During the day or so that we spent in the water I had hoped to spot land. When land finally came into view my spirits were lifted and I was soon drying myself by a fireplace in an inn. In the morning we were to travel to town with the kind owner and his son. However when we awoke they had already left. As there was no one to mind the inn I took advantage and had some free breakfast. I believe one of my traveling compatriots left some money but that is of no concern to me.
We decide to travel the one road to the next town over. When we arrived things were very odd. There was no one in sight. During a search of the town a boy turned up. He led us to a church were the corpses of townsfolk lie in eternal slumber.
I should have been paying more attention, for I did not find the secret passage in the fountain in the church courtyard, even though I had gone fishing for coins!
Down into a dungeon we went, with a little boy in tow. I thought it strange that we would bring along a companion and not give him a means to defend himself, at that age I had already killed a few men! The little boy spent most of the time hiding in corners and being useless.
I found out that my companion Breena is greedy and should not be trusted when it comes to matters of money.
During the many battles I felled a few enemies, however these battles were not easily won. I almost died myself! Had I not had my compatriots with me I surely would have perished.
There was one room of particular interest that housed coffins, much to the chagrin of my companions I broke the coffins and a couple of spirits escaped. Whether these spirits will help or hinder us is an outcome yet to be seen.
Now we rest in the first floor of this underground nightmare. The one entrance to this room filled with mutilated corpses is blocked off with tables and other assorted items. Time will tell what trouble will come from resting here but we have no choice, for our bodies are tired and broken.
Water, water… nothing but water and rain for at least a day… and finally land.
I washed up on an unfamiliar shore alongside Breena, Theren, Dendron, and a dwarf shaman named [Charles] who had also been on board the Feymillian. Delerious from the cold and parched, we made our way off the beach and into a forest, towards a plume of smoke.
We found a small inn isolated deep in the woods, run by a man and his young son. We were the only patrons, and the man told us that he would be heading to the nearby town in the morning, and that he would show us the way. We warmed ourselves by the fire and ate and drank before resting overnight.
In the morning, we awoke to find the man and his son gone, with a note saying that they had left early due to an emergency of some kind, and to follow the path to town. We did so, and the village was completely empty – I detected some kind of residual magic that seemed to suck the hope from the place. While searching for inhabitants, we found the innkeeper’s child hiding in a wardrobe, utterly terrified. He told us that “people-but-not-people” had taken everyone in the town to the church, including his father.
Upon investigation, the church was revealed to be horribly corrupted and littered with butchered corpses. The boy told us that the townsfolk had been taken down a staircase through a nearby courtyard fountain. We followed it into a dank (so very, very dank), dungeon-like catacomb full of corpses and implements of torture.
While scouting ahead, Theren attracted the attention of a small group of sickly looking robed humans and fleshy constructs, led by a powerful human wielding a deadly greataxe that nearly finished Theren – who returned the favour by cleaving his head from his shoulders! We defeated the monsters, with the help of [Charles’] spirit bear, but worse horrors were still to come.
In another room, we found a pair of glass coffins guarded by a vicious blade trap that very nearly dismembered me – luckily, I was able to fey step out of danger, and Theren cleverly disabled the swinging blades by tangling them with some chains. We released two mournful spirits trapped within the glass coffins.
Moments later, we accidentally alerted two guards, who dashed behind a curtain and hid in the shadows, catching us off guard and felling Theren! Breena quickly revived the drow and we engaged the villians, prevailing.
Exploring the rest of the first level of the dungeon, we found a vile room full of blood and severed fingertips and other body parts… still another room contained several bloody tables, two horrid deathlok wights, and a horde of undead. We dispatched our enemies in a brutal battle that left me hurting quite badly.
Before following the ominous staircase that leads down to the next level and unkown darkness, we decided to rest a while to regain our strength…
