Chapter Eleven - In the Shadows of Spinecastle

Year 1001 of the 4th Era - Winter

The High-priest of Athun informs Gully that she needs to travel to the Darklands city of Spinecastle (adv. In the Shadows of Spinecastle), now occupied by orcs and evil, in order to find the man that can bring her to Zathiri, the Drow city where the prison of Manzessine is located.

The groups travels to the Darklands, where their horses are stolen by a orc warband. During the second day of travel in the Darklands, they meet and Undead army, led by a pair of Vampire Lords. Gully recongnizes the insignia of Lord Raven, a legendary Death Knight of the Darklands. Luckily, the undead general doesn't seem to be there, and the army passes them by without noticing them, as they are hiding inside a "rope trick" spell.

After a week of travelling into the Darklands, they finally reach Spinecastle, a city overrun by the evil races. the city is in disrepair, and the only law is that of the strongest and meanest.

After some fight with the locals, and after establishing their toughness, the group find Grbleck, an old orc bartender, who gives them an envelop cointaining the location of the man they are looking for, the spy of the High Priest of Athun who can bring them to Manzessine.

On their way out of the tavern, they are stopped by a Greater Bargest and a Ogre, led by a female drow Sorceress. The Sorceress want them to give up what "belongs to her". A fight ensues, our heroes manage to kill the Bargest, but unfortunately two very powerful fireballs from the Sorceress kill Zephyra and Storm, and down most of the group. Tharod finds him self alone, and can do nothing else but surrender. The Drow steals the envelop, and goes away with the Ogre.

Tharod gets Gully up, and she heals those who were still alive. They rapidly grab the corpses of the two arcane casters, and run to the house of the spy, Hobar the Merchant.

There, they find the house overrun by Goblins. After taking care of the rabble, they find a poisoned journal belonging to Hobar. Before they have a chance to read the journal, Jhangle Three-Finger, the goblin's leader, and his reaver birds show up.

After dealing with Jhangle, the group rests into Hobar's house. They are awaken the day after by an explosion, as part of the wall of their room falls apart, due to a fireball cast by the same Drow Sorceress that killed Zephyra and Stormstride.

Once again the Drow claims "what is hers", and this time Gully throws her the poisoned journal of Hobar. The Drow grabs it, and is poisoned by the Black Lotus... and dies!

After reading the journal, by carefully avoiding the poison, our heroes discover that Hobar was following the High Secretary og the Black Moon, and found out a secret passage in the Main Plaza of Spinecastle, inside a fountain of blood in front of the Cathedral of the Black Moon. The journal also contains several vital inforamtions about the movement of undead armies in the Darklands.

Gully resurrects Zephyra, but is unable to raise Stormstride, as his soul is unwilling to return.

Tharod pays a visit ad the Cathedral, and then the group enters the passage. After dealing with undead guardians and traps, they find Wyrnan Korch, the High Secretary, while he tortures Hobar for information. After a dangerous battle, they manage to kill him, and also discover that the man they just killed is not the real Secretary, who lies dead in a corner of the room. Unfortunately, there's no time to investigate the matter, as they escape the dungeon with the barely alive Hobar.