15 Lamashan 4709 AR
Absalom (probably)

After the encounter with the zombies, we found ourselves crawling through a tunnel on our hands and knees. Up ahead of Deaglan was a larger chamber, and in it, the faint outline of someone in a mask looking towards us. The dog was still with us, and leapt to attack the shadowy figure as it turned to escape up a ladder. Salma and Deaglan recognized the clothing worn by the figure as that of Zandu’s killer and Salma’s stalkers, so we dispatched the would-be assassin before he had time to call for help or disappear.

As it turned out, he had one of those teleporting rings and a few potions on his belt, all of which could be useful down here. As much as I distrust this arcane magic (for that is what it must be!), we had yet to find Tythe, so we held on to each other while Salma put the ring on and twisted it.

What amazing luck! We arrived in a circle in a brazier-lit chamber with a pair of doors at one end— the only other person in sight happened to be Tythe. She had been out through some tunnels herself, and had only used her ring to return to this chamber because she was being attacked elsewhere.

We cautiously left the room and took the path Tythe had not used on her previous trip through, though it meant we would have to get past some guards just beyond the first turn in the tunnel. Luckily they were so absorbed in whatever it was that guards do that we were practically standing on them before they noticed us. I had volunteered to sing a lullaby to cause a distraction, when I realized I had the perfect opportunity to use something I had seen a skald use on charging enemies— this bit of legerdemain caused a grease-like substance to appear between us and the guards, causing one to fall outright and the others to have to pick their way carefully to avoid falling themselves.

We discovered that it is a bit difficult to fight in such close quarters. My friends all started out using bows until the guards were too close to aim properly, while I took a few down with my claymore (and got pretty beat up in the process). I think there were six, but at least one got away from us before we could dispatch him….