Session 79, October 12, 2023 Attack on the Castle pt 3

Session begins as the party regroups. Ifrea heals Shar's dog that was valiantly fighting a cultist just outside the gates. Savari speaks with the boy hiding in the 'stables'. He says he has a secret way into the keep and takes a gold bribe to show it to them. He leads them to the backside of the castle, down the cliffside a ways, to a grate that leads into a cistern. Savari tries to check on her bird and the party watches, horrified, while she disappears and the bird appears in her place. Savari finds herself inside the castle in front of the old woman. The woman begins to tell her about the duragar: underground dwelling dwarves - one in particular wants to conquer the whole dale and the cult is trying to prevent that by summoning Shar. The dwarf does have a fortress in the spine of the world. Xardorok Sunblight has a forge powered by the still beating heart of a red dragon. He intends to destroy ten towns systematically. She warns that if they fight Xardorok too soon they will surely die. She then dies abruptly. Savari looks around, and finding no windows, carefully opens the door and peeks into the hall. She sees an ornate bronze ball hanging from the ceiling by a chain. It is shrouded in the mysterious dark light that beams up through the ceiling. She crosses the hall into the room her bird had seen when they first arrived at the castle, and sends her bird with a message to the party. Shar, Ifrea, and Rys, enter the cistern and find a door that opens to reveal a stairwell. They descend and find another door. One that goes to the right, and another doorway covered with a slab of stone that would continue their path ahead. Shar opens the door to the left and climbs through a crack in the stone into a small tunnel. The tunnel leads to a small room with 5 people that are imprisoned. They are shocked to hear the iron bars keeping them in were actually illusory. Said they'd been locked in for 6-8 weeks. They help lift the marble slab door that leads further into the castle and wait for the party to complete their mission so they can safely escape. They enter a large chamber with an arch-devil represented on the wall amongst the carnivorous mold. It appears to be a place of worship. Ifrea begins clearing rooms, and finds a small private chamber with an albino tiefling writing a book. She tells Ifrea to leave and he does. Upon further discussion through the door she discloses that she's been told by someone to leave them alone so she is content to do so. Her name is Avarice. They continue to the West and find the bodies of a dozen or so castle guards. Beyond that is a mostly empty storeroom that dead ends. There is a stairwell on the far edge of the larger chamber that leads to another room with 4 bodies of cultists wrapped in sheets. A small ladder leads up to a trapdoor. Ifrea climbs the ladder and pokes his head out to find a tower room with 4 empty beds. One door from it leads to the courtyard and another leads to a second door that leads to a closet door that leads into an ornate office with papers all over the desk. As they investigate, an oblivious cultist walks in the room, sees them, and immediately calls for help. Shar shoots him with an arrow, and Savari, from a concealed location on the top level, sends magic missiles into the group to cause confusion, and disappears again. Session ends