After resting Pog and Silde tried to sneak into the castle the next morning, but Pog was discovered by Targor Bloodsword and his squad of Hobgoblins and Wolves. Pog attempted to talk his way out of combat but Targor was intent on bloodshed and charged at Pog. The party rushed to defend Pog and the heroes soon had the upper hand in the battle, but then Targor retreated to Krol’s chamber and warned the king of the party’s assault. The team were in pursuit and Stevil cast Shatter into the chamber, killing several Hobgoblins. However, he also killed their own employer, Gundren Rockseeker, who was lying unconscious in the room.
Vyerith, a comely Dark Elf and agent of the Black Spider, fled the room to rally the castle defenders while King Krol and his wolf, Snarl, made a last stand against the party. The team easily defeated the pair and discovered a map of Wave Echo Cavern. Unbeknownst to the heroes a large number of castle defenders were converging on their location as they were looting the room. Vyerith, feeling like she had the upper hand, parleyed with the party and offered free passage in exchange for the map. Blumpkin responded by firing a Piercing Arrow at her while her forces retorted with a volley of their own arrows. Sildar blocked the arrows with his shield before he slammed the door to the chamber shut, giving the party a few previous moments to devise a plan.
The heroes realized they were surrounded by a superior force with no way to escape. However, Pog realized they could climb out to the roof of the castle via a ruined hole in the tower roof. He used his climbing tools and rope to ascend and helped the rest of the team escape the room to the roof. The heroes could have easily escaped the castle with the location of Wave Echo Cavern secured and avoided fighting, but undaunted by the magnitude of the threat they faced and intent on wiping out the evil threat in the castle, they heroically dropped into their enemies midst via an opening in the roof.
Immediately the party took several damaging blows from their enemies, who had surrounded them from three different sides. Blumpkin was nearly knocked unconscious when his elven-hating foes focused their wrath on him, but he stayed on his feet and fired an Explosive Arrow, which did minimal damage. Silde was a whirlwind of destruction, and killed two enemies in one turn, while Sildar defended him with his shield. Pog held the line and dropped caltrops to the South, which blocked the party from being flanked, while Stevil cast shatter to soften up the enemies.
The future of the party was looking grim with Silde and Blumpkin on the verge of going down while Stevil, Pog, and Sildar struggled to hold their enemies back. Blumpin tried to reposition and moved West into a Dark Hall, but he unknowingly stumbled into the lair of a Grick, a fearsome tentacle monster. The last thing the party needed was to face a deadly foe while fighting a horde of other enemies and the heroes thought they were doomed but they valiantly fought on. Blumpkin, who was already badly wounded, was repeatedly assaulted by the beast and was on the verge of death multiple times, but Stevil was able to keep him alive with his healing magic. Blumpkin could have disengaged but he stood his ground with his trusty Rapier and tights to engage the beast while the party focused on whittling down Vyerith’s forces.
After a protacted battle the party managed to defeat the castle defenders, and then charged into the Dark Hall to help Blumpkin defeat the Grick. After the battle the exhausted party, surrounded by dead bodies and wreckage from the batle, saw that Vyerith was not a Drow but rather a Doppelganger.
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