The group made good progress on their way towards Terinyo, passing the outpost and toll gates by mid-afternoon, and made the old copper mine by evening with no incident. After some discussion, they decided to set up camp at the mine entrance, where they would have some protection from the cold mountain winds.

After setting up camp, they talked for a bit and then settled down for the night, Alexander standing first watch. About an hour into his watch, Alexander heard some funny noises that he would describe later as "tittering." As he got up to investigate, he saw a small arrow come from nowhere and impact his shoulder. The last thing he remembered seeing was the ground, as it rushed upwards to meet his face.

Rick was awakened by the sound of Alexander's untimely nap, and looked up to see what was going on. He stood up, wondering why the mage was asleep at his post, when a small arrow bounced off of his armor! As he took stock of his situation, he managed to narrowly dodge another small arrow that seemed to come from nowhere. He rushed towards the arrow's source, only to feel a small pinprick in the middle of his back. He too remembered nothing more than the ground rushing up to meet his face.

'Cyn and Bob both began to stir, sitting up to see what the commotion was about. Bob shhok off the sleep in time to see a small arrow hit him in the foot, and then he saw the sky just as his helmet made a resounding "clang" against a rock. 'Cyn had just enough time to make an errant shot with her crossbow before seeing a small arrow come from nowhere and land in her left bicep. She then saw the world spin sideways as she flopped to the ground, drool forming a puddle of mud on the ground under her chin.

Rick's horse tried to join the fray but was forced to retreat under a hail of arrows that were bouncing from his flanks. Alexander's raven squawked and flew in to attack, but soon had a an invisible foe shooting arrows at it from behind. The raven quickly flew down and hid under Alexander's prone body.

From under the body, the raven heard more tittering and dragging sounds. Soon, he felt his small space under Alexander become cramped as one of their comrads' bodies was unceremoniously dumped on top of Alexander. Again, there were more dragging sounds and the space got tighter again. Finally, Rick was dumped on the top of the pile, causing the bird severe discomfort.

From outside, the bird heard some more interesting noises - it sounded as if their adversaries were rifling through Alexander's pockets. "Put the shit down!" the raven squawked.

More tittering followed, as someone defecated on Alexander's hat. Serious laughter followed, and the raven could make out two different voices. The raven then heard an unfamilar sound - almost like coins landing on dirt, but that certainly did not make sense. The raven bided its time as things got quiet, occasionally pecking at lexander's ribs in a vain attempt to awaken him.

Soon, Alexander began to wake up. It took him a few moments to understand why he had such difficulty moving or breathing. Then he noticed the horrible stench. Cursing at his lot, he tossed his hat away and began to carefully work himself free of the pile of bodies. He accidentally dragged 'Cyn's bodice as it hung on his boot, giving him an ample look down her chest. Alexander grinned at the view until he noticed that Bob's pants were down around his knees, and a scroll was sticking out from between his legs. Alexander shook his head and began separating his friends and laying them out on the ground.

Alexander gladly rearranged 'Cyn's bodice and then took a look at the scroll he found in Bob' pants. It was a treasure map! In very crudely-drawn block letters were the words "TREASURE MAP!!" - beneath was what looked like a reasonable depiction of the roads leading into Terinyo and South past the lake. In the woods South of the lake there was a large "X." As Alexander pondered this, he noticed five gold pieces laying in a pile a short distance away. Alexander collected the gold just in time to hear 'Cyn's moans.

"What happened?" muttered 'Cyn.

"We were attacked and knocked out," answered Alexander.

Rick shook his head and stood up. He looked at Bob and shook his head, blinking in disbelief. "What the hells," he asked, "What happened to Bob?"

"Our attackers were also pranksters, or so it would seem," replied Alexander, pointing to his ruined hat.

"Sounds like Pixies," replied Rick, "Invisible, knocked us all out with arrows? Playing pranks? Yeah, sounds like Pixies. Who's gonna fix Bob's pants? Or are we gonna let him wake up like that?"

Seeing no other volunteers, 'Cyn piped up. "I'll do it," she said, "wouldn't want you two to risk your masculinity," she continued with a chuckle.

After Bob awoke, Alexander explained the situation. "I think we've been hired," he said, passing out one gold piece to each of the other party members, two to 'Cyn. "Thanks for the show," he said.

"Hired?" asked Bob, as Rick's horse came sidling back up the path.

"Yeah," replied Alexander, "we found this on... Well, I found this alon with the four gold." Alexander passed around thetreasure map. "Does it look familiar to you?" he asked Rick.

