Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 19 - The Aftermath

With Kalarel defeated and the Rift closed, we set out to have a better look at the room, searching for treasure, amidst some mumbling that we had been robbed of looting his body. Furthermore, Orcus being the Prince of Undead, there was the definite possibility of Kalarel returning to haunt us in some undead form later on. Nonetheless, after some searching, we find a nice sack of gold hidden behind the altar.

We leave the Keep for the last time and head to Winterhaven to give the good news to the townspeople. As soon as we arrive we go to Lord Ernest's manor, who is overjoyed at the news of our victory and immediately orders a feast in our honor. When asked about reward though, his joy turns to embarassment as he tells us that the towns finances are at it's lowest and he can't afford to reward us properly. Instead, he asks if anyone of us is interested in remaining in town as commander of the guard, being responsible for hiring and training a military force do defend Winterhaven. Lord Ernest's objective, now that peace had returned to the area, wants to turn Winterhaven into an important trading outpost, and the one that remained would receive a share of the profits. We promised we would think about it, though the only one with a remote interest in that was Ceteribus.

After the feast and a good night of sleep, we decided to head to Scart to visit Doven and receive the rewards for completing the quests given to us by Barley and Marla at the beginning of the adventure. When we arrive, we are surprised to find the former Winterhaven militia members Bob and Noddy in town. Apparently there were many other Winterhaven refugees staying there. When we tell them the good news they go around telling everyone of our deeds. Soon the whole town knew what we had done.. We find Barley the scholar and tell him everything we had found out about the Keep and he rewards us with a nice pouch of gold. Then we seek out Marla and tell her we had destroyed the evil cult of Orcus. We had brought along the head of the evil priest we had fought before Kalarel and several flags and tokens of their worship. Convinced, she awards us the agreed sum of 250 gold.

We find Doven at his house and tell him of our exploits. We then take the chance to ask him about the group known as the Bloodreavers, remembering the letter adressed to Kalarel that we had found in the Keep's caves. Being a seasoned adventurer he might know something about them, which he did. He said he had heard about them in his travels. They were a band of slavers composed mostly of Hobgoblins and Humans, who were preying the villages around Scart and the town of Fallcrest to the south. He didn't know anymore but advised us to contact the mayor of Scart, who might know more about them. We bid farewell to Doven and his family and went to see the mayor.

By now he had already heard of our victory over the cult of Orcus and was pleased to see us. Surprisingly, this little village had better finances than Winterhaven, since he decided to gift us all with Warhorses and some trinkets. When asked about the Bloodreavers, his happy demeanor changed into a grimace. He told us that they had been a nuisance to the villages in the region for some time now, but that there had been no success in stopping their actions so far and so they had been free to pillage and kidnap villagers to sell as slaves. He then ask us if we were interested in undertaking a quest to wipe out the Bloodreavers and rescue the kidnapped villagers. We immediately accepted and the mayor gave us a map of the region, where he had marked the location of the Bloodreavers probable base of operations, Thunderspire Mountain. According to him, underneath the mountain, there was a great network of caves where all sorts of underground creatures lived, including a dangerous clan of Duergars. It was rumored that the caves served as trading post where all sorts of shady deals took place. According to his spies, that was where they were hiding themselves.

After a short rest, we headed back to Winterhaven. We had promised Lord Ernest we would scout out the surrounding areas after we finished our business in Scart and Ceteribus had decided to accept the position of commander of the guard and retire from adventuring. When we arrived, the town already seemes livelier than before. The word of the cult's defeat had spread like wildfire and new people were arriving to town everyday.

Amongst them was a merchant named Barwyn who had set up shop in one of the abandoned houses. While we were browsing his wares and carelessly talking about Bloodreavers and the Thunderspire Mountain, he was listening in on our conversation. As soon as he noticed we were the only clients in the shop, he rushed to close the door and asked for a private word. Having heard we were soon to leave towards Thunderspire Mountain, he asked if we would be interested in assisting him with a business endeavour he had going on. He needed someone to take a package to a merchant named Gendar inside the Mountain, receive the payment, and return it to him. This Gendar had a shop in a place known as the Seven Pillar Hall, an outpost in the caves beneath Thunderspire. With the promise of reward, we accepted and he handed us a package with an ornate dagger. We were to trade it to Gendar for a set of drow fortune stones and he advised us to speak to noone about this deal. It was obviously something shady, but we had no problem with that, as long as the pay was good.

