21 Awakening 508 (cont’d)

The roof is lit by bright, instantaneous light that Surm identifies as a “Flare” spell—a low-level cantrip. Suddenly the roof is covered by volleys of arrows apparently being fired from the walls that run parallel to the keep. The party makes their way through several volleys to the edge of the catwalk on the keep to find cover from at least one side of the archers. They use their wand of healing along the way to keep everyone moving from the numerous hits of the arrows.

After several volleys have passed, a voice calls out from below. “This is futile! The only way to avoid death is to throw your weapons over the side of the keep!”. Mõrvar and Savaric answer with shots toward the archers with longbow and crossbow.

A voice identifying himself as Lord Quain calls out demanding to know who they are and what they hope to accomplish by this. Surm answers that they are the Peasant Liberation Front and they are tired of the way that they are treated by Lord Quain.

In the meantime, Mõrvar and Savaric make their way to the torches left by guards killed on the northwest side of the roof. Mõrvar uses sorcery to take one of the torches and then casts it into the hole they had previously made in the roof, catching a tapestry on fire near the mezzanine.

As Surm lists the demands of the PLF, Lord Quain screams “You dare! Men, kill them all!” Shouts of “Fire!” and “Sorcery!” emerge from the hole as Mõrvar continues to cause a torch to dance about the guards attempting to put out the fire in the mezzanine.

At Quain’s order, men start emerging from the towers and volleys of arrows are let fly—even at the risk of killing Quain’s own soldiers. Surm and Rilka fight off guards at the northeast tower while Mõrvar and Savaric shoot at the guards in hole. After Surm and Rilka dispatch their guards, Mõrvar and Savaric start making their way back to the tower. Surm and Rilka enter the northeast tower and head downstairs into the keep while Mõrvar and Savaric intercept the guards that are coming from the other towers and converging at the northeast.

Inside, Surm and Rilka make their way through the long corridor that comprises “Tower Hall”. The corridor makes a perimeter about the keep, allowing only two entrances to the guard towers. Muffled shouts are heard from deeper within the keep. Surm decides to stay in the keep while Rilka doubles-back to the roof to aid Savaric and Mõrvar. She bolts the tower doors behind as she makes her way up. Surm finally finds an exit from “Tower Hall”—only to find it guarded. He bars that door and returns to the southwest tower to ponder his next move.

In the meantime, Rilka has returned to Savaric and Mõrvar, who have dispatched more of the guards. They decide to head into the keep and catch up with Surm. Smoke is starting to pour out of the hole in the roof.

Meanwhile, Surm has climbed to the top of the tower and sees a series of lights of illuminate the roof from above. The sorcerers both identify the spell as “Dancing Lights”, another low-level cantrip, probably meant as a signal or temporary illumination of the roof. Surm drops down to the catwalk, stealthily evading the guards that are gathering around the hole in the roof. Surm makes his quiet way to the northeast tower—his original entry point into the keep and the only tower without barred doors. As he makes his way down, he bars the doors behind him, effectively trapping eight of the guards on the roof.

Rilka, Savaric, and Mõrvar, meanwhile, have dispatched a pair of guards in the “Tower Hall”. They find the barred tower door of the southwest tower and decide to make their way back to northwest tower to secure that door. At the other end of “Tower Hall” they find a guard, which the three quickly dispatch. Savaric enters the tower and bars the door. They are then met by Surm who has secured the northeast tower.

The reunited party emerges from the “Tower Hall” into a foyer. Directly across from them are two guards hacking at the other hall entrance with axes. These guards are quickly dealt with by the party.

The foyer has two arched doorways as well as the doorway leading into the center of the keep. There is also an open set of double-doors leading to the outside. Smoke is pouring into the foyer from the central hall. Muffled shouts are also heard from within. Surm decides to check out one of the arched doorways.

In the gloom of the smoke, three figures emerge from the center of the keep and are killed—two are guards but one is a finely dressed woman with a purse and no weapons. Though she was killed by Rilka, Mõrvar quickly takes time to search her body for valuables, taking her jewelery and purse.

Mõrvar rejoins his brother in the next room, a kitchen with a pantry and nearby servant’s quarters. The pantry has a staircase leading down, which Mõrvar decides to investigate. Surm decides to search the other side of the foyer with Rilka while Savaric joins Mõrvar in the basement.

Finding a locked door, Mõrvar attempts to open it by casting “acid splash” on it indefinitely until the lock is eaten through. Inside he finds a wine cellar. Taking several bags from his pack, he takes some of the bottles. Across from the wine cellar, Mõrvar also finds the keep’s well. Meanwhile, Savaric searches out a storage area filled with old furniture, paintings, festival decorations, and the like, finding nothing of interest.

While Mõrvar and Savaric search out the basement, Surm and Rilka search the other side of the foyer. Here they encounter and search a small library, a lush receiving room, a study, and a well-searched closet. Finding nothing of interest, they re-emerge into the smoky foyer, discouraged. Determined to find something of value for all this trouble, Surm attempts to enter the main hall but turns back due to the smoke.

Savaric and Mõrvar return from the basement and search the library, closet, and study again. This time Mõrvar finds a secret compartment in the study desk containing a pouch with 50 gold coins and a compartment in the bookcase that conceals a book. The party reunites in the smoky foyer after hearing several loud crashes from the second floor.

Surm drags the body of whom they assume to the Lady Quain into the main hall while Rilka throws two guard bodies outside into the torchlight. The two guards are fired upon by arrows. The party decides to exit the keep through the northeast tower.

After climbing to the top the tower, Savaric climbs to the roof of the tower to see a guard dangling from one of the walls, trying to escape the fire that has already caused two parts of the roof to collapse. The party then stealthily makes their way along the catwalk to the far end of the keep, away from the soldiers that are gathered below to catch their comrades. They climb down the keep wall on knotted rope—except for Savaric, who falls trying to climb the wall without the aid of rope.

The party then trots to the broken section of wall where they first entered the keep, depending on the fire to maintain a decent distraction for the soldiers on the ground. Both Surm and Savaric fall from the wall as they make their way out of the keep, with Savaric needing to be healed by the wand yet again in order to continue. They make their way to their hidden horses and ride out as fast as they can with Savaric attempting to hide their tracks. They plan to find a ford in the river and head south to the city of Skeene in Leilior.