Stiff and the others departed back on February 12th, leaving Oh Well, Who Knows, Phil Donahue, Dithion, Morteft, Chilgith, Tassier, Calvin, Brenda, Luann and Herman to hold down the fort. Spring came late, and the snows slowly melted.
Finally, late in the afternoon of May 24th, three people come walking through the open gate of the castle and into the courtyard.
You go out to greet these visitors.
They are all humans; two men and a woman. One of the men is clearly a warrior: middle-aged, in plate mail and carrying a shield. The woman is similarily attired, though much younger and stunningly beautiful. The last man wears the robes of a mage, is small and slightly built. His mannerisms are effeminate.
Oh Well, Who Knows and Phil immediately recognise the male warrior as none other than Jo-owrn, a ranger whom they have adventured with on occasions in the past.
"Good to see you guys again," Jo-owrn says to Oh Well, Who Knows and Phil. "'Been a long time since we cleaned out old Melnar's dungeon, ain't it? These people here with me are Leslie and Tabrina," he continues, nodding to the woman and the mage in turn. "And who are your friends?"
Phil nods, "Yes, it has been awhile."
He then introduces the others,
"These here are Dithion, Morteft, Chilgith, Tassier, Calvin, Brenda, Luann and Herman." He asks Jo-owrn, "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"Is Stiff here?" Jo-owrn asks, coming straight to the point.
"Nah, he got bored and took off a few months back. I don't really blame him for doing so. It has been a long and uneventful winter. Why do you ask?" Phil inquires.
"Well, it's like this," the ranger replies in his slow voice, settling down to tell a story. "You've probably heard Stiff and them talking about us going after the giants nearly 20 years ago, right? Old King Snurre and company. We cleaned them out and then found a passage into the underworld that led us to the big drow city. From there we ended up in the abyss, and killed their goddess, Lolth.
"Well, things were pretty quiet in the north woods after that...until a few years ago when the giants started acting up again. Then, a few months ago Ray Jay contacted me and said that the drow was acting up somewhere near Valdar's castle and he was wondering what was happening around Snurre's old turf. So, he sent a party of adventurers up to me, and we went to check it out this past winter.
"Turns out the giants had reoccupied Snurre's old stronghold, and when we got in there we found the drow were back as well. We cleared the place out. Now Ray Jay was wondering about all those passages in the underdark that we didn't explore the first time we went through, so me an' this party have been exploring them. Lots o' drow, giants, trolls and such. Great fun.
"I guess a few weeks ago, though, we came across this dungeon area. Seems it was made by a powerful magic user. There's a statue of him at the entrance. So, we went in, did some exploring and killed some monsters. Then, on our second day there, one of our boys walked through a doorway and vanished! Of course we all went after him, thinkin' he'd been teleported somewhere. Well, he had, but it was a random trap, and we were all teleported to different places.
"Me and three others ended up in another dungeon. Funniest place. It was like there was hardly any gravity, and we tended to float around instead of walking. We found a plaque on a wall...said it had been built like 60,000 years ago, I think! Not much in it, though. We poked around for about a day; then we heard some noises and followed them. We found a few stone giants, a dwarf, and an arch-mage. Phil, I tell you, the arch mage was none other than Razamataz! He was a member of the party that went after Lolth, but he and another fellow, Rockchin, left the group after they had an argument with Stiff. He apparently had been keepin' up adventuring all these years. Turns out he made the dungeon in the underdark, and it looked like he was enlarging the place where we found him.
"Anyway, we got to talking, and he let it out that he knew Stiff was here in Demon's Neck. I wasn't sure I trusted or believed him, so I thought when I got a chance I'd drop round here and check it out.
"Looks like he was telling the truth, though his information was a bit outdated. Just as well, I guess, because before he teleported us back home we had to promise some future service or other to him."
"Fascinating!" says Morteft. "Are you going back to this dungeon?"
"Sure am," replies Jo-owrn. "Seems like a pretty rich place."
"Fascinating indeed, and did he give any details as to what this future service entails?" Phil inquires.
"Ah, no, which is a worry," says Jo-owrn. "But we weren't in a position to negotiate, though Farad (he's one of the people in the party) said later that he could have gotten us home anyway. Anyway, I'm a bit more comfortable about working for him, now that I know he was telling the truth about Stiff."
Morteft says, "You are working for Razmataz? If that is his name...sorry if not. What are you doing for him?"
"No, at least not yet. We promised him future service, though. I guess he'll contact us when he needs us. He's an arch-mage, after all."
Jo-owrn, Leslie and Tabrina stay and visit for a few days. You learn that Leslie leads another adventuring party based in the mountains far to the northeast of Demon's Neck...close to the borders of the orc land of Urguth. They have been exploring the periphery of the Ruined Realm, a kingdom of the undead, but have ventured as far into that foul place as they dare. Now, Leslie is planning a trip to the northwest, to Dale's Bane, to look up an old adventuring friend of hers. You learn that she used to adventure with Stiff many years ago, as well...long before even Orlon came into the party!
"If you are ever in the area, look us up," she offers.
Finally, on May 26th, the three of them depart.