With deep humility, I beg of you Beshaba, forgiveness for not ending my last journal entry with a prayer!
As punishment for my impiety, my Lady Doom sent a flock of owls to our campsite at sundown last night, and their ceaseless hooting kept us all from sleeping, save Sildar. He alone has regained some strength, and at last, has given us some useful information. He claimed to be a veteran of some “Griffon Cavalry” and was hoping to make contact with a wizard named Iorno Albreck in Phandalin. The broken old warhorse also managed to recall that, while he was being buggered to near-death by the goblins, he overheard them saying Gundren had been taken to “Cragmaw Castle”, as ordered by someone called “Black Spider.” He confessed that Gundren and the Rockseeker brothers had discovered “Wave Echo Cave” an ancient mine and the legendary site of an underground battle, famous to sages around these parts, supposedly the resting ground of untold treasures, and that Gundren was carrying a map to it all. It seems Beshaba has sought to balance the rich Mr. Rockseeker’s disproportionate good fortunes.
Thanks to Beshaba, we avoided an inauspicious noontime arrival, blessings be upon her. We arrived groggily in the eventide, some of us unsure what day it was. We disposed of our cargo at Barthen’s establishment, and collected a reward for the Lion Coster goods.
We then set forth to get a drink at a local watering hole, when we were again ambushed, this time by simple human thugs belonging to some “Red Brand” gang. The impudence! Naturally, we destroyed them in a heartbeat, the fools.
Later, we secured lodgings at the Stonehill Inn (Toblerone Stonehill, proprietor). Much worried talk of orcs here… a local woodcarver cuck being killed and his womenfolk taken away for raping… Surely, much evidence of Beshaba’s influence here, in spite of this pitiful town’s pathetic shrine to Tymora! Thanks be to Beshaba for this bounty of lucrative opportunities!
Tomorrow, I will seek out a Halia Thornton, Guildmistress at the Phandalin Miner’s exchange, who I feel may have useful information for us, in regards to Gundren’s whereabouts. I am worried about that old dwarf, but must admit, I am distracted by the strange state of affairs in this little town.
One thing is certain: the unprovoked attack of these Red Brands upon our group has surely sealed their fate. In Beshaba’s name, I swear, they will meet their imminent doom by our group’s skilled hands! Klaatu barada nikto amen.