Finding Waterdeep (and indeed the North in general) to be a bit…slow…during the mind-numbingly cold winters, the group turns to the previous employer in hopes of obtaining more gainful employment. While the wizards have no need of help now that they have their very nice Soul Gem thankyouvery much, but they might know someone who needs another odd job done. They then contract with a merchant group looking to return the lost caravan goods taken during a raid and to deliver a punitive strike at the raiders. Seeking and finding and returning to the scene of the assault is no great feat – the frozen , naked, half-eaten corpses litter the landscape like some sort of Hieronymous Bosch christmas card.
The group treks out into the High Moor (in the dead of winter…again). From there – a little bit of luck lets the polymorphed wizrd spot a tomb set back into the foothills that seems to have a bit more activity than is to be expected for a final resting place.
Some invisible scouting reveals a pair of manacled ettin forced to stand guard, a bevy of orc strongpoints scattered about and an inviting tomb complex to explore. A bargain is reached with the ettin and the group slips in invisibly, freeing each ettin with a ‘knock’ spell. They proceed into the fortresess and then run afoul of some trapped stairs that plunges them (well, most of them any way) into a deep, spiked pit.
Those that avoid the pit encounter a pair of trolls and a quartet of ogres. Despite the rather severe disadvantage, the group delays the onrushing trolls with magic and slays the entire brood of attackers in the space of 30-40 seconds. Despite their efficiency, one troll manages to alert three more and the battle is renewed. Having won through the onslaught again, the group pauses for a moment – but only a moment, for more doors are opening….

Following a few days of carousing, the newly formed group sifts through offers and settles on a task to recover the fabled Soul Gem. They set off from Waterdeep, proceed across the High-Moor and eventually come to a small hill that has upon it the remnants of a castle complex.
The group immediately encounters and dispatches a Horned Devil – then proceeds to investigate each of the four towers, slaying things that need slaying and solving puzzles when they can’t find anything to kill.
They gather four strange ‘keys’ and gain access to a central tower. They lay back on some nice ‘couches’ and wait. Soon everything goes all woobly and colorful and the group watches in amazement as a hole appears in the ceiling. They ascend the shaft – traversing large chambers with an Air, Earth, Fire, Water theme. Along the way they slay a sphinx, many large and angry monkeys,a medusa, a fire giant and his lava rays, a big fish and some death’s head rays before finally arriving inside the uppermost central tower chamber. There sits the object they were sent to find. After _quite_ a bit of dithering, Dr.Mongus summons an Umber Hulk to go and retrieve the gem. Two minutes later, the gem in theirs and the group uses the amulet to return to Waterdeep.
There, they are congratulated on a job well done and the terms of their contract nullified. Now flush with cash, the group goes on a buying spree – depleting most of what Waterdeep has to offer in the middle of winter. Now, they search for new adventures and try to make sense out of the news that Thuds has returned to Thudheim – apparently with a new advisor. The description of this advisor seems remarkably similar to the desert mage that annihilated the last party of which Dalliance and Shoresss (now Malorn) were a part….