Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 16 - Deadly Traps Part 2

When we left off in the previous installment, we had just escaped a dangerous trap and were now going to investigate a secret passage we had found, thanks to Sora's keen eye and Ceteribu's magic stone. Beyond the passage there was a small closed room, it's walls decorated with eight panels, each carved with different images. In the center, there was a small table, surrounded by carvings on the ground, representing the cardinal points. Before the table, written on the ground there was the same inscription as outside, "Time is life, time is death". On top of the table there were eight small statues of human mages, each one holding an alphabet letter in it's hand. The letters they were holding were "R", "E", "S", "I", "V", "E", "U", "N". Loooking around the room, we also notice that in every wall there were orifices, placed evenly near the ceiling. 

After the dangers we had faced in the previous room, we were obviously very suspicious of such a strangely set place, so we immediately began searching for any signs of a trap. We couldn't find any sign of danger, but soon realized that the letters held by the small statues could be removed and that each of the statues was facing one of the panels arrayed at the walls. This was probably some kind of riddle, so we began thinking for possible words that could be created using the letters given. It took us a while to figure it out, because we were all trying to find a word beginning with a consonant letter, and didn't remember to try a combination starting with a vowel. After some time though, both Ceteribus and i came to the same conclusion at the same time: the only possible word we could form was UNIVERSE. It was now a matter of arranging the letters the correct way and see what would happen. 

Finding no relation between the letters and the carvings, we decided it was time to experiment a little. Kralho suggested we arranged the letters clockwise, starting from the statue facing the North cardinal point. With no better ideas we proceeded in doing that, with immediate results. As we placed the final letter in it's place, the room started to shake and the stone door behind us closed immediately. Moments after, sand started pouring in from the orifices on the walls. Now we could understand what was meant with "Time is life, time is death"... We had a brief moment of despair then, seeing our impending doom, but when we regained our wits we estimated that at the current rate it would take about three hours  for the chamber to fill completely. We would need to find a solution much sooner, though, because it would be no good to know the answer when the mechanism to aply it is buried beneath the sand...

Afraid to try out other combinations, we put our efforts into finding out what the solution was, since any attempts to reopen the door had already failed. When we were starting to despair again, for lack of any new ideas,  Ceteribus's stone placed in his mind a little hint that would save the day. He said, induced by the stone, "the path to the stars" and suddenly all became clear. One of the panels in the walls had the depiction of a star system. Perhaps all that we had to do was begin the sequence with the statue facing that panel. We placed the letters clockwise starting from that specific position and as the last letter was placed, the sand ceased falling and the stone door reopened. On top of the table there was now a map, depicting a location none of us could recognize. The map was also clearly related to the stone, as it had the same symbol as the ring written on it. 

Relieved on escaping such a deadly trap, we returned to the large room with the titan and dragon statues, thinking of investigating the map later on. Perhaps someone in town could tells us something about it. All that was left was trying the door behind the titan statue. Kralho moves ahead, intent on searching the door for any more traps, while the rest of us remained near the titan. He had however, chosen the wrong place to search for traps, because as soon as he walks by the two closest cherub statues, a magical force field appears all around the four statues, and water starts pouring in from the vases the cherubs held over their heads. Kralho was now trapped inside the magical field as it filled with water, while the rest of us watched with surprise. Despite his potentialy desperate situation however, he was quick to react and realized that to disarm this trap, he had to disable the two cherub statues that had activated the trap in the first place. Also, now that the trap was active, me and Ceteribus could notice arcane patterns in their working that if deciphered could assist in disabling them. So, with our help and a remarkable display of thieving skills, Kralho was able to overcome yet another potentialy deadly situation. He is not so good at finding them, but he is definitely able at disarming them...

Tired of traps for life, we could all use a good battle to unwind. Perhaps, opening the door would bring us our wishes... But that is for another time. 

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 15 - Deadly Traps Part 1

Back at the Keep, we descend back into the second level. Just to be safe, we take another look around the area the Hobgoblins were using as barracks, but nothing seems to have changed since our previous visit. There was only one path to follow now: a long corridor heading south from the room where we had fought the Hobgoblin horde. We go down the corridor until we reach a large domed room with two closed doors, a stone double-door to the south and a wooden door to the west. At a corner of the room there was a humanoid corpse, covered by a cloak. Finding this somewhat odd, we investigate it, but it had nothing interesting about it. It was probably just a victim of the Hobgoblins, left there until they could dispose of it. 

