Westmist/Stonehell Session #1

The campaign opened with our three adventurers arriving at the east gate of the town of WESTMIST, last outpost of civilization before the Great River and the Untamed Lands beyond.  Merrick, the none to bright farm boy turned fighter, and the elven wanderers Paot and Erijay, had separately followed the rumors of wealth and fame to be found in the depths of Stonehell dungeon. Meeting on the road, they elected to join forces and pool their talents and wealth. Well, talents anyway, since a quick check of everyone's money purse revealed they probably didn't have enough coin to get through the town gate, let alone buy a meal or find a room for the night. So they elected to tackle the mysteries of Stonehell dungeon without delay.

After a cautious approach through the ruined curtain wall, the trio quickly moved to the far west end of the canyon to the gaping dungeon entrance. A quick visit to the hot pool and waterfall, and then it was deep into the gates of Stonehell. Initial exploration of an old kitchen and dining hall reveled nothing of interest except a mysterious man shaped stain on the floor. After puzzling over this for some time, the band elected to head through the ogre  and devil archway to a four way intersection marked with a sign saying "Da' Dragons Den " and an arrow pointing to the left. An overeager Erijay was about to head straight into the dragon's maw, but her companions' cooler heads prevailed and they choose instead to explore further ahead. This lead to a grizzly discovery, a room with a pile of fresh humanoid bodies stacked like cord wood. Further exploration was cut short when the trio disturbed a nest of giant rats who swarmed the group and had to be fought off, but not before all three were bit and began to come down with fevers. 

With a hasty exit and some days to recover, and the trio again returned to the dungeon and back to the mysterious room. More mysterious, a different selection of bodies were now in the room. Apart from some casks of a mysterious liquid and linens however, there were no other clues in the room.

With further exploration, a mysterious talking head was discovered, to whom three questions were presented. The answers were rather cryptic, but one suggested they had missed a significant  treasure somewhere in their searches. This sent the group back through areas already explored in a quest for hidden doors and compartments. In the process, a brace of spitting cobras and then a nest of giant centipedes was distributed. One centipede stung Erijay, who then became to weak to continue any further. As they made their way back to  the dungeon entrance, Paot insisted on having one more look in the body room. While searching through the linens, Merrick discovered a hidden compartment under a loose flagstone that proved to contain a hoard of silver coins and gems. At last a reward for their toils! 

Returning to town, the trio were fleeced by the guards at the gate and directed to the seediest dive in town, the Foam and Whistle, for a meal and a bed. Electing to not share the only private room with a band of cutthroats, they instead settled in the common room. Over the next week while Erijay recovered from the centipedes' poisoning, Merrick and Paot replenished supplies, upgraded armour and weapons and prepared for anther delve into Stonehell.