Krum:
“Now, this account be to the best o’ me recollection, and if I be gettin’ anything wrong I’ll put it down to the jolt of the explodin’ door.
“Lookin’ out over the flooded Holk house the group be tryin’ to determine our plan of action. For Henrik, this be meanin’ talkin’ to some bit of shrubbery piled up in a corner of the keep and then pullin’ a giant goat outta that magic bag of his. The orc’s eyes damn near rolled outta his head at the elf’s antics, and he and Raith paddle their boat toward the half-submerged bell tower, which they climb up and find some magic runes even the wizard can’t be understandin’. Torinn be flyin’ around on his griffon, keepin’ an eye out.
“Meanwhile Zoltan does something useful by callin’ the Mountain o’ his and rides it through the water until they end up disappearin’ into the murk. He had cast water breathin’ on us all, so we didn’t worry too much about him.
“But then Henrik lets on there be alligators lurking about.
“With me own bit o’ magic I walked over the water to a balcony just above the water line and took a look at the door there, which, to no real surprise, be locked. Henrik arrows a rope over to me and then begins to shimmy over to where I’m at, tellin’ his goat to swim across.
“That’s when Belomash and Raith see some lizardfolk creepin’ over the walls on their side of the keep. The lizards fire off a volley of arrows at Henrik’s goat, which, bein’ a magic creation, disappears after takin’ so many hits. Torinn, showin’ a cool head, talks to one of the lizardfolk (instead o’ attackin’ the durned thing – take note, elf!) and finds out they be of something called the Mireclaw clan and were huntin’ for food, despite knowin’ this area be trouble. They tell the paladin they be seein’ a lot of undead, and several humans had recently been in the area – might be the priest Varak among them. They also tell us of foul evil north at Castle Naerytar.
“Now, me and the elf be decidin’ how best to enter the house, and the door not seemin’ too sturdy, I let loose with a blow from me hammer in an attempt to persuade it to open. That be a mistake, as it surely had been magically warded based on the explosion that sent me and the elf over the balcony into the swampwater.
“After we do a bit more explorin’ above the surface, Zoltan’s Mountain reappears. Belomash, Raith and Torinn take that as an indication to follow him, and a bit later me and elf take the plunge as well.
“After some tomfoolery with some vines brought about by the ef’s magic, the six of us begin explorin’ the inners of the house. Much of it appeared cursed, its statues and other symbols of water havin’ been twisted into skulls and other images of death worship. I did attempt to bless one area to attempt to take away the curse, but me spell didn’t seem to help but a bit. One such sculpture be tellin’ us to turn back, and it weren’t that hard to see that Myrkul worshippers be havin’ a hand in the mess.
“Then some kind of ghostly creature attacked Zoltan as he be approachin’ some stairs that be leadin’ up to part of the house that not be submerged. Zoltan, his Mountain, Belomash and Raith destroy it without too much of a fuss.
“It’s there at the next level we be findin’ two lasses, unconscious and tied up. When we get them loose and get a look at them, the orc lets on that it be the image of those two that he saw in the pools. They be very pale, and upon inspectin’ them we find some suspicious wounds that I think we need to be worryin’ a bit about. I cast me greatest healin’ spell on one, which seemed to help considerably, while Torinn tried curing any diseases on the other.
“They soon be wakin’ and tell us of how they got there. Best of their recollection, they be part of a merchant caravan and be kidnapped by lizardfolk and brought here, to be turned over to what they describe as an “armored madman”. They be forced to drink something, though they not be quite sure what it was.
“Torinn assures them that we be tryin’ to get them safely returned, but we be needin’ some rest, and if me thoughts be right about what brought these women to this place, this ain’t no place to find safe rest.
“Dumathoin watch over us. We best be wary.”