We decide to check the door to the west first and find that it leads into a corridor turning south further ahead. At the end of this corridor there was a wooden double door nailed shut with wooden planks. Scraped on the wood was the word "Closed". Seeing this as an obvious invitation, we force the doors down and proceed inwards. Inside we find ourselves in a corridor with two alcoves to the east and a corner to the west. We head into the west corner first and go into a small room with a door to the east. Inside this room there were two zombies, who immediately attack our party. We engage the zombies, expecting an easy fight like our previous encounters with the undead, but these proved much sturdier.

As we were busy fighting the undead, we are suddenly surprised by the appearance of a third foe right behind us. Sneaking up on us, a translucid creature we recognized as a Gelatinous Gube engulfs Ceteribus, who was the one further to the back. Ceteribus manages to escape the creature's hold and we try to quickly dispatch the undead and focus on beating this much harder foe. Sora is the first the engage the cube in melee and pays for it by becoming the cube's primary target. The cube keeps focusing his attacks on Sora, who is unable to escape his grasp, and is severely wounded. It took a while, but we manage to kill the cube without having to expend too much of our resources.

Free to explore the room, Kralho checks and opens the door to the east. Behind the door there was a small bedroom with two small beds and a chest with the symbol of Bahamut. The chest was unlocked and inside it we find some old children's clothing and toys, a gold necklace with the inscription "Drystan Keegan", a bracelet inscribed with "Ceinwein Keegan" and a magical Safewing Amulet. These things probably belonged to Sir Keegan's children. We take the necklace and bracelet intending to show them to Sir Keegan, and take the magical amulet for ourselves. After this, we go back and check the alcoves, but find nothing there. The only path left to go was the stone double doors at the large domed room. 

Kralho checks the doors and thinks that they are safe to open, so we do so. Behind the doors, was a huge room, so big that we couldn't light all of it with our lantern. As we enter we notice that the room is full of statues. In the middle of the room there was a huge statue of a sword wielding titan. To the east there were two statues of dragons, one in the north corner and the other at the south corner. All along the west wall, there were several statues of human mages. Behind the titan, we could glimpse four cherub statues, two on each side of a passage ending in a set of double doors. Finding this place highly suspicious, Kralho, Chuck and Ceteribus, the ones in the party who were better at searching for traps, start investigating the room while myself and Sora stay at the door. While passing between the titan and one of the dragon statues, Ceteribus triggers a pressure plate, activating a nasty trap. 

When the trap triggers, both the dragon statues and the titan become animated, though they do not seem able to leave their places. Also, the doors behind us immediately close themselves.  The dragon statue closest to Ceteribus, immediately blasts him with a breath of energy, pushing him backwards towards the titan. Then the titan swings his massive sword, hitting everyone within 15ft of himself. Only myself and Sora aren't hit by it's swing. The statues keep attacking us whenever we get close, but we soon realize that there are some blind spots in the room where none of them can reach us. Looking around, Kralho notices what seemed like a hidden switch atop the titan statue, while myself and Ceteribus notice arcane patterns on the dragon statues that we could use in finding a way to disarm them. Putting himself in harm's way, Kralho climbs unto the titan statue to examine the switch, while we attempt to decypher the arcane patterns on one of the dragons. After a few moments, Kralho manages to disable the titan while we  fail on disarming the dragon. Kralho climbs down and braves entering into the dragon's blast area to attempt to disarm them as well. Meanwhile, being no use in disarming traps, Sora is looking at the humans statues aligned at the west wall and notices that one of them isn't standing against the wall, like the others. She decides to see what happens if she tries to push the statue towards the wall and when she does so, a secret passage opens up beside her, much to general surprise. We finally manage to disarm another dragon statue, but fail in disarming the other. Well, as long as we kept far away from it's range, it would pose no problem. 

