Date: 5/4/05

XP Awarded: 3,677 (to 7th level characters), 2,800 (to 8th level characters)

Start: The Evermoors, late Eleasis

After the unusual encounter with Erenessym, Celowin informs the party that he had seen the tracks of a large group of mounted warriors about a day’s trek to the north. The party changes direction and heads there in the hopes of finding the tracks that may belong to Jerren Winterbite’s mercenaries. The landscape becomes less boggy, and atop a low rise, the party comes across a stack of boulders painted with runes that look like they are written in Giant. The runes appear to say something along the lines of “South East Number 12.”

After a little investigation, the group continues on for another few hours until the sun starts to sink lower on the horizon. The group notices a large cave opening in the side of a rocky tor a short distance off. Riding to investigate, they find what appears to be a tomb entrance where the heavy stone doors have been blown apart by magic. There are also signs of many horses passing through the area, and tracks leading into the dark entrance. After some debate, the party decides to take a brief look. Just inside the entrance, the group is ambushed by several hidden wights wearing armor. Celowin slays one with his arrows and Iax cuts down another one as it closes with him, and Theodar uses his holy powers of turning to cause the other two to flee. The group takes a moment to look around and notices several dead wights in funereal wrappings, pierced by bolts and singed by magic. Pressing deeper into the tomb complex, the wights are found huddling behind some ransacked sarcophagi at the end of a long burial hall. The cowering undead are dispatched easily, and the group looks around briefly before leaving the area. The adventurers spend the last bit of daylight following the horse tracks as best they can, and spend the night at the sheltered base of a rock upthrust.

The next day is clear and warm, but the party’s progress is slowed by an increasingly swampy landscape. Iax loses the horse tracks among the grassy bogs, but the group sees a mostly-intact stone building in a swampy area. Riding through muck to check it out, Celowin notices movement inside the ruin. He almost looses an arrow at the shadowy humanoid figure inside the doorway, but Fei stays his arm. Theodar approaches and is about to ride his mount through the open doorway when he sees a lizardman bracing a spear against him. Although the creature doesn’t seem to understand him, a serpentine voice hisses a warning to leave from inside the decaying building. Theodar engages the unseen creature in conversation and asks about humans or giants in the area. The creature gives him directions to find giants, and Theodar leaves a handful of gold coins in exchange.

Following the lizardfolk’s directions, the party crests a ridge and spots some rocky tors ahead. On the approach, they come across a huge mound of skulls, surrounded by posts decorated in crude orcish runes. Deciding to leave it alone, they find a spring nearby that flows into a stream, which the lizardfolk said would lead them to the giants.

After a few more hours of travel, the group starts to look for a sheltered area to rest in the dimming light. Seeing a large cavern opening in a nearby ridge, the adventurers head towards it, only to be surprised when monstrous arachnid shapes appear from nowhere to attack. The large white spiders with grey and blue markings attack viciously, then disappear from sight only to reappear in another location. Iax gets a solid hit in with his pick and destroys the head of one. Another savages one of the party’s warhorses, and a third bites Celowin hard and injects him with a sickening poison. The spiders are destroyed, and the group proceeds to the large cave, which they find to be the home of the slain spiders.

Tethering the horses in the back part of the cave, the party sets up a guard post at the wide entrance. In the middle of the night, Celowin hears a rasping sound and turns to see a horrific creature slithering towards the unaware Iax. It is a ten-foot long, mottled greenish-gray, worm-like creature with a beaked mouth surrounded by waving tentacles. Celowin slays it with a lightning-fast arrow from his bow, but more appear from around the side of the cave mouth. The adventurers quickly slay them, and the rest of the evening goes by uneventfully.

The next morning Iax tracks the slimy trails of the creature to a nearby crevice, which he wriggles into head-first. Deeper in he finds a small lair containing some coins and other equipment, which he retrieves.

The party sets out to follow the small stream flowing to the northwest, hoping that it will lead them to the giants. After a few hours of travel, a group of orcs led by a hill giant and a pair of ogres becomes visible from around a ridge. A great cat-like creature with them bound forward to pounce on Iax. Fei throws a ball of fire to slay many of the orcs, and Theodar rides forward in a charge to slay one of the ogres. The others throw rocks, and some of the surviving orcs launch arrows at the party. Iax kills the great cat, and Fei summons a phantasm to slay the giant in its tracks, and the rest is just clean up.