghast and perplexed by how a man could have some much power, influence, life, health, wealth, and respect, yet still not be satisfied. After explaining her idea to compel him  to confess to the mayor, the group unceremoniously dumps the judge is a chest from downstairs and takes him to the Kaijitsu mansion so that no one sees him being transported.

The entire night, the heroes watch vigilantly and sleep fitfully, waiting for some kind of attack or rescue attempt on Einbrier, but the night passes uneventfully. 

Neth 19- The next morning, Marc contacts the Mayor and tells him that we want to bring in the architect of the murder spree. The Mayor agrees and the party takes plenty of precautions before making for the Civic Center. It takes some doing, but Mirabelle is able to plant a suggestion in Einbrier's mind to tell the Mayor about his involvement in the murders, with the Brotherhood of Seven and why he believes the Mayor and others will soon die. 

The journey to the Mayor's office only takes a few minutes but the group is on high alert and feels like it takes longer. Briefly stopped by the guards, who were told to enact higher security measures, the heroes are told the Mayors office is waiting and are ushered in.

Once with the mayor, the group pulls Judge Einbrier out of the chest and seats him in front of the mayor. Judge Einbrier begins to explain his role in the various nefarious actions that have been plaguing Magnimar. For the Mayor, much of what is discussed is not surprising, but he is taken aback by the revelation that shape changers are operating in the city. At that the Mayor sends for a staff member. 

As Judge Einbrier finishes his confession, it is clear the Mayor has come to respect the group. As Marc points out, the heroes took three days to uncover a deeply rooted and complex sinister cult that had been plaguing the city for some time, with regard to the murders, and decades with regard to the Brotherhood of the Seven. The Mayor's staff member finally arrives and the heroes brace themselves for the possibility that the judge is really a faceless stalker and that they have been manipulated this entire time. They are surprised when, after a nod from the Mayor, the man pulls out a sharp knife and slits the judge's throat.

The Mayor tells the group, "I am sorry you had to see that but he was threatening my life." The group says nothing and then the Mayor ask what are the groups next steps. 

Given what they have learned, the group resolves to talk with the head of the Church of Abadar. They also plan to talk with the owner of the brothel that Einbrier mentioned.

Mirabelle,  Marc, and Alaysha go to the Church of Abadar. Proctor Jyromn Imikar tells us that Underbridge's strongest gang are the Creepers, led by a man named Hagan. We recall that the sailor in Sandpoint told us he worked with Hagan on smuggling things into Sandpoint. 

Laesin returns to the sawmill. With the aid of magic, he scales the outside, unseen, breaks into the rookery and and is able to recover two of the messenger birds.

Laesin and Mylaela go to the House of Welcome. They ask to speak with the Matron of the House. A gnomish woman introduces herself as Remeka Abantiir and the two of them explain how she was on a list of people who were targeted for assassination by the Cult of Norgorber, once certain of the pairs intentions, tells the twins that  she will be careful, alao might take the guest room.

In the afternoon, Mark and Mirabelle go to an art show. Mark outfits himself in his finest clothes and includes a few things that identify himself as an artist as well. The art show features the work of Jata, a Mwangi Expanse artist. he introduces Mirabelle to  Anton Gorva, a painter and sculptor who was interested in the Artists' Collective. Anton is immediately enthralled by Mirabelle and readily agrees to meet the rest of the Sandpoint Six and offers his skills as a cleric of Shelyn.

Alaysha learns that a large park, not far from the Kinjitsu Estate, serves as a gathering point for worshiper of Erastil. Later that afternoon, she attends a worship ceremony. Among the different people Alaysha meets is a druid, Minda, who agrees to help see if the birds know anything. Minda also seems open to teaching Alaysha the spiritual underpinnings of druidism.

Neth 20- Shortly after breakfast, Minda arrives at the mansion and uses her druidic talents to speak with the birds. She tells us that the birds regularly flew to a dark tower underneath Magnimar's famous stone bridge. Corrath connects this with local legends about the Shadow Clock, a tower in Underbridge that is supposedly haunted. 

While Corrath and Mark are working on projects of their own, Mirabelle, Alasha, and Laesin go to the Friendly Merchant, where they hope to speak with Soiv Kosimil, a supposed contact of one of the smugglers from  Sandpoint. The bar turns out to be a run down tavern that seems to cater to rough customers. In short order, a drunk accosts Mirabelle and, after being rebuffed, a fight erupts. Confident in Laesin's ability Mirabelle refrains from engaging with the tavern brawlers and instead, focuses on the owner, who turns out to be Soiv. Alaysha plays is calm and subtle, but it is Laesin who, virtually single handedly, knocks out almost all the patrons. After compensating Soiv for the damages, the trio learn that Soiv knows Hagan, but warns us that messing with him would be a big mistake. He is able to confirm that if we needed something smuggled he could arrange it.  Soiv is also able to verify the rumors that something snake-like is living in the tower, something large.

Neth 21- In the morning, we are summoned to meet Proctor Imikar. He tells us that his investigation has also concluded that the sawmill was part of the Brotherhood of Seven's shady dealings. Specifically, it was used to smuggle goods and money out of Magnimar. He also tells us that the Shadow CLock was supposed to be repaired, but apparently Judge Einbrier stopped the funds and so the building has been languishing for some time. Months even. We believe that whoever is working with him, is working out of the Shadow Clock. We also learn that the Forever Man is affiliated with the Cult of Norgorber.

Later that day, Corrath presents his findings from translating Einbrier's journal. Apparently Xanesha was Einbrier's lover. We all decide that we should investigate the Shadow Clock tonight.

We approach the Shadow Clock from above. Between potions and spells, we use spider climb to make sure we are properly prepared to descend  the structure. The group sees a young woman appears to be sitting on a bunch of cushions, reading. Mylaela, Laesin and Corrath stealthfully approach and begin the  attack.  A moment later a demon monster appears and begins flying around the tower.  Three faceless stalkers guard the top. Mirabelle casts an acid splash on the lady's book and she doesn't react.  The image appears to be real but remains non-reactive.  As the fight continues, the demon disappears, and over the edge of the tower climbs a Lamia. Corrath identifies it as a lamia matriarch and we conclude that this must be Xanesha. She hits hard and Mylaela takes the brunt of the attacks. But Alaysha continues to rain down a constant rain of arrows. Between all the attacks the faceless stalkers fall and Xanesha tries to flee over the edge of the tower.  But as she  tries to slip away, the heroes  quickly  take the opportunity  to attack. Xanesha falls and the heroes grab her body before it can fall.

Descending the exterior stairs the group discovers a rookery where ravens are roosting. Beside the rookery, the floor has little else. The next level is where the bells are secured. The scouts find four faceless stalkers preparing to cut the ropes and drop the bells on unsuspecting adventurers. The combat is awkward with only the staircase and a a few beams and wires to stand on. Laesin is able to cause two of the stalkers to fall to their deaths. The other two fall victim to the combines attacks of Mylaela, Corrath and Alaysha. Once the fight is over, we examine what we can of the clock structure. From here, we can see all the way down to the ground floor. There is no sign of activity but we remain wary of "the large figure." 

Most of us cautiously climb down the stairs while Alaysha watches over us and climbs down the actual walls. On the ground floor we hear the sounds of a large figure and a moment later a flesh golem bursts through one of the interior office walls. We are taken by surprise when the golem begins to talk, apparently it is awakened. Fortunately we are equipped with adamantine weapons. Those, coupled with Alaysha's scarab bane amulet, enable us to drop the grotesque figure without hardship.

Having secured the entire tower, we recover the chests from Xanesha's perch above. We find more valuables but we also find a letter that proves she is working with others to achieve some sort of sinister end . The letter reference Turtle Back Ferry, which Mirabelle recognizes. The letter also mentions a Fort Rennick, which none of us recognize. 

Feeling secure about our efforts here, we we exit the Shadow Clock. As we do, we activate two glyph, a glyph of stunning that renders Mirabelle, Laesin and Alaysha stunned for a little bit. More harmful is the glyph of Weakness, which debilitates half the group with Corrath and Mylaela completely helpless. there is a moment of panic but then we relaize how lucky we are that this happened on the way out and not the way in. We are fairly certain had the golem been able to attack us in this weakened state, at least one person would have died. Fortunately we are able to fix up the wagon with which we are able to carry the helpless and our heaviest gear. The guards in the Naos are suspicious of us but let us through. We all sigh a colelctive breath of relief once we are back at Kaijitsu Manor.

Neth 22- We spend the day recovering. Between Mark and Anton, we are able to make substantial progress in healing the damage wrought by the Glyph of Weakness.

Neth  24- Anton finished the painting, Xanesha Meets Her End. Mark goes to the Golem Works. There, he learns that the history of the scarecrow. He  was made by Foxglove's father, Laurel Foxglove, the one striving to become a lich. The scarecrow became sentient after going beserk  but then became a tool of the  Brotherhood of the Seven. 

Kuthona 24- We arrive in Turtle Back Ferry after a remarkably uneventful journey. We settle at the inn, run by Cesten, a pessimistic individual. We learn that Turtle Back Ferry's mayor is Maelin Shreed, who is also a cleric of Erastil. We also learn that the Paradise, a pleasure barge with gambling, etc..., sank a couple of weeks ago. Lucretia was the owner of the barge and we suspect she is still alive. But the village believes there were no survivors. 

Corrath, Mark, and Alaysha show people the seihedron medallion and that helps some of the people open up to us. However, there are at least some villagers who oppose the idea of visiting The Paradise. We confirm that the person running The Paradise was Lucretia, a human woman, who is the "sister" of Xanesha.

\Kuthona 25- We ask around town for information about the wreck. We learn the location as well as how to avoid some of the hazards, specifically about the aggressive fish that live in Claybottom Lake. We use what we learn, and by mid day we find the wreck and are able to investigate it without interference. 

The ship is deep underwater and has turned upside down as it sunk. We find evidence that the hull was exploded from the inside out. Entering the first portion, we find ourselves in the storage part of the hull. Corrath finds evidence that four barrels of gunpowder were used and detonated by fuse. We agree that this suggests an inside job. Alaysha finds a safe, but it has been opened and emptied.

Moving to the next deck, we find many dead bodies, of which many have remains of the seihedron tattoo. Detritus floats everywhere and the remains of people have been gnawed on by fish. We do find an office and there is another safe, but it too has been emptied. As we explore the ship, we also begin collecting the remains of the people.

Returning to the shore with the dead bodies, we discuss what we have learned. Our suspicion is that the people on the boat may have been sacrificed to power a runewell, probably of greed. If Lucretia is like Xanesha, then it is plausible that she arranged for the sinking of the ship and would have emptied the safes before leaving. Alternatively, someone might have blown up the ship as an act of vigilantism. Mark uses Speak with Dead to ask one of the deceased boat workers questions. We learn that there was nothing remarkable about that day. It wasn't a festival or special occasion. There were also no unusual events that precipitated the explosion. 

Later that day, we meet with Mayor Shreed and arrange for the burial of the bodies. He tells us that he is going to put word out to the nearby settlements so that families can come and try to see if their missing members are among the victims of the sinking. He also tells us that Shalelu, our ranger friend, has been looking for us.

When we go to the inn, Shalelu is waiting for us and tells us that she is in Turtle Back Ferry trying to find a friend of hers, Jakardros, a member of the Black Arrows. He is an acquaintance and eventually became a ranger as well. Shalelu agrees to accompany us up to Fort Rennick.

As soon as the fight is over, Alaysha says that they should follow the tracks before they lose the advantages of the different magics that have been cast. Alaysha, Mayleala and Laesin sprint off. Mirabelle, Corrath, Mark, Anton, and Shalelu take a moment to gather the worthwhile gear from their attacker and then run after the others.

Alaysha, Mylaela and Laesin rush ahead. In the lead Alaysha is able to scout and still move stealthfully. She spies fetishes suspended in the air and find an ogerkin. retreating to where Laesin is, they prepare to engage at distance. Alaysha, Laesin and Mylaela all surprise the ogrekin and begin shooting it from afar. It retreats into the cornfield, trying hide but is unsuccessful. The three heroes are able to avoid a series of traps. When the ogerkin falls, Laesin severs the head and throws the head in one pit and the body in the other. The three of them then move towards the barn. When they open the door, there are several more ogrekin inside and they spring to the attack.

