Adventurers
- Alfredward (Dwarf 4)
- Dulo Chaec (Magic User 1)
- Knuckles (Thief 1)
- Maurice (Knight 1)
- Rarder (Fighter 5)
After resupplying themselves in their own Four Shields Fort, the company of adventurers headed for Redwood Keep, site of many a previous adventure and now under the watchful eye of Baron Grellus' daughter, Andrella. In the months since they'd last met her, the noblewoman's disposition towards them had softened a touch and, eased along by a gift from the adventuring loot vaults, she agreed to allowing the adventurers to station some troops in the keep from which they might launch attacks upon the King Under The Mountain. She also provided them with the services of Maurice, a knight from her garrison.
Taking some retainers with them, the group headed into the mountains again, making for their previous observation post. Another few days of stakeout revealed a few occasions of hairy ones lugging meat into the small building at the far end of the complex, and sacks full of something into the steam-spewing crevice. The adventurers' watch was interrupted only the once by a pack of mountain lions; Dulo brought three down in a magical slumber and the others dispatched the fourth, dragging its corpse off Maurice. The knight had been pounced upon almost immediately, and the beast's claws had drawn a fine light gash across his throat, but fortunately only his pride had suffered any real damage.
Approaching the wall around the courtyard garden, the party sent Knuckles up and over with a rope to allow for a discrete way in. The garden remained a scene of great tranquillity and peace, the fountain trickling away into its pool as the trees sighed in the wind. As Dulo investigated the fountain, from which he sensed a magical presence, the rest of the party started exploring the rest of the garden walls.
The magic user filled his waterskin, and Rarder found a hidden door right next to the only other door leading out. Poking their heads through the former, they observed a passage way and voices using an unknown language coming from one of a series of doors. Wishing to maintain their element of surprise, the adventurers quietly backed away and tried the other, more obvious way from the garden.
They found themselves in a dank mess of a room with charred, ruined books and papers heaped on the ground, long untouched. As the rest of the party warily looked into the next room - an old dining area replete with collapsed or collapsing tables and benches, Dulo poked around the few remaining literature sparsely populating the shelves around the walls. To his delight, he came away with a sealed scroll case.
The party were split on the next course of action, some wanting to charge into the occupied room through the secret door with oil flasks and blades flying, while others wanted to bank the treasure intel gained thus far. Reckoning that this part of the monastery was unused by its current occupants, caution won out as they wished to delay alerting the raider king to their presence for as long as possible. The group retreated back the way they'd come in and returned to their fort to plan their next move.
Dulo's scroll turned out to contain a number of divine spells, so it was handed to Koko. The contents of his waterskin were harder to determine - Rarder's hired arcane academic could only confirm that the fountain water was indeed magical, though its aura was not one of consistency. Taking it to the elven advisor in the original keep by the Caves of Chaos, the party received largely the same message, though the elf promised to investigate further in return for a few barrels' worth of his own.