Pilgrimage to the Moon Door

After the siege at Harkenwold is finished, Lord Ironfist heads north to Hammerfast to deal with some bandits on the King's Road. He sends G'Kar, Artemis, and Morwyn on a skiff down the White River to visit the Lord Mayor of Moonstair and remind her that she promised to send a dozen elven archers to join the league's militias in Therund.

When the party arrives in Moonstair they are well received, but the Lord Mayor advises that she needs her rangers to guard the pilgrims to the Moon Door, a magical portal that opens every full moon to the Feywild (and the means by which Neyvara and Morwyn the Eladrin have come to the lands of Nerath). Pilgrims traveling to the Moon Door have been plagued by two bandits who rob and sometimes kill and eat travelers. If they rid the town of this menace she can spare the men.

They inquire around town and learn from survivors of the attacks that the bandits are two half troll/half orc Kruggs. Moonstair is built on the ruins of the ancient Troll Kingdom of Vardar. The lands to the west of the river are still under the rule of the Troll King and his hill giant tribes. Orcs also are found in abundance in the woods of Harkenwold to the east of the river, so creatures like Kruggs are not uncommon in the area. Though smaller than trolls they fight with their ferocity and can heal quickly unless damaged by fire or acid.

The party disguises themselves as pilgrims, buying a mule to carry a small keg of oil. They also light some torches to carry and set off the next morning down the trail to the Moon Door. They come upon a turn in the road where the sweet smell of flowers barely masks the scent of rotting flesh. There the Kruggs leap from the bushes.

G'Kar charges forward to draw their blows while Artemis and Morwyn plant their torches in the ground and use them to light their arrows as they fire them at the monsters. Artemis uses a magic missile to smash a rock one of the kruggs used as a weapon, so it must resort to its clawed hands. The other holds a large scimitar. G'Kar holds them off for a while then retreats behind the archers badly bloodied, but one of the trolls circles around trying to follow him. The donkey is spooked by the battle and jumps, but artemis holds it.

The troll with the scimitar lunges forward hacking at the ranger and moon priest as they let loose more arrows. G'Kar opens the keg of oil on the donkey's saddle pack and begins to cover his weapon in it. Before he can recork the keg, the trollthing's rushes toward him and the donkey bolts, though it is cut down by the two krugs. It lets out one final bray and collapses on the trail, with lamp oil leaking everywhere. Morwyn fires a flaming arrow at the keg on the donkey's saddle and it explode blocking the trial and casting fire in a wide area.

The kruggs move away from the fire, and Artemis pins one in and hits it with a bottle of oil that sets it on fire. The monsters screams as it hacks Artemis apart, separating one arm and shoulder from his torso and cutting deep through his heart and lungs. G'Kar and Morwyn finish the beast as it's unarmed ally rushes off, vowing that its master Darcayn will punish them for this.

They take Artemis to the priests at the Moon Door. That night they take him through the door at midnight and perform a ritual in the Feywild to resurrect him. He gives them a large sum of gold to pay for the components spent to bring him back to life. The next day they continue further south following the Krugg's trail through the swampy part of Harkenwood.

As they follow the creatures path through the swamp, Morwyn's cat Kiara is struck by a poisoned dart. They move forward along the trail and in the distance a lizardfolk raider is sending more poison darts their way, but they shrug them off and advance. At a fork in the trail, a large blackscale lizard chieftain and a hunter leap onto the trial to strike out.

Artemis is knocked back by the large chief, but he returns equal force and shoves the chief back. The two bands fight for several minutes before the bloodied lizardfolk, not reknowned for their bravery, all beat a quick retreat back toward their village.

They find a small island with a clearing in the swamp. A broken cart has been dragged into the clearing and a terrible smell emanates. The sun is starting to set and the rain looks like it's moving in. They approach the ruined cart and find that the Krugg that ran away is taking shelter beneath it. He rises and begins to toss large rocks in their direction. Morwyn and G'Kar distract the monster while Artemis sneaks up behind him. Artemis sets his sword on fire and stabs the krugg in the back then breaks a bottle of oil over the monsters head, setting it and himself aflame. Artemis' allies quickly move in to roll the thief over in the wet grass to put out the fire on his cloak, then gently rouse him back to consciousness. They take shelter under the stinking cart full of some treasure and odd items.

