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[Morrow]

From the journal of K. Garnham Seeker translated from the Vallossan

Today I witnessed a miracle.

A treasure map sold to a rube on the streets of Sasserine actually led to a real treasure.

Today the Nixie sent a long boat to the Dragon carrying Lavinia, Liamae and Tollin.

We were told that our navigator Urol had made an arrangement with Lavinia to explore ancient Olman ruins that lay on an island en route to Farshore. We were asked to accompany him with the two Jade Ravens.

Urol told us that a one-legged sailor sold him the map. The sailor told him that it was delivered to him by a dying elf who claimed to be part of an expedition that had met strong resistance from a basilisk. He ran before he was turned to stone like his comrades.

As soon as I heard this I was in a good mood. I personally know three people who run the map scam and know of half-a-dozen more besides. The chances of us coming across anything resembling danger or treasure were remote, but I'd grown tired of being stuck on board ship for the last several weeks. The idea of walking on dry, unmoving ground was very appealing.

We made our preparations and departed for the island.

We trekked for a time through the jungle and came to the ruins. Arrayed in the opening passage were a series of very life-like "statues."

The basilisk was drawn out and we defeated it without any of us being petrified. Urol had brought the magical means to restore two of victims and we decided to help our predecessors once we were certain we wouldn't have need of the slave ourselves. Liamae and Elyosha believe that the eyes and liver of the beast may be used in other restorations.

Heavy plant growth and centuries of collapse made all but two passageways impossible to explore in the time available.

We travelled down one until we found a room with a deep well. Something crawled out of that well. Something amorphous with dozens of eyes that darted around everywhere and many mouths that formed a bedlam choir. Tollin called it a gibbering mouther.

It attacked our minds. Some of us froze, others turned on our own, still others attacked it with a beserk fury. Only Liamae proved completely resilient to the madness. In the end we survived ourselves and silenced the strange voices.
Dexter and I spent an hour going through the mass grave that had formed at the bottom of that well. While we were busy with our charnal duty Laimae and Elyosha harvested the basilisk's eyes and liver.

We went down the last remaining passage. It led into a map room warded by the first significant magical trap I've encountered. Liamae confirmed it to be a class five incendiary, possibly mobile. I started with a standard Caldwell matrix. That suppressed the cardinal harmonics allowing me to access the dweomer imprimatur. I wasn't completely certain that the trigger was stripped so I dragontongued the base pairs and Liamae was able to confirm that the trap was clear.

I've enclosed a copy of Urol's paper on the subject of the map room and the other things we uncovered of an historical nature. For all of his eccentricities Urol might make a fine addition to our ranks.

We then came across a room barricaded by a wall of stone spell. Liamae and Dexter provided us access. Beyond we found a burial pyramid and a crazed man-bat. The man-bat launched itself at us and while we fought it was joined by a will o' the wisp. It was a hard battle, but in the end we won.

Exploration of the pyramid revealed a mummified corpse. I was quiet happy to discover that it wasn't the walking, Garnham attacking, type of mummy and was content to lay there all ancient and shriveled.

The man-bat had been guarding the treasure of an ancient Olman bat god. A golden bat statue weighing several pounds apparently made of solid gold. It radiates a slight magic, but we have yet to identify it.

We spent several hours letting Urol take notes and etchings. Before we left we restored two of the adventurers, a dwarven woman and a woman wearing the symbol of the Witchwardens. They seemed healthy enough, but are too disoriented to talk right now. We've secured their friends.

On a personal note I have fallen in love with Lavinia. My objectivity cannot be counted on in regards to her. I can tell you that I have believed for a while that she will make an excellent Seeker. She is a master at statecraft, a steady swordswoman and possesses an indomitable spirit. In my eyes she eclipses all others of her sex.