On the way back to town, Chuck divides up the gold, giving 9 gold, 4 silver, and one copper to each of Stone, Goldpetal, Miriel, and Paks. Fergus declines to take any of the money. Miriel does a detect magic on the ring and finds that it is not magical, though it does appear to be gold.
Since the heavily-laden cart with the two aged and dispirited horses moves more slowly than a walking pace, we don't arrive back in town until mid-morning. We are immediately greeted by Fox, who leads us into the inn where he binds our wounds and brings us food and drink. He asks what happened, and Miriel tells him the story.
As she is telling him of the adventure, a tall woman in a blue robe, with long black hair with two peacock feathers in it walks into the inn. Miriel drops to her knees, but the woman tells her to get up.
Fox greets the woman as Verenia, introducing her to us as the high priestess of Southport, and asks her what brings her here. She responds that her sources have told her of our trip to the old keep. She tells us that these sources also tell her that there is even more to discover than what we have already found, and that it would be a very good thing for us to keep investigating. Miriel immediately agrees, but asks for healing for the party before venturing out again. Verenia says of course, that is part of why she's here, and heals the entire party (excluding Fergus, who surprises her by politely declining healing), without batting an eye.
Verenia appears to know much more about us than we have told anyone so far, though she says nothing specific. With her is a half-elven woman, about 5'5", pale, with long dark hair and green eyes, who Verenia introduces to us as Saraya, a bard who recently came to the shrine of Madriel. Verenia recommends strongly that we take Saraya with us when we investigate the tower. She again encourages us to investigate the tower, saying that it would be a good thing for the town. She says that ever since we arrived, there have been signs showing that more than god is now influencing events in the area.
Goldpetal asks Verenia about the creature or creatures that may be under the tower, but she cannot tell us anything more than that it would be a good thing for us to go back and find out more.
Fox joins in, offering to provision us and store the wagon and stable the horses for us while we're gone. He says he can't imagine why we would have found anyone at the tower, as there is no one around for miles, so it is very strange. We ask him about the creature under the tower, and he says once or twice he found undead there, but he really doesn't know for sure.
Fergus asks Verenia if we should investigate the tower, the smugglers, or the other unspecified strange occurrences in the area. She answers mysteriously that fate hangs on us to investigate the strange occurrences around the town; that we are clearly fated to have important things happen around us. We can't get anything more specific out of her.
Before leaving, she blesses all of us in the name of Madriel, looking at Paks and commenting that she already carried the blessing of Madriel. To Miriel, she extends an invitation to the shrine of Madriel, and says Miriel can always come to her if she need help. She also makes a cryptic comment, saying that she knows of Miriel through her powers of divination, and that it may well not be her fate to be the scholar she had intented to be.
After she leaves, we sit down to a substantial and tasty lunch supplied by Fox. We ask him to look after the cart and horses, and Miriel asks to leave her gold with him for safekeeping. As we finish lunch, a tall, thin young man, perhaps 16, with rather short hair comes in to the inn. He says that he is the messenger of Grilliam, head priest of Hedrada, who requests that we come to visit him at our earliest convenience. He turns to leave and Stone and Miriel get up immediately to follow him, followed quickly by the others.
As we walk through the town, which turns out to be quite large, Chuck asks Fergus why he refused healing. Fergus says "I did nothing for her so I take nothing from her."
We pass through the large market square, past which the town slopes down to a large wharf. On the west side of the market square is a large white stone building, in a classical style, with four square columns, topped by a giant set of scales. This is the shrine of Hedrada; an imposing building which is as much fortress as temple.
As we enter the shrine, one of Hedrada's priestsgreets us: "Greetings, travellers, I am the Greeter of Hedrada, in the temple of Hedrada, god of justice; let us pray to the great Hedrada for guidance!"
After praying, he leads us through the temple to another priest. As we pass, we see that, as it is Hedraday there is a trial taking place. We see Grilliam the head priest presiding over the trial; he is apparently chief justice as well as head priest. The Greeter of Hedrada leaves us with another priest, the Tour Guide of Hedrada, who shows us the credos and frescos on the four walls of the temple.
As the Tour Guide of Hedrada shows us around, we learn that there are many many many many rules of worship for Hedrada. Soon the trial is over, with the person being sentenced to 30 days in jail for stealing or something.
