The Skeletons of Scarwall
Castle Scarwall
The long trip northwards to Castle Scarwall, accompanied by Laori, Sail and their silent bodyguard, was uneventful. Some two weeks after leavin Kaer Maga, the Party found themselves heading up the side of a dormant volcano. They were following a weathered track that had once been a road heading toward the crater.
The headed towards the causeway where two leering gargoyles flanked an arch at the entrance. As Tordale stepped onto the causeway whirling vortex of what seemed to be undead spirits, manifested in front of him ripping the spirit of Zellara out from her harrow deck and attempting to draw her in. Tordale retreated off the causeway and the angry spirtis faded.
After a brief discussion, Halleth and Behazad began crossing hte causeway tentatively while Tordale tried to bypass the angry maelstrom of sprits by using dimension door - taking Garrid, Gaweth and Dellosia with him. As they appeared at the far end of the causeway however, the angry spirits manifested again, once more drawing Zellaria from her deck!
More ominously the portcullis guarding the castle began to raise!
The First Foray to Scarwall
As a squad of skeletal warriors marched out from within the castle, Tordale cast dimension door to remove himself and Zellara from the fray. While the others, shrugged off the effects of the aura of undeath the shrouded the castle and readied for battle, Tordale realised the spirit of their friend was uniquely vulnerable to the hungry undead that haunted the castle, and to protect her from them he sought a safe hiding place for the harrow deck.
As the skeletal warrior marched forward, their commander mounted on a
nightmare steed rode behind them. Though he found it strangely
difficult, Garrid channelled energy, destroying many of them. As the
surviving skeletons charged forward to attack, Gawedd faced-off against
the commander. While the other took care of the remaining skeletons,
Gawedd slew their commander's steed with a serious of mighty blows,
leaving him dismounted and enabling the Party to surround him,
eventually reducing him to a pile of dust and rusty armour. As combat
faded and Tordale returned Garrid noted that as he tried to heal his
friends that it was more difficult than normal to cast healing magic,
but eventually they were ready to move on.
Beyond the portcullis was a long corridor, filled with ancient orc
bones. Arrow-slits lined the walls on either side and another portcullis
blocked a huge set of double doors at the far end. Moving forward
they came under attack by large crossbow bolts as the Party struggled to
lift the heavy portcullis, though Tordale, sensibly, simply bypassed it
using his magic. Garrid, Behzad and Dellosia took a few hits from
crossbow bolts, but once they had managed to lift the portcullis enough
to slip under the attacks suddenly stopped!
Halleth was able to pick the lock on the doors to reveal the scene in the large chamber beyond to be stomach-turning. Bodies lay everywhere, orc and human alike. Judging by the sprawled and mutilated nature of the corpses, they fought brutally before succumbing to their wounds, dying in heaps on the floor. Many corpses were riddled with arrows and crossbow bolts, and a few appear to have perished while locked in mortal combat and still held weapons embedded in various parts of each other’s anatomy. Strangely, while the room reeked of death, the bloodstains on the walls and floor seemed incredibly ancient.
Moving in, Gawedd was attacked by a corpse orgy, which briefly proved troublesome before finally succumbing, mainly to Dellosia and Garrid's magic.Mandravius the Lost
Moving forward the party were stymied for a while by the fact the
doors exiting this room were barred. After spending sone time futilely
trying to bash them down, Gawedd eventually used a potion of gaseous
form to get to the other side and remove the bar.
Tattered bits of ruined tapestries lined the walls of this hallway—wispy filaments of rotting cloth that hung limp and forgotten. Ancient bones from scattered skeletons lay on the floor amid bits of broken weaponry and armour. Only one skeleton seemed to remain whole, slumped against the northeastern corner, clad in dust-caked full plate armour.
As the others trooped through,t hey Party were confronted by a hideous vision as the hall filled with a cacophony of clashing weapons and battle cries intermingled with the screams of the dead and dying. Individual words were impossible to discern, but as the sounds reached a crescendo of violence, smoky black shapes boiled up out of the bones and swirl into a vortex of angry shrieking spirits. The wailing of these spirits was enough to drive Behzad to temporary madness.
As the vortex collapsed, a towering smoky form rose from the plate-mail-clad bones in the corner. Two yellow eyes glowed deep inside the sockets of its skull-like face - a wraith! As he lunged at Gawedd, he shrieked, “You shall not have Serithtial! It is mine and no other’s!” As his friends rallied to his aid and battle raged Gawedd found his ghost touch armour was strangely ineffective against the wraith's attacks, but eventually the wraith was destroyed.
