Still cautious on the black moss, Lucien makes his way to the rough center of the clearing where he again probes the ground with his rapier. "If were going to dig anywhere I think this is probably the place. At least without any better sense from you Karon." He looks at the half-orc to confirm.

The party begins to excavate the clearing, starting in the middle, using Volani's shovel and pick and makeshift wooden digging tools (from tree branches). By the time the sun starts to set, the party has unearthed a collection of shields and swords, most of which are rusty and useless, with the exception of one dagger, one longsword, and one shield. Additionally, they have found 71 gold pieces and a platinum choker with emeralds. As the light of the sun starts to fade and the moss covering the trees begins to glow, they find a sealed silver scroll case. Inside the case are three spell scrolls (stinking cloud, fly, and dispel magic) and an old letter, which reads:

My Lord Lothar,
My messenger should be followed shortly by your squire, the Lady Arlis, and all but six of our men-at-arms. They will join you on the fringes of the Hardlow Woods to deal with the menace therein. The others I shall leave as guards at Spire Keep. We have suffered attack by orcs this last week and I would not care to leave the place undefended. Brother Seamrian will remain as a spellcaster, and Sir Leomar will command the garrison which remains. I shall be at your side within two days and a night.

Your humble servant,

Kanthus

Karon is quite surprised when some of the things they dig out of the ground turn out to be still serviceable. He tests the balance of the longsword and tries to bend the metal of the shield, and can only conclude that something has prevented the arms from rusting like they should have.

He gives the others a look. "Those seem to have been preserved. Has to be some kind of enchantment. Question is, what kind of enchantment, and who did those belong to?"

As he wonders about this, the silver scroll case is found and the half-orc gets in closer to listen as the letter is read out loud. He scratches his head. "I wonder what this means," he says, confused by the contents of the letter.

"Give me a moment to inspect them."

Volani took out his ritual spellbook with the skull on the cover. He turned to the prescribed page and began to chant a ritual, drawing symbols in the air.

---

Cast detect magic as a ritual and inspect all that we've discovered.

Terminax follows suit, likely just for the practice.

Lucien is wary of the items and keeps his distance as Volani and Terminax cast their spells. While they work, he inspects the letter and attempts to place the pieces into what they already know of the legend. "It seems likely that this 'Lord Lothar' is the original Count Lothar Palfrey from the legend that Old Grizzler told us. I don't recall whether Spire Keep was the name of the current Count Palfrey's residence or not. We've not heard anything of the others mentioned in the letter, but it seems likely that they were the Count's companions."

"Is this all that's left of them then?  Was that the threat they spoke of?"

She pointed to the remains of the undead they defeated.

"Are we.... done here?"

Volani looked disappointed as he explains that none of the items are magical. He spend the remainder of the spells duration, circling the glade and cross crossing it to see if there are any sources of magic they’re missing.

"Yes, it seems likely that the Lothar in the letter is Lothar Parlfray, and that the others were his companions," Lathan agrees with Lucien. "But I don't think the Parlfray Keep we visited is the same as this 'Spire Keep'; it could have been rebuilt in the time since this letter was written, but the Parlfray Keep by Thurmaster doesn't have a spire, if I recall correctly."

"Well, do we go to Spirekeep then?" Terminax asks.

Karon shrugs when Volani tells them the blade, shield and dagger are not, in fact, enchanted. "Still a nice sword," he says, testing the blade's balance and bite. "I'm going to keep it, unless you want it," he tells the others. If it can survive being buried like that then perhaps it will hold an edge better or something. He isn't sure where they should go next, so he simply listens to what the others suggest.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:47, Thu 15 Nov 2018.

"I doubt we've completely dealt with whatever evil lurks here, but I think we are at the limit of what we can do for the time being. We have no information about where this Spire Keep might be or might have been. We will probably need to return to either Milborne, Thursmaster or Palfrey Keep and inquire. The only question that remains is whether we spend the evening here or try and return in the dark." The elf looks inquiringly around for opinions on the subject of traveling in the dark.

"Looks cozy to me." Terminax says, looking admiringly at the scrolls and shield.

"I have intention of sleeping in this curse place."

Volani looked around incredulously

"Alternatively we could try and find that goblin camp. They seem like a threat to the region and their leaders may know of a local keep." at the haunted glade.

"If we rest here for a little while to patch our wounds, the goblin camp seems like a much better solution to me.  We can hit them at night, clear them out, and then find a place to settle down."

Rissa threw in her vote.

The prospect of a night raid seems to perk Lucien up. "Not the worst idea except that we need to find it first and every indication is that is was on the opposite side of the woods. Still, we can send the familiars out to search for it while we relax." He whistles softly and an owl flaps down from one of the trees surrounding the gleaming glade. He stares intently at the creature and not long after, it takes flight again and wings its way southwest.

Terminax also rests, idly sharpening stakes as he relaxes.

The owls are unable to locate any possible sites of a goblin camp within the Hardlow Woods.

With no promising leads from his familiar, Lucien passed on the disappointing news to his companions. "If they are in the woods, the goblins are hard to spot from the air. What do we think is the next move? We can return south and see if the Count has found something for us.Or perhaps Kuiper will have returned. One way or another, there don't seem to be any leads in the woods for us."

“Agreed. We should eventually find a place to research these locations mentioned in the artifacts.”

The party gathers their possessions and heads out of the Gleaming Glade, setting up camp for the night south of the Glade.

The night passes without incident.

Long rest.

"Well, should we head back to Thurmaster and Parlfray Keep now?" Lathan asks his companions. "We can swing by Kuiper's farm on the way to see if he's there."

Lucien packs up and prepares to return the way they came. "I think that is the best plan."

"Might as well." Terminax says after going through his typical morning routine.

Rissa stayed quite, but nodded her agreement.