Grilliam, Head Priest of Hedrada meets us in his small office off to the side of the main hall. Seeing him up close, we realize that what looked like a mallet that he was using while holding court was actually a giant warhammer, much bigger than we had previously noticed. Grilliam himself is a very large man, perhaps 65, bald, with a salt-and-pepper beard. We recall from Fox's stories that, as a younger man, Grilliam travelled the area with Fox, dispensing justice personally on many adventures.
He asks us to sit down. Like Verenia, he has sources which have told him of our adventures. He says it sounds like there are bandits, smugglers, or worse in the tower, which is very strange. He doesn't know who they might be, but he's sure they're up to no good. Furthermore, he says, both banditry and smuggling are most definitely illegal in Vesh, so they are also criminals. Speaking as a town elder, he asks us to go back and investigate the tower, since he cannot spare any members of the garrision, which must stay to protect the town.
Paks asks if we should bring the bandits back for justice; Grilliam reponds that of course wrongdoers should be brought to justice, but if they won't come, we should do whatever we have to do to stop them. He offers to deputize and pay us as irregulars of the town. He also offers two potions of cure light wounds as a bonus if we accept the commission.
Fergus asks exactly how much we'll be paid. Grilliam says he must confirm it with the other elders, but that we could receive about 200 gold, for the whole group. He says he'll require a full report, and that any loot is ours as long as it is not illegal goods.
Stone repeatedly asks about the stone door in the basement of the tower. Once Stone and Grilliam finally make themselves understood to each other, all Grilliam can tell us is that he knows from previous visits that there is a crypt underneath the tower.
Chuck asks for some manacles to take with us; Grilliam rings a bell and has the Gofer of Hedrada go to the Jailer of Hedrada and bring us two very nice solid sets of manacles.
Grilliam indicates that he is a busy many and should get back to work. Before we go, we ask about the crime level in the town; Grilliam says that crime in general has been about the same, but that there has been an influx of drugs recently. Goldleaf asks what sorts of drugs, plants, powders, potions, and Grilliam, surprised, says "you've never heard of 'blackwind?' It's made from plants in the swamp near here."
Fergus asks where we should start investigating, and Grilliam, impatient by now, says "the tower of course!" We thank him profusely for the help and make our exit.
Miriel suggests going back to the inn to sleep, setting out in the morning. Goldpetal suggests leaving in the evening, so as to arrive in the morning, but the rest of the party points out that we've had little or no sleep for two days, so even though we're fully healed, we could certainly use a good night's sleep.
Back at the inn, Miriel asks if anyone wants to go shopping. She also asks Fox for provisions for the trip; he cheerfully provides two days' worth, in case we should spend the night again. Paks asks Fox who in the town might appraise the bastard sword she took from the bandits. Fox hefts the sword and takes a few swings, praising it as a weapon but saying it's a little heavy for him. He refers Paks to Saylis, the weaponsmith in town.
Stone and Paks head off to the weaponsmith; Chuck starts to follow but changes his mind at the door to the inn. Though the town is a largish one, it does not have that many businesses, and Stone and Paks quickly find the weapons shop. As they walk in, they see a large counter dividing the customer area from the work area; only three customers can fit in the shop at any one time. All over the walls and shelves are weapons; it seems that practically any weapon you might could be found here.
>From the work area comes a burly female dwarf, Saylis, who asks what she can do for them. Paks says Fox referred her to Saylis to identify this sword she found in the ruined tower and tell her what there is to know about it. As soon as Paks holds up the sword, while she is still explaining, Saylis grabs it, inspecting it closely.
"See this mark here - this indicates that the sword was made in Mithril itself, by the smiths of Corean. This is one of the best swords I have ever seen. I'd give you 170 gold pieces for it." Paks asks if the sword might be cursed; she says there's no telling, she can't detect magic.
Stone asks for light crossbow bolts and buys a 10 pack, then they head back to the inn.
Meanwhile, Chuck goes out to the shop of the trader Krinsa. He buys a few torches from her and shows her the gold ring, asking how much it is worth. She points out that she's not a jeweler, bites it, and says it could be melted down to make 10 gold pieces.
Back at the in, Paks asks Miriel to detect magic on the sword; it is not magical. Stone, for some reason, buys some cheese.
Everyone gets a good dinner and then enjoys a good night's sleep at the inn. In the morning, Paks suggests leaving right away. Stone says he'll burn the tower to the ground; everyone else points that Stone won't burn. Stone replies that people have told him he will eventually be burned. There's no answer to this, so everyone just prepares to leave for the tower.
