Chapter IV: Assault On The Keep
General Summary
The adventurers Theolin Windsplitter and Eisenheim, along with Lieutenant of the Fairhill Guard Lauriel and town guardsman Havril, crept toward the long abandoned keep of the deceased wizard Eralion. Sneaking toward one of the towers, they party finds a crudely contrsucted door that is locked with a large iron padlock. Eiesenheim rememnered the key that was taken off an orc that was slain in the woods; a member of the raiding party that had stolen the Crucible of Freya. The key fit in the lock and the door was opened, and the four slunk inside the keep.
Meanwhile, inside one of the keep's four corner towers, a human male had been held captive by the orcs. He was stripped of his armor and weapons, beaten, tortured, and humiliated. The orcs seemed to be led by a warlord who's name was Nagrond. The hulking orc berserker also appeared to answer to a half-orc clad in black armor and cloak. The captive learned his name was Tavik. Tavik was searching the keep for something nefarious and foul. When the four warriors started their assualt, Nagrond, Tavik, and the orc sentries left the man alone in the tower; manacled and bound and seemingly helpless.
The four fought bravely and with ruthless skill as the orc platoon swarmed the courtyard seeking to slay the invaders by overwheling them with sheer numbers. The foul beast's plan did not succeed as orc after orc fell to Theolin's whirling blades, the magic of Eisenheim and his eidolon Ssssalvor, and Lauriel's keen elven archery. Finally, the group encounters Tavik and his team of personal orc bodyguards in a small chapel of Saint Cuthbert that had been fouly desecrated. The battle was on as Tavik used his strange abyssal magic, though he was neither wizard nor cleric, and only credited the demon prince, Orcus as his patron and the source of his power. Theolin, Eisenheim, and Lauriel fought the small group to a standstill, but the cat-man Eisenheim finally delivered the killing blow to the demon worshipping half-orc.
The adventurers regrouped out in courtyard to face the last of the orc marauders and their leader the berserker Nagrond, and his enforcer a hulking brutish ogre. The human prisoner managed to free himself during the battle in the courtyard and rushed to face his former captors. Summoning the rest of his divine strength he cast a spell of slumber, subduing the orc warlord, his orgre, and the remaining orc marauders
.The man identified himself as Mandrakus and said he was also seeking this keep to search for a notes and diary that were once written by the long dead wizard. The others agreed to join him and searched the rest of the keep. Theolin searched the chapel wanting to loot the corpse of the half-orc, Tavik, but only the tattered remnants of his blakc cloak reamined. In the final tower they found another giant spider's nest, of which Theolin is quite fatigued of encountering. Underneath the webs, the warriors find a trap door leading to hidden depths below the keep.
The four seekers delved into the floors beneath the keep where they found the wizard's lab and living quarters. There they battled zombies disguised as statues, silent deadly sentries that were once guardmen of Fairhill. Defeating the undead there, they four ventured further down eventually finding the tomb and resting place of Eralion. On top of his sarcophogus lay his husk of a corpse, his lifeless hand grasping an ornate staff, his arms crossed over his chest in restful repose. Eisenheim takes the staff from the long dead wizard's hand and Mandrakus noticed a broken glass vessel on the floor next to sarcophogus. The broken flask once contained a dark, sticky substance that left a foul smelling residue
.Then the adventurers were met with a ghostly voice echoing throughout the wizard’s tomb. The voice asked if the invading presence was someone named Ferblan. The warriors did not answer so the ghostly presence attacked. Their foe appeared to be made of living shadow which Mandrakus identified as a type of undead. The being was immaterial, the bone-chilling aura of death emanating from its touch. The warriors vanquished the shadow and bracers materialized from its form and dropped with a clank to the floor. Mandrakus also found pages from what appeared to be a journal. Upon reading it was the last words Eralion had left to the world of the living.
Rewards Granted
- An undentified wizard's staff with the words "Eralion" and the elvish word for feather-"Gethrame" carved into it's shaft.
- A pile of various coins and gems found within the wizard's sarcophogus.
- Two potion bottles within the spider's lair.
- Pages of Eralion's diary Mandrakus was quested to recover and take to Oathheath
- A pair of silver bracers
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