Date 719HE/E20 - E24

After a brief meal, the now-Champions were ushered into the Grand Central chamber. Empress Lyra spoke at length about what the letter meant and asked the team if they had encountered any of these cultists. After hearing they had, the Grand Duke made mention of a spate of murders and thefts of magical supplies. Qil^dor talked about a book that described more details of this cult of Zarg and the Grithryx.

Empress Lyra informed the team that she wished them to retrieve a book from a mage known as Prekas the Malicious who resides in the tower of Deorcþeng in the far south of Hyluria. After a bit of haggling, a price was agreed upon, 120 gold, half now, half later and with that the group left to plan their journey.

Toman escorted them back to their hostel and left them to their own devices, a partially peaceful night was had (poor Szithluon) and all party members awoke with a strong, impossible to ignore desire to visit the temple of their chosen deity.

All four of them were bestowed with a godly gift, perhaps even the Six were interested in their progress now?

Before they set out on their journey, the team collected their prior purchases and left the City, heading south over the great River K^ren, where Szithluon was met a black panther companion (now named and played by Jiji) and then a solid two day march through the Ferox Valley towards the old city of Y!lem.

On the second night, the team wisely set a watch and so spoilt the ambush a group of 8 goblins tried to spring on them! It was a hard fight, with no quarter given on either side. The black sword wielded by Szithluon appeared to rejoice in the combat.

Eventually our heroes prevailed and gathered up the spoils of war. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and by midday they had arrived at the imposing tower of Deorcþeng, a black stone structure sat in a clearing, clawing at the sky like a broken tooth.

Ulunnuh unfortunately managed to trigger some form of trap while trying to go through the front door that held him in place for a few minutes.

Once he had recovered, the party entered the unwelcoming entrance hall of the tower to find an early maniac decor; purple torches for light, black carpets, dark wood and seriously unfriendly portraits lining the walls.

After investigating the ground floor rooms, the team had found the following: a locked trapdoor with a strange mechanism that ran into the roof, some food, some magical supplies, a kitchen stocked with rotten produce, a library full of unrighteous books.

But, no one home….