Dark Druid

Roads of Trouble

The band travels fast back to Aithelar. They are forced to rent passage west with a fishing boat, as the Mermaid Sword is still being repaired from the damages it received a few days earlier. It was torched when the cult tried to steal the weapons.
They sail west on Mirtul 12, and arrives near Dultann four days later. The band travels well into the night before they camp.
When they seek a place to camp on Mirtul 16, they come upon a farm that is being attacked by undead. They defeat the undead and tries to find the being who controlled the undead to attack. The two rangers finds the tracks and few hours later the tracks end in a strange rock formation with mysterious runes inscribed into the rock. The farmers give the Harpers lodging and food for the night, in gratitude of their aid.
The band travels on toward Dultann, and enters the small hamlet on the evening of Mirtul 19.
They find a hamlet in fear of the dark. Every villager stays in home at night locking and barring their doors and windows. They learn that undead, bandits and wolves stalk the night, attacking and killing anyone they encounter. Only Richard dares to leave the safety of the local tavern Dultann´s Beard, although Lethallien wanted to but was talked into staying inside.
Richard ventured only a short distance from Dultann, and had a marvelous encounter. He met a huge pack of wolves, led by a gigantic wolf some five feet at the shoulder. He cast speak with animals and learned a lot about what plagued the Moonshaes and of how the Earthmother protects herself and the Ffolk.
When they awoke the next morning, they where to have a very hectic 24 hours in front of them, but that they did not know yet. They had mornfeast and went to investigate the Horns of Malar (an altar dedicated to the Lord of Beasts), the old ruins of a watchtower, and the ruins of Darkhorn Castle. First they ventured to the ruined watchtower, which took them a couple of hours. There they found the lair of bandits. But they were not at home, so they set watch and waited. When three hours had passed, they changed tactics and begun tracking the bandits. They followed the tracks until late afternoon, when they noticed that they were close to the Horns of Malar, and that the tracks seemed to lead to Darkhorn Castle. They had a simple meal before they walked to the Horns and found the ancient altar sacred to the Beastlord. They destroyed the altar with holy water. When they searched around the altar, they discovered that it could be moved and a niche beneath it. There was a longsword of fine making with the hilt ending with claws and the pommel shaped into a snarling wolf. Lyam checked the sword and after thinking hard, he remembered some stories that mentioned a weapon looking like this and was called Beastclaw. Callista claimed it as hers, without any objections from the others.
Partaking of another road-side dinner, they were off to Darkhorn Castle. As twilight was setting, they could make out the ruins of the Castle above a small wood ahead of them. When they were to enter the wood, they could make out hidden beings amongst the trees. They took the initiative and attacked the bandits. With their magic, they killed most of the bandits and captured four brigands.
In their interrogation of the bandits, they learned that the ruined castle was a base for the Cult. It was maintained by several Cult priests and was usually inhabited by groups of bandits. The bandit also told the four that the Dark Druid, the leader of the Cult, would enter Myrloch Vale in a few days to conduct the ritual of summoning.
Before they could learn anything else, the bandit was slain by magic missiles. The Harpers was surprised for a short moment only, and with the aid of Lyam´s familiar Glitter (a tressym), they spotted the invisible mage who attacked them. Lyam identified him immediately as Dagthal, but before they could attack him properly, the Zhentarim mage dissappeared with magic. When they returned to the camp, they discovered that all of their prisoners had been killed by poison.