I grew up in the small farming village of Grandville, and wanted to make a name for myself, so I took what little I had and the first job that came along. I was doing well too, made enough to custom make all my own armor and equipment. I also took some time to learn how to make them. I created a symbol (picture of a sword point down in the earth with the sun rising behind it) for myself and had it put on all my stuff.

Then one day I was approached for a job. Simple enough— guard a caravan. About 2 days into the travel, we were attacked. There were 8 of us I watched most of the others die. I ran into the woods; there were too many attackers. After awhile of running, I realized no one was persuing, and I was lost, I wandered for weeks. I actually lost track of time.

Eventually I ran into some hill giants. I fought as long as I could, and the last thing I remember about that fight was a large gray figure coming towards me.

When I woke up I was in a cave surrounded by stone giants. They told me in Common that this area was unsafe, and I shouldn’t be here. I told them I got lost and wanted to go on my way. They told me to rest for a couple of days, and something about I had not been drinking enough water, and so here I sit, resting and rehydrating!

Cause of death: a big hug from a shoggti (demonic outsider).

From what I can figure I didn’t wake up in the Abyss. That was my first impression after seeing a halfling hanging a few feet from me. Then I saw a Elf with the symbol of Pelor around her neck and realized I was alive. I offered to go with them, being as I was lost and everything. Not that I was in any hurry to go anywhere. We traveled for a day getting to know my new companions, and enjoying the scenery. We rounded a bend, and saw a cave about 60 feet up a cliff. Someone decided to check it out, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back. I eventually climbed up, and helped my friends get up. Those that were there anyway. I noticed then that some were missing. I walked in with Ghelt and Drusilia. It was a horrible sight. 2 harpies were skinning Korin and Fafnir, and eating the skin. Then I got this weird feeling, and when I came to the harpies were dead. We spent the night there, because it seemed to be the safest place possible. The next day, we left to continue our journey. We traveled for a while talking and stuff, and as night fell we started to hear howling from all around. At one point a voice growled, “Silly snacks” and shortly after we were attacked by wolves. Everyone fought, and some tried to ride one. We worked together, and survived the night. So now we’re leaving again. Let’s see what happens next.

The day started out good enough. We traveled cross country for a while, and found an overgrown cobblestone road. After some debate, we turned right, which headed roughly north. We traveled for most of the day and when we saw a bridge in the distance I suggested we camp on this side for the night. My companions marched on, and so I went with. About half way across the bridge we heard sounds of combat in the distance. When we reached the battle we saw 2 dwarves, one had leprosy. They told us they were on a quest, and were attacked by an Ettin which took some of their companions. We followed its trail to a cave, and fought it.

Ghelt and I almost died and I felt a little weaker after the battle. Then I noticed Korin wasn’t with us. While searching the cave, 2 creatures came out of a crevice in the cave wall. The told us they’d give us 1000 gp each if we let them live. But before we could really talk to them Korin ran in and shot them. He told us that the dwarves changed into those creatures, and attacked him. Then he came to warn us. That was nice of him.

We camped at the mouth of the cave for the night. The next day we traveled the road again, and came to where it split. We took the left path and found an old dwarven fortress. We entered and while searching, were attacked by shadowy figures. I was hit and felt so weak, I couldn’t carry my equipment. We finally escaped, and Drusilia was able to restore some of my strength. Enough so that I could at least shoot some of the figures that attacked us during the night. I’m still weak and I hope we rest long enough to restore all of my strength.

Well, we went back into the fortress again today. Ghelt wanted to go down immediately to check the armory, I suggested we go up and clear out the area first. We found steps going up, so we went up. After some searching I got the impression that clearing an area only works for solid enemies. I also noticed an interesting thing about one area of the top floor. The outside of the fortress is squarish in shape, but we seemed to be missing a 10’ by 60’ room. When I pointed this out to Ghelt, she eventually found a secret door. We found some stairs going down. Korin went first, the Ghelt, then me, Drusilia and Fafnir got the rear.

We passed the first floor landing, and went down for what seemed like an eternity. Finally we reached the bottom, and at the end of a short corridor we found the Dwarven Hall of Heroes. There were 960 dwarves remembered in this room. I think Ghelt was crying a little. As we reached the other end of the room we found a large door. When Ghelt got near it her helmet began to glow, and the doors opened. So we traveled on. A short distance in, Korin stumbled a little, and the ceiling began to fall. Ghelt fell, so Korin and I half carried her to safety, Drusilia and Fafnir seemed okay, so we traveled on. Not that we had much of a choice at this point, the way back was blocked permanently, and staying put would only get us killed.

After a short walk, we found another staircase going down, so we went down. We came to an open room, a hall on either side, and a chasm in front of us with a broken bridge. We found some magic items, and searched the other rooms. There is a permanent reenactment of how the fortress fell with the ghosts on the other end of the chasm. It was sad really. While trying to find a way across, these strange heads with wings attacked us. Suddenly I couldn’t move. Then I felt very cold.

When I came to the things were gone, and Ghelt thought she was going to turn into one. We tried to comfort her, but no luck. We rested for the night, and Drusilia tried to heal us, but I still seem to have this cough that set in during the night. Korin is now wearing Dwarven Plate mail, and boots, all magical. I’m now wearing that amulet, it seems to be some sort of protection. Now were moving on. Wish us luck, because if things keep up like this, we won’t be here for long.