Garrid healed those he could before Halleth chose the western exit from the hallway, revealing a nondescript corridor has arrow slits spaced along one wall, looking out into the main keep’s entry corridor. Human bodies in chain shirts lay on the floor among the broken remains of shortbows and quivers of arrows. Curls of yellow smoke wafted among the bones and ruined weapons.
Halleth moved cautiously forward followed by the others - except Gawedd who somewhat uncharacteristically held back. The yellow mist then welled up engulfing the corridor, burning those within with a combination of acid and negative energy. As the rest of the Party retreated backwards, seeing skeletal figures rising in the mist, Gawedd slammed the door shut, but the yellow mist seemed beneath it, half filling the large hallway. Behzad and Dellosai succumbed to the trench mist, Garrid channelled energy in an effort to save them, dragging Dellosia out of the mist. Unfortunately the mist simply rolled over them again!
As Gawedd and Halleth desperately launched attacks at the mist, Garrid channelled energy, once more, this time targeting their enemies. Although the channelling had no impact on the mist, it instantly slew the juju-zombied lurking within it. Eventually Gawedd and Halleth's attacks managed to destroy the trench mist, but it was too late for Dellosia and Behzad, both of whom were dead. Garrid had a scroll of resurrection and there was some discussion about whom to use it on until Laori offered to use speak to dead to confirm whether the slain were willing to return, finding that only Behzad was!
Once Behzad was returned to life, the moved on eventually ending up in what had been the castle's kitchens where four cinder ghouls were quickly disposed of.Death and Despair
After resting for a while and lamenting the loss of Dellosia, the Party were surprised when a tall slender elf walked into the room introducing himself as Variel. He explained that Cressida and the leaders of the Resistance back in Korvosa had seen Dellosia's death while scrying on their progress and sent him along as reinforcement.
With this welcome reinforcement, the Party recommenced their exploration of the Castle, first finding a courtyard guarded by large minotaur skeletons that stood immobile against the wall, deciding to leave them for later they headed into the south-west quadrant of the castle finding some abandoned rooms where they found a spellbook in a hidden drawer. They also found a puzzling warning scrawled on a wall in orcish - “Ukwar Lives—We Die!”
Moving across to the south-west quadrant of the castle they quickly
disposed of another trench mist before finding in the room beyond a dead
orc who had written in his blood next to him“Beware of Ukwar.”
Gawedd pushed on and opened one of the doors to the rooms beyond
coming under attack by an armoured skeletal warrior whose blade dripped
in acid. This opponent proved a formidable foe indeed. Gawedd was driven
back following an devastating acid blast it unleashed. Tordale struck
back, while Variel and Halleth began casting magic missiles. Behzad meanwhile closed while Garrid used his nimbus of light
ability and moved closer to threaten the undead warrior. This proved a
costly mistake as the warrior, unnerved perhaps by the presence of a
good-aligned cleric immediately launched a devastating series of
attacks, slaying him instantly. Shocked by the sudden death of their
friend the Party rallied and redoubled their attacks, eventually
destroying the undead warrior, but not before Behzad too had succumbed
to it's deadly assault.
The Second Foray to Scarwall
While the Party mourned the loss of their friends and completed what burial rites they could muster, they were approached a by a shoanti shaman who introduced himself as Halstan Pure-wolf, sent by the tribe to provide spiritual guidance to Gawedd, it's newest member. While they were discussing their next steps, Quinn (immediately dubbed "The Mighty" by Tordale), a paladin sent by Cressida as further reinforcement, teleported in to join them.
Moving cautiously across the causeway, fortunately without incident the party discovered that the portcullis and main gates were both closed! It took a considerable amount of time and effort to get through the two setts of gates and portcullises, not to mention dodging sporadic attacks from the hidden crossbow wielders firing at them from various arrow slits- nut only Halleth was actually hit. Eventually they finally made it through the obstacles. Tordale meanwhile had taken an potion of gaseous form and scouted ahead locating the mechanism for the portcullises on the level above and noting it was guarded by six minotaur skeletons carting great-axes.
After searching the area where Behzad and Garrid had fallen, they headed up up to the next level and attacked the guards, Variel tossing fireballs around while the others closed to combat. Things were complicated slightly when three shadows emerged out of the floor and joined the battle, but in short order the Party were triumphant and secured the area.
