When we last left the Vale’s heroes, they were on their way back to Winterhaven after having dealt with Talavi and the Winter Fey invasion. Word had reached them that things in Winterhaven had gotten worse, with more villagers having been taken (presumably by the Bloodreavers or the Cult of Orcus). So our heroes were traveling with all due haste when they came upon the scene of less a fight and more of a massacre on the King’s Road. Following a bloody trail and odd insect-like tracks, they came upon a “hive.” Investigating invisibly, Gandave entered and was quickly swarmed by kruthiks. This is where we will pick up after the break.
A bit of housekeeping details, as noted in a prior post, Evelyn is no longer able to join us. So Sulrinn has left the party to pursue her own agenda. We also have a new player, Adam, who has joined us. He is playing Aetris, a tiefling paladin, and having heard of the party’s deeds and Winterhaven’s need, has just tracked down the party.
As the party rushes to Gandave’s rescue (again), the kruthiks begin to drag Gandave’s unconscious body deeper into their tunnels.
- Aetris joins the party, explaining that Lord Padraig of Winterhaven asked him to find The Crusaders as things are getting worse in Winterhaven.
- Aran identifies the creatures as Kruthik and that tieflings created them long ago. Kruthiks today typically live in the Underdark and so it is odd that they are here. Also, they come in various sizes and the big ones can spit acid.
- The party prevails over the kruthiks and are able to save Gandave.
- In the back of this little hive, the party finds a tunnel sloping down as far as they can see. They decide to explore instead of pressing on to Winterhaven.
- The tunnel eventually opens up in the ceiling of a worked “road” deep underground.
- The road is uniform and some twenty-feet wide. It is tiled with polished bone, each tile about the size of a domino. The party is pretty sure that the bone is human. There are no torch sconces or other indications of light.
- Our heroes head to the “north” along the road, traveling about three miles before it opens into a large cavern. Gandave scouts ahead invisibly again.
- The bone-paved road continues into the cavern. It leads to a deep chasm which is deeper than Gandave can see with various cave entrances dotting the sides. An arched bridge crosses the chasm. The bridge is also made of bone. Gandave crosses the bridge.
- On the other side, the road continues. It leads to a “hill” in the cavern upon which some sort of structure has been constructed. Steps lead up to a set of massive double doors. It is all made of bone.
- An enormous skull, some twenty feet long, adorns the wall above the door. It looks vaguely draconic with eight horns curving off of the skulls, very fluid in shape.
- Gandave heads back. Part way across the bridge, he gets the feeling that something is watching him. Turning around, he sees that some sort of third eye or a gem is on the large skull and glowing a pale orange. He feels like something predatory and “alien” is watching him…much like the nightmares he has every night (due to a book that he read way back in one of the earlier sessions).
- The party heads south on the road, going about another hour or so past where they originally entered. The road begins to slope down at about a 15-20 degree angle. They had back to their point of entry, climb back up, and fireball the tunnel to make it collapse in the hopes that it will both keep anyone from going down and, more importantly, keep anything from climbing up and out from below.
The party presses on to Winterhaven. As they pass the various farms, all have been abandoned. The crops of some farms have been put to the torch. Once they arrive at Winterhaven, they find:
- The farmers have filled the small walled village. Families are camped in the streets. Everyone looks scared and worried…except Alena the young girl whose family the party had previously rescued from bandits. She has a big smile when she sees the group and waves enthusiastically.
- The heroes are taken to Lord Padraig. He shares that more villagers have been taken. Worse, Winterhaven proper was attacked last night. The attack was a distraction and a small force of the stealthy hobgoblins (Iron Shadows) snuck in and kidnapped six children from the lord’s manor where he thought they would be safe.
- Valthrun and Sister Lenora also join in on the conversation. Valthrun shares the following from his research while the party has been gone:
- The Keep on the Shadowfell was constructed a few centuries ago by the Nerathi Empire. A powerful necromancer, Karavakos, had brought many undead through a rift to the Shadowfell. While the Shadowfell is not evil per se, this rift connected to an unholy sanctuary of Orcus. The empire’s soldiers and mages were able to defeat Karavakos and create a magical seal over the rift. The keep was constructed to protect the seal.
- A little over a century ago, as the empire was collapsing, the captain of the keep went mad. Captain Keegan slew his family and then pretty much everyone else at the keep.
- A little less than a century ago, an earthquake hit the area and brought the keep down. As the Nerathi Empire was no more, there was no one to rebuild and re-occupy the keep.
- Valthrun had found a poem, ‘Dreams of Blood and Shadow, by the “mad” poet of Almhurst, Melgold. It was written before Keegan’s madness but the poem was prophetic and vaguely described the events. Fiona, of course, has heard of Melgold and he has had a number of other writings that foretold things.
- Padraig shares that Nena had discovered the location of the Bloodreaver camp and shares to location of both it and the keep. Nena said that she saw about two dozen hobgoblins at the camp. However, they did come and go so she couldn’t get an accurate count of their forces. Some are also at the ruined keep.
