The Swordlands

Aengus, the eladrin spell-slinger, whirled about at the massive crash and gasped at the sight of horrid beast that now presented itself, roaring strange words in a harsh alien dialect. Aengus had scant seconds to assess the situation: Iben and Sigurd were trying to free the trapped fisherman, tied by his ankles upside down from the ceiling, and Karl the gnome was nowhere to be seen. He decided to play for time. "Hail!" Aengus called out, revealing his position on the first story walkway above the beast's head, "Can you understand me?" The creature swung it's great shaggy head about, quickly locating the eladrin on his rapidly disintegrating perch. To Aengus' great surprise, the creature responded in some rough alien tongue, it's taloned fingers curling into a fist as it spoke. Aengus decided then to stop wasting time on pleasantries and summoned forth magical energy, using his innate ties to the feywild. Crackling green energy coiled around his slender arm, which he directed down towards blue beast. The beast was taken by surprise, and staggered to one side as the luminous missile tore into it's flank. Karl saw a chance and took it, coming up behind the blue beast and sinking his dagger into the creature's unprotected back. The beast howled with pain and frustration. Aengus showed his awareness was no less keen than the gnome's, and unleashed a second spear of energy directly into the blue beast's face. The torrent of eldritch power lanced directly through the eye and burst out the back of the creature's skull. It collapsed, utterly lifeless, into the flames, but not before Karl could pluck one of the rune-inscribed skulls from it's loincloth for later inspection.

Sigurd and Iben quickly had the fisherman down and took outside where his fellow Kindraeders began to nurse him. The party questioned the party on the night's events. They discovered that a raiding party of reptilian humanoids, along with an orc and possibly other evil creatures had struck, looting the stores and asking, somewhat cryptically, "What's in the mountain?" They were of course referring to Alfheim, the peak overlooking Kindraed, sandwiching the tiny village against the dark shore. For all of Kindraed's long existence the Alfheim had been a source of great fear and mystery. Iben remembered his own explorations of the small mountain as a boy, before the cloying superstition of his people got the better of him. It was said that the mountain was linked to the Feywild, that mystical home of the elves, eladrin, gnomes and other fey creatures, but none could say exactly how. It came out that Ingo's daughter, Inga, had been taken by the raiders, and the Kindraeders said in hushed tones that they'd taken her to the Alfheim. Ingo implored them to go after his daughter, and the party decided to set off immediately, hoping the catch the villains unawares.