Session Twenty-One: In the Crypts of Castle Dregely

The actual Castle Dregely

The Cobalt Cavers had been worried for some time about the absence of Robi Samdos from the Citadel of the Golden Fleece. They also suspect there may be some connection to the missing women. The Order of the Golden Fleece are clerics devoted to Adreham, god of civilization and order. Robi Samdos was their head in Morachi, but no one had heard from him in some time. When the Cavers get to the Citadel, Dregely Castle, they are greeted by the gatekeeper, Aldo Stanis. He invites them in, but says they probably won't be able to meet with Robi. When they insist, saying they have important information about an acolyte of Crom (Xanathon), Aldo goes to get Istvan Shakashvili, Robi's valet.

Istvan is distinctly unimpressed with the news, telling the Cavers that it sounds like Xanathon is taken care of and on the run. He dismisses the party, but when they ask Aldo if they can stay the night, he welcomes them. When they go to the great hall for dinner, they notice that it is quite empty, a fact that Aldo fails to illuminate.

That night, Darwain goes sneaking around. He's able to find Robi's suite of offices, but all he finds there is a letter, unfinished, from before when the first girl went missing. The next day, Vasily tries to draw information out of some clerics by sparring with them, but this is a dead end. Eventually they explore further, and decide to head for the crypts.

The crypt is dark and dank, and as they enter, they see a rat scurry east. Following the rat, the party comes across a pool holding 4,000ep. Suspicious, they leave the pool be. Further down the corridor, they are jumped by six wights. Duggan is drained of one of his levels, but otherwise it is not a difficult encounter for the party as they kill or control the rest. This passageway is otherwise a dead end, so they head back to the entry chamber and go north.

North of the entry chamber, the party finds a burial chamber where three simple coffins lie in three niches to the north, east, and west. The Cavers open each coffin, and find a pile of dirt inside each. They douse each with holy water, and continue on to finally go left of the entry chamber. Along that corridor, two scythes swing out at Vasily. He totally matrixes them, and the party comes to what appears to be the end of the corridor. They head back into the citadel, and confront Istvan with the evidence of vampires in his basement. He denies everything, and the party leaves him to go back to Ishpeming.

Back in Ishpeming, the party stays at the inn and inquires about Sanbalet. No one has heard anything, so the next morning they head to Pechen. There, Vasily looks up the whereabouts of the girl recently crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty, Cecilie. He brags about all the different things he's killed, but Cecilie is bored by this and insults Vasily, asking him whether the large mace he carries is compensating for something.

Their next destination is the tower. There, a squad of infantry has been placed by the local baron, Bruno Markov. The Cavers talk to the troop, and they are reasonably friendly, and tell them that Markov stationed them because some adventurers were claiming land belonging to him. The Cavers decide that they should meet Baron Markov, and head towards his manor. While on the way there, they see a flock of pegasi overhead.

Baron Markov is pleased to finally meet the party. He tells them he wouldn't mind granting them some land as his vassals, but first they have to do him a favor. A bandit town formed in his lands, and he'd like the party to root them out. He'll even lend them troops to do so. The party says they'll take it up once the necromancer is dead.

The party then leaves for Threshold, but they make a detour to find the pegasi's lair. The party finds it and makes a note of its location. On the way to Threshold, the Cavers encounter a gang of bandits, 28 strong. They are surprisingly brave, and the Cavers kill 25 of them before they flee.