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[Morrow]

From the journal of K. Garnham, Seeker as translated from the Vallossan
After spending the night recovering from our encounter with the faux-undead naga we returned to the Barlagura lair.

We passed through a series of doors each magically trapped or guarded. I missed an obvious glyph on the first and set off an ice storm.

We finally made it into a large chamber dominated by a large statue of Demogorgon. Perhaps twenty feet in front of this statue was a bonfire pit, fully ablaze. Above the blaze hung Urol on a chain suspension. He was being slowly lowered to his death.

We were attacked by the large Barlagura that we had encountered before. He identified himself as Ilangru, lord of Fogmire and claimed that Demogorgon would have our souls.

He died.

Maggie rescued Urol and we began our search of the chamber.
Elyosha came close to the statue which animated and attacked her. The wounds were grievous in and of themselves, but the touch of the statue withered flesh also.

Elyosha died.

Dexter grabbed her corpse and we beat a hasty retreat.

The statue, a Lemorian Golem, gave chase for a while, but we eventually lost it.

Urol used a scroll of reincarnate to bring Elyosha back the next day. She reincarnated as a dwarf. She is trying to be stoic about this, but much of her identity is tied in with her people, her blood and that blood is now dwarven.

We spent some time healing and made another attempt to leave Fogmire. We encountered the same space warping effect that we encountered before. It was decided that whatever was causing this effect was in the Barlagura lair, probably the demon-golem. We decided to take a day of healing and return, in strength, to destroy it.

We were successful. Summoned creatures and spell-enhanced adventurers proved too much and the four eyes that had been on us since we first arrived on this damned island were shut forever.

Further search of the lair showed no signs of any other spell or magical effect that would be responsible for space folding in upon itself in Fogmire. We left and attempted to leave Fogmire for a third time.

This time we were successful.

We found a trail and traveled until we came to the massive wall that blocks the wilds of the Isle of Dread from the Ohlman villages and Farshore.

We identified ourselves at the wall and, after a translator had been called for, we were allowed to enter the Ohlman village of Tanora.

The Tanorans are charged with the defense of the wall. It was obviously more martially oriented then the other Ohlman village we passed through on our way to Farshore.

After a night of rest and trading we made our way to the village of Mora. From there we made our way to Farshore via canoe. Avner's horse was left behind.

We crossed the channel only to see smoke in the distance. The settlement was under attack by pirates.

As soon as we made landfall we rushed to do what we could. Elyosha used her magics to extinguish fires and strike down pirates with lightning bolts. Dexter and Maggie attacked the pirate leader Slipknot Pete and a band of his goons. I stopped an attempted rape of a weaver named Ruby.

We were just finishing up with the last of the pirates when the force that was fighting in the inner part of the city broke through to us.

Lavinia was with them.

Ilsa and Sabine apparently have joined the Jade Ravens, replacing the members who had died in the wreck of the Bronze Dragon.

Also present was a tall man in mithral chainmail, Manthalay Meravanchi, uncle to Avner.

Avner immeadiately came to his uncle and began his fawning ways. I was able to take my eyes off Lavinia long enough to notice that Manthalay didn't seem too happy to see Avner although the elder Meravanchi didn't do, or say, anything overtly rude to his nephew.

We then went into the town's meeting house to figure out what was going on.

Damage reports came in steady stream. There were relatively few casualties; the population now stands at 240 (241 when Jasmine Jennis has her baby, but she's not due for another month.)

Lavinia introduced us to the town council. She heaped lavish praise upon us. I noticed that the Ravens seemed somewhat put out by this effusion.
We then received a report from the militia members who had searched the pirate's ship. On board the Hellfish they came across papers indicating that this was a scouting mission for the Crimson Fleet.

The room erupted into anarchy. I don't blame them; the Crimson Fleet eats places like this for breakfast.

There was one pirate who had been captured alive. A malnourished, feverish man named Lefty. Manthalay was all for torturing him before executing him. Lavinia protested. While the two sides fought over which protocols to use we Beetles got information from Lefty.

According to him, Slipknot Pete was contacted magically by the Crimson Fleet. They wanted information on Farshore in preparation for an assault that is now two months away.

Manthalay was all for executing Lefty on the spot. I managed to convince enough people that he'd be of better service to us fighting the Fleet with the rest of us.

The Beetles were then escorted to Vanderboren Manor. We bathed and had fresh clothing brought to us. Lavinia met with us later and went over plans to improve our defenses.

There is a lot to do and little time to do it in. There are engineering improvements, diplomatic missions to at least two, possibly three, different groups, efficiency improvements, repairs on the Dragon and a host of other things too numerous to mention.

Maggie made an excellent point during this meeting. Why does the Crimson Fleet want Farshore destroyed?

No one had an answer at the time. Sitting here now, writing this out, flipping through the pages of this journal I think I might have something.
The first question is how they know about us in the first place.

Farshore's existence isn't exactly a secret, but it's hardly common knowledge either. Lavinia approached members of the aristocracy in Sasserine for funds to mount the expedition that got us here. They, presumably, would know. I don't believe that the exact location or name of the colony were disclosed to potential colonists until after they were en route. The Seekers know about the colony from the journals of Lavinia's parents.

The nobility of Sasserine who turned down Lavinia believed that Farshore was doomed anyway. I don't see any motivation to end Farshore from them. Of course it is the nobility; their motives aren't always clear or reasonable.

The Seekers aren't involved. There's a Seeker lodge here and the opportunity to explore the island itself and it's many ruins.

Others may have found out about this place, but there is no visible motive for destroying it by force. The chances of Farshore surviving without open assault are still low. It would be better to just wait a year or two and let it fail on it's own. Unless we were getting in the way of something that the Fleet deemed important. But if the Fleet had interests in this area why wouldn't they destroy Farshore in it's infancy? Why would they need to rely on the half-assed scouting of the cream of Rat's End?

There is someone who (probably) knows about the location of Farshore, has had contact with the Crimson Fleet and has enough of a grudge against Lavinia to want to see her works destroyed.

I'm loathe to mention it to Lavinia. If I'm wrong then I've opened old wounds for no reason. If I'm right the wounds are still open and I don't know if there is any benefit.

I'll ask Elyosha if she can scrye on him tomorrow. I still have the key and the locket I found in his room. That should help.