We head south along the road, intending to approach the tower using the forest for cover. As we walk, we all introduce ourselves to Saraya.
We are: Goldpetal, the druid, small and slight, with long dark hair, what appear to be handmade clothes, armed with a scimitar. He avoids Stone, clearly a half-orc, fairly young, carrying a crossbow and arrows, with unkempt black hair, black eyes, and an odor which suggests that he did not find it necessary to take adavatage of the bathing rooms at the inn before we left (or at any time since we originally arrived in the town). Next to him is Chuck the Younger, son of Chuck the Elder, grandson of Chuck the Eldest, and nephew of Uncle Upp. He's a 5'8" 19 year old human with green eyes and brown hair. He wears light leather armor and carries two swords, a bow and arrows, and a quantity of silk rope. He's slightly sullen, but seems friendly enough. The tall slender cleric Miriel has short red hair, wears a traveller's cloak distinguished by the painstakingly hand-embroidered pattern of peacock feathers, in shimmering multicolored silk thread, and carries a short spear decorated with peacock feathers. The human fighter Fergus McAllister says little about himself. Finally Paks, a tall and burly woman with longish hair, who was a guard with the caravan, introduces herself. Chuck mentions that he was also guarding the caravan, as the apprentice to Steve the ranger.
We're on the road for about 5 hours, seeing nothing more than the grassy hills that extend for miles on all sides of us.
Before we come within sight of the tower, we move into the woods so that we can again circle around behind the tower without being seen. We go single file through the woods, moving slowly, as the trees and webs are very thick here. Chuck and Goldpetal exercise their tracking skills, Goldpetal looking for wagon tracks into the forest, but they see no signs other than our tracks from our previous trip.
After two hours of hacking through the woods, we see the tower, stopping when we are about even with it. It's a gray day, and we know the moon will be at about half full tonight, so we decide to wait for dark to approach the tower. We camp just inside the woods, with no fire, where we can see the tower, but they can't see us. It is still several hours until dark. Stone wanders off into the woods, looking for mushrooms or berries, but gets called back, so he lies down to rest. An hour goes by, nothing happens.
Chuck asks how much longer until dark; it's about 3pm. Chuck and Goldpetal are continuously watching and listening - Goldpetal looking at the forest, pacing around the camp area, Chuck watching the tower. They see nothing.
By 4pm, Paks is asleep, as is Stone. Miriel sits reading a religious tome; Fergus reads over her shoulder. Suddenly, two darn big spiders land and start gnawing on Stone, who is sleeping off a little further into the woods than most of the party. The spiders are about 5 feet in diameter overall, with furry bodies about a foot and a half across. After they bite him, Stone awakens screaming; he looks very weak.
Chuck exclaims "those are big fuckin' spiders!" He continues in a more scholarly tone, "they look like medium-sized spiders; I think they run in packs of 2-5." While he's lecturing, he runs over and attacks with his longsword, but the spider scurries to the side. Stone stands up and kicks the spider furthest from the party, but he also misses, and he looks quite weak.
Saraya turns and faces the spiders, jabbing at the nearer one with her long spear; she misses too. These spiders scurry very well. Goldpetal attacks with his scimitar on the further spider and gets in a good slash; it is wounded, oozing black ichor and losing a couple of legs. The spider attacks back, but fumbles and falls over, looking pretty weak. The other spider goes after Chuck and hits him; he looks weak from the bite. Paks gets to her feet and watches the woods and tower to see if anyone comes at the sound of the battle. Miriel throws her spear at the nearest spider and misses. Fergus moves over to Paks and looks around, but sees nothing.
Chuck shoots his bow at the nearer spider very precisely, hitting it but not slowing it down very much. Stone steps between the spiders and punches the near one, leaving it injured and barely moving. Saraya stabs at the further spider with her spear and misses again. Goldpetal attacks with the scimitar and misses. The nearer spider tries to run away. Stone and Chuck attack it; Stone flattens it dead, splashing spider guts all over himself. Paks moves over to the other spider and hits it with her longsword, killing it.
