1.1 Leaving the castle

[St.Drewcifer]

The wraithlike form turns out to be a formidable opponent. Several party members turn to face him and he casts a prismatic wall causing Caerlith to turn to stone, other people leap back to avoid the magics, leaving Thule the Kings eldest son to face the Dark creature alone. Thule is soon blinded and the creature walks through its own wall with impunity to strike at Matrix. Finally many blows are landed on the creature and it is vanquished. This battle has split our forces along the wall and skeletal warriors and the last remaining Nosferatu give a long battle. During this battle a mobile archery platform is developed with Crow and Brin on a magic carpet raining death from the sky out of reach of these creatures.

In the aftermath of the battle wounds are tended and Digger and Caerlith are brought around, the King reappears with his advisor and surmises that the battle for the castle is lost. Plans are developed to spirit the remaining castle defenders, around 6000 men to East Reach, whilst the King leads a troop of 1000 men to the heart of Dragoths army to battle him face to face, meanwhile Thule will lead the party through a secret tunnel around the rear of the hordes. Thule and the advisor retire to make preparations, as soon as they have gone King Arron reveals his real thoughts saying that Castle Caltreen will fall and that he wishes that the band of adventurers should take Thule to safety at the family crypt, whilst he will order his 1000 men to break for East Reach as soon as they get past the last wall, he will ride on to face Dragoth with his captain of the guard Bilger at his side and all others that wish to join him.

The events go according to plan, Thule is dismayed to find his horse leading him away from the action, before leaving the tunnel Crow turns ethereal to scout outside and quickly attracts a dangerous creature on that plane, he deals with the monster in short order and comes back to the present. Before we leave Castle Caltreen entirely Brock just makes out the King leading half of his men into the heart of the enemy forces.

The crypt is reached without danger and is protected from magic and once inside party members rest. Thule mentions that several of his family may have items of great power inside their sarcophagi which may aid the party, Brin whips out his pry bar and soon discovers a magic girdle, pearl and sword. These are distributed to needy members of the party. Dr Whack decides it would be a good time to try a divination spell to learn the location of the Kings spirit, he steps outside with Thule, who as a direct descendant of Arron, lends power to the casting. It is learned that the Kings Spirit is to the East, almost immediately thereafter four Nosferatu appear close to Dr Whack and Thule.

Dr Whack runs inside to inform the rest of the party whilst Caerlith steps out to stand beside Thule. Battle is drawn, other members of the party run out to meet the foe, who inflict devastating attacks on the party. The Undead Fighter Mage is slightly disconcerted to face Brin who ignores his 5 mirror images to strike him true every time, Brin is equally disconcerted to keep getting hit by the Nosferatus sword and being struck by lightning each time. The Nosferatu Warrior Priest is extremely difficult to hit and unleashes unerring attacks on the party members facing him every time, some of the enchanted weapons wielded against him lose their magic. Digger discovers the sword wielded by the Nosferatu warrior is very sharp and loses a leg.

Each time one of these creatures is killed it turns into a gaseous cloud, finally the undead warrior priest is alone and flees in gaseous form, not wanting this creature to escape so lightly the party use all their powers to prevent the creature from escaping, but to little avail. The creature flee to the East, possibly in the direction of the Iron Tower which seemingly anchors the moon in the sky.

Dancing Bear uses her Ioun Stone to help repair the enormous injury to Digger, soon he is back on two feet and the party prepares to travel from the crypt to assist where they can. It was decided that the magic both Dr Whack and Matrix had used drew the attentions of the Nosferatu to us. Great care must be taken when next casting spells.

The next course of action is discussed and the options we have are to either travel to the East Reach to meet up with the Kings Forces, head East to the Iron Tower which is the direction the Kings Spirit seemed to be, or as was argued successfully by Thule head back south east veering close enough to castle Caltreen to try and reconnoiter the castle to glean more information before continuing east.

On the way to the castle and magical shimmering occurs in front of the party and out steps an iron skinned giant, several of the party know him and know he works for Cometheus, an old adversary of the party. He explains that what we should seek lies to the South in the ‘Keep of the Doomed’ and we should make haste from this area as undoubtedly his magical entrance will draw the attention of the Dark Forces. On a mad dash South we quiz him further and discover that:-
• An old piece of hide given to the party by The One holds significant power, if it’s secret can be unlocked.
• A prisoner of the clerics of the moon, Dra-goths adversaries, referred to as the one who sees without eyes was cruelly tortured but did not reveal the location of hide and his barely living body is held in the Keep of the Doomed
• Cometheus is greatly weakened by the current situation and will not survive much longer until men can dream again.

At the foothills of the mountain range the iron skinned titan leaves, after giving the party a sealed parchment from Cometheus

Destroy this after committing it to your memory and do not copy it

The man you seek in the keep is known as the one that sees without his eyes.
He sees better in his darkness than most see in the light.
He is also friends with the darkness unlike others that are good.
Dark or light it is the same to him.
Remember that the keep is a hostile place and lies flow like water from the lips of all there. You are seeking the aid of a man that is your friend but will find that all are willing to be your friend yet few truly are. The keep is still guarded and well secured take care my friends and may fate guide you through the darkness.
Make sure also to travel as inconspicuously as possible

Cometheus.

and the party decide whether to take the mountain path or skirt around the mountain range and somehow go by sea to get to the keep of Doom. The party vote and decide under Thules recommendation to take the path. Brin and Crow scout ahead of the party and several miles into the mountains hear sounds of battle, the party readies itself with spells and potions and charge into the aftermath of a fight between Dwarves and the victorious enemy who consist of four White Dragons, four two headed trolls and a band of Orc warriors riding worgs.

Dr Whack summons some undead warriors from a magic horn, Dancing Bear starts conjuring a Fire Elemental and battle commences. A hail of missiles soon account for one of the dragons, whilst defensive magic placed on the warriors by Matrix make the party very hard to hit. The remaining dragons breathe cold over the party and inflict serious wounds on the spell casters, disrupting the summoning of the elemental. The party is too strong for the remaining creatures which are taken down one by one, an orc on the back of a wolf tries to flee the battle and he is run down and killed by Brin who is moving at amazing speed.

The badly beaten Dwarf is restored to health and introduces himself as Dekra Blackmine and advises of a better path through the mountains and to follow him which the party do, soon he veers off the main track and we come across a large boulder blocking a cave mouth, the dwarf places his hand on the boulder and utters a password whereby the stone rolls to one side to allow entrance. Once inside the dwarf closes the door and we are inside a vast circular cave with a huge hole in the floor leading down into the depths, he asks us to wait here until he gets his comrades, he exits on the opposite side of the chamber through a secret door, as the door starts to close after him he removes his hood and Crow sees a grey skinned dwarf and hears evil laughter beyond. A great noise is heard from the hole in the floor and a stone disc rises from the depths of the pit and tilted at an angle to form a ramp from a secret door in the wall of the pit. Out rushes a fearsome massive beast on four legs with large horns, a large tail and almost dragon like skin. Crow and Brin rush to the secret door where the dwarf went and manage to keep it from closing completely…..