By the time the others catch up, they break through the dense foliage and find the others battling at the door to the barn. More of the misshapen humanoids are inside the barn. They are strong but Laesin and Mylaela block the door and prevent them from getting into advantageous positions. As the ones in front fall, their positions are taken by the others. The entire time, Alaysha relentlessly firing arrows at the ones inside, and more then one shot seems to find critical weak points. As more of them fall, the last one runs through a door at the back of the room and shuts the door behind him. Mylaela is the first to reach the door but is unable to wrench it open. Corrath immediately moves in and, with his adamantine scimitar, is able to cut the partially rotted door off its' hinges. Beyond, the room is filled with spiderwebs and the group is immediately suspicious. Alaysha and Laesin climb the catwalks and enter the same room from above while the rest of the group pushes in from the main doors on the ground floor. The place is the lair of a monstrous ogre spider. Suspended in two corners are cages of which one is occupied by three emaciated figures. The ogre spider is fearsome but when Alaysha fires an arrow straight through one of it's main eyes, it recoils in shock . The ogre spider savagely attacks Alaysha. When its stinger catches Alaysha, she withers from the poison that  has been injected. The rest of the party moves in and the combined onslaught quickly brings an end to the huge creature. Alaysha runs out for help, and Anton is able to reach her and deal with the effects of the poison before it can do any further harm.

The group releases the three prisoners from the suspended cage. It turns out all three are Black Arrows. Jacardros, Kaeven and Vail, are all weakened and dehydrated. Mark is able to give them food and water and along with the magical healing we are confident that they can fend for themselves alongside Shalelu. The group pauses to recover as well as examine the barn for anything else useful. After arming the Black Arrows with some weapons, the group moves to the house.

As the group prepares to enter through the front door, the porch, on which most of the group is standing, erupts in a flurry of spinning blades. Moving in the group discovers the house is in as bad a shape as the rest of the buildings on the property. Turning to the left the adventurers reach a door and enter. Inside is a grotesque female ogrekin. Fancying herself as some kind of artist, she has coffins propped up with cadavers inside, whose mouths have been sewn shut. As she turns to face the adventurers, the cadavers begin to move and Alaysha realizes they are ogrekin zombies. The narrow hallway limits the heroes mobility and only a few of them can get into the room to fight the zombies and their creator. Laesin attempts to trip the obese monstrosity but because she is flying, it has no effect. The zombies then pummel Laesin unconscious and we realize we have underestimated the ogrekin. Mylaela quickly comes to her brothers rescue and he is able to retreat for the time being. Mirabelle launches a fireball into the room and tells the group "three more." As the heroes begin to surround the corpulent wizardress, she uses her magic to relocate herself to the parlor, much to the surprise of Anton who, positioned at the rear for support, shrieks at her sudden appearance.  The zombies continue to attack with their mindless hate for the living. Meanwhile Laesin finds himself trying to pressure the caster. His efforts are rewarded as she fails to cast some spells to due his interference, but others do go off. The most impressive one fills a good portion of the house with thick black tentacles that wrestle multiple members of the party to a standstill. Mark and Mirabelle are complete helpless as precious moments pass. Left behind in the master bedroom, Corrath chops a hole through the adjoining wall and then launches a javelin that transforms into a bolt of lightning at the putrid ogrekin. After finishing off the zombies, Myleala and Corrath break through the boarded windows and enter the parlor from the front door again. The ugly caster continues to hurl spells at the group but the occasional lapse in concentration ultimately lead to her doom. The final blow comes when she is distracted and Corrath is able to deftly slice with his scimitar.

After some badly needed healing the group continues to investigate the house. In another room, they discover the bones of small humanoids. Upon closure inspection, they realize the bones all belonged to young females and they suspect the orgekin matriarch killed off all of the female young. A different door from the hall leads to a  grisly kitchen that overwhelms the groups senses. Multiple people are tempted to vomit  and the group stays only long enough for a cursory examination. Another room has several ogrekin who are amusing themselves playing with grisly "toys" that are made from human and animal remains. The room is decorated in crude illustrations that remind the party of how depraved these creatures are. Again, the tight confines of the house limit the ogrekins' abilities to overwhelm us. A few of them are able to move into the hallway but they cannot break through the front line that is Laesin, Myleala, and Corrath. Believing the first floor to be clear, the group catches their breath and recovers. 

Moving upstairs, the heroes find a large room filled with junk. The evidence suggests that it was a trap maker's workshop. Corrath is especially intrigued with the pieces parts. The upstairs also has a bedroom where "the boys" must have slept. Feeling good about clearing the house, Corrath tells the others that he is going to begin scrounging through the room because he suspects there could be some good tools hidden amongst the junk. Alaysha uses her magic to begin search for secret doors and the rest of the group begin a final sweep of the house. Finding themselves in the kitchen the group finds a staircase going into a basement. Below the house they find a lone ogrekin accompanied by strange looking giant rodents. Alaysha identifies them as donkey rats. The ogrekin has a second head that babbles about the traps and his "mamma" upstairs. He must be the designer of the traps we have encountered throughout the house. He is quickly dispatched and the group turns its attention to the last part of the basement.

We study the double doors and find no sign of traps or the nature of the room ahead. After crossing through the hall beyond, another set of double doors open a mold infested fungal bonanza. Inside is a giant plant creature that the group recognizes as a tendriculous. It is a fearsome looking creature but with our prepared spells, it falls quickly. Adjoining the room is a smaller room that has treasure. We collect everything of value and then exit and check on the Black Arrows. They are still recovering but Shalelu has been tending to them. we then decide to burn down the entire house in hopes of erasing this evil place from existence. 

We talk with the Black Arrows and Corrath notices that Kaevin has a seihedron tattoo. We ask him about it and he is able to tell us about Lucretia. He describes her and we realize that he is in love with her. He and the other Black Arrows describe the fort and the surrounding terrain. They tell us that the fort has been overrun by ogres. 

Kuthona 27- After resting the night, we confer with the rangers. We decide that the rangers can accompany us up to Fort Rennick and then return to Turtle Back Ferry to protect them and also to send word to Magnimar for reinforcements. While we rest Anton paint Mamma Gruul, Depraved Artist.  As we travel, we learn that Shalelu and Jakardros are related. There is clearly some sort of estrangement that happened but none of us what to pry. The rangers tell use that there is a back way into the fort but that it is accessed by passing through a waterfall and then going through caves that are guarded by shock lizards. After they give us as much insight as possible regarding the shock lizards, we decide that we will go through them rather than trying to sneak into the castle from the front or from above. With the aid of some magic, the waterfall entrance is safely traversed. Once inside the caves, we first encounter two of the shock lizards and they are study but easy enough to defeat. The caves are a natural formation and tunnels lead in various directions making it tricky to navigate. One branch leads to a dangerous gap, with a rickety bridge, that we choose not to cross. We find another cluster of shock lizards and when Mirabelle uses a fireball on them it quickly draws the remaining shock lizards. In a larger group, the shock lizards can deliver a frighteningly powerful lighting blast but fortunately they have to rest a little before doing it again. Once the lizards are dispatched, the group is able to follow one of the tunnel branches to a secret door exit from the fort. Before going through, the party does a second sweep of the caves just to make sure it is a safe place for a retreat if needed.

Corrath is the first to go through the secret door and is surprised to find Lucretia waiting for us. Most of us enter and she is remarkable polite and calm. We do learn that she reports to someone named Mokmurian. She keeps trying to win us over but as we begin casting spells, so does she. Corrath recognizes that her skin has the same sheen that we saw on Xanesha and we realize she has stoneskin. A moment later, we spring to the attack. Lucretia begins by summon something although we do not see anything immediately.  As the group begins their combined attack it becomes apparent that she summoned invisible stalkers. Even though we do not see them, they radiate a palpable menace. Alaysha realizes they are invisible stalkers and uses faerie fire to outline Lucretia and one of the two attackers and we split ou attacks between Lucretia and her invisible guardians. Mark animate two doors and a bed to join the fray. The room barely accommodates us, her, the fighting furniture and the stalkers. Anton tries to nullify the invisible nature of the summoned creatures but their invisible nature is too strong. Having moved next to her, the twins harrass her, making it risky for her to cast spells. Mirabelle then hits her with a simpler spell that reduces her mental capacity. The spell makes her less cautious and she switches to focusing on melee attakcs. Drawing a second dagger, she unleashes a terrifying set of strikes, each one catching Mylaela with every hit. Mylalea staggers forward, blood spurting from four different wounds, and falls to the ground dead. Laesin immediately yells for help but neither cleric has a spell that can save Myleala. The heroes flounder for a moment but then focus their attention to the fight at hand. Lucretia switches her attention to Laz but fortunately can barely land a hit on him. By now, the two invisible stalkers have been dealt lethal blows and they each fade from existence. Set upon by the entire group, Lucretia realizes that she should have fled earlier but it is too late. A final blow comes from the grief stricken monk and Lasein then runs to Mylaela's side. 

An awkward silence falls over the group in the crowded basement and then Mark moves to begin preparing Myleala's body for transport back to Turtle Back Ferry. For the time being, the group disperses Mylaela's magical possessions to those who it would help. While the group collects their thoughts, Mirabelle enchants Corrath and Mark's homunculus so that they can reconnoiter more of the fort. The homunculus is somehow able to covey what it sees and hears to Mark. 

The stealthy pair move up the stairs and begin traveling down the hall listening at each of thew doors. behind one of them Corrath  hears an ogre talking with himself. The ramblings sound like a person depressed and alone. Back in the basement, Mark relays what his homunculus is hearing. Behind a further pair of double doors, Corrath hears a host of ogres. Moving down the hall, yet another door, seems quiet. Corrath slips open the door and fortunately has an ogre whose back is to the door. Oddly enough, the ogre appears to be an artist who is painting with gruesome implements. Closing the door, Corrath continues his sweep.

The remainder of the group gives Corrath some time to scout ahead. Once Mark conveys the what his homunculus has heard, Mirabelle suggests they go up and she try charming a lone target. The group move up from the basement with the plan that if Mirabelle fails, they can dispatch one person with little chance of alarm. Mark opens the door and Mirabelle immediately utters a charm spell. It works with little difficulty. The figure turns and Mirabelle is not surprised to see an ogre. She is, however, surprised to see that his face bears a grievous wound. For an ogre, he is good looking except for the horrible deformation of his face.  Mirabelle strikes up a conversation with him and learns his name is Silas. He thinks of himself as an artist. He is busy posing a dead body as a sculpture of sorts. The dead body bears the holy symbol of Earastil. We also learn the he is one of the sons of the chief, Jaagrath. He has two siblings, Durala and Harloth. His father (the chief) also speaks with Mokmurian. Silas doesn't know anything about Mokmurian. Mirabelle excuses herself and closes the door, allowing Silas to continue working. 

Shortly after, Corrath rejoins the group and we decide to tackle the room with all the ogres in is. Laz opens the door and Mirabell is able to get two fireballs off before the rest of the party engages. The few remaining ogres try to counterattack but the group is too fast and they fall quickly. The noise of the fight does cause the artist ogre that Corrath saw to yell out from his room, but Corrath is able to fool him when he says "just stay in there and keep painting." 

As we leave the room, more ogres come down the hall and engage us. The tight quarters work in our favor and the ogres are quickly dispatched.Mark sends his homonculus outside to spy outside on the entire fort. 

We quickly move upstairs and the first inhabited room turns out to be the throne room where we find Jaagrath, Chief of the Kreeg. He and his second, hit hard but fall before the groups attacks. We next find a room with four more ogres who are at a disadvantage due to their large size. We then find four more ogres in another room, led by a female ogre. She launches a lightning bolt at the group and is clearly a capable caster. Similar to the other rooms, the ogres fall before  combination of fireballs and melee attacks.

With most of the ogres dead, we hatch a plan. Mark points out that we have to hurry and ensure the safety of the dam. We decide to have Mirabelle "suggest" that, given the loses they have experienced at the fort, Silas lead the remaining ogres and try to establish leadership over the remaining ogres. While Mirabelle is putting her plan in action, the others go down to the basement and meet Shalelu along with a gnome who introduces himself as Zap. He has been traveling south and knows that there is a malevolent magic that is causing it to rain. If it continues, it could overwhelm the dam. Zap is interested in joining us and we all agree that, with the absence of Myleala, the group would benefit from his presence.

We spend the night in the caves below the fort, taking the time to recover and examine the magic items that could help us. 

