Tarik's_Company regroups in town. Many of the company invest in magical items. Jenya rewards the party. Skellerang has the Stormblades collapse the entrances into the Underdark, the Malachite_Fortress, and Jzadirune.
22nd of Ready'reat
Lord_Mayor Severen_Navalant invites Tarik's Company to a dinner in the company's honor. The group purchases formal attire and attends. The half-elf Lord_Vhalantru welcomes the company. The Mayor himself was unable to attend; he was busy with affairs of state. A Lord_Ankin_Taskerhill introduces himself. His daughter, Annah_Taskerhill leads the Stormblades. Other nobles met include the Vanderborens and Ike_Iverson. Lord_Aslaxin and Lady_Knowlern are noticably disinterested in Tarik's Company. Uncomfortable among the nobility, the company leave relatively early.
On the way back to the Drunken_Morkoth, the company stops by the Tip_Tankard, rumored to be a popular drinking spot for the Stormblades. The Stormblades aren't known for much. They did dispatch some kobolds and regularly buy rounds at the Tankard.
23rd of Ready'reat
On the way back, the company notices two elves spying on them. The company trap the spies who claim to be Fario and Fellian of the Lord Mayor's office. The group lets the elves go and attempts to follow them, but they use potions to disappear.
That evening the company comes across a group of goblins vandalizing a clothing store. After defeating them, the company questions a prisoner. The goblins work for a bugbear named Drakthar. When the party presses for information on how the goblins entered the city, some sort of magical curse slays the goblin.
The party turns the scene over to the town guard. This is apparently not the first incident with goblins.
24th of Ready'reat
Terseon_Skellerang asks Tarik's Company to investigate the goblin vandalism incidents. They've been happening for several nights. There is a reward for goblin ears. Terseon knows nothing about the elves Fario and Fellian.
That evening Tarik's Company patrols the streets. Eventually they spot a group. Verana follows them back to Orak's_Bathhouse, then leads the rest of the company there.
As Tarik's_Company approaches Orak's_Bathhouse, the group is attacked by four wererats. Once dispatched, Verana picks the lock and the party heads in. The group confronts Orak, who orders them to leave. When the refuse, Orak attacks. After subdueing Orak, it becomes clear he is under a magical compulsion. With the compulsion temporarily removed, Orak reveals that the bugbear Drakthar charmed him. The nature of the charm leads the party to conclude that Drakthar is a vampire. The bathhouse has a long sealed door leading to an abandoned dwarven outpost. Drakthar compelled Orak to open the door and allow goblins passage through the bathhouse into the city and back. The group delivers Orak to the Church_of_the_Righteous_Cudgel to be healed. While at the Temple the group meets the paladin Alek_Tercival.
25th of Ready'reat
The party heads below Orak's Bathhouse into the dwarven outpost. The place is filthy with goblin waste. As the party enters the outpost an alarm is raised. There is a large battle in which the company slays more than two dozen goblins and a worg. The group also drives off a second worg with glowing red eyes and the ability to turn to mist. The warg may be Drakthar himself.
The party explores the now mostly empty area, only briefly battling a pair of goblin adepts who ambush the party from magical invisibility.
26th of Ready'reat
Kyrin bluffs his way into the Blue_Water_Academy to research vampires in their library. The librarian helpfully reports that vampires can be injured with silver or magical weapons. To slay a vampire, one needs injure it until it retreats in gaseous form to its coffin. The vampire slayer must find the coffin, stab the vampire in the heart with a wooden stake (ideally ewe), behead the vampire, then stuff the vampire's mouth with garlic or holy wafers.
Aidan realizes that the outpost is likely Daeren's_Way.
Deeper into the outpost, the party faces an ambush by a group of goblins and a worg. After defeating them, Drakthar himself attacks. Having prepared specifically to face Drakthar they easily injure him. Drakthar turns to a gaseous form and retreats. Fortunately Drakthar's gaseous form is slow and the company gives chase. While following Drakthar, the company battles several groups: a goblin adept with two shock_lizards, several more goblins, some sort of flesh and bone construct in the shape of a throne, and a dire_bat. Finally the company arrives at Drakthar's lair moments behind his gaseous form. Drakthar's coffin is hidden beneath a stone slab in the floor. Following the instructions the party dispatches Drakthar.
The group sweeps the outpost for any of Drakthar's remaining minions. In one room they find and battle a human mage and a tiefling warrior. Further into the outpost the company encounters a group of half-orcs lead by a dwarf. After slaying the orcs the dwarf begs for his life.
The outpost finally opens into a wooded glen on the side of the volcano.