Excerpted from the journal of Etaf Gerin

 

August 4, 1377 (The Year of the Haunting)

 

After a day of rest, we returned to the Grinning Lion to await Morlin’s agent. Before he makes an appearance, Francis received a message from one Lord Horingar. The tone of the note made it clear that we had displeased this person, and demanded that we come before him immediately. Through Omiata’s contacts, we learned that this Horingar is a powerful Illuskan, known as the Elf-Slayer, and we would be wise not to anger him.

 

I don’t blame Omiata for choosing to remain behind when the rest of us went to pay a visit to this Elf-Slayer. Horingar was as imposing as his reputation predicted, and he certainly was unhappy. “You worms have disrupted the High Hunt of the mighty Malar!” he shouted at us. “You must find and destroy the target that Malar intended, Artor Morlin. He can be found in the Dungeon of the Crypt. Do this, or you yourselves will be the Hunt’s next victims!”

 

Horingar gave us no chance to question him, but had us immediately escorted away. Still, what he had said gave us much to consider. That vampire that we destroyed must have been in league with Morlin – why else would she have named a different victim than the god of the Hunt intended? Apparently we were now bound to destroy Morlin by more than one power – both the evil of Malar and the good of Lathlander appeared to have the same goal here.

 

When we returned to the Lion, we found that Omiata had not been idle. He had found one Tharkor, a skulking fellow who had been Orplar’s bloodroot supplier. Tharkor was ready to give up the trade, though. His brother and their entire supply of bloodroot had been taken by a horrible Ettin named Bonesplitter – more than an Ettin, really, for he had great wings like a dragon on his back. This had happened at the Dungeon of the Crypt - no surprise to us, for we already knew that Morlin was there and involved with the bloodroot trade.

 

With much of the afternoon yet before us, we decided to immediately begin our exploration of the Dungeon of the Crypt. All went well, with only a few minor skirmishes, until we accidentally triggered an alarm! In moments, we were beset by a number of orcs. Despite the large number of orcs, we were well on the way to victory with little injury – but the orcs were not all we faced. From a passageway behind us sounded the footfalls of a giant – Bonesplitter appeared!

 

The Ettin was huge, over 8 feet tall, and had two heads like all his kind. He wore dirty plate armor, and in his hands were two swords. He stank of corruption and death, and his skin glistened with scales like those of a snake. From his back spread two leathery wings, like those of a dragon, just as Tharkor had said. He shouted wordlessly and rushed at our group.

 

Most of us were still engaged with the orcs and could not immediately meet this new threat. Ahmed was able to break free, though. He leapt forward and stabbed the beast with his scimitar, and was rewarded with a howl of pain as the Ettin stopped his charge to meet this threat. Alone, though, the ranger was no match for the half-dragon monster. Within seconds, the twin swords chopped down, and Ahmed lay bleeding his life out on the stone floor.

 

Those seconds were all the rest of us needed to finish off the orcs. As the Ettin turned to us, he was met by a united front. Badaxe and Helios pounded him from close range, Omiata and I with distance attacks, and Francis’ prayers gave us all strength. Bonesplitter wounded the dwarf grievously in his death throes, but the Ettin could not stand against us, and soon lay dead on the ground.

 

Francis was able to heal Badaxe, for though sorely wounded the dwarf yet remained alive. Ahmed, though, was beyond the help of the normal healing arts. Francis attempted to call on Lathlander to bring him back to life, but the ranger’s spirit refused to return. After some discussion, we decided to return the ranger’s body to our keep, where it would be preserved until the spirit was ready to once again take up his flesh. Using his teleportation ring, Omiata returned Ahmed’s body to our keep.

 

Subdued after the departure of our friend, yet triumphant from the battle with Bonesplitter, we decided to fortify ourselves in one of the more secure rooms and rest. The Dungeon of the Crypt has yet more secrets to reveal to us.

 

August 5, 1377

 

I drew the last watch, and so I found myself watching over my friends as they slept – or in Omiata’s case, meditated on whatever elves think about instead of sleeping. As I watched for any danger, I found my thoughts returning to some of the spells I had learned while pursing Oahbe. Many of them dealt with the undead, as I had been trying to learn all I could about the lich before confronting him. One in particular stuck in my mind – the spell to raise a corpse to fight for you.

