Session 3

Session 3

The party began by stashing their treasure in a hidden alcove on the side of a hill in the forest and then decided to travel along toward the direction of the Dragon Burial Site. Zanne was anxious to find his father and pushed the party along at a quickened pace. The steep-sided crater punctured the wilderness. Near the center of the depression, the party noticed several humanoid figures that were clustered around a collection of bones. Two small dragon like creatures noticed the party approaching and hissed loudly alerting the workers in the crater.

A small gnome yelled out to the party, saying "You cannot fully appreciate what we have uncovered down her from up on the top of the crater rim. Come down and look at what the workers have discovered. I am from Winterhaven." Zanne whispered to the party that this gnome was not a resident of Winterhaven and as they decided to leave, the gnome yelled out to the drakes to attack the pc's. A battle ensued and the party slayed all but a lone halfling slinger that blended into the woods. A search of some burlap cloths turned up Zanne's father, who was beaten, gagged, and weakened due to lack of food or water.

He recounted a story of being taken surprise by this group shortly after discovering the bones of the dragon. He has been here for 3 days as a prisoner while they have continued to dig for some relic. He knows they found the relic because they were talking about packing things up and returning to their master. The party found a small crate that held a neatly packed ancient mirror that they assumed was the artifact. Zanne's father was surprised they didn't kill him and when asked why they were torturing him they said, "We can't kill you, Master Kalarel undoubtedly has a special use for you. " The group headed back to their loot and then returned to Winterhaven with Zanne's father. He wanted to rest up and then head out to square up his debt with that Halfling that got away.

Things were not normal in Winterhaven upon their arrival. The farms outside the citys walls were empty and boarded up, with some of them having fire damage. The gate of the city was shut and once inside, the residents all appeared to be on edge.

The group paid a visit to Valthrun and updated him on all of the happenings. Valthrun reported the mirror appeared to be from the Nerath Wizards who were said to be responsible for setting the seal to the Shadowfell Gate. They all then paid a visit to Lord Padraig. Lord Padraig told the group that while they were gone, the city was attacked by larger creatures who took some residents off into the night after destroying some of the outlying farms. The people are now terrified and they have called the militia and asked for reinforcements from the citizens. Lord Padraig looked solemnly at Valthrun saying, "I should have listened to you old friend. It appears that cursed Keep may indeed be crawling with the influence of the Shadowfell."

We took a brief break here and handed out expo and leveled characters.

The party set out for the Shadowfell Keep after being filled in by Valthrun on the history of the keep and the legend of the Shadowfell Gate. After traveling for some time, he group decided to find a safe area to camp so that they could travel the last portion of the journey to the keep in the morning. Their watch was disturbed twice through the night by the sounds of a cart with some screams in the distance. With no solid clues to the cause they slept uneventfully through the night with no occurrences. They set back out onto the path.

The meandering path led through the forest with occasional scattered flagstone stepping areas. Varsuvious thought he heard some moaning and weeping off in the distance, so the party decided to leave the road and headed off into the forest on the left. They stealthily moved through the forest and found a group of hobgoblins had set up a roadside ambush for travelers on the road. When the battle was looking bad for the hobgoblins, the archer headed back tot he cart and started to systematically slaughter the innocent humans being held in a makeshift wagon cage. Once the archer was killed, Zanne recognized many of the people, including a little girl that the hobgoblin killed. One man, Algire, recounted the story of their capture. Some of them were taken by roadside ambush and other were taken after the raid on Winterhaven. Apparently, these hobgoblins were the large creatures that came to prey on the innocent people in Winterhaven. Algire went on to say that these Hobgoblins were working for the "Bloodreavers". They would capture prisoners and sell them as slaves to the "Bloodreavers".

The party told the prisoners that the way was clear back to Winterhaven and decided to head out to the Shadowfell Keep. This is where we stopped.

Each player receives 125 xp for the last portion of the Adventure. Your totals should be as follows:

Dakani- 1175

Nardinn- 1175

Quinn- 1175

Varsuvious- 1175

Zanne- 1050

Here is the loot from the entire session:

• 98 Gold
• 33 Silver
• Small ancient silver mirror (worth 550 Gold to a collector)
• +1 Amulet of Health that Zanne received from his father (gives +1 bonus to Fort., Reflex, Will. Also resist poison 5.)
• ** Dark Leather Armor
• 4 clubs
• **Crossbow
• **20 Bolts
• **War Pick
• **Dagger
• **Sling
• **20 Bullets
• Longsword x3
• **Leather Armor x2
• **Light Shield x2
• **Spear
• Scale armor x2
• Heavy Shield x2
• Flail
• Potion of Healing
• Longbow
• Quiver with 30 Arrows

The items with Asterisks in BLUE are being safely kept by Zanne's folks. The rest is new loot that will need dispersed before the next adventure. Post comments on the items you want and any other preparations you need to make before setting out for the keep. I am going to assume you will rest a bit and will start with all your powers and Healing Surges.