After making sure that the rescued badger was safely out of the excavation Vaunea started off towards Winterhaven with Galstaff and his mote of primal energy bringing up the rear. Just as the party was coming to the edge of the forest, a muttering Meek was found truding away from Winterhaven. He handed over the note that Erik and sent him off to deliver, which sought to warn Kalarel of the fall of the cultists in Winterhaven. With the kobold in tow, the party made it through the gates just after sunset and were greeted by a fairly inebriated Daelius and Pale Noon. They were seated with the caravan master, who was none too pleased by the delay but still to scared to head out on the Eastern Way until the threat was dealt with. "And Lord Padraig seems to be giving Sylvana some coin to keep us in good cheer," he said leaning forward. "I think he want us to come back this way after this whole debacle is over. If we live to tell the tale, hah!"

Word quickly spread about Winterhaven bringing Lord Padraig and many of the townsfolk to the Drunken Druid Inn. Deciding against a potentially disastrous musical performance, Rolen began weaving a captivating account of the fight with the dragon skeleton. Cheers and gasps accompanied the tale, and at the conclusion the entire tavern stood up and clapped the shoulders of the various party members. Eventually the townsfolk started wandering off to bed, and the party decided to rest before heading off to this Shadowkeep which appeared to be where Kalarel was located. Valthrun the Old was the one person to leave without a smile on his face since when he let it slip that he spoke Draconic Lord Padraig charged him with keeping Meek until a more permanent solution was found.

In the morning Galstaff studied the Sharan sending stone concealed beneath Bairwin's floorboards and confirmed that the linked pair lay in the direction of the Shadowkeep. A long day's march in an increasingly strong thunder storm eventually brought the party to the ruins of Shadowkeep, and Fizzwig came out from under the conjured bucket that had been unsuccessfully trying to keep the rain off of his head long enough to scout ahead. Finding no one about, he motion for the rest of the party to approach and they began to search the ruins. Galstaff had studied architecture in Suzail and was able to locate the entrance to the dungeon levels of the keep since there was nothing on the surface.

Once again Fizzwig crept forward, this time out of the rain and into a room with flickering torches on three of its walls. The rest of the party followed as silently as they could, and just when Galstaff remembered the magical amulet taken from the kobold ambush party a loud noise filled the air all around them. Slow to react, the party found themselves dodging crossbow bolts from the alerted goblin guards, and then flanked by another group of goblins. The adventurers soon hit their stride, and the initial onslaught was returned tenfold upon the goblins. First one goblin and then another turned tail and ran, and tet another fleeing enemy died with a tear in their eye as Rolen forced them to contemplate the senseless violence that had encompassed their life. Galstaff and Pale Noon picked of the other goblin that turned tail and ran, and the battle was over soon after.

Only the muted sounds of the thunderstorm above them remained, and the party checked the connecting passageways. Food and drink were found pilled in crates and barrels close to the stairway to the surface. Ruhsbaar and Daelius found a locked door in a room with some sleeping mats, and unable to read a poorly written note nailed to the door they kicked the door down to find another flight of stairs leading downward into darkness. Gathering the torches and and a few improvised molotov cocktails from the raided supplies, the party decided to stay on this level and head north along the hallway that one of the goblins attempted to flee along.

Just then a muffled scream of pain came from one of three doors at the end of the hallway. Hiding the lights, Fizzwig and Vaunea were able to slide in the door unnoticed and found a wide room lit only by a raised pit of glowing coals. In the center of the room they could make out a table with a goblin strapped to it, and a massive hobgoblin standing over the table with a wicked looking knife that still glowed from the heat it had absorbed in the coals. A leather mask clung loosely to this hobgoblin's face, half covering the sickening leer as he dragged the hot knife over the torso of his victim. The rest of the party upon hearing the resulting scream charged into the room, taking the hobgoblin and the few goblin guards by surprise.

