# Story Hour - Keep on the Shadowfell with first time D&D players



## zoroaster100 (Jun 19, 2008)

The cast of characters in the six player party:

Lilith the Half-Elven - Fey-pact warlock female half-elf, daughter of elven knight Sir Keegan Redleaf and a human woman from Winterhaven.  Lilith was raised by adoptive human parents in Winterhaven until her family was expelled from town after she was accused of killing a boy with witchcraft.

Lozol the Half-Elven - Lilith's brother, and son of Keegan Redleaf.  Lozol is a half elf paladin of Bahamut.  He was separted from Lilith at birth and was raised by the Wood Singer elven tribe near Winterhaven until he learned that his father had been a paladin of Bahamut that served under the Nerathian emperor.  He then traveled to the mountain fortress of the last remaining dragonborn clan to learn the ways of paladinhood and the worship of Bahamut.

Tlaloc - elf rogue - Tlaloc is an elf, but he is so short and slight that he is often confused for a human child or a halfling.  As a child in the Wood Singer's elven village he was often teased.  He became fast friends with Lozol when Lozol stopped another elf child from bullying Tlaloc.  Tlaloc gave himself his adult name after it came to him in a dream during his Manhood Hunt (the elf tribe's ritual for a child to become an adult by hunting alone in the wild for a week).

Xandir Moonstar - eladrin wizard - Xandir was sent by the High Magus of the Eladrin with a powerful ritual scroll to find the long-sundered half-elven siblings born of the Wood Singer elven tribe.  A prophesy has been uttered which suggests that there is a great Darkness approaching which may threaten the Middle World, and these siblings may provide a clue to how to stop the Darkness.

Rafanel Starhawk - elf ranger - Rafanel is the most promising new warrior of the Wood Singer tribe.  But he already bears a great burden because he failed to save his promised love from an assault by gnolls on his tribe several years past.  He was all too eager to accept the elven lord's charge to travel with the strange eladrin wizard to fulfill a great quest, departing from the home that now carry too many sad memories for him.

Hyksos - dragonborn warlord - Hyksos grew up in the dragonborn Order of the East Wind, learning the ways of Bahamut.  He has grown tired of endless waiting and guarding against the unseen threat of evil dragonkind, which his kind is devoted to, and wants to do something to prove to humanity that dragonborn are worthy allies against the evil forces of the world.  He heard the Lord of Winterhaven is looking for mercenaries to wipe out the kobold threat to the town, and this seems like a great opportunity to prove himself and to attack the hated kobolds, whom his kind see as mockeries of the glory of the dragonborn.


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## zoroaster100 (Jun 19, 2008)

*Intro and A Cryptic Prophesy of Doom*

The World Needs Heroes

The World is no longer what it once was.  As little as a century ago, the mighty empire of Nerath held sway over all the known lands.  Eladrin oracles were welcomed by human sages in Nerath’s centers of learning.  Halfling wanderers were greeted with joy in every town.  Dwarven merchants from Hammerfast Hold were met with anticipation when they brought their mastercraft jewels and ornaments to market.  The elves were given autonomous guardianship of the woods and wild places.  The few remaining dragonborn clans bound themselves to serve the Nerathian Emperor, forming a holy order in service to the Platinum Dragon, their deity and creator.   The dragonborn Order of the East Wind swore to keep a watchful eye against the threat of evil dragonkind.   

Indeed, those were glorious times.  But the empire of Nerath is no more.   Like the tiefling empire of Bael-Turath that came before it, Nerath collapsed after a decades-long struggle against its adversaries.   Now ruins of the once-great Nerathian empire lie like shipwrecks in the hills, grim reminders of Nerath’s shattered dream of peace and prosperity.  

In more recent times, the elves have become largely isolationist, forbidding entry to their sacred groves and forests to all other races except their sundered brethren, the eladrin.  The eladrin have in turn largely withdrawn from the Middle World, consumed by their own problems in the Fey world.  

The dragonborn are nearly extinct, and the remnants of their once-proud race now hire themselves out as mercenaries, while their leaders continue to keep an ever more hopeless guard against the growing influence of evil dragons.   

Humans live in mostly small villages and towns, increasingly isolated from each other by the danger of all manner of bandits and brigands who prey on unwary travelers, including kobolds, goblins, orcs and worse monsters (and maybe the very worst of all, depraved humans who have embraced cruel and barbarous ways).  Civilization has been reduced to a few fading points of light in a growing sea of dark.  The World is in need of heroes to keep the last remaining points of light from being snuffed out.

A Cryptic Prophecy of Doom

In these already dark times, a dark prophesy of doom was received by the eladrin.  Upon receiving a nightmare vision of the future too dreadful to speak of, the eladrin High Oracle, Beliritha the Chosen, screamed and screamed until she died of horror.  The eladrin Lesser Oracles consulted among themselves, and decided to ask the High Magus of the Starfire Court to send an agent to the Middle World to seek an explanation for the cryptic prophecy and to learn what trouble might be brewing amongst the mortal races of the World.  

But the High Magus is apparently too consumed by his own machinations and plots within the eladrin Queen’s court.  Queen Mirian Starfire’s monarchy is threatened by a challenger within her own clan, and the eladrin are abuzz with competing plots to support her or to undermine her rule.  Still, the Oracles cannot be altogether ignored.  So the High Magus sent his Least Apprentice, Xandir Starmoon, into the dangerous Middle World, armed only with a beginner’s spellbook, a sword, and a scroll for a single divination ritual.   And to guide him, Xandir has only the Oracles’ vague warnings, and a cryptic prediction about half-elves whose fate is somehow bound up with a coming Darkness.


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## zoroaster100 (Jun 19, 2008)

*The Quest Begins*

On arriving in the Middle World, Xandir first turned for aid to the eladrin’s brethren, the Wood Singer elves of Westdeep Forest.  Hearing of the prophesy, the elven lord of the Wood Singers determined that the time has come to find and unite Lozol and Lilith, the long sundered half-elven children of Sir Keegan Redleaf (a renowned elven paladin knight of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon).   The elven lord assigned the Wood Singers’ most promising new warrior, Rafanel Starhawk, as well as Lozol’s childhood friend, Tlaloc, to assist the eladrin wizard in his quest.  Also joining them was Lozol’s dragonborn friend, Hyksos.  Hyksos is on his own quest to wipe out the kobold threat to the human lands, in order to prove to the humans that dragonborn are still worthy friends and allies.  

