12 Thaumont 1000AC - Eviction Notice Part 1

After a short delay organising themselves, the group prepared to continue the eviction. Breccia and Vladimir would wait outside with the mule, while the rest of the group continued on into the castle and informed any residents present that they were no longer welcome here.

Castle Caldwell - Ground Floor (Click for a larger image)

The first task was to check out the store room to the south of the kitchen. A quick search showed it to be full of rotting sacks of food, old cupboards and a bloated, blackened body on the floor. As the group searched the room, suddenly Bogdan cried out. A large snake had been disturbed by his rummaging among the sacks. It bit him before anyone could kill it and soon his arm was beginning to turn black. Fortunately, Callinicus was able to suck the poison out of the wound and administer a healing potion that restored Bogdan to full health.

With no other exits, the group chose to head into the western corridor, where they encountered a group of four Goblins. The Goblins were carrying a deer on a pole between them. They eyed the group warily and greeted them. Fortunately, Shalander speaks Goblin, so he was able to greet them and assure the Goblins of the group's peaceful intentions. The Goblins proceeded past the group and into the tower room in the north-west of the castle. The group headed south. Stopping at the first door they were unable to open it by any means so they continued southwards into the next room, where they were attacked by Stirges. The bloodsuckers managed to suck a fair bit of blood before they were crushed under foot.

The next room south of this was a chapel. Its glass windows were shattered and the furniture was old, but the room was otherwise in reasonable repair. A cleric in plate armour was praying here when the group barged in. She was clearly annoyed to be disturbed but did not attack the group. Instead she introduced herself as Olga and led the group in prayers to bless their venture. Then she departed the castle, having been informed that its new owner was making every effort to take it over properly.

Continuing southwards and focusing on the western rooms, the group found a starving giant shrew in the nest room. At first it hid under the beds but then hunger overcame its cowardice and it attacked the group ferociously. All too soon the shrew lay dead and the group was bandaging its wounds before enetering the south-western tower, where they were attacked by a pair of wolves. Once more fortune favoured the now battered group and the wolves became nothing more than rugs to lie before the fire.

The group now headed eastward and explored the entrance hall and dining room in the south and centre of the castle, finding some treasure in the rubble. Moving to the south-eastern room and tower, they heard arguing from beyond the door. Shalander recognised Goblin voices arguing over treasure. Bursting in, the group found four Goblins standing around a table laden with treasure. Their swords were drawn and they were clearly none too happy about what constituted an equitable division of that treasure. In the ensuing fight, the group made short work of the Goblins and then started wondering how they were to carry all this treasure away with them. A lengthy discussion ensued, but finally the group was able to agree to cart back to Breccia and the mule as much as they could fit into the various sacks and backpacks they had with them.

Returning to the scene of their 'crimes' the group then continued their methodical progress northwards up the eastern corridor. The next room up proved to have been a library. The books were not in good condition but the room was occupied by two fire beetles, who were reduced to eating the carpet since they became trapped in here. The fight was short and in short order Elias was soon hacking the beetles up to extract the glands that emitted the glow that gave them their name.

A statue in the next room northwards gave the group pause. The room was empty but the group leaders quickly determined that they would not go anywhere near the statue, so they closed the door and headed northwards to the last room before the tower. Here they found a small group of brigands taking a rest from banditry. The group launched into the assault immediately and were victorious after a short but bloody fight. They tidied up the corpses and put them into the beds in this room, before they searched it and gathered up the bandits' loot. The final tower room proved to be empty, but upon exiting it, they encountered the same group of Goblins that they had met with earlier in the other corridor. The Goblins greeted them warily and unsuspectingly made to pass the group in the corridor on whatever errand they were running. As they did so, the group fell on the Goblins and slaughtered them in a brutal, short and effective ambush.

Everyone in the group was now injured and even though the ambush had been effective, the group had still taken some heavy wounds. This being the state of affairs the group decided to head back to Threshold to bank their loot and heal their wounds before cleaning out the rest of the castle.