Missing cattle in the Tomb of Zombies: Journal of Golin Strongbeard

Expedition with Golin Strongbeard, turner of zombies, Murdock, protector of expeditions, Ophe, sniffer of powder, Wuwei, worst person on the island, and honorary mention of Grillark, liar but lad with a good heart.

''Well how do I start this one lads, it was supposed to be about saving cows, this expedition ended with zombies and a beholder. And how did it go that badly ya probably ask? Well, it went quite well for most of us.''

''Anyhow, the human, a farmer called Grillark had some cattle go missing. Ophe asked around town a bit and it appeared no one else had gone this way. With that lead done we moved on to the site, Grillark led us down the coast about five miles and onto a beach. During this travel I had a chat with the lad and he said it started the first day we got to the island, it had now been a week and multiple cows were missing. ''

''There were a bunch of sandstone cliffs and nothing was obviously wrong, Grillark had heard rumors about how there were holes in the ground. And lad let me tell ya, he was bloody hell right as well! We had just got to the place and the first thing the snake did was blast the ground, who does that?! Should bloody learn some manners and learn that not everything is solved by violance. ''

''As I was saying, she blasted the ground and it opened up a giant hole in the ground. It was roughly 150 feet across and 30 feet down so it was this huge hole at the top! Well anyway, the snake fell down, I would have laughed if not Murdock had fallen as well. Me being quick on my feet managed to stay on top, as well as Ophe. Quick lad that one. ''

''Now I started arguing with Grillark, I suggested he should go back to town and wait for us there as it would be safer than going down in the hole. And what does he do?! HE ACCUSES ME OF BEING A THIEF. I have never stolen anything in me life! It ended up that he would pay us for protection down there and he would tag along. I mean, what would I do with a bunch of bloody cows?!''

''Ophe tied a rope so we could make the descent easier and also have a way up if things went sour. At the bottom there was some water and it smelled like this place had been closed of for over 100 years. But that's not the wierd thing, it was that this whole place seemed man made. There were text on the walls but the meaning of it was long lost. Now the roof though! Beautiful carvings all over the place, I swear it was done by dwarven hands, noone else can do things like this in stone.''

''Anyhow, the snake has gone and gotten a familiar, an imp. I swear, she is evil through and through, nothing wrong with familiars of course. But imps?! That snake is up to something. Well, the monster scouted out the cave and reported seeing some skeletal manhorses and a zombie. Me and Murdock took the lead and they didn't really attack us. The floor was filled with bones, mostly dwarven but there were also bones from animals, humans, and even some elves. Well, we decided to ignore the man horses and move on but then the zombie slowly shuffled towards Murdock and we didn't really want to attack a fellow dwarf, alive or not so we tried talking to it. It seemed to react to our words but it didn't fully stop. When it made a half-hearted attack against Murdock the farmed swiftly cut it down. That was the first sign he gave of not always having been a farmer.''

''When he did that though, the whole cave shook and there was wailing from all around us. Ya know those bones I mentioned before? Well, they weren't just bones to say the least. A bunch of zombies swarmed us, I heard Grillark mutter "Just like last time and run for it, I even heard a door slamming shut! Well, to make a long story short, the snake went unconcious... again and we had to save her... again. Thanks to my devotion to Moradin though it went fine, I cast a spell and like ten of those zombies turned and ran away. Thanks to that we could safely retreat out and back to a door Grillark held open for us.''

''After some questioning I got the entire and truthful story from him. He apparently found this place on one of the first days here and found some door that he thought needed sacrifice and he was going to use us for it. Well, the lad seemed to feel bad and apologised so I forgave him, he gave each of us five gold for the trouble so no hard feelings. It's not like anyone important got hurt.''

''Right, the snake. I saved her, again. I stabilized her and we decided to take a nap as this place seemed safe. After our nap we looked around, there were many supplies, I even found some herbs I think Grubnar can use in his ale. Before we went for the way out I decided to scope out the place with magical aid, and I found the wall Grillark had been talking about. It was oozing with abjuration magic and it was some kind of forcefield keeping us out of moving further. I found the clue "To go deeper, go higher." Not sure what that means, but when someone figures it out, I think this place is worth another look.''

''Since there was nothing more to look at I told Grillark to lead the way out. Apparently the reason he went back and opened the door for us was that there was a giant creature blocking the exit that he couldn't pass. Now the other doors in this place was of common wood, but this one, was made of stone and metal. When we opened the door there was some kind of yellow haze down there. We moved on and look at what we found. A beholder! Well, some kind of it at least, it seemed to be infected with the same disease as the zombies. Its eyes were milky white but it was huge! Floating around and being all beholdery. ''

''It shot some spell through its eyes and Ophe took a beating, this creature looked hurt when we got there and it really took a beating before it went down. It exploded in some poisony fog that was really nasty. It didn't really bother me being a dwarf and all but I gave Ophe some healing.''

''Now Grillark felt proper bad and wanted to give us his last gold, the others took one gold each but I refused, the lad was honorable and he shouldn't be left without gold. He did after all lose his cows. But ya know what happend?! THE SNAKE TRIED TAKING IT. Now I'm not one to let stealing and greed happen right in front of me so I shut that down, and she was rude to me. CAN YA BELIEVE IT?! I'VE SAVED THAT SNAKES LIFE EVERY TIME SHE'S NEEDED IT. WELL THAT WAS THE LAST TIME LET ME TELL YA. SHE EVEN THREATENED ME, AS IF SHE COULD DO ANYTHING THE PATHETIC SNAKE THAT SHE IS. ''

''Well! She didn't dare do anything when Murdock stepped in as well and had my back... Or front as it was but let me tell ya, she can bleed to death for all I care, and with the foolishness she does, I give her a week.''