The Witchwood

Elsir Vale

Gothram, having somehow obtained a treasure map detailing the location of the lost Vault of Vraath Keep, rounded up some likely adventurers and headed out from the Free City of Greyhawk for the remote area of Elsir Vale located in the borderlands between Sterich, Geoff and Gran March. It took them a couple of weeks to cross Southern Furyondy and the through the pass in Lortmil Mountains and another couple of weeks crossing through the width of Bissell before they finally reached the Eilsir vale area, heading for the small town of Drellin’s Ferry. Drellin’s Ferry was the nearest town to where Vraath Keep was located deep in a remote part of the Forest of Dim known locally as “the Witchwood”. 

Towards late afternoon, as they rode through a small copse surrounded by farmland, Rosil spotted movement in the bushes and called out a warning to his companions as arrows suddenly flew towards them. Almund and Gothram quickly dismounted, while Cecily, who had been leading on foot, charged in. Their assailants they quickly discovered were hobgoblins and after a brutal battle the Party were triumphant. They barely had time to recover their breath before a second wave of hobgoblins, led by a Bladebearer and accompanied by a cleric with two hellhounds arrived.

In the melee that ensued, Gothram, already wounded, was nearly slain, but thanks to healing magics from Almund and Cecily the fighter was saved. After retrieving some useful looking shortswords from the body of the bladebearer and the Holy Symbol and armour from the cleric, they moved on, finding the hobgoblin’s camp in a nearby ruined farmhouse. They also found the bodies of the farmer and his wife as well as that of a merchant and his three bodyguards. It was clear that the hobgoblins were not simply after plunder as the merchants pouch of gold was still on his person. After digging some shallow graves, and holding a brief burial service, the Party moved on down the road to Drellin’s ‘ Ferry.

They arrived at Drellin’s Ferry round about sunset, the road they had been following for so long descended into what was a small town built mostly on the near side of a broad, sluggish river. Six old stone piers jutted from the water, marking the spot where a bridge once stood, but the span itself is long gone. Instead, a couple of long thick ropes cross the river, each secured to a flat-bottomed ferryboat. Brown fields and green orchards surround the town. They were met as they entered the town by a small group of armed townsfolk, Sergeant Hersk and three of the local militia, who quickly satisfied themselves as to the Party’s intentions and gauging the state of their purses, recommended staying at The Green Apple, near The Green in the centre of town.

The Green Apple was a cheerful taphouse with some rooms to rent at reasonable prices. They approached the bar and introduced themselves. The owner, a stout female dwarf  named Tharrma Hammerfist , at first seemed a bit nonplussed  when the dwarfs in the party refused to offer their clan-names, but then shrugged and offered the first round on the house for the weary travellers. They took a couple of rooms and after a pleasant enough meal, Gothram and Cecily availed themselves of the plentiful supply local cider in the taproom while Almund and Rosil headed to their rooms.

They were just settling down for the night when they were disturbed by a knock at the door. Outside in the hallway stood a tall, balding man of around fifty and a capable looking swordswoman. They introduced themselves as Norro Wiston, the Town Speaker and Soranna, the guard captain. Almund invited them in an they quickly told her they would like to engage their services to help deal with the hobgoblin raiders. Almund and Rosil quickly agreed to help, the paladin asking only that a small shrine to Hieronius be erected in the town, and arranged to meet the Speaker at his house next morning.

Next morning over breakfast, Rosil and Almund told the others , who somewhat grumpily agreed to help, though Gothram was a tad dismayed they  didn’t seem to be getting paid. On their way to the Town Speaker’s house, they stopped off at the local shrine to Pelor, where Brother Derney identified the holy symbol they had taken from the cleric as that of Tiamat – the god of evil dragons. Heading for the town Speakers house they shared a drink with him, discussed militia training,  and to Gothram’s delight negotiated a fee of 500gp for their help.

Monkey Business

After leaving the Town Speaker’s house, the Party met with Soranna in her office. She pointed them to various keep people in the village who might be able to help them with supplies and also advised that she had arranged for the local druid circle to supply a guide to the Witchwood and suggested they meet the druids in their grove on the far side of the river. Gothram and Almund headed over  to the ferry, and after getting briefly lost in the woods, were rescued by their guide Louella, a young elf.

Meeting up with the rest of the party, they headed off to the Witchwood. On being told by Louella, of some of the local wildlife they might encounter, Gothram decided it would be amusing to call out loudly, seeking to attract some of it! It was somewhat less amusing when an enraged girallon, took exception to this and tore into him. Before his comrades could do much, Gothram was lying on the ground a bloody mess, the girallon standing over him roaring and beating its chest. Almund dashed over and used lay on  hands to save the fighter while Rosil unlimbered his crossbow and Cecily, after firing off a magic missile, charged in to help Louella attack and eventually kill the girallon.,

Louella led them to the home of a local woodsman, who was able to give them some updates on the goblin movements in the forest, warning them that he had seen worg riders abroad, and that this seemed somehow more than the usual raiding party.