Rick studied the map for a moment before replying. "It looks like a reasonablemap of the area. Why don't we head on down to Terinyo and reprovision? We can spend a couple nights in a real bed for a change, and then head South to see what we might find."

The party agreed, packed up, and headed out. Upon reaching Terinyo, they told Sheriff Johnson about the goings-on at the outpost and the new toll rates. They then boarded their steeds at the Copper Dragon and paid for private rooms for two nights. After reprovisioning, they met for dinner and then racked out, getting some of the best sleep they'd had in several weeks.

Fully rested, the friends took the road South, towards Ibalea. In the early afternoon, as the group had nearly passe dby the large lake, Alexander asked Rick, "Do you think we'll find any obvious signs of where we should leave the road?"

"Yeah, sure do," replied Rick, pointing, "Look!"

At first, none of the other saw what Rick was pointing at, but soon they came across a small pile of gold coins. Bob ran forward, scooping them up. He handed out one to each of the party members, furtively keeping the fifth coin for himself. "Fi... Four gold coins, just like before!" he said, handing out a gold piece to each of the other part members, and carefully palming the fifth.

"Yeah, four," agreed Alexander.

"You're lucky they weren't trapped, you dummy!" said 'Cyn.

"Why would our 'employers' trap their signal to us?" asked Bob.

"How do you know it came from them?" Asked 'Cyn.

"Well," said Rick, pointing, "that arrow drawn in the dirt that points to that trail would seem to be a pretty good indicator... So would the note scrawled under it that says 'TURN HERE.'"

The group tied up their horses and slowly worked their way into the woods. Rick took point position about ten yards ahead of the rest of the group, and Bob took the tail. It was getting late in the day, and the sky was burning the fiery red of a setting sun. As they moved on, they noticed that the land was slowly settling toward the lake and was beginning to get marshy in spots. Through the trees to their left, they could see tall reeds at the edge of some marshland.

Suddenly they heard what sounded like the wings of bats. It quickly became apparent that the sound came from something worse than bats as a giant bat-mosquito attached itself to Alexander's face, and began sucking blood from his neck!

"Crap!" yelled Rick, as a small cloud of the vile beasts decended, "stirges!"

"Mmmppph!" agreed Alexander, as another stirge attached itself to his chest.

'Cyn quickly killed the stirge on Alexander's face, while Bob grapnelled with one attached to his chest. Rick dropped his sword and drew his bow as Alexander fired a magic missile into one trying to attach itself to 'Cyn.

Rick fired two arrows as the stirges settled into the party's midst. The first of his arrows skewered one of the parasites, and the second skewered 'Cyn.

"Ow!" 'Cyn screamed, "What in the hells do you think you're doing?"

"Shooting stirges," Rick replied, as Alexander fired magic missiles into two more of the mosquito-bats.

Bob twisted the neck of the stirge he had been fighting, as another attached itself to his arm. The stirge on Alexander's arm detatched itself and began flying away, leaving Alexander weak from blood loss. Rick shot another, and then used an arrow to stab a stirge landing on Bob's back.

Alexander killed the escaping stirge with a magic missile while 'Cyn stabbed a stirge that tried to attach itself to her arm. Bob killed off the last of the stirges as Alexander dropped to the ground.

"You OK?" asked Rick.

"Mostly," replied Alexander, "just weak."

After some talk, the group decided to press onwards a bit. They continued down the path until nightfall, and set up path in a small clearing. Watches were set, with Rick taking the first watch.

Near the end of his watch, Rick heard the leathery, beating sound of stirge wings. "Everybody up!" he called, waking the team. Just in time, too, as the first of another cloud was descending amongst the group. Alexander used his wand of fireballs, decimating most of the swarm. 'Cyn skewered another that attached itself to Alexander's back. Bob grabbed another as it tried to attach to his side, dashing it on the ground and stomping on it. Rick killed the last of the pests as it flew in towrds him.

"Shit!" cried Alexander, "We're not going to be able to deal with this all through the night! Maybe we should press on?"

Rick looked up at the moon and thought about it for a bit. "I think we'll be all right," he said. "Notice how much colder it's gotten, even in the last few minutes? I don't think any more will come out."

"I hope your right," muttered Bob.

Alexander sat back down and curled up under his blanket.

"Well," sighed Rick, "I guess my watch is up. It's all yours, Bob!"