We decide to check the secret door and find that it is just a small corridor leading nowhere. However, written on the wall were the words "Time is life, time is death" and Ceteribus's stone begins to shine. Under the light of the stone, he finds a small carving with the same symbol as the one on the golden ring that came with the stone. He presses the ring against the carving and immediately a new passage opens up at the end of the corridor, leading into a closed room. See what we found there, in the next article of Adventure Logs.

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 14 - Ambushed!

Weary after the big battle we had fought against the Hobgoblin forces guarding the Keep's second level, we leave towards town to restock on supplies and get some rest. Some of us were wounded, especially Kralho, so we couldn't risk going further onwards without being replenished. We pick up our horses and start riding towards town. As we pass by the crypts near the Keep however, we encounter an unpleasant surprise. The road was blocked by about a dozen or so skeletons armed with bows and the female Elf we had fought back in the Keep. She screams out a challenge, saying that this would be the end for us. 

We hesitate for a moment, wondering how she managed to get here, especially because we had investigated the area she had fled to, and had found no traces of her or of the Deathjump Spider. The only explanation was that she had fled towards the path we had not yet explored, and somehow managed to slip behind us before we faced the large Hobgoblin garrison. She must have been quick about it though, because we hadn't wasted much time between the battle with her and the epic battle that followed. It was either that, or there was another way out of the Keep we did not know about. 

Anyway, this time we had to make sure she would not escape us again. Sora responds to her challenge, attempting to Intimidate her into surrendering, but to no avail. Battle ensues, and we are forced to take special care with this one, as we are very low on healing. Kralho is forced to hang in the backlines, being the most injured of us all. Luckily for us, the skeletons were incredibly weak and most of them are quickly dealt with thanks to Sora's Dragonbreath, Ceteribus's Turn Undead and my Eldritch Blasts. Chuck focuses on the Elf, forcing her into melee combat. When the battefield is almost clear of the undead, Kralho flanks the Elf, attempting to hit her whith his Sneak Attack. We are soon able to swarm her and she goes down quick after that.

After the battle is won we investigate her corpse, finding a few gold coins, and a message written in a sheet of vellum. It was signed by Kalarel and revealed that he was aware of our meddling and wanted her to deal with us. The message contained intructions on how to raise the dead so she could use them against us. Furthermore, Kalarel warned her that he was close to completing the ritual and that he should not be interrupted. Finally, the message also contained the pass phrase to get by the guards in the second level: "From the ground, some magic was found". All of this meant that we must be causing a lot of trouble for the evil priest and also that we needed to deal with him fast. If he completed the ritual, all would be lost. 

And so we ride to Winterhaven as fast as we can, intent on returning as soon as possible. When we arrive to town we are surprised to see that some people were leaving and many houses had been abandoned. Even Bob and Noddy from the militia were nowhere to be found. We head to the Lord's house to give him an update and ask what was happening. When we arrive before him, he tells us that many of the townspeople were leaving because they did not believe we could deal with the task at hand, and were trying to get as far away from the Keep as they could. We found this to be strange, because we had been successful so far, having returned from the Keep twice. Considering noone had managed to do that before, i'd say those were pretty hopeful signs...

We update the Lord on our doings so far, and leave searching for an abandoned house in which to pass the night. After the attack on Sora's room the last time we were here, we weren't taking any chances. Before that though, we go to the remaining merchants to sell some of our loot and buy some potions. Meanwhile, Ceteribus goes searching for Valtrum, the town scholar, to try and find out some more about his "cursed" stone. After looking at the stone, the ring and the golden key, Valtrum seems to remember something and amidst his old records and tomes, he finds something of note. He confirms that the stone had existed for a very long time, always being passed from master to apprentice. Eventually, a cult arose dedicated to studying and protecting the stone and its wearer. The stone was said to possess all the knowledge in the world and was suspected it held the secret to opening a path to Heaven. The cult grew very powerful over the times, embolden by the knowledge and power of the stone. Their power and influence drew the jealousy of others and the cult became persecuted and eventually wiped out. At that time, the stone went missing, staying out of history books until now. Much to Ceteribus's regret, Valtrum could also confirm that the stone could only be passed on to a willing disciple and that it had perilous long term effects.