Heading off again, a few hours later they were crossing a flooded boggy area using a track-way, when Almund spotted a partially submerged wrecked wagon off to one side. Dropping off the track-way she waded through the water to investigate only to be attacked by a five-headed hydra. Rosil loaded his crossbow while Gothram fired his longbow. while Louella cast call lightning and began firing bolts at the creature.  Cecily cast another magic missile, the n noticing that Almund seemed to be coming off worse in the battle, waded in  to use her healing to keep the paladin going. Gothram quickly followed suit, drawing his longsword, and the creature was eventually slain.

After their exertions, they decided to rest nearby for the night in a clearing. The night passed peacefully till just before dawn when another girallon stumbled upon them. After a brief, though brutal ,fight the beast  was slain and dragged off into the bushes, but not before Rosil made a hearty breakfast stew from it’s brains, though no one else seemed particularly keen to partake.

As they set off, Louella pointed out that they were near the ruins of Vraath Keep, and indeed about an hour or so along the way they could them on a nearby hilltop. They headed up the overgrown pathway, Louella pointing out tracks of worgs and also humanoid footprints. As they neared the end of the pathway they stopped before they lost the cover of the vegetation. Silently they regarded the ruined keep, noting smoke rising from one of the chimneys.

Vraath Keep

The old keep looked in very poor repair. The gatehouse was partially collapsed as was a section of wall to the south. Th walls surrounding the keep were about 15ft high, with a two storey tower in the southwest corner. Large boulders lay strewn about the ruins and a massive giant skeleton slumped amid the ruins of the northern tower. Moving forward, Gothram clambered over the ruins of the massive wooded gate into the courtyard which appeared empty. The others swiftly followed, deploying into the courtyard.

In a nearby building, Gothram disturbed a manticore in its nest. The manticore proved a formidable foe, but fortunately a giant eagle summoned by Louella, heled them defeat the magical beast. Unfortunately the sounds of battle summoned the inhabitants of the castle and four hobgoblins, accompanied by a minotaur charged into the courtyard from the nearby barracks and battle was once more joined. As battle was joined, things were almost immediately complicates a two goblin worg riders charged out of the stables!

Gothram and Almund were badly wounded in the battle, but Cecily manged to keep them alive – somewhat grudgingly. One of the goblins survived the battle and fled into the stables to hide, pursued by Rosil, who swift found and despatched him. Once healed, Almund opened the door to the barracks – straight into a lightning bolt!

As Louella and Gothram charged in to support, they found themselves facing a bugbear sorcerer and two for his hobgoblin bodyguards. The sorcerer unleashed another couple of lightning bolt spells and retreated to a far room, casting ray of enfeeblement at Gothram.  While Almund and Louella dealt with the hobgoblins, Cecily and Gothram cornered the bugbear and eventually slew him – despite Gotham taking another ray of enfeeblement.

As the fog of battle faded Cecily once more doled out healing while Louella used a Lesser Restoration to alleviate Gothram’s ability damage. Searching the bodies and nearby rooms they recovered some treasure and also what looked like a map of the area with scrawling in what they assumed was goblin.

After things had calmed, Gothram drew out his treasure map and with Rosil’s help located a secret trapdoor that led down to the hidden vault. Carefully he descended the rusty iron ladder affixed to the wall.

Prelude to Invasion

Gothram looked around the small vault space. Immediately his eyes were drawn to  an armour clad skeleton, with a large arrow in the ribcage,  gripping a sword that gleamed with motes of light. Picking up the sword, it immediately began shedding a cold blue light. With Rosil’s expertise in lockpicking, they quickly managed to break into the vaults, recovering several magic items: including an orate staff carved with holly leaves and berries that Louella claime; a considerable amount of coinage; and amongst other paperwork, the deeds to Vraath Castle.

Returning upstairs, they set about clearing the bodies, to make the barracks fit for habitation. Gothram however decided to spend the night across the courtyard in the manticore’s nest, surrounding himself with some of the loot recovered. This proved a poor decision as, when twilight turned to night a group of giant wasps descended through the hole in the roof. Fortunately, though badly stung and reeling from the poison, he managed to hold them off till his friends arrived to help despatch them, Almund having heard his cries for help. Cecily once again was called on to administer healing and restoration.

Next morning Cecily cast comprehend languages and was able to translate the writing on the map Louella had found. It appeared that far from a raid by the goblinoids, they were planning a full-fledged invasion of the Vale. According to the timeline scrawled on the map the goblins had already seized the bridge at Skull Gorge. After some discussion they decided that if they could destroy the bridge they might buy enough time for the people  in Drellin’s Ferry to evacuate.

It was mid-morning ny the time they set out - heading northwards along the road. About an hour or so into the journey they saw what looked like a poorly formed mannequin of a giant, Louella observed  this was a territory marker for one of the tribes of forest giants in the area. After a brief discussion they decided to see if they could recruit the giants to help against the goblins. About half a mile along the track they found an elderly  giant roasting a dire boar over  huge fire.

