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Grundall, Maradon, and Decor began to interrogate the captive pirate after it was decided that he would just slow the party down in their journey to meet the Wind's Pawn. Def Lenard, and Kelson Delsonari, watched the interrogation while Johnathon Greaves chose to take a walk rather than witness the violence that was sure to follow. Using brutally effective methods they learned the following:

• Captain Morgan of the Vengeance, Captain "Red Dog" of the Black Pearl, and Captain Christof (the semi-retired captain from Port Haven) of the Brown Recluse all work for the dead wizard, Zalderath.
• Red Dog was the one who picked up the dead wizard from the ogre lair. The captive pirate confirmed that the last time he knew the dwarven blacksmiths were on board the Black Pearl but that was almost three weeks ago and he did not know where the Pearl is now.
• Morgan was able to follow the Wind's Pawn to this port because he had a spy on board the Pawn. The spy boarded the ship in Port Haven. The adventurers speculated that two of the sailors who had been hired on in Port Haven might be the spies since they had been seen eavesdropping on the party on several occasions. However, at those times the party had been talking about how much gold they had when they were trying to gather funds to restore Kelson's ruined eyes. They could be the spies or they could just have it in their minds to rob the adventurers if the opportunity arises.
• The pirate captains did not want the Wind's Pawn itself. They were after Ahriallen because Zalderath wanted information from the elf about an island.
• Since Morgan knew the Pawn was hopping southward from anchorage to anchorage he sent two "knights" to run along southward along the coast. They were under orders to sink the ship, kill everyone except Ahriallen, and bring Ahriallen back to the Vengeance. The knights had been sent on their mission just before Morgan and his men attacked the party.

This last bit of information alarmed the party and put them in motion. Leaving the pirate captive where he lay (with two smashed feet and no way to get back to town except crawling) they quickly found the trail of two humans jogging southward along the coast near the waterline.

With their two horses dead and their cart damaged beyond use Lenard and Grundall went to one of the near-by farm houses to procure a new cart and horse. Despite Grundall's protests that they should wait until later at night and just steal what they need, Lenard paid a fortunate farmer 140 gold pieces for one covered wagon and two horses who had seen many, many better days.

After transferring everyone and everything to the new wagon and hitching the oxen up to it the adventurers began to chase the two knights in the hopes of catching them before they reached the Pawn. After following the trail for two hours and seeing no signs of catching the knights (in fact, their tracks showed they were still moving at a jog) Decor and Kelson galloped ahead on their horses.

A mile later the two scouts caught sight of the knights. The knights were indeed still jogging along the coast and making good time. In an effort to stall the knights, and perhaps kill them, Decor and Kelson exchanged bow fire with the knights after the knights noticed the two mounted scouts and stopped their run. Firing from as far away as possible in the dark, partially cloudy night Decor and Kelson both seemed to miss with every arrow they fired. The knights, however, were far luckier and forced the two scouts to retreat back to the wagon after each took hits from several arrows. Looking back the scouts could see that the knights had resumed their run southward as soon as Kelson and Decor ceased fire.

Once the group was together again, and John divinely healed Decor and Kelson, the oxen were whipped into higher speed until the group caught up to the knights. Lenard mounted up behind Decor on his horse so they and Kelson could race ahead of the wagon and take up positions in the lightly wooded area the knights were running next to. As soon as they got within twenty yards of the knights they dismounted and began firing arrows at the knights.

Meanwhile, roughly 100 yards back, John kept driving the oxen as fast as he could through the dark night while Moradon, Grundall, and the now invisible Ahriallen prepared for battle in the back of the wagon.

The knights, who had paused briefly to look at the three horsemen as they approached, returned bow fire. Fortunately, Kelson, Decor, and Lenard were all relatively well covered in the trees and did not get seriously wounded by the knight's arrows. The knights did not make any move to find cover or take advantage of the deeper darkness under the trees.

As the wagon rumbled closer to the knights Moradon and Grundall jumped out of the back and rushed to enter the battle on foot. John kept driving the oxen straight at the knights. Hooves thundered on the frozen ground as John bore down on the knights in an attempt to run straight over them. As he jumped clear of the wagon John was finally close enough to make out details of the knights in the darkness and fear gripped his heart.

John hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop just as one of the knights yanked a heavy battle axe off of his back and took a swing at one of the oxen as they bore down on him. John's warning cry of "They're mummies!" came a heartbeat before the axe bit deeply into the ox and the mummified knight unleashed a hissing cry that instantly threw the oxen into a terrified turn away from the second knight before he was run down.

The two mummies, who were equipped similarly to the mummy the party had fought in the dead wizard's lair, wasted no time in charging around the back of the wagon as it rumbled past. John met their charge with a crash of steel on steel. A moment later Ahriallen suddenly appeared behind the mummies as his successful attack broke his invisibility spell while his long sword ripped through the mummy's armor.