Kuthona 28- In the morning, we head north and make good time. We find evidence that the ogres traveled in a large group but a few at a time keep splintering off. The last group appears to have headed north west towards where the Black arrows say the ogres have a keep. As we approach the dam, we hear the echoing ring of heavy blows  from ahead. We race further up and see a cluster of ogres smashing the top of the dam. As we begin to race toward the dam, a massive creature comes over the edge from the retained water on the other side. Some of its many tentacles lash out and knocks some of the ogres off. One is grabbed by the creature. The creature dwarfs the figure, but as it wrests the saboteur from the top of the dam, a portion of the dam the creature is leaning on gives way. Stone, water and both the massive creature and the figure in its clutches spill over the edge and fall into the plunge basin below. We stop in our tracks and there is a tense discussion about whether we should return to Turtle Back Ferry to help with evacuations or go up  to the dam and see if we can do anything to prevent further catastrophe. We decide to make for the dam as fast as we can. Zap offers to fly up ahead but we urge caution since none of us know who might still be there. As we get closer, we can make out the macabre motif of the dam. Skulls are carved into the dam face with several larger ones that leer over the valley. To the side of the dam, we find a set of stairs that are made for large individuals. They are awkward to climb, but we make it up to a cave entrance that seems to continue up. As we approach, a large, two-headed giant bars our way.

It threatens to eat us and it and its compatriot block our way forward. The two of them fall quickly to the flurry of arrow shots, melee attacks and the elemental shots from the new member of the group. moving past them, teh group makes its way onto the dam. The size of the dam is impressive, spanning 45 feet in width. More ogres block the entrance to a building at the center of the dam. Mirabelle opesn with a fireball and then Laz makes his way forward. While the ogres struggle to hit him, the party is able dispatch them quickly. Like the others, they hit hard but drop fast enough.

Approaching the doors,  we find the door has been badly mangled and have to force our way through it. Inside we find vegetation has overgrown much of the stucture. Zap, flyign and very stealthily, sneaks into the room. He spies several large figures lurking in the corners of the room. once he retreats and describes them, we realize they are trolls. Mirabelle, again, opens with a fireball and the group surges into the room. The party uses a variety of attacks, making sure to use fire and acid especially. Before long, the trolls are dead and, despite their fearsome reputation, they appear to stay dead. 

The party moves quickly, barely stopping to recover, and explores the adjoining rooms. Again, the vegetation and fungus seems to have overtaken the dam structure and seems to be growing everywhere. Beyond a set of double doors, we find stairs that lead down. Following the stairs, we find a sub structure with a troll leader named Wet Pappa Grazuul. There a re a series of three chambers connected by a channel of water. Wet Papa Grazuul has a retinue of trolls that serve him. We immediately engage and using focused attacks, we kill all of them. Wet Papa Grazuul dove under the water and tried for a defensive position but the relentless attacks prevail.

After a little bit, Mark call out and a celestial unicorn appears. His name is Twilight Sparkle and he agrees to power the dam if we promise to not entrap him. As payment, Mark offers a magic buckler and the Anton will paint a painting of him. The group rest for a bit while Anton pulls out his art supplies and begins a portrait of Twilight Sparkle.We agree but as we prepare to let Twilight Sparkle to enter the circle, Mirabelle goes in to collect the dust of the dead devil. As she does, the circle immediately activates. Screams utter from both the devil and Mirabelle and the party hears the sound of grinding stone and rushing water. Mark looks at Twilight Sparkle and exclaims his surprise. Renegotiating, the party asks Twilight Sparkle to deliver the news of the flooding and Black Maga to Turtle Back Ferry. Twilight Sparkle says he will notify the other town on the lake as well. 

We take some time to figure out the magical items and loot that we have found. As soon as we finish, Mark is insistent that we make for Turtle Back Ferry. As we travel south, Alaysha and Zap fly over the river to try and track Black Maga. They find evidence of Black Maga destroying some spots, but at one point, it must have disappeared under the water. After about two hours, we arrive in Turtle Back Ferry only to discover about a quarter of it is now underwater. As we enter, the gar from the lake swim in. We attack them and scare them off. But as soon as we finish, Black Maga appears and attacks the town. It is gargantuan, and its tentacles sweep destruction everywhere. The party tries to attack the creature but nothing works. it is highly spell resistant, has incredible armor, and devastating attacks.  At points it grabs both Anton and Corrath and their doom seems certain. However we are able to free Anton and fortunately it drops Corrath and sinks deeper into Lake Claybottom. 

Kuthona 29- Mark raises Mylaela who rises with a bronze horn. She tells us that she is going to go back to Sandpoint and do some thinking. We tell her to fill everyone in and give our regards to Ameiko. Mayor Shreed is able to secure the diamond dust that we need to restore Mirabelle's necromatic debilitation. 

After lunch the party discusses their options and decides to try and find the leader of the Black Arrows and then from there go north to find the hags that we believe are responsible for the water build up via the storm. One of the town fishermen offers to ferry us across Lake Claybottom to help save time. We gratefully accept and an hour later we set foot on the shore leading to the Shimmer Glen Swamp. Zap flies up and can see that the land gets more and more sinister, but does not see any sign of the White Willow.

Not long after we enter the swamp, we hear the signs of crying. We are able to track the cries to a male pixie who is startled by our arrival. He explains that his mistress has a corrupted heart and he is desperate to help her. He tells us that Lamatar was killed by the ogres and Lucretia. We agree to help him and so Yap leads us deeper into the swamp. At one point we find that the water from the rain is absorbing whatever the taint prevades the swamp and it is messing with people's heads. 

We make our way to a clearing and are greeted by a green haired fey lady who tells us that her name is Liandra and is a sister of Myrianna. Yap doesn't recognize her and so we are cautious. As some of us begin to cast preparatory spells, Liandra exclaims, "Fine, if that is what you are going to do, then die!" Quickly two floating light creatures appear and Corrath immediately recognizes them as will-o-wisps. He yells that magic missiles should be used against them. Liandra is an elusive opponent and even Laz struggles to overcome her natural quickness. Similarly, she cannot hit Laz. She is also highly resistant to damage, and it takes the party awhile before Anton recognizes her as a type of undead. We finally defeat the witchfire and her will-o-wisps. 

The swamp if difficult to move through and see in. At one point the haze lessens a little and a ghostly parade of fey creatures approaches us. They eirily jaunt right through where we are standing and Zap is caught up in the revelry. He marches along with them for a little bit but then stops and suddenly looks drained and weakened. The parade thenn fades away and the haze settles back in.

We continue and come across a ship covered in moss. We call out but there is no response. When we board the ship, we find no crew onboard, alive or dead. We head straight for the captain's room and find maps, a music composition and the remains of the ship's captain. Whatever happened, it seems the captain was committed to going down with his ship. In his stateroom is a dilapidated remains of a fine harpsichord. Mark, with a single prayer, is able to restore the harpsichord to working order. Mirabelle sits down at the harpsichord and as she plays out the composition, it becomes clear that this work of music is an exemplary composition. Everyone who hears it, feels restored. 

When we go back out onto the deck, a pale white dog with milky eyes is sitting; waiting. As the last of use emerges from inside the ship, the dog walks off and we all follow it. We try calling out to it in different languages but it plods on heedless of our hails. After a little bit, the dog just fades away.
We recover from all the strangeness and then continue on. We feel as if we are getting deeper into the swamp. Finally, Yap tells us that we have arrived, but that he will travel no further. A large tree has a dryad sticking half out of a tree. She has been beaten and her limbs are all twisted.  Are first we think  this is Lady Myreana.

Mark uses wood shape on the tree so that the nymph can be positioned in a graceful resting pose and then entombed within the tree. We continue on pushing our way through the haze.  We stand in the clearing, mulling individual thoughts and then a nymph ghost rises from the nearby water and tells us that Lamatar was taken to the ogre lair high on Hook Mountain. Yap immediately tells us that this is Lady Myreanna. She tells us that she tried to raise Lamatar but failed. She would like us to rescue him. Several of us find Lady Myreanna to be unsettlingly crazy.

We travel north and make our way out of the swamp. We are grateful, when we reach Bitter Hollow and rest the night. Despite Bitter Hollow having no actual inn, just the thought of not being surrounded by ghosts and stage apparitions makes us feel we are back among the living.

Kuthona 30- We prepare for our journey to Hook Mountain with extra food, camp supplies, cold gear, rope, and other equipment that we think might be useful. Then we head north hugging the Coal Coast with the intention of moving away from the lake at a certain point. A good part of our attention remains on the water. Our brief encounter with Black Maga looms large in our minds. But fortunately, there is no sign of the powerful outsider. Corrath reminds us that Black Maga is one of the most powerful servants of Lamashtu. We all recognize that there is little we can do except flee should we encounter it again. We see occasional signs of game but nothing seems overly threatening. 

At last, the woods give way to a more desolate landscape. The woods end and the land changes to a steppe for a brief span before the land begins to rise into the mountains. We know that the ogre fort is somewhere up in the mountains in this general vicinity. While taking in the vista, Alaysha notices a giant form walking down the center of the gully. Zap recognizes it as a hill giant and tells us they are strong but dumb and also will eat people. We watch it for a moment and it appears to be all alone. Mirabelle suggests she try and charm it rather than have everyone attack it. Zap, Laz, and Alaysha follow Mirabelle as she positions herself she that she can ambush the giant. Mirabelle is able to charm the giant and we learn that his name is Razmus. He is a bit of a loner and does not like the ogres whose fort is very close tho where we are standing but is located high up the mountain side. We also learn that Mokmorian, whose name we learned from Silus, is actually a stone giant. Razmus just wants to be left alone and does not like the ogres at all. Mirabelle gets Razmus to agree to allowing us to travel through his gully and scale the mountain with the promise that we will not be settling here and will eliminate the ogres. Alaysha had heard several stories about stone giants. She tells us that they are not dumb like hill giants. They also like to throw rocks. She also tells us the leaders of the stone giants are often referred to as the elders. Oftentimes the elders have some spell casting ability with the most talented becoming sorcerers. Interestingly, we think think that since thier magic tradition tends towards sorcerers, they are  probably more social than one would think. 

We scale up tha steep terrain and make our way to the top. We make Zap invisible and Zap scouts out what lies ahead. He comes back in a hurry adn says he has distracted them. We immediately rush forward at Zap's urging. We come over the top and find a series of bone arches that signal the entrance to the fort that is built into the mountain. We move down the tunnel and find a series of passage ways. Our way is blocked by some ogres and a hill giant. They are easy to hit but very tough but fall nonetheless. They don't hit consistently but when they do, the blows are punishing.. As we are recover from the fight we hear the sounds of approaching reinforcements. We head down the hall and are met by a large force of ogres. Fortunately the tunnel prevents them swarming us. Corrath, Laz and Mark form a wall and Zap, Alaysha and Mirabelle attack them with ranged options. Mirabelle uses a barrage of fireballs and the ogre onslaught lets up.

The combat slows down as the bodies pile up in the entrance tunnel to the main room. Pushing past the charred bodies the party discover a small group of ogres holding out and defending the room. Smartly, they have spread out so as to not get caught in a spell. However their instincts get the better of them and when they close in to assault the party, most of them are again caught in a fireball. Alaysha shoots those that hang back and thier fates are sealed. 

Once combat ends, the heroes find  more ogres, all women and children, huddled in a far corner. Corrath tells the that they can leave the cave fortress unharmed and they move out in a hurry without gathering any possessions. With the room now empty, the group takes in the size of the massive chamber. From the chamber, there are tunnels that lead off in various directions but it becomes clear they are only mining tunnels that have been played out. 