The Chained Spirit
Moving northwards deeper into the second floor the of Scarwall, the
Party passed several relatively innocuous haunts without mishap before
stumbling into the castle's Great Hall. Thick wooden columns, their
sides caked with dust, supported the ceiling. Between them, in the
centre of the room, sat a large fire pit, its ashes long cold. Many old
stains marred the floor, some surely of spilled food and ale, though
several darker ones appear more grisly in origin. At the western end of
the hall, a wide dais rose where the lord’s table could be set to
oversee affairs in the hall. In the centre of the dais was a great chair carved of oak and studded with iron
rivets. Down one step and to the left of it was a smaller, less
elaborate chair of oak.
As Gawedd led the way confidently into the room as a humanoid figure manifested over the fire pit, it's body faded into mist below the hips, while its upper, ghostly torso was bound in lengths of writhing chains. As Gawedd approached it lashed out with one of it's chains striking him with a strange coldness. As the rest of his friends deployed into the room to help they were assailed by spectres manifesting around them.
An epic battle ensued the Party initially struggling against their
incorporeal energy draining foes. While Variel tossed spells, Quinn and
Halleth dealt with most of the spectres before moving to support Gawedd,
while Halstan struggled to keep everyone alive! Eventually the Party
bruised, battered and considerably down on spells and healing were able
to catch their breath as their foes were vanquished. However, as
Halstan sat on the dais he noticed with horror what looked like the
chained spirit reforming over the fire pit!
The Iron Statue
Eventually the Party managed to destroy or drive off the geists, but it was a close-cut thing, the ghost-touch weapons and armour provided by the shoanti ritual proving decisive. They decided to rest in the room they had cleared, Variel cast a Tiny Hut spell and they huddled within. Gawedd found that rest eluded him that night, the oppressive atmosphere of the castle disturbing him even though the night was uneventful, save for a passing guard patrol that strangely ignored them. Seeing the state their friend was in the Party suggested a further period of rest, but it was to no avail and eventually Quinn resorted in lay on hands to remove the elf's fatigue.
Moving through the second floor they came to a large iron bound door, that unlike most of the doors in Castle Scarwall was actually locked! After several attempts Halleth managed to open the door to reveal ruined armoury in the corner of which stood a statue of Kazavon carved from iron. Tordale cast detect magic, identifying a powerful magic source in a ruined cabinet near the statue. Quinn stepped into the room, but the iron statue lurched forward and exhaled a cloud of poisonous gas towards him. As the paladin hastily retreated Tordale realised they were confronted by an iron golem which strode forward and slammed the door. While a plan was hatched to deal with the golem, a bored Gawedd wandered off to explore nearby rooms, Halstan trailing along after him to make sure he didn't get into to much trouble.
The plan devised was fiendishly simple. Supported by an earth elemental summoned by Variel Quinn would go into the room again while Tordale used his magic to dash in and seize the magic item. Once Halleth unlocked the door again, Tordale's part of the plan was executed flawlessly, however Quinn's did not go so well and due to the worst ill-fortune the paladin was pounded to a pulp. Fortunately Variel instructed the earth elemental, which the golem was ignoring to retrieve the paladin's body. While Tordale admired the magic longbow he had retrieved Halstan cast Reincarnate on Quinn.
It took a little while for the paladin to get used to the fact of being in a new body, but eventually the Party, urged on by an increasingly impatient Gawedd, moved on. They found a waiting room where some of them became overwhelmed for a brief moment by the conviction that they had come to plead for mercy from Kazavon, but knew the warlord will not grant it. This was followed a heartbeat later by an urge to commit suicide by leaping from the castle walls. This phantasm passed quickly, but left those affected disturbed nonetheless.
Gawedd meanwhile, Halstan in tow, had wandered off down a
corridor and disturbed a Scarwall Guard at his post who
immediately began ringing an alarm bell!
The Donjon
Though Gawedd swiftly despatched the Scarwall guard, the ringing bell summoned several of the nearby denizens of the castle Scarwall - some spectres and a brief visit by the chained spirit they had fought the day before. The spectres were eventually slain, though Halstan was severely energy-drained by them. The shaman recovered the energy drain with a restoration, but had lost much of his armoury of spells.
The Party headed out through a nearby door which led out out to the western parapet of the castle. This parapet offered a haunting view of the crater lake and the ragged cliffs beyond. The parapet was covered in an unhealthy looking green lichen that, although harmless, made the footing treacherous - as Quinn soon found out!
There was a doorway that opened on to a staircase that led down
into the western wing of the castle, but the Party chose to edge
round the parapet to a large courtyard inn front of the donjon.
As the approached Halleth noted that the architecture of the
donjon more resembled a cathedral than a central fortification.
