The goblin's willingness to launch into an attack for just a bit of gold in the adventurer's pockets was a bit sharper than the party really expected - and their swords were a bit sharper, too. Tuesday the thief was cut down on the first floor of the gatehouse. But the goblins were defeated and the last of their number was interrogated. The black tongue of the monster wagged freely and earned the goblin's freedom. As he ran off into the wilderness outside stonehell's crumbled wall, the party began to take Tuesday's body (minus a few choice pieces of equipment) to be buried.
Two voices calling out for them grabbed their attention. Runum Graves and Fayanna the locksmith - two members of the party who had been delayed by the Wardens Regulant in Absolution - had arrived. Working as quickly as possible, they built a low cairn for Tuesday out of the tumbled down stones of the walls before returning to the gatehouse to finish exploring.
They went calmly, room by room. First, they mounted the iron ladder to discover a room on the upper floor that had been kept as a sort of kitchen by the goblins. Passing through the room and into the only door out on that level, they discovered a room which was empty except for a wasp nest in one arrow slit, nestled atop a small cask. Satisfied that an ambush wouldn't be forthcoming from that room, they went back down to more thoroughly search the ground floor.
There were two rooms left off the corridor they had initially entered from. One door bore a Wizard's Mark, but was free of traps. Inside was the remains of a bedchamber. Two piles of rotten wood (all that remained of a bed and a desk) and a barren shelf were all that remained of the furnishings. Solvan, the elf, immediately detected the secret door in the north wall, launching a search for the mechanism to open it. Runum began poking around the ruined bed and disturbed the nest of a pair of Giant Centipedes.
A brief combat ensued. Arrows were let fly, pinning one of the foot-long insects to a board. Another was cut down in short order with a sword blow from Novice Muclu. A short battle with the irascible insects, but a reminder that even the most innocuous elements of detritus could disguise real risks. The search re-commenced, and shortly afterwards a lever was discovered on a leg of the remains of a desk. The door was opened.
Within was a glass vial of red liquid (a quick taste test revealed its contents to be a potion of healing), and two objects of note: a stained and road-dirtied cloak, and a curious parasol made of iridescent white scales. The parasol was taken by Veigar, and the cloak by Solvan.
Satisfied that there was nothing else of note in the room, they explored the last room to the south. They found it empty, but voices drifted to them through the arrow slits that opened to the passageway at the middle of the gatehouse. The conversation was indistinct, but they were able to find a position to listen in. It sounded like a group of adventurers! Three voices. One gruff and low, the other higher pitched but still masculine, the third a softer voice raised in alarm.
Speaker one: "It wasn't even a real dragon!"
Speaker two: "Still dangerous, though"
Speaker one: "Did you see that pile of treasure it had, though?"
Speaker two: "Yup."
Speaker one: "We need to go back!"
Speaker two: "Yu--"
Speaker three: "Ambush! To arms! To arms!"
There was no sound of combat. No ringing of steel on steel. No sounds of violence or death. Only silence, afterwards. The party waited for a while, then to their surprise the conversation began again, discussing the vagaries of a their adventuring day. Before long, it arrived back at them discussing the false dragon again. Then the ambush again. The party became convinced they were dealing with undead.
They packed up and went back downstairs the way they had come and found an entrance to the southern half of the gatehouse on the ground floor. A quick search of some empty rooms later, they found the room with three ghostly figures around a dead campfire. They watched as the figures respond to invisible attackers and fell, one by one, to unseen weapons, battling atop their own bones. Before the ghosts could reform, the party sprung into action, dragging the remains outside and building more cairns for them. It was a kindness that resulted in the phantoms disappearing forever.
While Runum and Skiaw worked, the others combed through the dead leaves, dirt, and discarded gear. What they found there was a true boon to their expedition: the adventurers had left behind a crude map!
The party then returned to the business of clearing the building. They smoked out the wasps with firewood and used a makeshift hook to draw the cask and a leather pouch of tools to them without fear of stings. Then they searched the other side of the building. Some stirges were disturbed but slain in short order and their latest victim discovered. What at first appeared to be a pile of dirty rags was in fact a woman in a well-tailored but filthy dress crumpled in one corner. Aside from being dead, she looked like she had travelled quite a way and had been poorly for it. A handmade wire bracelet was wound around one wrist, leaving deep ligature marks there. On the other hand was a token on a string which was stamped with the initials LMN on one side, and the seal of The Abbey of the Tranquil Morning in Absolution. Evidently she was a patient of the sisters there who fled for some unknown purpose.
What followed was a quick survey of the canyon beyond the gatehouse. They noted the locations of broken down ruins; caves up in the cliffs above; a narrow switchback path on the southern cliff-face; a waterfall in the northern cliff that deposited strangely warm, copper-tasting water into a pool surrounded by lush greenery; and a copse of trees. Their exploration was hauled up short by a heard of mountain goats descending to drink from the pool.
The party was unwilling to let a free meal pass them by, so they struck the goats quickly. Two were taken down by arrows and the rest bleated and fled in all directions. One ran straight south and into the trees there. It disappeared, replaced by a tree that moved frantically about the wood before exiting again and becoming a goat again! A magical stand of trees that disguised anyone that entered as a tree themselves!
Runum entered quickly and searched the wood, finding a hidden cache of arrows among the trees. The party determined it would be a perfect place to hide material as a resupply point.
Satisfied with their quick survey, they returned to the gatehouse as the sun dipped down below the precipices above, drawing long shadows on the ground. They did not want to be out past nightfall, as they were afraid of what may come out hunting in the darkness. So they set up on the top floor of the gatehouse to make camp.
In the early morning of the next day, the watchman saw a strange sight. Not hunters, but workmen. A cart full of stones rolled up from the west side of the canyon, hauled by small bestial figures with scaley tails. Kobolds bearing hand-tools and buckets approached the gatehouse and began mending the walls!
And that is where we left off. The party cleared out the gatehouse very well, aside from a few small areas (the roof, for instance, and the central portcullis room on the second floor), that they had seen and cleared but not searched. The group had earned a fair amount of experience from their work and one or two members of the party are very close now to level 2. This is because I'm using the Feats of Exploration put together by the wonderful podcast 3d6 Down the Line.
They have a paid pdf you can print out to have at the table and a free googlesheet that can be used instead. Check out their podcast - I am thoroughly enjoying their actual play of Arden Vul.
Until next time!
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