Daylight came quietly. We broke camp, and re-entered the fortress at the broken-down wall where Beowulf had lost his life. The bodies of our enemies were still there, so we searched them for anything useful, then moved on to the barracks and checked beds and chests. We found the insignia of the hobgoblin mercenary band “The Chill” on everything, and I fear the rest of them won’t be pleased with what happened here! We also found some gems and gold, and added them to our own stash.

We moved further into the building, sending Glitch on ahead under doors and around corners to see what lay ahead. Everything was quiet until he found the kitchen! We took as much food as we could carry, then Theona, Glitch and I had a well-deserved drink from the wine casks while the others explored some more. We followed when they found the weapons room, but there wasn’t much left that hadn’t rotted. I think Areon found some arrows. We walked around some more, found the front doors, then opened a lot more doors. Theona and I refilled our personalized mugs with wine a few times while the others looked over some more barracks. Finally, we walked over the bridge to the room with the sarcophagus.

The hydra still lay in a heap in the corner of the entrance room, and there were still holes in both rooms’ ceilings. Tyan climbed up to check the sarcophagus from overhead, and found it closed. He also chucked a rock at the hydra to be sure it was dead. It was. We all began to wonder if the vampire was even still here – or if the statue was! I sat down and prayed to my goddess, divining that the statue was, indeed, still in the fortress. I then asked about the sarcophagus and got a mixed response: I guessed to the others that both the vampire and the statue were inside!

We waited outside the room while Tyan cast scintillating spheres of force inside, cracking the sarcophagus’ lid and bringing down more of the roof. Ebin went up on the roof to help smash more of it in, then came down to bash on the sarcophagus. After a while, a very small hole was made. Tyan was all ready to cast a powerful spell through the crack when Areon stopped him, worried that the statue, too, would be damaged! Ebin took a quick look through the crack and said that a giant form was definitely in there, so Tyan used an acid spell on it.

What a response! The lid flew off – and shattered into thousands of sharp shards! We were all hurt, but the sight of the vampire banished the pain from our thoughts. It was over ten feet tall, and very angry! At least the sun was up, which slowed it, but the sky was overcast and drizzling – not much help. Theona cast enfeeblement at it, and I was about to cast searing light when Ebin charged into the fray, so I tried to turn the creature instead. It didn’t work; worse, when Ebin tried to get away from the thing, it smashed him into the ground, then picked him up and drained him of all his blood! It was terrible!

I cast searing light and hurt the thing badly, but also got its attention. Tyan cast another blast of acid at it, Areon ran for the sarcophagus and joyfully held up the silver tiger statue, and the giant clubbed me into the floor.

I remember telling my goddess that I was disappointed; things had just gotten interesting!

Next thing I knew, I woke up in a strange temple and a strange town, with my friends all around me. They put together the money and made the effort to get Ebin and me raised, bless them!