After the ever-spawning undead threat had been neutralized, the brave adventurers continued their bid to clear the first floor of Shadowfell Keep. They made their way to a previously unexplored passage that ended with an ornate door, inlaid in platinum, gems, and jewels. Orchid expertly picked the lock, revealing an evenly proportioned cross-shaped room, a sarcophagus resting in the far alcove. When approached, the casket cover exploded into dust and a skeleton clad in plate and wielding a magnificent longsword emerged.
Sir Keegan, newly risen from his dusty crypt, challenged the party. He demanded to know why they prowled the halls of Shadowfell Keep and what their intentions were regarding the opened Rift. The party smooth-talked their way past Keegan, Cedric and Orchid doubling up to tag-team a good cop/bad cop explanation for the adventurer' past and future actions in Shadowfell. Sir Keegan ultimately proved convinced. Before bursting into dust himself, he charged the party to seek Selune's boon and close the Rift. He offered his longsword, Aecris, as a tool to aid the party in ridding the evil from Shadowfell Keep. And then he was gone, smoking ash piling like sand in an hourglass.
The party conferred and agreed Queequeg most suited to wield Aecris, which he did proudly. They next backtracked their way through the keep, back towards the entrance and a side passage long neglected. The adventurers ignored another side passage shielded by a secret door; the scratching and squeaking sounds emanating from it bode ill. The occasional slurping sound didn't sweeten the deal any. So the party continued down the hallway, bringing them to an expansive chamber full of mining goblins and guard drakes. The goblins had excavated up to ten feet of the chambers stone floor, leaving islands of flooring connected by rickety boards for bridges and creaking ladders for vertical egress.
Taking advantage the element of surprise, Gareth led the party's charge. Leaping down into the excavation, he smote a sweaty goblin who responded with shrieks of pain and surprise. In turn, goblin sharpshooters from across the chamber opened fire, felling Gareth. Gilic, Shava, and Queequeg joined forces to bring the fighter back from the brink of death. The goblins and drakes were quickly dispatched from there.
One, however, was spared. He revealed himself to be Splug, at first hiding the fact that he spoke broken common. After being threatened with immediate execution for knowing nothing and being a treacherous goblin, Splug pleaded for his life. He offered to cook for the party but no one found that particularly appealing. Shifting gears, Splug instead offered to take over leadership of the young party. Howling laughter greeted his generous offer, forcing Splug to lower his head in shame. While the adventurers rested outside the keep, Taegahn traveled back to Winterhaven and fetched food and a guard escort.
When the guard and a brow-beaten Splug were gone from view, the party turned their attention back to Shadowfell Keep. They made their way to a short hallway that descended into stairs, not far from the concealed door that earlier had hidden a zombie ambush. Taegahn and Orchid led the way, spilling torch light from either walls thwarting their efforts to conceal. At the bottom of the stairway, a pair of stalwart hobgoblins guarded the opening of two consecutive rooms, the first with a well in its middle, the second containing a barred cage. Two more hobgoblins flanked the cage, inside a slobbering giant spider that hurled itself against the metal bars when the party came into view.
At the room entrance one of the hobgoblins eyed the party knowingly and barked the first part of a password phrase: "Shadow seeks shadow." The party didn't hesitate to respond with the words scribed on a recently captured note: "From the ground some magic was found." In response, the hobgoblins sprung into action, shouting, "Tell Kalarel his agents within the town have been overthrown!" The two guards formed a phalanx while the back ones hit a lever that raised the cage, barking commands in goblin that seemed directed at the spider. The party responded in kind, charging the front line, with Taegahn flanking right. The spider didn't hesitate to do its master's bidding. It scurried up walls and across ceiling to ultimately position itself immediately in front of Taegahn. The elven ranger unloaded point blank, retreating back to the party. Meanwhile, the rest of the party dealt with the hobgoblins even as a half-dozen more joined the fray. Gareth cleaved multiple slows with a single powerful stroke; Queequeg breathed deep and unleashed an electric charge that dropped rippled through multiple foes simultaneously; Gilic, maul firmly in hand, marked a hobgoblin who paid dearly for it later when he slammed into Queequeg.
Further back, the giant spider continued to scurry and harass the party. With uncanny dexterity, it rapidly made its way back and forth from floor to ceiling in order to position itself to drop down upon unsuspecting heroes. Death from above indeed. Shava paid dearly from such an attack, a poison agent sending searing death straight into her bloodstream. Cedric gave her a passing glance as he turned his attention back to a close knit gaggle of hobgoblins. His spell fizzled however. Shava beamed forth healing light to herself and a recently felled Gareth, who made quick work of his attackers. After the last hobgoblin was felled, the party took stock, searched the bodies, and rested.
TO BE CONTINUED
Phat Lewtz:
Aecris - +1 longsword - Queequeg
Selune holy symbol - Shava
Line(s) of the Night:
I'd make a much better master [than Queequeg]. Sean to Simon
Simon gets a bonus to his or her attack rolls. - Megan, rightly confused about Gilic's gender.
Brilliant Insight of the Night: Blake, while sampling one of Megan's home baked cookies between piles of pepper beef, commented that the chocolate chip treat had a strong vanilla flavor to it. Actually, Megan hadn't added any vanilla. Not even a drop.
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