Friday, September 25, 2009

Gladomain Keep (First Session: July 5th, 2009)

The party of adventurers travels from their home in Ironview to deposit their late master Ottian ashes at his birthplace, the ruins of Gladomain Keep, a ruined castle outside the small village of Mistmeadow. The party is composed of four adventurers: Ottian's wizard apprentice Garrick the Mad, Kadrus the Minotaur Barbarian, Ilmak the Goliath Swordmage, and Whosis Kid the Halfling Rogue.

They enter the city of Mistmeadow and travel first to the Elven tavern called the Kindly Knight, where they are asked to leave by the locals who do not wish to mix with non-elven kind. They then head across the street to the much livelier and more welcoming Singing Maid Inn.

While in the Tavern the party hears the story of King Quotomal Gladomain who ruled a hundred years ago. He once ruled the surrounding cities, but his kingdom collapsed mysteriously when after an expedition he made to the underdark to expand his kingdom's influence. When he returned to the surface to crown himself lord of the world above and below, the elves and men in his kingdom started fighting and he retreated to the dungeons beneath his castle, never to be seen again.

The party hears that there's a regional security conference going on between Blackshore and Ironview. Also, there's a festival celebrating 100 years of friendship between the neighboring towns Lighthedge Point and SummerSpring. Last, the known assassin and bandit, Ezak No-Hack has been seen skulking around the area and there's a 10,000 platinum reward on his head.

The party departs for the ruins by the crossroads at dawn. On the way, they encounter a party of good adventurers from Lighthedge Point who recognize Garrick the Mad from his youth. These adventurers greet the party: Yllallae Serpenthelm the half elf ranger, Grayward Shortcloak the halfling fighter, Thoven Diamondeath the dwarf warlord, and Fhahana Silverkin the human rogue. Fahahana tries to steal a magic item from one of the party members, but fails as she brushes past. They continue on their way.

The party approaches the ruins of Gladomain keep through a dead orchard, finding a tunnel dug into the hillside. Whosis Kid advances boldly into the darkness, exploring the passageway. He finds a small opening adjacent to the passage and is attacked by a monitor lizard. The monitor lizard retreats into it's lair and Whosis Kid rushes back into the passage. He advances back into the animals lair with Ilmak and Kadrus, who assist him in dispatching it.

As the rest of the party deals with the monitor lizard, Garrick the mad hears voices outside the passageway in the dead orchard. He sees a patrol of three bugbears move up towards the passage entrance sniffing and examining it. Garrick retreats back down the passage and lets out a powerful magical blast that singes the three bugbears. Enraged and surprised, the charge down the passage towards the party.

In the ensuing battle, two of the bugbears are killed, but Ilmak, Kadras, and Whosis Kid are knocked unconscious. Garrick the Mad battles the last bugbear to the death and survives to revive his injured friends.

The party rests in the monitor lizard's lair after disposing of the bugbear patrols bodies. Then they move further into the complex. They find a small guard outpost where an Orc and Goblin are playing cards while their Troglodyte friend is sleeping in the corner. Whosis Kid creeps into the room and bloodies the Troglodyte who awakens and attacks. The rest of the party advances into the room and dispatches the guards before they can raise the alarm.

Beyond the guardpost they find a spiral staircase to the keep ruins above. They ascend the stairs to find a ruined tower adjacent to a wishing well and a giant statue of a five headed dragon with smoke coming from some of the mouths on the statue. In the moonlight the party is greeted by Garret, cleric of Ioun, and friend of Ilmak the Goliath Swordmage. Ilmak invited Garret to preside over the spreading of their masters ashes, but they missed him at Mistmeadow. Garret joins the party.

When they dump the ashes from the jeweled golden skull they are contained in, they swirl around in the air with a magical brilliance and then take the form of their master Ottian who thanks them for bringing him back to his birthplace one last time so he can take in the view before setting out to explore the astral plane. He explains that if they need his assistance to call on him, but not to trouble him with mundane affairs or he will be displeased with them.

The party returns to explore the dungeon below the keep. Beyond the spiral staircase, they find some relics in a columned passageway and learn more about the history of the Kingdom of Quotomal Gladomain and the magical Hand of Storath that he wore around his neck. The hand once belonged to a powerful master theif who was later captured and hanged. A necromancer severed the hand and enchanted it, and it has magical powers in the possession of any who wear it, but the powers appear to vary widely depending on the individual who has it.

Beyond a curved tunnel with arrow slits along one wall that spill light into the passage, the party sneaks up to a door and eavesdrop on a conversation among several bandits inside. The bandits are addressed by someone with a drow accent who refers to throwing captured ambassadors to "The beast in the pit" and talks about their leader Lady Xyrlynn. The party makes some noise in the passageway and the bandits are alerted to their presence.

The bandits take up positions behind the murder holes to the passageway and begin attacking the party members in the hallway. Garret grabs one of the glaives the bandits are using to attack them in the hallway and heroically turns it on his attacker. Meanwhile, the rest of the party members force their way through the down, battering it down, and attack the bandits inside.

Though the drow has fled to scene, the party does defeat the remaining bandits and they capture Ezak No-Hack, who begs for them to spare his life and return him for ransom. The party obliges and ties him up to return to Mistmeadow and collect their reward.

On their way back to the city, the party passes the crossroads and notices that the local guard of Mistmeadow has hanged some bandits from posts. A goblin is climbing up the post and feasting on the flesh of one of the corpses. When one of the party members objects and confronts the goblin, it transforms into a fearsome barghest. Two demonic creatures appear next the barghest out of thin air, a Cerebrilith, and a Babau, and they cast a circle of darkness in all directions around the area. The party retreats from the scene and the creatures, and runs off towards Mistmeadow in the morning light.

When they arrive in Mistmeadow, the party give Ezak No-Hack to the Mayor of Lighthedge Point (who is visiting the Governor of Mistmeadow) for a 10,000 gold reward. The Mayor pays them and takes Ezak prisoner. The Governor of Mistmeadow sends the city guard into the ruins of Gladomain Keep to set up a perimeter and explore the area. He offers the party a reward if they agree to explore the rest of the keep and if they find King Quotomal Gladomain's legendary Crown of Commanding, he would like them to return it. The party agrees and spends the night at the Governor's mansion, intent on exploring the rest of the dungeon the next day.

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