"Perhaps a view from the air will put things in perspective. Sergeant, keep me covered with your missiles." Mr. Louglynn says "spam" begins to fly. He flies high into the air, pauses a few minutes, then descends, circling the nearby hilltop. Fr. Durrant will looks closely mounds, muttering to himself. Sarg asks, "Friend Geoff, will you watch the sky with me?" They both ready bolts and watch for danger to the flying mage.

"M'lady, Dawn can you detect magic?" asks Barton looking curiously at one of the piles of rock.

"Yes", she replies and Barton asks her to check out one the piles. She recites an unintelligible phrase and brings her hands to the side of her eyes. She studies the mound, then turns to the right to look at another about 40 feet away, then studies the mound 40 feet to the left. "Nothing," she replies,. "just rocks."

Hearing that, Barton approaches the mound and leans down to examines its base. The lowest rocks are half buried in the ground. Peering through the crevices he only sees more rocks. He crawls around mound but finds nothing indicating purpose: traps, concealment, or otherwise.

From the air, Mr. Louglynn perceived the grim significance of the mounds. From 200 feet up, a visage grins darkly into the sky, party to some cosmic joke unknown to you. The black mounds form the eye sockets, nose hole, and jagged teeth of a misshapen human skull. Dark truths start to sink in, this frightful grin was not meant for man to see. It is a colossal insult to the Gods. You flesh crawls as a sinister chill passes through. You find you can’t take your eyes off the skull; it seems to spin and laugh at you. Your mind begins to think of the evil Acererak was capable of; your mind’s eye sees tortured bodies groveling for mercy at the feet of this wicked king. You see him laughing as bodies are severed and thrown in a heap. You also know your imagination can only scratch the surface. Such evil that the Gods sought his destruction by drowning his domain in that fetid swamp. That thought snaps you out of your horror. You look out over the endless swamp, the destruction of Acererak’s domain. But, descending now back towards the hill, somehow he managed this last insult.

Louglynn descended and scouted the rest of the hilltop. The black mounds not as threatening now, but your minds has that evil skull burned into it and its recollection comes all too easily. He returned to the party and explained what he saw from above, not relaying the sick sense of foreboding he feels. 1