A Weasel Among Us

12:30 P.M - Day 113, Rova  13, 3042 AP (After Peace)

Day 2, 28 remaining.

Maldrake awoke suddenly. He nudged Kallista, Stixx, and Ur'goen out of sleep. "I just heard something, someone is sneaking around. Are we all accounted for? " Kallista and Stixx looked about and nodded. We looked down over the small balcony moving as quietly as we could and we saw the innkeeper, Bellam Barhold owner of The Lord's Dalliance tip toeing from his room and down stairs and what appeared to be low lower level of the inn but not quite the basement. From his body movements Stixx nudged Maldrake.

"He be tryin' to hard to not be seen. He be tryin' to hard to not be heard. He be tryin' to hard to be perceived. He may be foolin' da drunks but he doan fool may." Styxx informed all of us. Maldrake nodded and sent his familiar to give chase. All his family could tell him was that he was going to the basement. Maldrake commanded his pet to follow Bellam but only to the basement and tell us what is happening. We lost contact. 

Who builds a secret tunnel?

So Stixx, Kallista, Ur'goen, Maldrake, Stryder and even Kiliketz went down stairs. Luckily our party was so large that we were able to take all available rooms. Went we got to the basement level, only Maldrake and Stixx went in first. No one was in there. Maldrake's familiar telepathically told him that Bellam went through the wall to the east, though we could see nothing. We waited just a few moments in case Bellam was on the other side of this wall and began to search.  Sure enough there was a secret door. 

Kallista was first to volunteer. "Let's go and catch him. He is on to us lets get him."  She said she went into the tunnel and only with the faintest glow she could see the shadowy report of a torch giving off its dim light through her dark vision. She motioned the rest of us to follow and Maldrake, Ur'goen, Stryder, and all of us, even Grumblejack eventually stumbled down to the basement and we began to move a little faster and could see us getting close to the light.  Only Maldrake, Kallista, and Stixx went on though. 

Just as we got close enough to see the silhouette of the man. Then the figure stops and tilts his head as though he is listening intently for something. We've only traveled about two-hundred feet at this point. The figure turned around and looked back at us. Of course it could not see us and only the darkvision capable among us could see him.  We stayed still for nearly ten minutes in complete silence. After this time we could see his foot steps begin again and he slowly moved on.   We were able to keep a steady pace with him for about another three-hundred forty feet before the quite stone tunnel was filled with an abrupt howling.

Dank and dreary we are but leery of this chapel eerie.

"Who goes there?" Bellam yelled out. Goes, goes, goes, there, ther,the is what we heard as the echoes of his terrified presence broke down any semblance of silence.  We all froze in our tracks suddenly. "Come on out now, I won't hurt you and you have nothing to be afraid of." He was terrified and his voice was on edge. Little did the little weasel know what could be waiting for him should he push us further. This time the wait was even more unbearable. He stood looking back at us for nearly twenty-five more minutes.

12:50 P.M - Day 113, Rova  13, 3042 AP (After Peace)

Styxx beckoned Maldrake down to his level and whispered to the tiefling cleric "You all be too loud up in har. You nad to get buck while you inviseeeahhble pet and me go check this out." Maldrake simply nodded and gestured Kallista and Kiliketz to hold back and motion on Styxx and his invisible beast.  

Kallista quickly whispers, "We'll stay with in darkvision distance of you, but you keep on him."  She motions them on.  And on they went.

Styxx slowly advanced on the trembling man in the dark. Both of our parties had easily exceeded half a mile now and we kept in pursuit. A few times the farthest party made noise that Styxx could hear but he was clearly too far behind the innkeeper for it to mean much of anything. We followed Bellam until we got to a corner and made our way around it only to lose him for just a few seconds. This part of the tunnel got a bit curvy but soon straighten itself again. We have been down here for over an hour now and have walked nearly a mile and then the unlikely happened. Styxx who was getting a bit ahead of his feet kicked a pebble down a small incline in the tunnel and of course Bellam had to hear it and a blood curdling howl was let out.

"HA! I KNEW IT. I KNEW SOME BASTARD WAS FOLLOWING ME, IT'S TOO LATE FOR YOU NOW, HERE I COME." Bellam screamed and gave chase into the darkness. Styxx bolted backwards toward the way he came and when the rest of us saw him we drew our weapons.  Styxx simply waved us back and we all began to run at full speed. Looking back over our shoulder Bellam began to slow, he could not match our constitutions and was easily losing his breath and stumbled and fell down. Once we got of the secret door and back up to our rooms Maldrake formed a plan. 

How long does this go on?

2:30 P.M - Day 113, Rova  13, 3042 AP (After Peace)

"Kiliketz, this is your chance to redeem yourself. You need to go with my little beast, I want you to go back down there tonight, watch for Bellam, and travel the length of that tunnel and report back. It cannot be a long tunnel if he was willing to travel it on foot in the dead of night, return back and let us know. Do this and forever cement yourself in our loyalty to you and you to us."  There was not much to it and mephit and the familar went about their way and the rest of us went to back to sleep. Before we did, Maldrake ordered his familiar to inspect the tunnel to see where it goes and come back with a report. 

7:00 A.M - Day 114, Rova  14, 3042 AP (After Peace)

Day 3, 27 remaining.

We spent the rest of the next twenty-four hours exploring more of Aldencross learning the area a bit better. Maldrake was getting worried because it had been over twenty four hours before we saw his familiar and Kiliketz again and began to fear the worst. It wasn't until we awoke from the next nights sleep that his familiar returned and Kiliketz drearly reported that the reason it took so long is that the trip was almost one-hundred and ten miles total. In a sad and whiny voice Kiliketz informed, "We ended up in what I believe was a storage area in a very fortified area. I believe that tunnel goes to Balentyne."