Voices from Beyond the Grave

I quickly called the rest of the group into our room to deal with the specter. The incorporeal figure introduced itself as Sustor, the spirit of a shaman of the Wildcat tribe. He told us that he and the spirits of others in his tribe have been wandering the forest seeking someone to help free them from a curse. The hags we had learned of had come into the forest and woken the spirits of dead, cursing them to wander the material plane again without rest. Sustor begged us to help break the curse so he and his people could be at peace again. We agreed to assist the spirit and he instructed us to wait for him at the camp in the forest where we had stopped with Rolf a few days prior.
 
After the spirit departed, we discussed what to do next. We decided we needed more information before proceeding, and Zarruk cast speak with dead on the corpse of Rolf. When we asked him about his connection to the town and his plans, he said that the town was just a means to an end. It seems he was planning on taking over the town at some point, and the town's fall was not far off. His contact with the Blue Flame was Rezic, the ilithid, and it was he who gave him the note written in dark speech.
 
Having gained all the information we possibly could from the corpse, it seemed best to hide the remains. Zarruk cast invisibility on the corpse, and Dru cast it on himself, and he and Po snuck out of the inn. They found a garden close by and buried the body, then Dru cast plant growth around the spot to conceal it for as long as possible. Zarruk tried to follow them out and help, but made too much noise and decided to stay in the inn and pretended to be drunk, hopefully drawing any attention to himself rather than the others. Fortunately no one noticed any of them as far as we could tell, which was surprising considering the amount of noise the bard was making.
 
While they were gone I began casting Find Familiar from the spell book the demon gave me. I summoned a fey spirit named Sypha in the form of an owl, which should make Dru happy. After the others returned they all went to bed. I finished identifying all of the items we had found, then spent the rest of the night reading the book I had found in the dungeon under Barad Ellion. This one was called "The Spider King". It was a fictional retelling of a portion of history from the Abyssal plane, where an entity called the Spider King was overthrown by a queen with an army of Drow. While it was a fiction, I thought there was probably some truth hidden within the story, and need to research this more. The description of the queen sounded eerily familiar.
 
I woke the others early the next morning, before the sun had risen. Dru, as I had suspected, was excited to meet Sypha. I may have gained a few points in the druid's opinion by learning how to summon other beings, even if it is a fey. Probably best I don't summon a fiend after our past experiences however.
 
We went down to breakfast, and before leaving met with Zarruk's uncle once more. He decided to stay in town to wait for our return. He also gave Zarruk a new instrument, something called a Mac-Fuirmidh cittern, which he said should serve him well down the road. After a short goodbye we left the city without incident and made our way once more towards the High Forest.