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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 897967" data-attributes="member: 6294">Kull's 2nd Report - Part 4My new minions made short work of the cowering skeletons.  With that done, I moved in and inspected the room in which they had been trapped.  This investigation quickly revealed yet another secret door: this ruin seems to be full of them.Beyond the door was an ancient laboratory, obviously intended for alchemical studies.  The remains of the alchemist himself were still here.  An odd place to die, but perhaps one of his experiments caught up with him.Naturally, it took only moments for the others to begin turning the room upside down in search of treasure, while I attended to the corpse of the alchemist.  Unlike the skeletons that no shadowed my steps, these bones were not animate, though they still clutched a book, and a small leather back.  I snapped away the finger bones and prised both items free.  The book - though damaged - appeared to be a spell tome, and would possibly be of use to Zalich, once he recovered from his clumsiness.  Given that we had also found the tome from the wizard we had fought, it seemed the Halfling would profit from our investigation, despite his absence.The leather bag contained a stone, strangely carved, with an almost oily texture.  I tested it for magic and discovered that it was indeed enchanted with a transmutation effect, but could not determine any more.  I had planned to send it to the Church for investigation, but - as subsequent events were to show - it appears to have attuned itself to me, and cannot be taken by any other.  No doubt the only reason I was able to claim it was the death of the previous owner.I have, however, hired a local artist to make sketches of the stone for your inspection.  These are enclosed with this missive.In the meantime, the others had located several precious items under the layer of dust and cobwebs in the room.  It appeared the long dead alchemist had a passion for gold ornaments, and they were well pleased with this haul.Given that most of the group had been injured in our fights, and that the hour was drawing late, I resolved that we should return to the village of Saltmarsh.  The items we had discovered could be traded for better equipment, and in a day or so it would be likely that Zalich would be able to accompany us in any further inspection of the ruins.  His knowledge of arcane lore might be useful in the alchemist's laboratory.More important, however, was the fact that a meeting of the village council was scheduled to be held in just a few hours.  News of these smugglers must be presented to the authorities immediately, so that the proper steps could be taken to end their activities.  Thus, I ordered the two skeletons to stand guard on the panel through which the last smuggler had fled, then led the way back to town.The news I brought to the council meeting caused a great deal of commotion, and it was some time before the Mayor got proceedings under control.  It was a disgraceful display of panic: were any real danger to threaten these people, they would collapse into abject terror, I am sure.At last, the Mayor asserted enough control to disband the clamouring townsfolk, leaving only the council members to hear the details of what had been learned.  I explained the full details of what had been discovered, and presented the smugglers' documents as evidence of the operation's activities.  Presented with such a clear indication of the sheriff's incompetence, their first step should have been to choose a more vigorous appointee.  Naturally, this did not occur to them.Instead, they offered a substantial reward if we were to undertake the Sheriff's job for him.  By this time, I was not surprised by this open acknowledgement of the man's cowardice and ineptitude, but I was surprised by the council's apparent acceptance of it.  It rapidly became obvious to me that they desperately needed the guiding hand of Hextor, if their community was ever to survive.  Thus, I accepted out of necessity what the others more rapidly accepted out of greed, and undertook to put an end to the smugglers' operation.</blockquote>

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