Returning to an earlier junction, the party debates which tunnel to follow and decide to go down the tunnel that is closest to the open side of the mountain. The tunnel open into a very large passage way. On either side is a 10 foot ledge and the path itself is over 30 feet wide. The passage ends in another massive chamber. But unlike the bustle and noise of the ogre living and forging space, this room has a calm and quiet sinister feel. The group jumps a little when they see a massive throne with a stone giant sitting in it, looking perturbed. The figure demands to know who the adventurers are. The heroes share a little about themselves and learn that this is not Mokmorian, but one of his lieutenants. Barl is remarkable calm given the slaughter that happened only shortly before. The group begins to explain their growing understanding of the Runelords, and when pressed for more information about the them, Barl orders his forces to attack. To our surprise, the immediate threat is a group of four zombie giants who had been disguised amongst the statues that stood on the raised sides of the passage. Their close proximity takes us by surprise. They are fast and powerful. The group has to focus their attacks to eliminate one of the hulking figures. The entire time, the giants accompanying Barl throw rocks at the heroes, while Barl sits in his thrown casually preparing. Mark uses a silent spell on the throne to rattle Barl's calm and it works. Barl lurches out of his chair, clearly angered that he has to move from his throne. Multiple times, the rocks come close to striking Mirabelle but none ever find their mark. But before the first of them drops, Corrath is grievously wounded by a terrifyingly blow. Only Mark quick divinely powered magic prevent Corrath from death. The zombies are challenging opponents and unlike any sort of zombie the group has seen before. As usual, Alaysha uses her bow to deadly effect. Although the arrows are nowhere near as intimidating as the rocks, the arrows find their marks repeatedly. Zap uses a variety of powered attacks, one of which would have killed any one of the group in a single hit.  Although the gnome is small the attacks are monstrous.

As the last zombie falls, Laz has moved up to the giants with other members of the group right behind him. The giants are less of a threat than the zombies, much to the groups relief. Barl last longer than his guards. He is both an accomplished caster and a mighty warrior. Zap strikes the final blow with a well aimed strike that topples the stone giant chief. After recovering from the fight, we realize that we are pretty spent and decide to rest in Barl's Hall. We take one of the ledges towards the entrance so that we can maintain an advantageous position. We are careful to not use a fire, lest we draw curious reinforcements. Going through the loot, we find a letter from "M", whom we believe is Mokmorian, to Barl and it says that Sandpoint is going to be attacked by giants and a dragon. Mokmorian is expecting Barl to have ogre reinforcements. We are all concerned about the time frame, but Luke says that with the right prayers, he should be able to get a better understanding of how imminent an attack is.

Kuthona 31- Fortunately, the night passes uneventfully and in the morning, the group feels refreshed. There are a two tunnels that have not explored. After being ambushed by the zombie giants, a decision to have Zap scout ahead is made. Alaysha gives him darkvision for a little bit, and Mirabelle makes him invisible. A minute later he returns from exploring one of the tunnels and tells us that at the bottom of the stairs there is a large room in which a man with a bow along with three women in a cage. Zap baitied the ranger into shooting at a target so we know he is wary. Given that rangers can cast spells,and that the archer is probably Lamatar, we send Laz in invisible so he can grapple him, preventing him from using his bow. Simultaneously, Zap goes in silent and invisible so that Lamatar will not be able to cast spells. The two heroes ambush Lamatar at close range and Laz is able to grapple him. As Zap unleashes his attack, we notice the women saying something but they too are caught in the silence. A moment later we are surprised when the three women walk right through the cage and strike at the heroes with long sharp talons. We then realize the women were not captives, but are a coven of hags, likely the one responsible for the weather manipulation.

As Laz fights Lamatar, he begins to notice details of the ranger's appearance that are incongruous and then sees through the illusion and recognizes the ranger as some sort of undead. Unfortunately, Laz is in the silence and can't convey what he has learned. Mark and Corrath rush the hags and Alaysha shoots from behind the front line. Shortly afte rthe hags join the melee, the appearance of the room changes from a well kept shrine to a run down cave. Anton offers his healing to those who need it. Mirabelle, however, is confident the group has the combat in hand and stays on the steps watching for any reinforcements.  

With Lamatar denied the use of his bow and the hags denied the use of their spells, the heroes are able to defeat the denizens of the with minimal injury. Afterwards, the heroes examine the large Seheidron rune on the wall and ... There is a pit in the center of the room that must have been used for ceremonial purposes. It is littered with the bones of multiple creature types. The group believes the hags are the one responsible for the water.

Abadius 1- After resting the night in the ogre cave-fortress, Luke uses his prayers and is confident that Sandpoint will not be attacked in the next week. Normally this would still concern us but with Mirabelle's new teleportation magic, the group has options. Mirabelle teleports Corrath, Mark and Anton to Magnimar. She then returns and teleports Laesin, Zap and Alaysha to Kaer Maga. Each of the parties is able to spend the day selling off the unwanted loot.

Abadius 2-Corrath, Mark and Anton are in Magnimar. Corrath and Mark continue to sell off their part of the loot. Anton visits some of the members of the Artists' Collective.

Mark begins gathering resources for enchanting a variety of items for the group. Anton begin preparing to do an intricate tattoo for Zap. Corrath shops for supplies.

Alaysha, Laesin, Zap and Mirabelle continue selling their part of the loot and getting a feel for Kaer Maga.

Abadius 4- Mirabelle, Zap Laesin, and Alaysha teleport to Westcrown.

Abadius 7- Mirabelle, Zap Laesin, and Alaysha teleport to Sandpoint. Once everyone is back together again, the group takes time to have Mark and Anton enchant items or inscribe tattoos. Miraballe uses the newly enchanted lyre to augment the villages defenses by reinforcing the north wall. Playing for several hours, Mirabelle is able to accomplish what 100 men could do in 24 days or working.

Abadius 12- Mirabelle, Zap, and Alaysha go to the Mwangi Expanse?

Abadius 14- Mirabelle uses the Lyre to dredge the river. Again the Lyre allows the work of what 100 men could accomplish in 24 days. The town takes the warning seriously and plans are made at all levels for how to keep the people safe and how to minimize the damage.

Abadius 18- Late at night, those staying at the Dragon Inn are awaken by a scream outside. Laesin jumps out the window and is the first to see a sinister looking flying horse with horns; the Sandpoint Devil. Alaysha and Mark are further away and move quickly toward the town center. Zap and Corrath are next to get to the scene and find the area obscured by a deep fog that is emanating from the shadowing figure in the center. The creature catches some of the members in a fiery breath attack. It also lashes out with powerful hooves. The attacks catch Laesin and he takes several hits before others can join the fray. Mark is able to dismiss the enchanted fog and once the horse-devil can be seen clearly the tide of battle shifts in our favor.  

Abadius 21-  We start to hear rumors that damage is occurring to farms and homestead. Alaysha and Zap fly out to scout the troubled areas. They discover signs of destruction on various farms. They evidence suggests there are ogres rampaging through to the east of Sandpoint. The heroes Mirabelle begins to reconstruct the tower and Quink is immediately upset by Mirabelle's disturbing of the stones. We agree to set aside any that have runes on them. In the conversation, Quink tells us that the tower was not a lighthouse, but rather some sort of weapon. The group mulls this over and considers the possibility that the tower might be the target. Reexamining the letter from Mokmort, it becomes clear that what they are trying to retrieve is under ground. Mark uses his divination magic and confirms that it is not the rune well, nor is it as deep as the rune well. Alaysha scouts out Grubber's Hermitage and finds nothing amiss. Mirabelle begins to use the Lyre, but falters after the first hour and the magical workforce fades away. The stones are partially assembled into a tower but it only represents the work of 6 days.

Abadius 22- Alaysha scouts out Dragon's Punch Bowl but does not investigate too closely because of rumors that harpies live there.

Abadius 23- Anton summons an earth elemental and the party is able to negotiate with it to scout out the land below the Old Light. After a while, it returns and tells us that there is indeed a structure under the Old Light. 

Abadius 24- The group makes a plan to Dimension Door down to the room that they learned about from the Earth elelmental. But before they do, they decide to have Zap and Alaysha scout out the nearby lands. It is unlikely that a force of giants could approach without being seen. Not long after they leave, both Alaysha and Zap return from different directions. Both have found encampments. To the north is a group of 11 giants and 4 massive bears. To the east are 14 giants. Rather than waiting for the combined forces to attack the heroes decide to pause their plan to look under the Old Light. Moving quickly, the group informs Sheriff Balor and Mayor Deverin. The heroes decide to to head north and intercept the giants and their bears. They find the encampment only 2 miles north of Sandpoint. It seems the giants are unaware of the group and so the heroes have some time to discuss tactics and prepare an ambush.

The attack goes well for the group. The giants begin by throwing rocks which seldom hit, but when they do, it is significant. Laesin takes the lead and draws the into attack up the middle of the jagged rock field. Mirabelle is able to charm the bears and convince them to sit out the combat. Zap and Alayasha are a devastating fireteam. Corrath and Mark form the rest of the front line and are able to stop the advance of the giants. Shortly into the combat, one of the giants pulls out a big horn and blows it. The heroes suspect this is a signal to the other group to begin their attack on Sandpoint. The leader and some of the other giants immediately break away. Zap and Alaysha try to follow them but notice a red dragon high above. Alaysha decides to try a shot at the dragon and it incredibly finds a vulnerable spot. The dragon roars in pain and falters for a moment before resuming its course toward  Sandpoint.

With the giants dead or having fled, the group realizes they do not have time to rest and will have to make for Sandpoint immediately. Alaysha and Zap fly towards the town while Mirabelle teleports the others.  Arriving in the town center the heroes warn everyone about the imminent attack and the towns people flee to the various safe locations.  Mylaela and Ameiko are there accompanied by a figure dressed in yellow. Mirabelle's eyes go wide with surprise and she calls out for someone to seize the yellow clad individual. Myleala immediately says the person is with her.
The first element of the attack is when the dragon strafes the Scarnetti mansion with fire. Mirabelle dimension doors over and gets to work putting out the fire with her spells. The dragon then begins setting different buildings on fire, causing havoc. Shortly after, the giants begin their assault attempting to cross the river near the north and south bridges on the east side of Sandpoint. The heroes find themselves divided between the two pronged giant attack and the dragon. The unforeseen complication is that everywhere the dragon goes, people are caught in its aura of fear and begin heedlessly running away. Despite this, several townsfolk resist the fearful aura and valiantly fight back against the giants. At one point the dragon lands in the market place and the heroes consider fighting it. However, Mark and Mirabelle, are the only members of the group nearby, and both feel confronting the dragon without the rest of party would be suicidal. Alaysha begins a punishing sequence of arros that wound the dragon greviously. The dragon immediately plunged down from  above and savagely bit Alaysha. Alaysha jumped off the roof and hit it with a snowball spell that clearly had a greater effect.  The dragon roared in frustration and fled. Fortunately, the dragon, after igniting different buildings on fire, takes to the air and heads towards the Old Light. Once past the town's edge, it takes  a wide, rising turn over the water and then plunges into the remains of the Old Light Tower.
As some of the party suspected, it was really after something buried under the Old Light. While it is occupied with its own efforts, the heroes are able to kill some of the invading giants. The leader and his entourage make it to the market square where Mark is able to freeze it in place. While it is helpless, Zap leaps on top of the giant and plunging his hands into the temples of the giant leader, kills him with a powerful burst of electricity.

With their leader dead, the remaining giants flee the town and everyone is relieved that yet another attack has been thwarted.

We take a moment to recover and then decide to chase after one of the groups that fled the town. It does not take long before we find signs of their passage. The giants were pushing themselves hard, but we find them taking a rest. They do not notice the heroes and that allows Mirabelle to begin by charming one of them and telling him to raise his hands in a sign of peace. While the one giant does, Corrath and Laesin surround another and attack him. The rest of the group attacks the one that Laesin and Corrath double teamed. A moment later, Mirabelle charms a second giant, and the rest of the group is able to knock the one giant unconscious. 

With combat over, Mirabelle engages the two giants in conversation and the group learns a great deal of information. We learn that Mokmorian is based in Jorgunfist. The giant has heard him speak but knows that Mokmorian lives underground, beneath Jorgunfist.

The giants are part of a large and ancient people. There are 7 tribes

• Blackfist- Doach (???)

• Red Shield-Night Shade- Papa Beschk (????)

• Maidens of Minderhall- Hulvera (????)

• Jormunsir- Vlorian (stone)

• Valissander- Zinderall (stone)

• Crannoch- Oriandian (stone)

• Kavarvatti- Barl Breakbone (stone)

There is a giant, Kona, that does oppose Mokmorian. She used to be a part of the Kavarvatti. Mokmorian is also known as the Child of Stone and also a master of old magics. The two giants also tell us that Jorgunfist can also be entered from the east through the Valley of the Black. The teams of giant attackers are meeting on the Storval Plateau. The dragon, Long tooth, was sent by Mokmorian to gather a stone with some sort of "special mark." We suspect they are runic and this may be in service to a Runelord. 