Miriel casts cure light wounds on both Chuck, who still looks weak afterwards, and Stone, who perks right up. Both still seem weak from the posion in the bites. Goldpetal tries some of the herbs he's carrying on Stone, but they don't seem to have much effect. He finds some nearby herbs in the forest, which he makes into a potion and a salve for the wounds. He tells them that they should be back up to full strength in a few hours. He seems to know a bit about the spiders.
Fergus and Paks look towards the tower, but nothing seems to be happening. The sun goes down and it begins to get dark. Chuck and Stone regain their strength. The night is not foggy and the moon is up, so Paks suggests we wait until the moon goes down, around 3am. Fergus and Goldpetal take the first watch, then Paks and Miriel, then the other three. Everyone not on watch sleeps. Nothing happens. We get up and head for the tower around 4am.
As we approach the tower, Goldpetal hears a thud from inside. We look in through the damaged wall, but see nothing. Stone leaves his pack by the ruined wall. We split up into two parties, each one going around the tower in a different direction.
We look in the front door and see that the bale of hay has been removed from the trap door. There doesn't seem to be anything else in the tower. Goldpetal looks for tracks around the door, but can't tell if they're fresh. We light the lantern and go inside. Stone, Paks, Chuck, and Saraya goes over to the trap door. Miriel and Fergus go upstairs, while Goldpetal guards the front door. Miriel and Fergus look around at the surrounding area - she sees the woods, the ocean, the cliff (he can't see in the dim light of the stars). Miriel suddenly notices something very interesting about the cliff - about 50 feet south of the tower the cliff doesn't go straight down to the ocean: there's a landing there. She looks more carefully, and sees a ladder, which appears to be tall enough to use to climb up the cliff, though it is currently lying down at the bottom on the landing. The cliff is only about 30 feet high.
Miriel stays upstairs and watches the ladder while Fergus goes back downstairs. Fergus suggests blocking the trap door with hay again, then staying and watching at the tower, with someone who can see in the dark watching from the top, while the rest go down the cliff. We don't want to block our escape, so Fergus says he will just watch the trap door. However, Stone goes out and brings in a 200lb rock, setting it down half over the trap door. Fergus goes up and gets Miriel. Goldpetal stays with Fergus, watching from upstairs.
The rest of the party goes to the cliff. Stone gets his rope from his pack. Chuck lowers Stone down the cliff face. As Stone drops down, he sees a big cove under the cliff face. He looks around the corner. The rear of the cove is illuminated by two torches, one on either side of a passage heading back into the rock, in the general direction of the tower. By the light of the torches he can see a red-haired woman and four bandits, all looking down the corridor. Stone steps back and signals "five" up at the group on the cliff.
Under cover of the pounding of the surf, Stone picks up the ladder and carefully puts it up against the cliff. The bandits are still looking down the corridor and whispering to each other. Stone pulls out his crossbow and points it towards the bandits while the others climb down. Paks comes down and puts her shield up, crouching behind it. Chuck and Saraya follow. Miriel stays near the foot of the ladder and watches up the ladder and out to sea.
The four with bows move up to get good shots on the bandits, who appear to be waiting for someone. The bandits have swords drawn, but the woman seems to have no weapons. Stone shoots his crossbow at one of the bandits and wings him. Chuck shoots at another and puts an arrow through his chest; it looks like a nasty wound. Paks shoots and misses. Saraya shoots and misses.
Paks calls out "Surrender, you're under arrest." "Screw you!" they reply. The Woman says "Get them!" Paks shoots again and hits, killing the bandit already seriously injured by Chuck. The woman gestures mysteriously and Chuck lurches backwards, hit by two magic missiles. Stone shoots at the same bandit again and hits, but the bandit is still standing. Miriel comes up behind everyone and crouches down. Chuck moves up and shoots at the woman, hitting her, but she shrugs it off. The smugglers run back down the corridor, leaving the woman alone.
Saraya moves up behind Chuck, kneeling down to shoot, and hits the woman, scratching her again. Paks shoots at her and scratches her again. She runs down the corridor as well, so they are all out of sight. Stone runs over to the entrance to the corridor. Peering around the corner, he sees her about 30 feet down the corridor, which is at least twice that long. She's looking back at Stone, and seems to have persuaded the bandits to fight. The rest of us run up towards Stone, gathering at the entrance to the corridor. The woman begins to gesture.
