The group had made their way into the Keep and found 2 of the 3 bits of help I had dropped in there. The Dryad is not a combat piece and gives the group the heads up the shaman uses parts of her to bolster his own powers. The Troll Lord if freed wants to tackle the original shaman's boar a second time, itching for a rematch and now knowing what the pig is capable of. There is a third possible help but as of this time, the party hasn't found it.
With only 26 total kobolds in the keep, 24 now that the party had killed two of them by the pit with Joan, there is a finite number I can hurl at the group and given the time of night they are launching their assault and the fact the kobolds are most likely spread out, it should go pretty well for them until the kobolds manage to gather their forces in one spot.
Write up follows:
The group took their time covering the pit up, coaxing Joan to her feet, and then taking a circuitous route back to the cave we were using to sleep in, Einar making sure to obscure as much of our tracks as possible. It was a bit after 5 when we arrived, still feeling pretty excited about our efforts today. There was talk about taking a day or two off and then going after the K’Morat again, but it was discarded as we talked for a more direct break in tonight.
We wanted to make sure to use Joan as a central point since the kobolds still do not know of us and we wanted to keep it that way for now. There were some convoluted ideas of light spells and fairie fires and timing, but we discarded most of the difficult portions of the plan and instead, hightailed it out of the cave after eating a fast dinner and made our way back to the keep.
We waited until the kobold torch bearer began his trip around the parapet, lighting the torch nests and hoisting them aloft. It was some half hour or so before he finished but when it was done, we cast a light spell on Joan and then ran off to the west side of the keep – the kobold’s attention firmly on the undead deer who was honking wildly.
With no one watching us, the group climbed the North West tower and once up top, pulled ourselves over and fastened some grappling hooks in place to allow the rest of the party the chance to climb without much issue. As for the inside, the stairs circled the inner wall of the tower to the distant floor below. We looked over the edge to the east and took in a layout of the keep. Most of the bailey was overgrown and collapsed trees and vines, the quarter end of a big pig sticking up through the wood. The central keep was connected to the parapet by a walkway leading to the solarium. The inner courtyard near the back was a gardened area blocked off from the rest of the Bailey by a mass of punji stakes, spears, barbed wire, and some stone blocks.
As the rest of the group made their way up and over, we were able to see from our vantage point at least 20 kobolds near the barbican hurling spears and rocks at Joan who stood there and took the abuse until she fell over, too many of her bones broken. But the noise and light had attracted a passing rock drake who dove down and snatched up Joan, taking her off into the dark and scaring the kobolds to retreat back to their keep and abandon the walls.
We worked our way down the stairs to the bottom of the tower where the last few steps had been smashed off. The door had been forced open and the hinges twisted a bit, and there were porcine hairs caught on most surfaces. We wanted to close the door and Hjalgrim was there to make sure the door closed without issue or noise, avoiding attracting the boar from the courtyard. What we had seen of the razorback had it standing 6’ at the shoulder and had to mass ¾ of a ton – nothing anyone wanted to mess with.
The door could not be shut without some serious lifting and struggling, but even so, there was nothing to lock it anymore. However, Sybil did spot lots of fallen logs outside that could be used to brace the door. So between Hjalgrim, Sybil, and Dizzy, they managed to drag one of them in after trimming the vines free and brace the door closed.
We talked about options and the group wanted to go to the Inner courtyard it was close to here. It seemed there might be a back door to the place and we should take a look. So we all made our way quietly through the bailey, moved some of the punji stakes aside, lifted the wire a bit, and crawled in. Once there we took stock of the place. A garden, well-tended and weeded. Potatoes, squash, tubers, a few nut trees. As we closed to the main door there was a 15’ tall ash tree in a large stone planter that had seen better days – the tree was pretty beat up and missing a few limbs. As we were looking it over though a green skinned scarred up elven looking woman stepped out of the dark and laid a hand on Hjalgrim wondering what the group was doing here?