There was what looked like it had once been a side entrance that
had been covered in stone and a set of stairs that led up to the
main entrance. This bronze double door was so tarnished that it
appeared almost black. Gruesome images of devils and priests
cavorting among the corpses and tortured souls of the damned were cast in
bas-relief on its exterior. A skull and spiked chain overlooked
the entire scene from the centre of the doors. A heavy wheel is
set into the centre of each door, presumably a method of opening
them. However as Halleth tried she noticed that the stone door
jamb had been magically altered (via stone shape) to form
a seal around the edges of the doors. The central seam had
likewise been sealed with lead. Someone had not wanted whether was
in the donjon getting out!
Deciding they were not going to get through the huge bronze doors, they went to investigate the blocked side entrance where with a combination of stone shape for Halstan and brute force from Quinn and Gawedd, they managed to force entrance. A forbiddance spell cast over the donjon caused Gawedd some initial issues, and another of the strange phantasms haunting the castle briefly caused Quinn to lock himself in a cell, but eventually they found themselves in an oddly shaped room where they came under attacked by a giant zombie. The zombie was quickly destroyed but Quinn was badly injured in the combat and needed some major healing.
While Quinn was being healed Gawedd wandered through a nearby door which led to a strange room shrouded in writhing shadows. A ten-foot-tall humanoid figure stood motionless deeper in the room. He called for the others to investigate whereupon they immediate came under magical attack!
The Mummy Lord
Quinn followed Gawedd into the room to find his friend paralysed just inside the entrance. He barely had time to see a shadowy figure moving in the darkness before he felt a touch on his shoulder and was felled by a harm spell. While Halleth dragged the paladin out of the darkness, Halstan moved in to support Gawedd, only to find himself pushed back by the fighter who had recovered from his paralysis, slamming the door behind them.
The Party had scant seconds to catch their breath and offer what healing they could to Quinn before the door opened and they were assailed by a storm of superheated sand from the darkness within. Tordale stepped forward and cast dispel magic on the darkness within to reveal their opponent was a mummy lord. With a partially recovered Quinn shouting out their enemies weaknesses the Party charged in and with Variel and Halleth casting magic missiles, and Halstan keeping everyone alive they managed to destroy the undead after a fearsome battle, it's body dissolving into a pile of sand. Fearful, after Quinn's warning that the mummy lord would eventually rise again, they searched the chapel quickly, finding nothing of interest.
Moving on, they somehow made their way back to the main entrance
where a fiendish water elemental lurking in a large font was found and
quickly despatched.
In a nearby room however they discovered another nest of wraiths.
This proved a costly discovery as Quinn was slain before the undead could be destroyed. Unable to use reincarnate
this time due to the method of the paladin's death, the Party asked
Laori to help. She gladly offered to return Quinn to life, but the
Paladin was unwilling to return courtesy of the auspices of a god like Zon-Kuthon, to
whom he was fundamentally opposed .
The Third Foray to Scarwall
The Party decided to rest outside the castle to recuperate and bury Quinn's body, the Party spent a peaceful night. Their rest was interrupted only just after dawn when an armour-clad dwarf teleported into the camp. The dwarf introduced himself to Variel, who was on watch, as Wulff Greyhelm, telling him he had been sent by Cressida to help.
Variel woke the others, but the introductions to their new companion were rudely interrupted when the armour they had buried nearby, erupted out of the ground nearby and attacked. In a furious assault Variel was almost killed by a couple of blows. Eventually the Party with Wulff's assistance managed to destroy it again. While the party pondered what to do next, Sial advised Halstan that the "armor" was fact a strange undead known as a "graveknight" and would simply regenerate unless it was completed destroyed. He advisde there was only a handful of known ways to achieve that, all of which were currently beyond the Party's means!
Eventually, Wulff summoned a hound archon to take the armour as far away as it could!
Returning to Scarwall, they made their way through the ground floor for the third time and Wulff received his first introduction to the strange phantasms that haunted the place. Once the phansams effect had faded, Gawedd led the Party to the large chamber guarded by minotaur skeletons they had seen a couple of days ago. After a quick assault, the guards there were easily destroyed. In an abandoned workshop nearby, Gawedd sprung a trap which released three malevolent spirits that proved briefly more troublesome before also being destroyed.The Second Chain
Quickly disposing of the last of the polongs the Party searched the surrounding rooms, finding a ruined wine cellar and a captive halfling woman called Alimae who told them she had been snatched from her far-off village by a dragon on behalf of a hag who needed a herbalist to work with her on developing potions. Alimae seemed extremely reluctant to leave the room while the hag and especially the dragon were still a threat.
