So, I was venturing through Raven’s Lake with my companions and I began to miss the stonework of Citadel even more. Even though I was able to visit my home town recently it wasn’t under the type of circumstances that would have allowed me to enjoy the comforts of a home… like true ale and a hearty welcome from those dwarves who understand what glory is.
I kept thinking that through the recent struggles I’ve grown much stronger and more knowledgeable is the ways of combat. I used to be known as just the cleric of the group but now I’m gaining much more combat experience by means of Throrn. My Heavy Pick is starting to land into my opponents with a fierce zip.
Back to my travels… I’ve noticed that while in Raven’s Lake the gnomish folk aren’t as friendly as they were in Cobblepot. I was also able to pick up a distinct evil presence in the air although I didn’t get that sense from the people, but rather the surroundings. Most would say that my point was an obvious one considering the gloom of the town but I knew that the evil was much deeper than what we could even see. Alas, we found but one house that looked like it could help us in town. Not that we needed much help but it was growing dark and we needed a place to sleep.
As Lochlan and Gim approached the door and knocked we heard silence for quite some time. Eventually we heard a couple locks on the door come undone and we knew someone was approaching. He said his name was Hurgood and he didn’t have anything to else us with. It was easy to sense he was lying but it wasn’t easy to decipher why he was lying. Gim of course chimed in by saying that we had lots of gold to give him if he’d help us. There Gim went again offering up our money even though he has none. So, he barely welcomed us in. We weren’t able to gather much information until we pressed him about his wedding ring. Then he explained that some of the townsfolk including his wife and the local cleric had gone missing recently. I suggested that he should either travel to Cobblepot or start searching for her but he then explained that he was not leaving and couldn’t really do much searching with his broken leg. I could see he felt the local cleric was at fault for not healing him so I tried to rectify the situation by offering my services but he didn’t want the help. After some more prodding we were able to get the name of a local kook named Mad Maddy and a sacrificial stone where we might find her.
We decided to search for Mad Maddy to the north through the muck of Raven’s Lake until we came within a mile or so of the sea where we found a burnt tree and a large tilted, smooth stone. For some reason I pondered over the tree and wondered what arcane magic had burned the tree until Grizzlegast pointed out the obvious that perhaps the tree was hit by lightning considering it was still raining in the area. His sarcastic tone was meant to belittle me but I shrugged it off since he was trying to provoke me. Eventually, I muttered something to the effect of “where’s this Mad Maddy”… and as soon as I did she appeared in front of us. I was quite impressed with the magic and it felt familiar much like that of Gim. Through some questioning we found out she worshipped an evil god and that she was indeed a druid. Gim showed respect for her and began to realize that the disturbance that we were looking for was in fact as enemy of hers as well. I cared not for the help from a god of such weak stature that it can’t even affect the land, but Gim was impressed and even found out the location of the missing gnomes. She explained that there was a shipwreck east of here and that we would find what we were looking for there. Gim gave her some dirt in which she put in a bowl and looking like she was going to eat it or something. Lochlan also gave her some coin for the information in which I disapproved of as well. I still think we could have found the location on our own without help but alas I am merely one man in this crew.
So, we decided to venture towards where Mad Maddy pointed us until we reached a Cliffside with a ship’s wreckage from long ago plastered on the side. I feared that the group would want to travel up the side of the cliff but thankfully we found a smooth trail that led up to a house. We brashly entered the house and started looking around it. Lochlan found many dead animal carcasses and a disturbing bathroom with a foul stench. My brother then looked in a pantry of which he found nothing. Eventually, we made our way to a small room until we found a crazy gnome standing in front of a stove. He looked like he meant no harm but it was hard to make out what he was saying. I was able to calm him for a moment but then we decided to venture to the basement to search for anything out of the normal. Once down there I found a loose wall that looked like it had been built recently. After finding this the crazy gnome ran upstairs and Gim sent Cano chasing after him. We all made our way back upstairs to see a new door leading from the pantry that my brother Rorrin had lazily checked. The opening led to a staircase that we went down. Inside this new room we found a few prisons in which I’m assuming townsfolk were locked inside. This game me no hope for Hurgood’s wife but I had more important things to handle since it sounded like the group was off fighting some creatures ahead. Lochlan took a vicious bite to the arm. I laughed at bit at the sight of “food” taking a bite out of Lochlan for once but then began healing the group from injury. Once they were all in adequate condition I took the opportunity to practice with my Heavy Pick. The creatures were easily disposed of with our group and we then turned our attention to the crazy gnome who led us down here…
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