The next day they see that there are dragon prints leading east and human prints going south on a trail. They head south and find the settlement of Marshglen where they tell the folk there that the bandits have been defeated, presenting the krugg's head. A farmer takes them back up the river to Rathmore where they catch a ferry north to Moonstair. The Lord Mayor fulfills her promise and gladly sends the dozen archers south to Therund to join the militas there.

As the party travels to meet up with their friends in Therund they see another barge on the river with a half dozen nobles struggling to stay afloat. The oarsmen are gone and the barge is taking on water, listing toward the western shore of the river, where several trolls and hill giants wait to eat their prey. The party orders their ship's mate to sail them alongside the barge and they bring several over the side successfully, but four of the nobles are already in the water and the current is taking them toward the trolls.

G'kar is too burdened by his armor and complains that he cannot swim as well so stays on the craft, but the ranger and rogue leap in and begin paddling toward the drowning nobles, rescuing three of them. The last noble, a young noblewoman is caught up by the trolls and giants and dragged off kicking and screaming to be eaten. One of the trolls in the water attacks artemis when he gets too close to the shore, but he eventually gets out beyond the monsters reach and it abandons the chase and returns to shore. Several rocks are thrown at the ship but they all miss and they continue on to Therund.

In the capitol city, Ser Eagleheart warmly welcomes them and they sit at his table at the Baron's feast. Later in the evening the militiamen from Sarthel and Vor Rukoth start a brawl, accusing one another of consorting with devils. While they honor Artemis' bravery as a hero they ask him to stand aside when he tries to calm their dispute and the melee continues until the city guard kicks both militia's out beyond the city's walls where they sleep off their spirits down by the river.

Seige of the Iron Tower

At first light the party assembles and learns that they have been reassigned. Lord Ironfist's old friend Ser Eagleheart, an old ships captain stranded with several of his men when his Zaarnathi longship was sunk in a storm, is ordered by the King in Mithraelfast to take half the Nentir milita south to Vor Rukoth and Sarthel, and to collect the milita strength of all three territories in Therund.

Ser Eagleheart drafts Stasi to repair a broken catapult, which has been sitting in disrepair in Hammerfast and is being shipped to Therund. Ser Eagleheart worships Kord as well and takes Darmak with him as a chaplain to their forces. Aelar, who's wanderlust is setting in and who has always yearned to sea the lands further south of the vale, pleads with Ser Eagleheart to allow him to accompany them on the march to Therund. Neyvara is sent on the skiff carrying the broken war engine down the White River to guard it on it's passage.

The seven militiamen from Hammerfast who were to accompany the party on their mission to assault the tower. Their leader G'Kar informs Artemis and Morwyn that he would just as soon lead his own men on this mission and let them stand watch as the siege forces move into place outside the tower during cover of darkness, judging that their bows may be put to better use against the Iron Tower's mercenary guards than in a tunnel fight. The milita's archer they call Captain, takes the quiver of 12 arrows of silence and they depart for the cemetery south of the Iron Tower to find the tunnel leading to its dungeons.

The sun is setting when they arrive at the cemetery. Lucky scouts ahead and says he hears some singing. They cirlce around either side of a large gravesite and statue to find a small unit of three mercenary women wearing the emblem of a red dog and red armor. They are merrily robbing the graves of those buried her and two are digging while their lieutenant urges them on. G'kar offers to bribe them to abandon their posts, but the women scoff at their meager offer of just 5 gold a piece.

As the farmers move in to attack one of the women, on orders to subdue them, she drops her shovel and takes up a greatsword, leaping from a grave and chopping off Piker's leg. The greatsword weilder is surrounded by four of the militamen and Cobb knocks her out with the butt of his sycth a moment before the leader runs her sword through his gut and the farmer dies squealing in agony like a stuck pig. G'kar squares off against the mercenary with the halberd, blasting her with lighting from his mind and stunning her, then joining his companions to take down the leader.

