Journal of Rollo Lavius 3

Entry #494 - The Burner

(G494 24/09/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT) WA99

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward, who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia and are gathering three keys that will enable them to enter her castle. Reinward has gone to scout the final key holder's home - the Castle of Lord Amber.]

DAY 508(23rd Flamerule)(july) cont ...

While Reinward was avoiding being killed by evil undead ents the amulet that would allow Fenrir to pass through the magical barrier that protected the Castle of Lord Amber had been located and he was guided to the entrance by a dark elf scout of 'The Descendents of Addar'.

When Fenrir met Xama Niriwin at the entrance she used a Sending Spell to call back Reinward. The rogue had no desire to retrace his steps so he merely guided Fenrir via the gems of Communication that they both had.

'You here?' asked Fenrir as he entered desiccated arboretum. Reinward was at the other side though and waiting for the warlock to catch up.

Fenrir had a new invocation that he wanted to try out though and he summoned up a wall of fire in a circle around the trees. The chaos that ensued was entirely predictable - as the dead trees went up like matchwood three or more ents started thrashing around, roaring and catching fire.
One reached the door, but more magic from Fenrir finished it off. He then shut the door and waited. Reinward was forced out of his hiding place by the roaring flames and the choking smoke and had to skulk down towards the corridor beyond the arboretum.

Bored of waiting Fenrir decided to chance going around the outside of the flaming room and while his magic protected him a bit, he was still burnt a little. Next they decided to head west down the corridor where Reinward had heard the voices earlier. They discovered a stone jetty that protruded out into a long dried up canal. There were signs of life on the jetty, broken boxes and discarded food wrappers giving clues to recent activity.

Reinward thought he saw the back of a cloak disappearing into the gloom and so they invisibly followed. After about two hundred feet they saw a figure crouched by the narrow walkway that ran along the north wall of the canal. The figure seemed to be watching back towards the jetty.

Fenrir, floating in the air and invisible crept up on, and then behind the cloaked figure and said 'Dark in here isn't it?'

He caught a glimpse of the creatures face, it was goblinoid in appearance as it backed off. Fenrir became invisible and it ran as fast as it could along the canal. Before it could go a half dozen steps though Reinward reacted and threw two daggers, one going right through the back of its head and out the other side while the other pierced is heart.

He hadn't really meant to kill it, but there it was. On closer inspection it was a hobgoblin, perhaps it was even from that Underdark town he had passed through before. They dragged the corpse back to the jetty and hid it.

There were rooms to the east of the jetty, that looked like they might have been raided by hobgoblins as they had been ransacked and looted. Another corridor lead away to the east, a long one with several twists that eventually lead to a chamber that contained a crow cage. The crow cage contained a (possibly dead) dark elf.

Reinward went forward to take a look but stepped back when he noticed that the floor tiles depicted angry crows. From a safe distance he threw a pebble, but nothing happened. They decided to leave the elf and the cage well alone and moved on.

The tunnel continued until it ended in a cavern that had a castle wall built on its northern side. Two ancient wooden ballista were mounted on the battlements either side of a solid stone door. Fenrir flew over and took a look, there was nothing else up there so he went and grabbed Reinward and hoisted him over to the other side.

They were in a large, totally dark courtyard, and since neither of them could see more than thirty feet in the dark they decided to first check off to the west.
They reached what appeared to be a stable block where they saw a small crouched figure scrubbing the flagstones (in the dark!) of blood. Quietly they went past to the north and discovered a line of twenty or so armed undead guarding the door to the main keep.

Again the skulked past, until they reached the eastern wall, which had two doors in it.
They selected the southern door and Reinward listened at it. He heard a deep chuckle.
He opened it slowly and peered in. He saw a long hall, lit by a small fire. Beside the fireplace was the hulking form of some horrible creature, a sort of hairy humanoid the size of an ogre but even more ugly. It was reading a book, but looked round when the door opened.

Reinward retreated to the darkness of the courtyard as the creature came to the door, shrugged and then turned back to the room. Reinward has lost sight of Fenrir, and while he considered what to do next the impulsive warlock had entered via the north door, seen the horrible ogre thing and started blasting!

This alerted the undead soldiers, but Fenrir swept them aside in clattering heaps of bones and armour with his Eldritch Cone blasts. Reinward sighed and entered the hall once more.
He saw the monster facing off to the warlock and came up behind it. The young rogue was getting quite an expert in stabbing people in the back and a few swift blows and some more blasts from Fenrir were enough to destroy it.

He then went over to see what the monster had been reading. By the light from the fire he could see it was ancient dark elf pornography. He tucked it in his bag for later - this sort of thing could fetch a good price if he found the right buyer!