The questing heroes headed towards the human town of Winterhaven.   A half day from town they encountered none other than Lilith herself on the Old King’s Road.  She was on her way to her adoptive mother’s home, to help her mother find Lilith’s adoptive father, the scholar Douvan Staul.

They began a conversation with Lilith, to convince her that they sought her for a worthy purpose.  But then the elves' acute hearing detected a man running over the next hill towards the group.  A farmhand rushed up the road, white as a sheet from fear.   It took some convincing to get the man to overcome his fear of the “giant dragon man”, Hyksos.  But after getting the farmhand’s story that his brother had been captured by "hundreds" of small dragon men. , Rafanel and Tlaloc decided to scout ahead.  

Coming over the hill stealthily, the elves spotted the Staul farmstead under attack by kobold brigands.  The feral little scaled monsters barked and skittered about, poking and harassing a barely conscious human farmhand they had captured.  Meanwhile, other kobolds busied themselves setting fire to the farmstead.   Rafanel, enraged to see bandits assaulting helpless people, recalling the cruelty of the gnoll barbarians who years ago slaughtered so many of his own tribe, signaled to Tlaloc to get help, but decided not to wait to start the attack.  From cover of tree foliage, Rafanel began a barrage of arrows that killed two kobold minions before they knew what hit them.  Meanwhile, Tlaloc returned swiftly to the rest of the group to bring reinforcements.  

Soon, the entire group was locked in combat with the kobolds.  Hyksos, the dragonborn, charged fearlessly headlong into the fray, cutting down a kobold minion with his longsword.  Unfortunately, he now found himself exposed to the horde of kobolds out in the open.  Given courage by their apparent overwhelming numerical advantage, the kobolds barked and squealed with anticipation of killing their hated enemy, a dragonborn.  Quickly, Hyksos found himself surrounded.  He was soon the target for a kobold slinger and several minion javelin throwers.  But worse, from behind the farmstead, two previously hidden kobold dragonshield soldiers charged at Hyksos, wearing scale armor and dragonscale shields.  With them came even more kobold minions swarming up to attack.  

Things were looking grim for the dragonborn, but then the rest of the group launched into action.  Xandir the wizard and Lilith the warlock sorceress both launched fiery magical blasts at the kobolds, weakening and making them vulnerable to well placed blows from the others.  Hyksos restored himself from the brink of death with his own inspirational words, steeling himself to fight on against his enemies.  Tlaloc used a blinding barrage of daggers to slay his foes in numbers.  Xandir slowed some kobolds with a sleep spell, while Rafanel, Tlaloc and Lilith took down one after another foe with missiles and magic.  Finally, the battle was won, and the last kobold tried to flee.   

Xandir used a well placed magic missile to knock the last kobold unconscious for questioning.  Fortunately the dragonborn spoke the Draconic language of the kobolds, and his skill at intimidation served him well in the interrogation.  The kobold revealed that his tribe had been conquered and enslaved into service by a fearsome goblin overlord, calling himself Irontooth, who in turn seems to serve a greater master.   But the kobold would not reveal the location of the tribe’s lair despite severe intimidation, as apparently, it feared Irontooth even more than anything the heroes might do to it.  

Before the interrogation could be completed, the heroes realized that the farmstead had indeed been set on fire by the kobolds, presenting the heroes with a tremendous challenge to their skills to avoid having the farm burn down completely.  Xandir used an ice spell to freeze a portion of the roof to slow the fire, and Hyksos used his frosty dragon breath to help put out the fire.  But to finish the job also required raw strength to carry buckets of water to put out the fire, and magical help in the form of Xandir’s mage hand spell, which created a disembodied floating hand to carry buckets of water to dump on the roof. 

After defeating the kobolds and putting out the house fire, the heroes spoke to Mrs. Staul and learned that the last time she saw her husband was when Douvan went to Winterhaven to speak looking for the location of a reputed dragon burial site.  The heroes decided to rest at the Staul farmstead.  They knew the next day they would have to go to Winterhaven to track down Douven Staul.  And surely the path to the missing scholar would also lead to even greater danger.


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## zoroaster100 (Jun 19, 2008)

*Down Time In Winterhaven*

The town of Winterhaven was founded over two hundred years ago, under the protection of the Emperor (before the fall of the Empire of Nerath).  At one point, Nerath’s soldiers kept watch over the town from Shadow Keep, a fortress built on the nearby foothills.  Shadow Keep is now in ruins, and the King’s Road is quite deteriorated from lack of maintenance, but still the town clings to survival. 

When our group of heroes visited Winterhaven, they found a picturesque, sleepy little walled village.   The guards at the town gate eyed the dragonborn and elves suspiciously, but allowed them to pass unmolested into town.  The town was pretty quite in the morning, but some farmers busied themselves unloading their vegetables and chickens to sell in the open air market.   Hyksos the dragonborn stopped to talk to an elven girl selling wild flowers from a cart at the market, and even bought some flowers from her.  It was lucky he struck up conversation with her, as it turned out that the flower girl, Delphina Moongem, sometimes ventures up the foothills and into the woods searching for wild flowers.   She warned Hyksos that the Shadow Keep is now inhabited by goblins, and that the kobold brigands seem to live somewhere near the waterfall in the woods not far from town.

The heroes bought supplies from the town’s dwarven blacksmith, Thair Coalstriker, who bitterly complained about the new “Grande Shoppe”, and its proprietor, Bairwin Wildarson, who used to buy many shovels and picks from the dwarf, but now only steals away his customers.  

The heroes then visited Wrafton’s Inn.  They were greeted by the friendly innkeeper, Salvana Wrafton, and questioned Eilian the Old, to ask the grizzled old farmer for the whereabouts of Lilith’s father, Douvan.  The group learned that Douvan obtained the directions to the dragon burial site from Eilian the Old.  Eilian happily offered to draw them a map so they could follow in Douvan’s footsteps.  

Before leaving town, however, the heroes visited the tower of the sage, Valthrun the Prescient, and learned a little bit more about the divination scroll carried by Xandir the wizard.   The group also visited Lord Padraig, the town’s leader, who offered (after some negotiation) to pay them one hundred twenty-five gold pieces for ridding the town of the threat of the kobold brigands.


