A Road By Any Other Name Is Still a Road

We set out from Ruined Oak to continue building the road between Silent Forest and Rotmoor River.  The journey was relatively uneventful with the exception of locating a large black obelisk surrounded by cracked rocks; almost as if they had been thrown against the obelisk….  We spent our first evening at a ruined old inn (The Refreshment Inn); curiously the roof had been collapsed by large rocks being tossed upon it….   We spent the evening huddled behind the remaining walls of the Inn.  During the evening we were visited by a humanoid (either half elf or human) who  inquired into our purpose for being there…  He traveled alone in the dark, in the wilderness with little fear (implying some level of power, bravery, or stupidity); he wore typical clothing and a blue cloak with stars on the shoulders….  Later in the evening our watch discovered about a dozen stick-like creatures who promptly attacked.  With little more than wooden claws, we hacked them down quite easily.  They seemed to emit some sort of necrotic(?) tinge (Druid Necromancer?)….  In large numbers, these creatures could be problematic for a lone traveler or an unskilled party.

Our 2nd day of travel was uneventful and we spent the evening near a large frozen pond.  Just as darkness fell, a large group of Dwarves led by Baron Nozelnose; they traveled by night, and were headed to New Hope for possible trading opportunities.  We also discovered a raised dais with Dwarven etchings on the top.  When the moon rose, the etchings began to glow and a large cavern was exposed to the side of the dais.  Foolishly, my fellow watchman (Ogis) and I decided to explore the strange opening; only to find several giant (wagon-sized) spiders waiting to pounce on us.  The rest of the party was awakened by my girlish screams as I fled the monsters.  With the entire party involved, we quickly dispatched the spiders, and I received a dress down from Sixer….  If you have never been rebuked by a Kobold, you should try it sometime, it is a sobering experience….

Our 3rd day was spent “protecting” the work parties.  Surprisingly, the size of our group scared off any passing potential predators; based upon my previous road building experience, I think we were petty lucky.  We did hear a scream and maniacal laughter coming from the South, and all except Valorean went to check it out.  We found a small structure, and when we entered we found that 3 Tieflings (a woman and 2 children) had been brutally murdered.  Ogis had entered the house first, and as we entered, he stood there with what appeared to be the murder weapon in his hand (a nasty looking serrated knife).  Ogis set the knife on a table, Zoren inspected it, and it emitted a faint aura of necromancy as though the person previously holding the knife had necromantic magic.  Strangely, every time I looked at Ogis, he was holding the knife again, even when we had him toss it onto the ground….  As we were investigating the house, a male human entered and thought we were all thieves and murderers…  He ran screaming out the door and towards the woods.  Thankfully, we were able to persuade him to stop running and listen to our explanation….  When he heard that we had a priest of Lathander, he listened and trusted our story.  He knew the deceased, and helped us to properly bury the bodies.  Zoren detected necromancy from the direction of Ogis, and as we looked, Ogis was holding the knife again.  At this time Ogis must have felt rather threatened because he cast one of his spiritual totems.  When he did, a shadow form left Ogis’ body and rather angrily disappeared into the earth taking the knife with him.  Zoren determined that we had encountered an Ougmun; again, something associated with a powerful Necromancer.  Our night was spent without any interruptions….unless you count a mysterious well that appeared during the night; apparently, the water tasted terrible; metallic…  It disappeared by morning.  This time I made sure to wake the entire party (especially Sixer) before investigating the well.

During the 4th day we were making great progress on the road when some of the workers found several 3″ diameter by 5″ tall metal cylinders that looked to have been cut open on one end.  They appeared to have remnants of food inside of them.  Towards the end of the day our digging must have disturbed a tomb or buried chamber, because all of a sudden a large fiery lava creature burst from the ground.  Instead of walking, the creature moved across the ground in a molten wave; burning and melting everything in it’s path.  In its first pass it nearly killed one of our party and dropped 5 workers.  Fortunately, it seemed to be susceptible to the blindness caused by my familiar’s radiant dazzle ability.  While blinded, the golom-like creature could only guess what direction to move…  Valorean, recovered from being hit by a molten wave, shot forth a giant bolt of radiance, greatly injuring the creature.  He then stepped forward and killed it with his halberd.  The small chamber contained an unlocked cabinet containing the personal effects of a long dead(?) wizard.  We deduced that this could be some sort of guardian placed here by a wizard…..