Leaving her there, the Party quickly slew the remaining guards at the
double doors in the corridor. This did not take long as both were
already badly wounded courtesy of Variel's magic, and it only took a
single blow each from Tordale and Gawedd to despatch them. The doors led
them out to the courtyard outside the donjon they had briefly visited
yesterday. This time rather than revisit the forbidding looking donjon,
they decided to explore the other exits from the courtyard. Remembering
the rhyme, they headed first for what looked like a large stable-block
or kennels. Opening the large doors and peering into the darkness
within Halleth discovered it was also being used by a dragon for it's
lair!
Overcoming the dragon's frightful presence Tordale and Variel both cast spells into the shadows, but the dragon evaded them by shadow walking out into the courtyard attacking with it's breath weapon. Wulff and Gawedd immediately charged in to attack and battle was joined. It was a close run thing, but helped by Tordale managing to temporarily blind the dragon, the Party soon got the upper hand.
Badly wounded from the fight, the dragon tried to flee up into the air, but pursued by Tordale and threatened by his magic the dragon realising he was outmatched surrendered offering them the pick of it's horde in exchange for its life. While Wulff healed those he could, the dragon, who introduced himself as Belshallam, told them that he was a relatively recent arrival at Scarwall. He had come in search of treasure, but had fallen foul of Mithrodar who had bound him to remain with his chains. He could range no more than a few miles from the castle to hunt before being compelled back.
The magic users in the Party discussed for some time how they might free the dragon from his bonds, and eventually Wulff cast a divination receiving the advice toRemove the evil,Make a wish,
Pray for a miracle!"
The Second Chain Broken
While the party rested, the debate cpntinued about what to do about Belshallam who slept peacefully nearby on his hoard. Various plans were hatched and discarded, primarily by Wulff and Tordale, until eventually it was decided to despatch Tordale off to Kaer Maga with a generous amount of treasure in search of a scroll. When Tordale duly returned, scroll of Wish in hand, the spell was cas. It freed Belhsallam from his bonds and broke the second of Mithrodar's chains, when the dragon rose up, without thanks, and sped off to the north!
Returning to their exploration of the castle and discussion the
likely location of the remaining bonded undead, they encountered some
tenebrous worms in a corridor leading up to a staircase. Tordale was
nearly killed before the worms were despatched but fortunately Wulff and
Halstan were nearby to save him with their healing magic.
The War Tower
Exploring the nearby rooms the Party found little of interest save a room where they were attacked by a stuffed wyvern!
The wyvern was possessed by a dybbuk, who briefly proved troublesome badly injuring Wulff before it was destroyed. Exploring the ramparts nearby Wulff found a magic hammer in a long-abandoned forge - which Gawedd claimed. The Party then turned their attention to a squat hexagonal tower nearby.
The door to this tower was iron-bound and was secured by a complex lock, however this proved little impediment to Halleth and they quickly moved in. On one of the upper floors they found and destroyed a juju-zombie orc, wielding another magical hammer . Halleth also discovered a cursed scroll, which while giving her visions of a man taking a gleaming sword deep into caverns beneath the fortress, also cursed her to crawl on her belly unable to walk. Tordale tried to remove the curse but his efforts were in vain.
They decided to rest here and spent a few uncomfortable days trying to do so until Tordale eventually used dimension door to take them outside the castle, where they could rest peacefully. Eventually after multiple attempts by Tordale and Wulff they managed also to remove the curse on Halleth, after which they returned to the War Tower.
A Very Bad Day in Castle Scarwall
Heading upwards to the uppermost layer of the War Tower the Party disposed of a few spectres and emerged onto the top of the octagonal tower gave a breathtaking view of the crater lake and the stark walls of the volcanic cliffs beyond. The area was dominated by three crumbled and ruined siege engines—a pair of catapults and a ballista.
Returning back downstairs they Party pondered their next move and
after some debate, made the fateful decision to revisit the donjon and
locate whatever had been sealed in there all those years ago. Their
search led them to a vast 
chamber, floored in gray slate and supported
by thick pillars of obsidian. Torches mounted on the pillars burned, yet
their flames were strangely dim, barely lighting the cathedral-like
space. White pinpoints of light seemed to dance
in the eye sockets of each skull that decorated the pillars. To the
north-west, a tall statue of a skull-headed man dressed in dark robes
stood behind a black marble altar, on which lay heaped mounds of ashes,
bits of bone, and a single skull, its teeth and eye sockets set with
glittering gemstones. Jagged, barbed chains dangled from the statue’s
eye sockets. Thick black curtains hung from the chamber’s walls.