After what the giants have told us, we realize we have an opportunity to catch the other group. We quickly set out to try an intercept them. It takes a little bit, but we find their trail. It is easier since they had  carts, so we go ahead of them. We set up an ambush and wait for them to arrive. This group is larger and has both ogres and giants. Zap uses his new barrier walls and Mirabelle uses black tentacles for the first time. The ogres and giants are confused and hindered by the barriers. The heroes use the confusion to their advantage and are able to whitle down their foes. Corrath gets brutally attacked by an ogre, but fortunately Mark was nearby and was able to bring him back through his divine magic. Despite being brought back, Corrath is clearly shaken by the ordeal. Afterwards, the group rushes to free the captives that were taken from Sandpoint. Among them is, Elise, the eldest Scarnetti child. Mirabelle and Elsie have a tearful reunion and the group heads back to town.

Once back in town, Corrath, Laz and Mark learn that Ven Vilders has not arrived back in town. Despite be shaken by the near death experience, Coorath enlists Mark's aid and the head out to find him.The group finds Ven and, well after midnight, the three of them return back to town.

Abadius 27- A force of soldiers and workers arrive in Sandpoint, apparently sent by Magnimar. One of the soldiers is a paladin of Abadar and is willing to join us to help twart the various threats that the people of Sandpoint are facing.  Mark gives Salovar a tour of the town and fills him in on many of the threats. Alaysha, Zap and Mirabelle scout out the area that the Sandpoint Devil was suspected of residing in. After using magic to speak different birds,  an eagle is able to tell them the genral area to search. From there, Alaysha is able to find signs that lead the trio to the lair. It is a large but simple cave. The creature seams to have feasted on various humanoids.

Abadius 29- The heroes reconvene at the Rusty Dragon Inn. The heroes learn more about Salovar and offer him a chance to join them in exploring underneath the Old Light, which he readily accepts. 

Abadius 30- The heroes, as well a a few other Sandpoint notables, meet at the Old Light and Mirabelle sets about using the Lyre of Building to excavate an entrance to the structure below. After a few hours, enough space is excavated and a support timbers put in place to allow the adventurers entrance. They find the inital room is a hallway with tunnels going in four directions. Down the first hall  the heroes find a demi-lich which shocks those who understand what that is. As soon as the door opened a fireball goes off and we start to realize how dangerous this place is. Sandovar throws himself at it and is able to damage the creature to great effect. Laz then runs in and grapples the tiny floating skull. Anton uses a silence spell in hopes of preventing it from using spells. However, The demi-lich is able to ignore the effect which allows it to continue to use spells. The rest of the group joins the attack and the demi-lich eventual falls to the heroes. 

After recovering, the group moves clockwise and explores another hall. As we do, everyone feels violent shaking and Anton believes himself pinned by imaginary debris. We realize this is a recollection of Earthfall. Eventually Anton is able to resist the haunt.  They continue down the hall, they find it is inhabited by geists. The are incorporeal and drain our wisdom. The combat is chaotic and the group gets split into two teams. The geist use their ability to move through walls and their fearful scream to stymie the group.  

Further down the hall, more undead appear, these are specters and they are also mages. The group attacks quickly before they can begin inflicting debilitating effects. After a little more exploring, the section is cleared with no more undead appearing.

The next hall has a statue of Yamasoth, a qlippoth, a type of outsider from the Outer Rift.  The layout is different with longer halls. We meet Verzazmain, a devotee of Yamasoth. Zap identifies it as a Worm that Walks, a type of vermin. He tells us that Alaznist was fighting against Kourzog and that this entire place is a Hellstorm flume, that is meant to keep Kourzog away.His master (Yamasoth) was a contemporary of Alaznist. We ask about the lich and the runes and it knows the lich but admits that it was not knowledgeable about rune magic. Something about him sets our teeth on edge and we hesitate to attack him. He is persistent in trying to get us to worship Yamasoth, but when it becomes clear we are not interested, the Worm that Walks grows increasingly impatient with us. We decide caution is on order and close the door behind us as we return to the other halls.

In another room we find strange crab like creatures, which Alaysha identifies as Gongorian qlippoths. They are unreceptive to our attempts to communicate with them. Despite their foreign appearance, it becomes clear they are capable when they attack us and cause confusion with their chittering teeth. The were also capable casters but fell to our combined attacks. 

After recovering we explore the last spoke of the floor. We encounter a strange creature that seems to be a combination of a dog, cat and chicken. It confirms our belief that Yamasoth and the people who worship him have been experimenting with combining creatures. This also fits what what we learned orm the Worm that Walks. Further into the wing, we encounter a gang of sin spawn that had be mutated and were clearly tougher. 

Having the cleared the entire floor, we decide to return to the surface and rest and tell Quink what we have learned. In town, we consult with Corrath and Father Zelantus. They help us understand the nature of demi-liches and Corrath explains that we have to use a series of divine magic to truly end a demi-lich. We resolve to go back tomorrow and finish the job. 

Later that day, Alaysha and Mirabelle teleport to Magnimar and sell the loot as well as pick up a replacement wand of healing.

Abidius 31- We start the day by finding Myleala and asking her about The Shroud. Myleala heard many of the same rumors that I had heard and was able knock him out and question him. Myleala thinks he is a devout follower of Callistria, and felt that he was doing his duty. Myleala has convined him to "serve" Calistira in a different fashion. She believes he will no longer be a problem to the townsfolk.

We return to the Old Light and find the remains of the demi-lich, Anizohah.  Once we reach the room, Mark anoints himself in holy oils and casts a divine spell. The remains tremble as the magic washes over the skull and then it dissolved in a sudden burst.

We take a moment to reassure ourselves that the threat has been truly vanquished. Then we use the secret tunnel that we had found to descend to the next level. A series of hallways lead to some abandoned rooms that must once have been a study. The rooms lead to an access hall and we emerge to find two crystalline statues that  seem suspicious. As Laz moves up to investigate, they slowly stir and move to attack us. They are tough but the combined attacks are able to destroy the two golems with minimal injury to the group.

Further down the hall a series of stairs lead in different directions.  At the top of one of the stairs we find a room with an individual who identifies himself as the Red Bishop. He tries to convince us to go to a place that has some sort of ward because he is barred from it. He promises us great reward if we remove the ward. As the conversation continues, we tells us he had an acolyte in town who was the serial killer, CHopper. At that point Salovar bristles and says he, "I smite thee!" 

The Red Bishop is sow to attack and we seize the opportunity. He is quickly surrounded and attacked repeatedly.  Despite the press of attacks, he is able to cast spells defensively but they only delay the inevitable. After healing himself, he faces another round of relentless assualts and quickly falls.

Adjoining the room, he has a study in which Laz finds notes discussing the ward he asked us to deal with. The ward was put in place by Sazzleru (The True Spark, an Azata), a priest of Imperial Lord Ashava. The ward stops Uvaglor from coming through.

We return to the stairs that led down to the red glow. Moving down, we find a portal that shows no sign of where it goes.  We travel through it and find it leads to an island about 3 miles off the coast. We discover a collective of marroned sailors that the Red Bishop was torturing and using for his own demented purposes. We appeal to them to receive our healing and to then return to the mainland. Only one of them stayed evil after Salovar purified them. We meet with Mayor Deverin and explain the situation. It takes the rest of the day, but we get the rescued sailors situated. 

Calistril 1- We split up, with Salovar, Alaysha and Mirabelle going to Magnimar to dispose of the unholy sword and everyone else going to the Old Light to help Mark dispel the portal. Later that night, we reconvene at the Rusty Dragon and share the details of the days activities.

Calistril 2- We take off for The Pit to investigate its nature. Our travel is unassuming and we arrive in the early afternoon.  We find a deep wide hole with a series of caves that lead off from the center. We feel a creepy aura permeates the area and a deep fog masks vision past 50 feet. We discuss it and decide that our efforts are better spent dealing with the giant threat and we will post a notice that adventurers are needed to investigate the pit.

After that Mirabelle says that she can investigate Mokmorian's demense and that she will meet the rest of them in Sandpoint.  She returns later that night and says she was unsuccessful in finding the hold.

Calistril 3- Mirabelle again attempts to teleport to Jorgunfist and is able to find it. She notices that there is a pass leading to the hold from the west and a river approach from the east. However the river flowers away from the hold so anyone trying to sail to Jorgunfist would be sailing upriver. She returns to Sandpoint and describes what she saw to the group. 

Calistril 9- Zap has his belt improved. Other people have finished having their items improved as well. 

Calistril 11- Mark finishes enchanting the arrows for Alaysha.

Calistril 12- Mirabelle teleports the group in shifts to the safe spot west of Jorgunfist. It takes a series of spells but everyone arrives safely. Alaysha finds a good cave that the party can rest in before making their way towards Jorgunfist. The rest of the day is spent getting acclimated to the area. 

Calistril 13-  The group scouts the tower overlooking the valley that leads to Jurgunfist. Zap notices a giant on top of the tower and recognizes it as a tiaga giant which are rumored to be immune to enchantments and illusions. The group discusses the options and decide not to attack the tower. Instead Zap and Alaysha begin to different areas around Jorgunfist. 

Alaysha discovers two cave entrances on the cliff that rise up to become the Jorgunfist plateau.

Zap finds the cave where the dragon lives.

Calistril 14- The group decides to tackle the cave that belongs to the Long tooth, the red dragon. We cautiously approach the cave entrance by air walking over the mountain and ready ourselves with some spells. When we move deeper into the cave, Long tooth calls out for a truce and offers information if we agree to pay him off. We  agree and offer him a bonus to burn out one of the caves that Zap found. 

We then move to the cliff caves and enter the insect cave after Long tooth blasts the entrance. The cave is inhabited by strange spider creatures that spit acid and try to web us. They are surprisingly hard opponents but we are ultimately victorious. 

In the back of the cave, we discover a secret door that leads further into the mountain. Zap and Laz sneak ahead and finds a threatening looking kobold. The kobold growls and then springs to the attack. The kobold is a barbarian and highly skilled at that. He savagely attacks and it becomes clear that Zap is in danger. The group races to get to the combat before its too late for the heroes. The barbarian is a brutal whirlwind of attacks and the group has to use a  lot of healing to survive the combat. The barbarian was knocked unconscious and Mark stone shapes the cave wall around him so that he can't escape. Despite his capture, he is extremely defiant and we realize he is not going to be forthcoming with any useful information. We decide to rest the night in the cave before continuing.

Calistril 15- We awaken early in hopes of avoiding the busy time with the fortress. We first find a tannery staffed by ogres. They are still dumb as ever but strong foes. As we proceed our next encounter is a forge wtih a bunch of dwaerven prisoners. We free the poor dwarves who were being used as slave labor by the giants.  Next, we find a room full of stone giants. It is clear we have found some sort of barracks as we surprise them as they are still getting out of bed. Laz is able to sprint to the other side and prevent any of the giants from escaping. Mirabelle is able to charm one of the giants and it becomes our servant. He is the only one to be spared. After asking him some questions, we learn that he prefers Kona as a leader and that there are Lamia in a nearby room that he either despises or resents. 

After he shares what he knows about the lamia we attack them. They are capable opponents as spell casters and their attacks can weaken our wisdom but their melee ability is worse than ours. Once we close the distance they are quickly dispatched. However one of the last ones is able make her way down a tunnel and is able to call 3 smaller red dragons as reinforcements.

We immediately engage the dragons and as they die we realize that a sigil flares on each of them as the die. Too late we realize we are powering the ritual. The dragons are feasome but no match for our combat abilites. Afterwards, Zap scouts ahead and finds a room with Kona and several otherrooms.

We talk with Kona and are first thratened by the ghost of her husband but she calls him off. After talking with Kona we learn that the giants dont want anything to do with teh Runelords, this is all Mokmorian. She supports our going after him and believes once he is gone the giants will dispears and resume their old habits.

We then continue and find a room full of troll guards that hit hard but die after much effort.  Zap scouts ahead and finds a strange room filled with rune giants. The room has a nauseating aura and a strange enchantment that causes some to shrink. Mirabelle uses confusion for the first time and the rest of the group capitalizes in the giants disadvantaged condition and slays all of them. 

The next room is guarded by a golemn. As we begin our attack, a forge field attacks us from behind. Alaysha's scarab allows her to brutally punish the golemn. Salovar immediately engages the evil outsider and the paladin is quickly able to dispatch the demon.

Not wanting to waste the spells they have on them, the group continues into a room filled with frozen figures. Once we enter, they move to attack us. The leader was a headless zombie that was much tougher. Several fireballs from both Mark and Mirabelle soften up the monsters and the others use their attacks to finish them off. 

