Esteemed Elders,

Here is the continuation of our adventure within the wizard's cabin.

Once we made our exit from the termite hole we heard what we first thought was a bird. Instead, once we took a closer look we realized it was a Stirge. A horrendous mix between a giant mosquito and a bat. Presumably this must have been the wizard's familiar.  We deviced a few plans to deal with it for without its master it had turn feral and hostile towards anything that presented itself as a meal; in this case us.

Our two options were as follows; lure it with a termite into some runic mines courtesy of our cleric or have our bard fascinate it for a short while until we could make our exit.  We decide on the former with our rogue throwing a snare for good measure. If it succeeds the Stirge would be both damage and trapped, an easy target for the rest of our party. It did succeed, partially, the Stirge fell for the runes and triggered them but proves too quick to set the trap off. It started flying off dragging our rogue, Davian, in tow.

In that moment, we decided that we had enough of an advantage to take the fight to the beast. We poured out of the hole and threw ourselves against it in order to save our rogue. He, however, got tangled up by the beast who started flying away with it. However, our bard took flight as well and intercepted it with one devastating claw attack which forced the creature to land. With our rogue released, he quickly dove behind our foe's back and unleashed a devastating sneak attack. A karmic end, to be slain by that which it sought to prey on. I felt there was a great lesson to be learned in that battle.

Once our party was healed, the group spread out to inspect the surroundings of the cabin. We found the wizard's corpse, murdered by the assassins no doubt, along with a strange man hiding under a nearby table. The man proved unresponsive, driven to delirium, he would not speak nor had any noticable marks on him, and thus we left him alone.

With the compass pointing straight out of the house, we decided there was nothing here but to find a cure for our curse of small stature.  Dar-Wynn however had the good sense of being a sentry by flying up to window where she saw a horde of demons shambling their way towards the cabin. In every curse there is a blessing. We used our small stature to easily hide from the twisted horrors. They were none the wiser and though they ate the corpses of the wizard and the stirge along with the maddened man they were none the wiser of our presence. They left us be after they had their fill of carnage.

We were then free to resume our looting, and thankfully for us we did find a hidden stash of potions under a fake floor board. Taking them out was slightly more challenging than we anticipated and one of them broke in the process. Short on one potion, Darwyn was still left small in size, though not in spirit!

Fortunately shortly after we found a magical amulet that was also designed to break the curse. Less fortunately was the attempt of our rogue who wrapped the amulet on Dar-Wynn incorrectly causing her a great deal of pain as she returned back to normal size. Not unlike having a garrote drawn to one's chest. May we all grow wiser from the experience.

The compass now pointed West.

Chippy and Jumpy, our squirrel and deer companions, were nowhere to be found when we exited the cabin. Hopefully they sought refuge when the horde of demons came. We took camp after the encounter and saw another group of demons pass by, though we were able to hide in the cover of darkness and we were able to recover our strength without further issue.

Another day of walking spent, the compass brought us to a great sea of grass than when we attempted to cross it we found, to our surprise, that we were walking in one spot. This puzzle slowed us down considerably and we tried much to try and break through the illusion. After what surely must have been hours, we finally discovered that the clue was the medallion the dragon had given us. Looking through it revealed the way to the other wizard's cabin.

Knocking on the front door proved unfruitful, and when our rogue - having learned nothing from our last experience opening doors - went for the knob it blew up on his face. A second time he tried with the same result. It was then we decided that looking for another entrance the wiser of the routes.

We found such on a side door, which our warrior friend Myrma manages to open through prodigious strength. We then descended into what appeared to be a dungeon; right beneath the wizard's cabin no less.

Shortly after we were welcomed with a guardian. A giant sickly looking worm, twice the size of a normal man. Undead one at that, for our cleric's powers had great effect against it. The battle was a grueling one, for the creature had backed itself into a corner preventing us from surrounding it. However, after a long, taxing battle, the worm finished itself when it missed a swing and smashed itself on a wall.  Yet another karmic end to a foe. Perhaps, the world is trying to tell us something.

It is here I must end my tell for now, Elders. For our rogue has found himself in trouble yet again. Bloodied and wounded is he after coming back out from a door. We shall see where this next challenge takes us.

Your faithful student,

Lead Tiger