We returned to the secret door, and squeezed through a narrow, be-spider webbed tunnel into another spooky room, filled with creepy crawlies. Makander patted his pockets, wishing for a flame thrower. We found a very dead skeleton, clad in fancy looking armour with a mirrored shield which we thought might come in handy for reflecting nasty gazes. Unfortunately the skeleton was quite as dead as it first appeared and it attacked Makander!
Krisanna tried to sneak around, feeling very scared, and was even more scared when it's head swivelled round and it swatted her. Fortunately Bastonn managed to smash it to pieces in one mighty blow.
We followed the corridor which ended in a secret door that led into the inside of an iron maiden with eyeholes looking out into a torture chamber. We found the catch to open it and stepped out, finding a table full of instruments of pain. Another sign of the depravity of the Cryptwood tyrant! Unusually there was a black stone knife that was shiny but not the right kind of shiny.
We returned to the main room and investigated the small door to the east, which Krisanna checked and opened into a smallish room with a small stone altar with a bronze statuette of a small humanoid figure. Krisanna went to the check it on the off chance that it might be valuable and realised that there might be a trap just as something slimy fell on her head. She managed to dodge some of the worst effects but it still burnt her armour and cloak.
Bastonn jabbed at the ooze with his flaming torch, to little effect. Orla threw one of her bottles of Dragonfire whisky at the creature and lit the alcohol with the torch, but that fizzled away with a horrible stench. We beat a retreat into the room to the north and grabbed the chest that we saw in there and realised that we need to escape before the slime burnt its way through the door.
On the way out Krisanna spotted another secret door, with sacks of coins, an ivory drinking horn and a silver pepper pot carved into the shape of a head. There was also a black lacquered box, a fancy girdle and a leather pouch containing 6 rubies. We had time to check the large chest, which contained a jet black hunting horn.
The sounds of schlepping from the north encouraged us to get a move on so Makander and Orla each grabbed a handful of coins, doing rather nicely. Bastonn discovered his softer side, trying on the girdle and found it to be surprisingly comfortable and befitting of a Baron.
We camped for the night and woke to a thick pea-souper of a fog that made navigation tricky. We headed north following the river until we found a partially ruined tower. It looked to be heavily guarded so we gave it a wide berth. Krisanna took charge and confidently led the group the wrong way in the fog, getting lost in the trees. We avoided a bear cave before finding a grotto with a primitive statue bowing its head towards a depression carved into the rocks which had what looked like some things that might have been precious including a pearl necklace. Krisanna swapped the silver pepperpot for the necklace and noticed that the statue looked angry and it was now raining. Oh dear.
We looked for somewhere to camp, and heard a crashing as a bear appeared through the trees with a swarm of bees surrounding its honey covered snout. We climbed a tree and so did the bear, fortunately not the same one. We did manage some sleep in the tree.
Back to exploring, through scrubland and nettles where we saw a neat looking whitewashed cottage with smoke rising from the chimney. It turned out to be a pub run by an ogre, serving three very drunk pixies and a thin, pale hooded figure playing cards. We ordered some ale, which was followed by a meal of dumplings, forest vegetable stew and a hot acorn pie.
We joined the mysterious elf who dealt a hand of cards and somehow managed to win a large amount of money off of us, giving only infuriatingly cryptic answers about the crones, the barrow and the hunting horn, as well as a final tantalising hint about the silver mine (with ominous things beneath).
At breakfast the next morning we all seemed to have been affected in different ways by the fae food - Bastonn had lost half his weight, Makander had red eyes and now Krisanna was as big as a troll. Oh no!
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