They all gag and bind the three mercenaries and leave them lying in the graves they intended to rob. They move ahead to a tunnel entrance covered by a grate and find an iron dog with the red dog emblem the women wore emblazoned on its side. The beast tears at the metal doors barking loudly to alert any allies in the tunnel behind it. G'kar considers feeding some of Lucky's potatoes to the monster, but they all agree that a golem made of metal probably has no taste for food, so he heaves the bars off the entrance so the metal dog can come out to greet them properly.

The militiamen surround and beat the thing down. As it chews on G'Kar's hammer and a bit on his leg, the rest of the bunch each grab a leg and they pull until the clockwork thing comes apart at it's seams. They rest outside the tunnel a while as G'Kar nurses his dog bites. They light torches and explore the tunnel, seeing a door in the distance and a side tunnel leading to a charnel house full of bones from old graves that had been exhumed to make room for more generations over the years. Three more iron defenders lunged out barking from the charnel house attacking Lucky. The three got a hold of his torch arm and a leg each and they separate his limbs from him with greater ease than the militia dismembered their brother not long ago. Lucky's sack of old potatoes spills open onto the floor, and in the melee G'kar and his three remaining men beat down the iron beasts with a log of furious and loud clanging.

Once the charnel houses guardians have been defeated they take a breath and move to the doors at the end of the hall, abandoning all hope of surprise. Ever vigilant, they see a huge man approach them who had been hiding back in the charnel house when they past. They recognize him as a local villain, Ser Scarthane, an enormous human standing a full head taller even than G'Kar who was 6'2. Ser Scarthane is loyal to Nazin Redthorn, the usurper of the Iron Tower, though he is no more a knight than Redthorn is a lord. His honor and sword were lost long ago and now he fights with a great axe and bears Nazin's Wyvern Crest on his breastplate.

Scarthane rushes up to hack at G'kar who is bloodied in the melee and falls back against one wall. The mul's companions surround Scarthane, driving him back as G'Kar recovers long enough to through a mental blast of lighting at the goliath-like foe. Ser Scarthane goes down fighting, but takes the poor archer named Captain down with him, cutting his body in twain with a violent downward thrust.

They listen at the door at the end of the hall, but hear nothing. They nudge the door open to find an abandoned room with three magical circles surrounded by candles and two empty barred cells. At the far end of the room is an open door and stairway leading up. Chip the miner crosses the room and a half-orc archer guarding the hall shoots an arrow far off its mark to stick in the floor. The miner takes refuge at the edge of the door for a moment, and then reaches across the doorway to grasp the door. The guard's arrow finds its mark this time, fixing a bullseye through Chip's heart. He stumbles across the doorway and manages to close and bar the portal before collapsing in a pool of his own blood.

G'Kar and John the Brawler are the only two men remaining and G'Kar has taken up the captain's bow and magic arrows of silence. G'Kar sees that one of the magic circles has a black magic sword in it that appears to old and dug out of ground. It is covered in greenish and red rusty stains that appear to have become a part of the longsword. First he throws a magic scroll from a nearby table into the circle, and when nothing happens, he kicks over one of the candles surrounding the magic circle containing the sword and the bluish runes fade and disappear.

Reaching into the circle to take the blade, a shadowy spectre takes hold of the weapon and appears before his eyes, swinging at him. Two more spectres appear out of thin air and flank G'kar and John as they fight desperately to destroy the shades as the candles begin to flicker and die and the chamber darkens. They beat the things down and G'Kar tosses the shades black sword to John the Brawler.

Determined to yet win the day, the two men open the door and charge up the stairs. John is caught by an arrow, but keeps moving, drawing the half orc guard's fire. The archer steps back and looses another that goes to wide and misses, then retreats up the stairway toward a door at the end of the passage. He leaps up several of the stairs in one long bound. As John runs up to pursue, the section of stairs the guard lept over gives way and he clings to the side but manages to crawl back to his feet. The guard puts a final arrow through John's neck and he rolls down the stair as G'kar reaches out with his mind and draws the guard down toward him and into the pit. The guard scrambles to hold the edge of the pit but after another strike he falls with a dull thud into the shaft below, sliding off into the darkness below of the trap.

