Deciding that the wintery northlands are getting too hot to be enjoyed fully, the group takes a vacation to the jungles far to the south. Luckily for them, Dalliance remembers the village where they stayed and so the group skips over a long overland journey and a longer sea voyage in favor of a teleport to the final destination. When they arrive they pump the villagers for information. As it turns out, things this close to ‘civilization’ are pretty settled – poisonous snakes and flesh-eating monkeys notwithstanding.
The group sets out on an overland journey with a guide hired from the village. The guide guides them to the next village where the questions and guide-hiring are repeated. Eventually they arrive at a village in the deep jungles near the slopes of a trio of active volcanos...

After battling the dreaded tombstone golem, the group begins to investigate doors. The doors lead to one of two destinations. The first is a dust filled room with a trapped sarcophagus and a meager haul of coins and gems. The other is a dust filled room with an untrapped sarcophagus with an even more meager yield. There is one brief break from the monotony of ‘search for traps, pick lock, open door, etc’ – that is when Oryndel plummets 60 feet into a spike filled pit. He dies on impact and loses several important magic items to the crushing impact. The party sends down a representative to loot the body and take a tissue sample in case of later resurrection opportunity. Beyond the sarcophagi are long tunnels that go from catacomb to catacomb...

The group sweeps into the ruins of the lower floor of the tower and descends into the depths of the pit to investigate the downed dragon heart and the mysterious hatch that appears in the wall at the bottom of the pit. The heart is investigated by a wraithformed Ti’karu and subsequently by Bud the Feaster. The plucky hobbit discovers a body busily reforming in one of the heart’s inner chambers. A few blows from a stake and hammer and the threat is neutralized. Not satisfied with neutralization the group carves a hole in the side of the heart and extracts the vampire-lord’s body and hauls him into the sunlight on the back of Ti’karu’s broom.
Once the fangy threat is fully baked, the group reassembles and investigates what lies beyond the hatch...

On the face of it, it would seem like spending the night in a vampire and wight infested tower would be a bad idea. Even the fearless party members must concede as much. So, they make their way back out of the tower, stopping only briefly to loot the one chest seen so far. It yields a paltry sum of platinum, two gems and a flat metal statuette.
They emerge into the open tower, deploy a rope, climb up it and pull it in behind them. They emerge in the pre-dawn and flee the tower using all available means.
They travel a few hours then make camp and discuss what to do.
Dalliance uses powerful magic to set Ron’j! right. The group regroups and plans the inevitable assault. Leaving is briefly discussed, but the general sense of the situation seems to be…’well, we’re here now, so…’

The next dawn ...

After some brief restocking and the addition of an islander illusionist named Ti’karu, the group returns to Shadowdale. The lands are producing well and revenues are up. Still there is much rebuilding to be done, many social institutions to reinforce – so the party doubles down and reinvests in the area. They tour the countryside, dropping in to the village where they lit the first fires of rebellion (and donated large sums of gold – always good for building up local goodwill – and obtains some sketchy information about the recent arrival of the black dragon to the skies of the north.

With much of the party in bird form, the eyes in the skies allow them to avoid many of the more mundane and ultimately unrewarding encounters that could be had in the area...