C2 Session 15: Bee Safe Report

General Summary

14th of Anarire 1545 Continued

The fight is long and difficult, but it ends with the slaying of the Captain and a blood burst. It hits Margaret first before rolling through Ana, Brin, Lilli Hadwisa and Jamal. The group quickly discusses what happened and how they need to try and get information out of the dead Captain and the one unconscious sailor they have left. They search the body and find a coin and gem pouch, a feather, a tiny feather, and a bag of beans. There is a piece of paper with Ana's full name and title with a description and a bounty for her. Coin in exchange for her alive from Captain Evie Shark-Bait. Jamal is resting after the blood burst while Brin and Margaret go out to the main space to help the gnolls clean up while Ana stays to talk to the body alone of the Captain. Brin and Margaret see the cook following Ubek around until Brin asks Ubek to go be with Ana, which upsets the cook who heads back to the kitchen. When they're gone, Brin speaks with the inn owner. Margaret and Ubek stand watch over the door outside while Ana casts her spell.

Brin is put to work cleaning up broken glass and such. He does this without complaint, but does take a moment to find the sailor he knocked out and tie him to a chair in a dead end hallway. When he's done cleaning, he watches over the man, waiting for him to wake up.

Ana casts her spell. The eyes of the head spring open and it gasps as it draws breath and looks over at Ana. She looks over the bounty slip again, insulted at the low reward of only 10,000 gold. She sits down next to the corpse to question it. She learns:

Captain Evie Shark-bait is a Captain in the Southern Waters. A small and upcoming mover and shaker.
An unknown amount of people are trying to claim Ana's bounty.
He is unsure who Shark-Bat was trying to gain favour with, with this bounty
They tracked Ana by asking about blue half elves in port and followed the rumours.
He doesn't know why Shark-Bait put out a bounty, he just wanted to get paid.

Afterwards, Ana heads out of the room. Margaret is waiting just outside and Ana tells her about what little she learned. Afterwards they start helping to clean up the bodies from Ana's room and head out to the main space where Brin is. They add the bodies to the pile. They discuss plans for what they intend to do with the captive. Brin wants to question him, make sure he knows he got the wrong people. They consider offering to the innkeeper to have a share of the pirates' belongings, excluding the Captain, to help pay for damages to their inn and for the inconvenience. Then they get back to cleaning. By 8am the place is cleaned up. In that time the man has not come round. They look over the man to make sure he's not actually dead, but he's just out cold and will probably be for hours. Brin checks in with Ana to see what she learned. Ana intends to be fully covered up from now on. Ana takes the moment to rest while Brin talks with the innkeeper. New gnolls have entered the inn and are communicating with the inn keeper in barks. The new gnolls look around while Brin talks with her. He offers her the belongs of the pirates and this confuses the inn keeper. She was taking their things as they were on her property, as by gnoll law of attack. With that cleared up Ana and Margaret head back to bed, leaving Brin to his own devices.

Brin waits, somewhat patiently until noon while watching his captive sleep. He gets Jamal to watch over him while Brin gets some lunch. Then goes back to watching him. By 2:30pm he comes round but is clearly pretending to still be asleep. Brin tries to get him to reveal himself with fake threats of letting the cook eat him, but the man doesn't react. Brin changes tactics telling the man he needs to step up and he should be grateful he wasn't killed today as they let him live. Brin questioned him about why they were here. He learns:

They were following a lead and you have to follow every lead.
The Captain got the job from the Isle of Ghosts.
He doesn't know much, he's a rigging rat.

Brin insinuates that somehow this man might be accused of having warned the group somehow and that should be careful of what inns they jump from now on. The man acknowledges the statement before Brin escorts him outside past Margaret who has come out to the main area before letting him go.

At 2:30pm Margaret gets up to order some late lunch and relax. She sees Brin escort their captive out before he comes over to sit with her. They have a brief chat before Brin goes to his room for a nap and Margaret spends her afternoon crafting. As she works the finer details are starting to look real good. Might need some and paper to do the final smoothing.

At 6pm, the party comes together for dinner. Margaret asks the group if anyone has any sanding paper, but lacking any, Ana offers to go out into the village to look for some. They'll stay here til morning before heading off to Gnarlwood. Brin tells them about what he did with the Captive. When the girls head out while Brin spends some time with Jamal.

