After an uneventful trip back to town, the group checked in to see if
anything new had turned up.  Kaylessa was slightly miffed we hadn't
checked out her lead, which we promised to do, not wanting to be
evicted from the inn; there were reports of dwarven runes in the area;
we indirectly hear the Turnlas kids were reporting plague down at Lance
Rock (they don't hang out at the tavern).

After another night of skull nightmares for Lam, the group decided
to head to Lance Rock, as promised.  However, not too far from town
they run across some wagons being threatened by men on horseback.
After attempting to break the fight up, it became clear the horse
riders were attempting to raid the wagons, and the group joins forces
with exploding pig assistance from the wagons.  It turned out Mara,
a relation of Akra's (her family are traditional servants of Akra's),
was onboard to come check up on her, and she also joined in the fray.
The combat was rough, with the bandit leader clothed in stone armor, but
their forces were eventually eroded away and captured, except for the
stone-clad leader himself, who threw himself on his attackers' weapons
before allowing himself to be captured (a neat trick in stone armor!).

The wagons were part of a larger, ad-hoc caravan formed around a presumed
pay-wagon that had been attacked by the main force of bandits elsewhere.
Having had trouble with just the bandit stragglers, the group headed
back to town with their captives and report on the situation.  Then they
headed back to see what was left of the main caravan, but find nothing -
everything has been taken away and cleaned up - certainly not the actions
of ordinary bandits.

Traveling back to Lance Rock was uneventful.  The rock itself was a was a
kinda boring 20-30' wedge jutting up at an angle (nice landmark, though).
Exploring the area, revealed an odd sign at a nearby canyon entrance -
"Beware of Plague - Turn Back!".  Naturally, this led to a thorough
investigation.  Following the canyon revealed a cave entrance, apparently
a natural formation.  Inside were skeletons and zombies performing
the meaningless rituals of the living - meaningless to undead, anyway.
There are clearly signs someone was maintaining the setup (burning oil
lanterns, for example).  The group dispatched a few rooms full before
retreating, sufficiently injured and low on resources to call it a night,
but they camped nearby.

The night went poorly - an owlbear attacked!  Injured and low on
resources, the fight was not an easy one, but the monster was eventually
driven back into the wilds and sleep resumed, although lasting a bit
farther into the morning than had originally been planned.  Going back up
the canyon, there were more signs of plague ("Beware!  This means you!"),
even a corpse apparently passed away having finished writing the last.
The group took little note, though, and no heed.

Resuming the cavern crawl, the group found no more undead, until
they eventually stumbled onto a large cavern full of all the remaining
remains, where skeletons and zombies were being lectured to by a specter.
A pitched combat ensued, as the group attempted to hold the corridor
back out against zombie slams and skeleton arrows (the arrows being
particularly painful).  However, Rimardo lit up the enemies, Lamthanc
and Akra held the corridor, and everyone plinked away until the animated
were once again inanimate.

A search of the chamber quickly revealed Oreff, the mad necromancer who
searched for a way to continue life past death, which he was certain was
coming for everyone soon ("Beware the Eye!  It's watching everything!"),
and his assistant specter, Harold.  After some talking, Oreff agreed to
come back to town (he'd mostly run out of experimental subject in any
case, as he didn't want to hurt anyone and only reanimated remains left
by others).