Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 11 - Undead Guardians

We leave the caves moving towards the unexplored areas of the Keep's first level. As we move forward, we find some more Terror Runes blocking our path, but Kralho is able to disarm them all. Behind a door, we find a flight of stairs leading into an area of darkness, from which emanates a strong odor of rot and decay. Going down the stairs, iluminated by our lantern, we start hearing noises coming from a chamber to our left. It seemed as if a large number of creatures were moving towards us, probably atracted by the light. We prepare for battle and in a few moments we are under attack from a large number of Zombies and Zombie Rotters. Ceteribus salivates at the thought of using his Turn Undead for the first time... In fact, it was a rather easy battle for us, despite being vastly outnumbered, as the undead were rather frail and quickly fell. Ceteribus had his moment of glory, wiping out several of the weaker ones with his Turn Undead. 

We investigate the chamber that held these undead, and notice it continued further in that direction into a larger chamber. We decide to investigate this area later and instead check the many paths we could take now. As before, as we move through the maze of corridors, we find a few more Terror Runes, which were quickly bypassed.  As we move around a corner, we discover what seems to be a secret passage, but can't check it then because we are again under attack by a large group of Zombies, much like the previous one. These ones suffered the same fate and were quickly dispatched. After the challenges we had suffered in the caves, a bunch of zombies were hardly more than warmup. The battle won, Kralho opens the secret passage and Ceteribus moves inside to investigate the seemingly empty room, finding nothing. Kralho goes around checking the walls and when he touches the wall opposite to the entrance, much to his surprise, his hand passes through it to the other side. It was an illusory wall. 

Kralho sticks his head behind the wall, and is immediately attacked by yet another group of zombies, only four of them this time. Yawn... Another easy battle ensues, leaving us with liberty to investigate the area. Behind the fake wall, was an old armory, with decaying armor racks with pieces of armor in very poor condition, arrayed in the left and right walls. Standing against the wall opposite to us was a suit of old armor mounted on a stand. As one of us approaches it, a deep booming voice speaks:

"A wondrous treasure, valued by all, sought by many. Found in both victory and defeat, yet never at the bottom of a treasure chest. It marches before you like a herald, and lives long after you are gone. Of what do i speak?"

A riddle! We discuss it amongst ourselves for a few moments and Ceteribus comes up with an answer we all agreed  was likely to be right. Moving towards the armor stand, Ceteribus says "Honor". He must have gotten the answer right, because as soon as he spoke the word, the armor begins glistening with a bright light and changes from an old piece of junk into a magical Blackiron Scale Armor. Chuck, the fighter apreciated it much.

Leaving the room, we continue investigating the corridors. We find a large stairway, that seemed to continue further down. Since we still had a path left to investigate, we leave it for the moment and go back to the chamber where we first battled the zombies. Moving beyond this area, we come into a broad torch-lit hallway, lined with sarcophagi along both walls and ending in a metallic double door. Suspicious about the sarcophagi, and having already fought hordes of undead in this general area, we decide against disturbing the coffins and go ahead and check the end of the hall. On both sides of the double door, there was an altar, completed with imagery suggesting this was some short of shrine dedicated to the god Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, god of justice, protection and honor. Sora, being a devout worshipper of Bahamut, kneels before one of the altars and begins praying. Meanwhile, Kralho performs a careful search of the altars and finds a secret compartment, holding inside five small statues representing Bahamut. We each keep one, mostly for selling later, but Sora keeps it as a memento of her faith. Kralho also checks the doors and finds that they aren't trapped or locked. 

We open the doors to find a small crypt with a stone coffin carved with the figure of an armored warrior with a sword laid across his chest, at the opposite side of the doors. When we enter the room, the coffin's lid slides open and a skeletal warrior in plate armor and holding a longsword comes out. Much to our surprise, the skeleton speaks, in a voice from beyond the grave... "State your business, or prepare to die!"

No reason to lie, i say we have entered the Keep with the purpose of destroying the evil priest Kalarel and his cult and preventing the Rift to the Shadowfell from reopening. This seemed to appease the skeleton's wrath somewhat, allowing us to speak with it. He reveals that he once was Sir Keegan, commander of the Keep, charged with protecting the Rift. Thinking back, we realize we had heard that name back in Winterhaven. There was an old legend about a Sir Keegan, a paladin that had lost his mind and murdered his famliy and most of the Keep's garrison, before being slain himself. After some negotiation, as the skeletal Sir Keegan proved most suspicious of us, we manage to convince him of our good intentions. He then reveals that he had fallen under the evil influence of the rift and forced to commit terrible crimes. Being past redemption, he could not leave this crypt but could still grant us aid, by giving us his old magical sword Aecris. He also recommends that we seek Bahamut's blessing at the altars outside. 

Before we leave him to his rest, Ceteribus asks him if he knows anything about the stone we had found in the caves. Sir Keegan's memory is fuzzy due to his undead status, but he remembers that the stone is connected to a secret society of chosen people named "Heaven and Earth". The stone was said to grant wisdom to it's wearer. We leave the room and pray at Bahamut's altars, seeking his blessing. Somehow the lights in the hallway seem to shine brighter for a few moments, but we don't feel any different.

Tired from a long day of battles, we decide to rest in the secret passage we had found before. Most of us decide to sleep for a few hours. Ceteribus, being an eladrin, enters into a trance they use in place of sleep, but finds he can not rest properly. His trance is filled with nightmares and visions of battles, blood, gory decapitations and of great treasures. As he ends his trance he feels somewhat weakened physically but with his senses enhanced. Somehow the magic stone was affecting him, but he couln't help but feel that he could not simply discard it. We would have to try and discover more about it before taking any rash course of action. 

All rested and fresh, it was time we took the stairway down into the next level. But that is for another installment of Keep on the Shadowfell.