Ithimyr was able to use a winter bird to exchange word with the druids. The druids are of the mind that they'd rather have the chimera nesting atop a visible structure where they can keep an eye on it. It has only been hunting as of late so is not imbalancing any forces. Furthermore, a rampaging chimera was slain by Shin earlier this year, so there is likely no population problem.

Ithimyr has been accepted into the Order of the Midnight Sun. The brooch can communicate via empathy only, but Ithimyr knows from his last conversation with Exar that he is in good standing with the Order thanks to his services during the events of the past year. If Ithimyr wants to inquire as to leads which may be profitable in knowledge and coin, he could use the brooch to arrange a meeting with Exar or whoever might be in the region this winter. As an adventuring member of the order, Ithimyr is not required to fulfil a quota or anything, but is only obligated to inform the Order of any strange magical anomalies which might be studied to increase the Order's strength.

Ithimyr performed some scouting and rumorgathering regarding the nearby ruins. The ruins southwest of the Marble Keep now seem to be occupied by berserkers. It's a medium-large shell keep and seems to offer some small protection. They carry the markings of the Starwind Clan, who did battle with the boarmen earlier this year. The castle ruins northwest of Qarn is similar in construction and remains visibly deserted, probably thanks to being in Qarn's area of patrol. There are also ruins of a city overtaken by the Sea of Grass, to the west of Gren, beyond Ulan. Shin is the androsphinx that lives to the NW of Gren, in the Mountains at Shin's Castle. he is reclusive but highly respected. According to News in Gren, that lammasu that flew overhead back in summer was Salas, a known lamassu from the Veldt, who saught council with Shin

Maervahr learned Sepia Snake Sigil and Secret Page but is unable to know the spell Wind Wall. He spent 600 gp to copy these two spells into the The Grimoire of the Hydra from the scrolls.

• Kek Izimon - Human FTR 1 AC 0/4 no shield 9“ 1-2 doors
• Ithimyr - RGR 4 / CLR 5 (10-11) 1-2 in 20 Hear Noise
• Rhinock - Half Orc FTR 5 AC -1/3 Comprehend Languages / +1 longsword
• Dan - MAG (10-9) cat familiar AC 9/10 Keen Eared
• Morric - FTR 5 Dwarf
• Zenobia

To the Marble Keep…

Dan failed disease roll and now has come down acute gastro intestinal disease. Ithimyr cured him with Cure Disease on the day 4 of his disease during the week. Kek buys a light war horse.

The weather is clear but very cold. The climate tends toward warm here and there is not too much snow. We head to the south but there is no direct road to the Marble Keep. There are Patrols along the way from Gren.

We arrive at the Keep.

With our Cloaks tied tightly, there is no sign of danger and no sign of the dragon. Nor is there a sign of forces of evil or chaos.

There are hunched shapes in the courtyard and we are at a distance of 10” (120 yards).

There is only one shape moving through the rubble and it is not moving with a pack. A Ghoul is eating something in plain view so we hit it with arrows, Ithimyr used a longbow. and we quickly kill it.

We hear high pitched shrieking of undead and some more Ghouls appear within the entrance.

Ithimyr tries to turn them as they charge forth but their speed is so fast they can reach us this turn.

They have AC 7 when they charge.

Kek shoots one.

They leap toward and charge us, Rhinock did 9 damage and Morric did 11 damage. Rhinock and Morric kill one each.

The Ghouls are turned but one Ghast is not turned. The Ghast had a charging AC 5. Kek has an AC 0, and blocks all of their attacks.

The Ghouls will be fleeing.

Ithimyr charges into melee while Rhinock is being attacked. He bashes away the Ghast and all of the ghouls flee with blinding light. Turned monsters do not come out of being turned if attacked. Morric does 7, Rhinock did 5, Kek did 9.

The Ghast has an awful foul stench so Ithimyr takes a -2 and hits the Ghast for 10 damage. The Ghast fails its morale and then flees in panic.

We check the bodies for valuables but find none.

Manes demons were spotted around at the bottom of a pit.

Vargus, Lathar and Halzgaz are on doors.