Confidently Gawedd led the way in, but as he approached the altar the bejewelled skull rose into the air and emitted a hideous wail. As those within the room staggered under it's effects, Wulff dropping to the floor near death, the bejewelled skull turned it's fiery gaze on Gawedd who staggered once more, as the demilich ripped his soul from his body, his soulless body fell, corrupting and decayed rapidly, reducing to dust.
Healing Wulff, Halstan warned the others that this was a demilich and began shouting out rapidly what he knew of the fearsome undead. Variel began hurling spells at the skull - to little effect, while Tordale used his magical abilities to make his sword vorpal and charged forward striking the skull with a mighty blow. Halleth realising there was nothing she could do, moved back to the door calling for the Party to regroup. As Wulff rose to his feet gripping his hammer and charging forward, the demilich's gaze turned to Halstan who instantly crumbled to dust as his soul too was ripped from it's body. Tordale was next to fall, allowing Wulff one single mighty blow - which did little damage, before he too succumbed. Variel, seeing little option, fled with Halleth, Sial and Laori, taking refuge elsewhere in the castle, far from the donjon.
The Third Chain Broken
After the shattered survivors of the one-sided battle with the
demilich had rested, proof that Cressida was still monitoring their
progress, was given when reinforcements arrived.
First to arrive was Groobi Deathwalker, a cleric of Pharasma, quickly followed by Wulfic, a halfling cavalier, bearing magnificent moustaches and mounted on his riding-dog Fluffy! Last to arrive, though they were sure another would follow, was Anton, a half shoanti clad in flamboyant clothes and with a sailor's gait, who somewhat shockingly turned out to be Behzad's long-lost brother.
They spent some time getting to know their new companions and planning their assault on the demilich, plundering Groobi's extensive knowledge of the undead and eventually came up with a plan so crazy it might just work.
In the end the plan worked without a hitch. While Wulfric charged repeatedly, lance lowered, Groobi cast shatter multiple times. The rest of the Party moved to support roles, Anton casting stoneskin on Groobi. The demilich uttered an unearthly wail, but the whole party shook off it's effect. Another round of attacks and the demilich fell to the altar with the sound of a distant chain breaking. Groobi immediately snatched the quiescent jewelled skull up and crossing the room began the long ritual to destroy the demilich utterly.
Once the ritual was completed many hours later, the party extracted the jewels from the skull, two of which Groobi informed them still contained souls belonging to their fallen comrades upon which the Party resolved to free their souls to seek the afterlife as soon as they left the castle.
The nearby rooms proved empty, but they could find no entrance into the donjon's central tower, so headed back into the courtyard and a smaller tower across the way near the stables where the dragon had laired.The Curator of the Star Tower
Heading up into the tall tower led by Brand they ascended a precipitous stone staircase that led to a room where an immense iron bell sat on the floor amid the rotten, crumbled remains of a wooden frame that once held it aloft. As the Party looked out over the castle trying to puzzle out where they had not been yet, the immense bell suddenly, impossibly, rang out with a deafening peal, the intense vibrations causing racking pain to course through their bodies. Deafened by the loud noise, blood dripping from damaged ears they fled the room. Brand, Variel and Halleth running back down the stairway as quickly as they dared while Groobi and Anton leaped off the tower, casting fly as they went!
Fortunately for those inside the tower the bell did not ring again,
bot those outside suddenly came under attack by a banshee, flying down
form the top of the tower, it's unearthly cry ringing out, it effect
fortunately mitigated by the deafness
they were suffering under.
Undeterred, the banshee flew in striking at them with her deathly touch,
badly hurting both . Groobi and Anton retaliated with spells, while far
below them their friends, rushing out of the tower entrance began
unlimbering bows. The banshee swooped down to the courtyard hitting
both Brand and Halleth with her deathly touch. It was a close thing but
eventually the Party prevailed. After that they decided it was better to
withdraw and retreated out of the castle for rest and healing.