We spent the next few days scouting the surrounding lands around Winterhaven for any dangers that still remained, but found nothing threatening. Finally, the day had come for us to leave so we bid the Lord and Ceteribus farewell and departed for the Thunderspire Mountain.

Author's note: From the next installment and forward, i will be retelling the Adventure Logs of Wizards of the Coast Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure, thus resetting the count. Our gaming group is intent in following the first adventures released for 4th Edition as a linked campaign, so you can expect logs for each of them, as we go along.

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 18 - The Shadow Rift

With the denizens of the unholy cathedral defeated the only path left for us was to descend into the depths of the dark pit, where we suspected Kalarel was performing the necessary rituals to once again open the Rift into the Shadowfell. However, despite the feeling that urgency was necessary, we couldn't help but hesitate at the thought of climbing down into the deeps. For one thing, all the blood that was coming from the altar where the dark priest was standing before was running into the pit, and as far as we could tell from what little we could see from the bottom, it formed a pool right beneath it. On the other hand, the full length of the pit was about 50ft down, a nasty fall if we slipped...

All hesitations were soon forgotten however, because we really didn't have any other choice... Since there were only four chains, the rest of the party went ahead, while i started my descent after them. Well, that didn't go quite as well as we could expect. When most of the party was almost to the bottom of the pit, which they could now see opened into a larger chamber, and after managing not to make any advancement in my climb down, i slip and failing to grab myself to the chains or one of my companions, i fall to the bottom face-down into the pool of blood... Not quite the entrance i would have hoped for...

Surviving the fall with just a few injuries, since the pool of blood reduced my impact on the ground, i collected my thoughts and took a chance to look around. I emerged from the pit into a very large room, as large as the room above it. Still lying in the ground, i look ahead facing west into a massive altar of bone, surrounded by large pillars. A set of steps led to the altar and at the bottom of the steps, standing guard, were two Skeleton Warriors, clad in armor and wielding sword and shield. Before the altar, a human figure, clad in heavy armor and wielding a skull-capped rod, was chanting some sort of prayer or incantation, keeping his eyes closed and his arms outstretched. To my left there was a massive black portal, constantly in motion as if something was trying to break through. In front of the portal a magical circle had been drawn on the floor in blazing red runes. To the opposite side stood a massive statue of the Demon Prince Orcus, wielding a skull-capped wand and pointing straight into the portal.

My clumsy entrance had the merit of breaking the human's concentration, who at this point could only be our quarry, the evil priest Kalarel himself. His chanting ceased and turned to face me with murderous eyes. Battle was inevitable and thanks to my clumsiness, the advantage was theirs... My party was not to far from reaching the ground however, and within a few moments, all except Sora, who had a little more difficulty descending the pit, were now standing in the pool of blood ready to face our foes. At this point, we notice that to our backs, opposite the altar, stood a Deathlock Wight, attempting to hide behind some pillars. Attempting any conversation was useless as we called Kalarel a few names, he called us a few, and battle began. There we were at last, face to face with Kalarel, the final battle... and i was still lying face-down into a pool of blood... How embarassing..

My first actions in combat were getting up to my feet and healing my wounds by drinking a potion. Afraid to advance, since we didn't know if there were any traps nor did we know the capabilities of our foe, we let the enemy take the initiative, while waiting for Sora to get to our position. We certainly didn't expect their strategy though... Kalarel immediately teleported himself into the circle of blazing runes in front of the black portal, while his two Skeleton guards rushed to his side, covering his flanks. The Wight attacked us from a very long distance with it's Grave Bolt, which could not only damage us but also immobilize us. She attacked one of our frontliners in an attempt to prevent him from reaching Kalarel and succeeded. Soon two of our number were prevented from moving, while the Skeletons and Kalarel held their ground in the circle.

We decided to ignore the Wight for the moment, since it's damage was minimal and the immobilized condition was easily circunvented, and focus on Kalarel. The first to reach into melee range of Kalarel and his guard was Sora, only to find they had a nasty surprise waiting for us... As soon as Sora approached within 15 ft of the portal, a massive clawed arm bridged the rift between dimensions and attacked her. So that was why they had positioned themselves in that place... Some sort of beast from the Shadowfell itself was granting them protection against any foes that approached them. There was no choice however but to have our meleers engage them there, while myself and Ceteribus attempted to attack from beyond the creature's reach. Our first attacks focused on Kalarel, "testing the waters", to attempt to discern what weaknesses he possessed, if any. Well, after seeing all of our attacks fail miserably, we realized we were facing a foe unlike any we had fought before... Kalarel proved extremely hard to hit by any means.