Margaret and Ana find a General Store called Ground and Cabinet that is still open. The walkway leading up to it is embedded with glass that makes the path sparkle on the way through. The general store is a timber framed and sprawling single storey building, with a green tile roof and a smooth stone floor. It contains cobwebs in the corners and a full suit of armor holding some specialty items. There is a female Gnoll restocking shelves. She has red fur with brown face paint in a stripe pattern across her face, she wears a tight fitting tan shirt and pants. She is missing an eye and her face is severely scarred. Her one remaining eye shines amber. Margaret gets her sandpaper and some instruction on how to use the different grits. Ana buys a pretty dress. They head back to the inn to find only Jamal in the main space at 7:45pm. They stay with Jamal while they work on their own projects.

With the girls gone, Brin spends some time talking with Jamal and asking how he keeps busy when they sleep. Jamal tells him about his journal that he is using to compile information about the Red Kings in case Jamal is suddenly unable to assist the group. Critical things the group should know:

Is that they could impact the groups guild since they are in most levels of government if the group tips their hand too early of being against them. They could cancel the guild's approval to operate.
Some are direct rulers. Jamal doesn't have the names of them all. The Mage that runs Shoufal is one of them. The Sultan that runs Aftane City is one of them.
Jamal sees the mask business as a way to empower the temple of Neira in Shoufal to become the dominate religion again which would take away power in the city from the Red Kings.

Brin has Jamal cast sending to Bonsen to let them know they're out east and okay and to see how everyone is doing. Jamal gets back a message about "The city and guild is okay. No issues here. Uvory and I have been training with the pits. Not picking up any hostility." As they talk, Jamal reveals he is worried about the full moon. He might be pulled away but the people Margaret knows. This is why he writes down what he knows. In case he is pulled away from the group. Brin reassures Jamal they would come find him, which he appreciates. Brin has a brief chat with Ubek about his blacksmith studies before retiring to his room at 7:30 to relax before heading to bed at 9.

15th of Anarire 1545

At midnight, Margaret finishes her work and Jamal retired to his room to get some rest for a few hours. She heads outside, leaving Ana to her work to go and watch the moon for a bit until bed. At 2pm Ana finishes her scribing and both she and Margaret head to bed. Margaret briefly takes the time to attach the finished cresent moon made of the wood blessed by Erik to her current staff.

When Ana goes to bed she prays to Xeldarix. She feels something has changed within her and would like to consult her patron on it. She is pulled into a dream. When she arrives there is a sense of impatience in the jungle. The birds seem on edge and Xeldarix is practically pacing when you appear. She makes an effort to still and calm herself, but it's clear her mind is elsewhere. Uqaviel is nearby, offering unhelpful comments as Xeldarix tries to deflect questions about her and her domain's current state of mind. Ana explains what has happened with her blood and that she thinks she saw the Moon goddess. Xeldarix questions her on this and she expands that her bloodline hasn't changed derivation but has grown stronger, and a silvery silhouette was sitting with Jamal as he slept but disappeared as soon as Ana saw her. The moon doesn't have angels, or so Xeldarix believes. As Xeldarix explains the path of an Ershleigh, Ana panics thinking that she's going to turn into a shark. Instead she pleads to be Xeldarixn's champion on Cerilia. Xeldarix hesitates as this would put a target on Ana's back. Xeldarix has a lot of old enemies that can't get her now, but would go after her champions. At least her parents were adapt at dealing with these problems and were prepared for it. She asks if Ana is ready for such danger, which Ana reassures her that she is. Xeldarix compromises and says that maybe Ana could start as a Junior Champion in Training and work up to becoming a full champion. Ana says she wants to influence her blood power to be shaped by the divine element within Ana instead of being more creature centric. With that dealt with, Xeldarix asks about Ana's adventures since her last visit. Ana tells Xeldarix about taking a trip on the ship run by slavers, what they found out about the isle of ghosts, the drider tailor and her amazing dresses, how the slaver has hostages so they can’t do anything, there’s a town that’s mostly gnolls, and a pirate crew came and tried to kidnap her but she killed everyone who came into her room and on and on and on. And they have a good map of the region and they’re heading toward the part of the forest which should have a tomb belonging to someone who came from Tephu. Xeldarix asks more about the slaves and the Isle of Ghosts, and about the Sea Elf Captain's predicament. Ana reassures her that they told Lily about it, so it should be dealt with soon. Xeldarix informs her that Lily and her Father's friends are busy. They're okay, but a lot is going on right now. Xeldarix gently reminds Ana that by messaging Lily to try and get them to deal with this problem, she is still relying on her father and mother with their friends when Ana is trying not to rely on them at all. She hints a stealth mission might be the perfect mission for a Junior Champion. Ana wakes up, she sees that her ritual book has changed to say "Junior Champion - In Training".

