Adventure Write Up and RecapIntroUpon leaving Wyeford our hero's are greeted by two of their fellow guild members, Hydroxylate and Rivian Bloodwater, bearing notes. One is instructing Dreng Egesa and Lucius Kracken to return, the new hero's were the party's replacement. The other was a letter from the priest of Pelor, Marla of the Great Church asking the heros investigate, and if needed destroy, rumours of a deathcult in the Winterhaven area.
Kings RoadUpon travelling to Winterhaven the heros are attacked by a group of kolbolds. Early on Valen Stoneshard (FeralWings) takes a hit, an ampoule from the slinger brakes across his armour and ignites setting him on fire. Alex despatches a good number of them with his arcane arts and with the late arrival of Adineth Auvryana (Cherry) the hero's made quick work of the scaled menaces. After defiling some graves Rust (Tesla) has a very bad feeling.
WinterhavenUpon arriving and staying the night the hero's go about looking for information. Rust (Tesla) secures them paying work after the local Lord asks them to help clear out the Kolbold problem. They learn a little bit of the local history from the resident mage and scholar. The only one aware of the cult is a local elf hunter they meet called Ninaran who tells them that she's seen the death cult members enter a hidden area behind a waterfall to the south east. This matches up with what the captain of the guard had said about the Kolbold's location. The hero's decide that's the destination.
Ambush Kings RoadShortly outside of town the kolbolds stage another ambush in retaliation of their fallen comrades. Rust attempts to charge and dispatch two of them quickly just to end up biting off more than he can chew. And if not for the timely intervention of the resident mages he would have taken an early dirt name. Varis Barillian (voodoofoo) proves his worth by making quick work a couple of the enemies (Nothing like stabbing something in the back to take it down). After dispatching this latest threat they discover the Wyrmpriest had a pendent on him, an obsidian dragon with an engraving of a skull with ram horns on it. Our hero's recognise it as the abstract representation of Orcus, a demon lord of Shadowfell!
Kobold Lair - OutsideOur heros find themselves approaching a waterfall screened by trees, one party member's keen senses manages to pick out kobolds lining the stream following the waterfall. A plan is formed, Rivian hopes to fool them using the amulet he found but it's to naught! As soon as he steps out the kobolds let cry and attack! And thus the battle is joined! Alex helps quickly dispatch a number of the weaker creatures, Adineth keeps his distance and picks off a couple, thinning the horde. Rust, breaking through the tree line charges the armoured kobold stood within the a magic circle, he fights hard but is quickly overwhelmed by more foes as they close in on him. Varis makes quick work of his opponents with the aid of Rivian. Seeing things are lost a lone kobold makes a dash to warn his cohort, only to be struck down by a bolt from Rivian's crossbow.
Kobold Lair - InsideAfter much deliberation the party decides to go for a three pronged attack, Varis leads the attack and strikes down a minion before it can even respond. Things get hectic as Rust bursts through the waterfall, right into a group of enemies! Things get hectic and with a heroic effort the heros deal out death to the kobolds left and right. Adineth and Varis take a pounding but they keep on fighting. Things get really bad for our guys when the Goblin leader of the bandits, Irontooth, roars and comes charging out. He stars wailing on our heros, when they fight back it only makes Irontooth rage even harder and as a result Rivian and Rust go down! Things are dire when Adineth Varis and Hydroxite come running to the fray and try to help out their friends. With a final lunge Irontooth is felled and let's cry "Karelal and Lord Orcus! Prepare my way!" With the bodies piled around the survivors can tend to the wounded. They find a note and a silver key on Irontooth, the note is from Karalel informing Irontooth his spy has reported the hero's and that they should be dealt with. The key opens a chest containing gold and some magic armour. Wounded our hero's make their way back to Winterhaven.
