Varony, Malarous 30th 838 ID
Langston fires a warning arrow towards the two humanoids entering Tun Staab, and hits one. The two quickly disappear behind one of the towers. When Gruulsh moves up to investigate, both have disappeared. Langston calls out a warning, and the response comes from a familiar voice...Doorjamb Grizzlebear. He and the halfling Hnarsh visualize, one from hiding and the other from invisibility. It's a brief reunion, Doorjamb explaining his purpose in coming to retrieve Private Glass, not at all surprised by her fate. Hnarsh offers some 'hoodoo' to the expedition, most of whom deny him, and the pair decides to help the expedition finish out the exploration of Tun Staab. Meanwhile, Baro, Mudgol and Ginkwrench decide to rest up and watch the children (Polk and Buck), Pvt. Longjohns guards them.
Doorjamb, Hnarsh, Langston, Luz, Gruulsh and Flood Watchman Barr approach the caverns, making the shady halfling take the lead. He signals to stop once the movement in the webs above becomes too rampant, and Gruulsh decides to take a 'peak'. He is noticed after sticking his head up through the webs, and five large white spiders lower themselves to the cavern floor. Despite their abilities to leap back and forth into combat, and a slowing poison, they are easily dispatched by our heroes. Doorjamb and Gruulsh explore what of the web they can in a limited time, recovering some masterwork weapons from Wolf Tongue berserker corpses, and a bag of silver and some antitoxins. The expedition presses on into another cave littered with bones and skulls, and a few open stone coffins, some of which still contain mummified remains.
They decide to skip past the area, since there is little of interest, when the mummified remains turn out...not to be so still. Three awful undead assault the group, with nasty slam attacks that can apply negative levels. It's a brutal fight, and Flood Watchman Barr is slain, only to return later on as an undead himself! The PCs persevere, taking out the original assailants and then a weaker Barr. They decide then to further search the cavern, to no avail. Hnarsh and Gruulsh scout down a neighboring tunnel, and the halfling tells the bugbear to return and gather up the group. When they return, he has moved north, beckoning the PCs forward to where they find a pair of extremely heavy iron doors, slightly ajar to another cavern. Also, a young, dead girl who Gruulsh ID's from Tretcher is before the doors, clutching the remains of a stuffed animal. Despite several strong attempts, they are unable to force the doors, and thus they check another cavern to the south...
...which turns out to contain a dense, heavy statue of the death titan Ulan Vhor, whom the PCs learned about in Floivin Keep due to the research of Conniff and Baro. The statue radiates necromancy, and seems to have diamond eyes. The expedition turns back, deciding after their failed attempts at forcing the doors, to allow Hnarsh to go in and scout about. He returns with some baubles and treasures, passing a magical large steel shield and breastplate through the doors, as well as a metric ton of silver coins, and some scrolls and gems. The party decides they've cleared out the ruins at last, then turns back to join their rested companions, and hole up for the night to regain spells and attempt to wait out some of their negative levels. They spend a 24 hour period resting, while they alternate watches.
Verne, Martenin 1st 838 ID
Apart from a sole ogre who sees the group in the valley and then flees, the 24 hours go by uneventfully. Luz and Doorjamb heal what they can of their active companions, and then Grizzlebeard tells them there are further tracks traveling East towards Toul Tabor. The group decides instead to travel back West to check out the other ruins at Tun Vuul. En route, they encounter a trio of frost giants at a distance, but the two groups avoid one another and there is no dreadful confrontation. When they finally arrive outside the alley at Tun Vuul, they decide to rest up once more, to regain spells and prepare themselves.
Essel, Martenin 2nd 838 ID
The five active members of the expedition approach Tun Vuul, to find a ruined fortress surrounded by low, crumbled towers. As Gruulsh and Hnarsh creep forward to scout out the area, they are spotted by some large, hostile white wolves. Combat ensues yet again, and the wolves breath cones of frost and perform deadly tripping maneuvers against the PCs. They also seem to have bluish runes painted on their fur, not unlike the red marks that were on the berserkers' bonded war bears they fought in Tretcher. Nonetheless, they are pretty easily dispatched, and then our heroes can finally examine the ruins, to find the fort almost completely destroyed. They also find Magra Ossted hiding out in one of the towers, but she is blinded and only screams in panic at their approach, seemingly unable to communicate.
There is a wall further East in the valley that was basically a cairn of rocks used to block off a cavernous entrance to the mountains, but it has eroded, stones removed, and now access is granted beneath the Weaponscrest. The PCs move forward and find an abandoned storage supply, where aside from a few ancient pairs of armor, most has been completely looted. They decide here to stop, rest again, since Doorjamb has to dig up the remains of Private Glass and return them to Floivin Keep.
Ivric, Martenin 3rd 838 ID
Mudgol and Doorjamb trek six hours to Tretcher with Buck and Magra, returning them to the village, and then Mudgol teleports himself, Doorjamb and Glass' remains back to Floivin Keep. Hnarsh is left with the rest of the PCs...who have mixed feelings about this new acquisition. Mudgol plans to return the next day.
PCs: Doorjamb, Gruulsh, Langston, Luz
NPCs
Magra Ossted (human female): One of Hagel Ossted's daughters, a frail blonde teenager. She was ID'd by Gruulsh, and recovered from the ruins at Tun Vuul by the PCs. Blinded somehow, with a cloth wrapped about her eyes, she seems to be suffering from deep trauma at her captivity, and can respond only with pitiful screams when the expedition attempts to comfort her. Mudgol and Doorjamb later return her to the village of Tretcher.
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