Brin is up first at 5:30am. He stretches, gets up, checks on horses, orders a breakfast and waits for the others. At 7am Ana and Margaret to get up to pack up and get ready to leave. The innkeeper has put together some bread and cheese for the group for their travels at cost. They leave at 8am. As they travel Margaret shows off the attachment to her staff. The group also realises they forgot to identify the items from the Captain as they question what the attachment might allow the staff to do now.

By 11am they reach Gnarlwood. Luna locates the local tavern for the party and the stable for the loan horses. A male wood elf is running the stables. Everyone is given 40 gold for the horses. Brin notices this is different from the information they were given that would be returned to them at Falakdur. When Brin questions the elf they explains that it changes per region and roads. Taking this main road to Djafra is 10 gold while in Black Spears Tribe areas but cheaper in Djafra itself. If you're going through the centre of the Black Spear Tribe region it's 30 gold. The likely hood of a horse being lost is very high. By the time they settle this it is 11:30am. The elf doesn't know about any local tombs, though he warns the person who would know the group wouldn't want to ask. The ghoul also looks for places like this and would know of some of them, but no one wants to ever meet him. The group looks for something to eat. Ana asks Ubek about the Cook and he discusses how he rather liked the cook. Brin doesn't like this and explains that the Cook is wrong. Ubek isn't disturbed by this or how the Cook fought and the subject is dropped. They head into the Drunken Rose tavern. The tavern is a wooden cabin, with a brown shingled roof and shiny hardwood floors. It contains large persian rugs on the floor and a small stage for performers. There is a male gnoll behind the bar. The gnoll shares the menu.

Fruit Hash with Nutmeg and Leek and a Glass of Whiskey (5 sp)
Cheese Burger with Potatoes and a Glass of Wine (5 sp)
Oxen Casserole and a Glass of Vodka (4 sp)

While ordering, Margaret asks the gnoll about tombs in the woods, however he doesn't know anything. While waiting on their food, Margaret checks items for magic that they got from the Captain as well as her staff. The Tiny Feather, Beans and Staff are all magical. They resolve to identify the items later when their food comes. They finish at 12:30pm and decide to stop asking around town so they don't draw attention to themselves. They head NW out of town for about a mile by foot before heading West into the forest. They search the forest in this area. In this area they find a hut surrounded by wild flowers just off the road, the path carefully concealed by the forest. A young woman is seen gathering some of the flowers. Margaret waves at her and she waves back before they strike up a conversation. Jamal can't approach the field and is forced to stay back. Brin stays with Jamal while Ubek approaches with Ana and Margaret. She gives Margaret a few carefully selected flowers. This Khinasi woman has a large bee that rests on her shoulder that is 2 inches long. Her name is Cora Spellthorn. Ana can see that Cora has her appearance altered with an illusion. This is a Khinasi woman, but part of her appearance is changed to look more Khinasi. She has flowers and branch like horns growing out of her hair. It looks like a crown. One of her eyes is red. Ana believes she is fey but not true fey. It is strange. They ask her about an old tomb. She knows of one place to do with death and resting. They talk about renewal and balance, and about the Ghoul. She encourages the group to come back to her if they run into the Ghoul and if he should take something from them since she might be able to help. She can't banish him, but limit his influence. Brin asks about her ability to handle curses, which she can do but it takes time for her to deal with significant curses. This is the case for the void seed, but Brin doesn't believe he has the time for her to work her magic, so passes for now. Ana talks to Cora about Xeldarix and she admits she was aware the shift of power when Xeldarix rose, but didn't know her by name. The bees don't seem to hold anything against the name, so for now Cora presumes things are fine due to this. The group jokingly thanks the bees and all the bees hiden in the field buzz as one to show their appreciation for the acknowledgement. Cora gives them directions to the tomb she knows of. The group leaves Cora at 3:30pm and head West. By 5:30pm Luna locates the entrance as Cora described.

