Malcolm dodged aside quickly as the animated suit of dark armor went to strike. The trio of Endrin, Fir, and Malcolm quickly became aware that a plethora of other weapons and armor had come to life all around them in the armory. Fir and Endrin made a break for the door, narrowly dodging out of the way of an flying sword. Eris, who’d just arrived at Darklight Keep heard a commotion from across the chasm below and leapt out across it, sprouting shimmering platinum dragon wings in the process. She soared up to the ramparts and charged into the armory to aid her allies. However, Eris was not the only one alerted by the sounds of battle. A ghastly entity in the form of an elven soldier appeared on the ramparts just behind Eris. The elven wraith, alarmed, called out for reinforcements to defend the keep, summoning a handful of other wraiths in the process. Eris and Malcolm quickly found themselves surrounded by living armor as well as the hostile wraiths. Safe for the moment, Fir sprang into action and summoned a storm cloud along the ceiling of the armory from which he smote both armor and ghost alike with devastating blasts of lighting. Triple J came darting around the corner to help his friends, cast a spell on himself, and vanished from sight. One of the wraiths appeared at the far end of the hallway from Endrin and Fir and loosed an arrow in Endrin’s direction. The gnome wizard responded by clobbering the wraith with a conjured orb of dark gravity. As the wraith commander continued barking out orders, Triple J blinked back into sight and responded in his usual beguiling tone, politely stating that FCG were not the intruders here and suggesting that the wraith and her forces stand down. Oddly enough, the wraith obliged and pulled her remaining troops back. The wraiths out of the way, FCG had no trouble destroying the rest of the animated weapons and armor despite the armor’s resilience. Malcolm briefly pondered engaging the wraiths in combat but was dissuaded by Timorei’s words as they whispered through his mind.
As the party chuckled about the way Endrin had been pulverizing a suit of armor beneath his gravitic orb, the wraith commander appeared before them. Approaching cautiously, she introduced herself as Elra Margrove, the captain of the guard at Darklight Keep. Through a brief conversation, FCG learned that Elra had once served the crawling king and the cult leader who formerly resided in the keep before the Calamity. She explained that she had died during the fall of Ghor Dranas, now Rosohna, and that the lingering magics from the Calamity had trapped the souls of she and her men in the Ghostlands. Elra expressed that, rather than pass on to the domain of the crawling king, she and her troops would prefer to finally have a purpose again after nearly a millennium of aimless wandering. The party happily gave her one and thus acquired a spectral regiment of guards for their new keep in the process.
Elra finished giving FCG the tour of Darklight Keep, escorting them to the cultist’s private tower as well as through the tunnels beneath the keep. On the way down through the tunnels, FCG found a rough hewn passage that was unfamiliar to Elra, quickly identifying it as the source of their alien rat infestation. Beneath the keep’s cellar the party discovered a desecrated shrine to the crawling king as well as a makeshift pen, long bereft of any livestock or mounts. Elra explained that the tunnels continued all the way from the keep to the subterranean areas of Rosohna. The tour complete, and Darklight Keep thoroughly explored, FCG took note of the furniture and repairs required to get their new home in shape and took a short rest before heading back into Rosohna for a bit of shopping.
FCG perused through all of Rosohna’s districts in search of various items and supplies. They sampled the worst of street meats in the Coronas before heading to the Grand Gall Market in the Gallimaufry where they spent some time at an enchanter’s shop known as the Twin’s Gate. The party purchased a few uncommon magical items and some fine paper, as well as put in an order for an enchanted amulet for Eris. From there, FCG headed to the Starlight Ornament in the Firmaments to procure some diamonds and perhaps sell some gems of their own. No deals were struck here however, as Triple J became infuriated with the prices and flipped over the owner’s entire case of diamonds. The party was quickly thrown out of the gem shop and instead hit up a couple alchemists and apothecaries, acquiring what healing potions they could. Malcolm purchased some simple, but necessary, adventuring supplies for the group as well. Before heading back to Darklight Keep, the party made arrangements to have their keep refurnished and refurbished over the course of the next month, providing Endrin’s two rubies as payment.
FCG headed home to do a bit cleaning, and enjoy a nice meal in their new dining hall. Endrin spent the downtime copying over the mysterious runes and writings from the back of the Grimoire Infinitus onto the fine paper he’d purchased earlier. Endrin had planned to settle up with Essek and give him the actual writings from the Grimoire, and keep the copy for himself, but found his plan foiled as the enchanted tome refused to yield any of its gilded pages. Endrin presented his dilemma to the rest of the group, expressing his desire to keep on the Dynasty’s good side as well as get to the bottom of the Remnants’ activity. The party resolved to meet up with Essek and Xavier in the morning and explain the full situation to them. As the party settled in for a long rest, Fir wandered out into the surrounding mountains where he carved out a little cave of his own just beyond the walls of the keep before falling asleep himself.