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## zoroaster100 (Jun 19, 2008)

*Trust Gnome One*

After resting at the Inn, the group set out for the dragon burial site.  A few hours later, after traveling through the green hills and meadows southwest of Winterhaven, the heroes arrived at a large crater of bare rock dug into the wilderness.  A friendly, giggly voice greeted them from within the crater.  “You can’t fully appreciate what we’ve uncovered from up above.  Come down toward the dragon bones and see what the workers have discovered” said a small grey gnome standing at the bottom of the hole.  The gnome tried to persuade them to come down the crater to have a closer look.  But the heroes sensed something was amiss, and refused to go down to the gnome.  

Finally, the “friendly” gnome’s patience ended.  “Oh, well.  Kill them all,” was how he finished their conversation.  The gnome’s four human workers, armed with clubs, started to rush at the heroes.  The gnome’s halfling lackey, armed with a sling, began to circle the crater to get into position to attack with his sling.  The gnome also unleashed his guardian drakes - strong, heavy lizard creatures eager to tear their claws and jaws into the gnome’s enemies.   Then the gnome, Agrid, used his gnomish stealth to hide himself with illusion, and his halfling lackey hid himself as well.   

The guard drakes rushed up a slope out of the crater, rushing headlong at Tlaloc with slavering jaws.  Tlaloc soon found himself assaulted by the drakes.  The beasts ruthlessly tore into him with tooth and claw.  The human rabble swarmed out of the crater as well, swinging their clubs madly.  Meanwhile, the halfling slid around the crater in stealth and began to aim well placed sling shots at the heroes. 

But now it was the heroes’ turn to respond.  Lilith used her spells to blast at the drakes and the humans, and used her vampiric embrace to drain the life force from one drake in order to strengthen herself.  Hyksos charged up to fight alongside Tlaloc, stabbing and slicing at the drakes with his sword and blocking their bites with his shield.  Xandir summoned a huge flaming sphere right behind the drakes.  The sphere scorched the reptiles from behind, trapping them between Hyksos’ and Tlaloc’s steel blades and a roaring inferno of heat.  The drakes succumbed to the heat and to the repeated blows from the warriors.  

Xandir then began to mentally move his conjured flaming sphere about the battlefield, scorching every foe that got too close.  The ranger’s bow, spellcasters’ incantations, and Tlaloc’s well aimed daggers soon were focused on the gnome.  But whenever the gnome was hit, he would cackle with scorn and vanish from sight, becoming invisible.  Finally, Rafanel, Tlaloc and Lilith decided to end that charade.  When the gnome next disappeared, Lilith blasted him and Tlaloc hurled a dagger at him, and Rafanel shot at the spot where the gnome had been standing.  As if from thin air, the heroes heard the cry of the gnome as the fey critter was pierced by Rafanel’s arrow where he stood invisible.  Agrid the gnome appeared out of his invisibility, clutching his bloody chest, pierced by an arrow, and keeled over dead.  

The halfling slinger turned to run, but could not escape the careful aim of Xandir’s magic missiles and Rafanel’s arrows.

The heroes quickly searched through their fallen foes.  The gnome was found wearing Douven’s golden amulet, which inside bore a tiny portrait of Lilith’s mother.  Some gold and silver coins were also discovered.  But best of all, under a blanket, the heroes found not only Douven, still alive, but also Lilith’s missing brother, Lozol, who apparently was captured by the evil gnome while looking for the family he has just recently learned about.  Lilith’s father, in gratitude for the rescue from the evil gnome, offers his amulet as a reward to the group of heroes.  But Douven also pleads with the group, especially with his daughter Lilith, to try to correct Douven’s own failure by recovering the scrolls the gnome stole from the burial site.  Douven tells the heroes that, on threat of torture, he helped the gnome find a secret tomb at this burial site, and discover a hidden set of buried scrolls.  The gnome already delivered the scrolls to some kobolds that visited the burial site a few days ago.   The kobolds came to collect the scrolls on behalf of their leader, Irontooth.  Douven fears that by helping the gnome and his kobold allies obtain the scrolls, Douven may have done great harm.

Finally, Douvan tells the heroes there is also another relic in the tomb beside the scrolls which were already taken.  After the gnome got the scrolls, he had Douven use his knowledge and skills as a scholar and archaologist to help the gnome locate and discover this second item.  That second item has not yet been fully dug up, however, and remains in the tomb below.  It lies in a sarcophagus, in the tunnel down the mine shaft at the bottom of the burial site crater.   “Let’s go down there and open the sarcophagus”, says Douvan, “Agrid was so eager to find it and dig it up.  I can’t wait to see what’s inside!”


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## zoroaster100 (Jun 27, 2008)

We play our second session on Saturday! I'm very excited to see how the new players will do on their second time playing.  They had a good time last time and have talked about the game several times since the first session two weeks ago.  They've taken to calling Tlaloc "TClk, TClk" like the clucking sound used by the Bushmen in their language.  And the other players have accused the player of that character of creating a halfling, but calling him an elf.  They have all confirmed back for the second session.  

One player, one that plays the paladin, could not make it for the first session due to a last minute family emergency.  He will be there this time, so it will be interesting to see how they do with six characters rather than five.  I may have to buff up some of the encounters.


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 6, 2008)

*Down Time In Winterhaven*

Double Post


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 6, 2008)

*Trust Gnome One*

Double post


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## Caldarion (Jul 7, 2008)

Very good Zoroaster.  I'm really enjoying this!  Keep those updates comin!!


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 7, 2008)

Thanks for the feedback, Caldarion.  I've already written up the journal entries from the second session.  We had the player of the half-elf paladin play this time, so we had a full complement of six players.  We had a great time in our second session.  The last battle was massive (against Irontooth and A LOT of kobolds), but no one wanted to stop part way through the battle, so the session went an hour overtime.  It was a lot of fun.  I'll be posting an update later tonight when I get home.


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## Tony Vargas (Jul 8, 2008)

Thanks for the story.  I'm glad you put in some blow-by-blow detail, I'm very curious to see how 4e works out, and more poetic combat summaries don't really get that across.

I'm guessing combats will go a bit better when you have an actual defender (paladin) join the party.


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 8, 2008)

*Tomb of the Dragon Wizard*

At last Lozol met his newly discovered sister, Lilith.  The siblings could hardly be more different from each other in some respects.  Lilith whispered a quick warning to her brother to be careful of the eladrin wizard and his strange prophesy.  But in all it was a happy reunion, as Lozol was happy to see his childhood friend, Tlaloc, and his more recent friend, Hyksos the dragonborn. 

