We awoke with the dawn, and examined the castle entry in the light. The closed oak drawbridge door blocked the main way in, but we could see a window some forty feet up the adjacent tower. Tolarin scaled to the opening, and then came back down, informing the group of the ogres he spotted inside. Gunx quickly climbed up to take a look for himself, followed by Tolarin, Brick and Tegan, while Jorad and I waited below. A few moments later, the drawbridge began to open, as Gunx had dropped inside and, instead of finding ogres, found a winch which controlled the door. Seeing this as my best opportunity to gain entry, I Misty Stepped through the bars of the portcullis, into the lower courtyard.
Outside the gate, the fog was too thick for my vision to penetrate, but as soon as I had crossed the threshold, the sounds of conflict began to rage outside. Suddenly, Jorad was by my side, as he Mistily Escaped the attack of a guardian statue that had just sprung to life. Together, we raced to join our party in the tower, under desperate attack by three ogre defenders. As we entered, Tolarin ended one ogre’s life, Brick was leaking blood, Gunx was catching an enemy javelin, and Tegan, dagger drawn, was leaping at an ogre from atop the winch. In a flash, Jorad killed another ogre with an Eldritch Blast, and Gunx dropped the third with his furious fists.
With a moment of peace, we began to take up positions to ambush our next adversaries. Soon enough, another ogre burst through the door, and we slaughtered him in an instant. Alarm bells were ringing out from the other tower, and loud clattering noises seemed to indicate the portcullis was being raised. Tegan raced to the top of the tower, where he found a huge javelin-firing ballista, while the rest of us prepared for more attackers in the room below.
A moment later, the two guardian statues rushed in, and again we attacked in unison. From atop the tower, Tegan fired the ballista into a phalanx of elite ‘Dragonwing’ cultist warriors and ogres in the lower courtyard. Eventually, the female golem fell to pieces, but more ogres were in the doorway. One was killed after Tegan dropped an armload of javelins on it from the rooftop, but another immediately crawled over its body, and into the room, followed by a host of Dragonwings.
Tolarin and Brick were felled by Dragonwing attacks, but in Beshaba’s name I revived them both. The other three cunts continued to slaughter our foes. At last, the few remaining attackers tried to retreat, but Gunx, Jorad, and Tegan showed them no mercy, and soon all lay vanquished. As Tegan soothed our party’s wounds with his Healing Words, we changed out of our tattered old blue dragon cultist disguises, and suited up in black Dragonwing uniforms.
After a brief rest, we left the tower room and explored eastward. We found our way to a Dragonwing barracks with fourteen bunks, and then a chaotic kitchen staffed with kobolds. Moving on from there, we found an icy spiral staircase which led to the castle’s upper courtyard, and a pair of double doors to the north. Through these doors, we came to a vestibule leading to more rooms. Atop Gunx’s shoulders, I picked the lock to a well stocked larder to the east, but failed to unlock the door to the west, so we then went through an unlocked grand door to the north.
Inside this macabre, horse skull-decorated chamber, we encountered Rezmir, the black dragonborn cultist, and a mysterious Red Wizard, attended by two guard drakes and a gargoyle. In a flash, the wizard blasted our group with a Fireball, Rezmir spat her acid, the gargoyle swooped in, and the guard drakes took down Tegan. It was then that Azbara Jos, previously invisible, suddenly appeared, firing Magic Missiles at Brick. Brick and Tolarin slew one of the drakes, as Gunx pummelled the gargoyle with a devastating combination of strikes.
The wizard then rushed to Azbara’s side, and cast a Cone of Cold, felling Jorad in the icy blast. Tolarin killed Azbara, and moved on to Rezmir. Seeing the tables turned, the wizard fled, passing through an illusory wall to the north. Rezmir cast Darkness, and he too made his escape while we fumbled about in the black void. Tolarin and Brick found their way to the light, and finished off the second drake and the gargoyle. We revived Tegan and Jorad with our last potions of healing, and quickly searched the room. We found a trove of correspondence between the Red Wizard, named Rath Modar, and Severin, the supreme leader of the Dragon Cult. On a lectern, I discovered an Infernal tome, “Beyond the Iron Gates,” describing a ritual to summon Tiamat. And, from the corpse of Azbara Jos, we recovered a scroll and his wizarding spellbook. We should get these materials to our Harper and Order of the Gauntlet allies, Leosin and Ontharr, back in Secomber.
We continued to explore the castle, hunting for the coward Rezmir, in and out of a guest bedroom, through the wyvern stables, until we came to a room occupied by a stone giant couple, engrossed in making a very intense soup. The charming Tegan Ramigil led the introductions, and Wiglof and Hulda welcomed us as treasured guests. They told us of their cloud giant host, Blagothkus, and asked our fellowship if we thought his planned alliance between the giants and the cultists was a good idea. We convinced them that it was utter foolishness, and they rewarded our wise counsel with refuge for the night, by the grace of Beshaba, klaatu barada nikto amen.