Margaret approaches the hole and begins examining the area around it closely, looking for any markers or indications of the nature of the tomb. Margaret notices a rope tied to one of the pillars but it seems to have snapped at some point. There is no light at the bottom. It's at this point Ana shares what she noticed about Cora being fey is some way and her illusion for her appearance. Despite this, Ana doesn't believe this to be a fey trap. The group ties together two ropes since the drop is rather large. They drop a rock with the light cantrip on it in the hole. After a moment, someone calls out to them that they seem to have dropped something. The figure below is concerned that this is a test by the witch, which is described to be Cora. They haven't tried to escape and promise they have been good, fearing punishment of some kind. He tries to throw the rock back up to the group but it falls short and hits him on the head on the way back down. It turns out they are from Ras Ghul and were sent to deliver a message. They now know to be patient when waiting to tell people messages and not to ruin flowers. The party offers to help the people down there leave, but the group down believe are sceptical if they are allowed to actually leave. They have put all their items in a chest and are not allowed to touch it. There is a mirror down there, their beds, and a giant's skull in the floor. The party discusses the situation and wonder if Cora is testing them by not telling them about this situation. Brin wants to leave and not mess with this, but Margaret wants to look into it further. In the end they stay. The figures below were meant to tell the witch about what happens when she interferes with their Lord's work. They admit the Knightly Order of the Ghoul has learned that their virtues are not in line with the world around them and will take this back to their Lord. The party offers to assist the people below by letting them out, but they should take the opportunity to forge a new path instead of returning to the Ghoul. The group below tells the party they have no choice but to return to the Ghoul. It turns out the group below is undead in a Knightly Order of War and Destruction, with only redemption awaiting them in the final death. Margaret ponders through the game of dragonchess, whispering half to herself and half to her companions "Who is she? Powerful enough to counteract the ghoul, but unable to deal with him directly? And the ghoul sends her messengers rather than overpower her himself." The group discusses these things briefly. In the end the party offers to give the group below the final death, though the group does warn they are unable to just accept it and must fight for their existence, as per their oaths. The rope is tied to a nearby stone and thrown down to allow the undead to climb out. Ten in total climb out.

