Our tale of adventure begins in Spring, when tales of adventure are best hatched.  Our band is summoned to the offices of Tomas Iglesias Del Sul Montoyan, the High Priest of York and Penumbria, and made an offer.  "Go investigate a stream in Applo", Tomas tells them, "That recently began running dark and sulfurous."  If the investigations go well, the party will be entered into the Militia, with all rights and privileges of citizenship which come with successful service; Tomas wants people to act as investigators and spies.

The party is also asked to gather dirt on Salamancar, a local shady businessman with whom the party is each in debt to, in their own particular ways.  This makes the four quite nervous.

Salamancar also gains an audience with the party, and expressed glee at the thought of being able to have a business relationship with members of the Militia.  He tells them to investigate the warehouse of an Abe Govainna; he mentions in passing that if Abe were to be scared or intimidated into business with Salamancar, or if the contents of Abe's warehouse were to meet some unfortunate end, then Salamancar would see to getting the persons responsible a reward.

After fretful discussions the party tells Tomas of their meeting, but not the details, and expresses concern at their role, caught in the middle.  Tomas encourages them to work as his investigators anyway; there is much anxiety but they leave with full coin purses to the town of Applo.

In Applo they meet with mayor Tiff Udelbroht, who tells them the details of the stream; it used to be pure and good water from a spring, but a month ago started running brown, with a stench of sulfur.  The cave where the stream originates lies 4 hours outside of town, so in the morning our intrepid band heads out For Adventure!

They find the cave source of the stream has been caved in, and the water now emerges from a long-hidden corridor, carved into the rock.  Heading down a hallway they find several collapsed side passages, and two rooms, filled with coffins, sarcophagi, and mummified corpses to be the source of the pollution.  Heading further into the complex they are confronted with strange aberrant monsters; a suffocating sheet, four aggressive beetles, and a small howling creature whose howl sang a song of deep sorrow, and which exploded into rubble when struck by the ranger's arrow.

The room with these creatures had two frescoes on opposite walls - each, on walls 200 feet long, showing a scene with a castle on a hill, flowing down into fields and farmlands, and finally forested area, filled with people at work.  The people seemed, on further investigations, to have three basic body shapes: short and squat, tall and skinny, or in the middle.  The scene on one wall was of the day; on the other, a night time scene, where the people all seemed monstrous and bestial.

Four caryatid columns held up the ceiling, and four statues laid in alcoves in the walls; the columns carved from white marble with pink veins were of women, struggling under the weight of the roof; the statues were of a faceless man holding short swords, a woman in armor with a spear, a wizened old man in a fur cloak, and a short naked goblin-like creature, with non-human musculature.

One more room existed in the complex; mostly caved in, the room still contained a side table with an expensive tea service, and a fancy leather-bound book, containing an illegible cipher.  Mysteries abound!

The party reported their findings to the Mayor, and then to Reverend Mariah Joneston, who were both as puzzled as our group at what was discovered.  The Reverend promised to investigate further, and the party took their leave....


.... Only to return and inquire about Abe's warehouse.  They entered and went in to his office, where GoodTimes started going through a stack of invoiced, angering Abe.  Tempers flared, weapons were drawn, and our band of heroes were able to knock Abe unconscious and escape the town, carrying the Warehouse owner's body with them.

Upon awakening, and after further discussion, Abe decided to work more closely with Salamancar, in an attempt to gather information on Sal's shady dealings, and perhaps build a legal case against Salamancar.

Stay tuned for more adventures!