The party spent the entirety of the 11th in Luthus doing shopping, getting a few mounts, and preparing for their trek upstream. Much gold was spent, and the group left the city in high spirits.
The party spent this day on the road. They stayed on the road. They passed the bridge that crosses the Ullial River and into Torras, and continued traveling. They eventually ran out of daylight, so they stopped for the night on the side of the road.
The morning of the 13th, the group traveled for a couple of hours and rode into Ghaun. They picked up some freshly caught fish for food, and started asking about local news. One of the fishermen told the group about an infestation of recently hatched dragon turtles that were terrorizing the Ullial River. Boats were being destroyed, fish were being consumed in mass, and no one along the river felt safe from the beasts.
The group talked about taking on the dragon turtle infants, but they decided that it would be best to stay away from the beasties. They got back on the road, and continued heading east. Near the end of the day, they reached Caer Pendalion. The road crossed the river from the south bank to the north bank at this point. The group wasn't happy about this because it took them through the dingy and dirty shanty town that has recently grown up around the keep. Osh and Caldurion really didn't want anything to do with the small town at all, and opted to skirt the town.
Shensil wanted to go into town and get some local news if he could. He was looking for more information about the dragon turtles, but he found out much more. The latest dragon turtle news was that the bridge at Tall Bridge (which is a little further upstream) had been destroyed by the dragon turtles. It sounds like things are getting worse as the dragon turtles grow in size. The extra local news that he gathered was that a serial killer had just be caught. He had terrorized the town for three weeks killing women on the streets at night. He would slit the womens' throats, and then gut them before running off. He had killed 11 women and one man. The one male victim was assumed to have tried to stop the killer, and failed to do so.
Shensil rejoined the group outside town and told them about it. The group seemed to be morbidly curious about the killer, so they went the jailhouse to see if they could lay eyes on the killer. It wasn't too difficult as the guards were charging 10 gold a head to come in and see the killer. Caldurion talked the guard down to 5 gold a head, and the party went in to see the killer. He was chained to a wall, and was maniacally lunging at the group as they entered. He was screaming mostly nonsense, but sometimes he would get a somewhat coherent sentence out. He would scream things like, "The purple veil has been broken!", and, "The demons will get loose!" He would also scream about how the children needed to be protected from the demons. During all of this Kalak cast a detect magic spell, and surveyed the room. The guards had cloak pins that were slightly imbued with divination, but the main source of magical energy in the room was the prisoner. He was covered with a strong presence of enchantment, and a slight amount of transmutation. At one point, the killer seemed to calm down, looked straight at Rin, and calmly said, "Your child will be consumed by the white beast." and then he passed out. The guard told the group the prisoner had enough, and ushered them out of the room.
The group was told that the man was going to be hung the next day shortly after dawn, and it was going to be a public hanging. They were invited to come watch if they chose to do so. The group asked around and found the Jealous Partisan Inn where they got three rooms with locks and keys (for a slight fee, of course.) Turns out they only needed two of the rooms, so they trapped the third room with a cowbell. Osh spent the night at the Light Helmet Stable to protect the animals from being stolen. Sometime during the night, someone tried to break into the rooms, but they were outwitted by Rin who would lock and unlock the door on them while they were trying to pick the lock. This caused Rin great amusement, and she let out a high-pitched giggle before she could stop herself. Her laughter scared off the would-be burglar, and the rest of the night was uneventlful.
The group got up in the morning, had some breakfast at the Jealous Partisan. During their breakfast, they talked with the owner of the inn, and he told them that the killer's name was Jarish. Jarish had been raised at the keep, and had just completed his apprecticeship as a blacksmith. Jarish was a quiet guy, but loved to joke with his friends. He suddenly changed a few weeks back, and began avoiding everyone, even his friends. That is about the time the killings started, and the guards from the keep finally caught him flaying a woman with a sharp knife a few nights ago. They took him into the keep for trial, Lady Gimmina found him guilty, and sentenced him to hang for his crimes.
The group headed to the square in front of the keep to witness the hanging. Jarish was brought out into the square bound with manacles. The group began to scream at the man, and food, rocks, and other objects were thrown at the condemed man. He didn't seem to notice anything around him, but he continued to yell his nonsesical rantings. He was lead up to the gallows where he was placed on a trapdoor, a hood was placed over his head, and a noose was put around his neck. As the guards stepped back, Jarish tried to bolt for freedom. One of the guards reacted quickly enough to kick the lever over to open the trapdoor. Jarish quickly fell and his life was ended with the sound of a wet crack. The body jerked a few times on the end of the rope, and then fell still. The body was lowered to the ground, and the crowd that watched the execution pushed forward to see the dead killer. The hood was pulled back from Jarish's head to reveal a reddish-skinned being with vestigal horns growing out of his forehead. The crowd noticed the features, and many people started screaming, "Devil! Demon! Creature from the lower planes! Run!" There was a great crush of humanity as people ran to get away from the corpse. The group stood their ground, and eventually made their way to the corpse for a closer look. Turns out the Jarish was a tiefling, not a human.
Once the hanging was over with, the party decided that they had enough of Caer Pendalion, so they collected their gear, and continued upstream along the Ullial River. Travel to the next town took the remainder the day, and they arrived in Kithbal very late, but still early enough to secure a room, get dinner, and enjoy a soft bed.
The next day, the group gathered their gear after breakfast, and continued heading east. After traveling for about an hour, they were surprised to find a woman in a bridal gown bursting onto the road from some underbrush. She screamed at them, "Please help! My husband has been captured by some goblins. They took him into the trees!" She collapsed on the edge of the road muddy, dirty, and with a nasty cut on her forehead. The group hestitated for a moment, but Caldurion rode off on the his horse in pursuit of the goblins. He quickly caught them since they were dragging a man off. A quick entagle spell stopped four of the goblins in their tracks. The rest of the group followed Caldurion, and came upon the scene to find two goblins making their way through the entangle. A few thrown daggers, some slingstones, and a couple of arrows was all it took to take down five of the six goblins. One goblin managed to get away and into the underbrush. Caldurion quickly sent his owl after the remaingin goblin. A few moments later the owl returned with blood on its claws, and an eyeball carried in one set of its talons.
While all of this was going on, Osh stayed on the road with the bride. He sent his pixie cleric hireling to heal the bride. After the healing was administered by the invisible pixie, the bleeding wound on the bride's forehead remained. This puzzled Osh, so he looked at the bride a bit closer, and the glamor that covered her faded from view. He was presented with an elven woman in red robes. He started to approach the woman. She walked backwards away from the imposing barbarian, and decided to stand and fight. She cast a spell at the half-orc that caused some slight wounds. Osh decided it was time to brain the woman to prevent her from casting another spell. He charged forward and smashed her with his huge club. The woman went down in a heap, and didn't move again. Osh took a closer look at her, and noticed that she was wearing a brass circlet around her head. He quickly divested her of her dagger, circlet, boots, and anything else that she may be able to use against him. Osh quickly tied up the woman, and sat down to wait for the group to return.
Killed: 6 Goblins
Captured: Elven spellcaster