After getting some food and a moment of relaxation, Lord Padraig arranges for the party to leave Winterhaven over the wall. He is concerned that spies among the villagers may have been passing information to the Bloodreavers or the cult. Unfortunately, he has not been able to identify who might be involved on the “inside.” The heroes make their way towards the Bloodreaver camp.
- Reaching the camp, invisible Gandave scouts it out. (Gandave and Fiona are the two stealthiest members of the party and Gandave has a darkvision. This is why he keeps doing a lot of this scouting.) A palisade surrounds the camp. A watchtower has a couple of hobgoblins dressed and armed in a fashion that the party has not yet encountered. There is a hill within that has what appears to be a command tent. From a vantage point up in a tree, Gandave can make out at least a dozen or so hobgoblins with tents indicating the camp could hold two to three times that amount.
- A “corral” holds about a half-dozen villagers with a couple of hobgoblins guarding its gate.
- The party is able to attack without alerting the guards. They head for the command tent first, encountering a rather tough hobgoblin, perhaps a captain or officer of some sort, and another hobgoblin. The hobgoblins about the camp quickly respond to the attack, but the party is eventually victorious after a pretty tough fight. Without the surprise attack, things might not have gone the party’s way.
- Seven villagers are rescued. They share that others had been here but had been taken away. The children had been brought here. Earlier in the day, some crazed looking humans came, paid the hobgoblins, and took the children. The hobgoblins did not seem to care for these crazy folks much despite the “exchange.”
Unfortunately, the battle left our heroes in pretty bad shape and they had the safety of the seven villagers to worry about. So they headed back to Winterhaven rather than pressing on to the keep.
- On the trip back, Woodward smelled torches. As the party was traveling off the road, Gandave invisibly scouted again. A group of some 15-20 hobgoblins were traveling on the road in the direction of the camp. They were leading a number of draft horses.
- The party decided to leave this group alone and continued on to Winterhaven.
Back at Winterhaven, there are some new arrivals…another group of adventurers/mercenaries.
- Lord Warden Markelhay had paid this group to come and assist Winterhaven. It is the same group of mercenaries which had offered to clear out Kobold Hall for 200 gold when Woodward said that our heroes would do it for glory.
- The leader or spokesperson of this group, an elf, says that the Lord Warden sent them to help protect the village because our heroes can’t fully handle it themselves.
- Lord Padraig indicates that the mercenaries will help to protect Winterhaven and allow The Crusaders to go to the keep.
- Various banter back and forth cements the animosity between this greedy group and our selfless and heroic, well, heroes.
No one slept well this night. Everyone had nearly identical nightmares, including Lord Padraig and anyone else that the party asked. Perhaps an indication that the seal on the rift to the Shadowfell is weakening. In the morning, the party heads out for the keep.
- Arriving at the keep without issue, Fiona invisibly scouts ahead (since it is light out). She spots a handful of hobgoblins scattered about the ruins and various defensive elements (a pit, debris stacked up to filter opponents through an area). The hobgoblins seem tired and not very alert. The party moves in and attacks, taking the hobgoblins by surprise. The guards are quickly defeated and a stairway leading down is found.
- At the base of the stairs is a chamber with various corridors leading off. More tired hobgoblin guards. As combat occurs, some additional hobgoblins and a dire wolf arrive from various corridors. Most are not wearing armor (they had been sleeping).
- The entry chamber has old writings in dried blood. All are about voices in the writer’s head, suggesting various actions, and lots of mentions of blood.
- A “barracks” is found where the hobgoblins had been sleeping. A store room is also found with crates containing various foodstuffs and barrels with water.
- Another passage leads to a natural cavern (behind a door) with a pool of water. Perhaps a natural cistern for the keep. Not investigated by the party.
- Another passage leads to another chamber with various doors. One set of doors leads to another corridor that ends in a small chamber. Two cultists are sitting at a table and look a bit confused when the party shows up. Curtains cover additional passages and more doors. Two of the chambers beyond hold bedrolls and sleeping cultists. Fiona is able to quietly assassinate all of the sleeping cultists.
- Another chamber has additional bedrolls and a desk. A cultist is at the desk reading a book. He rises and is topless with lots of skull tattoos across his torso. Asks if the group is here to join or to die. Another cultist also joins the battle. Both are definitely higher ranking members and have various necrotic abilities (one summons a shadow creature to join the fight) that make the fight a bit more difficult than the prior combats at the keep. Still, the heroes prevail and each opponent smiles as they die.
- The book on the desk is a simple children’s book.
That last fight was the end of our 34th session. The party has gotten in the thick of things with the Bloodreavers and the Cult of Orcus. Numerous villagers are still unaccounted for, including the six children. I think (hope) that the players are starting to feel the pressing nature of things…perhaps my Time, Time, Time post where I mention that I have a calendar with the number of sacrifices already made and the number needed to remove the seal from the Shadowfell rift.
Just between me and you, the cult is really, really close to completing the required ritual sacrifices to break the seal. Really, really close…like maybe a day or two away. I suppose the real question is whether or not the heroes can make their way through the rest of the keep and defeat the cultists in time. Hopefully, we’ll find out in the next session or two.