Next morning, Sial and Laori trailing along as usual, when they weren't arguing with one another, they decided to attempt to enter the star tower that had failed to find a way into from the donjon, eventually finding a secret door in the mummy's chamber. Beyond they found a series of rooms and stairs leading up and down. The upper stairs led to the roof of the tower where a single stone building with no obvious entrance sat atop the star-shaped rooftop. The marble of both the building and the surrounding tower showed no seams and were polished to a sheen, almost as if the entire structure were carved from a single immense shaft of stone. Only on the southeastern wall of the small stone building atop this tower was the smooth polish marred. Here, a carving of a ten-foot-wide skull with spiked chains dangling from its eye sockets looked out over the castle below. Variel and Anton examined the building carefully determining it was strong with conjuration magic, they agreed it was a portal of some kind, but currently sealed, with no way to open it.
The Party then decided to see what lay below and descending the staircase emerged into a chamber that had a strange organic texture, appearing almost like black mummified flesh streaked with glistening swaths of ancient blood. Four pillars carved to look like coils of entwined arteries and spinal cords supported the ceiling, with nails and surgical tools embedded in these pillars at key and painful-looking positions. At the base of the stairs was a ten-foot-diameter open shaft, entirely filled with thick bluish mist.
As they entered the room a voice spoke in each of their minds, idly asking which of them wished to take on the honour and glory of becoming the Star Tower’s new curate. At this Laori and Sial's argument which had been simmering all morning erupted into first rage, and then blows! It ended only when Sial ordered Assyra to restrain Laori, which the kyton did, wrapping the cleric in chains. Brand, not liking the sight of this, stepped in and attacked the chain devil.
When the rest of the Party also decided to intervene on behalf of Laori, Sial, realising he could not stand against them, threw himself on the mercy of the invisible voice! A huge Nightwing suddenly appeared in the room grasping Sial and Assyra, and before whisking them off to whatever grim fate being made a "curate" portended, told the Party that the blade they sought was guarded by the Children of Rovagug far below. The path they must follow lay by way of the shaft shrouded in the bluish mist, but the way was currently sealed by the curse that shrouded Castle Scarwall. They decided to press on, heading for the Gatehouse Loft. As they walked there, Groobi noticed that Laori seemed shaken by the recent experience with the and decided the time might be ripe to offer her an alternative to the worship of Zon Kuthon!
Taking the staircase to Gatehouse loft, Brand immediately got into
combat with a skeleton with a flaming skull. When the others moved to
help they were attacked by greater shadows.
The Gatehouse
The skeleton warrior and his attendant shadows were quickly slain and the Party, discovering there was no entrance to the Gatehouse Tower from this area, descended once more to find another stairway up.
Arriving in the northern part of the Gatehouse, Brand immediately encountered another of Scarwall's strange phantasms, an uncomfortable vision of being beheaded by the headsman's axe! Groobi found a small library nearby, full of mainly 700 year old history and geography books that would have been of great interest to a historian! That said she found herself intrigued by what purported to be the autobiography of Tar-Baphon, though from it's sycophantic tone, she thought it more likely to have been written by some hanger-on trying to gain the wizard-king's favour.
Apart from the library they found little of interest in the area until Brand opened to a room guarded by four barbed devils who immediately attacked. The barbed devils were dangerous opponents very nearly killing Brand before his friends arrived to destroy of dismiss the devils.
The exit from this room led, across a short walkway to the tower they
had sought. The entrance to the tower was an iron banded door with a
superior lock that even Halleth took several attempts to pick. The
interior of the tall, hollow tower beyond wais silent and menacing. A
full forty feet overhead, an opening at the tower’s peak let in some dim
light, as did the arrow slits set into the walls, yet nothing seemed
capable of dispelling the gloom of ancient evil that loomed here. A
shallow pool of stagnant water from past rains had formed in the centre
of a floor that was largely empty of furnishings. Near the far wall
slumped a wide bed swathed in rotten and mouldy bedclothes. The bed hung
a few feet off the floor, supported at its corners by chains hanging
from a series of iron support beams above. To the side, a large gilt
throne stood upon a short dais before a series of manacles inset into
the floor. A nearby fire grate, long cold, held a collection of branding
irons and other torturer’s tools. A series of alcoves climbed the walls
of this tower in an ascending spiral. Within each stood a statuette,
art object, or polished skull.
An Ancient Curse Lifted
Their invisible opponent in the tower proved formidable. Anton used disintegrate to cut a passage through the door allowing the rest of the Party to join the battle, only to find themselves trapped in a forcecage, leaving Brand to face their 
attacker alone. Using see invisible, Anton and Variel were able to identify their opponent as a large scythe wielding winged devil with glowing yellow eyes. Fortunately the forcecage did not stop the passage os spells, allowing Anton to use dancing lights to highlight their target.
