Dearest Grun,

Well, I think (hope) things are improving for us. Now I’m worrying about you! During one of our few chances to talk, Valon mentioned that our clan has been in trouble for a while, fighting off duergar attacks. May Moradin protect you, Grun! I wish I were there.

Valon, by the way, was utterly horrified at first when we began healing up by stabbing each other with the sword. Poor guy! After some thought, he remembered hearing a story about such a sword. Apparently a paladin of Pelor used it, long ago. Wonder how it ended up lying in a room for us to find?

We headed for the last tower before the central one, trying to ignore the drums pounding in the lord’s tower. Drusilia cast a spell on us all that made the undead ignore us, which was good, because a LOT of them passed us by. The drums were calling them. I have a bad feeling about that, but we’ll deal with that problem when it comes.

Poor Korin. I wish we could have done something to help him. It was a very quiet walk!

We got to the last tower only to find it had been sealed against sunlight - all the windows bricked up. And a wooden door! I opened the door very carefully.. and saw three coffins inside. Imagining vampires in every corner, I chocked the door open with my short sword and we carefully pulled each coffin out before opening the lids... nothing. On the other hand, I could hear clinking up some spiral stairs to the next floor. As I pulled out my greatsword, I thought I actually heard a cry for help! With Drusilia right behind, I headed upstairs.

We found two humanoid figures chained to the wall.. and three more coffins. The figures turned out to be very alive and half-dressed, an elf and a human that looks rather elflike. Drusilia calls him a half-human, and he contradicts her every time: “elf! half-ELF!.” Half-and-half, anyway. Fafnir picked the elf’s lock while I smashed the chains off the wall for the halfie, and then checked the last two floors.

The top floor looked like a scary place - big sarcophagus, old, rich furniture, and, within a few minutes, the rest of the party, searching the place. Fafnir found the new guys’ clothes and gear, causing the halfie to sit down in the middle of the room and start memorizing something from a book. The elf took off down the stairs. I noticed that things were gettnig very quiet outside...

And the vampires finally attacked. They came up through the stairwell, attacking Valon and the halfie and inspiring Fafnir to multiply - like there was much space to begin with! As the first vampire was dusted, the next turned to gas and fell through the floor. Drusilia finished it off as I headed down to see what had happened to those below, worried that there was no light coming from the door. The damned new elf had actually shut it. Not only shut it, but blocked it up! I cursed out loud while getting it open, which he found amusing. Amusing! The halfie then lit the place on fire!

Drusilia made us invisible to undead again, and we headed for the hills for the night. The new guys decided to come along. I hope the saying “safety in numbers” isn’t too much of a challenge for them.. I’m not happy at all. They spend more time whispering to each other than talking to us. It was only in the walk across the city that they finally admitted to something like names. I say something, because the half-human uses the elven name Aramil, and the elf calls himself “Pockets.” Hrmph. Aramil is also an armor-wearing fighterish-looking... mage. “Pockets” likes to hide behind him. Despite wanting to hide, he also thoughtlessly lit a torch when the familiars became agitated, spotlighting us against the mountainside in the dark! After more wraith fighting, we spent the night in the cave at the top of the path. (They are slowly getting used to the sword that heals.. not enough to try it yet, however).

Finally, morning came, and we headed back into town to try for the central tower. “Pockets” has some skill in opening doors, which is useful! The first chamber of the tower was waist-deep in bones of all kinds, and an evil creature constructed of bones to look like a snake attacked us. It even multiplied to attack more of us as we crossed the room! Valon is singing to inspire us again, by the way...

Finally, we reached the stairs. We’re taking a quick breather before our final search. At least we’ve made it this far!

With love,
Ghelt

p.s. - Aramil and “Pockets” must be mercenaries. They talk a lot about employers and money, and both Drusilia and I are watching them as much as we can to be sure they don’t make off with something they think is valuable, but in fact needs destroyed. I can’t justify leaving them alone to die here, so I guess we’ll just have to be careful!