Slipping ashore, the party entered the town, intent on searching for information regarding the mysterious Graben family. The village of Graben was small and desolate, crouched on the shore of the small, rocky island. It didn't take long to discover that the large manor house that overlooked the village from the nearby hill was part of the Graben family estate. A winding road led up through the town, past an old church and graveyard, and finally to the manor.

The natural suspicions of the inhabitants, along with the indecently late hour, caused the party to be met with closed doors and a cool reception when they tried to pry deeper into the affairs of the Grabens. Daunted, the party met in the local tavern, the Black Sheep Inn, to discuss their next move...

Meanwhile, in a different place and time, a young desert bard was wandering, far from home... The red sands shifting beneath his feet, and a storm approaching, he slid down a high dune and came to rest on a crumbled stone platform. There, an opening yawned into the darkness below. Seeking shelter, the bard entered the dark hole, and found himself sliding down a sandy slope to a pile of rubble at the base. Admist the rubble stood an unbroken pedestal, atop which gleamed a clear, briliant round diamond. The bard, lost in a strange land but still mindful of the fortune he has set out to seek, took the stone and secured it away in his robes.

After the storm abated, the desert wanderer climbed out from his ruined shelter and surveyed the land. It still looked as forboding as Har-akir, yet there was something... different about the air. Releasing his kefia for a good sniff, the bard turned, and saw a twisting cone of blowing sand descending upon him. He took off running up the nearest dune, but the shifting sands slowed him, and soon the tempest of the desert was upon him...

As the sand filled his eyes, ears, and throat, a single voice reached him from a distant place. Despite the torrent of the wind, the voice was calm, and oddly reassuring...

"There. That should just about do it..."

In the Black Sheep Inn, the party discussed their options. It was clear that the townsfolk lived in fear and awe of the Graben family, and it was likely that their inquiries had already drawn untoward attention to them. It was decided to seek admittance to the Graben estate itself, in the hopes that something could be found. The spirit of Jacob seemed anxious to lead the party there, though for what reason he could not say...

Just then, a harsh, dry wind blew through the Inn, extinguishing the dim candles. A voice, faintly heard, was carried on the wind...

"There. That should just about do it..."

Relighting their candles, the party saw that a stranger had entered the inn. Strangely dressed in the manner of a desert people, the man looked around, sighed, and proceeded to introduce himself as Farid al Haman, gypsy and bard of the desert folk of the Anauroch Desert. Recognizing another waylaid traveller, the party invited Farid to join them, and he did, in the hopes that their efforts would lead him back home.

Soon, the party left the tavern and headed for the Graben manor. Inquiring at the gate, they were let in, despite the late hour. A servant showed them to a sitting room, where they were told to await the master of the house, a man named Colin Graben. While they were waiting, Jacob appeared, and urged them towards a secret panel hidden in the floor of the sitting room. The party had just enough time to remove a small book and sack of coins and replace the panel before their host appeared. Lord Graben seemed very distracted and busy, and only half listened to the party's weakly fabricated story before escorting them out, thinking them to be beggars or mercanaries. Hiding the stolen book and sack away, the party left, and met up at the old abandoned church in the nearby cemetery.

The book was revealed to be a ledger, showing a number of shipments and transactions with various captains, among them the name of Captain Garvyn. Alongside each shipment was a name, apparently of a body the captain was hired to transport. Amoung the names were Jacob, Charlotte, and Madeline, all of them listed beside Garvyn. The sack contained several gold pieces, used to pay for the deals. Worse yet, the party quickly found several empty graves in the cemetery, each marked with a gravestone bearing the name of someone in the ledger. Captain Garvyn's involvement in the dark deeds of the Graben family was now clear...

Suddenly, along the roof of the church, a figure in icy white appeared. Raising a staff of ice, the figured called down a spell of winter upon the party, blasting them with frost and ice. The party fought back, some trying to scale the slippery walls of the church to engage the wizard in combat, but his spells proved formidable. Still, the party fought back, and the wizard departed, but not before uttering a warning to stay away from the affairs of the Grabens.

Recovering from the sudden battle, the party only then realized that the wizard's staff had been capped with a gleaming black stone -- the first Ba'alstone.