The Haunted House,

Recruited Adela into the party, and the group is off to Sandpoint!

We learn Malcolm, Pyrlig’s childhood friend, has gone missing out at the old mad alchemists place, deserted for over 20 years.

On our way to the house, we notice blue lights in the jungle, but we proceed into the house instead of chasing wisps.

After carefully searching (most of) the upper floors, and finding a note reading ‘Beyond Skeletons’, we are scared away from the basement by a loud roar, and following Hilo into the jungle, we eventually discover a shrine. Hilo also encountered some strange beings, but being already frightened she darted away from them.

We return to the basement, where we find Malcolm’s corpse, infested with nasty worms. Alamar wants nothing to do with Malcolm’s old plate armor, even though it appears magical.

Through the broken glass of the basement, we find a secret door into what appears to be an empty smugglers den. We searched it and the leader’s quarters, and found a naval almanac with tides for the entire coast, suggesting this is a large scale operation. We also found signalling lanterns on the second floor facing the sea.

We entered a room marker ‘Danger’, and when we touched the door on the opposite wall, Skeletons sprang to life! After a tough battle with skeletons, we discovered the alchemists laboratory, and what might be the secret to turning anything into gold. Among the objects we found were a gold book, a gold rose, a gold skull, and a gold apple. There was also a golden stone, which is playing havoc with our poor child sorcerer.

After escaping the skeleton trap, we headed down into the caverns that lead to the sea, where Adela had an acid blob drop onto her face and ruin her hair.

We confronted the smugglers, and after a tough battle, triumphed! We found boxes of swords though, which are troubling. Someone is arming a large number of people. Among the other items were 1000gp of ornamental gems, 50 gp worth of brandy kegs, and the swords are worth about 250gp, and a couple healing potions.

We left the ruined mansion, and headed back to the shrine where a judicious comprehend languages ritual revealed that this is the Shrine of Honor.

Major plot points still open:

A note throwing suspicion on the Governor’s wife,
Minax has returned
The Red Hills Gang is wanted, and a reward offered
An ancient city in the White Woods
A doorway sealed with a bronze plaque
A glowing blue portal that disappears during the day
The glowing sword
The library in the Catacombs
the Armor of Malcolm/Wyrms
Arms smugglers along the coast
The Shrine of Honor
The upstart criminals trying to displace the thieves guild
The philosopher’s stone