Reaping 24, 594 CY
Exag

The next time we saw Elizair and Janet, they were dead. The bone devil dragged their remains right past where Fash and I were cowering, and there was nothing we could do. Sometimes it is an unfortunate thing to have such good vision— even in total darkness, we could see there was no help for either of our companions. We slunk back to the room where the battle took place— there was a lot of blood, a blue feather or two and nothing else. We had to take stock of our bleak situation— Fash lost a very good bow and shield, and of course, my sword was gone as well. But, we were alive, and we did have news to take back to Exag— at least Elizair and Janet did not die in vain. We squeezed through the small fissure where Elizair had closed the passage off to larger creatures, scurried to the shaft out, and left the mine as quickly and quietly as we could.

We were making fairly good time on the road to Exag, but it was midday and we didn’t take the time to hide ourselves at all. In fact, we weren’t being all that quiet either. We came upon three ogres with clubs. I managed to kill one when Fash and I were able to flank it, but the other two were fairly undamaged at that point. Thankfully, two small people appeared on the road behind the ogres, and with their magic and weapons, we were able to dispatch the other two.

I turned to thank them and realized there was only a lone mage— the other creature was nowhere to be found, or was at the very least invisible. Holli introduced herself to us and called herself a “whisper” gnome. I had no idea there was more than one type of gnome, but then, Fash doesn’t look exactly like a “normal” gnome either. Holli also had a large furry “weasel” draped around her neck she introduced as Dabs. Dabs barely opened an eye to study us briefly, and then went back to doing whatever it is weasel scarves do.

Holli appeared as though she would continue on the way we just came from, so we hurriedly explained why that was a very bad idea. She said something to Dabs or perhaps the air beside her head, and then agreed to accompany us back to Allister and then Exag, which was nearly visible on the horizon. If only we’d paid more attention to how to get back safely.

We turned off the road and attempted to go well around the town so as not to be seen by anyone manning the walls. After an hour, we started to recognize the landscape, but only because we’d just seen it an hour before. Scanning the nearby hillside, we saw a rectangular opening in the shadows on one side, and somehow, we ended up wandering in. At this point, I was still trying to figure out who Holli was talking to over her shoulder. We found some blood right inside the roughhewn opening and further in, some broken sarcophagi. Fash found some shambling creatures as well, and not having his bow, attempted to engage one in melee. It did not go well for him, but the little green guy that was with Holli reappeared and came to his aid. We killed (rekilled?) both of the undead things, and checked the damaged sarcophagi— already looted.

Not really sure why we made a stop at this tomb, we decided we’d better get heading back to find Allister. But, we were pretty lost, and it was now late evening, so we decided to make camp and try again in the morning. Oh, we also got to meet the other whisper gnome, Keth, who travels with Holli. I have to admit, I find myself comfortable around them, even though they are very unusual— other than Fash, I don’t really know any other gnomes— my family is/was Elizair and the Whisperleaf family. Hopefully we’ll all get to know each other better, once the current crisis is past. I’m not sure I can face my adopted halfling family right now.

We accidentally managed to check out the ruins of Hightower the next day— the information will actually be invaluable if we can get to Allister in time. The ruins were crawling with undead— hundreds of skeletons and some fleshier undead were lining up to march on Exag. Once we figured out they were heading that way we made sure we got moving faster so that we could provide warning. Once we saw the walls of the town we headed south to where we thought Allister had gone with a few dozen of the town watch, and sure enough, found a group of tents where they’d been told to make camp. Once we announced who we were, we were ushered to Allister’s tent. I had to explain that Elizair and Janet had been slain, and many of the men-at-arms were quite sad to hear about the loss of my cousin. I guess she had some fans.

Once we spoke to Allister, he issued orders to break camp immediately. We then all returned to Exag so we could get them ready for the impending invasion— undead, ogres, orcs, duergar, mindflayers….