After our week long stay in Suzail, trading our wares, we decided that it was time to head back to Shadowdale and our keep, Castle Krag. We had heard rumors in the past day or so that the Zhentarim had returned to Shadowdale and had taken control. This worried us greatly, as the Black Network have nothing but their own expansionism at heart. Dyonet attempted to teleport us there, however something went wrong with the incantation that she nor Neshama understood. It was as if her spell failed much in the same mannerism that our hourglass teleportation method failed before we left Wheloon. After some discussion we decided to go back to Shadowdale the tried and true method, via road travel. It would take us roughly a week to reach our destination, however we felt that there was no other choice. We paged the stableboy to our inn and had him ready our horses and carts while we packed our equipment up. After a half hour the stableboy arrived with our carts and we headed out along Calantar’s Way toward Arabel.
We made it to Arabel without incident and headed onward toward Tilverton. Once we arrived near the edge of the former town we could see the dark, concave space filled with shadows and flitting regions of deeper darkness in the center of the crater. We skirted around the edge of the town to err on the side of caution. As we rode we could see the Shadow Gap looming on the horizon ahead of us like an omnious omen. We realized it would take us a few more hours to reach the Shadow Gap and night would be upon us before then. We decided to make camp a bit away from the road and post our watches.
Throughout first watch, it was very cold and gusty, which made the powdery snow swoop up around us, although it was uncomfortable, it passed without incident. I woke up Tyreal for second watch and curled up immediately and fell asleep. Suddenly I was aroused to the sound of Tyreal’s voice yelling, “We’re under attack, form up defensively!” I immediately jumped up and grabbed my axe in one swift movement, only to have an arrow pierce my shoulder. We fought for a few minutes before really having an idea what was attacking us. We had been encompassed by a score of orcs and two frost giants. We fought under the heavy barrage of the arrows for quite some time. Finally though the orcs showed themselves by moving closer and closer to our party leading to their demise. The frost giants proved quite a tough challenge however our sorcerer, Neshama, and our wizard, Dyonet, made rather fast work of them. After a remnant of sleep we were again, plodding down the slushy road after a brief bit to eat.
We passed through the Shadow Gap without incident, early in the afternoon. As we continued on toward Shadowdale we could begin to see a small village of sort on the horizon. As we moved closer, something seemed amiss, and we became much more cautious in our approach.
Upon reaching the edge of the small village, we could hear demanding voices that sounded as if they were directed at the farmers. It appeared a band of ruffians had taken to village captive and was demanding anything of value. Tyreal and I approached directly and attempted to address the apparent leader of the group, however we were attacked on the spot. Within a matter of moments we had the situation well under control, we freed the captive farmers and returned their valuables to them. We inquired as to the Zhentarim control over Shadowdale and they indicated that as much was true. They also indicated that Lord Mourngrym freely gave the Zhents control of Shadowdale. This took us quite aback and reinforced our hastening toward Shadowdale. The grateful farmers offered to let us rest the night but we insisted that we must be off.
Late in the afternoon, Shadowdale became visible in the distance; however I could not help but wonder what awaited us when we arrived.
