We advise Stantor to hide in the hills to the east and wait for a day. If we aren’t back, then he should head back to Oakhurst on his own. We are joined by Randall and Ketres. We spend A LOT of time coming up with an intricate plan to attack the ogres. Straff busts down the door and surprises the ogres playing a game of chance. Ral drops some thunderwave. The boss ogre says “who enters the home of Hendor?” After a pitched battle we manage to kill all the ogres, Hendor being the last. An errant spell did ignite a crate in a room, but we extinguish it.

In the room we discover 360 GP. In one of the crates we find: small vial of pink liquid, small softly glowing white orb (magical), wand with a spider engraved on it (magical), set of plate armor of unusual metal.

In the barracks room we find 42 GP and a metallic amulet with a worn off inscription.

Searching the shrine further we find a room with bone ornamentation and a statue of a 4-armed human female. After that we go back into the cursed room. It tries to instill fear in us. Straff searches it but finds nothing but fear and dread.

Upon exiting the shrine, we kill the last ogre. Ral and Tholir engage in a game of chance to determine who will take the plate armor. Tholir manages to triumph with a Jack high straight flush, just edging out Ral’s Ten high straight flush.

On the way back to Oakhurst, Stantor tells us that the town does not welcome strangers. Stantor is a newcomer himself. A young couple appeared in town a couple weeks ago, and promptly disappeared a a week ago. Stantor doesn’t think the ogres were responsible for that though.

We find Oakhurst in the forest. It is pretty musty and rough-hewn. The inhabitants are a tough crowd that doesn’t cut their hair. The young couple was trying to sell some family jewelry. The town bar/inn is The Bloody Ear. There’s a general store, a bear trap emporium (owned by the gnome Rasalla), a large boulder in the river called The Witching Rock. Ancient cults used to worship at the rock under the full moon. It is covered in strange ancient symbols. Ral does a prayer of healing to ease Stantor’s fear.

We go over to speak with Rasalla. After talking with Straff, we learn that, she doesn’t think ogres came into town. Rather, Stantor probably got drunk in the woods while hunting. Townsfolk speak about black magic and vampires. She doesn’t know why the young couple disappeared, but Straff discerns that she is holding something back. Straff engages her in Gnomish, and she tells him that the Wearn family (who run the town) are responsible. There’s something very wrong about the Wearn family. She also shows Straff a silver dagger.

We enter The Bloody Ear on the north side of town. Inside, the wall behind the bar is covered with ears. The bartender, other than looking like a normal human, has a greenish tone. Straff briefs us on the talk with Rasalla and we head up to our rooms.