....

well, Grun, I guess I can just add to the bottom of this note.

We didn’t get a chance to sleep or rest much, after all.

I decided to make myself a holy symbol - pounding a coin flatter and trying to etch it didn’t work, but chopping up a bedpost from the ghoul’s room went better. It turned into another group effort (I’m having that lesson emphasized a lot lately!), with Fafnir’s carpentry, Trap’s inks, and Drusilia holding the post steady so I could chop a neat piece off.

The noise must have attracted attention, however - the door we planned to search through tomorrow opened, and several undead duergar entered! I immediately tried to turn them, but it didn’t work. Need more practice, expect I’ll get plenty! Meanwhile, chopping them up while Drusilia turned them worked quite well.

Fafnir followed the fleeing undead, which prompted the rest of us to follow him. We went down a hall and around a corner, into a room full of undead! Drusilia turned most of them out another door, while I killed the rest, but the screams of Trap from behind us distracted us from the hunt.

We killed another ghoul, and searched the room it had come from; some sort of barracks which were falling to bits, but the elf found a journal from one of the priests of this awful place. We decided to go back to the main room and read it, while trying to rest yet again.

This time, we wanted to block the door! Drusilia, Trap, and I shoved the main altar over and immediately got queasy. We did get the door blocked, but I fear we’ve been cursed by this evil place. I didn’t think after all this time that the magic would still be strong enough, but both Drusilia and I are weakened. It must be the evil god’s hatred of our good gods - Trap is fine.

Determined to make the best of things, we sat down to decipher the book. It’s very damaged, but Drusilia made out that it was written by a duergar priest, who was helping the high priest but angry that his superior had become obsessed with finding an artifact called the “Heart of N’Rul” or something. Meanwhile, other duergar had started to attack the temple, and it’s these priests who collapsed that tunnel to protect themselves from the threat. What’s worrying is the end, which mentions a new disease or curse that was turning temple members into dessicated husks, which magic healing did not cure. I hope we’re OK...

So, we’re trying to rest again, before going on tomorrow. I’m a little worried, as we didn’t bring much food or water, and we have to decide whether to turn around here and return with better provisions (not to mention maybe getting uncursed??), or go on and hope for the best.

With love - again!
Ghelt