 

As the end of my watch approached, I made a decision. Bonesplitter had taken one of my companions from me, but I had the means to construct a replacement. Sneaking back into the chamber where we had left the corpse, I prepared my spell. The Ettin was a powerful creature, and it was near the limits of my power to force its sprit away and animate its body. I preserved, though, and met with success. As I completed the spell, the corpse of Bonesplitter rose to follow my commands.

 

It wasn’t long before my companions arose, and their reaction to the newly animated zombie Ettin was less than enthusiastic. I had to do some fast talking to prevent Bonesplitter from being killed – again. Francis in particular was difficult to persuade, but eventually I convinced them all that using our enemy to our benefit was in no way evil. I suspect that my promise to let the zombie lead the way through any suspicious doorways was the deciding argument

 

Continuing our explorations of the dungeon, we came across what must have been Bonesplitter’s bedchamber. Here our luck improved, for we found that the Ettin had been keeping a prisoner – a warrior named Calyx. After Francis ministered to his wounds, the warrior told us that he had been captured while pursing the Rakasha Nar’Shindar. He had seen a man dressed in wizard’s robes visit the Ettin once, but otherwise knew little of the dungeon. In gratitude for his rescue, Calyx offered his services in pursing Morlin, as well as a share of the reward for the Rakasha.

 

Under the bed we found several chests, containing some gold and an interesting wizard’s robe, as well as Calyx’s gear. The robe produced some interesting things – ladders and rowboats, for example – but nothing particularly useful. Still, as I was still without magical raiment after my unfortunate exit from Oahbe’s tomb, I decided to keep it.

 

Moving deeper into the dungeon, we found a naked man chained in the center of a room, surrounded by crates. Omiata recognized him – Felantor, a rogue known for dealing in poisons. He had been beaten severely, and was clearly near to death. While Francis dealt with his wounds, the rest of us checked the crates, finding them full of a sort of poison – apparently Felantor had been attempting to make a deal when he was captured.

 

A low groan came from Felantor, and we gathered around him – only to see the light of life disappear from his eyes! Francis hung his head in shame. “I attempted to wake him, but he was too weak. I fear I only hastened his end.”

 

After some discussion we decided that Felantor’s information was too valuable to pass up, and I recommended that Francis attempt to speak with his spirit, which should still be strong this soon after death. But the Friar refused. “I was the ultimate cause of his death, and I will return him to life.” So saying, he called upon Lathlander, and with a bright flash of light the man’s life was restored.

 

Felantor did not prove to be particularly grateful for his resurrection. Mostly he pleaded for release from his chains. A few thinly veiled threats from Omiata finally persuaded him to reveal that he had been dealing with a Golguth Shund, an archmage that matched Calyx’s memory of the wizard that he had seen. Shund had betrayed Felantor and imprisoned him here, leaving him to die. He knew no more of use, and we left him chained, planning to later send the authorities to take care of him.

 

After many more hours of exploration, we still had not found much sign of Morlin, Shund, or Nar’Shindar. Finally we came across a room containing only a statue of a man wearing a golden belt. Entering the room, we were surprised to hear a disembodied voice that challenged us to fight! Badaxe immediately replied, “I will challenge you!” Instantly, all but Badaxe found themselves paralyzed, as the statue began to float forward. The dwarf and the statue were enveloped by a glowing sphere, and the battle was joined. Wounds were given on both sides, but in the end our barbarian friend proved victorious.

 

The disembodied voice spoke again, congratulating Badaxe on her victory, and the statue handed over the belt – which the dwarf found greatly increased her strength. The voice also informed us that Morlin had come here often to fight against the statue, to improve his skills. Finally, an indication that we were going the right direction! Thus encouraged, we settled to rest again, confident that Morlin would not avoid us for much longer.

 

Some random out-of-character comments:

 

It’s unfortunate that various real-life concerns have conspired to keep Chopper away from the gaming table for a while. But while losing our ranger makes us sad, we’re happy to welcome Eric to the group, playing our new warrior friend. There was even hope that bringing in new blood might change Mike R.’s luck with dice, but that hope was squashed when he tried to heal that rogue and rolled a one, killing the victim instead. Maybe we’ll stick to potions when we need healing.

 

Last updated 09-12-2006 by Skip Franklin