From there things happened too quickly and violently to give a full recounting here. Our adventurers, who had thought they were chasing mortal enemies that they had out numbered seven to two, had not made plans to take on two undead warriors. Even worse, the undead knights fought with every bit the strength, speed, and cunning of the one in Zalderath's lair.

In the course of the battle that followed mortal blood flowed freely and the our valiant adventurers fought bravely. Before long only two combatants were left standing. A mummified knight turned away from John and Lenard and left them to die where they lay on the frozen ground. Both priest and bard had numerous terrible wounds and were rapidly bleeding to death. The knight advanced across the battleground toward its last adversary. The knight's left arm lay behind it on the ground with a goodly portion of its shoulder. Several of Decor's arrows protruded from it and numerous slashes and dents in it's armor showed where it had been hit by magical blades and maces.

Heedless of its apparently inconsequential wounds it stepped over the dead body of Decor, the top of his skull cleaved open from a powerful axe blow. The undead knight's boots scattered the dust of its completely decomposed brethren where it had fallen after one strike from Kelson's magical, black dagger. The dagger's magic had done its work well in liberating the mummy from its undead existence. The owner of the dagger lay unconscious nearby in a puddle of his own blood. Kelson had crawled there despite grievous wounds to make one last attempt to battle the knights but had been overwhelmed by his injuries.

Moradon rose to his feet unsteadily, nearly swooning from his wounds and blood loss. The dwarven warrior watched the mummy advance on him with stoic resolve. Moradon's heavily muscled forearm flexed as the dwarf made sure of his grip on the hilt of Ahriallen's short sword. The elf wouldn't be needing it any time soon, if ever again.

Moradon struggled to focus his eyes while he still had strength left. The dwarf could see Ahriallen on the ground near the steadily approaching mummy. The upper portion of the warrior-mage's face, including his eyes, had been savaged by an axe blow. Next to the elf lay Moradon's childhood friend, Grundall. He too had fallen under the weight of his too numerous injuries after inflicting many heavy blows to the knights with the fallen bard's magical mace.

A growl of defiance and resolve rumbled in the dwarf's chest as the undead knight raised his axe and strode across the last few remaining feet to his unmoving target. With a last, desperate burst of strength Moradon drove the short sword through the mummy's armor and into its chest even as the battle axe began it's downward sweep. His flagging strength all but gone, the dwarf fell to his knees as darkness threatened to cloud his vision forever. Through unfocused eyes Moradon watched the mummy stagger backward with the elven short sword buried hilt deep in it's chest. With a look down at the dwarf that should be dead the mummy crashed backward, it's soul released to whatever fate awaited it.

At this point it was close to midnight. The rest of the night passed slowly for the grievously wounded company. Moradon somehow managed to remain conscious long enough bind the wounds of his still living comrades. The bandages would not hold for long but hopefully they would suffice since darkness finally claimed the dwarf before he could do more than stop the worst of the bleeding.

The sun was up when Moradon's eyes opened again. Looking around he could see that some of his companions had not survived the night. Kelson, Lenard, and Grundall had all fallen victim to scavengers. Judging by the tracks in the bloody snow wolves had come to feed in the night. Knowing that John, Ahriallen, and perhaps himself would not survive for much longer without aid Moradon struggled to his feet to do what was needed.

An hour later Moradon snapped the wagon's reigns on the backs of the oxen and moved off to rendezvous with the Wind's Pawn. John and Ahriallen were laying in the wagon along with all of the equipment of the fallen companions. Behind the steadily moving wagon Decor, Grundall, Lenard, and Kelson lay where they had fallen. Even if the ground had not been frozen Moradon did not have the strength to dig four graves. He also lacked the strength to heave their bodies into the wagon and had almost passed out numerous times just getting John and Ahriallen into the wagon.

The rest of the day was a blur as the badly wounded dwarf drove the wagon southward. True to Ahriallen's orders the Wind's Pawn was anchored in a secluded cove where Moradon found it shortly before the sun dipped behind the horizon. An hour later Ahriallen, John, and Moradon were all sleeping in the ship's aft cabin. Captain O'Bryan sat at the cabin's table for a while listening to the sounds of the crew making ready to set sail. With a resigned sigh he stood and left the cabin and locked the door behind him. It was not an ideal situation, to say the least, but Captain O'Bryan had made a difficult decision. According to what Moradon had told him, Morgan would be coming south soon to look for the Pawn. Captain O'Bryan would take the ship north-eastward into the deep waters of the sea for a few days. With any luck Morgan would sail past them along the coast in his southward search. The Pawn would then be able to set into port and seek aid in the last place Morgan would look for them...the town they had just left.

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