Our group of adventurers spends the next few days at the Roadhouse recovering from their time on the road and preparing for their journey north. It is during this rest that our troupe discovers Holly’s delicious fruit pie, with its mixture of peaches from the south and local berries.

One evening in the beer garden, Bull approaches the group regarding their plans to visit the Crater of Umeshti. During the conversation he warns them not to take the perils of the crater too lightly, as kobalds, necromancers and other unmentionable things call the sinkhole home. He also tells them that the site of the crater was once a great city, but it was destroyed nearly a millennia ago during a war between the gods. Finally, he tells them to speak with Brother Frosk before they leave, as he is searching for a strange egg found only in the crater. Naela offers to reward Bull with a piece of Holly’s famous fruit pie for his trouble…which Bull gladly accepts. The next day our little group meets Brother Frosk in the common room, who as fate would have it, also has a sweet tooth for Holly’s fruit pie. The strange and brightly dressed cleric offers the character’s a quest. It seems he has been searching for a large egg with a bloodstone shell. He offers the characters a reward of 200gp for each surviving member of the expedition that returns with the egg. Our little group eagerly accepts his offer.

The next morning the adventurers set out to the northwest for the Crater of Umeshti. The group quickly covers the 80 mile journey on horseback in two days time (much faster than the slow moving caravan to Dro Mandras). The journey passes quickly and is uneventful and the group spends the evening at the foot of the mountain. The next morning they scale the slope and reach the rim of the crater, some 3500 feet above the forest below. As our group is moving down into the bowl of the crater to reach the sinkhole in the middle, they are attached by a group of kobalds. They quickly dispatch the foul creatures and take one prisoner. Reaching the sinkhole in the center of the crater they find a mechanical lift with a cage large enough to lower 6 medium sized creatures down into the blackness below.

Our group descends into the black pit and within a hundred feet the cage comes to rest on a lift dock. As the characters exit the lift cage, they are attacked by a group of kobalds. Their prisoner escapes during the struggle with one of the surviving attackers. The characters attempt to follow, but the small creatures disappear into a tiny tunnel system. When the group takes bowshots from these same tunnels, they quickly vacate the area, choosing to explore a heavy oaken door leading to another section of the complex.