Back at WinterhavenSo the hero's return to Winterhaven after dispatching the Kolbolds brigands. Rust and Adineth go to the Lord's manor to report their success, gaining their rewards and then heading out back to town to find out more information. After speaking to the priestess and resident mage they learn some more disturbing information. The entire town is plagued by unnerving feelings and bad dreams of something terrible about to happen. They learn the history of the keep to the north and the knight Sir Keegan. After leaving they bump into the Elven Ranger Ninaran who is surprised to see them, she makes her excuses and leaves quickly. While the others retire for the night Rust gets wasted and passes out in a Dwarven smithy. Tomorrow brings on other things.
Keep on the Shadowfell We join our party once again as they make ready to leave Winterhaven, although a couple of their members can not be found. Valen and Varis are not responding and Rust is no where to be found (presumably still passed out on the smithy floor.) Although being down three members the heroes don't let it slow them down. Lady luck must have been smiling on them though, as they made the journey to the keep they met a warden, a towering giant of a Goliath by the name of 'lugnuts' [Sorry, but once I find/remember your name I'll edit it - Whisky] their numbers bolstered they continue on. As they approach the dead keep it's apparent someone has been here before them, debris has been cleared and a stair case leads down into the darkness.
Goblin Guard RoomThings don't start well for our heroes, upon descending the stairs they enter a room with four pillars, Hydro's keen senses picking up chattering noises. They are spotted! A sentry at the other side of the room lets cry, warning his companions and throwing a javelin right at Adineth. Adineth acts quickly throwing an axe straight at the goblin, it was a good throw, the axe bites deep and hurts the goblin badly, although not enough and it retreats back a bit. "He's got my axe!" cries Adineth, Hydro circles round and steps out to see around a pillar, but there was a trap our watery friend did not see! He falls into a pit with a splash! On the account of him being made of water and all. But it's not over for our poor mage, in the bottom of the pit is a swarm of rats and they quickly overwhelm him. Thinking quick Rivian uses his arcane powers to swap the wounded Hydro with an angry Adineth who quickly starts to make short work of the rats with the help of 'lugnuts' who jumps down to give aid. Hydro, one step away from death manages to be stabilised and just as he's starting to get up the sentry returns with reinforcements! The battle is fierce, our warriors taking a beating. A mages spell goes awry and hurts his friends. Adineth proves his worth several times over either dispatching or badly wounding most of the foes. 'Lugnuts' lets fly with a mighty swing that would have crushed a goblin flat had there not been a pillar in the way, Alex the Truth Seeker makes up for his badly chosen spell by delivering the final blow to a goblin threatening their new companion. As the final blow falls so does silence. Our heroes are left licking their wounds, wondering how much harder it's going to become as this is only the first room.
Excavation SiteThings get off to an interesting start, just as our heroes are getting ready to move on there is a cacophony of noise and a dwarf comes tumbling down the entrance to the keep. Turns out his dire badger mount didn't want to go down and stopped so abruptly as to launch the dwarf down the stairs. His human companion, wearing a strange contraption followed him down in a more stately fashion. Without so much as a hello they fell in with the other heros. Varis Barillian makes an appearance at this time, melting out of the shadows as if he'd always been there. With Varis in the lead they sneak to a room that appears to have been all dug up, some goblins and their guard drakes are toiling in the room and arguing amongst themselves. Taking too long to decide what to do our heros are noticed and the battle is joined. At this point things fall to chaos, so many of our heros can't even drop the 10ft without falling flat on their prat. Alex gets repeatedly crushed by his team mates who fail to climb or jump a gap. Adineth dispatches a drake while Rust is nearly torn in two. After a bolt from a goblin's cross bow puts a hole in his hat Rivian loses his shit a throws his full blade right at the goblin responsible cutting deep and knocking the goblin from the raised platform and to his death. While intimidating another goblin Rivian doesn't watch his footing and falls off a plank, quickly followed by Rust. The battle is brought to an end by Varis putting an arrow through the throat of the last goblin. Lugnuts who had tried to catch up with his party had fallen flat on his face at the bottom of the stairs. Although he notices an out of place draft of air as he stands...
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