Journal of Artyom's Expedition - Day 6

Well, things got a bit interesting for us the past day... apparently. I distinctly remember getting to the glade where we set up camp, and Sadon, Moshe and I set to breaking the obelisk free of the desecration holding it... but I can't remember anything for the rest of the day, or much of this morning. Apparently one of the undead in the glade came back to attack us again after we thought they were all dead, and I got a tree dropped on me during the fight. I expect I blacked out as a result of that; I've asked Sadon to keep tabs on my memory for the next few weeks, though with any luck I've returned to my senses by now.
 
Based on what the party has told me, Sadon availed himself well in cleansing the desecration from the Tilnic obelisk (he never fails to make me proud!), and the party stayed the night in the glade. The following morning we proceeded further up the valley to what appears to be a very old castle, currently occupied by a very large, very grumpy frost giant whose name escapes me. I'll need to ask him again now that my memory seems to be in working order once again. Moshe seems to have earned his respect, and safe passage for ourselves and the caravan, by once again transforming himself into a giant reptilian creature (he calls it a tyrannosaurus, apparently a species native to Chedonc) and wrestling the giant into submission. I gravely regret my inability to remember this, it sounds like quite the spectacle.
 
We've also discovered that this castle is directly above the vault we've been looking for; we've been descending into the castle's dungeon in the hopes that will lead us to the entryway so we can seal it, though I suspect Hexus may still want Moshe to continue on and fight the spirit inside. We shall cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, we have made good progress into the dungeon complex. It's been fascinating to see the odd mixture of challenges here; we were forced to fight two ice-carved statues to gain entry to the dungeon at all, then had to deal with a troll. The troll seemed to have been there a very long time; it was very frightened and panicked when we approached, and it could easily have been there for centuries given how they regenerate. We managed to let it free from the shackles holding it rather than killing it; I feel like we did a good thing in that, if nothing else. I can tell the others, especially Silvertongue, didn't seem too keen on the idea of not simply killing the troll, which only makes me more appreciative that they humored me and agreed to let them go on their way. I owe them all my gratitude, and some good liquor once we get back to town.
 
We've also run into several gnoll wights and witherlings within this area of the dungeon. I was not expecting to run into gnolls up here, though I do suppose this the edge of the Grauffenbach clans' territories. They definitely weren't the original occupants of the jail complex down here, they seem to have come in to pillage the place and ended up dead themselves after a while. The witherlings make some sense; the gnolls most likely constructed those themselves out of the skeletons of fallen clan-mates. The wights are more curious, though they were probably held here in undeath by the same powers animating the hordes of the dead throughout the canyon. Regardless of the cause, I've given them their final rites to send them along the Astral Path, so they can rejoin the Cycle. Even the cruelest of us do not deserve the imprisonment they faced here.
 
We'll be continuing deeper into the dungeon shortly. I hope we reach the vault soon, so we can get the caravan moving again.