Only the sound of the wind outside and a few grunts of restless ogres disturbed the keep. No new threats emerged despite the recent melee. The heroes decided to investigate the war room where they had heard a previous clatter.
The tribunal room contained smashed chairs and a ruined table in a once regal chamber. Upon the curved eastern wall hung the tattered remnants of several regional maps. A sleepless ogre was painting them from buckets of congealed blood. Maggie charged in with a stabbing strike. Remy followed and effortlessly finished off the monster. A second ogre emerged from the adjoining room. Albi launched a firebomb that incinerated the room’s dry paper contents and left the ogre smoking. Azrak bellowed in rage, closed, and buried his axe in its neck.
Next, the heroes moved to the chapel’s heavy wooden doors. Within they heard faint sounds of activity. The adventurers charged in boldly and found a temple of Erastil desecrated. The skins, antlers and trophies were draped with rotten flesh and the mangled remains of several rangers. The altar was painted in blood with a three-eyed jackal. And the room’s decorator, a massive ogre, snarled and drew a 20 pound, blood-crusted ogre hook.
The heroes swarmed the monster with incredible speed. Nip unleashed a devastating series of whirlwind strikes. Under the combined assault, the foe fell before it could deliver a single blow.
After the battle the heroes explored the remainder of the keep’s upper floor. Maggie moved to a storeroom near the tower stairs. Inside she heard a feminine voice call to her for help, pleading that the party not harm her. The tiefling succumbed to woman’s plea and followed her into the darkness.
Once they realized she was missing, Azrak and Albi charged into the tower. Far above Maggie and the alluring woman were seen slipping through a trap door that closed with a thud. The gnome and dwarf rushed up the circular stairs. Meanwhile the ratfolk scampered outside along the roof and scaled the outer walls of the tower. Within they could see a large snake woman akin to Xanesha hiding in the shadows with Maggie standing dutifully atop the portal.
Azrak shoved his way through the trapdoor pitching Maggie to the side. He entered the shadowy room and suffered a series of wicked strikes from the waiting lamiah matriarch. The dwarf was almost taken down. The ratfolk descended from the ceiling trapdoor making surprise attacks but the wily lamia saw them coming. She battered them back and made a lethal strike against Albi. As the gnome fell to the ground, Maggie shook off the magical charms. The tiefling rushed in, daggers leading, and opened a gouge in the snake woman’s flesh.
A flash of light dazzled the heroes and the lamia vanished – she escaped via a dimension door. Maggie’s swore with vehemence and vulgarity that would have made her pirate parents proud.
With the fighting over, the heroes took the head of the fallen ogre leader and brandished it from atop the tower. Threatening the remaining Kreeg ogres with a similar fate, the monsters below fled into the misty, rainy morning.