This morning I was bandaging another of his wounds when my attention was drawn to a fair cleric of Sehanine who was talking to the high priest. I did not recognise her, and she had a face and a smile that you would not forget in a hurry. From what I could overhear, a failing that I will have to do penance for later, it seemed she was low on funds and seeking gainful employment. Gareth nudged me in the ribs and whispered to me that he knew of a merchant whose wagons had been attacked outside of the town a day or so ago and suggested that we may be able to join forces with the cleric to offer our assistance. Having been fascinated by the High Priest's tales of his former adventuring career and being slightly envious of Gareth's exciting life I nodded my agreement. The fact that the cleric was a comely lass had nothing to do with it.
Charlla Rookswood, for that was her name, was very welcoming of our offer of assistance and was interested to hear what Gareth had to say. When he described the merchant as being well dressed, with serious eyes and greased back hair I knew who he was talking about. Jerome Veegs, a very important merchant indeed. If we could aid him in our troubles we could be very well rewarded indeed. I asked the High Priest for leave to aid the merchant and he waved me off with a wry grin, I think he knows that I have been seeking more excitement than what I could find here in the temple.
Veegs was staying in the Silver Unicorn Inn a fine establishment, far too grand for the likes of me to frequent, that lies next to the Knight's Gate, the northern entrance to Fallcrest. As we entered we could see Veegs straight away sitting with some of his guards at a corner table. He looks furious and we hear him talking about the loss of his wagons and their contents. Charlla approached him and Gareth and I followed. He looked us up and down and was about to dismiss us when I spoke up. I asked him what had gone missing and where and I think my confident tone mollified him somewhat. It seems that his wagons were attacked by a bunch of goblins two days ago, a day or so out of town to the west. Some goods were stolen and one of his men ran off in fright during the battle. The goods were valuable, gold and silver jewellery and pouches of moonstones. Of lesser value but more worrying for the people of Fallcrest was the loss of several boxes of weapons, if the goblins arm themselves then the farms surrounding the town and travellers on the roads could be at risk of attack. Some of the jewels were destined for the wife of Lord Markelhay so I assume that some of Veegs' bluster may be down to his loss of face before the noble Lord Warden.
It looked as though our luck was out as after confirming with his men he decided that we were too green and too small a party to take on a well armed group of goblins and was going to send us on our way before a strange couple joined the conversation. One, an eladrin by the name of Immaral never stopped talking while the other, a human names Constallus, hardly said a word. Both looked to be novice arcane spell casters of some sort and they had overheard the conversation and offered to join us for an even share of any reward that might be offered. This extra assistance seemed to satisfy Veegs and he offered us 120 gold pieces for the return of the jewelry, the wagons and his man Pettick along with another 25 gold pieces for the other goods. I was about to ask for more when Gareth shook his head slightly. After we had shaken on the deal and agreed to meet again at the Five Arch Bridge Gareth explained that he felt that we may be in a better position to haggle when we returned with the goods. Gareth then left for wherever he goes at night, Immaral and Constallus had rooms at the Silver Unicorn so they can't be short of coin, while Charlla and I returned to the our cells at the temple.
Once I had recovered my breath I studied the bodies while the others looked around the area. From my readings of books in the temple and my chats with the High Priest I believed that these creatures were Spitting Drakes, some writers have spoken of them being used as guardians, but who and guardians of what I wondered. The others had finished their explorations and Immaral had found a magical cloak snagged on a bush near the nest while Charlla had found the nest of the drakes which was littered with bones. Most were of animal origin but some were a mix of human, goblin and halfling. Perhaps the cloak had belonged to one of these poor souls. Immaral tied the cloak around his shoulders and I hoped that it might improve his aim.
Charlla and I created a crude cairn to cover the human and halfling bones before we investigated an ivy covered opening that Gareth and Constallus had found while searching the area. Once we had cleared the ivy that had insinuated itself into every crack an crevice we could see that the opening was a weathered stone gateway blocked by an iron gate. The keystone had a carved crest, timeworn but still clear enough to recognise the Branford family crest, A stag on a shield surrounded by wavy lines. From what I remembered of my history lessons the Branford family had been important before the Bloodspear Wars. Peering through the bars into the gloomy interior we could see a short flight of leaf strewn stairs leading down into darkness.
Gareth checked the gate to make sure that the arch and the rest of the masonry would fall on our heads when we opened it before picking the lock and pulling the gate open. Immaral cast a light spell and we descended the stairs into what must have been the Branford mausoleum as we saw ranks of bricked up niches in each wall and a larger stone tomb at the far end of the vaulted chamber. Detirmined to pay my respects, and to ensure that nothing had despoiled the vault, I walked to the largest tomb and knelt before it. I was about to pray to Avandra to watch over the dead when I heard a loud fluttering in the vault. I stood up and defended myself as three multi winged creatures attacked. I felt one land on my back but thought that my mail would prevent it from doing me harm but then I felt something pierce my neck and guessed that the creature was going to drain my blood. The others had seen my plight and had moved in to help. Gareth and Charlla with their weapons, Immaral and Constallus with their spells. Then something more horrible slipped out from behind the tomb, a mustard coloured wave of ooze. Ignoring the creature on my neck I stepped forward to engage the ooze. I could feel its attacks burning my flesh much like that of the drakes earlier but unlike their attacks the acid seemed to keep burning even after I had stepped back to catch my breath. Just when we thought we were winning, with the flying creatures killed the ooze split in two, badly wounded I had to retreat to allow Charlla to heal me while Immaral and Constallus attacked the creatures from the safety of the stairs. Seeing that the ooze was not able to climb stairs Gareth charged into the room once more and vaulted onto the tomb. From here he was able to fire his crossbow bolts into the ooze without fear of being attacked in return.
Once the tomb had been cleared of the remains of what I now recognised to be stirges and the last bits of the ooze I once more knelt and prayed to Avandra. As I knelt I spotted a small garnet jammed in a crack in the floor, whispering my thanks to Avandra I put it in my pouch. Gareth locked the gate and we prepared to carry on in our quest to find the goblins and the missing wagon guard.