Editing The Third Eye (section)

====Ronul's End====
As Aubilor Whitegate's workshop was near Gorso, they decided to stop there on the way and ask about the silver torc. First, however, they would chase after the bandits, not wanting the trail to go cold before they could catch up, as they were already nearly two weeks behind and the journey to Ronul's End would be another six days. When they arrived they discovered that Ronul's End had been burned to the ground, and the people slaughtered and simply left where they died. When they went in to investigate closer, they were attacked by nearly a dozen giant mutated frogs. After a fight in which half the group got swallowed at one point or another, Sylas briefly found himself levitating twenty feet in the air with a giant front clamped onto his leg, Ilara found some tracks - footprints, hoofprints, and wagon tracks - heading into the hills to the north. The party followed the tracks from the ruins of Ronul's End into the hills, where they were met by a man who gave the impression of an old sailer. He said he was called the Salty Eel, and his master and a bunch of people had been kidnapped by a band of royal soldiers turned bandit. His master was wealthy, and would pay well for his rescue. They told Salty Eel that they didn't need money, as there was nowhere to spend it in the cursed kingdom, but they did need information about the Torcs of the Tower. Salty Eel didn't know anything about those, but said his master might, and they were held at an old watchtower only a mile up the road. Since it was on their way they decided to help. The tower was surrounded by a crumbling wall, inside of which  they could see a makeshift wooden cage holding about a dozen people who looked to be scared, hungry villagers. The barbarian's plan was to march right up to the front of the tower and demand a duel with their former captain. The guards declined and drew their swords, and a very brief fight broke out. Leon took advantage of the perpetual rain by flying up to the top of the tower and calling down lightning, while Ilara wound up facing the captain in single combat anyway and easily dispatched him.

It turned out Salty Eel's master was Lord Dyzag Ronul. When the town was attacked, he led a group of survivors into the hills. They were met by a group of adventurers calling themselves the Heroes of Virtue, but it turned out they were only interested in the pirate treasure buried by his ancestor Almeiro, and when he refused to tell them they colluded with the guards to imprison him and the villagers and beat him until he gave them the location. Salty Eel managed to escape to look for help. Since his description of the Heroes of Virtue matched the bandits the Third Eye were looking for with the Iron Torc, they asked where they went. Ronul told them, promising them half the treasure if they kept it out of those villains' hands. When they arrived, they found a huge man in red armor digging a big hole. Nearby were three men: one plucking a lute, one playing with a dagger, and one flipping through a book. The party stopped to discuss their plan, until the dagger fellow spotted them and pointed it out to his companions. And the man with the book closed it, pointed in their direction, and a tiny red bead flew at them before bursting into a fireball. Isabelle retaliated with a fireball of her own, which instantly killed the bard. Leon entangled the rogue and the mage, and so the mage simply threw a second fireball that severely injured Isabelle and nearly caused Avra to go berserk. Ilara and Ililen charged in to deal with the armored fellow, who turned out to have a lightning-enchanted greataxe. While Leon slew the rogue, Sylas blighted the fighter to death. After retrieving the axe, and the Iron Torc, they checked the hole and found a giant clam at the bottom of the pit, which Lord Ronul had told them contained the treasure. Leon identified it as being in a state of hibernation, and that they could either force it open, which would likely cause it to spray them with acidic oil, or they could apply a large quantity of salt to it, which would place it in a state of euphoria and cause it to open. Unfortunately, they didn't have any salt, but they did have a wizard specializing in conjuration, and Isabelle conjured enough of it to open the clam. The treasure was a golden cigar box, a bejeweled spyglass, a whole bunch of pearls, and an eyepatch that could magically charm people. Ilara took the eyepatch, then realized she couldn't see while wearing it and flipped it up onto her forehead.

When they returned to Lord Ronul, he thanked them for safeguarding his ancestor's legacy and, as promised, gave them half the treasure, adding that if they wanted ALL of it, he had one more favor to ask. Ronul's End was destroyed by a sea hag with an army of mutated giant frogs. She took over the nearby lighthouse, and he believed she may have taken more of his citizens prisoner. If they would kill her, and rescue anyone who might still be alive, then would part with the other half of Almeiro's treasure. Since they had no strict time limit, they agreed. They went to the lighthouse where the hag made her lair, and opened the door to find that it looked like an abattoir, with seaweed and body parts hanging everywhere, and four more mutated giant frogs. So Sylas conjured shadowy tentacles to fill the room. One frog jumped out, but the other three simply jumped further up, so he dispelled the tentacles and everyone went in. The battle with the frogs - and the sea hag - was not long, though the hag did succeed in nearly slaying Ililen with her death glare before Sylas killed her with an eldritch blast.