The gnome and his lackeys had been defeated, and Lozol and Lilith’s adoptive father, Douvan Staul, had been rescued.  After searching the gnome and his guards and finding some gold and silver, the heroes were urged on by Douvan Staul to search the passage into the burial tomb.  But first the heroes decided to sleep at the burial site through the night.  

As Xandir and Rafanel kept watch (Xandir used his eladrin ability to sit alert, in a waking trance), they saw a storm gather over the foothills of the mountains beyond the town of Winterhaven, over the location of the old Keep of Shadows.  The thunder and lighting were ominous in those dark clouds but the storm unnaturally hovered over the foothills of the Shadow Keep for hours, never moving throughout the night.  At dawn, the storm was gone, but a thin fog settled down from the mountains over the valley, even to the burial site where the heroes awoke from their rest.

Lozol, perhaps eager to prove himself useful to make up for getting captured, offered to lead the way into the dank and dark tunnel that descended into the earth.  The winding path allowed only one person at a time to descend.  At the end of the tunnel, a hole had been dug even deeper below the floor level, revealing an unearthed sarcophagus made of granite.  But as Lozol reached out to open it, a fluttering sound was heard through the darkness, and something the size of a large rat flitted through the air to land right at Lozol’s neck.  The creature looked like a cross between a bat and a giant mosquito!  It latched onto Lozol with grasping hook-like claws, and, before Lozol could react, the thing slipped its piercing proboscis right between the plates of Lozol’s armor, into the tender flesh of his neck. 

“It’s a stirge!” yelled out Xandir and Rafanel in unison.  Rafanel knew such creatures from his woodcraft, while Xandir had studied them in the Creature Compendiums of his wizard school.

Lilith focused her eyebite power on the creature’s small mind.  The creature reeled, but clung on.  Xandir blasted it with a carefully placed magic missile.  Then Lozol tried to pry off the creature.  Feeling a new connection with his sister, he tried to look at the creature with the same focus that she used.  To his own amazement, he was able to reproduce the same magical effect she did, hurting the creature mentally with the psychic damage of an eybite.  The little monster squealed and popped off of Lozol’s neck, releasing its grabbing claws, and falling rigid and dead on the cavern floor.

Lozol, now calm again, began trying to open the sarcophagus once more.  On the surface of the sarcophagus, the group read the inscriptions written there in Common and Draconic.  The inscriptions revealed that here lay the body of a Dragon Wizard of Nareth, apprentice to the silver dragon Haracasterix the Radiant.  Also engraved was a warning: “Let the gate of the demon lord of undeath remain shut forever.”  

Lozol struggled to remove the sarcophagus lid.  It was not easy, but with help from Hyskos, the hulking dragonborn, the lid of the sarcophagus was removed.  Inside lay the mummified remains of a humanoid body, probably human or elf.  At his feet was a wand, and in his prune-like dry hands was clutched a scroll.

The group read the scroll, which contained a testament from the Dragon Wizard, offering use of his beloved magical wand, Orthrax, against any who oppose the evil demonic cult of the undead, and warning that the Cursed Scrolls of the Fallen Flesh, also buried in this tomb, must never fall into the wrong hands.  Alas, it appears the evil gnome had already found those scrolls and delivered them into the very, very wrong hands of the goblin Irontooth and his kobold minions.  

Also in the sarcophagus was a locked chest.  Tlaloc easily picked the lock, and Hyksos began counting the gold coins within.  But this apparently activated an ancient trap in the tomb, setting off a cave collapse.  As the floor trembled and pebbles and dust began to shake loose from the ceiling, the heroes ran for their lives out to the exit to the outside.  Most of the heroes left the cave before the collapse.  But Lozol, being deepest in the cave, barely escaped before the rocks began to fall, sealing the tomb again.

Xandir claimed the magic wand for his own use, just as Lilith had claimed the magic Amulet of Health taken from the gnome.  Rafanel and Lozol refused to take a share of the gold, finding it improper to partake in what they saw as graverobbing, but Hyksos, Tlaloc and Lilith shared in the gold, vowing to use it to purchase weapons to use against evil.  

The heroes decided to head back to town to rest and purchase equipment.  After an uneventful journey, they found the town looking much the same as before, except everyone seemed unusually quiet and sullen.   Upon arriving in the town’s market, the heroes found it largely empty, except for some peasants buying their daily necessities.  At the market, they were approached by a dark-haired elf huntress, Ninaran.  She seemed to be acquainted with Lozol, and to know much about the heroes’ quest and the prophesy concerning Lozol and Lilith.  Lozol, under questioning by the rest of the group, admitted he met the elf woman in his earlier passage through town before he was captured.  This time, however, instead of engaging the elf woman in conversation, sent her away, accusing her of foul play and ill motives.


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 8, 2008)

*Inscription on the Dragon Wizard's Sarcophagus*

I gave the dragonborn player a handout during the game which contained the runes found on the sarcophagus, and an explanation of the runes.

In the Common Tongue, the inscription on the sarcophagus stated:

"Here lies Radifex Argilian, Initiate of the Second Circle; Humble Apprentice of Haracasterix the Radiant."

Below those words on the sarcophagus lid, there are Iokharic runes which spell out the following sentence in the Draconic tongue:

"In Cadilan Portam Denthanus, Demondimdes Gul."

The Common translation for these words is: 
"Let the gates of the Demon Lord of Undeath remain shut forever."


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 8, 2008)

You're right, Tony.  Combat did go better with the paladin in the group.  Although the big showdown with Irontooth was still very tough.


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 8, 2008)

*Halfling Performers*

Before they left town, the heroes ran into a troupe of traveling hafling performers in the market square.  The halflings included various acrobats and musicians performing for tips and handouts, and one particularly talented bard who performed the Ode to Brave Sir Keegan for the small crowd that gathered in the market:

The Ode to Brave Sir Keegan 

A shadow fell upon the land
From stirring graves
The dead did stand
And came in waves.

The living fled
And from the ground
Came the undead
And doom abound.

The land was filled with fear and grief.
Hopes were crushed and tears were shed.
Death crept in like a wicked thief
Until thousands of innocents were dead.

The King then commanded with royal words
And sent through the land his doughty men
They brought with them fire and axes and swords
And won a great battle in Evil’s den.