Well, Ghelt didn’t become a flying head, and so I’m sure we’re all going to be okay, if they can forgive me anyway. We were able to get across the chasm by making a rope bridge with 2 ropes, and a safety catch with the third. After that, we picked a passage and traveled for a while. We bumped into a bunch of undead that was scarily easy to dispatch. Korin said the spirits told him we needed to go right, so we went right. After a short walk, and a pit trap, we found a large room. Most of my companions stayed at the main door; I went in with Korin. Suddenly we were surrounded by shadows, who just vanished when Ghelt turned them. Next it went fuzzy. Korin ran, and I think a shadow or something possessed me. I turned and started attacking my companions. I tried to stop myself, but was unable to. Ghelt and Drusilia knocked me out and I was in control of myself again. We knocked out Fafnir who was also possessed, and we fought the thing that came out of him. it left and we were exhausted. Personally I would feel better if we moved on, and my companions agreed with me, so tired and shaken we move on.

On a side note, I can’t seem to shake this cough.

Well, we started walking down one hallway, and we came to an impenetrable darkness. Well, we decided not to enter the darkness, and walked back to the large room. We then went down another hallway. We walked for a while, had a small encounter, and after trying a few doors we came to a large room. There we fought a few skeletons, and Fafnir found a room behind some tapestry. I picked up a dwarven waraxe from the one skeleton. It’s the best weapon I’ve ever seen, so Ghelt said she’d teach me to use it. Ghelt, Korin and I entered the hidden room, and were promptly electrocuted.

When I was revived, I had to go back in for the other two. I got them out, but was zapped again. When I came to, they decided we’d stay there for the night.

The next day we decided to make a run for it, and most of us got into the corridor in one piece. That’s when Korin scared me. I used the axe to cut down the door at the other end of this corridor, and he called the axe “My Precious.” I don’t know why, but later he pointed an arrow at me.

You see, on the other side of this door was a 3-foot wide stairwell, and we were going down, when we heard flapping, after what happened a couple of days ago, we needed to get to a better vantage point. Korin was last in line, and said he wasn’t going to let us up till I handed him “My Precious,” talking about the axe. I said “no.” I took out a rope and lowered my other companions down to the stairwell, below us, Fafnir gave me a potion of spider climb so I could get down. I offered to lower Korin down, but he pointed an arrow at me and demanded the axe. I said “no,” and spider climbed down.

It turned out to be bats. Lots and lots of bats. I spider climbed to the bottom, and came back up to carry Drusilia down. Fafnir cast flying on himself, and gave Ghelt spider climb as well. Korin apparently climbed down, and I made it clear if he ever did that again, I’ll defend myself. We then continued on....

Well, we headed down the corridor for awhile, and when I noticed holes in the floor the first thing I thought about was, “it’s a trap.” Ghelt said it was only for a track, so I figured it was okay. Then we encountered a rust monster. Great. I hit it with a javelin of lighting, and my companions helped me to scare it off. We continued on.

After a little while, two of these monsters came at us from behind, and one ate Korin’s armor. We killed one, and left the other preoccupied. One more came at us from the front, but we dispatched it quickly.

We walked faster, and came to a large cavern. Here were a bunch of freshly slain rust monsters. The rails that were originally on the track started again in the middle of this room, and the thing refused to follow us into here. There were 5 other paths not counting the one we left, so we went straight ahead. We traveled for awhile, and came to a rift in the floor. Korin tried to go in, but I stopped him. He then went for my axe; this guy is obsessed by it. I took it back from him, and backed up as something came out of the crevice. I couldn’t leave the little guy to do it himself, so I went back up, and helped him fight. We killed them all, and Korin climbed over himself. Fafnir cast spider climb on me, and I carried everyone else over. After awhile of walking, we heard slapping behind us, and we turned to see a large mouth with several feet attached, it seemed to roll at us. Fafnir cast lightning bolt at it, and fried them all, then the lightning followed the rail back at us, just not a strong. it did no damage to me anyway.

Eventually, we came to a set of stone doors that were broken out. Who or what ever did that didn’t even take the time to remove the lock. We then entered a large cave and I SAW DAYLIGHT. There was a cave opening, and it overlooked Arun-tosa.

We slept there for the night, and in the morning went to the city. Korin ran on ahead and was lost from view. We decided to go to the temple, and at that point Korin yelled about seeing dead people again, and we ignored him. Then he came yelling at us, and I thought that he was going to attack me till he doubled over and puked. I then saw three figures coming after him, so I went to protect him. I felled the first in one blow, but the others were more difficult. My companions helped, and we dealt with them.

Korin was apparently paralyzed, so Drusilia tried to heal him and he crumpled in front of us. I was horrified not knowing what to do. Fafnir talked Ghelt into healing him, and Korin came back to life. Then Ghelt backhanded Fafnir. She told me it was an illusion, and Fafnir said something about a joke while laughing, so I slapped him too. He then sent a lightning bolt at us, and ran away laughing about it also being an illusion. I want to kill him, but that would be bad since it was only a joke. A very bad one at that. Something like that could really destroy what little bonds we do have, and I think we will be in a lot to trouble if we don’t start to work together.