We find an abandoned house near the town gates and rest there for a few hours, without being disturbed. This time there were no red crosses marking our door. All rested and restocked on potions and rations, we leave for the Keep, hoping that the next time we return to Winterhaven would be carrying the head of Kalarel as a symbol of our victory. 

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 13 - A warm reception

We reach the end of the stairs and enter a large well-lit chamber decorated with numerous flags bearing the symbol of Orcus, with exits left, right, and front. In the middle of the room is a cage containing a huge spider, bigger than a horse. All around the room there are several Hobgoblins poised to strike, though not immediately agressive. One of the closest one yells out to us: "Shadow seeks shadow". They were obviously testing us to see if we were friend or foe, expecting us to give a specific response. We hesitate for a while, as we hadn't found anything that was clearly meant to be used for such purpose. Ceteribus however, induced by the stone, responded with "in Heaven there is also darkness and light". Well, that didn't work out so well... It was clearly the wrong answer, as the Hobgoblin screams "Intruders!" and most of them assume offensive positions, as another one releases the giant spider, which we recognize as a Deathjump Spider. 

Battle is joined, and Kralho gets first move. In what proved a tactical mistake, we decide to enter the room and engage them head on. Eager to use his First Strike ability and Sneak Attack the closest Hobgoblin, Kralho engages and dishes out some pain. He paid for it dearly though, as the Deathjump Spider leaps on him, hitting a critical spot, poisoning and knocking him prone. Also, he is immediately swarmed by the Hobgoblins and gets hit very hard and into critical condition. With no space to easily maneuver, Sora and Chuck engage the Hobgoblins swarming Kralho, trying to come between them and our wounded comrade. Ceteribus heals him  and i start focusing on the Spider, which seemed the tougher opponent. Meanwhile, from one of the rooms adjacent to this one, a female Elf shows up sniping at us with a longbow and giving orders to the Hobgoblins. 

The Hobgoblin forces were composed of mostly Hobgoblin Grunts, an easy prey, but there were also four Hobgoblin Soldiers, who proved much harder. Kralho manages to get up and strike back at his attackers, as we realize that the Soldiers were not only hard to hit, but could also dish out some major damage with their heavy flails and squad tactics. Sora and Chuck manage to cleave a path placing them besides Kralho and in melee with the Spider, which is getting most of our attention. The Soldiers keep attacking in formation causing us great difficulties, though. Our focused fire on the Spider manages to put it on the run, towards the passage to the right. Concentrating our attacks on the Soldiers, we manage to take two of them out. At this point, the female Elf seems scared by foreseeable result of the battle, and flees towards the same direction as the Spider. The Hobgoblins however fight fiercely to the death, being finally overwhelmed by our superior numbers and firepower. 

In retrospect, this could have been a much easier battle, if we hadn't rushed inside. We greatly underestimated the Hobgoblins strength and overestimated our own ability to take them down quickly. The escape of the Spider and the Elf probably meant that the remainder of the forces on this level would soon be alerted and embolden with increased numbers. Anyway, we quickly check the surrounding rooms and find nothing more than a barracks and an old office, filled with records of the Keep, before it's downfall into abandonment and ruin. The only way to proceed was to the right passage, following the Spider and the Elf's example. 

We proceed cautiosly, wary of a possible ambush, and reach a large chamber with a tall unmarked altar near to the passage we were coming from. The room had three exits: a closed door to the left, a corridor to the front and another corridor to the right. Kralho investigates the altar and the door, finding nothing onf note. We check the door first, finding only a small room with two beds behind it. At this point we hesitate a bit, because we dind't know which way was best to follow. Depending on the layout of this area, we were at a definite risk of being surrounded, no matter which path we took. We end up deciding on the front corridor and proceed that way. 