Stone tries to punch her, but misses. She casts fire from her hands, and injures most of us. Chuck slumps to the floor. Stone attacks her with a flurry of blows and hits very hard, almost knocking her out. Miriel kneels down and cures Chuck back to consciousness. Chuck gets up and shoots at the spellcaster, hitting her and knocking her out. As she lies bleeding, the remaining bandits surrender. Stone keeps his crossbow pointed at them as the three bandits come out with their hands up. Chuck ties them up, very skillfully. He puts manacles and a gag on the woman, who is bleeding, and one of the uninjured bandits, securing the others with the rope.
Paks performs first aid on the woman, who stops bleeding but remains unconscious. We take the woman and the bandits out to the ladder up the cliff. Chuck rifles the corpse, and we search all the bandits and the woman. Chuck runs up the ladder and waves the torch to summon Goldpetal and Fergus.
The spellcaster has a gold chain with the symbol of Enkili on it, which Paks takes. She also has a key which Miriel takes. Paks takes the bandits' money, 11 silver and 10 gold. Stone checks out their boots, but none fit. We take their four swords and four cheap daggers. Miriel takes the sorceress's dagger, which seems to be of much better quality.
Chuck and Stone drag the bound bandits up the ladder. They complain, but go up the ladder. Paks stays to watch, pitching a torch down the corridor, which is about 100 ft. long, but sees nothing other than some doors on either side. The corridor is very old, of rough-hewn stone. The torch lies at the end of the corridor. Paks, Miriel, and Saraya watch the corridor and wait for the rest of the party.
Chuck and Stone take the prisoners up to the tower. Chuck stays in the tower with the prisoners, and Saraya goes back up to the tower, as she is wounded. Stone rejoins Paks and Miriel; when Fergus and Goldpetal do not follow, Stone goes back up and calls out for them, and they give up their argument and join the group below. up above, Chuck starts interrogating the prisoners.
The five below head down the corridor; Stone listens at the first door, hears nothing, and opens it to reveal a smallish room with barrels and foodstuffs and such, about 20x20. Paks suggests searching the room, which we do, but see just dry foods, fresh water, and cured meats; enough supplies for the bandits for a couple of weeks.
We move on to the next door, Stone listens again, hears nothing again, and opens the door. It opens on another 20x20 room, containing a cot, a little desk, a cheap threadbare rug, and a small chest. While Paks and Miriel move into this room, Stone goes to listen at the next door, but hears nothing. Paks tries to pry the chest open with her short sword, but can't open it. Paks picks it up and hears glass rattling around in it, so she sets it down again. Miriel is suddenly inspired and remembers the key the spellcaster was carrying. She uses it on the chest and is stuck by a needle, but luckily the poison, if there is any, has no effect. The chest opens. Inside is a ledger book, two sheets of parchment, a bag of coins, a silver ring with a rat motif, a carved bone rat skull, and 42 vials. Paks checks the chest for a false bottom but doesn't find one. There are 12 vials of glowing emerald liquid, 15 vials of black gas. 8 vials of viscous amber fluid, 5 vials of green liquid, and 2 milky white ones. No one recognizes anything in the vials.
We move on to the next room and open the door, finding a 30x30 room with 8 cots. We move on to the final door, at the end of the corridor. Stone listens once more and hears nothing. He opens the door, and we find that it's the room under the trapdoor in the tower. Stone gives the signal ("Yeeahhhh!") at the trap door. Chucks pushes the rock away, opens the trap door, and comes down. Chuck and Fergus search the room with all the cots and find nothing.
While the five of us were searching, Chuck turned the interrogation of the bandits over to Saraya, who seems to have more success with them. The interrogation goes like this:
Why are you here, what are you up to?
That woman, Delonia, she hired us to smuggle these goods.
What kind of stuff are you smuggling?
We go down to the marshes and take some iron and goods and weapons and trade them to a rat person, who gives us chests to bring back. We don't have any idea what's in the chests, we just got paid to bring 'em back.
How long have you been doing this?,
A couple of months; the pay's good. You can let us go now.
What can you tell us about the tower?
I dunno, it's been here a long time. Let us go!
What's behind the big stone door down there?
There's a bunch of ghouls back... (at this point, another bandit elbows the one talking) ...oh, that's where our treasure is. If we tell you where the treasure is will you let us go? We promise we won't hurt you anymore if you let us go. We were just getting paid to do a job - whatever she and the boss, the half-orc, said.
How much longer were you going to work for her?
As long as she paid us.
