Once South of the river we travelled for a few more days without any incident of note. After a day's march we walked by an old dead tree and the crow was sitting up in it. Was it still following us or, I wondered, was Selvyn actually using it as a guide. The next day we got to our destination, a ring of standing stones. Even from some distance away we could see people moving about amongst them, silhouetted in an eerie pale blue light. When we got close enough some of them came out to the edge of the ring to address us. A shadow-fey of noble bearing flanked by two imperial ghouls in heraldic armour marking them as under the banner of the Ghoul-Lord Duke Moretto. The crow was stationed near the Shadow-fey gargling to itself. In a creaky rasp the leader spoke. "Foolish Mortals, You dare stand against the inevitable tide of shadow. You are so stupid that you haven't realised that the war is already lost." Lea couldn't stand his arrogance and brandished her rapier. "You filthy sellout." She rushed forward to attack but stepped in a snare trap. "Arrrggh!." The battle was on and the rest of the party took up arms and moved to attack positions. Wrendell flying up, Eldon dashing forwards on the giant goat and others sniping from the fringes. Seeing Lea disabled, I went over and dismantled the trap. With Eldon out in front the enemy didn't need to hesitate. Shadow-fey and ghouls rushed forward with hungry enthusiasm. First the giant goat was destroyed and then they moved on to Eldon. Lea managed to take the leader off guard and floored him with her ribald banter. He fell to the ground in spasms of hysterics. With a concerted effort we all fought against the savage assault of the enemy squad. Eldona and Lea were near to death but we eventually crushed and cut all adversaries down. After the battle we rested for a short time while Selvyn explained how the shadow-gate worked. "This gate will take us to Siwal. It isn't a place I visit often and it is also where my services will be over. I will take the remainder of my fee now and leave again once you have all arrived safely." We went through the ritual to open the gate and all stepped through into a hot plaza. We appeared standing around a fountain in a plaza. It was late afternoon but still the light was overwhelming at first. Before the gate closed after us Selvyn said her goodbyes. Strom seemed to take her departure fairly stoically but I could tell that his heart was hurting. It didn't take long for our presence in the plaza to be noticed and soon touts and hawkers were trying to peddle us their wares.
