21 Illumination 508 (10:00 am)

After establishing their base camp on the Isle of Salvi, the party begins to fight the terrain of the forest and head toward the ruined city. The forest is eerily quiet—no creature sounds save those made by the party. After trudging about eight miles through the forest, several of the party notice a figure in the brush staring at Surm. Then, the hideous form rises up, its head comprised completely of a maw of teeth surrounding a single eye and attacks! After a hard fight, Savaric finishes the creature off.

Surm and Mõrvar identify the creature as a Div, an Aghash to be specific. The creature is from another plane of existence and is the embodiment of the “evil eye”; it also has a special hatred for the beautiful people of the world, wishing to curse them in heinous ways. After a brief discussion of what to do next, they decide to hack their way back to their base camp, making a trail. Mõrvar helps by splashing sorcerous acid along the way. They leave the Aghash’s body behind and hack their way back toward the camp, lighting their way with Surm’s ioun torch as the sun sinks behind the horizon.

As they hack through the heavy growth, Mõrvar, Savaric, and Surm notice a shadowy limb move away from the trees toward Rilka. A fight with the incorporeal shadow creature ensues, leaving Rilka weakened, her strength sapped by the cold touch of the creature, but Mõrvar eventually slays the creature. The party continues to hack their way to base camp.

When they finally arrive at the camp later that night, they build a fire to keep the shadows at bay and establish guard shifts. After a long day of battle and little progress, they settle in for a night of rest.

Savaric and Surm are awakened by the shouts of Brother Thorne shouting about the “Light of Halor cleansing the darkened corners of this realm!” Savaric leaves his tent to see what the trouble is and Surm wakes his brother, Mõrvar as he goes to do the same. The priest is facing another one of the shadow creatures. Another fight ensues and the creature is finally dispatched.

The party decides to build more fires to spread the light around so as not to be caught unawares by the dark creatures. Rilka is also awakened and alerted to the danger.

The party is awakened again during Savaric’s shift, as he is accosted by one of the shadow creatures. This one shrug’s off Brother Thorne’s initial attempt to burn it with Halor’s light. Mõrvar eventually strikes it a killing blow.

Fortunately, the rest of the night passes without incident.

22 Illumination 508

The next morning, the party packs up some of their gear, leaves some of it in their tents, attempting to anticipate what will be needed in the journey ahead. They then start heading down the trail that they have carved into the forest. After heading the eight miles down the carved trail, they begin hacking again through the overgrowth. A couple of hours into the trailblazing, another shadow creature makes an appearance. A fight begins and this time Surm dissipates the creature. The party makes it another eight miles or so through the forest as the sun begins to sink behind the horizon.

Finally, they see a pair of strange obelisks marking the entrance to the city. A wide avenue stands before them. The obelisks are marked in a language that is unfamiliar to all of them, including the priest. As the sun is rapidly setting, they party decides to find shelter quickly. They duck inside a nearby home and search it out quickly. Finding little of interest and nothing dangerous, they decide to hole up in the living room. The party establishes a series of guard shifts and decides to rest for the night.

During her shift, Rilka is attacked by a strange dog-like creature with hand-like paws that blinks in and out of existence. The creature speaks, swearing vengeance on those that strikes it. Savaric finally strikes it down and decapitates it. The rest of the night passes quietly. . .

23 Illumination 508

The party emerge from their makeshift camp into the city and begin making their way down the avenue toward the main pyramid. Along the way, they encounter a long-dried fountain flanked with a pair of dead trees. From the shade of the trees emerges a shadow creature that is quickly dispatched.

Approaching the pyramid from the north wall, there is no entrance. There are elaborate wall carvings depicting demonic figures devouring sacrifices being offered by men and women in elaborate headdresses. The party follows the wall to the east and eventually to the south before finding a set of open double doors leading inside.

The double doors open up into a smallish room dominated by a demonic statue with outstretched cupped hands that form a font for anointing oil or water. The red and gold paint is faded with time. Long abandoned wall sconces dot the walls. Hallways branch out to the left and right of the room. . .