G'kar finds the door the guard was watching halfway up the stair and sees that it is locked. He listens, but hears nothing through the heavy wood so he breaks it open. Inside he sees a deep pit chamber 30' down with a platform suspended over it. Opposite him across the hall is another great door with a lock with a handprint and runes on it. Down in the pit a Wyvern is feasting on the half-orc guard who has broken both legs and is screaming as the dragonlike creature rips at his flesh.

As G'Kar recoils and steps back into the stairway, 10 mercenary guards from the tower above lead by a helmed commander wearing Nazin's wyvern crest. He takes up the black magic longsword and runs down the hall to the foot of the stairs. The guards throw some arrows his way then give chase. They try leaping across the pit trap, but three of them falter and fall to their doom and into the wyvern's lair below. He boards the door and hastens out of the dungeon back through the tunnel to the cemetary.

At the entrance to the tunnel he sets up a choke point and kills off four of the guards who try to follow him through. The fifth guard refuses to pursue him and his commander kills him for disobeying before G'kar ends him as well. The remaining archer covering the hall makes a quick retreat back to the Iron Tower.

G'kar finds the three mercenaries still lying in the graves, struggling with their bonds. He demands the leader tell him where Nazin is. She says that there is secret passage in the wall of the Wyvern's lair leading up the third floor where he has his chambers. She says he is seldom guarded there as he likes his privacy. For this information he tosses a dagger into the grave so she may eventually free himself and then he heads off toward his forces to provide this information.

As he stands at the cemetery gates, about ready to end his efforts to open the gates and prevent a long drawn out siege of the Iron Tower that will cost many more their lives, the Mul thinks a moment then turns and walks back into the cemetery. In the distance, the mercenary leader has already fled, without freeing her two fellows. G'Kar offers them both freedom and their gold plus more spoils if they follow him back into the Iron Tower. The two mercenaries agree and tear off their red dog emblems. Once they were called Lala's Bitches. Now they were G'Kar's Bitches.

G'Kar heads back into the tunnel, back to the Wyven's lair. They use the silence arrows to keep the platform from creaking as they cross to the far side and over to the wall with the secret passage. The stones rumble as they open the door to the secret stair and the Wyvern rouses. It lashes its poisoned tail at them but cannot strike before they close the door again.

Rising to the third floor, they open the portal to find Nazin with his witch. G'kar offers a reward to the first to kill the witch and then charges in to engage Redthorn. Redthorn tries to flee back down the passageway to his Wyvern and G'kar follows. The Witch envelopes the mul in swarm of flies at the entrance to the secret tunnel but he fights his way through the swarm.

Nazin beats a fighting retreat down the stairs but G'kar is the stronger warrior and his corpse rolls down the final flight to the Wyvern's lair. When G'kar checks on the witch she is dead, but has killed the two mercenaries. Her death knell peeling the flesh from their bones, leaving only a skeletal visage on both their bodies.

G'kar takes Nazin's body, sneaking back through the Wyvern's chamber as the beast feeds and unlocks the cell to Baron Stockmer's cell. He gives the Baron the black magic sword and the Baron holds off the Wyvern as he ascends the secret passage to open the front gate with the Baron's hand.

On the main floor he rushes past a huge orc to open the door with the magic lock. The forces outside led by Lord Ironfist, Morwyn, and Artemis charge inside and take down the lumbering hulk. A one eyed orc beats a retreat as a wereboar attacks him, then retreats as well against the surge of militamen filling the tower's halls.

G'Kar rejoins the Baron who has subdued the Wyvern and they both join the troops upstairs to clear the rest of the tower and capture the fleeing mercenary guards. The mul's victory is widely celebrated in Harkenwold and the surrounding villages. He drinks the best ales and wines, he keeps the treasure he found in Nazin's strongbox, and he gets to keep the gold he promised to Lala's dead bitches for killing the witch.

Meet G'Kar and his Hammerfast Militiamen

Born to a human barmaid who had too much fun with random Inn patrons. G'Kar is a half-dwarf, more commonly referred to as a Mul. One of the benefits of living in an Inn was the constant exposure to many different languages. He grew up poor and constantly roaming the streets. This taught him to always keep his eyes open for whatever could be awaiting him around the next street corner. He won many street fights not from being the fastest or the strongest, but from his persistence and refusal to give up.

