The party travels on the Black March for about a week. Along the way they come across a few Hand of Naarash hunting parties and avoid them easily. One day as they are walking along they hear the baying of wolves and onto the path come four shadow hounds.

Instantly the adventurers feel a chill run up their spine as one of the hounds lets out an eerie howl. They close in on the party and bite at them using the fear incited by the howling to their advantage. Render goes into a rage and swings his large axe cutting deep into one of the shadow hounds. Tony and Orsik team-up against another and Donaar takes on two at once. Auidar casts Call Lightning and misses but creates a cloud of thunder…

Each round a different shadow hound lets out a blood curdling howl. Although effected by the noise the party fights on. Auidar darts in and out of combat as Donaar and Render continue to trade blows with two of the shadow hounds.Then suddenly a hound appears out of thin air and attacks the halfling. The beasts are no longer out numbered, but that is short-lived as Render drops one of the beasts. Orsik and Tony continue to flank one of the hounds and end up fighting it in the woods. The thick undergrowth of the Black March helps the shadow creature hide and makes it hard for Orsik to keep up. Tony and the beast flail at each other until Tony lands a solid blow and kills it. Donaar, Auidar and Render finish off the other three and finally the fight is over.

After a short rest the group continues on the Black March. After two more days in the distance they see a large citadel next to a waterfall and river. Render notices that dead bodies hang on the outer walls and upon closer inspection Auidar sees they bear the mark of Baal. Figuring that the enemy of an enemy is my friend the party walks to the front gate.

Opening an eye slot a guard asks the party their business and upon hearing they are fighting the Hand of Naarash he opens the gate. Render and Auidar are full of questions about Jaryn, the history of the city and who is in charge. The guard answers some of their questions and directs them to the mayor and the local inn.

Once at the inn Auidar asks the barkeep about Jaryn and about seeing the mayor, Glasur. The barkeep remembers the paladin and their group passing through the town and even aiding in its defense. As for the mayor he says he might be able to get them a meeting. Auidar takes matters into his own hands and asks to be directed to the mayor’s office. Saying he will get a meeting with the mayor himself.

The mayor’s office is guarded but Auidar tells them he is there on important business involving the demise of the cult. Shortly after that the adventurers are escorted into the mayor’s office for a meeting. The mayor tells them the Pillars of Night is a temple north of here, but that traveling on the Black March is death. The only other way to the temple is via the river but all the Moonboats are gone.

Determined to find a boat the group heads to the docks but finds nothing. Heading back to the inn Auidar stands on a stool announcing there intentions of finding a boat and offering 20gp for the use of one. After eating a dwarf, Tredok, comes up to them and accepts their offer. He even tells the group he has seen the Pillars of Night and can take them there.

The next morning the adventurers head to the docks. They learn the boat will be pulled upstream by two large dire pike that Tredok has trained. After two days of travel there is smoke on the horizon. The dwarf mentions there is a village up ahead, or at least there was…

DM Notes:

The shadow hounds are tough and running them was also hard. They gain combat advantage and extra damage when they teleport, so why would they not teleport every round? I tried to balance that advantage by only having them teleport when they were flanked? The interactions in the town were fun, but I should have fleshed out the town more than the write-up did. I did well shooting from the hip, but did mix up the dwarf’s name and making it the mayors. Still enjoying this adventure though!