1 Arodus

Now duly appointed by the council, the group reconvened outside the council chambers.  Aemi sent her bird ahead to look over the keep, while we went to the bookstore where Calmont is (was?) employed, to see what we could learn there about our little arsonist.  The owner, Voz Lirayne, seemed a little reluctant to talk about her assistant and yet openly disagreeable at the same time.   While the others talked, I went around the shop quietly utilizing detect magic to see how many of these books were more than mundane. It turns out that there were a surprising number, but Voz noticed and took offense at my learning that.  I was quietly unsympathetic; after all, her assistant had clearly used magic and it was not out of line to see if that magic may have come from the store.  In fact, Aemi said as much out loud and suggested if he had an area of his own, we should learn what we can from looking over his space.

Really, while not outright hostile, Ms Lirayne was the most disagreeable citizen we had met.

Liberté suggested in a manner of politely requesting but with overtones of menace that it was not unreasonable for us to see Calmont’s space, and Ms Lirayne unexpectedly agreed.  But in his very small space, the halfling had left only a confused journal or notebook of sorts from which we could only discern he’d concluded he needed to end something and “find the ring”.

After the surprise inspection, Ms Lorayne returned to her frosty tones and suggested we could now move along.

Aemi’s bird had returned and chittered (or sang or spoke or whatever it does) that in addition to the expected dilapidated door at the entrance, there were 4 or 5 places where the walls of the keep had crumbled in disrepair and could also be used to gain entry.  It was suggested that the only people who entered through the front door were those who wanted to get hurt.  After all, that’s where there would normally be a doorman or even a guard who might object to our presence.  I have to admit, I never thought of it that way, but where we are suspecting something is amiss, that does seem like a sound observation.

So we approached an opening on the south wall and after moving a stone here and there, gained entry.

This breach opened into what appeared to be a training room, with dusty training dummies strewn about.  Some of them, we discovered, had a few silver coins in them (for luck).  We collected the luck, since we’d probably be needing it.

Gath found a secret door that led to a secret room that – oops – had a secret pressure plate that shot a secret spear at Gath, secretly making him bleed a bunch of secret blood. Aemi was able to cast cure light wounds to patch him up (surprising, since she’s not a cleric, hmm).  In that secret room we found a lockbox, a silver longsword, and a training manual for Hellknights (as well as a lot of other deteriorating things).  Nobody could open the lockbox, which makes it all the more attractive, of course.  Gath took the sword for now.

Returning to the training room, Gath listened at the western door and behind it, he seemed to hear the sounds of battle and/or talking.  We burst in to find a person dressed as a Hellknight fighting an imp.  We jumped in to help, and Kyira took some poison from its tail but we finished it off.  Then another appeared and the battle was on again.  Liberté called to Gath to use the silver sword, and it seemed to inflict much more damage.  Silver and imps.  Have to remember that.