Bob muttered something unintelligible while Rick bedded down.

The rest of the night passed without event, and the party gathered themselves together in the cold morning. They decided to forego breakfast, and move out early - the cold morning being their best defense against any more stirges

The friends travelled another mile or so before Bob began to wonder - "How do you suppose we'll know when we're at the right spot?" he asked.

"Maybe there'll be a big 'X' on the ground," quipped 'Cyn.

"With pixies, you just might be right," Rick replied, causing the whole group to chuckle.

They did not travel much further before the forest began to open up ino a large clearing at the Souther tip of the lake. The area was marshy and overgrown with reeds, but the land was not firm enough for anything bigger than the reeds. To the East, they could see a two-story building set att he edge of the clearing, backed against the woods at the far side.

"Must be where we're headed," quipped Alexander.

"Must be," agreed Rick.

As they approached, they could see that the building was made of stone. It was nearly perfectly square, about sixty feet on a side. They circled the building once, and found entries on only one South side. On that side were two doors, one directly above the other. The upper door had a small landing with two staircases descending along the building's face.

"This one's locked," said 'Cyn, after checking the door for traps.

"This one's not locked!" called Bob from upstairs.

"Have you lost your sanity!?" called Alexander, "How lucky can you be, not setting off a trap or something?"

"I uuhh... Yeah, I guess you've got a point, there," replied Bob, "Anyway, come on up! The door's open!"

The rest of the group ascended the stairs and looked around. The door opened into a cozy living room - to the right were hooks for haning coats, on which hung a black trenchcoat. To the left was a large fireplace and an equivalently large chair. On the wall to the left were several cords of firewood. Ahead, a short hallway led deeper into the building.

"Huh," posited Bob, "looks like someone's house."

"I don't suppose you at least knocked?" asked ALexander.

Bob quickly knocked on the door. "Yep," he replied, "and there's nobody home!"

'Cyn rolled her eyes. "Looks like somebody's living here, though."

Alexander cast a detect magic and looked around. "I don't see any evidense of magic - maybe we should make a careful search?"

Bob moved into the hallway, and looked into a door on the left. Inside he found a large four-poster bed, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, and another large fireplace with at least a cord of wood against the North wall. "Bedroom!" called Bob, turning to the door on the other side of the hallway.

Alexander followed Bob into the doorway. Inside, they found a fairly tidy kitchen. A sink was fed, apparently, by a cistern on the roof. On the East wall was a large cast-iron stove, still slightly warm. To the South was what appeared to be a pantry. Bob looked inside the pantry.

"See anything worthwhile in there?" asked Alexander.

"Nothing," replied Bob, "just some cooking spices and whatnot. Hey! Look at this!" Bob reached in and opened up a large, gilded cage.

"What is it?" asked Alexander.

"Just a big, gilded cage."

"Anything in it?"

"Doesn't look like it," replied Bob, "jussasec..."

"What are you doing?" asked Alexander in some shock.

"Opening it up!" answered Bob, "What's it look like?"

"Maybe you should become the party thief?"

"Oh, umm..." said Bob, "I suppose you're right. I do seem to be a tad over-eager today, don't I? Well, there's nothing inside, see?" Bob pulled the door open and stepped back so Alexander could see.

After goggling a bit at Bob's dumb luck, Alexander said "Why don't you close it back up, now?"

"Why?" asked Bob.

"So maybe," answered Alexander, "when the owner comes home, he won't realize we've been here?"

"Yeeaah... Maybe you're right. Must be this cold I'm coming down with, making me loopy..."

The two walked back to the living room and explained what they hadn't found. The party talked for a few minutes and decided to move downstairs to see what was on the ground floor, since there was no apparent way to get there directly from the second.

'Cyn unlocked and opened the downstairs door. Looking in, the party saw that the entire first floor of the structure was one large room with a dark grey floor made of slate. One or two spots in the floor looked as if they might have been patched, but otherwise the floor was smooth. In the center of the room lay a pile of gold.

"There's easily a couple hundred gold pireces there," opined 'Cyn.

"Yeah, probably so," replied Rick.

"Gold?" asked Bob, "Let me see!"

"Be my guest," replied Rick.

"I don't see any traps on the floor," said 'Cyn

"And I still don't detect any magic," agreed Alexander.

"Well," started Bob, "I'll head in and check it out."

Bob walked carefully across the floor towards the treasure. As he approached the treasure he began to hear a groaning sound. He looked around and saw nothing. Suddenly, with a loud "crack," the floor broke apart underneath of him, and he fell into quicksand!