The undead ask for an honourable fight, but only Margaret, Jamal and Ubek openly agree to this before the fight begins at 6:30pm. Ana starts things off with a held Eldritch Blast and follows up with a Radiance blast which injures all the Knights to a degree with Jamal backing her up with his own spell of Chill Touch. Four knights move up to Jamal, Brin, Ubek and Margaret as seperate targets to attack them with claws, since they have no weapons, with only Brin actually getting hit. Another knight attacks Ana from afar with his own spellcasting but Margaret throws out a sheen of silvery light to redirect the bolt of energy from hitting Ana. The sheen of light that warps the attack against Ana flies to wrap itself around Ubek. Margaret then unleashes a burst of moonlight at the knight next to her as well as the one running past the group, and moves to split the difference between the two. Two of the knights reposition themselves while Brin attacks his attacker and defeats him before moving to support Ubek. Another knight moves to take over for his fallen ally to attack Brin but misses. With Brin's support and Margaret's magic, Ubek is able to strike the knight attacking him and almost brings him down. One of the knights who have not run into battle start to now target Brin with their spellcasting in revenge, but misses. Ana blasts the knight closest to her, nearly bringing him down, and runs behind a tree near Margaret as he is telekinetically shoved away. Jamal switched to hand to hand combat with his sword, but is not very effective when he hits. Ubek, Margaret, Jamal, Ana and Brin are attacked, with Jamal suffering three solid hits which deals him a lot of damage. Margaret calls down the radiance of the moon on two of the knights, destroying one knight but the other remains standing. Seeing the harm the spellcasters of the party can do, one of the knights casts his own spells at Ana and Margaret, hitting both of them. Another knight does the same to Jamal and Brin, but only hits Jamal, nearly bringing him down. Brin brings down another knight before running over to face another knight. Ubek also moves to attack one of the knights that are casting spells from a distance. This doesn't stop one of the other spellcasting knights from hitting Brin with a spell, making him bloody. Ana steps out from behind the tree and fires two golden beams at the knights, killing one and critically injurying another. Jamal heals himself as he tries to attack but misses. One of the knights is between Brin and Jamal, attacking them both with claws but only strikes Brin, while another spellcasts at Ubek and hitting him once. Margaret sends out another flare of moonlight to confuse the knights around her and Ana, this destroys one of them. One of the other knights at a distance sends out a retaliating blast at Ana and Margaret, hitting them both. Brin takes down another knight and pushes forward towards another and Ubek does the same. A knight tries and fails to attack Brin while Ana destorys another knight. Jamal tries to help but he's struggling in this fight. A knight attacks Ubek and Margaret attempts to interfere with an attack against Ubek, granting Ubek some extra assistance with the moon's blessing. Ubek is still hit, but a critical blow is avoided. Then she closes in towards the knight off to the right, showing him in radiant light but to no effect. A knight from afar continues to throw spells at Ana and Margaret. Margaret is critically hurt, while Ana is now bloody. Brin continues to attack a more heartier knight and does hurt him and make him bloody. The knight attacks Brin in return and hurts Brin as well. Ubek attacks another knight, dealing a fair blow. Ana blasts back at the knight attacking her and Margaret, critically hurting him before healing Margaret a little. Jamal continues to struggle, but this is balanced by a knight attacking Ubek but can't hit him. Margaret thanks Ana and finishes off the knight attacking them from afar. Brin tries and fails to finish off the knight attacking him, but does get one hit in. This knight tries to retaliate but can't hit Brin. Ubek finishes off the knight he was attacking. Ana finishes off the last knight for Brin with her blasts. With all the knights fallen, the party checks in with one another. Ana uses her wand to heal some of the people up. The party heads down the rope into the time out location for the knights. Margaret heads down first to make sure it is safe before calling everyone. She notices the floor has massive giant skull embedded in the ground. As the party comes down, Ana is immedaitely looking for the chest the knights mentioned but it's not in this room. There are coffin and several exits. They take the North East exit. The hallway follows the curve of the previous room and has black unlit candles along the wall. Brin reminds the party that this might be a fae prision as Margaret causally uses her magic to light the candles. As this happens, Margaret, Brin, Jamal and Ubek all have twisted, jagged crowns appear on their heads and their eyes glow red, with just Ana unaffected by the candles. Ubek raises his rapier and tries to stab Jamal in the back, but misses. Brin turns to Ana, not seeing her, but instead seeing a member of the cult with the masks. He gets his axe out and attacks Ana, nearly bringing her down. Margaret turns to Jamal, but instead sees the Druid from Aris and he's come to kill her. She tries to use her magic bracers to summon a fireball, but instead casts Sleet Storm. The storm blows the candles out, and everyone's crowns disappear. Ana slips on the ice, confused as to why Brin is trying to kill her, as Margaret hurries back to the main room. Brin keeps his footing and offers to help Ana up, which she accepts. The party joins Margaret in the main room and takes a moment to rest and recover after that. While they rest, they discuss if they should explore more tonight and end up agreeing to do after their short rest. Brin doesn't rest. He instead scouts a bit more of the hallway but doesn't go through any doors. He finds some more coffins and a door before heading back.

At 7pm, the party finishes their short rest. Brin takes the lead to inspect doors as they went through some of the doors. They find a large drain, more coffins, a large mirror and finally the chest Ana wanted. The drain confused Brin and Margaret is sure that is a trap to drown them. Margaret goes to look at the mirror. It has a word at the top. It says "Repent". Any wrong that Margaret has done in her life, even a slight wrong like making someone feel bad about something, plays before her in the mirror. It's exaggerated and dramatized. Margaret cannot look away. She sees herself hurting someone and whispers to herself that she didn't mean it as Brin comes over to see what Margaret is doing. He catches sight of the mirror over Margaret's shoulder. Brin briefly sees a time when he was at his worst behaviour wise when he hurt someone else in some way. Brin sees a time when he left someone which ended up leading to losing them. Brin isn't as drawn into what he sees and can look away but Margaret can't seem to. Brin tells Ana, Jamal and Ubek about the mirror and warns them not to look at it. Brin tries to grab Margaret to force her away from the mirror. He takes her to the bench near the chest that Ana is looking over. Ana, Ubek and Brin discuss having Ubek cover up the mirror since he can't see. Margaret takes advanatge of Brin being distracted to run back to the mirror. He ends up giving up on helping Margaret. Ana has an idea to try and dispel the magic on Margaret and gets Ubek to help her. It works. She and Brin feel hollow and overwhelmed with guilt. Ubek covers the mirror. Ubek takes Margaret back to the skull room to rest. Ana stays and identifies the mirror.

