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• Calliope Laurelleaf – Halfling Bard
• Ellyjobell – Gnome Ranger
• Phalen – High Elf Cleric
• Talerien – Wood Elf Ranger
• Trogdorr – Dragonborn Barbarian
• Twirpo – Hill Dwarf Wizard
• Alaric Lysane – Human Fighter

• As the caravan approaches the cavern ahead, the riders on the caravan grow tense
• One of them stands up, “This cavern is full of Piercers. We will need to ride through the cavern as quickly as we can, before the piercers drop on us or the horses. Perhaps one of you would be better at handling the horses?”
• Alaric, Ellyjobell, and Calliope decide to take the reigns
  • Both Phalen and Twirpo are struck by piercers as the caravans barrel through the cavern; though neither is grievously wounded before dispatching the pierces
• As the wagons barrel through the cavern and come to a halt, a ghostly visage of a woman appears and whispers, “Help us…” before disappearing again
• Ellyjobell and Talerien scout ahead, dismounting from the caravan to move as quietly as possible
• They come across the town – Stonehowl – which is where the caravan was going to make its next stop
  • There seems to be some kind of commotion going on with the villagers gathering around the town square, and what appears to be the mayor trying to calm the angry crowd
  • Elly and Talerien make their way back and report back to the caravan which proceeds forward, arriving in Stonehowl
• The mayor of the small mining village asks for help from the party, explaining that their chief medical person has “lost their mind”
• The chief medical individual has acquired a staff from some travelers come back from the Broken Lands
• Since then the medical person had become increasingly more erratic and eventually became a recluse in the mining caverns
• The truth became clear when he was seen next raising the dead from the graveyard and using them as miners
• The mayor explained that the miners had dug so far that they had encountered insect-like creatures that had murdered many of the miners
• The medic, deranged, had tried to explain his position of using the undead as a means to save lives, since they were dead already, it wouldn’t matter if the odd insect-creatures killed them again
• The mayor then asked the party to save the medic if they could – but if needed, put an end to his madness one way or another
• The party agreed to the Mayor’s deal (after bartering for horses and alcohol)
• As they headed for the cavern, roughly a mile away, before entering the cavern, a big wind swept over them, and then a shadow – then landing on top of the cavern entrance was none other than a Black Dragon! (Named Onyx)
• The Black Dragon tells the party that it wants the Staff the medic has
• The Black Dragon then tells the party that if they bring him the Staff, he will remove the cursed gauntlet he senses on one of them
• When questioned, the Black Dragon explains that the world may see him as an ‘evil’ creature, but even he is against Necromancy, and that as a Dragon, he has the means to see the Staff safely destroyed
• The party declines his offer – worried that it might lead to a fight – a fight they are not prepared to win
• The Black Dragon instead says, that it will give the party a chance to come out of the cave with the Staff to make their decision
• The party accepts the Dragon’s deal and enters the cave
• Stepping inside the cave, the party’s senses are overcome by the scent of death; and venturing inside only slightly more, reveals why – just inside, there are several ghouls feasting on a fresh kill, and spot the party
• With some cuts (and a few being momentarily paralyzed by the touch of the ghouls), the party moves on – and the cavern becomes thin and dips into water
• Elly scouts ahead – and eventually finds an underground lake; in the lake is a slow, moving yellow creature which she evades
• She returns and forms a line using their rope; that allows the party to climb across safely; although several fall into the lake (and Trogdorr’s dragonborn size snaps the rope)
• The party finds itself fighting a Ochre Jelly; which to their dismay, learns it can be split in half if it takes specific types of damage
• They finally defeat the two Ochre Jellies and move forward and find a towering, 9′ human (looking) individual in the center of the room
  • Upon closer examination, it appears his flesh has been sewn together
  • He suddenly activates as the party enters the room
  • Elly uses the distraction to sneak past him into the next hall, where she sees a disembodied figure, whose body seems to be made of green energy; and a skull with two red eyes, holding a Staff and opening some kind of portal into a fiery realm where magnificent brass buildings float
  • Elly yells for the party; leaving Trogdorr and Alaric to fight the Flesh Golem, the others attack what appears to be the fractured remains of the medic
  • The medic is finally defeated, and the Flesh Golem ceases to move again
  • Elly picks up the Staff, and despite her best efforts is overcome by its evil
  • The Flesh Golem reanimates itself, but with no control, simply goes berserk and begins smashing the walls and anything near it
  • The party renders Elly unconscious and wraps the Staff in a blanket and ties a rope around it and drags it out of the cave (after a brief fight during their escape of the Flesh Golem’s cave in, with a creature in the lake again)
• Once outside, the Black Dragon is there – and the party realizes that they have no way of safely moving the Staff and agree to give it to the Dragon (wearily)
• The Dragon offers to remove the curse on the gauntlet, but Phalen does not trust the Dragon and declines Onyx’s offer, saying she will find another way
• The Dragon smiles and flies off with the Staff, not destroying it, as it had promised
• The party returns to Stonehowl and shares the news of their victory
• But things have only just begun….