"Wait a second," Errol said. "Let's find out more information before we venture forth." The party went back to the inner city and knocked on Mortenser's door.

"Come in," was the response. Mortenser's looked bemusedly at the party and asked how he could help them. The party explained Alana's plight and asked if there was any chance he could do.

"I'll look into it, but I can't promise anything. Check back with me tomorrow and I'll see what information I can get."

The party did more research and interviewed Bobbar, Alana's arrestor. He said that Alana had been arrested for wearing a courier's tunic when obviously she had no business having it. Since the guards didn't believe that Alana could have killed a courier, they surmised that she must have thefted it somehow.

"Courier tunics have a magic beacon on them. We're magically alerted when they near the city gates in case of an emergency. Usually anything really important is teleported, so couriers are used either when things are less important (in which case we just let them through) or things are vitally important (in which case we need to be ready to raise the alert or make preparations)."

Now knowing why Alana got picked up, they set forth towards the cave to search for the bag. It was a great day for travelling, full of sunshine and a warm breeze promising summer would be here soon. As they walked along, the uneasiness stemming from last night's nightmare faded.

By midafternoon they reached the cave, though it perhaps could have been better called a hole, as it was a seven feet drop in a span of about four feet. Vernon searched around and spotted many tracks. There were several humanoid tracks, along with some talon tracks and large snake tracks, discernable, all having traveled though in the last week or so. All-in-all it was a busy trail.

Vernon cast longstrinder upon himself and started following some humanoid tracks into the cave. The rest of the party quickly followed. The cave wound a few feet before opening up into a large cavern, larger than Blink's lantern could shed light. The air was certainly colder and damper here.

Vernon followed the tracks to the near right corner while the Kestrel and Vaugner peered out into the blackness. All of a sudden two dark creatures burst out of the dark charging Kestrel! A tentacle landed with a thunk into Kestrel's armor but he was unhurt. Another tentacle slapped across Kestrel's armor much harder and crushed into Kestrel.

The party reacted quickly. As Blink's light swung around, the party saw the two fearsome creatures -- eight feet tall, they slithered like snakes, but instead of a head, four tentacles protruded.

Vaugner drew his bow and shot true, but the arrow glanced off the creature and dealt no damage. Seeing this, the party changed their tactics to land more powerful blows and managed to quickly down one. Thinking the worst was over, their confidence was shaken when two more charged into Blink. Luckily Blink was able to dodge their blows. A wild comedy of melee then ensued where neither fiend nor the party was able to land a blow.

The only person dealing damage was Malif, who chanted arcane words and shot rays of frost into the beasts. Finally the party overcame the beasts, though Blink was moderately hurt in the process. Errol healed Blink, but Blink was still in pain. Blink asked Vernon to also heal him, but Vernon claimed he was low on healing and that he would prefer to save the heals for emergencies.

A debate broke out among the party regarding when party members should be healed and whether they should continue farther into the cave. In the end it was decided that the best course of action would be to acquire a wand of cure light wounds. Vernon decided to stay at the cave while the rest of the party went back to town.

After arriving back in Pavalar, the party soon realized they weren't sure exactly where one bought wands. Eventually they asked someone at the mage's guild in the inner city who wrote an address down.

"Huh this is just a house," Errol said, double checking to make sure the address was correct. Undaunted, he knocked at the door. A young man answered the door and asked how he could help Errol. It was indeed a residence, but unfazed Errol delicately asked, "We were directed here by the mage's guild... do you have a mundane wand of cure light wounds for sale?"

Rather than negotiating, Errol offered 400gp for the wand, which was accepted. Having acquired the wand, they ate a quick dinner and then headed back to the cave in the dark.

During this time, Vernon set up a simple trap to alert him if anything wandered in. He also discovered some gold and a masterwork longsword in the lair.

The party regrouped after dark and decided to explore the cave further. Just past the lair, they found an alcove littered with bones, mostly-decomposed flesh, and rotting pieces of clothing. Rooting through the refuse, Vernon eventually found a pouch.

Reassured by having just purchased the wand, the party decided to continue exploring the cave. The passageway continued on for another 20 feet before widening out to an enormous cavern. From here, the cavern floor grew rockier, though not so treacherous as to cause problems. In the distance flowing water could be heard.

Blink's torch barely made a dent into the darkness. At the edge of the lantern light, a small island of stalagmites jutted out from the ground.

Vernon cast light upon a stone and tossed it towards the stalagmites. Seeing nothing, he started walking towards the stone when a web of goo suddenly exploded next to him. Kestrel leapt forward to meet any incoming monsters, and was rewarded by being immobilized by an incoming web. At the same time, a second web aimed at Vernon fastened him to the ground as well.

When Blink shone his lantern into the darkness, two troll-like creatures appeared suspended in midair, about 45 feet away. Very quickly all the party members except Malif, who was smart enough to stay in the shadows, were stuck in webs. As Malif lit some torches to burn people out, the creatures skittered down and charged into Kestrel.