Witch's Mirror This mirror reflect things of the viewer that the witch has set for them to see. It is set to mistakes of the past currently. They come in pairs and can be used to travel between them with the Witch's permission.

Ana speaks to mirror, asking if Cora is listening or watching currently. It turns out that she is. She was on her way when she realised they lit the candles, but stopped when they seemed to sort the situation out for themselves. Ana asks if they are safe to rest here and tells her about what they did to the knights. Cora reassures them that they are safe unless they try and hide in the chest. Though she does give permission for Ana to raid the chest to take things from it. She appreciates Ana's politeness. Cora passes two vials to Ana through the mirror with yellow liquid in them for Margaret and Brin. Brin doesn't trust the vial and instead lets Margaret drink hers first. It's a sweet taste with a tart after taste and it burns as it goes down like alcohol. Margaret's hollow feeling and guilt fades as memories of the good she has done in her life come rushing back to her. Brin asks Margaret if she's okay and when she confirms she is, he drinks his own and gets the same results. Margaret sets up camp and identify some of the items they have while Brin and Ana go back to the chest. They find the chest is not trapped but also can't be moved. They open it to see they can't see what is inside like a bag of holding. Ana thinks of gold as she puts her hand in and pulls out a large coin bag. This continues as she tests the following thoughts:

Gems x1 = Large Yellow Gem
Map x1 = Nothing
Scrolls x1 = 1 scroll
Enchanted staff x1 = 1 staff

They stop for now and head back to the skull room. By the time they have returned Margaret has identified her new staff attachement.

Erik's Boon Uncommon While holding this staff, you can use an action to cast the spell Goodberry once a day. The staff can also be used as a magic quarterstaff.

Ana explains what the chest is to Margaret and she suggests that they try multiple attempts with the same thoughts in case there are multiples. Ana and Brin count the coins from the chest and from the Captain. The Captain had 191 and the bag from the chest had 300. Brin estimates the gemstones were worth 50 gold each, so a total of 300 gold. Margaret's identification finds that they have:

Magical bag of Beans
Feather Token - Fan
Scroll of inflict wounds
Staff of Adornment

Margaret uses her staff to cast Goodberry and gives out berries. Ana heads back to the chest with Margaret. They try to following thoughts:

Gold x1 = Nothing
Gems x1 = Nothing
Platinum x1 = Nothing
Scrolls x1 = Nothing
Staff x2 = 1 staff
Ring x2 = 1 ring
Cloaks x11 = 10 cloaks
Swords x11 = 10 longswords (9 of which are put back)
Bones x1 = 1 bone

Upon Brin thinking of a bone, and surprisingly pulling one out, they stop what they are doing. Margaret pulls out a scarab after privately using the chest for a moment. Ana and Margaret head back to identify things while Brin and Jamal pull out bones to lay the bodies to rest from the chest.

Brin and Jamal pull out bones. Brin tries for "body" and does get a couple corpses. He suspects the witch put them there but Jamal reasons that they were warned not to physically hide in the box. If you do so and no one is there to pull you out, how do you get out? It turns out to be a total of three bodies with corpses and bones. Brin notices the skull has an actual eye in it. They discuss how to move all the bones, and resolve to use the cloaks Ana pulled out. Brin takes the skull with the eye to go and get this and talk to the girls.

The girls identify the ring and staff as a Ring of Water Walking and a Staff of Birdcalls. While waiting, Ana ritually casts Detect Magic again. Margaret puts up an alarm where she intends to summon her hut. Afterwards Brin comes into the room to update the girls on the body situation and shows them the skull with the eye in it. With her detect magic spell up, Ana can see it is magical and has the Divination school of magic up. Ana hands over a cloak to Brin so he and Jamal can move the bodies. Jamal and Brin take care of the bodies while Margaret identifies the eye as Ersatz Eye. Afterwards Margaret summons a disk to help Jamal get the bodies up the rope. She helps the boys dig a hole and bury the bodies. By 9:30pm they are finished with this. Ana goes around with Detect Magic while they do this to ensure there is nothing else magical down here. When all this is done, Margaret summons her hut and takes first watch as the others get some sleep.