The corridor ended in a corner turning right. At this point there was also a sturdy door to our left, from where we could hear some noise. Kralho checks it and finds that it isn't locked but that it seemed heavily barricated. We try to open the door by force, but can't open it no matter what. Whatever was inside wasn't intent on letting us in. Keeping an eye on this door we proceed further down the corridor, into a large room with a large table in the center. There were two closed doors in this room. As soon as the first of us enters the room, we start hearing lots of angry voices coming from both doors. Also, the sound of large objects being moved starts coming from behind us, from the barricated door we couldn't get open. Damn, they had definitly planned a trap and were in the process of springing it. I immediately react and order the party to retreat to the room with the large altar, where we could use the cover it provided as a tactical advantage. If we blocked both sides of the altar with our meleers, we could force the enemy into a bottleneck. Also, we would be fighting with our back towards the exit, allowing us to make a combative retreat if overwhelmed. 

We retreated as fast as we could, always followed by the angry snarls of Hobgoblins, and took up positions around the altar. Much to our surprise, moments later we see a small Hobgoblin force coming from the path we hadn't tried yet. At the sight of us, they seemed unsure what to do. Probably this particular group hadn't yet heard of our intrusion, as they just stood there watching us. That wouldn't last long though, since we were expecting other Hobgoblin forces to arrive soon and they would surely join the fray. Not giving them any time to think, i immediately blast the closest one, starting the battle. At least we could try and kill as much as we could from this group, before the main force arrived. 

Enraged by my assault, they move towards us and engage our right flank, protected by Chuck and Kralho. Moments later, a veritable army shows up from the other path, with multiple Grunts, several Soldiers and a couple of Archers, leaded by a Hobgoblin Warcaster and a Warchief. A fearsome battle ensues, and at first our flanks were holding fine against the Grunts, who were bottlenecking around the altar, as we predicted. However, the sheer numbers of the enemy force and the attacks from their ranged members were harassing us greatly. I was blasting Grunts left and right, while our fighters held their ground admirably. But as they ran out of Grunts to throw at us the Soldiers charged and began using their highly efficient battle tactics to great effect, forcing us to shift positions. Running away was now a definite choice for us and we began retreating into the corridor, beginning to despair at the massive numbers and firepower arrayed against us. 

However, when things were most desperate, the tide of battle seemed to turn as we slay the first Hobgoblin Soldier. Enraged by our resistance, the Hobgoblin Warcaster approaches the frontlines and unleashes a massive Force Pulse, hitting a large area around him, including his own companions. The burst of force hits almost everyone in it's radius, knocking them prone and killing one of the Hobgoblin Archers and a couple of Grunts. Still unable to reach the Warcaster, we focus on the remaining Soldiers, managing to get another kill. At this point the Warchief finally engages into melee and Chuck keeps him at bay, while we try to kill the pesky Soldiers. Chuck and the Warchief fight a fierce battle, with attacks going back and forth. Finally, as we start to run out of heals the Soldiers are down, and the Warchief falls soon after to Chuck's Cleave. All that was left were the Warcaster and a single Archer. We mob the Warcaster, who in desperation, unleashes another Force Pulse, killing the other Archer, before finally falling himself. 

We collect all the loot we could find and check the area where they had come from as well. In the Warchief's bedroom we find a magical Vicious Short Sword, a nice reward for our efforts. We still had one path left to explore, but after this incredibly hard battle we were very low on resources, especially healing sources. Some of our meleers were severely wounded, and needed rest, so we decide to head back to town to stock up on potions and get a well-deserved break. 

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 12 - The sage's journal

Finally done with the Keep's first level, we begin the descent through the winding staircase, aware that things were probably going to get serious from that moment on. So far we had dealt only with cowardly mercenaries and frail undead guardians and had yet to find any member of Kalarel's inner circle or of his cult. 

As we begin going down, Ceteribus suddenly feels a surge of heat emanating from the stone and as he takes it out of his pack, it emanates a bright orange coloured light. Under this light, we notice strange writings on the wall that weren't visible before. None of us can decipher the writing except Ceteribus, who in a sudden burst of understanding is able to translate the inscriptions. Written on the wall was "Path to the stars, between light and shadow, seek the shadow. In Heaven there is also darkness and light." We can also see an engraving with the same symbol that was carved in the ring we had found with the stone. Ceteribus touches the ring to the synbol on the wall, but nothing happens. We decide to carry on, as none of us is able to understand the meaning of those cryptic writings, and nothing else seemed to be happening. 