Were you supposed to go down to the swamp soon?
No, we just got back from the swamp a couple of weeks ago. We were waiting for someone to pick up the chest.
Who picks up the chest?
A guy in a boat picks up the chest and brings another chest of weapons and stuff. We take the chest to the swamp, trade it for another chest, bring the chest to the tower, give the chest to the guy in the boat, get another chest from him, take it to the swamp, bring a chest back, give it to the guy in the boat...
When does the guy in the boat come?
He comes on the new moon. You could let us go now, right?
Saraya says "Gag them," which Chuck does. He then ties them in a circle.
Miriel heals herself and Saraya, then naps to regain spell strength while the others watch and also rest. Paks spends a few hours searching the rooms below, but finds nothing.
Chuck and Saraya stay to watch the prisoners again. Chuck checks the bonds again. The spellcaster is still unconscious. The bandits are napping. The rest go down and remove the small stones blocking the large stone blocking the door. Chuck stays at the trapdoor, watching down with a bow out and ready. Everyone stands with weapons drawn while Stone tries to pull the stone off. Paks stands ready to pitch in a torch, but Stone can't quite shift the stone, so Paks goes to help, giving the torch to Goldpetal. The stone falls with an extremely loud bang, which echos off the hard stone walls of the confined space. Behind the stone we see a 10' wide corridor, with a staircase that goes down 20 ft. In the light of the torch Goldpetal tossed down, we can see doors to the right and left. The door on the left is broken and slightly ajar.
Paks steps to the top of the staircase, sword drawn. We all head down. Chuck climbs down and closes the door to the corridor to the water, then listens from the tower room, leaving a lit torch in the room under the trap door. Paks tosses the torch through the door on the left, weakly illuminating a 30'x50' room, in which we can see four columns, evenly distributed towards the corners of the room. All around the room, every 10 ft or so, we can see crypt-like openings. The room smells old and musty.
Paks and Saraya step into the room as Miriel looks around them and through the door; she sees nothing. Stone listens at the other door, but hears nothing. As Paks and Saraya walk into the room, four ghouls jump out. Fergus hits one ghoul and kills it instantly. He hits the next and kills it, too. Miriel attempts to turn them, but fails. Stone runs around the others to attack the ghoul furthest into the room. It bites him as he goes by. Stone punches it in the head, but it remains standing. It attacks him with teeth and claws, scoring him with a claw and paralyzing him. The other ghoul attacks Paks and bites and claws her; she's also paralyzed.
Goldpetal runs into the room and attacks the ghoul Stone attacked, hitting but not killing it. Chuck comes running down. Fergus pushes Paks out of the way, back through the door and onto the floor, and attacks the wounded ghoul. Miriel manages to turn both undead, who try to run away, past Fergus and Goldpetal. Goldpetal hits one and kills it. Fergus swings wildly and misses, falling down and tossing his sword across the room and knocking himself unconscious in the fall; he's bleeding. Chuck reaches the door.
Goldpetal tries to heal Fergus, who stops bleeding. Miriel heals Fergus back to consciousness. Chuck runs into the room after the ghoul, shooting an arrow which misses, but seems to have driven the fear from the ghoul. Goldpetal moves to sling a bullet at the ghoul and hits, but it seems to have little effect, other than to annoy the ghoul further. Fergus gets up. Miriel tries to turn the ghoul again, but fails. The ghoul runs after Chuck and attacks, knocking Chuck out and leaving some pretty serious bleeding wounds. Goldpetal fumbles with the sling, tripping over some trash on the floor, which causes him to fall and drop the sling. Fergus grabs his sword. Miriel manages to turn the ghoul again, and it cowers in the corner of the room.
Goldpetal gets up. Paks gets up and comes into the room. Fergus runs towards the ghoul. Miriel runs over to Chuck and heals him - he looks far better than when he entered the room. The ghoul squeezes as far into the corner as it can can. Goldpetal and Paks run over towards the ghoul. Fergus runs past Paks to the ghoul and hits it, which annoys it again. Chuck stands up. Miriel picks up the torch and holds it up to light the room better. Stone runs at the ghoul. The ghoul attacks Fergus and knocks him unconscious, then rends him with its claws. He's gushing blood. Goldpetal kills the ghoul with his scimitar. Paks goes to heal Fergus, stabilizing him, and Stone pours a potion of healing down Fergus' throat, waking him up.