The Battle of Wrath Keep

The Adventurers™ waited in the forest clearing for Arnogall to return from scouting the keep. They listened for any sounds of disturbance in the woods but heard nothing untoward. Then silently, Arnogall appeared through the trees.  He explained he’d seen two hobgoblins in the ruined gatehouse of the keep, a large break in the main wall and the skeletal remains of a giant slumped against the wall.  Together with the map of the keep’s interior that Jorr had sketched out, the party had a pretty good idea of the layout. 

Jorr piped up that of course there were giant skeletons there, “You all know the history of the keep don’t you?”  The party, being new to the area didn’t so Jorr explained that around 100 years ago the keep used to be garrisoned by soldiers lead by an ambitious nobleman called Amery Wrath.  After the fall of  Rhestilor, Amery laid claim to the entire Wytchwood and seemed to rid it of its evil reputation.  His first task was a tribe of giants.  Amery attacked them, driving into the mountains, burning their camps.  They triumphantly returned to the keep.  A week later, after a night of feasting in the keep, the giants bombarded the keep all night long with hurled boulders and massive poisoned arrows. When the sun rose, four of the Twistusks lay dead amid the ruined keep, but none of the keep’s soldiers or residents remained.  The remains of Amery were never found.  Some say he fled, others that he was eaten by the giants and some though he retreated to the keeps vault and dies of his wounds.  Jorr said that from time to time he’d directed adventueres to the keep in search of the fabled treasure it none had returned. 

Feeling jaded from their travels in the Wytchwood, The Adventurers™ decided to take a long rest in the clearing and assault the keep at midnight.  As they approached they saw a sickly greenish-yellow light flickering inside the second floor of the ruined tower, and the faint sound of eerie moaning could be heard from within.

Sorin, Balderpoor, Skonn, Jarlier and Aubrey crept up to the keep and entered through the huge gap in the wall.  Skonn marched into the keep shouting, surely alerting any creatures in the keep.  He opened double doors to their left and found inside four hobgoblins and a Minotaur.  The Minotaur charged at Skonn and the hobgoblins scattered.  One disappeared deeper into the keep whist the others ran though a side door and reappeared with short bows in hand, arrows readied.  The Minotaur proved tough but a precision arrow from Sorin pierced the beast’s heart causing it to drop dead.  Whilst the other hobgoblins were being dealt with, scorching rays fired from thin air at Aubrey.  Aubrey used a spell and detected the presence of a mage close by and a particularly powerful magical artifact on the Minotaur.  Skonn and Balderpoor (who had transformed int a bear) followed a hobgoblin into a stable area only to find two goblins mounting wargs who were quickly defeated.  Sorin peeked through another door finding a Manticore flying up through the open roof and perching on the wall, watching the party’s progress.  It had been sitting on a small pile of gold.  

The party were now in a makeshift dormitory with two rooms leading off it.  One of the rooms that a hobgoblin ran into before the scorching rays appeared and the door to the other smaller room which had opened of its own accord after the rays had stopped.  Jarlier looted the Minotaur finding an ornate greataxe and a pack of cards in a leather pouch with a letter wrapper around them.  He picked up the axe and intuitively felt it was the best weapon he had ever wielded and doubted he would ever find a better one.  The letter warned the reader about the cards.  It detailed how a hobgoblin had took a card to find a mastercrafted, glowing mace materialise in its hand.  Jealous of the weapon, another hobgoblin took a card and immediately dropped dead.  The mace had been put in the manticore room for safekeeping and the cards would be given to Karkilan for safekeeping.  Aubrey’s sensed both terrible and wonderous power in the cards.  He had heard of similar artifacts and explained that before drawing a card, one had to state the number they would draw up to a maximum of three cards.  Should they draw less than declared, within an hour a card would appear from the deck and find its way to its new owner.  

Jarlier quickly fixed a sheet across the entrance to the small room so they would detect if anything tried to leave the room.  However, the rays appeared again but this time Aubrey located the mage and the group attacked the area Aubrey indicated, revealing the mage.  The mage tried to flee the keep but was killed before it could do so.  

Jarlier searched the small room finding a large map of the Elsir Vale annotated by some hobgoblin commander.  Aubrey found a bag of holding and also senced magical items under the stone floor.  He searched the room that the mage had come from but found nothing.  He and Skonn started to bang on all of the stone slabs eventually finding a hollow sounding one.  Skonn pried this up with a disguarded longsword and revealed a trap door leading into the darkness.  

Skonn climbed the stairs of the tower heading to the strange light they’d seen when they approached the keep. He found mounted in the exposed rafters what looked like a humanoid figure, arms upraised. A glow from beneath it illuminated the figure in a pale light and reek of rotting flesh filled the room.

Jarlier ventured down the trap door finding a small vault.  Three alcoves had been cut into the walls, two to the north and one to the east. Each alcove was sealed by an iron gate and locked with chains and a large padlock. Beyond one alcove were several shelves bearing no less than ten small iron coffers. Beyond the second was a small desk and chair, the desk piled high with papers and books. Beyond the third sat a single large trunk.  A human skeleton lay slumped against the eastern alcove’s gate. Still dressed in tattered chainmail and feebly gripping a sparkling bastard sword, the skeleton had a massive arrow protruding from its ribs.