At the bottom of the stairs, we find ourselves in a small crypt. All around the crypt there are eight tombs, carved with similar writings to the ones we found before. In the middle of the room we find a staircase leading down, with a plaque inscribed with the sentence "In Heaven there is also darkness and light" written in Common. On the plaque, a symbol was carved matching the one on the ring. All of the tombs were perfectly sealed, with no sign of being disturbed for ages. Ceteribus attempts to read the inscriptions, but this time he is unable to do so. He then decides to do as before and touches the ring to the symbol carved on the plaque. This time however, something actually happened. One of the tomb's lids slid open and inside it we find not a corpse but a journal and a golden key. 

We quickly find that the journal belonged to a previous owner of the mysterious stone, who recounts the tale of it's discovery. There was once a young scholar who studied the stars and had undergone a great journey in search for knowledge. During  his journey, he had encountered an old sage, who possessed great wisdom but was also quite mad. From that moment on they traveled together and as they did the scholar learned much from the old hermit. At the end of their journey, the old man told the young scholar that he had found heaven on earth and that it was time for him to leave. Before that, however, he gave the scholar a small wooden box containing the magical stone and a note with the phrase "In Heaven there is also darkness and light" written on it. He then suddenly vanished. Throughout the ages, the stone had been passed on from one owner to another. These were always wise people, who could harness the stone's powers. The journal describes that the stone can grant it's wearer great power, but that after some time it must be passed on to a new owner, because it was too much for any single man to handle. Prolonged exposure to the stone's effect caused great addiction and could possibly even cause  death. 

Well, at this point Ceteribus starts to worry about his chances. The journal made it very clear that the stone could only be passed on to a willing disciple. Discarding it would do no good, as he would continue to suffer the stone's ill effects. The rest of us however, had a good laugh at the thought of him dying from addiction to the stone, and were rather glad we weren't the ones to touch it first. He tries to force the stone on us but he is out of luck. None of us is a willing disciple :).  He would have to find some way of getting rid of it, or he was doomed. More laughing ensued, and we decided to be more careful with what we touch in the future. Nonetheless, we wondered what connection the stone might have with the rift to the Shadowfell. All we could think of was that it had once belonged to one of the wizards who had closed the rift when it was last opened. 

We take the journal and the key with us and begin our descent down the staircase, intent on investigating this matter further at another time, if the chance arose. 

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. 

Adventure Logs - Keep on the Shadowfell 10 - The caves

We arrive at the Keep at the break of dawn. There were no guards at the entrance to the underground, but we proceed inwards with caution anyway. As we advance, we notice that in several paths there are some sort of drawings on the floor that weren't there before. Examining it closer, myself and Ceteribus recognize the pattern as a Terror Rune, a magical trap activated on contact, with a fear inducing spell. Kralho is unable to bypass it, so we position ourselves at some distance, while Sora valiantly moves to activate the trap. When she touches the trap, it activates and it is then that we realize we greatly underestimated the trap's range.. It was able to affect everyone in the party except Ceteribus, so we start running around wildly in fear. At the same time, an alarm sounds throughout the area. 

Luckily the fear effect passed quickly, and noone showed up to check on the alarm. As we advance back into the caves we find more Terror Runes, but this time Kralho is able to disable them. Back in the caves, we bypass the area where we had fought the rats and the gelatinous creature and move forward. After some time, we reach another large chamber, where we could hear some kind of insect noises, a lot of them. Kralho approaches with Stealth and is able to see about 20 giant insects of varying sizes. Unfortunately, his stealth abilities didn't seem to be enough to hide himself from the bugs and they began advancing on our positions. None of us is able to recognize them, but we immediately notice that they can burrow through the earth and stone of the caves.

There were a very large number of smaller ones and four much bigger ones. We get first move and Ceteribus starts up the battle by moving and getting himself falling into a pit trap... Luckily, since he is an eladrin, he uses his racial teleport ability to get out. We can't complain too much about our luck... We find two pits and the ones to fall in them are always the ones with teleport. The insects start surrounding our frontline and manage to get a few good hits in, despite suffering heavy losses. Most of the smaller ones were quicly killed, but the larger ones were much harder. They surround Sora and Chuck, who were the most obvious threats and cause some serious damage. They prove to be very resilient and the battle lasts for a while. We finally defeat them thanks to plenty of flanking maneuvers and effective power usage. We proceed towards their nest and find a corpse of a half-eaten goblin. The corpse had a pouch with some gold and a couple of potions of healing. We also find some gold and a chest in the nests. Inside the chest was some more gold and 5 amethysts. 

