The Raiders of Galath's Roost
Ashabenford, Glen and Beyond
While staying at the White Hart Inn in the town of Ashabenford, the Party were approached by Halesk Malorn, head of the local Council and asked to help investigate a disturbing increase in the number of drow raids occurring in Mistledale. The Council believed that the raiders were operating in the region of a ruined keep near the dwarven village of Glen called Galath's Roost. A bounty of 100gp was being offered for each raider taken alive and 25gp for proof of death against which the Party were offered an advance of 50gp each.
The Party accepted this commission and set out next morning for the village of Glen, resting that night in the village's only inn The Dark Door. Early next morning they set out arriving at the ruined keep without incident. As they neared the ruins, Calita was attacked by a couple of krenshars, but with the help of an entangle spell, she Erik and Garan soon helped her defeat them. Before heading up the ramp that led across the dried-up moat into the ruins, Garan searched for tracks discovering several sets of horse's hoof-prints, which as Calita pointed out would be very unusual in relation to drow!
Entering
the ruins, Calita disturbed some stirges which were swiftly dealt with
, but not before one manged to attach and drain some of her blood. They
then skirted round an area where the floor looked particularly unstable
and Erik began searching a rubble-strewn stable,. Unfortunately he
disturbed some bombardier beetles there. In the battle against the
acid-spewing vermin, the paladin was sorely wounded, eventually
being dragged out of danger by Calita's faithful hound,
while his friends managed to finish-off the vermin.
Beneath the Roost
Heading back to Galath's Roost after a couple of days rest, the Party found some giant ants infesting one corner of the ruins, but decided to leave them be. The then searched the remains of the Great Hall, dominated by a large oak tree growing there. Roosting in the oak tree they found Rossal, a pseudodragon, whom Erik and Calita bribed with a combination sweetmeats a fruit dipped in honey. Rossal told them about the "dragon men" who had stopped him getting to the honey below and also about the "horse soldiers" who appeared every ten-day from the south and then vanished back in that direction also telling them that on their last visit the horse soldier had spotted him and attacked him. He told them proudly that the had then followed them and attacked the rearmost rider with his sting who had fallen off his horse and been abandoned by his compatriots. The Party thanked Rossal, and promising to return with more sweets headed down the steps leading beneath the keep, his warnings about "unseelie fairies" echoing in their minds.
The "unseelie fairies" turned out to be a water mephit lairing in a
pool below, who proved briefly troublesome before they Gran and then
Erik waded in to the icy water and slew it. Moving onwards, roughly
following the underground stream that fed the pool, passing a passageway
blocked by a bronze portcullis, they briefly tangled with an assassin
vine, which drew the attention of some soldier ants guarding the nearby
nest. After killing the ants, they decided to skirt round the ant nest,
finding themselves in a cave where the walls were carved with a series
of hollows and narrow ledges, almost like shelves. Coloured shards of
broken glass littered the ledges and more lay on the floor, remnants of a
wine cellar they decided. The stream they had been following led to a
wide shallow pool of green tinted water. Searching they area Garan
disturbed a large viper snoozing in the shadows. In the course of
fighting the viper, they discovered the floor of the pool was not
completely natural, a large slab of stone was set in the base. There
being no apparent way to move the slab, especially as it was under two
feet of water, they decided to head back to Glen and purchase some
heftier tools.
On their way out Garan decided to have a closer look at the bronze portcullis, where Calita's keen elven senses spotted a secret door in the wall beyond. Searching the walls nearby Garan found a mechanism that released the portcullis, and they managed to push it back into a recess in the ceiling. Beyond the secret door a short sloping passage led out to a exit hidden in a small copse of trees to the east of the ruined keep.