After that, a hallway leads to a locked door, with the seihedron, that we cannot figure out how to open. Instead we take a different passage that decends and enter a room inhabited by Hounds of Tindolus, extra-dimension horrid looking creatures they were able to turn invisible at will and attack our minds, in addition to their fearsome claws and bite. 

With the hounds dead, another set of large double doors lead to a large room filled with fog. The group proceeds carefully knowing a threat lies beyond the cloud. Sal advances into the cloud and emerges some distance away where it is clear. However both real and illusory giants in the room begin to attack. They are backed by a spell caster and the group realizes this is probably Mokmorian. He is an adept spell caster who uses a series of cloud spells to hamper and weaken the group. While Laz and Sal engage the real giants, the others try to attack Mokmorian. He is protected by a variety of spells which makes him both resilient to attacks and spells. After several attempts to use enchantment spells on him, Mirabelle starts to use the enervation attacks from the wand. The debilitating energy attacks quickly reduce Mokmorian's spell casting ability. meanwhile Zap fills the only entrance with stone thus sealing Mokmorian in here.Coupled with the woulds he has taken, he flees by changing into an earth elemental and moving through the walls. Mirabelle disintegrates the stone filled hall and some of the group chases after Mokmorian. Unfortunately he is both fast and evasive. Despite their best efforts the Giant Chief is able to flee. 

The group confers and suspecst he will be back with reinforcements. Mirabelle teleports some of the group, along with the loot, back to camp. Mark plans on using Word of Recall to bring everyone else back once they see what Mokmorian does. A little bit latter Mark, Sol and Laz hear the loud steps of ginats running and a formidable group of giants comes down the hall. Mokmorian calls for the heroes to be slain but amongst the giants is Kona. She immediately calls out to the other ginats and questions Mokmorians right to lead if "a small band of humans" can defeat him. The giants pause and there is a frozen moment of suspicious looks. Then chaos erupts as some giants side with Mokmorian and others with Kona. The heroes jump in and the hallway is filled with the sounds of battle. At last Salovar delivers an attack that leaves Mokmorian clutching a wound that is obviously fatal. At the moment of his death, Mokmorian is taken over by Kourzong who  ridicules us and threaten to crush us once he returns with his army.  With his death the remaining giants yield to Kona's leadeship and the threat from Jorgunfist is over.

At the camp, the others await the arrival of heroic trio. But as they are waiting, Mirabelle receives a message, from Father Zelanthus, that Sandpoint has been subjected to a large sinkhole and the town is nervous. She tells Father Zelanthus that the group will return tomorrow night, giving the group time to finish searching Jorgunfist tomorrow morning. A little bit later, the group is surprised when they come walking back to the camp passed the watch tower. Reunited, Mark, Sal and Laz share what happened and the group agrees to explore some of the remaining parts of Jorgunfist and then return to Sandpoint.

Calistril 16- The group returns to the fortress  talks with Kona. She agrees that the giants will be leaving but it takes a bit of time to clear everyone out. She has no intention of returning. 

The party uses the key found on Mokmorian and return to the strange double doors. The doors open and the group finds a construct who is clearly in a state of disorder, but has been the keeper of the library for eons. Mark is eager to repair the librarian and the librarian is receptive to his help. 

The library is beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. It features a complex mechanism that allows the librarian to retrieve any of the thousands of books that relate to a question posed to the librarian. The group starts firing off questions and the librarian dutifully retrieves volume after volume relating to the different queries that are posed. The library is an amazing source of information about the runelords, spellforge, ancient geography and rune magic. One exceptionally note worthy detail is the location of Xin-Shalast, located on the highest peak in the Kodar mountains. Using landmarks, like the bridge in Magnimar and the dam north of Turtle Back Ferry, the location of Xin-Shalast is revealed.

The group then opts to forego exploring the rest of Jorgunfist and head for Sandpoint. Upon their arrival, the mayor wants to see the group immediately. Mayor Deverin explains the mysterious sinkhole and how the town has kept everyone away form it. Corrath and Mylala have been securing the site and report that nothing has emerged despite the strange noises. Satsified that there is no immediate threat, the group agrees that they will explore the sinkhole tomorrow. The heroes take the evening to reconnect with friends and family.

Calistril 17- The heroes reconvene for breakfast and, after gearing up, head to the sinkhole. The Sinkhole leads to a tunnel that stretches on for some distance. It open into a the familiar subterranean layout the group had previously explored. Only now a tunnel that had been blocked, is now clear. The passage leads to an unassuming room, but there is a fog that fills the halls. The fog is disorienting and the first few times that the heroes try to go through, the oftentimes get confused and return the way they came. Eventually though, the heroes are able to get further in. Some people start to hear a voice that asks what we are doing here and who we are. At last, the figure makes his presence know and tells us that he just wants to talk. He tells us he us his name is Scribbler. He begins by asking what has happened above and we realize he has been down here for an extremely long time. He assumes the Runelords are still in charge but we tell him they are long gone. He doubts they are dead but accepts they are no longer in power. Eventually we deduce that he is a servant of Lamashtu. At that, a grim look overcome Sal's face he begin casting preparatory spells. The moment his sword burst with a holy aura, combat begins. It turns out Scribbler is both a capable spell caster and a skilled fighter. His spells aid him tremendously, but once Mirabelle dispels some of them, Sal, Alaysha and Zap are able to inflict powerful hits. Scribblers retinue of demons aids his defense considerably. Laz is able to trip Scribbler and keep him on the ground. It puts Scribbles at a disadvantage. Mark finds himself healing person after person. At one point Anton is caught in a fiery blast and drops. Finally, the group is able to defeat the evil outsiders and then they take a moment to heal up before continuing. Reflecting on the combat, we realize Scribbler is really Xalisia. On the walls, we find an especially noteworthy message; "If magic bright is your desire, to old Rune forge must you retire! For only there does wizards' art receive its due and proper start."

The group continues to explore the underground demesne. Everywhere there is writing, some in blood, some in ink. The Scribblers time down here must have contributed to his madness. But every so often, the heroes find another part of his writings that relate to the Spellforge. All together there are four additional pieces.

"On Eastern shores of steaming mirror, at end of day when dusk is nearer, where seven faces silent wait encircled guards at Runeforge Gate"

"Each stone the grace of seven loards, one part of key each ruler hoards; If offered spells and proper prayer, take seven keys and climb the stairs."

"On Frozen Mountain Xin Awaits, His regal voice the yawning gates- keys turn twice in sihedron-occulted runforge waits within."

"And now you've come and joined the forge upon rare lore your mind can gorge- and when you slough the mortal way in runforge long your work will stay."

Another room leads to a study where a desk with an enchated quill rests. Mirabelle pulls out a stack of few sheets of papers and picks up the quill, suspecting that it will covney some sort of message but nothing happens. Despite the lack of reaction, the group beleive the quill is important and when several of the members try to determine it magical nature, they discover that it is a minor artifact known as a Revelation Quill. It can answer a questions about what will happen in the near future. It can also allow a person to communicate with some other planar being that is connected to the quill, albeit less frequently. In this case, the group is certain it is a something devoted to Lamashtu.

Navigating the tunnels is frustrating but slowly the party is able to make their way from room to room. A room off the main area leads to a suspicious pool of water. No one is willing to enter the water for fear of corruption. The passage also lead to a larger room from where the sounds of howling comes from and the heroes expect to find more yeth hounds. 

Once the party enters, the hounds start with a powerful baying howl that causes MIrabelle to flee from the combat. The remaining heroes engage them but they are clearly superior to the yeth hounds they fought in Tabletop. The hounds are tougher and have more devestating attacks. Zap uses his enhanced abilities to mete out significant dame to multiple hounds. Mark and Anton both use fire spells to weaken the hounds. Alaysha fills the air with arrows. The hounds also hit hard and the group finally defeats the hounds.

Recovering form the fight, the group searches for secret doors and magic. Once satisfied they have found anything of importance, the heroes make for the entrance where guards are still on watch. The party stops by the mayors office and Mayor Deverin is given a summary of what was found. Everyone agree that the site should be blocked off and the sinkhole filled in.

Pharast 31 (41 days later)

After Zap returns from scouting the mountains Kodar Mountains, we confer regarding what he saw. We prepare for cold weather and a long journey, which takes a few days. We then teleport to the location Zap shared with Mirabelle. The group arrives and immediately feels the intensity of the cold. The mountains are starkly isolated but at least the weather is clear. Ahead, a land bridge leads to a cave that is the mouth of a face. As the group discusses what they see, they realize this must be the face of Xin, the founder of Thassilon. We enter the cave and it leads to a long spiral upwards that ends in a plateau with seven giant stone heads arranged in a circle  with the heads facing inwards. We contemplate writings that we found and realize that we have to wait until sunset to begin casting spells on the heads. 

We begin casting different cantrips to see if that will work and eventually we find the right combination. As we begin triggering the heads, we are attacked by a white dragon. He begins by blasting us with cold and then flies around attacking with his long claws. He is hard to hit but we land the occasionally hit. Mirabelle is unable to get any spell to work against him, reinforcing all the legends about dragons being impervious to spells. Zap and Sal land critical hits that clearly cause the dragon to falter. Alaysha and Laz occasionally hit but the dragon is well protected. Finally, Zap lands the final blow and the dragon falls to the floor.

The group relishes their victory over such a grand opponent and begin looking around for its lair, certain the dragon has a horde. After 15 minutes of scouring the nearby mountains, they group concedes there is nothing to find. Dejected but determined, the party continues forward. A long set of stair continue up the mountain. They wind back and forth and there is always an open side. Laz and Sal are the first to reach the top which reveals a flat area before going inside a cave. As the party moves onto the open area, three huge earth elementals rise up and bar the way. Alaysha immediately recalls a lot of information and spends a moment telling the others about the earth elementals. The chief hardship is the elementals resistance to melee attacks. The group is able to hit the creatures repeatedly, but their durability is daunting. Zap and Mirabelle use spells to damage the guards, while Alaysha is able to concentrate her arrows and inflict piercing attacks. At one point, Mark is knocked back by a strong blow and get swept off the edge. Fortunately he grabs onto a rock outcropping and prevents himself from plummeting to the bottom of the stairs. The others block and harass the elementals and one-by-one, the elementals fall. As the elementals die, they crumble and are swept away by the biting winds that batter the mountain face.

With the fight over, the group quickly moves inside and away from the cold. The tunnel leads to a pair of stone gaurdians, each with a hand held out as a warning not to proceed. Alaysha is the first to realize they are illusions. Beyond, a passage continues. Sol enters and quickly discovers the floor is slippery. Mirabelle offers him a rope and he continues forward. As he does he appears to be sinking through the floor. Meanwhile, Sal realizes the floor is completely icy and sloped; if not for the rope he would be sliding down. As he proceeds he figures out the floor is an illusion and he is on a long icy ramp. The group reconsiders its approach. Zap is made invisible and, flying, scouts ahead. The sliding icy path ends in a massive shaft that falls more than 100 feet. Mirabelle flies and Anton uses spider climb to circumvent the icy path and shaft. The others, aided by Alaysha's ability to grant them a safe decent, move to the edge of the shaft and float down . Once on the ground the heroes discern another set of statues; these are full statues and of much finer detail. All seven runelords are represented here. With their prior experience, the heroes are able to associate the sin and the magic with each of the runelords. Each of the statues also has a place for a key. The group decides to pause. Mirabelle teleports Mark and Alaysha to Jorgunfist. Then she teleports to Magnimar to drop off much of the coin as well as pick up some easy to find supplies. Anton does a painting that has all seven runelords face in one art piece. He is careful not to paint something that would allow a spellcaster to use it to teleport to this area. 

Gozran 1

Mirabelle  teleports to Jorgunfist, to pick up Sal and Mark, and then on to the cave. Mark learned a great deal about Kourzog and shares his information with the group. With their new understanding, the group inserts the keys in each of the statues and the center column glows and then changes into a portal. A vortex of swirling colors is clearly a portal, which  most likely leads to the runforge area.