Fizzwig took advantage of the surprise and jumped behind the goblin warrior who was tending to an iron maiden nearby the door, driving his dagger deep into the goblin's side before he even looked around. Finally seeing a field devoid of his own allies, Galstaff threw a scorching burst directly at the massive hobgoblin, hitting both him and the goblin archer that the partiy's torches now revealed standing at his side. Through the small door and into the room at large, the party began shifting around, flanking the only goblin armed with a spear as well as pressuring the hobgoblin and archers well within the room. Unfortunately this put Ruhsbaar, responding to a shout from Rolen, directly in front of the open iron maiden. With a great roar the hobgoblin turned his back on the tiefling paladin and charged Ruhsbaar, lifting him clean off of his feat and slamming him onto the spikes within the iron maiden.

For the next few minutes chaos reigned within the chamber. A stray molotov cocktail thrown by Vaunea started a fire in the middle of the fighting party, even catching the torture table on fire. Companions beat mercilessly on the back of the hobgoblin as he continued to pin Ruhsbaar in the iron maiden, finally weakening him enough for Ruhsbaar to push forward and out of the cruel reach of the spikes. Another goblin warrior appeared out of a dark side corridor and attacked Vaunea's back as she was concentrating on the fighting within the room. Distinguishing friend from foe became difficult, and both Rolen and Pale Noon found themselves nicked by their allies' weapons. The chaos was perfect for Fizzwig, though, who lunged from the shadows and invisibility to deal blow after blow on unsuspecting archers.

Cries of pain echoed off of the rooms walls, and only judicious healing from Pale Noon, Rolen and Baelfius kept everyone on their feet. Just when the hobgoblin looked like he was going to collapse his armor glowed a bright red and the party's attack were easily turned aside. The effect did not last long enough to turn the battle, though, and it wasn't long before the last goblin lay on the ground. Vaunea leaned against the wall, drained from using the spirit catcher to guide her strikes. The adrenaline and healing potion that had carried Ruhsbaar through the fight began to wear off, and he sagged onto a bench nearby. Daelius looked at the goblin who lay dying from both the hobgoblin's cuts and the burns sustained from the stray moloto and saw only one option, a quick death. He executed the goblin and then knelt to say a quick prayer. The rest of the party began to pick through the corpses, paying a good bit of attention to the obviously magical armor that the hobgoblin was wearing.

Down the corridor that the last goblin warrior had appeared from a few cells were found, one containing a small goblin that spoke the Common tongue. He called himself Splug and asked the party to free him in exchange for information. He drew out a crude map on a scrap piece of leather and handed it through the bars to Rolen, and the party withdrew to the main chamber to discuss.

---

OOC
The text on the map is what Splug said when he pointed to each spot, it isn't physically written.

Here is the experience:

• 200xp for clearing the immediate area of Winterhaven, to much rejoicing

  • Vaunea, Pale Noon, Galstaff, Rolen, Baelfius, Fizzwig, Ruthsbaar, Daelius

• 85xp (675/8) for 3 goblin warriors and 3 goblin sharpshooters

  • Vaunea, Pale Noon, Galstaff, Rolen, Baelfius, Fizzwig, Ruthsbaar, Daelius

• 110xp (880/8) for goblin torturer, 2 goblin warriors, 3 goblin sharpshooters and an IRON MAIDEN

  • Vaunea, Pale Noon, Galstaff, Rolen, Baelfius, Fizzwig, Ruthsbaar, Daelius

Pertaining to the execution of the goblin:

Daelius turns his attention to the goblin that lay dying on the torture table. He wonders what the goblin must have done to deserve this sort of punishment and torture from his own people. Although he is not surprised for he has seen what the cultists of the evil gods can do firsthand and this is no different.

His thoughts wander to his childhood, to the Temple of Torm and how he was given refuge there and taught the ways of law and duty. His duty is now to the good people of Faerun and to protecting the weak. But this is a goblin and given the choice he would find a new clan to follow and cause more trouble for this world. There are two options, take days to help this goblin recover from his grievous wounds and enslave yet another creature to the will of our party, although he knows there is not even enough time to mend the goblin. The second choice however, a swift and painless death that will free him from his torture. What more could a goblin deserve.