After buying pickaxes and sledgehammers and then spending another night in the Dark Door, they returned to the keep next morning. Garan decided it was time to follow the tracks of the horse-soldiers to the south. Skirting round a large sinkhole to the south where they could hear the loud buzzing of large bees below, the tracks led to the top of a nearby hill and then simply vanished! Searching the area Calita found some signs of a campsite used by elves, before Garan spotted vultures circling half a mile to the south. Heading that direction, they found three shallow graves, two of which had been dug-up by animals. There was not much left of the bodies in the first two graves, but exhuming the third they found that it contained the stripped corpse of a drow.The Kelerandri Vault
The Party returned to the shallow pool, Garan used his stonecunning to dam the stream and then Erik and Calita helped empty the shallow pool. Pickaxes and crowbars were then brought to bear on the stone slab, eventually they broke through to reveal a void beneath with a large wooden chest within. The chest was dragged out and a couple of stout blows to the sides soon caused a torrent of coins to flow out. As well as the coins the chest contained a pouch of jewels, a scroll in a wooden case, a wand and a longsword that glowed with a blue aura.
After all this exertion the Party decided to return to Glen, where they disposed of the loot and placed some orders with Alban, a local Trader who dealt in some magic items. Alban was able to identify the longsword and via trial and error, and not a little pain on Garan's side they discovered the wand was a wand of magic missile. After spending another night in the Inn eating drinking an listening to rumours, one of which relating to people going missing near the town of Wheloon caused them to prick up their ears, they returned once more to the tunnels beneath the ruined keep.
This time they forced their way past a stone door only to discover that the cavern beyond was blocked by a thick honeycomb dripping in honey. Garan hacked through the honeycomb, and they Party fought through some angry bees and then moving deeper into the cave system found themselves under attack by the "dragon-men" who indeed turned out to be kobolds. Most of the kobolds were quickly slain, and Erik accepted the surrender of the final few pitiful survivors. In the kobold's camp they found a half-orc trussed up, unconscious and covered in bee stings.
The area in which they found themselves was some sort of underground
complex, but in Garan's estimation was of very different workmanship
than the ruined keep. The walls were covers with faded murals of a
moonlit forest and a single
door with a full moon on it, which the
kobolds described as the "death-door". Garan, Erik and Calita all tried
opening the door to no avail, each of them taking damage from whatever
spell protected it as they did. As if their efforts had disturbed
something within, the air was suddenly filled with a frightful moaning
sound. Though Garan was keen to take on whatever undead might lurk
beyond the door, the others overrode him and hauling the unconscious
half-orc over his shoulder, Erik led the way back up to the keep.
On their way out of the keep, they saw four riders heading towards
them. The leader of the riders introduced himself as Jarrod and told
them he and his men were Riders of Mistledale, investigating the recent
raid on Wolcott Manor. The two parties camped in the ruined keep,
Jarrod being impressed at the intelligence the Party had gathered as to
the raiders, and even more impressed they had taken one of the raiders
prisoner. Jarrod also told them that a prized horse along with it's
stable boy had been taken from the Manor and a substantial reward was
being offered for their return.
Next morning Duncan,the wizard assigned to the patrol questioned their prisoners using a potion of detect thoughts. The prisoner who was called Ubdul, readily admitted to being a Zhent raider. He told them that the raiders were based in a small isolated citadel in the mountains and used a portal to get to the area which only the Zhent officers could activate.
