We found several more guards, one at a time, but they didn't give us much trouble.

Eventually, however, we made it to the end of the cavern, and came upon the leader of the group, Gualtierus Spurius.

He attacked us with a Silver Staff of War, a charmed staff that can paralyze as well as deliver a very hurtful blow.

"Die, intruders!" he shouted as he ran to the attack. My shield fended off his staff, and my willpower alone allowed me to resist the magic effect of the staff.

Laurenna attacked with her own sword. I got around behind him, and between the two of us, we managed to defeat this criminal.

We decided to report back to the fort on our progress, and were half-way out of the caverns when we came across one more smuggler. Apparently, we missed him on the way in, and doing a very poor job of guarding the caverns, he missed us as well.

At sight of me he turned and cast a summoning spell, bringing forth a clanfear. Seeing that I would have two things to fight, Laurenna took care of the clanfear while I fought off this last smuggler.

Without his green friend to help him, he was no match for my feather-light blade, and Laurenna let me finish the job myself.

After confirming that we had taken care of all of the smugglers, we decided it was definitely time to head back to the captain and report on our mission. We had lost a good soldier in the process, but the smugglers were now permanently out of business at Fort Frostmoth.

We made it just over the ridge, and the fort was now in sight. It looked different somehow.

"Laurenna, was that wall like that when we left?" I asked her.

"No." she replied, "And look at the smoke, and the north gate! There was a battle here!"

We made our way over to the northern entrance, the archway now totally destroyed.

I couldn't believe this could have happened in just the few short hours we were gone.

There was damage everywhere we looked. Solders were picking up the wounded, taking them to the cult shrine for healing. Others were putting out a few smoldering fires.

One of the guards, being carried by one of his comrades, seeing us, shouted, "The fort...the creatures! It's horrible! And, the Captain, I haven't seen him....Find Artoria, she may know what to do."

He collapsed, dead of his wounds.

Laurenna and I looked at each other, wondering what kind of creatures could do this?

We decided to find Artoria and find out what had happened.

We found Gaca Artoria on the second level of the General Quarters, shouting to several soldiers about finding someone. When she saw us, and the bewildered look on our faces she explained.

"He's gone!" she said. "Those creatures took him during the battle. Someone has got to find the Captain!" She then noticed there was only two of us returning. "Where's Lusius?" she asked.

"Smugglers." I replied. "We found their hideout, but there were more of them than he could handle. I'm sorry."

"Oh, this is horrible!" she said. "Let me tell you what happened. There was an attack...some kind of wolf creatures. I don't know exactly how it all happened. We were outmanned, but the soldiers fought valiantly, especially the Cap'n. When it was over, he was gone. I didn't see him go down, so I assume he was alive. My guess is that those savages from the Nord Village have something to do with this. You need to find him!"

Laurenna asked, "Wolf creatures? Are you sure they were wolves, and not men dressed up in wolf masks?"

Gaca shook her head. "My guess would have been werewolves." she replied. "I've seen 'em before, but this was different. I've never known the things to travel in such large numbers, and there were a lot of these things. I've also never heard of werewolves on this island. Who knows, though. I've heard rumors that the Nords up north can control the beasts through. Some say they can even turn into them. Whatever they were, I don't want to see them again."

"What Nord village would this be? Does it have a name?" I asked.

"They're a bunch of savages that live on the northeast tip of the island" she replied. "The Skaal, they call themselves." She pointed to it on a map of the island hanging on the wall. "A bunch of animal spirit-worshipping freaks...wolves especially. What does that tell you? I'm sure they know what happened to the Captain. Now, you go find out. They're not likely to trust you, so take this."

She handed me a skull of a Skaal Warrior, apparently some artifact that would allow me to gain their trust..

"They'll like it." she continued. "You should stay with them until you find out what's happened. Get in good with them, earn their trust.

Laurenna interrupted. "Uh, Eldorf, sweetie, weren't we looking for an airship?"

"Well,  yes." I replied. "But that's also quite a way to the north, and this'll be on the way, I assume. And after all, you did say you wanted an adventure, right?"

"Well, I suppose so." she said. "Besides, I might meet some family relations up there. Sure. Why not?"

I turned back to Gaca. "It's settled, then." I reported. "We'll go to this Skaal village and see if we can find your Captain."

Odd how looking for one thing leads to another and another around here. I was just glad this wasn't a vacation.

Odd things happen to me when I go on vacation.