Eris, Endrin, and Fir took a moment to catch their breath and deliberate as storm clouds loomed on the horizon. The trio agreed the best course of action was to take a short rest to prepare themselves before attempting to infiltrate the Claret Order’s keep in order to rescue their captured friends. Meanwhile in the depths of the keep, Malcolm’s dreams were filled with visions and omens from his undead patron, before he and Triple J were rudely awakened from their trauma induced slumbers by buckets of cold water. Weary, the pair awoke to find themselves shackled and behind bars in the dank cells of a dungeon. The Lycanthrope strode into vision and began roughly interrogating Triple J. The Lycan knew that Triple J was after the Chalice of Stories, but swore to see it never returned to the hands of the “bloodsucking monsters” that Triple J associated with. Before Triple J could begin piecing together the Lycan’s absurd claims, the Lycan stated that Triple J and Malcolm were to be burned at nightfall, and stormed off.
Back outside the keep, the storm rolled across the jungle. Fir transformed into a mouse and hopped into Endrin’s pocket, and Endrin gave flight to both he and Eris. The group flew in low and quiet, just above the lake on the southern side of the fortress. As they were gliding past the waterfall, Eris noticed a recess in the rocky wall behind it. She hesitated for a moment to get Endrin’s attention and direct it towards the secret entrance within. As the pair stopped, they heard a shout from above as one of the guards had noticed them and began alerting his comrades. Quickly, Eris, Endrin, and Fir made a break for the hidden cave.
Simultaneously, in the dungeon, Malcolm and Triple J had began working on their own escape. Triple J glanced around the dungeon and spotted a keyring on the nearby guard’s belt. Malcolm began attempting to pull away the stone from the leaky ceiling of his cell. Eventually, one of the stone blocks gave way and water began streaming into the cell. The guard came over to investigate the commotion. Angered, the guard opened Malcolm’s cell and attempted to drag him into another. The fighter resisted and managed to wrap his manacled hands around the guard’s neck. Triple J assaulted the guard with dissonant whispers as Malcolm tightened his hold. The guard struggled but was unable to free himself from the grapple before Malcolm choked him out. Triple J pointed out the keyring to Malcolm and the duo freed themselves from their prison.
As Triple J and Malcolm began working out their plan to disguise themselves, stealthily infiltrate the keep, and recover their belongings, a nearby door was shattered open setting off a makeshift alarm system as a result. Stepping first through the door was none other than Eris and her moon-touched blade, followed closely by Endrin and Fir. Though the group was relieved to be reunited, they were well aware of the commotion they had caused and determined that it was best to proceed through a different direction. Triple J cast invisibility on everyone except for Fir, who transformed back into a mouse after distributing some supplies to Triple J and Malcolm. Then, Eris and Endrin ferried the party back outside and up towards one of the fortress’ second story entrances.
As the group approached the open doorway, they peaked inside to see a group of guards arming themselves, one of which had Malcolm’s sword. Eris struggled to hold the fighter back, however the struggle and conversation alerted the guards who fired aimlessly at the invisible intruders. Hurriedly, the party flew up and over to the other side of the keep where they managed to enter quietly and make their way down to the interior of the first level. Gliding past the kitchen and large open tower, the party made their way across the great hall and to a closed door. Eris pushed open the door to have a look which startled the numerous resting guards within, all of whom proceeded to fire crossbow bolts at the strange occurrence. Though only a few of their bolts found purchase in the party, Malcolm retaliated with a bit of his pact magic and thus broke the invisibility spell on him.
The party took flight back across the great hall as the guards gave chase after the visible, floating, body of Malcolm. Unarmored, Malcolm was easy prey for the pursuing guards. Malcolm was shot and brought within an inch of his life multiple times as the party flew towards the large open tower. With a split second decision, Endrin decided to fly downwards towards the cellar. Endrin saw another group of guards down below who were waiting to ambush whatever intruders might approach from the opposite side of the long hallway. Endrin ducked inside a storage room, still carrying Triple J. At this point Fir hopped out of Endrin’s pocket and began doing some searching of his own. Eris followed closely behind, still carrying the visible Malcolm. Eris used her magic to locate Triple J’s sugar skull and spellcasting focus, Gromb. With the spell, Eris determined that the skull was in the next chamber past the storage room. She flew down the hall towards it and instructed Endrin to do the same.
The group flew around the corner, drawing the attention of the waiting guards as they did. Eris and Malcolm arrived first in the trophy room, a circular space filled with pelts and treasures. Eris and Triple J flew around the corner next and made their way to trophy room’s entry hall. Endrin noticed the guards closing in around the trophy room and sought to buy the party some time. The wizard cast fear on a handful of the guards, sending them running away. Unfortunately, as Endrin cast the fear spell, his concentration on the party’s flight ended. Endrin and Triple J fell safely to the ground, Eris and Malcolm however, fell atop a faint red glyph just within the trophy room. The glyph exploded, knocking Malcolm out once more and singing Eris’ platinum blonde hair. Endrin misty stepped within the room and Triple J ran after him. As Triple J ran forward he stepped on a pressure plate which triggered the swinging axe trap within the hallway. Triple J and Eris narrowly managed to evade the swinging axes before dashing into the trophy room to safety and disarming the trap. Fir, still a mouse, skittered along the wall and into the chamber behind the rest of the group.
As more guards continued to close in around the outside of the chamber, the party revived Malcolm and grabbed what they could, including a few of the belongings of Triple J and Malcolm, a couple of new magic items, and the Chalice of Stories. The guards, who’d been hesitant to enter the trophy room due to the trapped hallway, saw the party’s thievery and finally rushed in to stop them. Fir reverted to his natural form and attempted to be a meat shield for the party as they made their escape. Endrin used his last bit of high level magic to give Malcolm, Triple J, and himself flight, as Eris sprouted wings of her own. Clinging to the ceiling, the party made a break for it. Triple J grabbed and revived Fir on the way out, the bard enduring his own volley of crossbow bolts in the process. FCG flew out the hidden entrance and back out into the stormy Vezdaweald.