Jarrod suggested they take this information back to Halesk in Ashabenford, he and his men would remain in the area for a few days if needed. Prisoner in tow the Party set out for the town. Arriving there a couple of days later they handed over Ubdul to the Riders at their barracks and then met with Halesk. After listening to their tale Halesk suggested that they and Jarrod's men set up and ambush for the Zhentarim the next time they used the Portal. Jarrod and his men could take any survivors into custody which would free up the Party to deal with the remaining Zhentarim in the citadel on the other side of the portal.The Citadel
The ambush of the Zhent raiders went off without a hitch. As soon as the portal opened and the Zhents began appearing, leading their horses behind them. Duncan immediately took out four of them with a sleep spell. The the Party and the remaining Riders of Mistledale charged forward from concealment and killed or captured the remaining raiders. While the Riders dealt with the captives, the Party quickly moved through the portal before it closed, finding themselves on a windswept cliff which stretched away to the west. To the east a bluff of solid rock rose up, a narrow tongue of natural stone connected it to the cliff. Garan spotted an opening on the other side of a 10-foot-wide crevasse. Not trusting his jumping ability he began to climb down, unfortunately slipping and crashing to the bottom 20 feet below! Calita and Erik meanwhile leaped over the gap surprising some guards there, who immediately shouted for help. Garan clambered up the other side of the crevasse and arrived in time to help deal with the reinforcements, dragging the bodies off into a side room,
Cautiously they began exploring the interior, Garan took the central passageway while Eric and Calita explored the perimeter. Garan passed by some stables before seeing some guards ahead, deciding to rejoin his comrades who had found what appeared to be a mess-hall and then some private rooms. Just as Garan arrived, Erik opened the door to one of the rooms, surprising the occupant a female who, rising, swung at him with a silvered greatsword. This proved a fatal move on her part as Eric retaliated with a might;ly blow, killing her instantly. Searching the room they found some treasure as well as some paperwork that Erik appropriated as evidence.
Moving on around the perimeter all was quiet until they reached almost all the way round where they ran into another guard post, the occupants of which were swiftly dispatched. Nearby Garan spotted a heavy iron door. Opening the door revealed a dim interior and two gaunt canines with glowing red eyes, who raised hackles and growled at his approach. At the growling a man emerged from a door to the north and, seeing Garan stood there, revealed himself to be a werewolf, transforming into his hybrid form and moving forward menacingly!The Stables
The confrontation with werewolf proved short lived, the silvered
greatsword Erik had liberated from the Captain earlier making short work
of him wile Garan and Calita teamed up to deal with the fiendish
wolves. Moving deeper into the complex, the Party quickly locate the
missing warhorse in the stables, but there was no sign of the
stable-boy that had been taken by the raiders to help control the
spirited animal. Galen also discovered two grooms hiding in a locked room
nearby though was unable to coax them out. The noise made by the
disturbed horses attracted the attention of the guards Garan had seen
earlier guarding the stairway down, accompanied by a half-orc
lieutenant, but hey Party quickly dispatched them, Erik quickly totting
up the bounty they had accrued so far.
In the nearby armoury Galen discovered a gnome working, who made a half-hearted attempt to detain them using an illusionary portcullis, before telling a distinctly unimpressed Garan to hand himself in to the nearest guards, on being told the guards were slain he simply shrugged and went on with his work! Erik finding no taint of evil upon him, decided to leave the armourer to his work. Near the armoury the Party discovered some sleeping quarters where a mage and another half-orc lieutenant proved briefly troublesome, especially after Garan succumbed to a sleep spell, before meeting the fate of their comrades. Growing weary of the slaughter, Erik began offering quarter to their enemies as they moved upstairs to clear out the watchtower, though few seemed interested in the offer most preferring to die in the service of their dark god.
Finally heading down the stairs that had been guarded, they led down to a large chamber, two further guards here were swiftly dealt with, however the noise drew the attentions of three clerics of Bane who, accompanied by an imp, joined the battle, casting spells and charging into battle maces raised!The Temple of Bane
As the battle with the clerics of Bane raged, the imp proved
proved the most troublesome of their adversaries until
smacked-down by a "smite evil" from Erik. One of the acolytes was
slain by Garan and the by Calita, which left them all to gang-up
on the final cleric, who did not last long. Once the clerics had
been slain, the quickly searched the area, freeing some prisoners
from nearby cells. The captives included a paladin of Torm who
turned out to be a polymorphed gold dragon, who helped them clear
out a nest of ghouls in the temple of Bane by flaming them with
his breath!
Having assured themselves that complex was clear, the Party, collected up their freed prisoners, and the stolen warhorse, loaded up some of the Zhent's horses with their loot and used a portal to escape before any Zhent reinforcements could arrive. Returning to Asabenford they cashed in their bounties and enjoyed a well earned rest.