Dearest Grun,

Finally, we were together and ready to get rid of the albino beast. Fafnir said his weasel could track it, so into the tunnels we trekked. The passages got smaller and smaller, yet still we followed! Even I was crawling, when “Pockets” decided to leave a trail in case we got lost. He didn’t tell us he was stopping, and as he was behind the party.. it’s lucky that Fafnir heard the movement as the white arms reached through the side wall and carried “Pockets” off! We discovered something new - now the creature actually left open tunnels for us to follow as it moved, and we’d been in them for some time judging by the size. The weasel went ahead, and we followed, yet again.

After what seemed like ages, we came to a large chamber, high enough that I could actually stand up in it. After some thought, I decided this must be the beast’s lair - we were right under the center of town, finally! Even better, we found “Pockets” lying on the bone-covered floor across the room. We went to get him, but heard trouble behind - as we came into the room, Fafnir was attacked! I pulled Drusilia out of the tunnel, and Valon came right behind, but just as I thought we’d be able to get down the tunnel to Fafnir - Aramil decided to crawl right back in for him, instead! He’d already been hit once, and he got hit again as he crawled - still, he wasn’t giving any ground. Drusilia was trying to help by blasting light down the passage, and Valon sang something at me - wow, did it make me feel powerful! I crawled right down the tunnel and smashed the thing, which took off (and without any more party members). Finally, we got everyone out into the room and healed up, but some were paralyzed by the creature’s poison.

Drusilia said she could fix that a little, but when she cured “pockets,” he immediately sat up cursing the dog that had been pulling at him. The dog took off with a book in its mouth, and, to our astonishment, Aramil took off right after it! Drusilia got ready to cast down the tunnel, but Aramil got hit by the creature anyway, and couldn’t catch up with the dog. Finally he came back, pissed! He explained that he felt useless without his spells - and the dog had his spellbook! As he said it, we heard a yipping from the poor dog, then silence. Aramil was mad that the creature had eaten his book with the dog, but I just felt bad for the dog. Poor puppy! Of course, as we talked about what might attract it to be attacked, it came for us again. This time Valon, who hit it a few times as Drusilia used light on it too before it took off. She then tried heating a dagger, to no avail, and “Pockets” scratched at the wall.. and was attacked! He later explained he thought it would hurt the creature a lot if it was using its hearing to track us - but he slapped two thunderstones together, and nearly deafened us all! In fact, the creature was fine, but Fafnir and “Pockets” were deafened for some time afterwards, which really didn’t help matters.

As soon as he’d used the thunderstones, “Pockets” was grabbed by the creature and yanked into a new tunnel. Aramil immediately went in after him - which made the third time that day that he’d gotten in the way of people who could actually do some damage to it! I was really mad; even if it is his best friend, he already admitted he wasn’t much help at the moment! I grabbed him and yanked, but he wouldn’t come out. From the hollering, I gathered that the creature was now moving to the side - sure enough, Drusilia and Valon were shooting down the next corridor, with little luck. Aramil and “Pockets” had a fight in the passage, and I sat back to wait them out. As soon as Aramil lost that fight and crawled out, I grabbed him by the shirt and screamed at him about useless mages and only halfway fighters (with borrowed weapons!) getting in the way so we couldn’t get to the creature for fear of killing him, and a few choice words besides. Not only did he not get it, he even took a swing at me! Of course, it just proved my point - he didn’t even come close to landing a blow. “Pockets” tugged on my sleeve and asked for some healing, so I shoved Aramil away and helped his friend. Aramil decided this was the chance to draw both a torch and a rapier, so I pulled out my urgrosh and waved it in his face. Did he really want to get into this here? He couldn’t even stand up straight!

At this point, Valon did something - and we all couldn’t hear each other speak. He then told us all to shut up! Valon has good timing.

“pocktes” sheathed the healing sword and began scuffing at the ground again.. but this time, the creature came from above! As it yanked him into the ceiling, I did the first thing that came to mind - softening the stone and earth above us in hopes that they both would slide back into the chamber. Of course, this meant the whole ceiling came down, too.. At least it did bring “Pockets” and the creature back within reach! We immediately waded into battle, except for Aramil, who luckily couldn’t free himself from the dirt in time to get in the way. I’ll have to keep that idea in mind. Unfortunately, the creature escaped again, this time into the floor. We sorted ourselves out, and waited. And waited! I tried scraping at the ceiling like “Pockets” had (he was paralyzed again and this time Drusilia couldn’t help). There was a sudden movement from the dirt on the floor, and Drusilia nearly took the dog’s head off. She did hit Aramil, who’d seen that the dog had his spellbook and cluelessly dodged into sword range. Hrrrmph. He did get the book back, eventually, although he lost a few spells along with the cover. Now the poor dog has two people threatening its life for being a puppy!

I tried calling the dog - and it actually came over to me! I petted it for a bit, and then it decided to run down the creature’s latest hole. Ack! I could hear it sniffing and growling at something, though, and wondered if the thing had acually died right below us. I tied a rope to myself and gave an end to Valon, and climbed down the hole! The dog was yanking on a leather bag in the side of the passage.. no creature. Ah, well! I did bring the sack back up, which proved to be a bagful of gold, so I can’t complain. Still, we were wondering what to do. It was quiet - Fafnir had actually fallen asleep! “Pockets” came unparalyzed, and since he’d been awake the whole time, we found out what had been percolating in his brain - he immediately headed down the newest tunnel! We followed (even Fafnir),.and after an hour and a half, reached the surface. Prints led us deeper into the woods and we followed them to where it had gone to ground again - and in we went! Fafnir became a huge weasel, which would come in useful, as after hours of crawling, we came to a dead end.

I knew we were only about eight feet underground, so I passed my shovel to the rear of the party and told them to start digging up and pushing the dislodged dirt into the tunnel behind. Of course, it was Aramil who had the job, so Fafnir was able to tunnel himself up and back before he got too far! (OK, it’s not like he’s used to digging.. *sigh* gotta give the guy a break). We used Fafnir’s tunnel and found ourselves in the forest, and already into the next day. We took the time to pray, and Drusilia’s removed the last of the party’s deafness. The dog is now with me, since “Pockets” spends a lot of time with a drawn bow and arrow nocked at its head. He won’t take any money for it but I hope he lets up! I need to learn how to teach the poor puppy to behave. Drusilia, by the way, says her name is Watch.

I’m back to hoping you’ll pray for us, Grun. We need all the help we can get! I hope the creature’s gone for good but I wish we’d killed it, and meanwhile, we need to get to the Temple fast! What a crazy life - and I can’t complain, it’s what I asked for!

With love,
Ghelt