We arrive in a hallway that ends in a large room with a pool of magic. Seven statues surround the pool and en engraved sihedron on the floor uses each statue as a point and the pool of liquid in the center. Tunnels spiral off in many directions and most of them use the Runelords statues positioned by the tunnel entrance. The group decides to go down the tunnel associated with Kourzog. The tunnel leads to a large door. Laz investigates it and realizes it is a trap. He also is able to figure out the door is a false door. The heroes look for a secret door and are rewarded. Through the secret door, the hallway continues but there is a strange mist. Using her goggles, Alaysha can see the mist only covers a little bit of space and that there is a chamber with a fountain beyond. Some of the party begin studying the fog and realize it is a magical effect that will transform them through the baleful polymorph spell. The group considers different options and then decide to have Mirabelle Dimension Door most of the group while Laz and Sal make their own way through the fog. Fortunately neither is  affected by it. On the other side, the group finds a pool of water with water mephits. At first they are unfriendly but they warm up when they realize the heroes are not there to kill them. They share that a silver man sometimes comes in and kills the mephits. The mephits are also able to tell which passage the silver man had last gone down. In addition to the mephits, the pool has goldfish swimming around, and the party suspects the mist transforms people into goldfish.

The group decides to tackle the silver man first. Moving down one of the passages, the party finds another fountain and pool. Using his charm, Laz detects that the statue in the fountain is a golem. The heroes attack the golem, first at range and them in melee. As they do, they hear loud footsteps and the golem is joined by another which enters the room from another direction. As the first golem falls, the party engages the second. A moment later, two more golems comes from where the party had previously been. Fortunately, the golems are not quick and the before  pair can reach the heroes, the party is able to finish off the second and the melee fighters switch to blocking the remaining two. Between the three people who have golem scarabs, the groups attacks are highly effective and make short work of the stone sentries. Mark is especially excited as the collected remains of the stone golems is enough to make a complete one, if they are able to transport all the material back home.

Continuing, the group finds a set of similar rooms, each filled with materials for building things. The rooms appear not to have been used in a couple of months. The group decides not to enter or investigate them too closely. Moving on, the party passes another pool and then enter a library or lab. The room has both a man who is likely a mage and a guardian metal golem, with a platinum coating. Mirabelle is the first to act and is lucky enough to have a clear line of sight to the suspected caster. She casts Feeblemind, hiding her movements to make it even harder to resist, and the silver man succumbs to the effect. Meanwhile, the golem positions itself to defend the man. The party engages and a moment later, the silver man, uttering a guttural yell, moves in to strike at the party with his metal quarterstaff. The golem is a powerful opponent. Hard to hit, resistant to damage, hitting with powerful strikes, and some form of automatic healing, the golem is terrifying adversary. At one point it strikes Laz so hard, it is clear to all that Laz is dead before his body even hits the ground. Zap is the first reach Laz and with his strange kineticist  ability is able to revive him. Mark and Anton also use their healing abilities and a moment later, laz is back in the fight. The  silver man continues to attack the group but is not much of a threat. he is, however, still hard to hit. Mirabelle suspects he has multiple spells that are augmenting him but does not want to risk dispelling the feeblemind. Instead, she tries to debilitate him so that he is easier to hit. Alashya, Zap and Laz focus on the golem, while Sal moves to attack the silver man. Once up close, Sal is able to vent his hatred for evil on the silver man and the metal skinned opponent is finally struck down. With him out of the way, the group focuses their remaining efforts on the golem and it too eventually topples.

Quickly searching the room reveals that it is an impressive collection of arcane knowledge. The books cover a wide variety of magical theory but the party decides to wait to read through them. Mark does catch how Kourzog was able to use a runewell that create a safe place between realities to wait out Starfall.

 Of the two doors, the heroes choose the one that leads to the opposite wing and discover that the entire wing is an identical setup to the previous side. Fountains with empty pedestals were clearly the resting spot of the golems that joined hte fight. Returning to the library, the heroes go through the remaining door. A monstrous figure, who identifies himslef  as a demon greets the party. It explains that it has been bound to stop anyone from going further. In addition, several golden statues are positioned around the room. At first they look increadibly detailed, but Anton realizes that the statues are actually people who have been turned into statues.  At first, the demon is very guarded, but begins to warm up to the group. Eventually an understanding is reach that if it share what it knows about this place, Mark will banish it back to its realm. The demon tells us that there is a magic pool nearby that can replenish magic items. It also tells us that the wizards lived here for over 10,000 years and managed to keep the peace. But a few months ago, the wizards became hostile towards one another and a conflict broke out. Many of the wizards died, but the mithril mage survived. After sharing a few more bits of information, Mark upholds the bargain and banishes the demon.

A hall leads on and ahead, a large room is lit by the glow from a magic pool. The party studies the pool and  believe it is seething with raw magic energy. Mirabelle asks Laz to dip the Wand of Enervation in and see what happens. As Laz lowers the wand in, the water seethes and jumps. Laz is able to dodge the splash and a moment later the wand has some of its charges reinstated. After that, Laz dips several other wands and a ring to see what happens. The group is pleased to find such an advantageous resource and all without anyone succumbing to its mental or physical dangers. 

Finally, the group does its typical sweep through the entire area looking foe secret doors or anything else they might have missed. Confident they did not miss anything, the group leaves the Halls of Greed behind. They spend the night in the main room where all the tunnels spriral out from. 

Gorzan 2- The group decides to try the Halls of Wrath, thinking that there may be benefits to understanding Alaznist, and thus protect Sandpoint. The first room is a large space overseen by an metal golem that wields a large bow. Past it a hallway leads on. Invisible, Zap enters the room and as soon as he does, the statue begins that walk through the air and fire arrows at Zap. The group quickly moves in and tires to aid Zap. Alaysha and Zap are both able to fire at the guardian. Its flying ability makes it hard for Sal and Laz to be effective but the party is able to drop the sentry relatively easily. 

The hallway beyond leads to a small room with two inscribed circles, one red and the other blue. Studying their arcane nature, Mirabelle realizes they are Teleportation Circles. Alaysha studies the footprints and can tell there is a lot of traffic going from one circle to the other and in both directions. It seems the circles are a hub for people going places. The party steps on a circle and activate it.

The heroes begin to ask the survivor about this branch of the Runeforge. Compelled to cooperate by Mirabelle's spell, Xander begins to share his experiences as well as what he knows about the leader, Athroxis. As he is talking, reinforcements arrive  and the group is again caught in combat. This time the opponents have less room to maneuver because of the hall they come down. The party is able to quickly form a defensive line led by Sal and Laz which blocks the fighters. Despite their fierce charge, the soldiers of Wrath are put down quickly.

After the combat, the group continues to have Xander share what he knows. The group is surprised to learn that the soldiers eventually have children but then they become the next generation of sinspawn.  Many of thier numbers are still depleted from the intercedent fighting. Afterwards, the group decides to head straight for the leader. The heroes pause to prepare with an array of spells and abilities and then they proceed to the blue teleportation circle. Mirabelle activates the circle and the entire group feels the, now familiar, pull of teleportation magic and arrive in a voluminous chamber  with a wall of smoke covering almost the entire east side. 

Alaysha, with her "foggles" is able to see that past the smoke is another massive chamber with a large siehedron rune dominating the center. In the adjacent room are two dragon-looking figures and a woman in red who fits the description of Athroxis, although Alaysha sees seven of the figures, clearly indicating the casting of mirror image, while also identifying the creatures as demons.

Immediately, Alaysha fires at the demons while Laz and Sal sprint in to engage the creatures. In response, Athroxis casts a powerful spell that blinds people. Mirabelle has to rely on the special ring to avoid being struck blind. Sal and Anton also succumb to the spell. Fortunately Anton is able to cure himself with a spell. A few seconds later, he uses a powerful healing spell to restore the sight to Sal. Mirabelle attempts to dispel the, presumed, spells on Athroxis. Simultaneously, the rest of the group, haveing dispatched one of teh demons, focuses their attacks on the Wrath mage. After multiple hits, she simply blinks away and the group suspects she has dimension doored to someplace else in the wing. 

The group immediately runs for the teleportation circle and activates it. Arriving back in the main room, the party moves to the remaining hall and uses the teleportation circle there. They arrive in a room filled with strange healing apparatuses. They are rewarded by finding Athroxis in the midst of healing herself using some of the equipment found here. Wounded and without many of her protective spells, she is quickly defeated. As Sal delivers the final stroke, a tattoo emblazons itself on his forehead. Several of the heroes crowd in to examine it and agree that it is a mark of wrath.

With Athroxis dead, the group explores the rest of the wing and gather up all the valuables from their quick strike through the complex. The Warriors of Wrath were well equipped and the group is certain to be able to sell it off. Athroxis had many items as well and the group is quick to disperes what might be of use.

Leaving the Wrath wing behind, the group rests for the evening undisturbed. During the evening, they confer and decide to deal with the necromatic wing next. The morning, the heroes review what they know about the undead, certain that they will encounter some. 

Gorzan 3- This wing leads to a set of double doors that reveal a circular chamber. Above, large heads with gaping mouths leer over the room. As the the party advances, ten mummies crawl out of the mouths and drop to the floor, surprising the group. The creatures are frighteningly strong and slam the adventurers with their club-like hands. Mirabelle attempts to take control of some of them but only one falls under her command. The heroes fight desperately and valiantly and finally defeat the remaining mummies. The one remaining mummy stands still awaiting Mirabelle's command. Not surprisingly, it speaks Thassalonian and Mirabelle learns that he and the others were the people who dug out this wing. Mirabelle commands him to draw a sketch of the wing and add any traps or secret doors that it knows of. It turns out that there is a secret door in a later room. She also asks what the purpose of the other rooms are. It share what it knows, but it is clear it lacks a full understanding of recent happenings. After that, the group puts the mummy to its final rest.

The party was surprised by the mummies fearsome defense of their lair. Shocked by the viciousness of their assault, the group decides to rest the night before continuing.

Gorzan 4- After resting in the halls of conjuration, the heroes make their way back to the necromatic wing. Passing through the first chamber, many eye the large gaping mouths with suspicion. Beyond the next set of double doors is a deep chamber filled with burial niches; who the mummy laborer identified as "dead nobles." The room has a four-way stone bridge that ends in double door at each point. The party chooses the smaller room and, after making sure it is safe, open the double doors to reveal a strange set of crystal columns between which negative energy seethes. Alaysha studies it for a bit and concludes that it is a portal to the negative energy plane. The adventures suspect that this might power the wing and could be boosting the undead that are here. The party backs up to the prior room and then Mirabelle, from a distance, disintegrates one of the crystals. As it breaks a terrifying creature steps through the rupture and Mirabelle screams. In an instant it is next to her and bathes the area is a profound darkness.

 Although she can't see, Mirabelle knows staying next to this thing means death and so she flies back towards where she knows the heroes are. The creature seizes the opportunity and strikes a powerful blow that strikes deep into Mirabelle's leg. Thankful she is still alive, Mirabelle dispels the darkness and feels relieved to see that the entire party is between the creature and her. The group can now see the full menacing appearance of the being from the negative plane. Its arms end is wicked points and its very skin looks like armor. Anton begins by offering a prayer of fervor . Then, Laz and Sal immediately engage it while Alaysha and Zap hit it from range. Mirabelle takes shelter behind the group and uses Anton's blessing to boost several spells. The creature is strong and determiend  but hindered by its size Without the aid of darkness, it cannot withstand the combined attacks of the heroes. 

With the room's protector defeated the heroes reexamine the remaining strange crystal. Sal attacks it with his bastard sword and, while the crystal takes some damage, there is a defensive backlash of energy that withers the paladin. Mark and Anton also channel positive energy and that shatters the crystal which explodes in a final act of defiance.

The heroes search the room and discover a hidden box containing a tuning fork, which the party realizes is meant for the plane shift spell. After studying the implement, the heroes are certain it is for traveling directly into the runeforge. 

Satisfied that they have discovered everything worthwhile, the heroes return to the deep crypt and take the remaining door. Beyond, they find a laboratory of sorts. Apparently unused for a long time the place still hsa a lot of research stuff. When party goes through the next door, they find a grim undead figure eating a human organ. Zap and it look at each other while the rest of the party is taking in the macabre setting. An instant later, it launches itself at the group wielding two long wicked looking daggers. It wields its daggers like an assassin and the heroes realize his movements make him as some short of rogue. Most of his strikes miss, but a few land striking deep despit him using only daggers. Again, Sal and Laz tackle him in close combat while Alayssa and Zap shooting at range. It only takes a few round of combat before he falls. This room also has a lot of books and other esoteric equipment but the group does not linger for fear of spells running out. Quickly grabbing his daggers, the group doubles back and takes the last remaining door.