She said she was Cashandra and was a prisoner of the kobolds. She wanted to be free and wanted us to take her planter out of here. Charmed Hjalgrim and the dwarf agreed it was a good idea to help her out. Then Thalin asked if she was a dryad and maybe we should think this through. So she charmed him and he agreed it needed to be done and that the magic was making him act this way, but sure – we’ll help. Dizzy was adamant no we were not going to get roped into this as we had a mission and Cashandra said we needed only 4 hours of the two men’s time and then Sybil tried to intervene and she too was charmed and agreed to help Cashandra out in “servicing” the men if it would speed things along. And then Einar was like, hey, if it’ll help, I’ll go with you too if you need more men.
So Cashandra portaled Hjalgrim, Thalin, Sybil, and Einar into her tree where they shed their clothes and started getting it on and to keep Dizzy from opening the back door and causing a problem, the dryad wrapped him in vines and pulled the dwarf to the ground, half burying him in the garden soil “just for now”. This left Percy, Merica, and Dizzy out for now while the other 4 party members and Cashandra got to know one another in an unfettered carnal sense for 4 hours.
It was after 1 and between the small nap and the dryad’s rejuvenating efforts, she gave us a brief sketch of the interior, let us know the new shaman is a dick, there are young kobolds hatched maybe a month ago most likely in the basement, and that for now, most of the K’Morat are probably sleeping.
We went to the back door, opened it and looked in. The entrance hall was here, 15’ tall, two main halls on the east and west wings, two other arches leading north east and North West to a gallery and long hall. There was a chandelier in here with some candles in it and 4 rugs on the floor each a bit over 10’ x 12’.
Sybil and Dizzy scouted about. The rugs covered pits and there were bells on the bottom of the rugs to attract attention. Merica did the helmet thing and got a hit some 40 or so to the south east for 4 kobolds (no bird in range according to Hjalgrim). The two thieves went to look to the east wing hall. Long hall, stairs going up at the end and some other doors and corridors left and right. Right by the entrance of the wing to the north was a chapel to Odin that had been repurposed to Frey as well, a thick necked burly kobold was here and another one who was pacing and had a wolfhound sitting with him. To the south was a library in poor condition but still standing.
The north hall on the east side was a long hall that was lit from the windows outside and the floor was worn out carpet running down the center except for a part that detoured closer to the window as a new wear in the carpet was occurring – a new trap?
The north on the west side then showed a gallery, a group of 20’ square rooms connected by doors with nice paneled walls and older but still in good condition paintings on the wall. Finally to the west wing showed a corridor going down and then to the left, door on the south closed and to the north a dining room with about half the tables and chairs shoved against the east wall. Finally we all reconvened back at the entrance, shared what we had learned, and discussed options.
We wanted to find the troll lord that is supposed to be in here and if they were using him as a food source, the dining room would be the best bet to lead us to the kitchen. So we all entered, avoided the rugs, and made our way to the west wing and then into the dining room. There was an arch leading from the dining room to the gallery but on the west wall was a swinging Dutch door that led to the kitchen. Inside was a crow’s cage with the troll lord within. The stumps of his legs were sticking through the bottom of the cage and his arms were tied in place along the front. He was missing an eye and was thin and scarred up.
We talked to it, Dizzy doing most of the talking as he spoke troll. Shassismyr was its name and he had been slowly dying as his regeneration was practically at nil since the kobolds weren’t feeding him. He was starving and we had a convoluted back and forth with him and deal making until there was an agreement that he wanted another crack at the fucking pig and that the shaman came in in the evening and morning to cut him up and take bites out of him. It was after 1 AM and the place was dead quiet – and Shassismyr if we could feed him and get his regeneration working again would be one hell of a distraction.
So we fed him, lots, days of food. And we watched as his legs regrew and then his limbs filled out and the missing eye popped back into place. Eventually he stood up tall and fierce, over 8’ and about 400 lbs. There was a majesty about him and for a moment we weren’t sure if we made a mistake but Shassismyr took the door off the oven to use as a shield, grabbed one of the stout oaken chairs to use as a club, offered the party the blessing of Odin, Thrym, and Sutur and then started his way across the dining room to the front door and beyond.
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