Memories of the Past

After an enjoyable evening (despite the interruption!) and an equally enjoyable night we met downstairs the next morning for breakfast. There were two people downstairs that I did not recognize. One was a fine dressed human nobleman and the other was a bit haggard and sitting off by himself. The finely dressed man introduced himself as Tristan, the nephew of Gustavon who is the Burgomaster of Torlynn. The other we would learn was Warren but not much else except for the fact he might not be quite right in the head.
 
Soon enough the two men who witnessed the creature inside the Keep joined us for breakfast and were ravenous. Tristan poured us some wine and everyone started really digging into the food which then led to some actually packing some of it away. I didn’t think this was quite normal but it’s not my house so I quietly ignored it. While eating we asked the guides questions though they weren’t super helpful. The Keep was built by Barrick, a great wizard and friend of elves. I remember reading some stories of him but I don’t remember much except he was very powerful for a human mage. They left the Keep alone out of respect for the old Wizard who passed away many years ago.
 
People have said they have been seeing lights in the Keep. These hunters actually saw some creature inside. A tall and large creature, white with beady eyes. They also noticed, very faintly, that there seemed to be a vortex of snow coming up from the Keep and spreading out to the surrounding countryside. This is why Gustavon believes he has found the source of the cold weather which seems plausible enough. I just wish they didn’t have to disturb our time together playing in The Sarcastic Goat. (There I go again! I must let this go!)
 
Once everyone had eaten their fill and taken some for the road we dressed up to head out. I asked Rhiannon to find Erik and peruse the wine cellar and pick out our reward. I kissed her goodbye and told her hopefully we should be back by nightfall. Once outside of town the snow was quite deep. Thankfully I could just shape and move it out of my way so I didn’t have to trudge through it and soak my boots. Even though the snow was cold, the ground was squishy. Like the first snowfall in winter before the ground had really frozen, it was an odd sensation. The Keep was not far away and I helped the hunters clear an area to set up camp. They seemed quite amazed by my cantrip calling it an “elf trick”. Well if that’s what they want to call it I suppose I’ll just let them call it that. I did tell them that humans could learn to do it too although few do because it takes many years to achieve any strength in it and humans have so few years. They seemed somewhat interested until I mentioned decades of hard work. Plus they would need the innate ability to cast which neither of them had anyways. Oh well, they seem happy with their lot in life.
 
Sorin and Warren went out to investigate around the Keep to look for tracks or any signs of life. Dram seemed intent on watching the entry or the whole Keep so he moved closer. He wanted some canvas to cover himself and let it become covered with snow for cover. Always with the more difficult ways of doing things. I told him I could easily shape the snow into any form he wanted to so he could keep an eye on the Keep if he was so interested. The two came back after not too long and said they found tracks coming in and out of the Keep. Weird tracks. Walking on both four legs and two. Large feet that weren’t human. They weren’t sure exactly what they were but they seemed to be maybe crawling in and out of the Keep.
 
Sorin and Durbin both wanted to go in directly but Dram wanted to take a more cautious approach and watch the main trail that Sorin had found. This was on the other side of the Keep and looked like it had the most traffic from whatever was in the Keep. In the end the others relented and we made our way around the Keep in the trees. Then just inside the treeline I shaped the snow into a barrier so we could safely watch the Keep and this trail. We sat there for several hours and no movement. Both Sorin and Durbin grew tired of sitting around and told Dram it was just time to go in the main entry. Dram seemed reluctant to do so and I understood why. There were merits to both a more cautious and direct approach. In the end I let the others decide as it seemed more their area of expertise being the more front line combatants.
 
During this time Tristan came walking down the path I made from Torlynn to our small encampment. Erik was beside him and looked quite upset. Tristan was suited up in full armor and combat gear ready to go in with us. Well having another front line combatant didn’t seem like an issue to me until someone mentioned that it could affect our reward. Erik also said his Uncle did not want him going into the Keep. I asked Erik if that was true and he said yes his Uncle did not want him going in and it would affect our reward. That changed my train of thought. With no caravans coming in for quite awhile the good wine selection could be limited for some time. We came to a compromise that he couldn’t enter the Keep but if we were hard pressed we could bring the monsters (if there are any) outside so he could face them.
 
It is also worth noting that I could sense Warren was a mage and a powerful one as well. I did ask him about it and he was very tight lipped so perhaps he was trained on Mage Island by Geoffrey. They are all very secretive about it so I wonder what goes on there? I’ve wanted to ask Rhiannon about it but I know no one discusses what happens there so I have not. Much like her past with Black Thom it is her past and she can share with me what she wishes too. I digress though. Him being a Mage rationalizes my decisions coming soon.
 
