Approaching the site itself, the trio notice that it's situated in a large crater. The second thing they notice is two drakes guarding the path down....the third is a gnome, accompanied by a few humans. He looks up at the sound of the adventurer's approaching and upon seeing them, calls out "Hey, you three. Friends of Douven are you? You should come down here, you can't appreciate what we've found if you're up there! Come down and see what we've discovered!"
After exchanging a few glances, the adventurers mutually decide that they can't tell what his motivation is nor if he's a friend or foe...so they move down closer. As soon as they get past the two drakes, the gnome yells "Get them! NOW!" and a fierce battle begins.
The drakes charge at the closest of the adventurers, Spartacus and Treeface and go straight into attacks, though both miss. The humans nearby move in for the attack as well, whilst the gnome keeps his distance and loads a crossbow, firing at Apate only to miss by mere inches. A previously unnoticed halfling sits at the top of the crater's edge on the far side, but now he moves closer and unleashes a rain of stones from his sling, hitting Spartacus square in the head, but missing with the rest.
Apate sent a mind blast heading towards the gnome, who recoiled from it...but then faded away into nothingness, invisible to our adventurers. The rest of the enemies continued to attack, though the humans are falling quickly to our adventurers. The halfling has traveled around the crater edge but now Treeface moves to meet him head to head, whilst Spartacus takes on the remaining foes, the two Drakes. Apate is mind blasting away, though the gnome is still nowhere to be seen.
Treeface reaches his foe and after a few swings form both parties, he enacts a master plan. Sliding down the slope of the crate, he uses his halberd to reach up and swing at the halfling, scoring a direct hit and pulling the halfling down - straight into a rock, killing him off.
As that is happening, a crossbow bolt flies out of the distance - hitting Spartacus just as he finishes fighting off the last Drake. The gnome reappears across the burial site, taunting the adventurers. With a single charge Spartacus sprints over and cleaves into the gnome with his axe, splitting him nearly in two with the strength of the blow.
With the battle over and none of our adventurers too injured, they loot what they can - including a nice Amulet from the gnome, which has a picture of Douven's wife in it, as well as a strange mirror - which appears to be the artifact the gnome had been sent to find. (DM Note: +1 Amulet of Health. Provides +1 to Fort, Reflex and Will. Provides 5 Poison Resistance; Tarnished Mirror - Not actually magical, after a quick arcana check, but sells for a decent amount [550gp]). They also make a discovery! In the corner of the burial site, hidden under a blanket, tied up and gagged is Douven! After freeing him, he reclaims his wife's picture from the locket, but lets the adventurers keep the amulet as a reward.
"Thanks for saving me, I owe you my life" he begins.
Treeface speaks up, asking "Did you happen to hear anything about why this group was here, or what they were looking for?"
"I'm not too sure. I overheard that someone called Kalarel had sent them here to find some magical artifact for use in some ritual they kept mentioning. No details though...sorry"
The adventurers leave him to travel home to his wife, heading back towards Winterhaven themselves. Upon reaching the town..they notice something amiss. The place is strangely quiet, and the few villagers they see are going about quite swiftly and nervously. Treeface stops a random passerby and asks what's wrong with the townspeople.
"I'm...I'm not sure. I just feel..out of sorts...you know? Like someone walked over my grave..." he replies, before quickly darting away.
What could have happened to cause all this? Will the adventurers find out? Who is Kalarel and what kind of ritual is he doing?......
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