He snaps back to the scene at hand, the rest of his companions still looking over the corpses, the room, or the armor that was found. Dealius raises his greatsword above his head and in one decisive action brings it down upon the goblin, completely separating the head from the body as it rolls softly towards the coals in the back of the room. Daelius kneels down and says a prayer to Torm, "My duty is complete this day...." He grows quieter and can barely be heard over the ruckus of the party. Until Rolen notices what has just transpired.....

Rolen Kittenstouch: Tiefling morality leaves something to be desired.

Daelius: And what do you mean by Tiefling morality? You think all us Tieflings hold to the same book of morality, we all fight with the same code of honor?

Rolen: Ah, so you are not so hard of hearing as you are of feeling. I do not say you hold to a same moral code - I wonder whether you have one at all. In our short acquaintance you have shown you care little for mercy, lied to our party about a secret meeting in town, and executed a creature that posed no threat to you or this party without word or shared counsel.

You claim the life of a paladin, you say the words, but I see no meaning behind them.

Daelius: And you seem to claim the highest moral code because you grant mercy in the form of unending service to others. I would rather die than be condemned to a life of slavery. Or do you plan on creating a society where the hobgoblins are in charge, I believe we have seen what that leads to and I know that I have. This goblin was in severe pain, he was dying and during the chaos of the fight we injured him more. Every second I held my sword idle was more pain that he must endure. We stormed into here and slayed tens of his kind without a moments notice, but this one had to live? I gave him mercy in the form of a quick death.

Do you truly think it is easy for me to slay an unarmed, wounded creature? There is no honor when one cannot defend himself, but that does not mean there is no mercy. I was kneeling and praying to Torm to give me guidance on what must be done, and to forgive me if I may have acted to brashly.

I do not merely claim life of a Paladin, Torm commands us to cut out the heart of corruption, to vanquish evil. Although he posed no threat to us immediately, there was no freedom we could grant him that would not pose a threat to other people of Faerun, who I have sworn to protect.

However, I would like to apologize to you and the rest of the party if I have seemed to do anything that betrayed you. I did not lie to the party, I went and prayed in Winterhaven and then met with the Lord because he had expressed trust in me. I did not want to startle him by mobbing him with everyone right behind me, but I had no intent of keeping anything secret and would gladly tell you anything you ask of me. This party has done little other than insult me for being a Tiefling, steal from me, and show me no hint of respect or trust. It is hard for me to seek your counsel when you do not even care what I have to say.

PaleNoon- From where I stood, a screaming goblin in the sad shape they were in posed no use to us, and only acted as a loud alarm that may draw others to our area. Attempts to cure and extract information from the tortured prisoner would take up precious time and it is unknown if it would yield results. The paladin quickly relieved the goblin of his head and in turn, bought us more time to speak to the perfectly healthy goblin in the cell. He has shown us relative layout of the keep, which means we have work ahead of us.

I believe that the prisoner is of no further use to us. I think we can leave him in his cell, since he doesn't seem too keen of warning his kind if we "promise" to release him when we leave. We could conjure a plan to use him to throw the chief and any remaining guards off their balance, but cannot ensure 'Splug's' safety, from our swords or theirs.

Was anyone able to decipher the note on the door that the monk and paladin kicked down, which apparently leads to 'Bad Place'?
Who is able to wear the hide armor and who would like to wear it?

OOC
Oh, and I am pretty sure that everyone has now hit level 2. If you can put a post in your character threads outlining the changes, that would be super helpful to me. And feel free to ask questions. Cheers!

My estimate for XP to date:

Character	Player	XP
Baelfius	orb	1288
Daelius	prettypenguin	1348
Fizzwig	Riot	1428
Galstaff	John	1428
Pale Noon	Blessing	1348
Rolen	Rachel	1428
Ruhsbaar	binary	1288
Vaunea	Bandit	1263

You have been saved from evil mathematics, this wondrous godsend has improved your relationship with Daelin.