Lord Gorlyn, a dwarven lord and the brother of Grimdalf, has arrived inquiring as to his brother’s status. When we told him the story of Grimdalf’s…situation…he seemed unsurprised, commenting that his brother was ever a gambler and he (Gorlyn) feared it would get him in trouble someday. An honor guard has taken possession of Grimdalf’s body and will take it to his family home. I’m glad he’ll finally be laid to a permanent rest among his own kin. To our benefit, Gorlyn has decided to stay on and continue the legacy that Grimdalf started here.

We’re off for a routine visit to Tatzlford. The town had started construction of a protective wall the last time we were there and I want to see how that’s progressing. Also, Saraiya has decided to entitle the local priestess of Erastil, Latricia Evanore. So we have a dual purpose this trip. It should be relatively uneventful…

The wall is progressing but there are still large gaps in it. Both the mayor, Loy Rezbin, and the local militia captain say the same: they’re simply lacking the manpower to progress any faster. This is a complaint we’ve heard before. Nir’Duin’s size may have outstripped the ability of our citizenry to build and support the infrastructure we’d like to have in place. Even construction in Sarissia has slowed significantly due to manpower shortages.

After commiserating with the mayor over the situation, he then brought up an unusual situation that had arisen. It seems that a Halfling, Fortran, had arrived recently, literally dropping out of the sky! (While such a thing was new to me, Lily claims to have at least heard of such things occurring.) We met this Fortran and he seems to be an extra-dimensional traveler like the paladins we had encountered before. Of great interest to us was his claim to have thousands of refugees looking for a safe haven to escape from some great evil in their own ‘universe’. Unfortunately he claims to need some sort of magical power source to open a gate large enough to transport them through. We questioned him closely but he seems honest enough (in that used-wagon salesman sort of way). Unfortunately, none of us had any idea what he was talking about; we sent him on to the magic academy at Candle Mere to see if they could determine what he needs. If what he says is true, such an influx would help our manpower shortage immensely. Of course such an influx brings with it its own logistical nightmares in the short run that we’ll have to cope with. But first things first: if we can help him with this ‘magical battery’ then we’ll deal with the next step.

So, flush with this latest potential good fortune, we prepared for the ennobling ceremony for Lady Evanore.

I should know nothing’s ever that simple.

The day before the ceremony was to be held, several scouts from the western border arrived in town, out of breath and exhausted, and with a young woman as prisoner. They reported a large, armed group headed towards Tatzleford from the west. The young woman had been captured traveling east as well, but in advance of the armed band. Perfunctory questioning of the girl revealed her to be Lady Kassandra Numesti, daughter of Lord Terion, late of Brevoy and Fort Drelev to the west. According to her, the group heading our way was a combined force of mercenaries and Tiger Lord barbarians incited by Baron Drelev himself to sack and loot Tatzlford and perhaps beyond, deeper into nir’Duin. She also brought the news that the band was accompanied by trolls!

We’d heard of the Tiger Lords but never expected to have problems with them as reports indicated they tended to stay further to the west. Something must’ve stirred them up to drive them east. Could Baron Drelev be behind it? But then why would they ally with mercenaries? Perhaps there’s more going on here than meets the eye. But for now it seems we had less than 24 hours to muster a defense of the town…