Variel began launching chain lightnings, while Wulff frustrated by the forcecage from charging began using his sling, managing to get in a couple of solid hits! . Anton fired off a volley of ectoplasmic magic missiles while Halleth used her more ordinary ordinary magic missiles. While Brand desperately defended himself, Groobi, still outside the forcecage managed to keep everyone alive while they managed to destroy the devil.
The sound of a great chain snapping echoed through the castle.
As they recovered from the battle there was a brief disagreement in the Party between those needing to rest and those who wished to press on in the hope that Mithrodar was now weakened, and that he had not managed to chain any more powerful creatures to bolster his defences.
Fortunately their decision to press on proved the right one.
Mithrodar proved a shadow of himself from their previous encounter with him and charging in they quickly overwhelmed the chained spirit, finally breaking the curse of Scarwall aad freeing those spirits, both good and evil, that had been trapped there for so long!
One of those freed from the spirit-trap enveloping the castle was that of Count Andachi
who appeared before them briefly to thank them for finally righting the
wrong he had done so lone ago by unleashing Kazavon. The count also
confirmed the location of the blade they sought, warning them that one
last powerful servant of Kazavon still remained guarding it.
Scarwall Caverns
After contemplating the mysterious well of blue mists for some time the Party, somewhat reluctantly, entered one by one. By whatever cautions method they entered the mist they soon found themselves falling endlessly down what seemed to be a huge distance before arriving with a thud, more or less unscathed, in an empty chamber is cold and still. The jagged walls of the tower were broken to the northeast by a single stone door, and the floor was polished to a reflective sheen. Thirty feet above, the ceiling was completely obscured by a roiling bank of the glowing blue mist.
Heading out of the doorway they wandered through a series of caverns, passing one that contained a fifteen-foot-wide shaft that plummeted into the darkness. A faint warm breeze flowed up from the pit, carrying with it strange mineral scents. What appeared to be a set of three-foot-wide handholds runs down along the closest side of the shaft—a crude, primitive ladder, perhaps, but judging by the length between holds, one sized for a creature almost three times as large as a man. Halleth clambered down the shaft briefly before deciding this probably wasn't the right way to go, and returned to the top.
Moving forward they eventually found their way to a cool chamber
suffused with the rank odour of decay, filth, and wet fur clings. The
chamber was an immense, twenty-foot-high cavern that faded into the dark
to the north. A wide rocky shelf sat in the southern portion of the
cavern, and upon this shelf were four crude, domed hovels, each nearly
twenty feet tall and built from rough stone blocks mortared together with a nasty mix of mud, hair, and assorted debris.
Each stone hovel had a large arched opening into its darkened interior. To the east, a silent lake of black water stretched
into the distance. Few ripples disturbed its surface, giving it the
appearance at times of a massive sheet of polished obsidian. Far out in
the water to the northeast, a single point of light glowed just above
the surface, like a bright star about seventy feet out in the lake,
though the source of the glow wasn’t discernible from shore. Almost
immediately they were attacked by four gugs emerging from the huts. Both
Brand and Halleth were severely wounded by the horrible beasts before
they were despatched.
After some deliberation, Groobi cast dimension door to get out to the light, to discover it was a glowing sword thrust into the rock - Serithtial. As she reached for the hilt she felt a sense of a question in her mind "Are you worthy"?
Answering honestly the cleric replied "I am not sure" feeling an
immediate sense of dissatisfaction with her answer from the blade.
Suddenly a horrendous figure burst from the pool next to her, an
enormous bloated half-man-half-worm creature lashing out with claws and
bite. Groobi staggered wracked by pain from the fearsome wounds the
boated monstrosity had inflicted. Anton cast fly on Brand who
moved to attack only to be meat by a loathsome tide of acid black blood
vomited by the creature. Variel began summoning aquatic creatures while
Anton cast fly on her then began launching lightning bolt spells.
As Variel flew closer beginning to cast more offensive spells at close
range, Anton continued his barrage of magic from the shore.
Unfortunately Variel drew the creature's ire and was badly wounded
forcing him to withdraw.
Brand, taking advantage of the distraction grabbled for the shining blade and on feeling the same question asked of Groobi responded "I will try and be worthy!" This seemed to satisfy the blade and he was permitted to withdraw it from the stone. As another round of spells from Groobi, Variel and Anton slammed into the creature, accompanied by a single arrow from Halleth. Brand charged into the air slamming into the creature with a might blow of Serithtial. With a soundless cry the bloated form slipped beneath the surface of the lake!
Once everyone had recovered. Anton offered to teleport them all back to Korvosa.