They emerge in the mountains across the bay and clamber down into the foothills. Using flying abilities to bypass the worst of the terrain, they realize they are in the neighborhood of the undead baddy that recruited them to slaughter villages and seed undead spawns, culminating in the wholesale slaughter of the garrison guarding the northern approach to the old capital.

They recall their last meeting, where they were offered positions in the army – and death – by the sword swinging maniac himself. There is some lingering resentment and a touch of fear expressed by different folks.
Well, they decide to get on over there to see what has been happening in the interim...

Northward from the demons and celestials is a very strange place. Flesh covered walls and strangely warm hallways are a vibe unlike the others. There are signs of struggles and HOLY CRAP! They’re attacked by some kind of beholder-spider with machete arms. The struggle is real and Digin is felled yet again, though the helpful Sniffles props him back up so he can take another beating.

Wandering around…the odd trap…abandoned laboratory with hints of ghastly experiments. Find a drider statue…Oh wonderful! Drow! They’re always fun...

The room of keys is full of keys – most of which are trapped. Taking the untrapped ones and moving on leads them to another room…with more keys. And…another room…with even more keys and finally one last chamber full of keys. At each step, more of the keys are trapped and several are also invisible. Most curious. The party has no time for interesting mysteries and backstory be damned! They just want out.

Along the way it becomes clear that several party members have picked up some sort of wasting disease that is draining their ability scores and health. Eventually they resist the downward spiral and restore themselves thanks to the powers of Balhazor! (all praise his name)...

The passage through the bugbear complex was simple…not complex at all. It appears there is some sort of territorial feud going on ‘twixt bugbear and goblin. This is confirmed in a rare moment of parley, when the intrepid adventurers entered a massive room used as a staging ground for the core of some kind of goblin resistance. What? Who knows.

What is clear is that the rene-goblin wants the party to slay the current goblin king, and if this is done the party will be escorted to the edge of the goblin area of influence. Zaal really wants to fireball everyone in sight, but the cooler heads prevail...

The next week passes in a seemingly endless loop of exploration, doors (with and without traps), signs of past battles, strange noises, random bodies and the odd moments of excitement as Digin gets to cleave things. What Digin cannot cleave, the group manages to kill with fireballs, though there are encounters with magic resistant things that annoy the wizard.

Along the way, the group discovers three of the four staves they’ve been sent to retrieve and have encountered strange shape-shifting demonwolves – or goblinwolves – or demongoblins. They’ve found evidence of traps triggered and have triggered some on their own. They’ve dispatched a number of shadows and have looted the remnants of the odd workshop, laboratory or bedroom. Pickings are slim...