An excerpt from the writings of a ranger

We are a highly guarded people. We do not readily share our secrets. We rarely write as we believe words have power that can be easily abused if they fall into the wrong hands. However, I have been promised a reward that may one day save my life for writing this journal entry for the company, so I have decided that this is worth the risk. I will not commit names to paper as that is too great a taboo to break, even for such as myself. Writing is not a skill my people value, I am not even really sure of the proper etiquette required and there are many details that I will omit simply because I was too busy surviving to observe every step the company took.

I did not attend the company's first outing to the underground caverns for reasons that will never be shared, particularly in written form, however they did all survive that jaunt and manage to return to the Castle seemingly intact. They are a very strange assortment of characters, I will endeavour not to let my personal judgement cloud these writings.

For the company's second expedition return to the caverns, we were lead into danger by our leader. I wonder what secrets he hides to have received lordship over this land so full of monsters and bandits. The company consisted of our brave leader, the sorceresses, the rogue, the scythe carrying behemoth, the paladin and the cleric. The last two did not seem quite like themselves, as if their spirits were off journeying rather than tethered to their physical forms. I wonder if perhaps this is something to do with their racial origins, though this is not for me to speculate on idly. Although I do wish to talk to the cleric about this matter another time.

Rather than travel by horse and risk the hired creatures being taken by one of the many dangers that lurks in this land, the company elected to travel on foot. It is not a long walk and I prefer to be on my feet in case of danger. With my superior vision I managed to spot a reflective surface in the distance, the rogue and I scouted ahead to look for any possible dangers. This is a task I always enjoy. I am in possession of such finely tuned senses, it is always delightful to be able to utilise them. We spotted tracks made by well shod horses but as they did not lead in a direction that was of interest to us, we did not pursue this any further. The rogue spotted a creature flying in the distance, too far even for I to ascertain its identity. A mystery for another day. Once we reached the entrance, we discovered more tracks which vanished leading to the were-pony theory. If something strange is discovered, it oft seems to be attributed to were-beasts. I wonder at the minds of those in this company.

The company chose to explore new areas rather than revisit those previously visited. Our leader was wise to employ the rogue as he is very talented at finding traps, of which there are many in such a dark place as this. In one pit trap bones covered in a mysterious black substance were discovered, the less insane sorceress took one to give to a business associate in the river town who is sure to find a use for such a macabre item. Our extremely large companion did an excessive amount of damage to the first monster we encountered, which was a stirge, which of course meant more stirges were nearby. How ghastly. They do so love to grapple the paladin, perhaps they have heard of his "hammer to the face" technique of fighting. This chamber also contained mysterious pools. The less insane sorceress shares my feelings about water and so we stood back from the company as they flailed fussing about magical water and apparently attempting to drown themselves. I seem to keep strange company at present.

Not long afterwards, we entered what appeared to be part of a catacomb. The walls were lined with skeletons. Bizarre. Though this was quickly surpassed by the oversized iron cobras. They were difficult to destroy, though worth it for the money underneath them. They were designed to spit poison and the money was to buy poison refills. They had been neglected for some time and were no longer serving their function.

There was a room full of dead spiders which was covered in cobwebs. The rogue set fire to the webs to make sure we were not going to be attacked by something sticky. Cobwebs are ever so difficult to clean off ones fur. Though he is sometimes rash, the rogue generally acts for the good of the company. This is unusual for their kind, but I shall not question this as he is always proving his usefulness.

The company continued to quibble over direction, I did not care for this as it was a distraction from the task at hand. It almost seemed as if they were speaking to a force outside of us all, fighting against the will of a larger creature. I oft sense as if there is more than appears to this plane.

We encountered giant centipedes. It is to be expected that many of the creatures we must fight are bugs when we are underground. I just wish they were not all so large. It is unnerving.

Several of the company were rendered unconscious by some kind of poison gas which filled one of the chambers. There were bodies of the fallen dead in the room, we quickly rescued our companions from danger before such a fate befell them. It seemed as if the caverns were desirous of our blood as we were caught in a cave in. Our leader was almost killed by the rubble, twas fortunate for him that our party contains sufficient members whose skills include heavy lifting. As this is not one of my skills, I did my best to stay out of the way of further danger. I am fleet of foot and so managed to survive the catastrophe with little more than bruising and being coated in dust. My fur became an entirely different colour. Charming. Once all the party were clear of the danger, we made a hasty exit. Returning to the Castle was the safest option, recovery was sorely needed by all, especially our stoutest members. The other party members were insistent that the cleric and the paladin were to snuggle up for healing purposes. Perhaps those who share a common heritage can accelerate healing simply because of this. It is of no concern of mine. It is unlikely that those of my heritage will be found in such parts so it is not something I need to consider at this point.

The lightning loving sorceress went off to hunt and came back only with mulberries. The smells she emitted suggested she had done more than collect mulberries. I smelt fear and indecision, I suspect things had not gone quite to her wishes. The rogue and the woman who appears to be working for our leader in a steward's capacity went into the town on the river to sell some of the loot we had uncovered and to find more information, always a handy thing to have. They brought back news of a pilgrimage for dead gods. Is there no limits to the insanity of the common folk? They now revere the gods their ancestors saw as no longer fit for worship, methinks there is a certain perversity to this behaviour. They approached the Castle begging for alms, our lord donated silvers to them and promised to look out for a missing pilgrim. I wonder how this will affect our next set of adventures.