We continue exploring the caves and in the last place we still hadn't checked we find a bronze double door, half covered in moss and fungi. Written on the door was the inscription "Stay out, really". Well, that decided it... What better incentive could we have in opening a door than a clear sign of danger... We definitely couldn't back out now. Kralho checks the door and finds out that it's neither trapped nor locked. Chuck, as the frontliner, opens the door while the rest assume battle positions, expecting trouble. The doors open into a small room with a large pool of dark waters and a small patch of land in the center of the pool. It looked as though this once served as a cistern. At first glance the room was empty, but we proceeded carefully anyway. It seemed there was something in the small island, but none of us would brave the dark waters without checking them first. So, we tie a rock to a rope and throw  it into the waters to attempt to determine its depth.

Immediately after ther rock hits the waters, a great bubbling begins close to the margin and Sora and Chuck are hit by what seems to be large bubbles and both get dazed and weakened. Chuck is then hit by a large chunk of some slimy substance. At this time, we manage to see that the source of the attacks is a large mass advancing through the dark waters towards our positions. Chuck had been hit badly, so we retreat towards the door to recover and see we if we could flush out the creature. The creature kept advancing and when we finally get a glimpse of it, i recognize it as a Blue Slime, a gelatinous creature with tremorsense and strong acid attacks. The meleers approach the pool to attack the beast, but we quicly realize that they were taking way to much damage and dealing too few. The Slime seemed largely unnafected by our actions. 

After a few rounds of battle, we start thinking of retreat, since this foe seemed too much for us to handle at the moment. However, after some good hits we notice that the slime has taken substancial damage and regain hope. At this point i use my daily power Curse of Dark Dream, which could force the slime to move towards us and leave the water, leaving it in a much more favorable position for our figthers. My spell hits, dealing a good chunk of damage, but im unable to force it to move. Apparently, it must have been immune to the charm side effect of the power. We continue hitting it as hard as we can and after a few tough rounds we manage to beat it down. A very tough battle... Whatever was in the small island had better be worth it.

With the slime gone, Kralho swims to the small island and finds several interesting things. Scattered around the island were the remains of several victims of the creature. Among the remains were a potion of healing, a pouch with gold, a magical Shield of Protection, a wooden message cylinder, and a small ornate chest. Quite the haul.. Kralho brings it all back to the shore and we examine the message cylinder first. It contained three scrolls. One of them was a map, with the location of Shadowfell Keep marked. Another one contained a message for Kalarel, signed by a Chief Krand of the Bloodreavers, who had heard of Kalarel's activities in the region and was offering to buy captured humanoids from him, to work as slave labor in a place called Thunderspire. The last scroll contained a message presumably for the carrier, with instructions to destroy the message tube if Kalarel wasn't interested in the offer. Most curious... Probably the message never reached Kalarel, or his response was not a positive one... 

Finally we investigated the small chest. Inside it was a small stone in the shape of a rose petal, which was obviously emitting a magic aura. However, at first glance we can't identify what it is. Ceteribus decides to touch the stone to examine it better and as he does so, the stone emanates an orange coloured light and while he is holding it he feels somewhat smarter. We each try to touch the stone in turn, but it doesn't produce any effect for any of us. As the stone only reacted to Ceteribus, we decide he should carry it until we could discover more about it. In fact, while holding it, he gets the strange feeling he should investigate the small chest further, and as he does so, he finds a small golden ring engraved with a strange symbol. Something in his mind tells him that the symbol means "Heaven and Earth". Apparently, the stone was some kind of powerful artefact with the capability to communicate with it's wearer by placing thoughts in his mind. The ring was probably related to it, so Ceteribus carried it with him as well. 

We were done investigating the caves now, so all that was left was to investigate the remainder of the Keep's first level. Tune in next time, as we battle the Undead haunting that area.