From far and near
Came wizards great
To our land so dear
And none too late.


To stop the darkness they laid a spell
To seal the gate to the terrible Dark.
The door they closed, or so they tell,
With a mighty ensorcelled mark.


But who would guard the hidden door
To Evil’s heart in the great beyond?
‘Tis true our own lives we do adore.
So no one would respond.

The call went out
But not a one
Would answer the call
Except one man.

Sir Keegan the Brave
Alone did heed
The call for courage
And the land’s need.

He alone agreed
 to guard the door
With courage and deed,
and so he swore.

Took an oath to keep
To his lasting fate
Forever shut
The Unholy Gate.

One day the foes of good did come
And slaughtered his guards every one
Sir Keegan fought
And bravely died.
The door stayed shut,
But the people cried.

Thus the Brave Sir Keegan’s oath was kept
Though through horrors he was sorely tested
Finally his body slept.
And his soul forever rested.

Let us drink to Brave Sir Keegan!


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 9, 2008)

Here is the writing on the scroll that was found on the mummified wizard's hands inside his sarcophagus at the burial site:

If Ye Who Read This be Among Those Who Honor Life, Take Orthax, My Most Beloved Wand, and Swear Ye to Use It Always to Oppose The Blood Lord and His Dreadful Servants.  
And Note Ye, That Though I was Loathe to Do So, I Have Ordained that the Most Awful Scrolls of The Fallen Flesh be Buried in My Tomb, and Do Pray That They Remain Here Hidden Forever.  
Never Permit Those Baleful Scrolls of Dark Knowledge to Fall Into the Hands of the Unclean Cult, Those Foes of Life Itself, or the World Shall Surely Regret It.  
If Ye Who Finds These, My Last Words, Be Among Ye Who Abhor Life and Who Serve the Foul Prince of Undeath, Then I Spit Upon Thine Unworthy Spirits, and May Thine Souls Be Cursed to Horrible Eternal Torment at Thine Master’s Own Cruel Talons for Deflining The Resting Place of My Tired Bones.


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 9, 2008)

*The Forest Lair*

During the halfling bard's performance, a halfling girl kept making eyes at Tlaloc, whose stature is barely taller than a male halfling.  But her father, an old, stodgy halfling with a scowl on his face, interevened and ordered her away when he realized his daughter was flirting with an elf.  The heroes made friends with the bard, and Lozol and Lilith confided that they were the children of the famous Sir Keegan in the song.  They tried to find out if he knew more about Sir Keegan, but it seems the halfling only picked up the song years ago and sings it when passing through this region due to Sir Keegan being from these parts.  The halfling asked the heroes to come and tell him of any adventures they have, so he can write songs about them some day.

After stocking up on a few weapons and a couple of healing potions, the heroes now felt ready to tackle Irontooth and his kobolds in their forest lair. 

The journey to the forest was without incident.  As the heroes approached the forest waterfall, Tlaloc and Rafanel scouted ahead, discovering a large group of kobolds wandering about the fall, collecting wood and doing various menial labors.  One kobold, a powerful looking guard wearing armor and carrying a dragonscale shield, stood guard within a mystic circle of stones and runes.

Tlaloc and Rafanel split up, and began an immediate surprise assault on the kobolds from their hidden positions in the woods, while calling out to their friends to come help in the assault.  Rafanel immediately took down two kobolds with his arrows, Lilith pressed ahead and attacked the dragonshield warrior in his circle.  The kobolds rallied, gathering as many as they could into the circle to gain its power and blessing.  Things looked grim for Lilith for a moment, as a kobold slinger hit her feet with a gluepot, sticking her to the ground and stopping her from getting concealment through use of her shadow walk ability.  

Then the kobold minions standing on the magic circle began peppering Lilith with javelins.  Tlaloc, fighting from stealth in another part of the battlefield against scattered kobold minions, teased Lilith “So how does it feel to live in the real world, and not be magically invisible?”  But then after a few more javelins found their mark against Lilith, Tlaloc and the other heroes started to become concerned for Lilith’s life and limb.  Rafanel killed two more minions with his arrows, and the dragonborn charged up to fight a skirmisher.  No one was yet close enough to help Lilith, however.  

But what the kobolds were not counting on was that Lilith was not just a warlock, but also a part-time student of wizardry.  Though she cannot do sot at will, as can the full-fledged wizard Xandir, Lilith has learned how to create a scorching blast to affect a whole group of opponents once in a while.  She choose this moment to launch a scorching burst over the entire little cluster of kobolds in the magic cirlcle, killing most of them in a single blast right where they crouched.  Xandir followed up with a scorching blast of his own, nearly finishing them off.  

The battle turned, and suddenly things were looking very grim for the kobolds.  At that moment, the slinger shouted out “Irontooth must be warned!” and bolted in through the waterfall itself, to the kobold lair behind.

The heroes finished off the remaining kobolds outside the lair, and took a chance to rest briefly just outside the cave entrance, recovering their strength for an all-out assault against Irontooth himself in his own lair.


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## Caldarion (Jul 10, 2008)

Zoroaster, I'm really enjoying this story.  You have a very good writing style.  Can't wait for the next update!!


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## resscane (Jul 11, 2008)

George,
Good write up.  Hope the newbie's realize how fortunate they are to have a great DM as their first game master.  And all the mini's and Dwarven Forge pieces can't hurt either.    

Take care and hope to hear from you soon.

Ralph


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 13, 2008)

*The Downfall of Irontooth*

The heroes had rested, and had taken up positions on either side of the waterfall and the cave beyond.  But though much activity and preparation could be heard from within the cave, no enemies emerged.  

Finally, Xandir decided to open the battle by stepping up and casting a cantrip to magically create light beyond the waterfall.  The light revealed a cave filled with kobold minions and kobold skirmishers swarming in what had been a dark cave.   

As the minions and skirmishers surged forward, hurling javelins or charging with their spears, other kobolds came up from deeper in the cave.  These included three dragonshield warriors armed with short swords, scale armor and shields.  With them came the slinger who had previously fled into the cave to warn Irontooth.  The heroes launched a powerful barrage of arrows, thrown daggers, eldritch fire, and scorching bursts, killing the weaker minions and damaging the more powerful kobolds.  Hyksos, as a valiant dragonborn should, charged right into the cave to attack the heart of the enemy formation.  The battle started to turn in the heroes’ favor.