One day a heavily armored stranger witnessed G'Kar's endurance in his latest street fight and invited him to study in the ways of the psionic warrior. Knowing he had no future in his current path in life, G'Kar agreed. Being instructed privately in a warehouse in Hammerfast, G'Kar excelled at all training that was demanded by his new master. His master stressed the importance of knowing everything there is to know about your enemy to exploit their weaknesses.

Wearing scale-mail and sporting a shield, G'Kar is a Battlemind, focusing his mental might at enemies through his mighty craghammer. Standing 6'2" and weighing a solid 245 lb, G'Kar is an imposing figure, he has grown accustom to being in control of a given situation.

G'Kar leads a unit of six stalwart militiamen from Hammerfast. His second in command is an old sailor they refer to as Captain who is the only man among them with a sword and shortbow. Lucky is a rogue who fights with a sack full of potatoes. Chip is an old miner who carries a club. Piker and Cobb are both farmers and wield scythes. John the Brawler the oldest and best fighter, just as dangerous bare handed as with any blade.

The Battle for Whitemountain Hall

The party returns to Whitemountain Hall, aka Underkeep back through the blue magic portal. The ranger and cleric are both recovering from their injuries sustained from the zombie ogre. Their bites are oozing black necrotic fluid.

Neyvara and Aelor investigate what has taken the party so long and rejoin them in the dungeon near the magic portal, where they also found the stair trap leading down into the cell. They leave the injured companions behind and investigate the rest of the complex.

They find a room with a grell and magic sword suspended in a magic circle and continue on. In an adjacent rough mined corridor they find an owlbear and they beat the creature back to a retreat, but the thing screaches loadly attracting the other denizens of underkeep.

In a flooded chamber filled with mushrooms, they battle a horde of two dozen goblins, followed by a vicious hand of Bane. They have little time to catch their breath before two hell hounds and their hobgoblin masters find them as well. After the battle they hear a bell tolling in the distance.

The eventually find the bell upstairs and it appears to have been rung by something big which has now departed and the bell has slowed. They see a tapestry leading to the balcony rustling but when they cut down the curtain they see nothing outside. The adjacent room has a temple to Bane which they desecrate and loot, finding some magic items and gems concealed behind the altar.

The continue on into a crypt where they find a half dozen vampire spawn. The creatures are easily dispatched, but during the melee, the bugbear strangler that had been hanging from the bottom of the balcony in the bell chamber, sneaks up behind Stasi the artificer and begins choking her. Aelor runs to her aid but the bugbear uses Stasi as a shield and the elf strikes his friend instead. Stasi uses one of her lighting runes to repel the bugbear, breaking it's grasp and the party finishes it off along with the vampire spawn.

They pass through another series of corridors to find the throne room of the old dwarf keep. Sitting at the top of the dais is a foul bloated, half naked humanoid. They are unsure if she was once a hobgoblin or human but she is covered in blood, feasting on the fresh corpses she has dismembered with a large carving knife. She laughs wickedly at the party as they close to attack.

The thing flies toward them, hovering magically in the air. As they fight it they see that it's form is somehow illusory, and it spits a foul bloody breath attack that hypnotizes several members of the party until they are shaken awake by their friends. When bloodied the thing reveals itself as an oni night haunter, a terrible horned beast that had ruled the crazed goblin minions in Underkeep. The thing tries to take a gaseous form to slip out of the dungeon and away from the party, but their magical attacks destroy the thing and it evaporates under their blows.

The party finds among the treasure several wooden nickels for the Crazy Wolf tavern, presumed taken off others sent to Underkeep to clear the goblin raiders. The people of Whitehead celebrate the party's victory for a couple weeks, before they head north to Hammerfast to transfer the enchantments from the items they found to their own. In Hammerfast they spend several days shopping and drinking, until they are recruited into the milita along with all the other able-bodied folk in town who are idle and not otherwise employed.

Because they are outspoken, the party is taken aside. Once they verify their identities and hear of their heroism, Lord Ironfist, the head of the militia commands them to spearhead the militia's attack on the Iron Tower of Harkenwold and Nazin Redthorn's mercenary forces there. In Lord Ironfist's tent, Artemis steals all his important documents related to the militia's operations.

