Garrick has a set of pretty stones from which to carve chess pieces. He found them underground after a cave-in, and began carving them while Viktor and Auron hallucinated for a while under the effects of a mysterious potion, the consumption of which seemed like a good idea at the time. After a while, Faeron managed to dig them out while Gay Shane guarded their half-ogre bandit prisoner, who bragged during interrogation about a group of Benedictines the bandits had ambushed. The party headed back to Red Larch to fetch Garrick's dog and hire some masons to perform repairs for Gay Shane. While investigating Larrack's latest grisly murder victim, they were informed by one of the masons that the victim had wanted them to check out Tricklerock Cave. But the mason smelled a setup. Endrith Vallivoe, Garrick's employer and notably nosy resident of Red Larch, also thought the cave quest smelled fishy. He offered information gathering and general support, urging the party to look further into the fate of the Benedictines, who he believed to be up to some unknown but valuable work. He revealed himself to Auron as a Harper and friend of Auron's family. While doing a little shopping, the party found out about a missing dwarven delegation from Mirabar, last seen leaving Beliard. The party found out that they had come into possession of some items belonging to the delegation while investigating murders committed by the Believers in Red Larch, but they had seen no dwarven bodies with the loot. Special investigator Balin, sent to the Dessarin Valley to look into the disappearance of the delegation, offered to mutual sharing of information with the party and purchased the loot from Mirabar at face value. The party made quick work of Tricklerock Cave and came away with some nice upgrades, which they then tested in battle against a group of bandits and a black dragon wyrmling. When all was done, they had taken the bandit leader unconscious, collected some modest loot (including an armor upgrade for Auron and an acid-resistant net), and collected enough black dragon hide to have fashioned into a set of dragon scale armor for Viktor.