The two dwarfs held back, commenting on the lack of trust between their kind and the giants, but the humans in the party manged somehow to negotiate a makeshift alliance.

After a pleasant enough meal they moved on, arriving several hours later at Skull Gorge. From the forest’s edge they could see hobgoblin guards  on the towers, and hellhounds with glowing red eyes prowling the area. Perched atop one of the towers was the sinuous form of a green dragon.

Skull Gorge Bridge

After some time spent surveying the disposition of the enemy forces occupying the bridge at Skull Gorge, Gothram eventually  took decisive action by trying to get one of the hellhounds to come towards him. The hellhound obliged, blasting him with its breath weapon. In retaliation Gothram charged and to gove him cover, his friends began firing arrows and magic missiles at the hobgoblins on top of the towers. As battle joined, the dragon, noticing rose somewhat lazily into the air and, flying overhead, unleashed its breath weapon, being met by a hail of arrows from Almund, Louella and Rosil.

Louella summoned a giant eagle which briefly distracted the dragon while the hellhound was slain and the two guards on the nearest towers targeted further. As the party turned its attention to the dragon which flew around using flyby attacks and its breath weapon against them, other hobgoblins began  charging across the bridge. Louella cast call lighting to target the hobgoblin reinforcements while Gothram and Almund dealt with their opponents and tried to avoid being targeted by the dragon. Gothram and Rosil then began trying to climb the towers, but the dragon seemed to take exception to this as he unleashed a furious attack on Gothram, who fell from the ladder, the dragon in pursuit..

Cecily summoned a hippogriff to  distract the dragon from Gothram who was lying a bloody heap on the ground. Almund dashed forward using lay on hands to stabilise Gothram. Meanwhile Cecily was next to feel the dragon’s wrath, also succumbing to its breath weapon. Immediately Louella dashed forward and administrated a potion of cure light wounds. The slaying of the last hobgoblin allowed the Party to focus its combined attentions on the dragon which eventually crumpled the ground.

While Gothram began stripping the hobgoblin corpses of anything interesting, the two dwarves turned their attention to the small matter of destroying the bridge. Eventually after what seemed like several hours of  muttering, pointing and sage rubbing of chins, they identified a potential weak spot. Unlimbering her warhammer Cecily began smashing into the stonework. Leaving the female dwarf to what seemed like hard work, Rosil wandered off and  amused himself dissecting the dragon. Seeing this Almund joined Cecily in hammering away at the section of stonework -  which abruptly collapsed into the chasm below! 

The two  desperately threw themselves back from the gap and then as the whole bridge began to collapse into the gorge below, ran for their lives! The job done, they headed back to Vraath Keep to spend the night there.

The Fall of Drellin’s Ferry

Next morning the Party headed back to Drellin’s Ferry and reported in to Wiston, the Town Speaker. When informed that far from goblin raiding parties, it was in fact a full-fledged invasion heading their way. Wiston paled and advised he would summon the town council to meet in the morning, and suggested the Party get some rest. Before heading back to The Green Apple, Cecily disposed of some of the loot they had obtained and split the proceeds with the Party.

That night Louella was awakened by a disturbance in the street outside. Peering out of the window she could see flames across the river. Rousing the others they headed to the ferry where Captain Soranna was readying some of the militia to get to the far bank where some of the buildings were on fire. Crossing on  the ferry they headed to the nearest buildings when group of worg riders, accompanied by a hellhound, attacked them. Cecily cast transmute earth to mud on the ground in front of them which bogged their assailants down allowing  Cecily and Almund cut a swathe through their attackers. Cecily despatchd the hellhound with a single might blow, while Louella cast many spells.  causing one of the worg riders edged round the mire and attack her. Louella cast call lighting to despatch him, but not before being badly wounded. 

They barely had time to regain their breath before they were attacked by a group of hobgoblins accompanied by a sorcerer. Cecily and Almund quickly slew the hobgoblin warriors while  Louella managed to cast entangle on the sorcerer which slowed him down  considerably, though he did manage to get off a lightning bolt and an orb of lighting before being slain at a distance by a combination of spells and arrows.

Next morning while breakfasting, an outrider from Lord Brindol’s forces arrived to warn the town about the “raiding parties”. They quickly brought her up to speed on the truth of the situation and she departed rapidly to warn her liege lord. After breakfast they met with the Council and eventually persuaded them that evacuation to Brindol, which at least had walls, was the best option. The evacuation of the town began in earnest through that day and most of the next. Late in the afternoon with the smoke from outlying farmsteads burning already rising in the distance, they stood with Wiston and Captain Soranna, watching the last stragglers leave Drellin’s Ferry. 

As they had already slain one of the advancing Horde’s generals at Vraath Keep, Wiston suggested the party could next be of most use to the Party in killing another of the generals who, according to the map they had recovered, was based in the ruined city of Rhest to the north. The Party readily agreed and set out on the road to Rhest, towards sunset as they rode along the road, they were ambushed by several  hobgoblin blade-bearers accompanied by a manticore. In short order the hobgoblins were slain and the manticore, wounded, fled to the north.