But then, a kobold war horn announced the coming of Irontooth.  A large, fierce looking goblin with one large tusk emerged from the cave, accompanied by a kobold wyrmpriest.  The wyrmpriest breathed fire at the heroes, and incited the kobolds into a frenzy of fanaticism, reinvigorating them.  Irontooth, meanwhile, charged right at Hyksos with his mighty goblin battleaxe, wounding him with a powerful blow.

Soon most of the heroes started focusing their fire power on the goblin, while Rafanel used his twin strike to continue trying to take down the remaining weaker goblins.  Hyksos used his most powerful ability, Bastion of Defense, striking a powerful blow against Irontooth which filled the other heroes with inspiration, increasing their endurance and defenses.  But Irontooth struck again, and his dragonshield kobold bodyguard and wyrmpriest began to close in on Hyksos on all sides.  Just in time, Lozol leaped into the fray, laying his holy paladin hands on Hyksos and healing him, while striking a powerful blow against Irontooth with his Paladin’s Judgment attack.   

Xandir used his new magic wand to conjure a flaming sphere in the cave, and used the sphere to attack Irontooth, while also burning Irontooth’s kobold bodyguards.  Lilith used Curse of the Dark Dream to trick Irontooth into staying near the flaming sphere, filling the goblin's mind with illusions.  Rafanel used his most powerful attack, Split the Tree, to kill of one of the remaining skirmishers and to wound Irontooth.  Finally, Tlaloc, sensing an opening, ran past Irontooth’s bodyguards, incurring attacks from them, in order to get into position behind Irontooth.  Now whenever Irontooth turned his attention to Lozol or Hyksos, Tlaloc would take the opportunity to stab the goblin in the back, wounding him deeply.  Soon Irontooth was bloodied.

Unfortunately, Irontooth only grew more powerful in his berserk rage when bloodied.  His axe blows became devastating, striking two heroes at a time with deadly force.  And he began to regenerate and heal himself with his own rage.  

With two blows, he cut down Hyksos and deeply wounded Lozol.  Lozol used his healing powers to revive Hyksos from unconsciousness, and to heal himself.  Tlaloc stabbed Irontooth in the back again, while the spell casters and Rafanel continued to hit Irontooth from afar.  

Then, with another two blows, Irontooth cut down Lozol and again wounded Hyksos.  Now things looked grim for the heroes.  But Irontooth was looking battered.  The flaming sphere continued to scorch the goblin, and Tlaloc continued to backstab him.  Xandir revived Lozol with mundane healing skills, so Lozol could get up and continue fighting.  Hyksos and Lozol continued to slash the goblin warrior with their longswords.  Finally, as Irontooth began to stagger like a wounded beast, Lilith struck him down with an eldritch blast, which pinned him to the flaming sphere, killing him.  The goblin slumped to the ground and let out one last cry “Master Kalarel, may Lord Orcus give me eternal unlife!”  But then he died, and his blood soaked the floor of his own lair.

The last of the kobolds were defeated and killed, save for one which Hyksos preserved for questioning.  The heroes searched the kobold caves.  Inside they found a room filled with loot from the kobolds’ robberies.  Most of the stuff in the room was of little value, but one locked chest, unlocked by Tlaloc with his thieves’ tools, contained a veritable ransom of gold (420 gp).  Also in that room, there was also a beautifully crafted suit of magical dwarven chainmail.  Upon examination by the wizard, Xandir was able to pronounce its abilities: not only is it slightly tougher to pierce than normal chain mail, but it also helps the wearer’s endurance skill, and once per day allows, the wearer to instantaneously use a healing surge to heal himself.  Hyksos eagerly asks to take the armor as his, since chain mail is his specialty armor, and no other member of the group usually wears chainmail. 

On Irontooth’s body, the heroes also find a wrinkled up scroll with a message written in blood.  It reads as follows:



Irontooth, my faithful servant,
My spy in Winterhaven suggests we keep an eye out for visitors to the area.  It probably does not matter.  The scrolls that gnome, Agrid, secured for me with the help of that foolish tomb digger have already proven quite useful . Already the wondrous secrets contained therein have allowed me to remove the seal placed by the Dragon Wizards of Nerath on our Lord’s Sacred Gateway Between Worlds.  In just a few more days, I’ll be able to completely open the rift.  Then Winterhaven’s people will be nothing but cattle to feed those whom Lord Orcus will send to me.
		In Eternal Service to The Blood Lord, 
		Your Master, Kalarel


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 13, 2008)

Thanks for the feedback, Caldarion.  I am enjoying writing these.  And I find that writing this helps me remember as DM what happens in each session when I need to remember it later.

Hi, Ralph.  I was wondering if you'd seen this thread already, since I know you read some of the story hours on this site from time to time.  

I am running another session for these new players this Saturday, so I'll be posting more next week.  I also have a whole other group who has never played D&D (except two that played a little bit of 2nd edition back in high school years ago) who want to try it.  My brother wants me to put another campaign together and to run two campaigns simultaneously on alternating weeks.  I am pleasantly surprised that all the players in the first group are sticking with it so far.  Out of a whole group of people who never played the game before, I had figured at least a couple of them would say "fun, but not for me".  But so far they seem eager to play again and to find out more about the plot and the story.  

The main thing that was holding me back from running another campaign parallel to this one with a different group of players was the current shortage of 4th edition adventures.  I tried to convert a Paizo adventure to 4th edition, and I think it is feasible to do it, but too much work at the moment.  I am now taking a look at the new Dungeon adventure path that just started on WOTC's site to see if it looks good.  Hopefully soon others will start converting the Paizo adventures on the Paizo messageboards to 4th edition, and also hopefully soon there will be more 4th edition adventures from third party publishers.


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## zoroaster100 (Jul 18, 2008)

We are playing again tomorrow, so I'll be posting another update soon.  If the party survives, they should reach second level this session.


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## zoroaster100 (Aug 3, 2008)

*Dark Deeds on the Road to Winterhaven*

After defeating Irontooth and his kobolds in their lair, the heroes are ready to spend some of the loot they’ve found before tracking down this nefarious Kalarel.  First they sleep for six hours at the kobold lair.  Then they interrogate the kobold dragonshield they captured at the end of the last fight, who, upon intimidation, claims the kobolds are “nice, not mean to humans”, and that normally they “only capture nice humans to give to Bloodreavers for trade.”  But that Irontooth enslaved them for “mean human with horns that raises the dead from the grave.”  

