Black Spider Journal

February 28th,
The search for Wave Echo Cave and the Spell Forge has been narrowed down to northeastern portion of the continent. My spy, on loan from the obnoxious buffoons from the Order, has infiltrated the council in Rivercairn and has been relaying information for a few days now. His abilities are singularly useful for this, hopefully the council members have some information, however minor but more importantly he can keep tabs on any military activity that we need to be wary of. Glass-staff is now personally overseeing his Redbrands in Phandalin - things should start running more smoothly there so I can extend my reach to the other bandit groups in the region.
March 1st,
Alarming but interesting news from my eyes in Rivercairn: a large army of what he described as "soulless metal soldiers and weapons" attacked the city. Very few of the attackers managed to enter the city proper before the barrier was raised, but it is estimated that one third of the standing guard were wiped out. Most interesting was the strange goliath that appeared and the ones that stopped him, and apparently the entire battle in so doing. Rumors are already spreading about these "Heroes of Rivercairn" among the citizens. They may be worth keeping an eye on.
March 2nd,
The king is dead, according to the updated report. Killed last night by another strange attacker, though my contact did not witness the event himself. The most useful, and frustrating piece of information is that he was able to confirm that Rivercairn was indeed powered by a Shard... but it is gone now, taken by whoever these strange attackers were along with the Shards that were in Moria and Gralea. The goliath was apparently Gar Naz, a bandit leader who I've been trying to find and recruit. I've spoken to my contacts in the south: it was not the Order who was behind this. Someone else is after the Shards, and they're up three. The records show the Spell Forge was powered by one of these Shards, hopefully it remains.
March 3rd,
The "Heroes of Rivercairn" have been deputized by Rosenvelt, and have been tasked with delivering enemy remains to a "Research Commission" in the vicinity of Innsmouth - this warrants further investigation at a later time. I will send word to Glass-staff to be on alert if anyone matching the descriptions of these so called heroes passes through.
March 5th,
One of my contacts in the field has found something promising. A partial field report from when Asteros was forced to abandon the Spell Forge - it mentions a teleportion circle-esque device near a crossroads in the east. I will canvas the area myself. Glass-staff has requested additional muscle, so I sent a few of the bugbears to assist him, less hassle for me to deal with.
March 8th,
I grow weary of these insufferable bugbears. They are incompetent. And the smell. The next place I will search is an abandoned watch tower between Angelbluff and Slagridge. More importantly - Glass-staff missed his scheduled correspondence time. Once I have recovered my expended magic I will have to check on him personally.
March 9th,
We finally found it. I currently sit before the door to the Spell Forge, it is locked with a level of security that befits its value. I will continue testing various methods to open it while the bugbears begin to search the cave for the intended key. I have checked in with Glass-staff: he has been captured and his Redbrands wiped out. Based on what he relayed it was those so called heroes, but there is a woman with them of drow blood that was not with them per the earlier reports... I wonder.... They are cautious in what they say around him, and are not allowing him to sleep - they are smarter than I expected.
March 11th,
My eyes in Rivercairn have been compromised. The incompetent fool Glass-staff did not dispose of the last written correspondence and Rosenvelt was tipped off. He may have been able to continue his infiltration had the actual council member's body not been found. I'm surrounded by idiots. He is on his way here now to assist with accessing the Spell Forge.
March 13th,
I heard from the others in the south - their project is proceeding apace and will enter the final phase soon. They have been joined by an interesting fellow from our brothers over in the east. They'll find Asteros' Shard.
My efforts here are becoming increasingly frustrating. The undead and abominations that guard this place may be a bit too much for these bugbears. Meanwhile all of my attempts both magical and mundane cannot so much as scratch this door. I may need to request additional forces, though I do not know if any can be spared this close to them commencing the operation. But from what I have heard about our ally from the east, his abilities make him worth a hundred foot soldiers, if not more.
Tomorrow I shall head into the cave along with the bugbears to clear out those infernal ghouls. After that I will be able to better scope out the rest of the cave and find the key to this damnable door.