Meanwhile, always supported by his Skeleton Warriors, Kalarel was engaging our melee fighters unleashing powerful attacks with his Rod, which beyond the damage it dealt on each hit, unleashed a necrotic toxin to poison our fighter's bodies. On the other hand, he wasn't definitely sharing our difficulties in striking true with his attacks. The Skeleton Warriors followed his every move, never leaving his side, preventing any possible flanking situations and attacking his target's. Also, to add insult to injury, as our movement capability near the portal was very reduced as our warriors could only make small shifts to avoid attacks from the creature beyond the portal, the Deathlock Wight kept immobilizing the meleers. Furthermore, neither Kalarel nor his guards seemed interested in leaving the blazing circle, which was probably granting them some sort of unknown bonus. Luckily for us, the unknown creature was missing most of it's attacks. However, we were effectively prevented from applying mobility and flanking tactics to try and turn the battle to our favor.

We turned our focus on the Skeleton Warriors, trying to clear Kalarel's flanks, since due to his high defenses, flanking would be a definite must to be able to hit him. From my attacks, we deduced that his only weakness was probably his Reflex defense, but we couldn't get Kralho, who excelled at hitting against Reflex, into flanking position to apply his sneak attack. After some effort and a little help from Ceteribus's radiant damage we managed to down one of the Skeletons. This allowed Kralho to finally flank Kalarel and dish out some pain. He paid for it dearly though, as the attacks he suffered afterwards forced him to use his final healing surges, which meant he had to leave melee combat and start attacking from a distance. We kept attacking the other Skeleton and Chuck even tried to push him into the portal with Tides of Iron, but failed. He would go down eventually though, leaving us more at ease to focus on Kalarel.

Chuck and Sora attacked Kalarel as they could, achieving very few hits, while the rest of us attacked from range. At this time, healing options were becoming scarce and we began noticing that Kalarel's wounds were healing themselves. It was probably the circle's effect, but nothing we tried made him leave that area, where he was still covered by the creature beyond the portal. Even our ranged attacks were having little effect. Ceteribus, tired of not hitting Kalarel, strode off to engage the Deathlock Wight, which was still pestering us with Grave Bolts. He had a special advantage against it, because he was resisting the Wight's necrotic damage due to his magical armor, and his radiant damage was lethal against undead. Thus started a duel between them that lasted for a while, with Ceteribus's being the victor thanks to his unique advantages against such a foe.

Kalarel was the last one standing of his number, and what a fight he was giving, hitting Sora and Chuck mercilessly with his unholy Rod, and taking very few hits in return. The battle was far from won, despite our superior numbers, and it soon turned to desperate as Chuck was hit into unconsciousness by a vicious attack, bleeding profusely on the ground. There was no choice now. Being the only one who could hit Kalarel with some degree of eficiency and even though he had no chance to be healed, Kralho risked his life to flank Kalarel and attempt to kill him or die trying. Sora kept Kalarel busy, while myself and Kralho attacked him relentlessly and Ceteribus kept having difficulties in landing a hit on the evil priest. Finally, after some devastating attacks from Kralho, Kalarel went down. As he fell to the ground, the thing from beyond the portal grabbed his body and pulled him into the Rift and to the Shadowfell itself. After this, the black portal was closed and the evil priest's plan to unleash Orcus's legions into the world was undone. Victory was ours. All that was left was explore this room and go back to town for fame, glory, and hopefully some nice fat loot.

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 17 - Nearing the end

With no more traps left to bother us in the large room with the statues, we finally get a chance of opening the doors blocking our path forward. As soon as we get the doors open, we notice a rather foul smell of decomposing flesh and notice that we are once again beset by the undead. It was a large room, with a set of stairs to the east, and inside it were at least a dozen of Zombie Rotters, a couple of Zombies, a Ghoul and a construct we recognized as a Clay Scout. We were immediately swarmed by the undead mass, but they weren't much more of a threat than most of the undead we had fought before. Again Ceteribus and Sora have their moment in the sun, killing off a large number of Rotters with their Turn Undead and Dragonbreath, respectively, while the others attempted to deal with the tougher Zombies and Ghoul. 