All they can get from the kobold about the Bloodreavers is that these are hobgoblin slave traders.  All the kobold seems to know about the human is that his name is Kalarel, and that Kalarel and his “walking dead” was the only thing even Irontooth was scared of.  The kobold says the Bloodreavers come from Thunderspire, and that Kalarel dwells in the Shadow Keep with “many goblins.”  

The heroes give up on getting any more useful information and decide to head back towards Winterhaven, carrying the kobold prisoner bound and in a sack.  On the way back to town, they run across one of the many clumps of farmsteads which they had seen on the way out of Winterhaven a day before.  There are three farmhouses here, as well as a slightly larger house apparently used as a wayside church of Avandra, goddess of good luck and safe travel. It is mid-morning, yet not a single soul is in sight, however.  There is not even a sound from a single farm animal.  

The deathly silence is discomforting and worrisome to the heroes.  Rafanel the ranger and Tlaloc the rogue decide to scout ahead of the group and investigate the farmhouses.  As they approach the homes, they go by the larger building, and look beyond to the central square between buildings.  As they move near the large building, they start to notice the low buzz of a lot of flies swarming about in the otherwise quiet air.  Then, as they round the corner of the larger building, the see in the open space between buildings several dead farm animals and a couple of piles of bloody bones, with little swarms of flies hovering above each pile.

But they also notice a foul putrescent stench coming from the windows of the large building they are standing next to.   Rafanel looks in a crack of the closed window and sees a dark common room.  In the shadows, he spots what looks like a pole which has been erected in the center of the room, where a body hangs.  Near the pole on the ground are additional piles of bloody bones of various animals or humans.  The air in the dark room is thick with the buzzing of flies.  Rafanel tells Tlaloc to go fetch the others while he investigates the inside of the building.  He breaks open the door, and as some light enters the now open doorway, he steps inside and perceives the full horror of the scene.  

On the wooden pole hangs the corpse of one of the farmers the group saw only a day earlier when passing through to attack the kobold lair.  The body, though only a day old, seems oddly dessicated and drained of life, and there are strange runes carved all over the corpse’s skin.  It appears the farmer’s throat was slit wide open so that the corpse’s head is barely staying attached to the body.  There are more strange runes written in blood all over the walls of the common room, defiling the shrine of Avandra with the foul vileness of this murder.  The two piles of bones near the hanging corpse seem to have been carefully arranged, and seem to contain bloody parts of cows and chickens, possibly mixed with a few human parts.  The stench in the room is overwhelming. 

Just then Tlaloc returns with the others.  Some of the heroes remain outside, but Lozol steps inside to view the carnage for himself, trying to use his disgust for what he sees to steel himself to his purpose.  As he looks around, Lozol recognizes the symbols on the wall from his own studies of religion, and announces to the others that these symbols are used in the foul worship of Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead.  

Rafanel moves towards the corpse, perhaps thinking to cut it down.  But as he approaches, the heroes are horrified to see the corpse’s head raise up to look with dead eyes right at Rafanel.  From the corpse’s own dessicated mouth, a low moan utters the formless pain of the dead: “Mmmhhhmmmmhhhhh.”  

Then the gash where the corpse’s throat was slit opens up further, shaping itself into a strange fanged mouth, which speaks in a drone-like voice which seems to form out of the buzzing of the flies which swarm about the corpse.  “I, Kalarel, have defiled this heretical shrine to the false gods.  The fate of the heretics in this roadstop pithole shall be the fate of all in Winterhaven, and the fate of all people in this mortal world.  All shall serve the Prince of Blood!”

Rafanel sweeps out his swords and moves up to the corpse, slicing its head off and silencing it before it can speak more blasphemies.  But just as the corpse’s head hits the wooden floor of the common room, the heroes hear many pained moans coming from the other smaller buildings.  The rest of the group who remained outside the larger building move around the corner to see what new horror is coming their way.  They see the doors of the other buildings have opened, and from the doorways are issuing out, one after another, the slow, shambling corpses of the other farmers, men and women alike.  Some of the corpses seem relatively fresh, farmers killed only a day ago and sporting bloody cuts and gashes to prove how they died at the hands of their murderers.  A few others seem to be weeks or months old, perhaps representing the recent dead family members of the slain farmers, dug up from their nearby graves to trouble the world at Kalarel’s command.

As the zombies shamble closer, the heroes try all they can to see if they can slay the undead before their putrid claws reach them.  Lozol, having learned about undead in his religious studies as a paladin, shouts out: “Go for their brains.  If you pierce or crush their brains, that will kill them. Otherwise you have to hack them to bits to stop them.”  Rafanel looks out from a window of the big house onto the oncoming horde of zombies.  He fires his arrows at the two in front, putting Lozol’s instructions to the test  He shoots two of the more decrepit looking corpses right in the brain.  They both fall limp on the ground.  Xandir blasts magic missiles at one of the tougher looking zombies.  He manages a one in a million shot, hitting it squarely between the eyes.  The zombie’s brains spatter out the back of its head, and it falls limp as well.  Lilith rains down fire on a group of zombies.  They burn in mindless pain, but continue to shuffle forward.

Lilith and Rafanel urge Hyksos to hurl the sack with the kobold prisoner at the zombies in order to distract them with a source of living food other than the heroes. But looking at the feverish gnawing of the zombies’ putrid mouths, and the vacant look in their mindless dead eyes, Hyksos cannot bring himself to do that even to his enemy.  So instead he drops the sack with the kobold next to the outside of the large building, and rushes in with sword in hand and begins hacking at the zombies.  Unfortunately, there are so many of them.  Soon one female corpse embraces him in her grip, trying to hold him for the other corpses to tear Hyksos apart.  Just then Tlaloc enters the fray.  Trying to avoid getting swarmed himself by the zombies, Tlaloc hurls a dagger at the female zombie that grabbed Hyksos.  He places the dagger expertly, causing the zombie to lose her grip on Hyksos and stumble back a couple of steps.  Lozol hurls a couple of javelins at the zombies, until Hyksos urges him to join him in the fray.  Lozol then draws his sword and charges in, glowing with divine energy as he challenges the toughest-looking zombie.  Tlaloc then moves in to flank a zombie with Hyksos.  Meanwhile, Rafanel continues to sink arrow after arrow into the zombies, while Lilith blasts one after another with her eldritch blasts of dark energy, and Xandir blasts groups of zombies with his spells, boosting the damage he inflicts by using his new magic wand, Orthrax.  