The party is equipped with special arrows that silence opponents and are sent off to commence their night raid on the secret entrance to the Iron Tower. Their primary objective is to open the main gate of the tower for the militia to attack. Their secondary objective is to free the Baron from the dungeon and to capture Nazin Redthorn, if possible.

Meet Darmak and Stasi

Darmak the Half-Orc Barbarian Priest of Kord - His mother was a villager in Whitehead and his father was a Bloodspear orc raider. He serves the god of Thunder and Battle. Also in the employ of the duplicitous but generous spymaster Rosentz Blackhorn.

Stasi the Artificer - Studied with the artificer's guild in Fallcrest. She prays to Morradin, like many artificers in Nentir Vale, who's craft is handed down from dwarves. Her preferred attack is runes of battle that spout fire and lighting from her allies armor.

R.I.P. Aubrey the Artificer

Aubrey the Artificer - Died valiantly saving the life of her long-time friend Whodat, the Halfling Rogue. She died in a vicious trap in the Tomb of Alderon, set upon by several undead and an iron cobra. Her body was never recovered, left to bloat and rot in the murky waters of the tomb's wheel room.

The Dream of the Blue Portal and the Red Castle

The same morning that Aelar and his party set out from Whitehead to the Tomb of Alderon, a half orc comes into town asking around for people matching the description, of Aelar, Morwyn, and Artemis, as well as their other deceased companions. The town drunk blurts out that they have set off for the Tomb before the rest of the townsfolk in the Crazy Wolf bar can silence them. The half orc hurries off satisfied.

Word spreads to Artemis and Morwyn, who are resting a friend's home nearby. They quickly pursue the half orc and pick up his trail at the city gates where he has headed off down the path to the Tomb. Halfway up the mountain they see the half orc join up with the remaining orcs from the band they encountered in the first adventure, accompanied by their cheiftian, a giant grey orc. The half orc turns into a wereboar.

Artemis and Morwyn overhead them plotting to pursue Aelor in the Tomb so they rush ahead to warn them. As the sun sets and the moon starts to rise, they see four gargoyles take flight over the valley outside the tomb from the mountaintop. They hide and the creatures pass. They rest outside the tomb, waiting to ambush the orcs if they arrive before their friends.

Meanwhile, Aelor becomes entrapped in the tomb. They enter a room that has four ship masts as columns holding up the ceiling. When Aelor sneaks through the room the ship's masts come alive and grasp him tightly. The enchanted rigging tightens as he struggles to release himself. Even his magical blade will not cut the ropes. The Whodat gives him some rations and agrees to come back to retrieve him after they explore further and hopefully find some way to release him.

Heading into the tomb they find three crypts marked as defenders who died guarding the Emperor. They pass through the chamber into the next room and find a ships steering wheel on a platform across a flooded chamber. The steering wheel is attached to a chain and two words "PORT CULLIS" appear engraved above the wheel on the wall.

Whodat the rogue enters and turns the wheel clockwise, which causes a small drain to open in the center of the room followed by some bubbles and then nothing. The water does not noticeably lower in the room, still at shoulder height for the halfling, but as he moves the wheel another turn something bites him on the leg under the water.

He flees out of the chamber and his companions carry him back through the crypt room, where they find the crypt's lids have been removed and they are empty now. They head back into the main hall to regroup and recover, discovering that the bite appears to be from a large snake.

Heading the opposite way they find some catacombs and Whodat disturbs the skeletons entombed there kicking their bones about to make sure they are not undead skeletons. Disturbing the bones rouses a large centipede, which Whodat, Neyvara, and Aubrey kill without much injury.

In the next room they find a long hall with a pool in the middle. In the pool the water is slightly milky but otherwise clear and in the center of the pool lies a skeleton wearing some sort of magical armor, but without any other noticeable possessions. On the far side of the hall is a large metal portcullis, which is closed.

The party re-enters the wheel room to try their luck there again. On their way in they notice the lids have returned to the crypts that were open minutes ago. Whodat tries throwing some of Aubreys ropes and grapples across the flooded room to remotely operate the wheel, but their attempts to get a second grapple across fail. Whodat tightrope walks across the rope as Aubrey and Neyvara secure it tightly. On the opposite platform, Whodat again turns the wheel in the clockwise direction with the same result. Moments later an iron cobra lunges out of the water to strike him on the platform.