The Courtyard is filled with all manner of beasts that have been defiled. However, there are no Ghasts or Ghouls anywhere. The keep has thick walls but most have collapsed. Around the back is where the treasure map leads.

The first entrance has nothing strange, and the hidden entrance was found. There were corpses that were fed on by Ghouls. We found the trapdoor is open. Inside, we find animal bodies but no Elf or Human or Demihuman corpses. Two very capable track finders among us and they can tell there were no Ghouls and Ghasts around. Ithimyr can tell the difference between each type of undead.

There are about 10-20 Ghouls and 3 Ghast tracks. They are occasionally going down into both dungeon entrances. They had dragged out corpses but they were not heavy. Most traffic goes back into the keep which must be their main lair.

We can use the pentagonal room to take the passage down. We go down the main door passage where we found the blue torches that we sold. The bones have long been pushed aside. It is clear that something was walking through the hallway.

We fought some hobgoblins here…and completely emptied it out. Beyond the east door is a water fountain around the edge. Now were in the next room, it is empty except for a tapestry along with the corpse of a Giant Lizard in the other room that they killed. This room also has a pile of animal bones that have teeth marks on them. We take a right to find a panel to open the secret door to the ARCANE LABORATORY.

Beyond the secret hallway is a passage that leads to pentagonal room. We open the door and the room is unchanged. There is still a rope hanging in the center. The Magic-User's room.

The entire room is in disarray. There are stone arms sticking out from walls and each ends in a stone candle. The statue depicts wax melting over the hands. There are some scorch marks all over the one hand. We start studying the trapdoor but there is no recent signs of movement that Ithimyr can detect. It looks like the place was disrupted. The door looks charred as if fire was applied at some point. No signs of movement going in and out of the secret door.

Morric examines the door for stonework, he can tell that there is no mechanical part of the wall through mundane means. Magic opens the door. Morric stands on a desk to light the candle with oil and it burns. Nothing shifts whatsoever. We can see that fire eruption happened in front of the statue which streaks backwards.

Dan is now a level 4 Magic-User, a Theurgist. Ithimyr drops a rope down the trap door to help climb out, with iron poles driven into the wall it descends 30' before sloping. Dan does not hear anything.

We descend into a sloped passage. We find that the spikes have been removed and driven through the stone and spiked the door through the hallway. We listen at the door and neither Ithimyr or Dan hear anything. Rhinock removes a spike, and we hear a grinding of a stone and removing of a block. We retreat back up the ladder and head back out the dungeon. we open the doors which takes two turns, we make it back out to the sunlight.

Inside of the keeps walls, in the back of the main building and against the outer wall is the location marked on the treasure map, There are huge stone bricks. The entrance has tons of Ghoul tracks around, along with a grimy Ghoul of some sort.

Blocks of wall open as we press the stone, a staircase goes down into an awful pit and the smell is terrible. There is nothing down here so we make for the left door. We open it, on a d6. We push open the door and enter the room of many sarcophagi. Some are perched on top of the sarcophagi,

We immediately see Ghouls that turn from southern passageway and look at us. There are 11 of them.

We did not surprise them.

The Ghouls move to engage. We are in the room now. There is a foul stench of gas, 2 among them are Ghasts. All of them move into melee. We Rolled a 20 to TURN!

A Perfect Turning…7 of the 9 Ghouls are turned. 2 Ghouls and 1 Ghast is turned. Ithimyr can turn again next round.

There is a 2“ cloud of Stinking Cloud.

Kek charges the Ghouls. Ithimyr turns them again. 2 Ghouls and 1 Ghast are turned.

The Stinking Cloud spell goes off and hits half of the Ghouls/Ghasts. The Ghast is not in the cloud but half of the pack is enveloped, they hack and cough and wheeze, STINKING CLOUD WORKS.

The turned Ghouls and Ghasts disappear into the darkness. One Ghast targets Rhinock. Rhinock fends off the Ghast.

All the others have now been pushed back into the darkness. The door behind us opens…3 more Ghouls open the door and get into melee with Dan. We drop the one Ghast with our melee attacks.

Ithimyr is going to turn again. Rhinock is going to charge. Dan casts Shocking Grasp and the casting time is 1 segment. He has AC 10.

The turn goes off at same time. Ithimyr turns 2 of the Ghouls but they all get an attack.

