Hail friends! It is I, Simon, the newest member of our adventuring party, and I will tell you of the heroic exploits of our last encounter!

Heading out north, a party consisting of myself, Threnody, Merchello, Inara, and Caelen, and some various minions set out in search of an Inn known as "The Grinding Gear" - once a safe haven for adventurers such as ourselves, now a place of great sorrow, and mystery. We first headed to Stonewick to uncover clues as to the Inn, and here we encountered a bard named Erotha 'el Hoffa (name ?), an apparent follower of Istus, the goddess of fate. In addition to telling us when last she was there, she also informed us to be wary of the Ork Chieftains Frothgnaw, the chief AND shaman of the Bloody Axes, and Whitepale, the Chief of the Corpses. Of Whitepale, all she said was to not show weakness.

We reached the Inn Compound without incident, and found a small compound surrounded by a stout wooden fence, the gate open, but less than inviting. There were three buildings; a wooden stable, a wooden inn (which was APPARENTLY three stories with a large 'attic'), and a small stone building, which we later discovered to be a chapel to McGuyver (? spelling), the god of tricks or some nonsense.

Inside the stable we found 5 horses, all branded with crossed double swords. We took them, but it might behoove us to uncover the indentity of the brand before we try to sell them and make ourselves a brand new enemy (other than the 5 guys we left horseless underneath the statue).

Ah, the statue. There was a statue, cast in copper (or bronze?), of the Inn's Proprietor, Garvin Richmond, in the middle of the compound, surrounded with corpses. Most were goblins and decaying, but there was also one recently killed human, whose chainmail we looted most honorably. Caelen and Oni discovered that pressing on the plate under the statue opened a secret passage underneath, but also released a gas that rendered non-dwarves who breath in it unconcious, and also signaled to the mosquito bats of the inn's attic that there was easy prey!

Despite my best attempts at sabotage, our group used it's considerable magical power and slew the creatures. It was then we decided to investigate the chapel and were told by our cleric of the nature of the diety it was a shrine to.

The group then shortly argued about the merits of cornstarch as a thickening agent in cooking. This conversation, predictably, went nowhere, but was quite entertaining, and thus worthy of note in the halls of Valhalla (or the Greyhawk equivolent. Take that, forth wall!)

When we entered the Inn, the chairs were on the tables as if the place had been 'put away'. While no one had been here, there was very little of the damage that would come from an all out looting. We found a set of keys in the office (which Simon took, but will loan to someone if he is not around and we go back).

We found two notes behind the bar; one in a mug saying 'the third one is false'

*Note - I believe this is what it said, but I'm not sure if it's the note verbatim

The other note was inside a small safe behind the bar, saying,
'All valuables have been moved from the premises to your designated underground area.'
-Logan, Monroe, Summers - Moneychanging and Merchant House

On the third floor (which appeared to be Richmond's private floor) we found a few things of note, including a journal underneath Richmond's bed. It appeared to be the journal of his daughter, who had previously run away with an adventurer and turned up dead shortly thereafter. The journal said,
' Father's primary architect, Grant Tarkenton, has broken his contract and sold the tomb plans to tomb robbers'
There were also various receipts for the construction of what appeared to be a tomb.

We also found a library, which was devoid of books. However, it was categorized by
-Physical Science
-Construction, Excavation and Engineering
-Riddles, Jokes and Gags
-Feeding and Care of Dragons
-Adventurer Journals.

(Side note-seeing all of those together makes me think this is all a sick way for him to feed his pet dragon).
Also found a sheet of music for "My Bonnie lass, she don't look so good" (how's that for a loot list! aww, I made myself feel bad ; ;)

We then entered the trapdoor to the attic, where we found even more of the mosquito bats. While we easily handled the first wave, the second proved to much, and it was all we could do to escape to save ourselves.

Thus, while we have ascertained much of the Inn's contents, we still do not know where the secret stair leads. Until next time!