Another day dawns with Skrag sleeping on a table in the inn awaiting the start of breakfast. The rest of the group were awakened by what sounded like the pounding of hooves coming closer and closer to the inn, they abruptly cease, only to be replaced by hammering. With the sun not even peeking over the horizon the group was a little disgruntled by the rude awakening.
The groggy group saunters out to see what all the noise was about, and spot a man hammering a large paper poster onto a wall.
The group decide it would be a good idea to go inquire at Fort Melville, as they had nothing else planned to do for the day. While getting ready, Z’ella and Kit introduce one of their old comrades to Trinnie and Skrag. Myöhässä or Myo for short agrees to accompany the group to Fort Melville. Kit went to speak with Rodghar and agreed to deliver some goods to the fort since the group was heading in that general direction anyway. Of course it was also a financial decision with the agreed upon rate of 25% of the earnings from the delivery of the goods.
The trip to the fort was unremarkable, nothing beyond the ordinary occurred. The group pulled in to Fort Melville and was greeted by a large guard outside the gate to the manor. The party was paid for the delivery of the goods, and was escorted into the manor by one of the pages. Lord Meric is a strong “soldierly” type man that although being in his 40’s looks very fit. He informed the party that he has sent out numerous other groups after this bandit with no success. Jared has been harassing the fort for some time, sneaking in and taking small but very valuable pieces from many different places in town. Lord Meric is distressed by the fact that he himself is missing a chalice that has been in his family for generations and is the mark of his office. He is not looking for revenge from Jared, just the return of a sacred family heirloom.
Lord Meric suggests the group speak with Commander Samual and Maven the innkeeper as they both have seen glimpses of Jared in the past. The party agrees to the terms of 625gp for the successful return of the chalice with 300gp of that paid upfront.
The group then leaves the manor and heads towards the barracks only to run into the slightly drunken Commander Samual. The group notices that Samual looks a lot like Lord Meric and when asked, Samual confirms that they are in fact cousins. Commander Samual informs the group that he has seen Jared, and gave him a scar on the right side of his face during one late night encounter. He also tends to flee away from town in a northeasterly direction.
Since the last time of the day, the party agrees to wait the night at the inn and see what other information they can find and head out the next day. Kit and Myo take the opportunity to join the night watch for that evening, and meet up with the group in the morning.
The party heads in a northeasterly direction from town and eventually spots a hill that would be a good lookout. Upon reaching the summit the group notices an out of place group of trees with what appears to be a small scar in the earth.
Upon entering what would be the start of the scar, they are shouted to stop and leave the area, being the more adventurous type, the party doesn’t heed the warning and goes closer to investigate.
The party finds themselves at the opening to a cave with two barricades made of barrels, one on either side of the entrance. Standing in the barricades are two archers intent on keeping the party from entering. Skrag with an incredible feat of sped and martial skill kills the one archer. The other flees past Kit and runs into the cave screaming for help. Kit with her usual sense of tactics chases after to be blinded by two interrogation lights shining out of the entrance. She keeps heading inside and the party can only hear her armor rushing forward and what appears to be arrows bouncing off her thick metal shell.
The rest of the group give chase and find themselves in a large cavern with more barrel barricades full of archers and at the end of the cavern 2 other men that resemble guards. All members make it safely into the room, but Trinnie is the first to discover a large trap after it tries to kill her. The large blade springs forth from the ceiling and slices the little Halfling across her shoulder and almost knocks her down. After catching her breath she returns the favor and slams the two guards with an icy blast as they try to run after her comrades. The group happens upon two more traps within the room, another blade trap that tries to decapitate Myo and a lovely pit trip that Skrag manages to grab the side of before landing into the bottom. With some hard work and a great amount of luck the group manages to slay the remaining evildoers and regroup before pressing further into the cavern.
The group passes through another set of bright lights and enters a smaller cavern that has a man sitting in a chair behind a large desk. The group instantly recognizes Jared, but do not rush him right away. Since Jared does not appear hostile, the party decides to talk to him first. This is a big change from the group that generally rushes ahead and thinks later.
After being questioned by the group, Jared confirms that he also is related to Lord Meric, he is Lord Meric’s bastard brother. He agrees to work with the party and give the group back the chalice and some other goods. He also agrees to return the donkey, wagon and money to the dwarf, and meet the party at the old witch’s home. Jared points out some equipment in a chest that he carefully unlocks, stating that it belonged to some other fools that didn’t make it as far as this group did, and that the group was free to take what they wished.
The group head back to town, collect the donkey and see Jared off as he heads into the darkness towards Wyr. The party then fulfills their duty by returning the chalice to Lord Meric and claiming the remainder of their prize.
This would be the end of the parties dealing in Fort Melville, except for the fact that they had stumbled upon a rumor of some diamond encrusted armor. It was rumored that over 300 years ago that the old lord of the Fort had a dear friend that had entered the field of battle many many times and had always returned alive. This friend had always worn a magnificent suit of plate armor that was covered in diamonds. Upon his death the old Lord built a mausoleum for his dear friend and buried him in his armor. The group agrees to go in search of the mausoleum and perhaps recover this incredible armor.
The old stone mausoleum was easy to find, but difficult to open. The old stone doors had not been opened in a very long time, and required some heavy pushing by Kit, Skrag and Myo to get the doors to swing open.
The group steps into the opening and see a large statute of a man astride a rearing horse with a saying running across the bottom. To he who carried our army to more victories than any other, I, Lord Haius III, offer a salute. Rest peacefully, my old friend. The group starts making lots of noise when Kit and Skrag are shot with arrows after springing a trap in the hallway leading to the sarcophagus. With all the noise an old ghost appears pushing a broom. Kit goes crazy at this point, worshiping the Raven Queen she is determined to rid the world of this evil abomination. Skrag and Myo attempt to pin her to keep her from attacking the ghost until they have gotten all the information out of the ghost. The ghost says his family made an oath to the old lord to keep the tomb clean and protected. The party realizes there is only one way to do this, and that is to clean the area. Trinnie starts by getting a couple of brooms and starts to clean the main hall. Kit still in a frenzy, starts throwing daggers at the ghost, making him madder and madder until the friendly ghost disappears and the evil one takes his place. The ghost slams Z’Ella, Kit, Skrag and Myo into the wall immobilizing them with magic. They try over and over to break free and take care of the ghost but nothing happens. Z’Ella realizes that during her study into religion and the arcane that this ghost might only be vanquished by desecrating the tomb. Myo and Z’Ella break free from the others and head down the hall to the sarcophagus. Myo is hit with a number of traps, which Z’Ella is able to avoid. The pair pushes open the lid only to see a skeletal horse in diamond studded armor. Myo breaks down into a fit of hysterical laughter as he smashes the skeleton to pieces, and with that the ghost disappears.
The group grabs the armor and some gold coins that were scattered around and decide it is time to head back to Wyr. Beat up and licking their wounds they curse Jared for not telling them that the armor was for a horse. Knowing that they would be meeting up with him again soon was the only thing to light a fire under the feet of the party as they marched back to Wyr.
What next will our band of adventurers find themselves in the middle of? Keep checking back to find out.
