Event journal

 Each character arrived to the region pursuing their own agenda:
- Ron of Highwater is here to help his younger brother Don with troubles around his winery.
- Torvi was sent by the Alchemists Guild as a response to a letter sent from Castle Shreek by Ludek the Sage, seeking help to cure Lord Nikola de Barothy who has recently fallen ill.
- Dori is here because according to rumors of trolls ravaging the region, it seemed like a monster hunter could earn some easy money.

1) Arrival at the Filthy Pony

The group arrives to Krumilov to the Filthy Pony tavern, along with a caravan heading to Castle Shreek. The characters and the caravan stops to rest, as the roads are dangerous during the night.

- The group learned that a few days earlier a shipment from the dwarven mines was ambushed by trolls. The son of Jorg (the head of the clan) went missing, everybody else was slain.
- A group of 3 monster hunters are the only other guests at the tavern. They seem to be arguing over something, and one of them leaves as a result.
- Overnight, most of the caravan guards get food poisoning.

2) The Wizard of Wines

Ron sets out to his brothers winery. Apparently some creature vandalized one of the wine cellars overnight.

- A brief investigation reveals that the culprit was likely a human wearing fake 'troll feet'. The tracks lead to the nearby hilltop, where an empty bottle and a cigar butt is found.
- A circle of large ancient stones (menhirs) with cryptic carvings stand on the hilltop. Torvi makes note of the ctrange carvings of the stones.

3) The road to Castle Shreek

The group volunteers to escort the caravan to Castle Shreek.

- The governor, Oleg Dvor, makes a last minute request for 2 items to be delivered to Castle Shreek: a wooden box, and a young girl to serve as a maid in the Castle.
- A small group of bandits waylaid the caravan, but the characters fought off the attackers, who fleed to the woods.
- Soon after a relief party from the castle arrived, and went to puruse the bandits into the woods. The bandits got away however.
- Apparently the bandits are referred to as 'The Ghosts', since they seem to quickly and mysteriously vanish in the woods. They tend to attack near the same sections of the roads though.

4) Castle Shreek

The characters are met with a grim sight upon their arrival, the last section of the road leading to the Castle is lined with bodies of captured bandits put to the stake.

- The players are invited to a feast where they get to meet the Barothy family and the court
  * Lady Eliza, the wife of Lord Nikola
  * their 3 children, Vitus, Barbarah and Polln
  * Lady Olga, sister of Lord Nikola, who is married to a Count in the Heartland, but is currently visiting
  * Dalek, the Master of Arms, promoted to the position after his heroics at Harrow
  * Ludek, the Sage
- Dori was not attending the dinner, because Lady Barothy had her thrown in the dungeon for ill discipline and disrespect to the family. She is released the next morning. While there, she is visited by Dalek, who tasks Dori with finding the bandit accomplices responsible for poisoning the caravan guards.

- An alarm is raised in the castle as Lord Nikola dies late evening. At this time Lady Olga flees from the castle. Ron of Highwater confronts the guard retinue of the Lady, and finds out that she suspects foul play in the death of her brother, and fears for her life in the castle.
- Investigating the master bedroom reveals lilac flower petals in a cup by the bed, as well as on the chin of Lord Nikola. The flower is not yet identified.
- Furthermore, a network of secret passages is revealed that runs across almost the entire castle.
- It turns out that the letter received by Torvi was not sent by Ludek. It was in fact sent Barbarah, out of concern for her ill father, but also her younger brother Polln, who is experiencing strange dreams lately. He sometimes draws the scenes he witnesses in his dreams, a selection of which was borrowed by the party.

- The next morning it turns out that the new maid that arrived with the caravan has gone missing.
- Lady Eliza on the other hand seems to appear younger or refreshed the next day, compared to the previous evening.

5) A trek in the woods

The group leaves the Castle the following morning, back to Krumilov and its surroundings. A guard they left at the winery (in the wake of the recent brake-in) reports seeing strange blinking lights atop the nearby hill.

- Investingating the hilltop again reveals a number of footprints leading to a nearby tree with a hollowed-out trunk. The inside o fthe tree is filed with carved magical runes - it turns out that this is a part of a teleportation network that might span the local forest. Similar carvings are found at the base of the menhir circle as well. The teleportation link works between natural places that are connected - i.e. trees of the same forest, or perhaps similar menhir circles.
- As the party investigates, they meet a dwarven hunting party lead by Jorg, the jarl of the Mining Clan. They are in search of his son, who they suspect might have been abducted by trolls.
- Accompanying the hunting party they meet a troll by the name of Zardak. He reveals that the recent troll incursions in the area are a result of her mother (the chieftain of the nearby village) going missing. They followed her scent to Castle Shreek, but they obviously can't enter the fortress. In their frustration, some of the trolls ravaged the countryside.
- It is also revealed that the menhir cicrles are sacred sites of the trolls.

6) The raided mining shipment

Investigating the remains of the raided mining shipment yields the following relevations:

- The wagon was likely not attacked by trolls, but a group of human assailants. There was likely one archer and two close combat attackers.
- An arrowhead with a unique makers mark is found at the site.
- The attackers moved a heavy object (most likely the chest containing the mining shipment) to the woods where they met up with some other people, and handed the oject over to them. The other group then left through a teleportation-tree much like the one located near the menhir-circle.
- The 3-man raider groups tracks headed back to Krumilov. The party identifies them as the monster hunters lodged at the tavern.

7) Confronting themonster-hunters

- Upon entering the tavern, it looks as if the monster-hunters have 'found' the son of Jorg, and are in the process of 'returning him' to the dwarves before leaving town. However, their ruse fails upon the return of the players, they are arrested and incarcerated.
- The monster-hunters seem to have been working for the Barothy family, but they will only tell what they know in exchange for their lives. However, they are now captives of the City Watch, for whom this is just more reason to execute them. They are currently held in the jail of Krumilov.
- The boy does not remember anything that has happened to him in the past week or so.
- Jorg is overjoyed and pledges his clans help to the party, should they need it. During the conversation he mentions that he knows the location of another menhir circle in the mountains to the north.