Still Waters

Grunyar ran back into the cavern, over the trap and waited for the Goblyns to follow and trip the trap.  The rest of the party struggled against the metal net, which did not give way.  No one could move but they could push against the net with their strength. 

Seglun raged and popped a net link but could not escape yet, Drovic turned into a mist and escaped upwards.  Baru was enlarged by Arvien, through Summergale.  Grunyar thought he was safe but a Goblyn pointed a wand at him and he was paralyzed.  The rest of the Goblyns swarmed the net automatically hit the heroes with non-lethal damage.  All the while they were grunting, "Stop fighting." "You prisoner now!  We are your masters," and other commands.
Grunyar was trussed up by a couple of Goblyns as Baru popped out of the net, and was met by the Goblyn wand and he stood still.  Arvien summoned her Dire Boar and she crawled under it.  Drovic floated toward the caverns, became humanoid again and was attacked by a Goblyn who feasted on his face.  Varrid was struggling unsuccessfully with the net, while Seglun tried to climb out but failed again.  All the characters were still being attacked with non-lethal damage.  Baru was trussed up, Seglun escaped the net and Drovic let loose a lightning bolt on his Goblyn.  Ralom also summoned a Dire Boar, and the two Boars successfully defeated a couple of Goblyns.  Varrid fell unconscious as did Drovic and the Goblyns set to trussing them up.  Seglun emerged from the net and was paralyzed by the wand wielding Goblyn.  Ralom feeling weak healed the damage he incurred while Arvien cast a web on top of the metal net, capturing almost all the Goblyns with its stickiness. 
Grunyar found himself able to move again and tried to escape his bonds, and eventually he cast aside the bonds and knocked one of the Goblyns carrying him, unconscious.   Arvien cast grease on Seglun's bonds and the Dire Boars were devastating to the Goblyns.  At this point the Goblyns decided to retreat and fled away from the battle, with their tails between their legs.
After killing the few Goblyns in the web and untying their colleagues, Ralom provided some healing and Grunyar, wakened his Goblyn and interrogated him.  "We take you to castle.  Herrd ordered us to grab you."  "Not kill, just bring to castle," were the only statements the Goblyn would make.  So he was of no further use.
The group decided to spend the night in the cavern, and continue toward the castle in the morning.  It was still raining in the morning, in fact it hadn't stopped raining since the group entered Forlorn.  Off to the north the group tramped through the mud, where they intersected a old roadway on the south end of a lake.  They followed this around to the eastern shore of the lake which was surrounded by tall red granite cliffs.  The lake surface was black, a lone figure with long white hair, ragged clothing, and tarnished chain mail emerged from the brush a few hundred feet away and stood by the side of the lake.  He began to haul in a net that held a huge, wriggling eel.  He screamed aloud as sparks leapt from the eel to his bare hands, but he held on.
Methodically, he clubbed the eel to death, then stooped and carefully sliced it into sections as if preparing it for dinner.  But instead of cooking the eel, he tossed the chunks back into the lake, and cried.  "Come and get it, Aggie!"
The group cautiously approached with Ralom asking "Who's Aggie?"  "What!  Who is that?  Elsa is that you?" came a barely uttered reply.  "Aggie, a friendlier creature you couldn't imagine.  I was inside her once.  Swallowed whole.  She's going to help me find my music."  "Come on Aggie, find the harp," he shouted once again.  What followed was a completely disjointed and sometimes nonsensical discussion.  "I am called Svendar, Bragi used to like me.  I served him well, but he's not here.  If I can just get my music back and go home, everything will be all right again."  When asked where home was he replied Vinlandia, which non of the heroes had heard of previously.  "The sky is light at night." 
Drovic asked what Svendar's music was and how did he lose it.  "I threw it in the lake." came a shameful reply.  "I thought Bragi had forsaken me, but I was wrong!  Without my music, I dare not face him.  Please help me find it! Please!  PLEASE!"  "The mists are full of fairies, they will help me!"
The lake surface began to turn red as the sun headed to the horizon.  Seglun commented on this and Svendar replied, "the Lake of Red Tears, It's full of treasure, you know!  You only have to reach in and take it.  But if you swallow them, you'll die."  "Swallow what?" queried Drovic.  "The castle floats in the forest, it is there and not," was Svendar's retort.  This led to a discussion of the castle, where the party was headed.  "Spirits in the air!  Foul undead mist!  He's closed the doors on the gods -- even Bragi couldn't enter.  Walls mean nothing to them, you know.  They go right through."  Svendar mused.  "Who is he?" Varrid asked. 
"The Lord, I met him before he died, and he was a lot nicer before than after, let me tell you.  So's his wife.  Dead, that is.  Just like Elsa.  I wish she'd rise up.  She'd know what to do."  Svendar's eyes seemed to mist over at the mention of Elsa.
Drovic was curious about the red headed druids and their powers, so he asked about them.  "the redheaded folk are confused.  They pray to trees.  They still think the gods are alive.  They're always hunting."  "They taught me this song," and he broke into a perfectly sung lament.

