After the emancipation of the half-orc slave, Brubar, the party saw two sets of tracks from their location. One was a small set, most likely gnome-sized. The other was the shuffling from a group of creatures, most likely the freshly deceased orcs around you.
Darrana Howlcrusher successfully tracked the small set, as expected, to the ever-dusty old Gnome cleric, Gazu Zilzu of Jorpip aka Sandifoot aka Sandy.
The tracks led Darrana and the party Southwest to an ruined stone keep. Upon entering, the party detected the strong scent of sulfur. The animals: Darrana’s riding dog Grumpus; Alaric’s faithful Honey Badger Bill; and the Orvyn’s pony Amy — all snorted and pulled away in near synchronicity.
Within the ruined stone keep, a spell was heard cast, which Orvyn Silvershaper determined was a prayer for an Obscuring Mist. Carefully, the party searched the dilapidated guard-rooms at the front of the keep. Within one was found the spell’s caster, Sandy, aka Sandifoot, aka Gazu Zilzu of Jorpip. In addition, a set of humanoid bones were found aside a small-sized longbow which Daranna took to replace her recently-sold bow. Unfortunately, though, no accompanying arrows were found.
Directly across from Sandy in another unused guard-room of the keep was found Perrin Long, a short and young human male, armed with bow and two identical shortswords. Though pale, he appears healthy, with brown hair and green eyes that seem to betray intelligence. Perrin cautiously joined the group on their adventures in orc-slaughter among the ruins of Troutbeck.
The party together searched every remaining room of the old keep. Every room appeared sacked and broken, until the old store-room along the Western wall was searched. This room was different in that it appeared to have a functioning door.
Alaric Dondarrian grabbed the handle, only to feel the sting of a trap! His hand felt moisture and then a burning. He focused on the words of his grovemaster, Tanyl Umenan saying, “Shake it off!”, and successfully willed himself from the poison’s pain. Upon group examination of scent and appearance, the poison on Alaric’s hand was deemed carrion crawler brain juice.
The door opened. The ambient light from the stairs peered into the darkness and revealed a hideous monster: a zombie bugbear! Carrying a rusted morningstar, the creature shambled towards the living seeking the solitary evil purpose of adding to the hordes of the dead.
A quick battle ensued, and the party prevailed in destroying the zombie with a barrage of bolts, blades, and blows. During the attack, Orvyn Silvershaper showed the ability to channel his god Istus and turn the undead in fear. However, it was also learned that the turned undead could be turned right back around with the scratch of a honey badger’s razor-like claws. Perrin showcased an ability to sneak-attack! The party as a whole seemed to practice a no-man (or badger-) left-behind policy, as Honey Badger Bill, in a bloodlust frenzy, was crushed under the weight of the hideous undead bugbear’s morningstar, and quickly healed by Orvyn’s divine magic.
The keep thoroughly searched and removed of undeath, the party followed the second set of tracks west, where moments before, the slaver-orcs came from and were heading back towards.
The tracks led them to the old Troutbeck Lighthouse, at the Northwestern most point of the ruins. The lighthouse had fallen into the base of its structure. Rocky rubble was strewn everywhere, though the steps to the lighthouse still allowed the party to have a slightly elevated view of what was once the grand city of Troutbeck.
Unfortunately, very little appears to remain from the remains of the tower: The ruined keep the party just explored to the immediate East; beyond it at the far East, another keep in the Elven district where Ruari Athir was raised, and just Northwest of the lighthouse was the Temple to Ehlonna, still standing. Seeing no movement or noteworthy events, the party descended to the base of the lighthouse.
Under the rubble of the lighthouse, Ruari Athir, in the corner of his Elven eyes, noticed some hidden stairs. The party carefully examined the stairs and while walking down them, uncovered a crudely camouflaged pit trap, which, guided by Perrin Long’s quick feet, they easily walked around.
Beyond the pit trap were double-doors. Listening at the doors, they overheard Orcish voices. Attempting to surprise the Orcs, the party burst open the doors. There they found four orcs moving towards them with javelins and an elevated platform in the back of the room with a menacing Bugbear armed with javelin and morningstar.
Another battle, this time leaving the party entirely unscathed. The clumsy movements of the orcs were easily dodged, and each monster was quickly taken down with the party’s pointy-bits.
After the fight, the party examined the room: It seems to be a filthy orc camp. One side of the room is the raised platform where the Bugbear was stationed. On the other side is a half-dozen crude sleeping mats of cloth scraps and hay. At the end of the room is a crude rock pedestal about 5′ tall and 3′ wide, atop of which sits a stone-carved slanted eye. There is a slight draft from behind the statue that revealed a poorly-hidden passage.
Small bits of food and drink were found at a table on the raised platform, along with 90gp in a small wooden box. A small piece of parchment with a hand-scrawled note in Orcish: “Beware the ghost”, which Orvyn read with Istus’ magic translating into his mind.
The day draws dark, snow is falling outside, and the shelter of the lighthouse-cellar is looking pretty comfy about now…