Rhinock deals 5 damage and Morric deals 4 damage.

Dan has AC 3. Ghoul hits for 1 damage and 3 damage. The Ghast hits for 10 damage and Dan is at 0 hp. He also is saving vs paralysis and is just paralyzed. He drops to the ground.

The two turned Ghouls flee and Morric cuts down 1.

One of the Ghouls is dropped and another flees into the darkness to the right. The Ghast is the only one left in combat. This time the target is Kek with AC 0. Kek takes 1 damage and 4 damage, fails his save and becomes paralyzed.

We slay the biggest Ghast we have seen all day.

Combat is over.

We render aid to Dan to stop his bleeding.

We kill the 3 turned Ghouls in the back.

We find a glowing orange gem set in the wall.

Ithimyr turns all of the 5 Ghouls, including one from the other chamber. A Ghast is charging.

3 damage is done to Rhinock and he is paralyzed. We burn the Ghouls and Ghasts. Meanwhile, A Ghast is clawing helplessly at the iron spikes.

Morric takes Rhinock with the others and I chase after the other Ghouls. We see a sarcophagus in the other room and a gallery with an old wooden ladder with more sarcophagus. Ithimyr kills the Ghoul with his magic sword.

We start looting the sarcophagi.

Morric looks for traps and we start looting. We spike the front door and start looting.

We see that the gem is a huge blood ruby with sickly orange color that is set into the wall. It can be removed with a sword or something. The glow comes from within the gem. All of the sarcophagi have corpses from hundreds of years ago, we find coins and gems inside:

• 3200 cp
• 1350 sp
• 460 ep
• 470 gp
• 7 banded agates (5 gp each)
• 8 moonstones 50
• 8 lapis lazuli 50
• 2 black pearls 500
• 2 azurites 5
• 2 rock crystals 100
• 2 moonstones (shittier) 10
• 2 fire opals that resemble the one in the wall 1000 each
• 2 star rubies 2000 each

The lower sarcophagi have human forms of people buried alive. Ithimyr dispatches the Ghouls by cutting off their heads. Their bodies are now all dead, incapable of being raised. They had no treasure.

Zenobia finds another standing sarcophagi that is twice as wide with a mummified figure

Inside is a silver crown with chrysoberyl worth 4000 gp.

There is also a scepter of wrought gold, exceptional quality worth 2500 gp

Also, we find 2 jade earrings that are 500 gp if together.

Inside a bowl along with some pottery laid at the feet of a statue are 2 scroll cases, a silver chain with a conical green gem shaped like tip of a lance.

We detect magic on the green gem shaped like a lance. While holding it up, it lifts up and points north east like a compass. Ithimyr grabs the green lance necklace.

There is a spiked corpse at the back of the stone sarcophagus as of someone crucified. Ithimyr removes the head on the corpse and then pries out the glowing gem from the wall with his magic sword

It is a huge blood ruby with a sickly orange color. Kek takes this item with him.

On one of the scrolls is writing. It has an old name, PELADORI in the common language. NISSUS was the name of the lord of this keep.

Body that we decapitated has a silver chain.

Our Cleric finds SCROLL OF PROTECTION FROM UNDEAD. Worth 1500 xp, 7500 gp, which we are selling. There is a Magic-User spell on the other.

We go to the ladder and help Dan climb up to the pentagonal room. Ithimyr touches the gem to the statue and nothing happens. Built into the secret door.

We exit through the main entrance, we were underground for a few hours. We make it before dark. We make it back without incident.

Values for everything. Ithimyr gives Maervahr 50 gp for his trouble.

The scroll has: Leomund's Tiny Hut (3), Ice Storm (4), Monster Summoning II (4) x2, Reincarnation (6), Bigby's Clenched Fist (8). It is worth 8,700 gp.

We are selling all the gems.

XP from coin: 4,087 xp

5x 4024 gold, 92 electrum, 278 silver, 642 copper

TOTALS:

• RHINOCK - 4564 xp 30,672 xp total
• Morric - 4564 xp 32,594 xp total
• Ithimyr - 4764 xp
• Kek - 5134 xp
• Dan - 7434 xp 19,029