The Keep door was slightly ajar allowing some of the snow to blow in. The main entry was likely very grand at one time but now it is dilapidated. What was probably a beautiful red carpet lay on the floor in decay. I understand wanting to be respectful of a dead man's belongings but wouldn’t it be best to continue using them to honor his legacy? Not just let them fall to ruin? There was a hall to the right and an open doorway in front of us. It’s also worth noting there is a small cloakroom off the side. At the end of the hall to the right was one of the short towers of the Keep. Looking down there were thin lines of ice almost like spider webs? We decided to not go down there as I had got lucky last time with spiders, ice spiders may be a different thing altogether. Dram even wanted me to block it off but that is very tiring so I opted not to.
 
We went into the open doorway which was a sitting room. There was a couch, two chairs and a table. On the table was an eerie skull with a half melted candle on top of it. Of course it glittered with mana and here is why I mentioned Warren being a mage before. I didn’t think I would need to say anything like “do not touch this old magical artifact!” There was also an odd acrid smell similar to after blowing a candle out. This room didn’t seem as bad as the carpet in the previous room but was still worse for wear. There was a closed door off to our left and an open doorway in front of us that led into a large room with piles of garbage. It was also room to something else that was very hard to see but I noticed it. “Sorin, look out to your right!” That’s when things went sideways.
 
Thct next minute were chaotic. I could see the creature was a large gelatinous thing. Sorin and Durbin were inside near the thing and started swinging at it. I didn’t know what this thing was but I figured with a good shape stone I could probably trap it if everyone moved correctly. I rose the stone and started slowly moving it up and towards the thing to hopefully trap it in the corner which is what i shouted. That did not happen. As I was concentrating and moving the wall I heard a hissing/crackling noise behind me and smelled a stronger version of the acrid smoke from the sitting room. “Did you happen to light that candle from the other room?” The answer was yes. I was pushing the wall towards a passage so I hoped the creature did not get down that passage and was trapped in the corner. By the time I got the wall clear of the passage it seemed that Durbin had got stuck on the other side and was unconscious inside the creature.
 
Sorin and Dram attempted to rush up and help Durbin when a loud scream came from behind me and Warren was rushing up with the lit skull candle flailing it at the creature. I wasn’t sure what to do so I finished moving the stone to the corner and let the spell go. I did feel bad about ruining the Floor of this room which appeared to be a Ballroom but at least it cleared up some of the trash. The others were able to force the creature to retreat down the hall leaving Durbin a slimy mess and it seemed to be slowly eating at him. I came up and looked as Sorin was trying to wash it away with water to clean him up. As unseemly as it was we had to strip the dwarf down and clean all the slime off of him so it didn’t kill him. It was pretty cold so I said we needed to get a fire to warm the dwarf up. Warren decided to use the lit skul to light the trash in the room on fire which succeeded in making a thick smoke and an even worse smell. We grabbed Durbin and all of his stuff and prepared to haul him back to our small encampment. As we tried to get through the sitting room we were stopped by a smokey apparition of an older man. It was Barrick and he was asking who we were. Knowing him to be an elf friend I told him my name. He said there was evil in his home and I responded we were here to help end that evil. Then the apparition turned into a shot of smoke coming right at me. Dram tried to block it but it went through his shield. I threw all the energy I could into a defensive spell but it was not of use. The smoke hit me and I went unconscious.
 
I woke up in a field of green surrounded by forest and it looked just like the area the Keep was but no Keep. There was an old man looking down at the ground laying out what would be the Keep. I asked him where I was and he said “My Memories.” He repeated there was a great evil and again I said yes we were here to figure out what that evil is. I asked if he knew anything or had any information. He said, “let me show you” and approached with his hands out to my head. By all the stories I remember he was a very good person so I allowed him to do so. When he touched my head I was taken aback by the flood of information entering my thoughts all at once. A lifetime of information flowing into me within a few seconds and then he was gone and I could feel myself back in my body coughing.
 
Dram must have been furious but I told him it was quite alright and he helped me out of the Keep and went back in to get Durbin and the others. Once we were together (Durbin was still unconscious) we went to the encampment to recuperate. Dram was very concerned I was injured but I felt great actually. I just needed to get down anything I could on paper so I didn’t forget. I grabbed my satchel and all the paper I had, went into a tent and began frantically writing. Dram came in with me as he was still concerned. As I was furiously writing and drawing he started asking me questions about all this. I did get hit by a dark smoke and went unconscious so there were probably questions. “Yes I should explain what happened, gather the others and I will tell you all what happened to me.” By this time Durbin was awake and had cobbled his gear back together.
 