During Margaret's watch, Luna spies movement as Cora comes from the hallway with the black candles. Margaret tells her the password to not set off the alarm so she may approach without waking everyone up. They have a brief chat. She has come to take stock if anything needed repairs. Adventurer's tend to leave destruction in their path. Margaret asks about the skull and learns a giant named Fredrik had rudely squished her flowers about 100 years ago, so she squished him. They continue a bit of small talk before Cora leaves. She reminds Margaret she is here if they need magical assistance with anything.

16th of Anarire 1545

At 6am the party gets up. Margaret conjures some Goodberries for the group. They head up the rope and continue to head West in their search for the correct tomb. In the next area that they spend 2 hours searching they find a stream teeming with life. Ana notices they have teeth as Margaret splashes water on her face. Ana warns her of this. Brin drops in some food in the water. The fish go rabid for it and one of the fish accidently eat one of the other fish. At 10am the party comes to a glade, they see strange constructs that sell of sulfur trying to dig into the ground while little pseudodragons are trying to stop them. Recognising the dragon creatures for what they are, Ana convinces the party to help them. Margaret calls out to the constructs to try and get them to stop what they are doing. The constructs use their drills to attack the party and release steam, which kills some of the pseudodragons in the area. In the end the constructs explodes like the fiends they are, and only five of the pseudodragons survive. Meanwhile the party is rather badly hurt by the constructs. Ubek doesn't feel good and was knocked down several times in the battle. They communicate in a very limited way that they had eggs hidden in the log. The party checks and they seemed to have survived the battle. The group stays here for a short rest. The party asks the dragons about if there are any tombs nearby. They do know of one lot of ruins nearby to the West. The dragons give the party a jar of maybe honey and a coin pouch before they leave. At 1pm, the party finds the ruins in question. Most of the building walls have been destroyed so the brickwork only comes up about a foot off the ground. However, there is a doorway going down into the side of a hill. There is faint traces of druidic writing here. They head down the stairs and investigate a pool of water in the centre of the first room. Brin notices the odd colour to the water just before it moves to attack them. They quickly defeat the water. They continue to explore. Doors from this room lead to an intersection with gates to left and right but an open hallway moving forward. The one to right is open, but the one to the left is locked. There is a lever to the left past the bars. Ana tries to Telekinetically pull the lever but it fights her and Margaret has more success. They explore to the left and find an iron chest. They look for traps and unlock it. Inside they find:

A shield
A Massive Fan
A small feather
A rod
Two scrolls
A horn
A Tankard

Brin is immediately drawn to the Tankard. Margaret wants to go back to the first room and ritually cast comprehend languages to read some writing she found there. She learns around the fountain that had the grey water in it, that there is a prayer to Masela and Reynir. Ana ritually detects magic and pulls aside the magical items for identification. While Ana, Margaret and Jamal are looking over things to identify them, Brin starts to price things that they have found. The identified items are:

Sentinel Shield
Wind Fan
Feather Token - Swan Boat
Rod of Immovability
Scroll of Non Detection
Scroll of Eldritch Blast
Ear Horn of Hearing
Tankard of Sobriety

The honey is similar magically to Keoghtom's Ointment and it has 5 doses in it. It has a inscription on the bottom of "Bee safe" with flowers. They ponder if the witch gave this to them or if they found it on someone who the witch had given it to but never made it. With that sorted, the group heads through the right gate and trigger a magical trap. A freezing wind blows from the tile Brin stepped on, hurting him, Ubek, Jamal and Ana. They all quickly retreat, or as much as they can as the wind continues to blow but their speed is slowed as the cold soaks into their bones. They decide to leave that location for a bit and instead up the centre of the intersection. It ends in a dead end, but does have a left turn. There is a gate halfway down the tunnel and a well at the end beyond that. There is also a lever that they magically lower, but it did try and fight them on this. Brin goes up to carefully check the new space for traps. He finds none but does hear faint noises directly behind him. Ubek asks who are the new people here and a fight quicks off with some Invisible Stalkers. The group for the most part is doing well in the fight but things take a turn as Brin is knocked out and dragged towards the well by the Invisible Stalker. Will the party be able to save him?