To the Outpost

 It was the beginning of winter when the undead fell upon my home town of Kolked.  Along with around 50 other survivors, so many did not make it out of town, we fled to the nearby town of Kertak where the denizens were good enough to take us in.  Upon arrival, I spend my time in the temple of Yaoshi, sister goddess to my own patron Yaryla.

It was then that a couple of guards I knew from my previous visits to Kertak informed me that I had been summoned to meet with Jarek, the Reeve, at The Wnderer's Flock Inn.  Upon arrival, I was shown into one of the back rooms by the barmaid, Anika.  There, along with two other townsfolk of my acquaintance, Brina and an obnoxious dwarf named Korik, who thinks he is a giant, I found myself in the presence of Jarek and four others - Captain Boris, Father Armin, Holman Smallburrow and Orlin Yalow.  We were informed that a message had been sent to the Lord Castellan in Kelkoto, seeking aid.  However, this august group required someone to travel to one of the old watchtowers left over from 'the Butchery', a millennium ago when we were attacked by an army of golems until Nanook saw fit to wipe them off the map.

With the promise of 20gp for undertaking the venture, I and my companions agreed (coin being in short supply at this time) and, after being warned that the local Derro clans have become restive, we set off north, following the path of the river.

Within a day, we came across the first sign of life upon the tundra - a wounded polar bear (Korik seemed to think it was a dog).  With the help of Kayleen's teachings, I was able to calm the beast and removed a spear head from its leg and sew up the wound.  Following this, we continued out trek northwards until we reached the tower.

Outside the tower, we espied two Derro keeping watch.  Before I had the chance to attempt to move closer, the idiot dwarf threw a stone at one of them and a fight ensued.  During the struggle, I managed to entangle one in my net while we were able to kill the others.  Moving onto the tower's first floor, we encountered more derro, which were quickly despatched although Korik did suffer an injury.  However, before I could use my magic to heal him, the idiot ran up to the second floor.

Waiting there was another Derro and a leader, versed in the use of magic.  Immediately, this creature cast a spell which rendered  Brina and Korik insensible leaving me along to face the creatures.  Knowing that Brina is also versed in the healing arts, I used my magic to revive her before attacking the Derro while she used her abilities to heal the idiot dwarf.  Eventually, we were able to defeat our foes.  Of course, Korik made things worse by repeatedly pounding upon the magic wielding Derro until the unfortunate creature exploded.  It appears that he was wearing a Starglass Pendant and Korik's repeated hits caused the thing to explode.  Shame, it may have come in useful in the future.

By this time, the sun had set and I suggested we rest up for the night rather than attempting to cross the tundra in the darkness.  For most of the night, things were quiet until the final watch.  Korik told us that had heard something moving around downstairs and, at first, I thought it must have been a symptom of his addled brain.  However, when we reached the ground floor, someone was there.

Standing in the doorway to the tower was a female humanoid with blue skin.  Although I have never met her, I immediately recognised her from my parents' description - Brook.  I don't know much about her but they told me that she is not to be trusted and I said as much to her face.  All that she said in reply was that we ought to take a look at Kolked from the Overlook.  After that, she left, leaving behind a smell of saltwater which, for some reason, seemed to be strongest around me.  After a short discussion, we decided that her suggestion could not cause any harm so we set off in the direction of Kolked.

During our 3rd day on the road, we came across four bodies which were immediately recognisible as inhabitants of Kolked, one's who had not made it out alive.  Looking at the four bodies, something strange was noticed.  The bodies had been killed by a trident but, also, had the tell tale marks of being reainimated after death.  A closer inspection showed that the trident wounds had caused burn marks, something Brina said is caused by holy magic.  After a short discussion, the two of us came to the conclusion that the trident wounds had been caused after the unfortunates had been raised from the dead.  Unable to do anything else for these poor souls, we performed the requisite funeral rites and continued onto Kolked.

Arriving on the Overlook, we were met with a strange site.  An orange glow, in the shape of a diamond, had formed around the town, centred on the town square, which appeared to be keeping the undead inside.  What it is, I have no idea but it seems to be keeping the town seperate from the rest of the world which, considering what has happened there, is no bad thing.  One final observation - the greatest concentration of undead appears to be in the centre of town and they seem to be digging for something.

Having seen what, I presume, Brook wanted us to see, we decided to return to Kertak and report what we had learned.