On to Shadowfang Keep

There was plenty for us to understand and worry about before embarking.  I didn't understand much of it.

We had to stop whoever was doing something under the castle.  That was my understanding.  I believe there was more, the whole "Shadowfell" thing, but it was kind of confusing so I let the Deva worry about it and went where they said the bad guy was.

We got to the ruined castle without a kobold ambush, which was new for us.  It was very, very quiet and seemed like something was watching us while we searched the ruins and looked for the entrance into the dungeons.  I think it was Izzy who found the entrance first, and down we went.

The passage went to the north and was pretty well lit.  That meant sending out sneaky guys up to see what was happening was out as an option, so I led the group downwards into whatever was waiting for us.  I tried to walk as quietly as everyone else, but there's no hope.  My shield always clangs off my arm or my leg and it's just quite impossible to tiptoe in plate armor, but I tried.


I failed, mostly, but I tried.  I clanged as quietly as I could down the stairs while Listillin and the rogue were right behind me.  Following them were Izzy and Findel and Idria brought up the rear.


The passageway opened up into a broad room that was about 30' x 30'.  There were four pillars in the room, and 10' passages leading in all four directions.  There also was a goblin!


Just one goblin?  I paused for a second as I stepped into the room and stepped partially behind one of the pillars for cover and to see what was happening as the rest of us filed in.  As my group came in behind me, two goblins appeared in the distance down the south hall armed with crossbows.  Well, I was too far away to run at them and get into combat before I got shot down, so I waited to see if I could somehow get the advantage, since we seemed to have superior firepower to them.  Listillin, however, charged, being much more potent in melee combat.  The ground opened up underneath him as he reached midway and he plunged into darkness.


It all got confusing then.  Everyone else opened fire on the goblins, doing significant damage and taking very little.  A fourth goblin appeared from the east, but Akai-Tori was ready for him and dispatched him without too much difficulty.  However, Listillin was in significant trouble as he'd fallen into a swarm of rats that had him completely covered.  He'd landed a bit awkwardly and was on the ground, and his sword was of little use against them, so he tried to stand up and get out of the pit, but was unable.  I dove down into the pit to help.  I fortunately landed on my feet and proceeded to stomp and bash as many of the rats as I could.  It was slow going, it seemed two more swarmed over us for every one we killed.  Findel threw a rope down, but with the rats we were unable to get up until they were all dead.


Fortunately, they handled the four goblins without us quite easily.  We searched the area and found a small amount of gold and silver and moved on to the east.  We opened a closed door and descended further.  The passageway went a short way before giving us the option of turning right (to the south) and descending into an unlit area or continuing east to the light.  We stayed east.

It opened up in to another large room.  It was strange, it seemed in a total state of destruction.  There were two levels to the room, the level we were on (a small part), and then an entire second level where apparently they were excavating for something.  They, being goblins.  And two big drake-dog things, the like that almost ate me back when I was struggling with doors.

Most of the goblins were in the excavated, as were both drakes.  The little platform that we were on was about 20' x 20' with a 5' wide plank that seemed to be the only other way down into the excavated area.  There were about 4 non-excavated islands around the room, connected by flimsy looking boards for the goblins to walk across.  Well, I charged down the plank to get the dogs, since I knew how much they would hurt if they got up into my party, realized my error and stopped halfway down.  This prevented them from getting up to the group.

Once again, our firepower was superior to theirs, and other than a couple scratches, we were defeating them pretty easily.  Akai-Tori teleported down to the ground level to get to backstab the drakes, but Listillin had no such option.  He decided to brave running across the boards to get to a new 'island'.  Once again, he got halfway across and crashed down.

Listillin eventually composed himself and went after the goblins on the ground, and coupled with Idria's spells and Findel and Izzy's arrows, we took them out easily.

After searching the room, we weren't sure what they were excavating for.  We did find a holy symbol that formed into the shape of a symbol of whatever deity you worshiped, so that was very nice, but I don't remember who took it.  Findel, I think, but I am not sure.  There were no other exits, so this was a dead end.

We again briefly rested, then went back the way we came, except we took the passageway to the south, down into darkness.  It was time to get out our sunrods and put them to use.