The careful exploration continues. The bulk of the investigations reveal a deserted structure, but there are the occasional meetings with undead to spice up the monotony. At one point, a trapdoor deposits one of the adventuring team into a water filled pit – which can be dangerous for the vertically challenged – but the ghoul lurking within is probably a larger threat. Luckily for the group, the clerics seem adept at driving off the undead so the rest of the party can unload missiles at them. This tactic seems to be working – though the supply of arrows and sling stones is dwindling.

They make their way to the base of the tower and manage to foray out into the bottom of a mud-filled, iky-black caven...

The ship they take unloads them via longboat into the elven settlement of Sariuish, where they buy a couple of donkeys, load them up with food and wander off into the wilderness. Along the way they find a sacked wagon train, the merchants and guards are dead and there seems to be a missing wagon. The tracks are followed and the group surprises a small band of goblins and the extremely drunk ogre they’re allied with. The bandits are slain and the group gets to redistribute loot in a way they like.

They abandon the wagon with a wistful look, but traveling through the wilderness is much harder with a wagon so off they go. As they narrow their search they have an encounter with a band of orcs, led by a gnoll and a group of goblins led by a bugbear...

Arriving by various means, and finding themselves on the docks of the teeming city, our unlikely group of adventurers answers a shady ‘help wanted’ sign. Shady because the patron seems most interested in their recent arrival and complete anonymity within the city proper.
It turns out that a certain person of interest needs to be escorted back to their benefactor. Currently, this person is being escorted by soldiers, and thus the party’s first paying job is landed.

They are hustled back on board another ship and sail on the evening tide. Two days later, they are dropped ashore near the mouth of a large river. They wait around until their guides appear. Their guides are elves, who outfit them with horses and lead them close to the designated ambush site.

The guides depart, leaving instruc...

The group has a few more minor dithery bits to iron out and at one point they teleport back to the Tormite Mound to gather up Kormier, First of Torm. He is eager to participate in the assault that will end the longest-running existential threat to his new homeland. Plans are laid, examined, discussed, dithered and scrapped. New plans are formulated and variants are examined. In the end, it will cost Malchor a few years of life, but he will get to play with his new toys, so that will be fun.

The group windwalks at high speeds through the cyclops-filled corridors, causing much consternation in their wake. Any pursuit is abandoned once it becomes clear in which direction the suicidal gas clouds are traveling...

Eventually Malchor makes contact with the dreamstalker. It says it is Lady Megerin Punchthroat – and adds a bunch of titles. The upshot is that she is pissed at Coburg for abandoning the alliance to overthrow Unklar, the Horned God. She is happy to back the party’s bid to slay/banish a devil that is carrying on the expansion and enslavement that characterizes Coburg’s empire. The Lord of Souls must be defeated to remove the threat to Cormyr and the Western lands.

There are some questions within the group as to the possibility of being played, but Elulyn points out that pretty much everyone they’ve ever met has been doing that, so what’s the difference?

At least this way they can secure peace for a while and even though there may be future issues, at least there is benefit in the short te...