12 Marpenoth 1371

Dear Master Zorthaster,

My apologies for not writing sooner. I have lost myself in a hundred tasks. Now, back on the road again, I find the rhythm of travel and writing somewhat easier to resume. Once again the Wandsmen are adventuring together. Once again we find ourselves testing our skills and courage in a fight against the tide of evil.

In the time since I last wrote, we concluded our journey in Anauroch. The information about the Zhent army in Darvin's letter would be used by Lela Suud to destroy the Black Cloaks. Kerith spent many happy hours with his proud parents when we reached the Bedine base camp. I tried to stay low, but was only moderately successful. One night, around a desert campfire the Bedine were telling stories of their encounters with Zhentarim caravans. One boisterous fellow went on about shooting a Zhent mage off the seat of his wagon. I realized that he was talking about my unfortunate incident many days earlier. When I told the gathered tribesmen that this was me, everyone but the archer thought the story terribly funny. One man gave me his dagger to end the boastful storyteller's life and exact revenge for the insult. Instead I took the dagger to the archer and handing it to him I said, "when next you have a Zhent mage in your sights, make sure he is dead." Again the gathered Bedine roared with laughter and warmly welcomed me into their midst as a kindred spirit.

When Kerith was ready to depart, his parents were present as Primula used Corellon's power to transform us to a swiftly flowing vapor and we sped off across the desert. It took only hours to cover the long distance we had come with the caravan. Before nightfall we had returned to Daggerfalls and were ready to report to Lord Randal Morn. We spent the next several days meeting on and off with Lord Morn, Master Wands the ranger Sharantyr, and a few other close advisors of the Lord of Daggerdale. He awarded us medals and the title "Hero of Daggerdale." It all seems a bit unreal, and to tell you the truth, it is a bit embarrassing. I don't really feel like one of the heros in the chapbooks. Throughout the whole series of events in the desert, I was tired and dusty and hot and more than a little scared about messing up the mission. Is this how the heros of old felt too?

Despite all the meetings and all, I had lots of spare time. I finally got a chance to work on those old spell books I've been carrying around. I got all the new spells out of them and they are copied into my own books. I was even able to sell them and end up with a tidy pile after all was said and done.

It was days and days before I was done with all the writing. In the evenings Ciercie and I had a bit of time for fun. We have discovered that polymorph self works very nicely on Ciercie. We have been prowling around as silver dragons, owls, and swimming in the river as trout and mink and otters. It is wonderful fun.

Recently Lord Morn has asked us to investigate trouble at outlying farm areas. He has had reports of drow raiders hitting farms and leaving no survivors. An odd bit is that there seem to have been no slaves taken. We agreed to start checking out some farms in the northern fringe of the Daggerhills.We had just completed our first day of exploration when the lost minstrel "Rodriguez" approached our camp. He told us a tragic tale of Sallust, a paladin fallen to dark whispers of evil and domination. It was a sad story wherein the fallen hero slew his wife and children. A druid cut loose the bonds that held the castle to this world and set it adrift in the shadows. This stopped the slaying of more innocent villagers, but it did nothing to end the evil itself. Sallust now sits upon his throne in the Castle Shadowhold until bold adventurers free him of his cursed existence. Only on certain nights, when Selûne is full and strong, does Shadowhold reappear enough for adventurers to enter the castle to seek out and destroy the evil rotting its heart.

With that, Rodriguez pointed to the castle slowly materializing in the gloom. He urged us to tell him how the tragic story ends. Oskar was already packed and mounting his cat when I looked to him for direction. I hurriedly stuffed my things into a backpack and hustled off behind him and the others marching on Shadowhold.

The castle walls we damaged in a few places, but Oskar said that the stonework looked good. The entire gatehouse was gone though. It looked as though it had exploded from inside. In its place stood a huge, dark umbral banyon. We knew the danger it posed, so stood off and let Xan put several arrows into it from afar. Xan had recently completed a beautiful new bow and Primula had spent her time in Daggerfalls layering powerful enchantments onto the weapon. It was now a powerful holy instrument which delivered a rapid series of deadly missiles at the tree. The evil plant's whispers of "soooo hungryyy" were silenced by the ranger.

We snuck into the guardhouse in the center of the stronghold. Inside we encountered illusionary ghosts and cloakers protected by mirror image spells. One got onto me and gnawed me up a bit. Fortunately Oskar had cast a friend shield on him and me. That helped. I was also able to employ my newly enchanted dagger to skewer the cloaker. It shriveled and fell away as the power of the dagger's enchantment sapped the creature's life force and transferred it to me.

Meanwhile, upstairs a battle raged with a shadowy warrior and griffon. Primula shouted for me to follow her as she bolted up the stairs and struck the warrior and his mount with a holy smite. Following her lead I cast magic missiles, killing the warrior. The griffon was already dead. Primula looked unhappily at me and I guessed that she had not meant for me to kill the shadowy man. A quick look around led to finding a huge beast outside on the top of the tower in a landing area. If I'm correct, the beast is a veserrab, a flying mount for powerful people on the plane of shadow. I wonder if the beast belongs to Sallust or if he may have a dangerous guest at this castle. The vesserab did not appear to be stabled, it looked to be standing by, awaiting a rider.

It is time to explore below. I will write again when I am able.

Your faithful student,

Cedar