The Road to Wrath Keep

(Scroll for tl;dr)

Jarlier continued to interrogate the hobgoblin.  He slashed at the creature’s leg to make it talk but the creature gave little away.  The goblin spoke of a horde that would crush the party and accused Jarlier of defiling the holy symbol he’d found on the hobgoblin cleric.  Balderpoor tore out the hobgoblin’s eye with a scimitar causing him to pass out.  They lashed the creature to Skonn and investigated the ruined farmhouse.  The hobgoblins that attacked them had been using the ruin as a camp; their meagre belongings strewn about the place.  In a side room the party found a recently murdered merchant and his bodyguards.  They found some gold on the merchant and the usable weapons and armour on the corpses.  The Adventurers™ rested here for the night which passed without incident.

In the morning they set out for Jorr’s cabin with the now conscious hobgoblin bound at the wrists, pulled along by Skonn.  After a few hours they found a lonely log cabin with smoke rising from the chimney.  As they approached, three enormous hounds raced at them.  They barked wildly, stopping a few feet away.  The travellers did not attack.  A man assume to be Jorr appeared from the cabin, bow readied, asking the party to state their business.  Although suspicious, after Jorr saw the restrained hobgoblin he lowered his bow. He explained that he hated goblins and would help the party for a fee. 

Jorr described two ways to Wrath Keep.  The short way was across Blackwater Causeway where a merchant caravan had been attacked leaving a wagon half submerged in the swamp. The other path was longer but avoided the causeway.  The group choose to go via the causeway and check out the wagon on the way.  Aubrey arrive via hippogriff late to the party after spending more time with his kobold lady friend, Laura. 

On reaching the causeway the party saw a wide expanse of dark water had flooded the woodland in the low valley. The trill of frogs and the whine of insects filled the air. The forest road lead down to the edge of the flooded section, up to a rickety-looking causeway made of thick planks of wood lashed together with mossy rope. The wooden causeway ran for several hundred feet through the boggy patch, only a foot or so above the water.  The party spread out and cautiously approached the partially sunken wagon.  Balderpoor was the first to spot a large serpent like head coiled around the wagon.  Arnogall fired an arrow which hit the creature causing it to rise up from the river revealing four more heads attached to an enormous reptilian body.

The Adventurers™ leapt into action, all except Jarlier who recklessly made a run for the wagon.  Three of the heads were severed only for each of them to be replaced with two more heads.  The now eight headed monstrosity approached Sorin, Balderpoor and Jarlier.  Sorin was knocked unconscious after a volley of bites from four of the heads.  Jarlier's elven armour protected him from the blows as he waded through the mire with eyes only for treasure.  Balderpoor was hit and later downed as the rest of the group took aim at the creature's body.

The hydra was defeated by a tremendous shot from Arnogall whose arrow tore a hole through the its body.  The party healed their fallen comrades and found some assorted valuables on the wagon.  They then headed off towards Wrath Keep.  Jorr brought them to a track that lead up to the ruined keep but also explained that a scramble up the wooded hills would provide for a more stealthy approach.  He drew a rough map of the keep with Aubrey’s quill and paper. 

Looming out of the shadowy woods ahead was a haunting sight—a ruined keep. The old castle sat on a small rocky hillock, the party caught glimpses of a broken tower between the trees.  Arnogall scouted the keep while the others led by Jorr rested in a safe spot nearby.   

Arnogall saw that the old keep was in very poor repair. The gatehouse was partially collapsed, along with a section of wall to the south. A small wooden building sat next to the remains of a long-abandoned garden in front of the structure. The walls surrounding the keep were about fifteen feet high, with a two story tower looming in the southwest corner of the courtyard within.  Large boulders lay strewn amid the ruins of the two watch towers, and a massive humanoid skeleton was slumpsed amid the ruins of the northern one. This skeleton still wore tattered fragments of hide armor, and a large club lay next to one of its bony arms.  Arnogall scouted out the small wooden building which he noticed was on the verge of collapse so he dare not enter.  In the ruins of one of the watch towers he spotted two hobgoblins and decided to return to the party and plan their next move.

(Tl;dr Maimed a hobgoblin, Hired a local scout, defeated a hydra, scouted Wrath Keep)