From oldentyme this mournful rhyme
Doth echo in my ears;
I tell it true, this tale of two
Who should have loved for years.

For she was fair as light and air,
And he was strong and dark.
So to the throne was next in line;
He, too, had made his mark.

He went away one fateful day
To fight on foreign land;
And there he fell, 'mid battle's knell
No more to claim his lady's hand.

And then one night by lantern light
They saw him in the town;
His face, they say, was gray as clay,
And in his hands lay a bloody gown.

Men from town did track him down,
And staked the villain's heart;
And when they brought him into town.
His woman wept upon his cart.

And then her skin grew pale and thin,
Her eyes shone wild and bright.
Her blood-thirst grew; the hunters knew,
She must be killed that very night.

The deed was done on sacred soil,
Much to the town's great shame.
Its keepers fled, the grove, soon dead,
Was then consumed by vengeful flame.

The townsfolk cry, and from the sky,
Come tears of bloody red;
They stain the very rocks themselves,
These tears of the undead.

So listen well, to this tale I tell,
Let love not blind your sight.
When undead call, avoid the fall;
Stay pure, my friend, stay bright!

 A pall fell over the group as Svendar concluded his Lament.  Hearing the lucid tale from the seemingly demented Svendar, brought him back to the "music."  "Where did you throw your music?  And what is your music?" he inquired.  "My harp, I threw it there in the lake," as he pointed out over the water.  Drovic started to check the water depth, which fell quickly from the shore.  "It gets deep quickly," he said, "Perhaps a water elemental would help."
Svendar, breaking out of his reverie, stated proudly, "The Maw of Arawn, the mountain is where I'm headed next.  It's the only way out.  The only mist you can trust is the yellow kind."
As night was falling, Svendar headed for the cliffs to the east, following the group found him in a small, disgusting cave.  He was surrounded by a few battered cooking utensils, some ragged bedding.  Svendar was holding a badly dented helm, with holes in the face plate and back of the helm.  Svendar had tears in his eyes, "Elsa how I miss you.  Please help me find my music."  Drovic cast about for magic and the only shining object was the helm.  Ralom asked about the holes.  "Elsa and I were enjoying a night repast before a small fire.  She was happy that day, we had escaped the castle."  His face exposed a mad expression as he continued.  "Suddenly, she picked up her sword and drove it right through her head.  Clean through from front to back, leering at me all the time"  Svendar collapsed into tears at the remembrance.
Ralom asked Svendar to describe his harp, which took a long time, as the random answers of the madman were of little help on their own.  By midnight Ralom had a fair description of the harp and its location.  Drovic had determined to become a water elemental to retrieve the harp.  All were studying their manuals and tomes trying to finish the training.
As dawn broke and the lake again turned red, the group headed to the lake shore.  Svendar prepared an eel for Aggie once again, Ralom cast locate object, and Drovic became an elemental.  The harp was located around 200' from the shore in 300' of water.  Drovic headed there and was soon joined by three eels, who attacked, but did not keep Drovic from exposing the harp from its watery grave, under the detritus of the lake bed.  As Drovic was out in the water, a gargantuan water serpent head appeared at the shore.  It had grayish-green skin and a huge mouth lined with needle-sharp teeth.  The scaly hide was rotten-smelling and marked with rents and gaps through which pale white bones showed.  Its long neck loomed over the party as they quickly moved away from the shoreline.  Svendar spoke, "Aggie, leave my friends alone.  They will find my music!"  The creature merely looked around, its jaw working slowly on some mealy substance.  Before Drovic returned with the harp, Aggie disappeared back under the water, swimming away as a series of humps broke the surface of the lake.
Svendar was overjoyed at the recovery of his music, the harp had no strings but he strummed it never the less.  He immediately set off to the south saying "Let's go the Maw of Arawn and escape this Forlorn domain."  The party reluctantly followed.
Later in the day as they moved along a ridge through a sickly patch of forest, they spied movement ahead.  It looked like a mass of large wolves, digging furiously into the side of a hill.  The wind shifted, blowing into the party's face, and the unmistakable odor of rotten flesh made the heroes want to gag.
The wolves were definitely not living creatures.  They were covered with mangy fur and gaping, bloodless wounds.  Some of them staggered on three legs while the fourth dangled by a sinew.  Others tore at the earth with broken or missing lower jaws.  Their movements were still and deliberate, but lacked ambition.
Now the wind shifted again, toward the undead creatures, and it looked as if the scent of living blood had reached them.  They stopped their digging all at once and turned their dirt-encrusted muzzles in the party's direction.  Flat, lifeless eyes stared into the heroes eyes.  One of the creatures threw back its head, let out a strangled howl, and the horrifying pack immediately attacked.

DM's Notes:  The party earned 3000 XP for the evening and now have 42,442 XP.