Red Larch is a town on the Long Road, a few days travel north of Waterdeep and a few days travel south of Triboar. Its a way stop for caravans coming to or from the cities of the North, with an inn named the Swinging Sword, a tavern called the Helm at Highsun, and many craftspeople who cater to travelers.

Sildar informs Og and Ooreek that they should seek out Hulvr and Maegla Tarnlar in Red Larch.  They are clothiers and also quietly members of the Lord's Alliance.

Four identical, well-built warehouses stand here in ground covered in raked gravel and cinders. The moment anyone sets foot past the sign that says "Bethendurs Storage/Rent Space by tenday, month, or year," a tall, smiling man emerges to meet them.

The party greets Aerego Bethendur and arrange a storage space to be purchased with money given by Gundren.  They then wheel the ore into the storage space and lock it up tight.  Og and Ooreek then find out from Aerego where the clothier shop is so they can meet up with the Tarnlars as Sildar request.

Tarnlars is the only place to buy quality clothing for a hundred miles around. The square two-story building stands at the intersection of the Long Road and the Cairn Road. Its signboard is painted with the images of a well-dressed lord and lady, one on each side of the board. Ornate scrollwork iron bars protect the windows.

Yarabon, Taten and Xelael wait outside the shop at Og's request noting that these people are unlikely to share any information to those outside of the Lord's Alliance.

Og quickly flashes a badge signifying his allegiance to the Lord's Alliance and he introduces Ooreek as his cloak recruit.  The Tarnlars quickly change from haughty clothiers to fellow Alliance members sharing inside information as soon as the store is relatively quiet. Helvur seems to keep relatively quiet allowing his wife Maegla to do most of the talking.

"Our children recently a few tendays ago were out berry picking in the direction of Lance Rock and they claimed that they met a grizzled dwarf prospector who warned them away from Lance Rock claiming there was plague there. Seems like childrens stories to me but its the only lead I have and im fearful this strange man could hurt my children or the town.  if you don't mind looking into it one Alliance member to the other we would be in your debt."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:15, Mon 04 June 2018.

"Thanks you Maegla, we will certainly investigate this....For the Alliance!" Og says this with a bow and a smile.

"For the Alliance" Ooreek says this with less power as Og but cannot avoid the squawking shrill that comes with the voice of his people.  He nods at the Tarnlar and follows Og out of the building.

They pass the information on to the others who were waiting outside then head out to investigate.

Hills partitioned into fields and pastures by fieldstone fences or hedges surround Red Larch. A mile or so outside the town, cultivated areas give way to unspoiled wilderness. Miles of hills, woods, and grassland stretch on as far as the eye can see, filled with plentiful wildlife.

Lance Rock is a narrow, twenty-five-foot menhir of bare, gray rock that juts eastward at a sixty-degree angle.

A trail leads into the brush near a neatly-painted sign that reads, in Common: Come no closer lest you catch the disfiguring plague that afflicts me! The Lord of Lance Rock  The trail continues down to a cave mouth. Another warning sign with the same message is posted by the opening

Not fearing the warning and being given a task to investigate what these warnings may mean the party progresses forward ready to investigate the supposedly plague infested cavern.

The cave mouth opens into darkness from which a breeze blows, carrying the faint odor of death. Inside is a natural cave, its floor and ceiling uneven. The passage leads to the west, narrowing as it proceeds.

As Og proceeds farther in he sees The corpse of a human male is sprawled here on its back. It wears only leather breeches.

Og and Yarabon ignore the body continuing deeper into the cave but as they continue to proceed Taten begins trying to sift through the corpses belongings when the corpse comes to life reaching for the half-orc's exposed flesh.

The party slays the zombified human corpse with ease and continues deeper into the cave.

A round, high-ceilinged cave opens here. It has two narrow exits, one leading north and the other south. A flat boulder sits in the center of the cave. Its about six feet across, eight feet long, and three feet high. Dark stains color its top.

As Og leads the party into the cavern heavy rocks are dropped down from a pair of zombies above.  Og dives off the mastiff to safety but the Mastiff takes the brunt of the boulders but survives.  Then the zombies fall off the ledge and begin to assault the party.

The party without casualty recovers from the ambush and take out the two zombies. Og then casts cure light wounds to mend the wounds of his mastiff. They then choose to head down the northern passage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Sun 25 Mar 2018.

Motionless humanoid figures dressed in dirty clothes or scraps of armor are propped against the walls of this cave. Some are little more than skeletons with wisps of hair and skin stretched tightly over their bones. Others are fresher. A few old shortswords lie on the dusty floor.

Seeing there is nothing of note and not taking the chance of animating more remains the party moves back the other direction down the southern passage.

This narrow passage is about ten feet high in most places, with rough, irregular walls. Protruding spurs on the walls are coated in dried blood.

The star-shaped cavern ahead has many clefts in its walls. Only two, across the cavern, seem large enough to traverse. Three zombies lurch about the area. One is costumed like a bear, another is dressed as a lady in a frilly dress and thick makeup, and the last is costumed as a jester with jingling bells on its collar and sleeves.