The webs proved to be tough to break out of, and the party spent several rounds trying to break free. Meanwhile Kestrel was taking significant damage, and also losing his dexterity as the monster's poison spread through his body. Kestrel remembered that Abbey had given him a necklace of healing, which had one charge of cure light wounds which he could quickly activate. He decided that this was a good time to use it, and Errol inaugurated the wand by healing Kestrel.

Eventually the party was able to break free and flank the monsters. Once that happened, the monsters, greatly outnumbered, died quickly. Searching among the rubble, the party found some minor coin and a clear liquid potion.

Feeling exilerated by their triumph, the party decided to explore the rest of the giant cavern. Beyond the stalagmites, the lantern illuminated a fast flowing river at least 10 feet wide. Vernon lit another stone with light and tossed it across the river. A small chorus of clicks greeted him, as Vernon spotted two adult shocker lizards along with two hatchlings. The two adults took an agressive stance but did not charge, and the party decided to withdraw.

Eventually they found a cabin built in one of the corners. Approaching carefully, they quickly surmised that the cabin was vacant and had been abandoned long ago.

A quick search revealed a book, several pouches of arcane material components, two pearls worth about 100 gold each, and a monocle carefully left on one of the beds. Kestrel quickly discovered that magical items glowed when looked at through the lens. Malif flipped through the journal and found out it was about 62 years old. Scanning to the last entry, he read:

We [the author and two of his companions] found what appeared to be an easy mark on the road today. We ambushed him carelessly, and it would prove to be our downfall. It turns out that our mark was a powerful cleric who quickly killed off Kooper and Freca. As he turned to face me, I decided to beg for mercy. He did not pay attention to me, and in a panic I swore an oath to Valkon, who I assumed was his god. At that, he stayed his mace.

He agreed to spare my life if I would swear to turn away from my evil ways and spend the rest of my life in repentance. I quickly agreed, and I intend to follow through with my oath. This will be the last entry in my journal of exploits. This cabin has too many memories of my past. I must find somewhere else to stay now. The loot from the hapless mage we killed earlier this morning I will leave here. It will be the ultimate test -- and a sign of my conviction -- I will not touch this treasure or come back.

Where my life leads me now I do not know. But now I leave my past behind me.

It was about two hours till midnightby the time they made it back to Pavalar. They met some guards at the checkpoint into the city and explained how they came into possession of the courier's pouch. The guards looked at the party and seemed to believe the story. One of the guards provided an escort to the police station where they submitted the pouch for evidence.

March 3

Most of the party turned in for the night, but Errol and Blink decided to head to the university commons for a midnight snack. The commons was unusually busy with hungry students getting a snack while studying for finals. Spying them, Brock came over and blurted out, "Why did you guys get picked and not me? I would have done much better I'm sure."

"What?" said Errol. "It wasn't that exciting. There was crap everywhere and it smelled."

"Anyways, I don't believe you don't need to take finals now. I would have gotten a better score than you anyways." And with that Brock walked off.

Ravni, another classmate, also stopped by. He greeted Errol and Blink. "Hey, by the way, I'm hosting a surprise party for Jay in the commons on the 22nd. Everyone in our class is invited. She has to go back home right after finals so she'll miss the graduation party. She'd love to get a chance to say bye to y'all I'm sure."

As they were finishing their meal Kestra came by. "That was pretty cool what you guys did! Anyways just wanted to say hi and congratulate you guys. Anyways, gotta get back to my studies!"

Errol was surprised at how many people knew about what happened, and decided to check up on it in the morning.

The next morning, Errol went looking unsuccessfully for Pippy, while the rest of the party, sans Errol, went to Mortenser's office and filled him in on what happened. "Nice job, it sounds like you won't have a problem getting Alana acquitted," he said. He also said he would look into whether her court day could be moved up.

After their meeting, Vaugner thought it would be a good idea to sign depositions in case the party couldn't make it to the trial. Malif gave a guard a short note and tip to deliver it to Alana.

Errol went to visit Tera but she wasn't in. Finding Mortenser still in his office, Errol knocked on his door. "Do you know where Tera is?" Errol asked.

"She's taken a leave of absence, and isn't around. She's looking forward to seeing you at the graduation party though," he replied.

Kestrel found his mother and asked her about the strange rocks. She shared his concern but didn't have any specific information on what to do. Troubled, Kestrel then went to Mortenser's office and said, "So there are these rocks that a street urchin bought from a wizard, when we had previously bought a some, they were confiscated at the inner city gates. Now they seem to be multiplying out of control, and it seems that no one but me is concerned!"

Mortenser thought for a moment and then replied, "This is indeed concerning. I will bring this up before the council and we will try to gain some insight into this matter. For now, if you can find out any more information I would appreciate it."

After lunch the party met back up. Errol wanted to do more research into the unsettling group dream, so they walked to the library to talk to Malif's mother, who was a librarian. She agreed to help them research the phenomena, and pointed out that they could also hire some professional researchers to speed up the process.

After saying goodbye to Malif's mom, Malif went in search of a falcon, Errol tracked down down a researcher and hired him for three days, Kestrel went to a healer temple to regain some of his dexterity, and the rest of the party took a couple hours to rest.