Aubrey wades into the water to aid the halfling, but as she strikes the cobra, three undead guardians rise around her in the room and knock her our with several hacking chops. As she falls unconscious and sinks into the darkened waters, an undead dwarf continues to slash at her mechanically and her blood bubbles up from below.

Whodat and Neyvara skillfully retreat out of the chamber, noticing the lids are now gone from the three crypts and they head out into the hall. They find that Aelor has tactfully relaxed his body enough to slip free from the magical rigging trap and he joins them as they flee from the tomb.

Outside they are surprised to find Artemis and Morwyn, who tell them of the orcs coming to hunt them. They climb the side of the valley and hide as the giant orcs, his one-eyed commander, and the wereboar enter the valley then the tomb, intent on revenge. They notice that one of the orcs in the party is missing and the orcs have seen battle, presumably from the gargoyles that were hunting the trail earlier.

They find their way back down the trail past Underkeep then on to Whitehead where they rest for the next couple of weeks. Whodat retires back to his life of fishing, deciding that the adventurers life is too much for him. The death of his childhood friend Aubrey weighs heavily on him. Meanwhile, a friend of Aubrey's from the artificer's guild comes to town seeking her to let her know that there is a guild meeting called in nearby Fallcrest. Once this artificer named Stasi learns of her friend's death he joins the party to aid them in their quest.

Stasi, who serves Morradin, along with the elves and eladrin all share the same dream the night after a wake is held for Aubrey is held at the Crazy Wolf tavern. As they discuss the dream, they are joined by the half orc barbarian priest Darmak, who they often drink with into the late hours.

They dreamed of Underkeep hall's ruins in the side of the mountain. The mountain opened up, and inside the ravine they find a blue glowing door. On the other side of the door, they find a great cavern full of skeletal remains. As they pass through the cavern they find an opening to a valley with a river and some ships. They sail upstream to the source of the river. At the source of the river is a great open wetland field. They see the four free gods, cloaked and pointing at a red castle on the horizon, sitting on a hill by the sea.

Darmak is a servant of Rosentz Darkhorn, a Teifling rogue and traveller who has been known to spy for many kingdoms. Darmak was freed from Rosentz's service and returned to his home in Whitehead, awaiting further summons from his master when he was needed. Praying to his god Kord, the diety of storms and lighting, a promising dark cloud above the peak of Whitemountain the next morning tells him that it is auspicious to join this quest and that there will be much battle.

Neyvara still suffers from rot grubs, which she takes herbal teas to remedy, though from time to time she still expels one of the foul creatures. Aelor has been troubled by the dream and spends a great deal of time in a sort of meditative trance contemplating it. The party assembles and strikes off toward Underkeep, which once was a prosperous dwarf hold, but many generations ago fell to madness and ruin, it's inhabitants fighting among each other.

As they approach the ruins, Aelor and Neyvara set up watch up top to prevent any goblins from sneaking up on them. Goblins are known to raid from Underkeep and the town of Whitehead occasionally sends fighters in to clear them out. Likewise the dragon who lives on the mountain of the Tomb raids the tomb yearly, as none have been brave enough to yet slay the beast there. Many in the town tell the party they were lucky to get back from the tomb alive without raising the dragon's wrath.

Darmak and Artemis lead the party down a stairwell in one ruined tower. The rest of the party follows several paces behind. They fail to detect a trap and are cast down hundreds of feet on a sloping shaft. Morwyn and Stasi decide to follow them rather than be separated. They trigger the trapdoor on the stairs and slide down as well.

The shaft expels them into a tiny cell in a dungeon. Human remains litter the floor and a swarm of spiders crawls toward them, covering them with sticky webs and biting at their flesh. The party fights furiously to squash the creatures, finally destroying them all. The half orc furiously kicks open the barred wall of the cell and inspects the dungeon finding a torture rack and a wash basin which has been used as a latrine.

Through the only exit from the dungeon they find a hall with tunnels heading to stairs leading up and more halls on the left and right. In the center straight ahead is a glowing magical portal and a coded set of runes for controlling the gate with various locations in other planes listed on it. The half orc casts the torture rack into the room, but does not trigger any traps. Further inspection shows the runes do not respond to touch.