While Xelael takes a moment to ponder what is going on the rest of the party does not immediately pulling out weapons and charging into the fray against the strangely dressed undead before them.

The party wipes out the three strangely dressed zombies and continue down the southern passage.

The passage opens into an enormous cavern illuminated by several guttering torches set in sconces on the walls. The floor is uneven, and the ceiling is forty feet up. Three flat boulders near the passage serve as tables for human corpses. Severed body parts sit in baskets by the corpses, covered in dry gore. A figure in a dark hood stands by the third table, its back to you. Matted hair juts from the hood, and the figure holds a bone needle threaded with dark cord in its hand. Farther to the west, a stone stair climbs the north wall, ending near the ceiling. A stone slab like a counter juts from the wall across the room from the base of the stairs. It holds saws, knives, and other tools. Four skeletons stand beyond this tool bench, guarding a wide passage that exits the to the west.

The party also sees a wild-eyed Tethyrian human with a bristly beard and a shaved head. The man is at the top of the stair well and as he quickly begins to descend the stairs he says. "BOW before the lord of Lance Rock! ME! Behold my Dark Terrors!"  He then begins heading towards the back of the cave behind the protection of his undead minions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:35, Sun 25 Mar 2018.

The party decimates the undead menace before them and corners the Tethyrian man. Where

An oval cavern opens here, forty feet wide and sixty feet long. Dark purple tapestries hang on the walls. At the center stands a pedestal fashioned of severed arms arranged to clutch one another in a cone. Cradled in the uppermost hands is a glowing crystal sphere. A dark sigil with an eyelike slit floats above the sphere.

The man starts fumbling for something behind the draperies but as party members approach he calls out. "Please we can make a deal, just leave this cave let the Lord of Lance Rock rule in peace."

Ooreek flies in first landing next to the strange sigil and squawks out. "We cannot allow undead to be birthed it is wrong and cruel to those who have passed on.  Give yourself up to the order or the local constabulary and you will come to no harm."


as Ooreek approaches the sigil he hears the man shout out "Cant you see it? Its the Eye! It sees your every move! Don't you fear it?"

Oreioth the necromancer fires his wand of magic missles at Ooreek blasting him to the ground unconscious filling the room with the smell of burnt feathers.  Seeing her new companion bleeding out upon the floor sends Yarabond into a wild rage.  She rushes forth cleaving the necromancers left leg off then slashing deep into his body then ending with a decapitating strike.

Oreioth upon death turns into a black flame. The flame dwindles to nothing with a plaintive wail and vanishes.

Ooreek is successfully saved from the brink of death and the party collects the loot upon Oreioth's corpse including a drift globe which is given to Ooreek as the only non darkvision having party member and the wand of magic missles to give him a ranged option.

The party returns to Red Larch and decides to relax and take a breather after their adventure yesterday.  It appears to be An ordinary afternoon in Red Larch that is broken by a tremor. A second later, four small children and the old cart they are playing on slide down into a sinkhole that suddenly opens. They disappear from sight, shrieking for help. A distraught woman runs out of a nearby house and sprints to the edge of the hole, which crumbles away, spilling her in as well. More people run from other homes. Calls of "A rope, a rope!" and "Get a ladder!" fill the air.

Ooreek immediately takes flight going up then diving down into the sinkhole.

Inside Ooreek perceives A dark chamber is about thirty feet below the level of the ground. It looks larger than the hole and extends into darkness on all sides. A heap of loose earth is piled in the middle. The children who first fell in are sitting on the mound of earth, coughing in the dust and sobbing with fright. "My boy, my boy!" a worried parent shouts, peeping over the edge. "Somebody do something!" More townsfolk hurry up from all sides, staying clear of the edge. Among them are a few town elders, who pull people away from the edge and order the others to stay back. "Leave it to us!" says one of the elders. "We will tend to this matter! The children wont be harmed by being down there a little while, but no one must go down there. Keep back!"

Ooreek then begins grabbing and flying the children up out of the sinkhole and up to safety.  The sight of the beaked man is frightening at first but seeing they finally have a way out they gladly take his aid.  Ooreek then grabs the woman who fell in, she is a larger woman and it is difficult at first but with some strain to his wings he manages to lift her to safety as well.

He then calls out to the others in his party. "There is something under the town, we should investigate.  It's safe to jump down the earth is soft." he squawks out.  Several of the elders glare or shout out "No what are you doing!" as the other party members begin jumping in but they have little chance of stopping the armed and prepared party from diving into the hole especially through the crowd of townspeople either clapping their hands in praise of Ooreek's handiwork saving the townspeople or questioning what he meant by there is something under the town.

The town elders trying to control the situation are Ilmeth Waelvur (male Tethyrian human bandit; see Red Larch, area 16), Albaeri Mellikho (female Tethyrian human commoner; see Red Larch, area 18), and Ulhro Luruth (male Chondathan human commoner; see Red Larch, area 19)

The elders can be heard shouting out "This isn't to be discussed in front of strangers!" and "The Delvers must not be angered!" and "The stones must not be moved!"

The party despite believing Ooreek that the earth is soft gathers a rope and ties it off and begins climbing down so they have an easy way to get out.