Despite the large number of the enemy force, we were making good progress, despite the constant harassment by the Clay Scout's dazing attacks. The undead were no match for Ceteribus's radiant energy attacks and so the Rotters were soon destroyed, followed by the larger Zombies and the Ghoul, which despite being much tougher than the rest, couldn't cope with our focused firepower. All that was left was the single Clay Scout, which we had avoided enganging, because we knew due to my arcane knowledge, that it had a way of redirecting attacks against it to nearby creatures. He managed to rebound an attack against Chuck, which was of no consequence, because he would soon fall to a barrage of ranged powers. 

With the battle won, we were free to look around the room and noticed the remains of the undead's past meals... There were discarded humanoid bones and pieces of decaying flesh as well as tattered clothing and pieces of armor everywhere. Amidst this mess, we were able to find a nice Bag of Holding, which would make carrying loot around much easier. The only way to go now was the eastern staircase, which ended in another pair of double doors. As we approach the door with caution, we can hear some sort of chanting coming from the other side. Kralho checks the door and finds that it isn't locked, but that it seems to be heavily fortified from the other side. Fearing that the chanting could mean that Kalarel was already conducting the ritual, we saw no other solution than to attempt to break down the doors and interrupt him. The rest of our party pushed themselves against the door as hard as they could, while i prepared to attack any hostile creature behind it. 

The combined efforts of our stronger members were enough to push through the barricated door and we were able to go in. The door led into a huge room that in ancient times must have served as a cathedral, but was now obviously being used to commit unholy sacrifices. The center of the room was very brightly lit by three blue-green pillars, which emitted an eerie greenish light, giving the room an unsettling atmosphere. In the center of the room, there was a square pit and streams of blood were issuing towards it from the back of the room, where a dark robed figure stood before an altar, chanting in a misterious language and holding a sacrificial dagger. Upon the altar, was the priest's latest victim, it's blood gushing and joining the streams of blood that led into the pit.

Noticing our entrance, he turned towards us, revealing a face tattoed with a ram's skull, ceasing his chanting, and looking at us with murderous eyes. However, we could still hear muffled chanting and to our surprise it seemed to come from the pit in front of us, which meant it probably led into another chamber, and that this dark figure was not our quarry, Kalarel, but more likely one of his minions, left behind to prevent us from interrupting him. If this was true, it meant time was short, and that we had to deal with him quickly. Nonetheless, we advanced carefully, because it was definitely suspicious to find only a single figure expecting us. 

Our suspicions were proven right, because as we got closer to the pit, two Human Berserkers ermerged from their hiding places behind the shining pillars, with a third one appearing from our right. To our left, a small group of Vampire Spawn were poised to strike, accompanied by a shadowy creature we recognized as a Dark Creeper. We prepared to hold our ground at the door, letting the foes come to us, thus preventing them from isolating any of our number, which could prove to be deadly. Besides, there was the proximity of the pit worry about, especially because we had no idea where it would lead, how deep it would be, or what was expecting us at the bottom.

After unleashing a few handaxes at us, the Berserkers were the first to close into melee, fighting with great rage. They were soon followed by the Vampire Spawns and the Dark Creeper, as the dark robed figure advanced barking orders: "Kill them all, Lord Kalarel must not be interrupted". As we suspected, he was not yet the one we seeked, which did not lessen our resolve. It was clear we had to win fast and reach Kalarel before he could complete his goal. Ceteribus's Turn Undead proved useful once again, wiping out most of the Vampires. The Berserker's and the Creeper however were giving us some trouble, fighting with great ferocity. Meanwhile the dark priest stayed in the back, attacking us with powerful ranged attacks and bolstering his allies. 

A combined effort from our strikers took out the Dark Creeper, which exploded in a burst of darkness, blinding all of us around him temporarily. About the same time, the first of the Berserkers went down and Chuck attempted to push another into the pit with Tides of Iron, unsuccessfully. They learned after that and avoided fighting near the pit for the remainder of the battle. The Berserker's were dishing out a hefty dose of damage and kept blocking the path to the priest striking us from the backlines. Finally, after a lot of back and forth attacks we managed to kill the Berserkers and headed straight to the priest, who, without any more minions to cover him, was no match for our combined firepower. 

We quickly looked around the room and concluded that the only exit was to descend into the pit, which had four tightly wrapped chains, one in each corner, that could be used to ease our descent. We had no doubt now that we were heading into the final battle, where we would have to win, or watch Lord Orcus's forces come into the world as a consequence of our defeat. Learn all about it, in the next installment.