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  1. Journals

Expedition 12 - Crane's Account

Unfortunately my suspicions regarding poor Doric proved all too true as they were returned in a body barge back to town with few survivors from their expedition. As sorrowing as this was, the news was not all in vain. This death was brought about as the result of a harrowing battle with an animated statue, and a near decapitation of a similar trap. Strangely the marble statue which survived the encounter was reported to be covered with strange magic runes and so I was fetched to decipher them. Before setting out we thought it best to hire a peasant with a horn to give us early warning of any danger that may descend to the caves below redkeep manor after us.

On the barons' newly supplied Pontoon with Hats and a hireling I had never met before we arrived back at redwood with little trouble on the river ahead. Inside we discovered the statue and runes that I had been told about and I began dearmoring in order to decipher them. While I stripped my armor with the help of a newly met magic user a strange wind below through a nearby portcullis and almost snuffed our torches but its origin remains shrouded in mystery. Nevertheless I was able to decipher that the runes were some kind of spell trapping device, a defensive tool rather than some kind of statue activating contraption. After a bit more poking around of the statue I believe I have judged it safe for removal and we set off deeper into the caves to return at a later date with proper tools to extract the marble angel.

The Portcullis the breeze originated from was unfortunately rusted shut with the winch on the other side, but with a well shot arrow from our new knavish companion, and the strength of a halfling who had joined us just before we managed to get past the gate and wedged it open to hopefully keep it up for when we return. On the other side we found quite a strange sight indeed. A large double door with hushed and strange voices speaking in an unfamiliar dialect to our listeners, a shoddy door built into the cave and finally a floating shield  and two gemstones. Suspicious of what I thought was magic I fired a bolt at the thing to find that they were not floating in air at all, but rather suspended in some kind of gelatin The slime lurched forwards to our stout halfling and a bloody melee ensued. With gouts of flame and flaming bolt the cube eventually swallowed Hats and our new hireling before I was able to deliver the final blow, a bolt which disrupted the internal structure of the creature causing it to collapse. Inside we found several strange gems, and a shield with the face of a Rhino. I am beginning to suspect that I am under the influence of a detect magic shields and rings spell that I do not remember casting because I was able to determine the shield was of magic make from its strange shape and engravings alone. Far more interesting however was the crystal ball we found, an artifact of the Lich who rules redwood keep. The Lich peered back at me through bony eye sockets and unfashionable fur before politely requesting I leave the dungeon, to which I of course obliged. However where there is a Lich, there is a spellbook and where there is a spellbook there Crane shall be, to “borrow” it.