As we resume the story of our valiant heroes, we see them bravely slinking off into the night. Passing over the south wall (the security is more lax there, and the party was following their prisoner, Xon), it was soon discovered that they were headed in the wrong direction (the majority wanting to go north, and Xon wanting his weapons back). So, the wee hours of this morning found our intrepid band circling Tilverton to the west, well out of earshot, and conversing with Xon.

Eventually, Xon's weapon was returned, though the amulet was not. A suitable camping site was found around five in the morning, and the party settled in for a long and enjoyable rest. The "night" was relatively untroubled, with only a few curious scavengers giving thought to the party?s camp.

Breakfast was at a prompt mid-day, after which the party continued north by the main trade road (this being primarily the only known way north through the Shadow Gap, a series of passes through the mountains separating Cormyr and the Dalelands). The party camped early this day, so that they could get a full day of travel in the morning. Choosing a site a good half an hour off the main road, they were still showing signs of paranoia. Setting watches, and still not trusting the men of the group, the party spent another uneventful evening (albeit Xon and Falahara were graced with the song of wolfs, and even saw one off in the distance).

Continuing northward the next day, the party hears the sound of advancing hoof beats. Xon, being the brave soul he is, dashes to the forest and hides behind the thinnest sapling he could find. After brief instruction by Molistead as to the virtues of choosing a wide tree (or loosing a little weight) Xon found a place to seclude himself and readied his crossbow. And not a moment too soon, for cresting the hill at that instant were four of the Purple Dragons (the military of the fine country, patrolling this our great trade route). As they hurled past on their valiant steeds, it appeared they were all too willing to let our intrepid heroes be on their way. Then, one stopped short, returning to the trio on the road.

Having noticed that a cleric of Mystra was traveling these roads openly, he felt it his duty to inform her that an assassin was loose in these parts. He described the man as tall and gaunt, perhaps in his mid thirties, wearing all black. Facial hair was indicated as well as a fancy hat. This description almost got him shot by a rather indignant Xon. Apparently this fiend (in the human sense) was responsible for the death of the high priest of Mystra as well as two merchants who were noted to be recent converts. The manner of execution was the same in all cases, three crossbow bolts to the chest. It was believed that this assassin, who seems to have a grudge against worshipers of Mystra, was still hiding out in Tilverton, though the possibility that he was abroad was mentioned. After giving this warning, the guard claimed that it would not be long before this felon was brought to justice, and that our good party should not be too in fear for their lives. The guard also let slip that checkpoints had been set up, just in case this villain should think of escaping to neighboring kingdoms.

After the Knights left, our party deemed it unwise to continue along the main roads. After a brief discussion on the art of disguising Xon as either a follower of Mystra or and "entertainer", Annu recalled a spell more powerful than those she could cast, used to force truth from all within its range. It was deemed all to likely that such a spell would be employed and negate any advantage the disguise might yield. So, as our party travels north, they keep their eyes out for the most convenient (or first) means of avoiding the checkpoint they know they are approaching.

Spotting a game trail, our heroes once again skirt the law, and take to the mountains. After an arduous trek up the mountains, following a beautiful set of cascades,

our heroes find themselves on a narrow pass, following the edge of the mountain with a frightening drop on one side and cliff face on the other. Off in the distance, the sound of running and falling water can be heard. As the day is dying, the group passes a small fissure in the cliff face. Sending Falahara to investigate, it is determined that after about thirty odd feet, the fissure opens up, revealing a moderate underground lake. The temperature inside is on the edge of freezing, and in fact, the lake appears to be frozen itself. Rejecting this as a possible sleeping place, Falahara continues on along the treacherous path.

