The Legend of the Brave

Day 9

Tara made breakfast for the party from her hunting supplies again, and they broke camp, 

heading East. They stumbled upon a trio of harpies laughing at a reptilian deer of some type 

struggling with a quicksand bog. The party cut the monsters down quickly, and saved the wild 

animal from the bog. The druid calmed the animal briefly before it fled into the trees. Within a 

few hours, Dahndii pointed toward some distant ruins rising from the swamp and stated to the 

PCs that they had arrived at the trolls’ lair.

Hearing cries, they PCs investigated to find The Verdant Company in mourning, having just 

lost Kennethelus the Quick to an attack by Parnar. The PCs questioned the members of the 

company and determined that Parnar had attacked them when leaving the ruins and they did 

not see him carrying anyone. The Verdant Company departed to raise their leader from the 

dead.

Dahndii and Kilgore returned to the village, stating they could not be seen aiding the PCs 

against the trolls or they would put the entire village at risk. They both bid a solemn farewell to 

Zorm as they left.

The PCs entered the ruins by dropping into them from what used to be the roof. They 

encountered a troll on the top floor and discovered the stairs down. The PC’s were hailed by 

a human called “Festus,” who claimed to be a traveling scholar and demonstrated the ability 

to use a dragon­like breath weapon to burn a troll to death. The PCs agreed to allow him to 

accompany them.

On the second floor down, the PCs overheard some voices speaking about alliance, and they 

heard one of them speaking about “Lord Relgin.” The PCs argued about what to do, and were 

overheard by a troll priest of Erythnul and a hobgoblin messenger, who assaulted the party and 

died. The priest’s neighbor, a dim­witted troll in a hodge­podge chainmail shirt was upset by the 

noise and attacked the PCs. The PCs tried to question him, but he was a moron. Festus 

burned him to pieces. The PCs failed to break down a fortified door, but located key on the troll 

priest and a note on the hobgoblin. The note told the hobgoblin to retrieve the elf woman at all 

costs, and was signed “Relgin” and sealed with the same mysterious symbol from the other 

note and the medallions. Upon opening the locked door, the PC’s found the room that they had 

seen in their dream, including Amelia Skullthorn, mother of both Emma and Freya, and 

Kalishondra. The other elves in the donjon were dehydrated, malnourished, and atrophied. 

The skullthorn sisters and Zorm decided to stay behind and protect the prisoners while the rest 

of the party continued exploring. 

On the next floor down, the PCs found a sleeping troll, failed to kill it in its sleep, alerted several 

other trolls, and were swarmed. Siegfried almost died, but was saved by the quick thinking of 

Wilthilas. On the fourth floor below ground level, the stairway blocked further descent, and the 

PCs found an illusory bonfire that had apparently kept the trolls at bay. Exploring this level, the 

party found a vast library of magical research (with a ransacked section on Conjuration magics), 

a drawing of a floating island, dragon teeth like those they had recovered from the trolls, a 

volume detailing encounters an archmage had had with dragons, a tome of cautionary tales 

about a thief, and a slim volume about constructing portals.

Festus returned upstairs to advise the rest of the party that they had found a safer location for 

the prisoners. The Skullthorns managed to start to bring their mother around following her 

trauma, and they all heard roaring from upstairs. Zorm immediately recognized his enemy, and 

charged upstairs just as Festus arrived with the news. They immediately began herding the 

prisoners downstairs, away from Parnar. 

Downstairs, the rest of the party found a trapdoor in a room stocked with supplies, which led to 

the original entryway into the tower. Shoving the door open, they found an ornate, but aged 

entryway with a golden­skinned female. The female greeted them and welcomed them to the 

tower of her master, Archmage Killendrial Shadowmoon, and bid them rest themselves in the 

adjoining rooms. The PCs determined there were no obvious dangers, and started helping the 

prisoners through the trap door. 

Siegfried desired to go upstairs and help his friend, Zorm, but Festus persuaded him not to, 

arguing that Zorm knew the dangers and had made his choice. Siegfried acknowledged that 

throwing his own life away would benefit no one, and continued helping the defenseless 

prisoners. 

Just as the last prisoner dropped through the trap, Parnar appeared in the trapdoor, trying to 

kill the party for murdering his tribe. Being too large for the trapdoor, he began trying to smash 

through the floor. The PC withdrew and barred the door between the entry and the room 

with the golden woman. Searching further, they discovered a carved wood arch, and, after 

reviewing the archmage’s notes, Festus triggered a portal in the arch. Emma Skullthorn and 

Tara Cloverton ensured that there were no immediate dangers and urged everyone to follow 

them through the portal. Once everyone was through, sped on by the relentless hammering of 

Parnar’s fists, the portal closed, leaving the party and the prisoners in a large stone room with a 

lit brazier in the center serving as the only source of light and heat. 

As the party started to look around and investigate the iron doors at the far edge of the 

chamber, the flames spiraled upward, growing arms and a face. A smouldering, smoky voice 

then demanded, “who goes?” The party identified themselves as travelers and refugees in 

need of help. The flame creature studied them for a while, and bid them enter. The doors 

opened, and the party proceeded into a gigantic library, where they were greeted by Archmage 

Killendrial Shadowmoon. He arranged for the refugees to be cared for, and had rooms 

prepared for the party.