Matthew Hunter

Nottanis I woke to Frisky pulling a massive thorn bramble out of my throat. That hurt, but everything else felt better. Our surroundings had changed completely, so I surmised I had been knocked unconscious and my companions had dragged me to safety. A very close call. I thought it over carefully and decided I was done for the moment; learning the spell would be beyond my ability for some time, and I had almost died.

Nottanis We told Aspith about the ghost at the lake, who is known as the Phantom of the Lake. Aspith reacted strongly to the mention of the Druune, who wear tall black robes with cowled holds, smelling of mold; Aspith believes the Phantom is likely a divine figure, trapped by the Druune to guard the place. The Phantom is likely associated with a saint from the local church, Saint Waylani, in Brackenwood.

Nottanis We found some langswith herbs that Nara claimed would cure the strange disease, burned the bodies, then spent the night at a camp. In the morning, Sanfire had recovered from immediate danger. He headed back to Prigswort to convalesce on his own. We discussed other possibilities. Apparantly there’s a ghostly lady in the lake at a place called Gorthstone insisting that the staff of the apostle must be restored. Gorthstone itself is a black obelisk in the middle of a circular, placid pool of water.

Nottanis Sanford and I took in an exquisite dinner at Raptallen’s in company with Aspith Raptallen, the proprietor. We discussed matters of the fae with the lady Aspith, who told us of the nag-lord to the north and his goat-men threatening Prigswort. We told her about the hole in the oak with the cannibal goat-men, and our adventures near black mirror lake with Lady Ygraine. Aspith also mentioned the lady Harrowmoor, who normally trtaveled regularly to Prigswort, but had not been seen in some time.

Nottanis I was wandering the Dolmenwood trying to get as far away from vengeful vampires as I could when two new members of the Glorious Blades asked for my help dealing with a carrion worm. Nara was a barbarian of some kind, and she had a friend with healing magic that could cure paralysis. The halfling Sanford was also along. They had been hired by an alchemist to collect the worm tentacles as ingredients.

Oscar As we waited for a passing person to bring the canoe, Ygnas convinced one of the supplicants to devotre his life to St Anya instead of giving up everything to become a candle. He went off to devote his life to St Anya. The rest of us split up what proceeds we had gathered and returned to our own affairs for some time. The tower of abraxus would have to wait.

Oscar We explored the rest of the small series of rooms that seemed to hold discarded equipment. The four pouches held 400gp, which we did not yet divide up among us. One room had barding for a horse, and another 4 sets of plate mail, along with an assortment of weapons. There’s value in those rooms, if we can get it out safely. The most interestikng room was the last, which had visible (and audible) ghosts along with a bricked-up doorway north.

Oscar Ygnas is still stuck in her niche, now minus her shield and one boot. We dragged her away to try a few things with little luck. We found Warnock in a niche in the north east niche room. I was able to cast Protection from Evil, which made the sand keep its distance from me. Bless failed, somehow intercepted by the power that rules this place. However, while Ygnas can technically cast spells, they tend to fail rapidly.

Oscar The St Yggians held their Feast of the Virgins, a festival centered around finding the most pure and unsullied young womewn and putting them on display in a kind of beauty pageant. It seems like a contradictory idea to me, but I have minions who man the concession stands, so I’m all for it… but this time, the pageant winner was abducted by a vampire. At least, that’s what Nottanis told me when he decided vampires were above his pay grade and called me in.

Nottanis When Pusha came running out of the southern corridor yelling about a cleric with a corpse crawler for a pet, we decided the better part of valor was to retreat and possibly come back later. Those crawlers are no joke; we heard about them from Feverborne when he was going after the sewer rats. And getting caught between the cleric and the trogolodytes likely already on their way would have been very difficult to escape.