Our heroes left the mine shaft in hurry, desperate to get back to Lower Bennth with news of their discovery. On the road back the party took great care to evade detection, as monsters roamed the countryside in unprecedented numbers. Eventually the heroes made their was back to the town, only to discover a patchwork of barricades and ragtag militia desperate to fend off monster attacks.
Welcomed back as heroes, the party was rushed tot he mayor who explained that the village had been attacked numerous times while the party was away. Without their best defenders the city was desperate to repel even the most cursory attacks and had lost many lives. With great urgency the mayor pled with the party to ride with all haste to seek aid from the Duke himself, who was known far and wide to care greatly for the well-being if his subjects. With fresh horses in had, the party set out from Lower Benneth on the next dawn, following the great road north to the edge of the mountains where the Blackrock citadel.
