The Curse of the Vale

I had grown weary of living off the ill-gotten gains of the local populace and was looking for a more legitimate means of employment. No, that's not right, I had procured a lovely necklace with an emerald scarab that was going to keep me fed for a few weeks. Unfortunately my fence was under surveillance from the constabulary. Turns out they were looking for this particular necklace as it had some sentimental value to the magistrate's wife. I knew nothing of the magistrate as I had pocketed it off of a very drunk Halfling at The Owlbear's Nest. Regardless, I was left holding the bag.

I wouldn't be left holding anything after it was ruled that my hand should be cut off for the crime of burglary. That didn't seem like a decent prospect for my line of work so I "volunteered" my expertise for hard labor for the benefit of the Empire. It just so happened that nearby Skylark Vale was in need of some hard labor, or at the very least some inexperienced and disposable fools to investigate. While I didn't want to be traipsing around in some diseased backwoods, I did want to keep all of my extremities so I agreed to go. The judge just laughed and even offered up a reward if the "Vale Curse" was lifted. I wonder if others have been sent to this Skylark Vale. I wonder if they ever returned...

So here I am in the bottom of an ancient underground dwarven stronghold following another in a long line of clues as to what is cursing the Vale.

We are following up on the Blight Cult, which makes sense. This cursed Vale is under some kind of blight, "blight" is right there in their name. It has to be these fools right?

If not them, then we are off to Blenlough where we were told the Dwarves have awoken an undead ancient evil. Trevor being Trevor wants to head up there anyways as "The Light of Heironius needs to exterminate this darkness." Whatever. We will go there if that's where our investigation leads. But, if it is this "Blight Cult" (Which it has to be) then that's it for me. The Empire didn't send me here to kill something that is already dead. I try to deal with the living.

Or we could see if the Goblins are behind it all. Why not? The Goblins might be trying to push the Empire out of the Vale so they can have it all to themselves. I don't think Goblins have it in them to organize an effort of this scale, but for all I know this could just be caused by them shitting in the river. Wolfwood wants to take care of them next. You can tell he's got a grudge against the Goblins for some reason, but I don't think it has anything to do with the Vale's curse.

Our only option is but a fragment of an idea from the lips of a madwoman. Hilda, the crazy lady in Morralis mentioned ruins in the North that might have something to do with it. I wonder what they are and I wonder how she knows about them. Of course, in my line of experience ancient ruins only contain monsters and treasures. I wouldn't mind the latter, but the former can be tricky at times. Maybe with this group we can make a side trip to these ruins. This investigation has already proven to be a lucrative affair, why not get as much out of it as I can. With the help of my new companions a nice monster clearing treasure hunt would be easy. And who knows, maybe the answer to our curse is there. (But really, it's got to be the Blight Cult. Just look at that name!)