Midwinter, 1372

Dear Master Zorthaster,

It has been a good day in the underdark. We made it to Jungentown, met our new guide, and have wiped out the last rebels from Szith Morcane. Along the way we freed Dalis from the clutches of an agripa that held him under a curse.

Our first encounter of the day was with a guard post outside of Jungen town. The Jungens challenged us immediately. One Jungen, bold and eager to prove himself, stepped out from the others. Shane was in the lead. The Jungen tried to ignore the halfling. Within moments, the jungan was knocked out. Shane had delivered a flying jump kick to the guard's head that laid him out cold.

We got quickly passed through the guard post and made our way into the underdark city. Ffflla lead us to a marvelous bazaar filled with mushrooms that had glowing rings of light, a huge naga, a svirfneblin gem merchant and an earth elemental rock crusher. There was a chitine by the name of Owa Drowtaker from whom we learned about earth nodes and node magic. A tavern with grimlock servers catered to a wide variety of patrons including breeyarks and troglodytes. We tried to avoid the stench as best we could.

We were still investigating the bazaar and talking with shopkeepers when we heard a ruckus beginning. The breeyarks were shouting at a troop of ragged looking drow travelers. They were working their way up to a fightwith the dark elves. Seeing an opportunity to learn more about the plight of the drow and to get answers to some major questions about what was happening in the underdark, I sought to position us in an apparent alliance with the haggard band of drow.

I told the breeyarks to back down. When they did not, I killed them with horrid wilting. Hoping that would be a sufficient show of strength, I turned my attention to the drow. I told them we wanted to talk. They were wary and looked like they were having a hard time decidig whether to parley or to fight. Dalis tried to influence my mind with a suggestion spell, but failed. He moved to get into position to attack.

I told the drow we were here to deliver a message from Solom Nedrezak. They visibly recoiled at the name and raised weapons. I hit them with a firebrand before they could attack and Dalis cast a spell completely unfamiliar to me. I later learned that it was a wall of pain. It was devastating. I think it was so extremely powerful because Dalis had taken up a position next to an earth node and he was boosting the power of his spellcasting by drawing on the node magic.

The rest of the Wandsmen were busy fighting our enemies as well. When the brief battle was nearly over, I glanced over and saw Primula taking action to deal with Dalis' curse. While his attention was on the drow writhing in agony in the wall of pain, she cast a break enchantment on him. Immediately, Dalis slumped to the ground in an agony of his own. His pain was an emotional pain due to his actions while cursed. Sobbing, he gave Shane the small box he used for his secret chest spell. He begged the halfling to destroy it so the agripa, a demon in the foorm of his spell book, could not return. When Shane did so, a magical vortex appeared and sucked in the key that hung around Dalis' neck. Xan had snatched the necklace from Dalis moments after the curse had been broken by Primula's spell. It was not the key, but the demon book itself that was the source of the curse.

Through the sobs that racked the tormented drow, we learned that included among the travelers we had recently fought was Dalis' brother. His brother was the one who had given him the agripa and caused so much harm. Dalis warned us to stay away from the wall of pain, but he begged us to kill his evil brother. Xan got busy and made short work of the helpless drow from Szith Morcane.

Soon after our battle, Ffflla returned. She had left us in the market so she could find a guide that would be willing and able to lead us to Bithra. When she returned, she did so riding on the back of a giant bat along with a desmodu named Brackus. He was a huge, furry being with a personality to match the size of his body. Both were enormous. He gave us a very willing hand in sorting through the bodies of the drow in exchange for the rights to sell them to some underdark race that loved to eat them. We were happy to make that kind of deal.

We brought the spoils of our victory back to the Chitine who was pleased to purchase nearly all of it from us for a massive sum of gold. We converted most of it to gems thanks to the svirfneblin. Primula took charge of accounting for enough of the treasure to finish paying off the expenses for the repair of Shadowhold. Even with that taken off the top, each of us ended up with over 15 thousand lions. Not a bad day's wages.

Our plan now is to take leave of Jungentown with our new guide Brackus. We are in search of Bithra who might be able to help us further our quest. We have yet to settle up with Ffflla, but I hope the group can agree to be generous to her for all the help she has given us. Last night, for example, she added a great deal of information to our map and talked to me for hours about the cultures and peoples of the underdark. I have enjoyed having her with us.

Sincerely,

Cedar