Past the door is a longer hall that turns at two places. Each continuation is a hall with burial urns. Mark humorously suggests putting holy water inside them. The hall have no exists and the group remembers what the mummy builder said about a secret door. Alaysha uses her magic and discovers a secret door past one of the urns. As Alaysha goes to the far end of the hall, the urns start to rattle, then the lids pop off and out squeeze more mummies. While most of the group is positioned in the first hall, Mark is watching the other hall. Hearing the call that there are mummies, Mark realizes he is seeing the same sort of movement from the urns in his hall. He quickly casts a stone wall to seal off the urn cubbies which buys him precious time. The quarters are tight and it is hard for the heroes to bring all their abilities to bear. Mirabelle is able to take control of two of them which saves Alaysha from being cornered. Sal, disgusted by their undead nature, attacks them with full force. On Mark's side, the mummies begin to hammer through the stone wall with their unnatural strength. Mark casts an additional steel wall to slow the creatures down and calls out for help. First to Mark's side is Mirabelle, who uses fireballs, aimed down the narrow opening where the remains of the stone wall lie. Shortly after, Sal begins to attack them as they emerge. The mummies, hampered by the iron wall can only engage the paladin, one at a time. In short order, all the mummies are dispatched and the hallways remain silent.

Through the secret door , discovered past one of the urns, Laz discovers a short hall ending in a normal door. Mirabelle uses clairvoyance to see beyond the door and sees a skeletal king-like undead, working on two cadavers. After sharing what she sees, the group takes a moment to double check their strategies. With spells cast adn weapons ready. Laz leads the charge. However as he opens the door, the undead figure is ready and immediately casts a wall of force to slow down the group. In addition, several ghost-like figures emerge from the walls, some on either side of the wall of force.

Mirabelle reponds to the wall of force by disintegrating it, allowing the others to enter the room and approach him. But the mummy-king is fast and clearly prepared. He has several quickened spells and begins casting two spells at a time. Warded by multiple images and other spells, he is the most powerful caster the group has ever faced.  

The wraiths attack but discover that some of their targets are immune to their rending strikes. The group is hard-pressed. Anton has to heal himself twice just to survive the draining attacks of the wraiths. However, one of them, partially inside a wall is targeted by Alaysha who is still in the hall. It turns on her and suddenly Alaysha realizes she is vulnerable because it is large and it will be difficult to escape its reach and fire at it.

Inside the chamber, the king figure takes control of both of the mummies but then Mirabelle reestablishes control over one of them. The mummies begin battling each other and ignore everything else going on around them. Then the king unleashes one of his most devastating attacks and a black ray strikes out at Mark. Mirabelle recognizes it as a powerful death spell but before she can do anything else, Mark falls to the ground, dead. Even though Anton is nearby, even Breath of Life will not bring him back. Mirabelle dispels another two spells, including the mirror image and then Sal closes in with his full paladin fury. Relentlessly, he attacks, each blow landing with divine purpose. 

Alaysha has now rejoined the group but the panic on her face is evident and her gaunt features are tell-tale evidence of the wraiths draining attacks. Anton uses his last heal to restore her. Laz and Sal continue to press the undead-king. Finally, Sal lands a series of fierce blows and as the last one strikes, the figure shrivels and collapses, twitching in a unsettling cadence. 

The heroes, stunned at the loss of their comrade, pick themselves up and Alaysha says "if it was a lich, there is going to be a phylactery and we have to find it." Solemnly the group begins looking around and a trapdoor is discovered.

A secret trapdoor reveals a passage that goes down, over, and then up into another room. Laz and Sal are the first to enter and discover three sarcophagi. As they check the first sarcophus, a wave of necromatic energy floods the room. Fortunately it is only two of the most durable members of the party in the room. Sal, protected by a death ward, shrugs it off. Laz weathers the blast but is undaunted. The sarcophogus turns out to be a phalactery and some of the heroes suspicions are confirmed; it truely was a lich that they defeated. The other two sarcophagi contain a dizzying amount of spellbooks as well as gems, gold, and few magic items. 

The party double checks the Ravenous Crypts and then settle down back in the Halls of Wrath so that Anton can pray for Plane Shift and the heroes can return to Sandpoint.

Gorzan 5- Anton uses Plane Shift to return the party to Sandpoint but they wind up outside of Riddlesport. They are able to convince a turnip farmer, Garen, to lend them his wagon. Ferrying thier goods into the city, they discover that Riddlesport is a true hive of scum and villainy. Most of the areas are run down and everywhere is permeated with a sense of desperation. However it does turn out to be a good place to sell the magic weapons and armor. 

Grozan 6- at noon the next day, the group meets and then teleports to Sandpoint. Once there, they immediately take Mark's body to the temple. Then they begin sharing the sad news with Mayor Deverin and Shaelus. A little later, the party reconvenes at the temple. Father Zelanthus talks with the group about Marks wishes in the case of his death. As the priest and the party are talking, Mark's poppet goes over to the body and then whispers in his ear, gives him a kiss and then fades away. A moment later Mark rises up, apparently restored. He recognizes the group, but his demeanor is changed. In addition, one of his eyes has been turned to brass, giving him a predatory aura.

The heroes are elated that their comrade has returned but, as they talk with him, it becomes apparent that he is not quite the same. Mark has the same body, but a very different persona and set of skills. he is no longer a cleric, but instead has become some sort of slayer. Still, the party is happy that a part of Mark is back.

Afterwards, the heroes prepare to go their separate ways for a few days. But that night at dinner, a pair of adventurers approach the group and an older male human introduces himself as Emery, a traveling mage who specializes in finding magic items for high value clients. He is answering Mirabelle's request for a someone who can  procure or create items. With him, is an aasimar cleric, "Eliwain" who carries a note from Zap. Apparently Zap had a pressing quest that demanded his attention. Apologizing for the quick exit, Zap thought "name" might be a good fit for the party. So the heroes intive the two to dine with them and then begin to learn a little about each other.

The next day Mirabelle and Anton teleport to Magnimar so that they can sell off  some of the loot. 

Gorzan 10- Reconvening in Sandpoint, the heroes review their newly acquired items. The party also says goodbye to Emery, who had used the time to enchant some lesser items for the group. Some of the heroes confer with him about future purchase and then he teleports away. 

Anton then Plane Shifts the group back into the Ravenous Crypts. Not surprisingly, the  tuning fork that enables Plane Shift is somehow far more precise. The group is relieved to find no evidence of new traffic.  Elsewhere the other wings  might know something is up but hopefully the few days off will ease any suspicions of intruders.

The next wing the party chooses is the Halls of Pride.  As they walk in, they are suspicious of all the mirrors and begin breaking them s they go along. They pass through a hall tha opens into a corridor. As some of the members advance, duplicates of them step out from the mirrors and attack. It is a confusing melee that begins with Sal getting savagely attacked by the duplicate Mark. Sal quickly calls out to shatter the mirrors. Mark shatters one mirror with his hammer and Laz breaks another. Mirabelle gets the last mirrors with her magic missiles. 

After cathing their breath and adminsitering healing, Elawain is made invisible and scouts ahead. She returns and tells us that there are several individuals hiding in the room and that the room itself is an illusion.

As the party enters the room, there is the sound of multiple people casting spells. A wavering disruption in the air signal a magical wall on one side of the entrance. On the other, a fireball engulfs' half the party. It becomes clear that the opposition is using improved invisibility when they do not reveal themselves after their attack. Illusory versions of the attackers advance on the group but the heroes are not fooled and ignore the illusions. Mirabelle and Alaysha can see the invisible attackers but the rest of the group moves in, unsure of their adversaries positions. Laz teleports past the creepy wall effect, while Sal and Anton runs through it. Mirabelle is able to use two sets of Black Tentacles to ensnare several of the attackers. The mages' invisibility makes them vexing opponents.  For a brief moment, they are able to Feeblemind Mirabelle, but Anon heals the debilitation a moment later. as the first mage dies, it turns into a pool of water and the group suspect the attackers are duplicates of some kind. Eventually, the attackers exhaust the time limit of the invisibility spell and then the full party is able to attack them effectively. Now visible, the mages cannot hold up against the heroes full fighting strength. One by one, the mages are killed, each erupting into a puddle of water.

At first, the room seems like a dead end. But then the group shatters all of the mirror walls and discover a secret door. past the door is a library with a corpse resting in a chair. The figure looks like the simulacrum from the previous room, and the group suspects that he is the creator of them. The room has shelved lined with books. Quickly searching through them the heroes find spellbooks but one in particular has his work relating to creating the clones of himself. Within the book, there are two messages. One details an alliance between some of the factions to defeat the school assocaited with Envy. But afterwards the alliance fell apart. The other message discussed how the caster was able to escape this place by astral projecting. He was able to see how things had changed in the world. He also revealed the location of Xin-Shalast at the mountain Mar-Massif.

The only exit is a set of double doors which lead to a few other rooms. two have the grisly remains of hundreds of clones of Vraxeris. A larger room was once a library but now has the books burned asn strewn about. The heroes surmise that as Vraxeris kept cloneing himself or travelling in the Astral, he began losing his mind. In his rage perhaps he burned his own library.

A final room open to a bedroom, but the party's attention is immediately drawn to the group of succubi that were apparently keeping the mage company. Mark quickly shuts the door. a few moments later, some of the succubi teleport into the remains of the library and begin to attack. Their attempts to influence the party are partially successful, but the heroes counter with Laz stunning the succubus controlling Mark, and Anton suppressing a dominate on Sal. Then the door opens and Mirabelle react by casting Balck Tentacles inside the room. Unfortunately, two of the succubi teleport out of the tentacles and into the melee. Although there are skilled inate csaters, in combat, they are no match for the group and they all fall, turning into pools of water as they do. This explains how Vraxseris was able to pass  all the years in this wing with no other people.

As usual, Alaysha does a sweep of the entire wing to make sure no secret doors were missed and the party double checks for anything of value. Reviewing the notes left by Vraxseris, the group decides to sleep for the night and prepare spells to tackle the Halls of Lust, which should contain components that will help in Xin-Shalast. Vraxseris' notes suggest that the leaderin teh Halls of Lust is a person named Delvahine. Some in the group suspect she may be a succubus and that the versions here may be copies of her.

Grozan 11- The party approaches the Halls of Lust, unsure of what they will find, but certain that they must be prepared to resist enchantments and beguiling. A long tunnel leads to an immense chamber. Strange stone blocks and cages  are positioned in the room and around the periphery. But the most commanding feature is a massive pavilion made of luxurious fabric. Several succubi loiter near where the party enters and immediately notice the group. Mirabelle calls out that they would like to talk with Delvahine. At first the succubi are catty and coy but then they say that they may approach the tent and meet with their "mother."

As the party enters the pavilion, they note several stone giants standing guard. They make no move to stop the party, as they are escorted by the succubi. Eventually, the heroes meet the ruler of this wing, who is, indeed, a succubus. Delvahine is calm and unimpressed by th group. Mirabelle explains that they are looking for "devices" that can be used to create weapons that will help overcome Kourzog's defenses. Delvahine laughs and says that she could be persuaded to part with a device or two if the party is willing to bargain. Dalvahine suggests that Mirabelle join her for sho time alone, but the young sorcerers nervously declines. The first to agree to her terms is Salovar who, protected by Death Ward, is able to withstand the time he spends with her in her boudoir. The second is Laesin who similarly protected impresses the succubus with his physical abilities. Lastly, Anton agree to craft a replacement "device" made of gold. The group also asks Dalvahine if she really wants to stay here in the Runeforge. At first Delvahine says she is fine, but later admits that she might be ready to go back, although she is reluctant to leave her "daughters." The party finihses by telling her they will return the next day or so and use a spell to send her back to her home plane. 

Having negotiated access to the items they needed without resorting to combat, the group decides to go to the Abjurant Halls.  Politely excusing themselves from the Halls of Lust, the party moves to the Abjuratn Halls, where they are met by a Magic Mouth which loudly proclaims a warning that theatens doom to all interlopers. Ignoring the illusion the party enters a room in which a rod, seething with electrical energy, is half buried in the floor. Laz examines it for traps and finds none. But a moment later, a power blast emanates from the rod. The blast immediately dispels all the spell effects that were on the heroes. Inaddition, many items have been rendered inert. Taken aback by the disrupting blast, the heroes quickly move past the rod and do a quick assessment of their gear and magical effects.