On the Marvels of Ironpeak: Chapter 12

We've made way towards the Spire. During the travel I could observe that Zephyras is still struggling to adapt to his old form. I wish we could give him a few days to sleep it off, but we cannot possibly delay our quest. It also seems that he has lost his special connection to the etheral plane? I wonder how that will affect the way he casts his necrotic magic.
 
After some hours traveling through the vast grasslands that are so typical for this region, we entered a dense forest. There, we met 3 hunters who introduced themselves, looking for a dire-bear that was causing the local villages trouble. The three participants were quite an interesting group. Their leader, a Hobgoblin called Brak seems to be quite the seasoned veteran, while the Dwarven Archer Gildor and a human girl close to my age called Sonnen performing falconry, seem like they haven't been doing this job quite as long. Brok seems to be a rough character, while the other two seemed quite pleasant to be around. I think Sonnen was intimidated by meeting a bunch of strangers in the woods, a feeling I understand only too well. Bean's overwhelmingly open and protective behavior towards her certainly didn't help to calm her.
 
Coming back to the issue at hand: they also told us that they've already seen the beast. From afar, it appeared like it might be an undead creature! I never expected myself to be favoring a normal beast over any alternative, yet here we are. I've come into contact with more dead creatures in the past week than some priests do in a year. The 3 hunters must have felt similarly and had retreated from the beast. Concerned that this may be yet one more consequence of Avoraths actions and hoping to get any information that could become useful in the encounter tomorrow, we agreed to help the hunters slay the beast.
 
Aware of how dangerous such a ferocious beast may be once it is raised from the dead, we decided to lay a trap. Convincing Beans feline companion Shadow to act a lure, I managed to prepare a rope trap and once the beast left its lair to come after Shadow, we managed to keep it in place and start hitting it from all sides with magic, blades and bolts. Unfortunately, it managed to escape the trap eventually and with unnatural speed it struck Shadow with such force that his spirit retreated from this plane momentarily. I didn't know he could do that, I thought my plan had killed the poor cat! After some equally unnatural, energy draining attacks by the bear Kniv finally managed to slay the beast in one strong strike. I am so happy that I have the strongest protector I could ask for with me, I really wouldn't manage this journey alone.
 
After the battle we investigated the corpse and the small cave the bear was occupying. We found traces of a potentially necrotic ritual, so resurrecting this beast was intentional! Why would someone (I assume Avorath) do such a thing? In the cave I used my newly discovered chapters in Master Lankas' almanac to search for magical traces, finding one below the surface of the cave. We tried to open up a crack to see what the slowly moving sword-shaped aura came from, and then all nine hells broke loose as a very chaotic fight with a subterranean insect-like creature began. Luckily the beast didn't give us too much of a challenge and we were able to retrieve a magical sword it was carrying in its fangs. I wonder where the weapon originates from, but it feels good in my hand and it's illusory effects might be able to confuse and hurt the enemies we will surely come to face soon enough. Now it is time to set up camp for the night, analyze and catalog the artifacts we recovered today, and get some well-deserved rest. Tomorrow will perhaps be the most draining and demanding day I've faced for a long time. Let's hope we all see the end of it.