About half an hour later, she discovers just how treacherous the path is, as it crumbles beneath her and she plummets thirty feet before catching herself by hooking her spiked vine about the trunk of a small sapling. As the sun sets, a brief discussion of how to rescue Falahara ensues (Falahara being so frightened that she forgets the pitons in her sack, and merely screams for "Less talk, more rescue!"). Within seconds, Xon abandons the idea of climbing down to his stricken party member, and handing a length of rope to Annu and Molistead (who looked at it in wonder), tossed the rope down to Falahara. Easily catching this, Falahara managed to hook her feet around the rope. The group gave a mighty tug, pulling Falahara a few feet closer to safety, and jarring her out of her state of panic. Quickly realizing that her friends above provided an anchor for the rope, she easily sprints up it, rejoining her fellows none the worse for ware. However, the sun has now set, and the group has not found a place to camp. They decide to return to the frozen underground lake and see if it could be made suitable.

After a thorough examination, it was determined that the lake was impassible, and that the group would probably survive a night sleeping by its edge. No watch was set, and their sleep was troubled only by small scurrying critters, such as spiders and centipedes, which made their home beneath the earth in this particular cave.

The party awakes to find themselves stiff, sore, and cold; though none the worse, really, for a night sleeping beside a partially frozen lake. As they set out once again along the mountain trail, they tie each other together (to avoid the pitfalls of yesterday and allow Xon and myself to make insufferable jokes).

At some point in time, Molistead gets interested and casts a detect magic on the amulet Annu is carrying. It radiates a faint aura of illusion, and Annu decides to don it (perhaps this occurred earlier, but what they hey, I
missed it at the time) with no obvious effect.

Our heroes successfully bypass the large hole in the path caused by Falahara's misstep the previous evening, and soon find themselves descending from the mountainous heights into a pleasant and secluded valley. By this time, the watercourse had rejoined the game trail they were following, which helps to promote a feeling of care-free ease (for those of the party used to being out of doors). Of course, this can't be a good thing, and is probably why Falahara was taken off guard and frozen.

Yes, in the middle of their march through the valley, Falahara stops abruptly, unable to move a muscle. Almost immediately thereafter, a high pitched, yappy voice demands to know who the party is, why they have disturbed "my valley", and why they should not be immediately sent to the Soulfisher. Xon's hand immediately goes to his weapon, but the sight of a Kobold astride a giant wolf (ok, so it was only five feet at the shoulder, maybe eight feet long) stayed his action. Brief negotiations took place, during which Molistead was identified as one of the "dragon-blooded" and an uneasy truce was established.

As conversation continued, Falahara was freed from the spell which held her, and the kobold Mika Flang noticed something unusual about one of the elves in the party. Uttering ancient words of a spell unrecognized by either Molistead or Annu, she caused both the amulet she wore and the one worn by Annu to become a transparent crystalline material with a glowing hexagonal bar covering most of the radius of the amulets. The bar of the amulet worn by Annu pointed from the center to the clasp at the top while that of Mika's amulet was at an odd angle. Curious that an elf would be wearing that particular amulet, and knowing of her own imminent death, she began to relate what little she knew about these items.

Apparently, in ages past, a great and evil power capable of destroying the world and even the gods themselves was bound away. Seven keys bared the lock that hides this hideous thing, and they were distributed amongst those unlikely to ever co-operate, each clan swearing to protect the amulet and any knowledge there-of. Six mortal clans, humans, dwarves, elves, descendents of dragons, evil orcs, and sons of giants, were entrusted with this duty. The seventh key, the gods themselves protect. The location of the lock is unknown, but even now demons, devils, and fiends search the earth attempting to reunite the keys. Of note is one named Malak, who has recently discovered this valley, and sent minions to wrest my key from me.

As the party was in no way associated with the horrid, evil croohok who killed Mika's entire clan (including Mika herself) and knowing that soon she would exact her revenge and return to the Soulfisher's embrace, Mika made a hard decision and entrusted the protection of the amulet given to the "descendents of dragons" to Molistead, as he was of dragon blood as well and her clan had come to an end. Reluctantly accepting his responsibility, the party begins to realize the importance of these artifacts.

Mika proceeded to detail the attack made the previous evening on her valley, and displayed the corpses of her vanquished foes. While the bodies looked as if they had been around for a week, two were easily recognizable as the assassins who had previously attacked Xon, starting his whole silly escapades through the wilds (of which he will be happy to tell you about if he survives them).