The party agrees to head their dreams and explore the blue portal stepping through. on the other side of the portal they find a great cavern as in the dream, filled with skeletal remains. On the opposite side of the cavern they find a hill of rubble with a door on top. As they approach the door five skeletons rise from the debris to attack them.

They fight off the skeletons easily, though the clatter of blades on bone summons the guard on the other side of the door. A shadar-kai warrior in black chainmail and covered in tattoos with two katar attacks. As they fight he turns to shadow teleporting around and becoming insubstantial for moments at a time, making him an elusive target. Finally they defeat him and he prays to the Raven Queen with his dying breath.

They find the guard has a map of these caves here and they follow it's course toward the exit to outdoors. First they sneak through a room with several adjacent cells, then in the next room they hear footsteps and a foul deformed creature that was once a many but now feast on flesh crawls from a tunnel and attacks. They kill the thing, but in the process their loud thunder attacks summon a pack of zombies from an adjacent room. They hear them moaning in the distance.

As Artemis and Morwyn guard the passage from zombies, tossing molotov cocktails down the corridor at them, Darmak and Stasi hear a man calling to them in one of the cells. The free the man, who says that he is Lord Kalton and promises them a reward if they return to his lands south of Fallcrest. They give him the katar and he comes with them.

They fight off a pack off a dozen or so zombies, including one great tough winged zombie creature, which Stasi takes out with a single heroic shot to the head. in the next room they find a list of dungeons with places crossed off and mention of an expedition to find the lost Library of Nerath.

There are references in the map and journals to an expedition which successfully collected the remains of Emperor Alderon and one of his advisers. There is also indication that interrogation of the advisers remains using speak with dead narrowed the search to one of the locations on their list, but no further. Four of the ten locations have already been crossed off, indicated they have been searched or ruled out.

Also in the study are several tables for making zombies and some half completed zombie corpses in the works. They set the tables on fire and smash everything in the lab. As they work, Lord Kalton hears a voice at the top of the stairs calling for help. A voice claiming to be buried under some rubble begs for help and Lord Kalton starts to try and dig for the voice, but Darmak stops him. The Lord becomes furious with the half orc and bears fangs then attacks him. The party comes to Darmak's aid and quickly slays the vampire. Darmak takes Lord Kalton's signet ring.

All this commotion draws further attention and they hear voices in the next corridor. Darmak investigates and finds a room with several cave murals depicting Orcus the lord of undeath feeding his blood to several humanoid creatures, who are in turn also feeding on the blood of other creatures. As he starts to slowly move to the other end of the passage, a Shadar-Kai witch materializes and attacks.

Two more shadar-kai warriors join the battle and Darmak bravely charges to attack all three cutting a great swath of thunderous strikes across their ranks. Several arrows from Morwyn's bow draw the witch's ire and she blinds the eladrin ranger with a magical attack. Firce melee ensues and the artificer again blasts the enemy with fire and thunder spouting from runes inscribed on her allies armor.

The witch tries one last ploy to blind the party with a great wave of darkness that emanates from her, but Darmak turns and skillfully cleaves her in twain with his great blade and the darkness is lifted. The party dispatches the other two shadar-kai. One dies as his grinning head falls to the floor, the other prays for death to take him even as he throws his spiked chain out for one final strike.

Heavily wounded by the battle the party decides to set up camp and rest, holed up the zombie making lab. The blackened tables and smoke choking the air, they nervously set up camp. After four hours they are interrupted by the heavy footsteps of a creature set upon them. A large ogre zombie with a great chain around its neck as though it was leashed, lumbers down the stairs and into the room to fight them.

Darmak valiantly takes the bulk of the creatures blows and hovers on death's door as his friends charge forward to push the beast back and keep him from mauling their friend further. The beast seams dead for a moment and then surprisingly rises again.

Stasi stops the bleeding as the ogre zombie knocks out the ranger's hunting cat Kiara. Artemis holds the beast at bay, drawing its attacks as Morwyn, already injured herself by the beast draws a bow and fires arrows a volley of arrows into the thing. Another arrow through the eye brings the monster its final end. The pary finishes a restless sleep.