Sarenith 12, 4709 AR
Falcon’s Hollow

The three of us managed to cross the river in my makeshift raft. We walked on a ways through the woods till we were tired, then made camp. We never saw any signs of Biff or Keth, but we did hear something crashing through the woods nearby a few hours before we broke camp. Upon investigation, we found those same goat-like prints on the ground and the broken branches, as if something large had passed through- something we were unable to see.

Sarenith 11, 4709 AR
River, Darkmoon Wood

I suggested that we had back out of the ruins and head for Falcon’s Hollow. Keth pointed to a door we hadn’t explored yet. By point, I mean opened. We followed him down a passage until he brought us to a room with the sounds of fighting in it. Once we saw that it was seven kobolds versus one halfling, we jumped into the fray. Sadly, the halfling did not survive till we got to him, but six of the kobolds were quickly dispatched while one ran from the room. I had to keep from scolding Biff, who wanted to loot the halflings body while I was still checking for signs of life (turns out the poor thing had neither loot nor life). As we discovered that, we heard a sharp yip from the hallway– a yip cut short. A moment later, a floating dwarf-like ghostly thing appeared in the room, dripping fire and dragging a dead kobold.

Sarenith 10, 4709 AR
Abandoned Dwarven Monastery, Darkmoon Wood

We hastily closed the door to that hallway and opted to continue wandering through the maze of chambers, eventually coming to a room with a large, hot obelisk In the center– water poured down on it, producing a continuous cloud of steam. And, though we thought we heard a splash, we could see nothing through the misty atmosphere, so we quickly moved on.

Sarenith 10, 4709 AR
Abandoned Dwarven Monastery, Darkmoon Wood

Biff continued an inspirational song as we left the cells behind. We continued to open various doors as we traveled deeper into the monastery. One room had the promising look of a study, but it had two wolves in it, which became aggressive when we entered. Worse, as we engaged them in combat, we heard someone call out, “Who disturbs my slumber?” This third wolf spoke clearly and had an eerie intelligence in its eyes. A worg! Biff and Kethsalar were everywhere at once, hitting the wolves with bolts and arrows, as Thorab and I attempted to strike the worg in closer combat. I managed to hit it, and then it attacked me, twice. I went down, and was revived a short while later by Liake, who thankfully had a healing potion in her pack.

Sarenith 9, 4709 AR
Abandoned Dwarven Monastery, Darkmoon Wood

We stopped and had an uneventful night in the woods, then continued on early towards the final leg of our quest. In spite of attempts to befriend the elf, I find he is even more prejudiced towards my ethnicity than if I’d been an orc– slipping words like “mutt” and “half-human” into conversations out of pure malice, or perhaps to get a reaction out of me. Still, Keth is aiding an ailing town (although grumbling about that too!) and I will continue to work with him as long as the Goddess wishes me to. The more I think about it, the more I tend to believe the latter anyway. Thankfully Thorab and Liake do not share his intolerant attitude.

Sarenith 8, 4709 AR
Witch’s House, Darkmoon Wood

After a fairly quiet night, we began our trek to the second stop on our quest. We didn’t get attacked by any of the wildlife on the way, though we did encounter some large, goat-like footprints. I looked into the trees above the prints and saw many broken branches, as if something horned or antlered had crashed through them. The prints themselves didn’t seem to go anywhere in particular, and were not in the direction we were headed anyway, so we continued on to the west.

Sarenith 7, 4709 AR
Forest near Falcon’s Hollow

It’s not terribly surprising that I don’t miss Ustalav at all. I found the easiest way to meet people, earn a little money, and get as far away from home as possible was to hire on to guard a caravan. And I did meet some interesting people: Thorab, a dwarven paladin of Torag, Liake, a gnome obsessed with arcane magic, birth and dragons, and an elf called Kethsalar (in spite of spending so much time with him, I don’t think I’ve actually learned anything about him). We were the only non-humans in the caravan, so we eventually started gravitating towards each other by default.