The corpses and the poison they carried were to be burned by Mika, and would have been had the party not interrupted the peace of her valley. As it was, she gladly gave her them the few untainted possessions of the rogues (including one rapier of exceptional quality). Xon saw fit to remove one of the vials of black liquid from the corpses before they were burned (which they had been told the concoction was black adders venom). Mika then gave veryone one berry, stating that this small, shriveled piece of fruit would provide the sustenance and nourishment necessary for their journey out of her valley and back into the ways of man.

Mika escorted our heroes, setting quite a brisk pace that left everyone but Falahara winded, out of her valley. It was a goodly ways past the setting of the sun before she bade them fair travels, bringing them to a camping spot perhaps a days travel from their destination of Travensburg. After that, she disappeared into the woods without a trace, in fact, the path that brought them to this spot seems to be gone, leaving not the slightest indication of how them party got to the camping spot, nor any indication that a secluded mountain valley was anywhere near.

The party awoke after yet another uneventful evening, and continued on their way. Molistead tested the magic of the amulet in his protection and found that it too radiated a faint aura of illusion. After debating for a short while, he decided to don the amulet, which now appeared to be the holy symbol of the Soulfisher, one aspect of Kelemvor, the god of the dead. Upon placing the amulet around his neck, he felt a slight shiver. There was, however, no visible effect, and Annu had been wearing "her" amulet for a number of days now with no obvious ill effect.

It is here that we leave our heroes, on the road to Travensburg, with perhaps a day, maybe a day and a half at most, before Molistead's homecoming.

Everyone should read this, and please make any comments on things your characters may have done that I left out.

After the Kobold left, you found on your persons a handfull of berries totaling almost 40. Again, you find that a single berry is enough to sustain you for an entire day (you will have thirty berries when you reach Travensburg).

Almost immediately upon setting out, you come across the disheveled ruins of a hunters' camp. It was a small camp, perhaps only four hunters. There is blood everywhere, and a few less tasty parts of the hunters strewn about. After a brief inspection, you find many animal tracks and an easily followable trail. The trail ends in the roots of a large tree where you find the corpse of one of the hunters. It appears to have been dragged here and left for a later meal.

After offering brief rights (either leaving the body for the forest to eat, or building a stone cairn; the ground is too hard for burial) you return and
search the camp. Amoung the tattered remains of the camp you find:

- 3 rosewood longbows (one has been shattered, each has intricate carvings of animals, and all are of equisite make)
- 26 arrows with black and white fletching (two black feathers and one white; those of you who are versed in arowmaking will note that the fletching is configured to impart spin, resulting in a more stable flight)
- 20 arrows with yellow fletching (these arrows are not as high quality as the black and white ones)
- 20 arrows with green fletching (again, not as well made as the black and white ones)
- 3 Hunting Daggers (Each has a different symbol carved on them. Two were on the ground, one on the body of the hunter you found. The symbols are a stag, a dragon, and a horse; the last being the one found on the body)
- 3 vials with a red heart drawn on the side -clear liquid
- 3 vials with a green heart drawn on the side -forest green liquid
- 2 vials with a slashed spider drawn on the side -red liquid
- 1 vial with a feather drawn on the side -blue liquid
- 1 vial with slashed feline eyes drawn on the side -clear liquid
- 1 vial with a sun drawn on the side -yellowish liquid
- a number of ripped and torn animal skins
- 3 ruined tents
- torn waterskins (punctured by teeth marks)

The sun is aproaching noon as you leave the camp. Not wishing to be too near, you travel late into the evening, but are unable to reach town by the time you wearily collapse. A nervous watch is kept, though nothing disturbs your camp. You do not even hear the sound of wolves. Thinking back to the tracks in the camp, this does not reasure Falahara as she is convinced the camp was attacked by large cats, similar to those she had seen hunting in forests further south as a child.

Camp is broken early, and you reach Travensburg a little before mid-day. Two buildings near the center of town have been burned. Molistead recognizes the burnt foundations as what used to be the town's storehouse and grainery. After pointing out the inn, Molistead promises to join the rest of the group after seeing his parents.