Shadowfell Keep, 1st Floor (I)

Far, Lharvion 20, 998 YK (Day 6). Night.

The rest lasts for about a half hour. During this time, Typhus leaves the room, Splug in tow, without a word. The party initially considers pursuing him or trying to discover where he is going, but their attempts to question him are met with nothing. The remaining five members decide it best not to try and pry further, as if travelling with Typhus for the past three days has taught them anything, it is that he is perhaps better off left to his own inscrutable purposes.

After Typhus has left, Mikhal announces that he, too, must depart. Having learned that the keep is in fact occupied (and recently so), and become aware of the presence of dark magic and rituals in this place, he must meet with Theoban Flamerule in Winterhaven to give the report he promised on Lharvion 21. He, however, declares that he will return as soon as possible, and leaves, bound for the surface and ultimately to the town of
Winterhaven.

The four left in the Keep - Zil'dejin, Tam'elanath, Morgue and Lythanis - decide to press onwards, as they have discovered very little of the happenings in the area, which was their original purpose for venturing within. They decide to investigate the goblin chieftain's room, described by Splug before he left with Typhus. They leave the torture chamber and open the door to the adjoining room.

Here, they are met with a relatively large space sectioned off with curtains. All they are able to see (other than the curtains) is a table with two goblins playing a raucous but incomprehensible game of cards, with an old and ornate bronze bell in front of them, likely left over from the Keep's active era. The party is outside of the distracted goblin's awareness, huddled in the hallway leading to the room, and here, they ponder their next move. Deciding that the bell is likely going to alert other goblins of their presence, Morgue opts to try and take the bell from the table.

He sneaks forward, and is initially undetected by the goblins. He reaches to grab the bell, and successfully lifts it off the table, but as he does so, it clangs, alerting the goblins at the table as well as goblins further within the room, in the areas behind the curtain. A fight ensues. Goblins rush out of adjacent rooms, coming in huge numbers from sub-rooms behind doors and the curtains, and the goblin chieftain (identifying himself as Balgron the Fat) joins the fray as well.

The four are faced with immense difficulty, due in part to their diminished numbers and in part to the overwhelming odds. Though they are able to thin the numbers of the goblins, they are slowly worn down. Their wounds begin to get the better of them, but the goblins continue to fall as Zil'dejin takes the lead, hacking away at enemies, while the others provide varying forms of support. The most powerful goblins are taken down, including Balgron the Fat, but the fight continues thereafter until Morgue, Zil'dejin, and Lythanis have all fallen, and a wounded Tam'elanath retreats further into the chamber to hide from the remaining threats: three goblins, wounded, but alive and furious.

A heavily injured Morgue, seeing the threat the advancing goblins pose to Tam'elanath and, indeed, all of them, is able to lift himself to his feet just inches from death, staggering upright, and taking some of the stress off Tam'elanath by killing the nearest goblin with a well-placed shortsword thrust. Tam'elanath is able to remove the others, and the party takes some time to recover.

In the short term, the injured are treated, and the four search the room to ensure no goblins remain. Once they have done this, they take the goblins' treasure: a respectable sum of gold, and a slightly enchanted magic wand. They set up camp in his fortified chamber, taking advantage of the somewhat-soiled beds and well-lit safety of the room. Here, they sleep off their most serious wounds and injuries.