I explained that was Barrick. The skull was an anchor to this plane, lighting the candle would draw his spirit back to this plane and his home. He was currently exploring the astral plane and was quite happy except for being dragged back here. He said there was great evil that needed to be taken care of and then basically gave me all his memories. Of course with that they assumed I knew everything about the Keep but that was all fuzzy. I also felt more control over my innate power to draw mana so perhaps I got a bit of that as well? They were afraid that I was “possessed” but I do not believe that to be the case. (and seriously? They were afraid of Rhiannon and they couldn’t have been more wrong about her!) They wanted the Clerics in town to check me out and if they wanted that we could but I would prefer a Treekeeper to examine me for anything out of the ordinary. I need to make a trip home anyways but now maybe learning spells will not be so difficult? I feel like the knowledge is there, I just need to concentrate.
 
After I took down more notes and we were all rested, it seemed time to go back in and continue our quest. We entered back in the Keep, through the sitting room, trash room and into the hall where the gelatinous creature had been forced down. From Barrick’s memories I knew this thing to be a gelatinous cube. It will eat any living material and he would feed it trash and failed experiments burning off any excess as it grew. It did grow like anything else, from feeding and there was plenty of trash and rodents around here to feed it. In the hall were two doors. We went to the far one first and inside was an obvious bedroom but, like the rest of the Keep, everything was ruined and decaying. Inside was the gelatinous cube devouring a large beetle. Dram wanted to get some of the cube, which I thought was a good idea, and the beetle but it was already dead and being digested by the creature.
 
This was definitely the side the “snow vortex” was coming from so we were getting close to the cause of the issue. We went to the other door which was closed and slowly entered. The room was a storage for reagents. Again, they just left everything to rot in here. Why waste all these good items?? There was another doorway beyond this small room and you could feel it was colder in there and the floor was ice. Thinking back to the skull candle I warned the others not to walk on the ice that it is dangerous. We walked up closer to go into the next room. It was covered in ice. The ice was slightly magical but the two objects of note were a large ice throne which was radiant and a large white rattish humanoid sitting on that throne. It had what looked to be a bone crown of fingers and a large leg bone that was a mace. All radiating magic. Then it began to speak.
 
I started backing out of the room. Warren decided to have a conversation with it. I told Dram what was in there while keeping an eye on it. Durbin and Sorin were ready to shoot the thing and I prepared as well. I put everything I could into a sphere of ice to hopefully blast this thing. Warren was going on explaining to this thing (it called itself Keshute) that if it wanted to be a ruler it needed to extract taxes, protect the borders, and so on. He was doing a great job at buying us time. I tapped Durbin with my staff and gestured to my sphere, his crossbow and Sorin and made a gesture to launch. It was at this time Keshute seemed satisfied that Warren would be his servant and the rest of us were food. Dram was also going on about some noise from above but I didn’t see anything. As all three of us let loose our missiles Keshute jumped towards us and the door in the back of the “garbage room” flew open and a dozen more creatures smaller than him came charging towards us. Durbin’s bolt missed but both Sorin and I hit but Keshute was still up.
 
Dram was in position to hold off the rat creatures from following the hallway but there was a gap. I began to shape the stone to narrow the entry to the hall to make it difficult for them so I told Sorin to fil the gap to which he did not do that. I figured he would want to help his cousin rather than let him get surrounded by “ratmen” and get eaten. Luckily that did not happen. Durbin and Warren took care of Keshute (well he was pretty bad off after Sorins arrow shot and my large ice sphere) and Durbin turned to help us. I got the entryway narrowed making the creatures turn, duck and step up to get to us and that was easy to wrap up that though one did get away. Turningback to Keshute there were piles of white fur, a dead boy/teenager and Warren pale white murmuring to himself as if he just saw something horrific. Yes, yes it is horrible the boy was a were creature but it cannot be helped now. I tried to coax him out to sit down on my stone chairs I shaped in the hall but he didn’t want to move. I’m not quite sure about this man, maybe he needs to just stay with his benefactor Gustavon, he is a very odd person.
 
I was leery to enter the throne room with all that magic and was hoping there might be something else in the Keep that could help us. We went to the doorway the ratmen came through in the back of the “garbage room”. It led to the second (read) tower of the keep and a kitchen. The kitchen is in a sad state with pretty much everything destroyed and rotten though it did seem the ratmen were using it for whatever they were eating. In the tower there were four coffins along the back wall. Approaching them the bodies rose out of the coffins and started attacking. I wasn’t sure what to do. Barrick did have apprentices that were entombed here so these were probably it but why were they rising from their graves? Sorin was able to call upon his faith and force them back into the coffins! I had heard of such abilities but never seen it before, it was an inspiring sight indeed. We decided to just leave them alone.
 
From the kitchen it went into the Dining room. This room was trash just like the others though not in such a state of decay. There was a statue of a falcon in here which was his familiar though I didn’t really tell anyone else. Why do they need to know everything? It seemed like we were getting close to exploring all the castle and nothing that would help with the ice throne or snow vortex. There was a door off the Dining Room so we opened that and went in which was his study. That’s when the giant suit of plate mail with a giant weapon started moving. Really Barrick? You kept that memory fuzzy from me?