Finally, the last of the zombies is hacked to bits so it cannot fight.  Rafanel leads the others to gather the dead into the defiled shrine.  He then pours oil on all the farmsteads, and sets them all on fire, hoping the cleansing flames will erase the horror of what was done in this place.


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## zoroaster100 (Aug 18, 2008)

*Down into the Keep’s Dungeons*

After cremating the remains of the desecrated farmers, the heroes headed into Winterhaven to rest and stock up on equipment.  They looked for the mysterious elf woman who had previously plied Lozol with questions, but there was no sign of her in town.  

The locals seemed nervous and jittery.  Eilian the Old commented that he had dreamed a dark door had opened, while another villager said he felt like someone had stepped over his grave.

After resting and restocking, the next morning the group headed out towards the dreaded ruins of the Shadow Keep.  Along the way the heroes heard the howling of wolves.  But they chose to ignore the howls and continue straight to their goal.  

The outskirts of the ruins were eerily quiet, as if even the woodland birds and animals fear to tread there.  Rafanel and Tlaloc explored the decaying stone walls in the ruins until they found a partially standing tower which contained a stairwell leading down into the dark dungeons below.

While the rest of the group gathered at the top of the stairs, the two stealthy elves sneaked down the stairs by themselves.  At the bottom of the stairs, they discovered a room with four small stone pillars, and corridors leading off in different directions.  To the south of the room, two filthy small humanoids dressed in ragged leather armor howled at them in rage, hurling javelins at them.  Rafanel sent Tlaloc to fetch the others waiting up at the top of the stairs, and he drew his swords from their scabbards and rushed at the goblin warriors facing him.  

Unfortunately, in his haste he failed to note the pit trap cleverly hidden by the goblins half way in the room, covered with a stone colored tarp.  Rafanel fell right in, and found himself swarmed by a horde of vicious starved giant rats.  The rats leaped up on his prone body, rending little wounds on his arms, legs and torso with their tiny filthy fangs.

The rest of the group rushed down the stairs, but soon found themselves targeted not only by the first two javelin-throwing goblins, but also by two goblin sharpshooters who used their crossbows with deadly aim from the room to the south, using cover to repeatedly hide and get combat advantage on the heroes, peppering them with deadly bolts in their vitals.

The spellcasters began to retaliate with spells, but the deadly accuracy of the goblin sharpshooters began to take its toll as one hero after another fell clutching their vitals in pain.  Rafanel repeatedly struggled to climb out of the rat-filled pit without success.  Lilith and Xandir worked to throw down a rope to him, and Hyksos was finally able to pull Rafanel out.  

With Rafanel out of the pit, the group was able to focus their spells and weapons on the goblin javelin throwers, and Tlaloc used a carefully placed dagger throw to cause one goblin to fall into the rat pit.  The goblin was soon devoured by the hungry vermin in the pit.  But Xandir fell unconscious from bloodloss and others were near death from the rain of crossbow bolts, the heroes decided to take the action to the sharpshooters.  Hyksos, Rafanel and Tlaloc charged in and got in the goblin’s faces so they could not be effective with their ranged weapons, while Lozol and Hyksos used their healing ability to save those near death.  

The last of the goblins fell to its ignoble end, and the heroes looted their bodies for coins and ran back up their stairs and all the way back to town.  This time they might buy a few more healing potions before venturing back into the dungeons of the Keep on the Shadowfell.


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## zoroaster100 (Dec 14, 2008)

*Down with the Goblin Chief*

After a long hiatus due to intervention by the real world lives of the DM and players, we finally resumed playing about a month ago.  Here is a brief entry for the last session before the hiatus.  Soon I'll post the journal entry from the first new post-hiatus session:

The heroes once more ventured into the Keep on the Shadowfell.  
This time they used strategy and caught the goblin sentries by surprise, and Rafanel and Tlaloc quietly got rid of the sentries before they could provide a warning to others.  

Then the group followed the sounds of distant screaming down a twisting corridor and behind a door to a goblin torture chamber.  There, a deformed hobgoblin in a leather mask and his goblin assistants plied their horrid art of inflicting pain on a hapless kobold.  

A terrible fight ensued, and the torturer used a red-hot poker to stab at Lozol, the paladin.  The dragonborn used his new skill to inspire the paladin to shake off the pain long enough to remove the blistering remnants of the poker from his wound, to stop the burning.  Then, while the paladin, rogue, wizard, ranger and warlock chased down the goblin assistants and slew them, the hobgoblin drew a bright, gleaming shuriken to use against the heroes.  But he was felled by a series of mighty blows and spells from the group before he could even hurl the weapon.  Xandir the wizard used his arcane sense to identify the weapon as a magical shuriken, capable of returning to the wielder’s hand when thrown.  Tlaloc claimed it as his reward from the battle.

Upon further exploration of the torture chamber, the heroes found a series of cages, including one containing a goblin prisoner.  Splug the goblin proved relatively sociable, for a goblin, and convinced the heroes to let him out of his cage in exchange for leading them to the goblin chief’s chamber and revealing anything else he knew about the Keep.  Splug did indeed lead the group to the chief.  There the heroes faced a small horde of goblins making up the chief’s bodyguard.  They encountered Balgron the Fat himself hiding behind his guards, but Balgron and his goblins proved no match for the increased skills and powers of the party of adventurers.  Off in a side room, while the others finished off the chief, and out of sight of her allies, Lilith used her favorite vampiric power to siphon off the life energy of one goblin who was foolish enough to surrender to her.

After defeating the chief, the group searched the chief’s room and located his treasure chest, where a beautiful bow marked with blue gems was found.  The bow, clearly of exquisite fey craftsmanship, was claimed by Rafanel, after Xandir identified it as a storm bow, a magical bow with the power to ensorcell arrows fired from it with the power of lighting.
Splug the goblin offered himself as slave to the victorious heroes, who promptly commanded the goblin to reveal what else he knew about the Keep’s lay out.  Splug said that to the east there are caverns filled with rats, terrible bugs, and even worse creatures.  But to the west there is something even worse, undead things guarding the way to Kalarel, new master of the Shadow Keep.

The heroes decided to go back to town to rest and re-equip, and then they must decide in  which direction to try their fate.


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