"Argh!" screamed Bob, as he began to sink, "Help!"

Alexander tied a rope about his waste and handed it to 'Cyn and Rick. "Here, hang on to the end of this," he said, "I'll try to save him!" Alexander then cast a "Tensor's Floating Disk," and hopped abord. He willed the invisible platform out over toward the hole in the floor and Bob's rapidly sinking form.

By the time Alexander reached the hole, Bob was gone from sight. Alexander jumped into the quicksand and felt Bob's hand. Bob quickly grabbed on to Alexander's wrist as Alexander began tugging on the rope, signaling his freinds to begin pulling him back.

With Alexander and Bob holding their breath, Rick and 'Cyn began hauling the rope back to the doorway. It was no mean feat, as the quicksand weighed down Bob and Alexander heavily. After nearly a full minute, they managed to pull up Alexander's hands. Grabbing on, they pulled Alexander up out of the water.

"Keep pulling!" gasped Alexander, "Bob's hanging on to my waist!"

With a few more pulls, Bob was finally extracted from the quagmire - he and Alexander lay on their backs, gasping for breath.

"Nasty trap, that," opined 'Cyn.

"Yeah," agreed Rick, "looks like maybe the whole floor is just thin shale over the quicksand."

"Good thing we had some rope!" said Rick

"Good thing Bob can hold his breath!" agreed 'Cyn.

"Good thing neither of them weighs very much," nodded Rick.

"How're we gonna get the loot?" asked Bob, his interest in shiny, expensive things coming back.

"I'll get it," answered Alexander, "The same way I got you back." With that, he summoned his disk back and hopped on just as he did before.

"Well," pontificated Bob, "That's sure one way to do it!"

Alexander guided his disk, with him on it, back over to the treasure. Carefully leaning over the edge of the disk, he gathered up the coins and began tossing them in the sack. It looked to be a couple of hundred gold pieces worth of coins in the pile.

Meanwhile, 'Cyn heard a funny noise. "Shit!" she called, "something's coming!"

Rick and Bob turned to look just in time to see a huge man walking their way. He was nearly eight feet tall, his skin black as night, and small horns growing from his head. He was wearing black armor and a black trenchcoat. "What are you doing in my house!?" he yelled.

As the huge man opened his mouth as if to yawn, Rick and 'Cyn dodged sideways, missing the worst of the stream of acid he spit into their midst. Bob rolled on the ground, screaming in agony as the liquid rolled down his back, burning into his hands and neck.

Inside, Alexander heard the goings on, and dropped a fair amount of the gold in his surprise. Turning his disk about, he began floating slowly towards the doorway.

Outside, Rick attacked the half-black dragon fighter with a vicious blow from his long sword. 'Cyn made a move to the side, but failed to hit the man. Bob attacked the behemoth, doing little damage.

The half-dragon roared with anger and hewed into Bob with a vicious blow. 'Cyn managed to stick their adversary in the gizzard, causing him to wince with pain. Rick Attacked again, his magic sword finding a weak spot in the half-dragon's armor. Alexander maneuvered to get a view, but his friends were blocking the doorway, keeping him from using any offensive spells.

The half-dragon again skewered Bob, sending him to the ground. 'Cyn scored a glancing blow off the behemoth's ribs. Rick's sword sang as it clipped the end off the halfdragon's horn. Inside, Alexander finally moved to where he could see outside. He quickly cast a wall of fire, surrounding the doorway, directly on top of the half-dragon.

All heard a pained roar, but none could see their adversary. Rick ran quickly to Bob's aid, casting a medium-strength healing spell on his unconcious form. 'Cyn picked Bob and pulled him back to the doorway, setting him upright against the wall. After a few cautious minutes, Alexander dispelled the flaming wall, only to find their adversary's charred remains right where he had stood moments before.

"Ow..." moaned Bob.

"You all right>" asked Rick.

"Yeah," replied Bob, "I think I'll be OK. Hellsuva way to go, though, getting burned like that."

"No doubt," agreed 'Cyn, with a shudder

Rick set to work healing his friend. "Think we should head back tonight?," he asked.

"No way," replied Alexander. "We're all hurt to some degree or another - I'm staying upstairs in the house... Free from stirges."

"Good plan," said Rick with a nod.

With that, the small group dragged themselves up the stairs and shut the door to rest. They would stay a few days until they were back to their normal strength.