Tears for Twilight Hollow IC

[Endur]

Through the clouds of insects you spot a hemispherical indentation in the mud. Half-filled with water and mud, the earthen bowl suggests that something large and round once occupied the space. Scattered amongst the reeds are numerous chunks of broken stone, as well as humanoid bones.

No plants grow within twenty feet of the earthen bowl.

Zinnias recoils when he looks at the earthen depression. An evil artifact of great power once rested there. Perhaps a great stone or something else of large size. The lingering aura was still enough to shock the holy warrior.

Dra'vin finds numerous footprints around the bowl. A skirmish was obviously fought here, several weeks ago. Footprints of horses, men, and a giant can be made out.

Searching through the reeds, List discovers the rotted, mostly-devoured remains of a light warhorse and its rider. Tucked in one of the slain horse's saddlebags is a leather-bound diary. Moisture has warped the book and smeared its ink. However, one section remains intact.

"My lady plans to travel to the far side of the mountains and find the elusive brigands known as Harular's Claws. I must accompany her and help her overcome this foul scourge of the trade ways. Shaunnra has heard rumors that Harular has dragon's blood coursing through his veins. As Shaunnra's squire, I've learned a great deal. But as her adventuring partner, I will have a chance to prove myself. My life begins soon."

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

*Jalen makes a sign of blessing over the corpse and tries to drag some brush over it for a scanty burial. Burying him in the mud would be no good; the best she could do for the moment was try to disuade scavangers. This done, she makes her way over to the others.*

"The poor man... I believe he was struck by lightning. Whether this is from nature or magic I cannot tell," she says.

 

[Shenanigans]

"They must have captured or killed or whatever they did to that paladin here. I doubt she would have let her squire's corpse rot in the sun."

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

List male human rogue

"Right good searching in the fog. May his soul find the way to its' rest." List dismounts and tries to help Jalen to hide the body.

 

[Karl Green]

Dra'vin Frostblood, human male ranger

Dra'vin words a silent prayer for the man, but is watchful for any signs of trouble... those bandits are about here somewhere, and this is as good an ambush sight as he has seen so far...

 

[Shenanigans]

Deciding that there might be some treasure or mabey something watching them, since there was an ambush here before, Tohav casts detect magic.
Detecting Magic till either the spell runs out or we leave this place, or something tries to kill us

 

[Endur]

As Tohav uses his arcane vision to analyze the nearby area, he detects a powerful presence of magic around the earthen depression. A lingering aura of Necromancy is still powerful even though the item that created the aura is long gone.

Dra'vin finds many tracks around the earthen bowl, where plants do not grow. In particular, he finds the footprints of a giant walking into the water in the direction of Twilight Hollow. The footprints look like they were made several weeks ago. None of the tracks near the earthen depression are recent.

 

[Shenanigans]

Backing away a little from the aura, Tohav turns to the others. "There is a very large, very powerfull aura of magic around the depression. Necromancy it seems. Whatever made it has been gone for a while now, but something so powerfull still left a strong aura for us to find. This is looking worse by the minute."

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

List male Human Rogue

"There is a very large, very powerfull aura of magic around the depression. Necromancy it seems. Whatever made it has been gone for a while now, but something so powerfull still left a strong aura for us to find. This is looking worse by the minute."

List looks up from covering the body, as a thrill runs up his spine and not the good kind.
"Necromancy, that's a foul art. Do you think those Giant tracks were related? It may have carried off whatever was resting here."

 

[Endur]

While searching for tracks, Dra'vin discovers a very strange trail. The trail avoids the twenty feet around the earthen depression, but appears much fresher than the tracks of the giants.

Dra'vin isn't sure what made the trail, but thinks it might have been a centipede of gargantuan size.

The trail was made in the last twenty four hours and appears to have come from the east and headed north.

List sees a lighter patch in the fog to the north, almost as if someone might be using a lantern as they walk through the marsh.