Andrew ApFittle

"Where the hell were you?" demanded Baru as he glared at the small halfling.  "I can't see in the dark.  Did you want a fireball flung randomly into the area?" replied Arvien.  Ralom meanwhile was doling out more healing as the party had several members in serious condition.

Seglun started searching the mercenary bodies for keys to the cells.  Ralom started to look in each cell for ApFittle prisoners.  Only one person was found int he cells, he had been tortured was gaunt and filthy.  Ralom learned that this was Andrew ApFittle, who had been imprisoned here for several years.  He was of course unarmored, weaponless and badly debilitated by his captivity.  Seglun found keys and opened the door to the cell.  Ralom entered and healed some of the lasting damage that had been inflicted on Andrew.
Baru could see the familiar aura of lawful good surrounding Andrew and welcomed him as an equal.  The party provided sustenance with food and water for the former prisoner.  He explained that he had been held prisoner here since Marc ApBlanc had defeated the last of Andrew's men in battle.  Birnam was left in ruins and he had despaired ever finding his way out of Castle Tristenoira.  His plan was to escape and find the remnants of the ApFittles to attack the castle.  The party was willing to find a way out for the leader, so they headed back to the tower and up to the first floor wondering where the exit was in whatever time they were in.
Into the foyer they headed where the ramp to the Barbican was not yet built apparently.  Grunyar pointed to the door that led into the innards of the curtain wall and the secret door that led to the courtyard.  Unfortunately the group found the entry tower to be blocked by a portcullis on the inside and outside with a mercenary in the tower.  Drovic changed into a weasel and sneaked into the tower where two doors led east and northwest but he found no mechanism for the portcullis.  Keeping between the guard and the doors he called for the plants to entangle the guard.  This met with abject failure as the guard called out for backup.  The two closed doors opened as several other mercenaries heeded the call.
Meanwhile Seglun started to scale the curtain wall all the way to the open parapet on the 4th level.  The only door led into the top level of the entry tower which held bows and arrows with arrow slits over the entry roadway.  So Seglun tied a rope to the crenelations and called for Andrew to clamber up and over.  Andrew climbed up and with a wave to the party climbed down and headed for the woodland toward Birnam.
Drovic had entered the wall through the east door, which led to a spiral stairwell that led to the second and third floors.  The second floor had no access to the tower while on the third floor a door led into the tower but after peering under the door and seeing a desiccated corpse strapped to a table, with shelves of beakers, jars, bones and various creatures, he retreated.
With Andrew safely out of the castle the group headed back through the pouring rain to the main keep.  Suddenly a incorporeal figure came running through the castle walls holding a bundle.  She headed straight to the oak tree but stopped and again thrust the bundle to Arvien "Please! Hide my child!  They mena to kill--"  She glanced around as the sound of an approaching mob intensified.  "They're coming for me!  she continued.  "For the love of the gods, Rual, save my child!"  A ghostly noose appeared, slipped over her head and violently yanked her off her feet.
As Arvien looked at the baby in the bundle and Ralom moved toward the oak to try and cut down the rope, the swaying body's eyes snapped open and fixed Ralom.  A strangled voice whispered "If there be pity in your hearts, then in my name plant a sapling in the sacred grove upon a holy day, and set right what was wronged!"  Then the body, the baby and the mob evaporated.
"Here we go again," said Arvien.  "Drovic, what are the holy days?" he queried.  Drovic shook his head and retorted that in this land he did not have any clue to what days were considered holy.  As it was getting late and wet the group headed for the Guest room they had occupied once before on the third floor of the keep.
As the party approached the room they suddenly found themselves standing amid tumbled masonry and an overgrown courtyard; only a few jagged pieces of castle wall remained.  The sky was ominously dark, lightning crackled in the distance, and a heavy rain fell.  Looking around each party member could see their fellows heroes looked insubstantial, but with all their clothes and equipment.  Worse though, there were skeletal remains at their feet, exactly matching their size and shapes.
A bedraggled-looking figure stepped from behind the remains of a wall. Dressed in a plain brown kilt and sodden cloak, the man was barefoot and gaunt.  His long, unkempt red hair revealed a possible Druid of Forlorn.  He pointed a bony finger and spoke.
"You!  You are the cause of what you see here!  The castle is in ruins and the evil lord is free.  For centuries his curse held him, but you meddled in things you did not understand.
"I am the last of my order-- the only one who keeps alive the worship of Belenus and Daghdha.  But one man alone cannot restore the balance of the land.  No, the scale is tipped, and evil now completely outweighs the good.
"There in only one hope of setting things right.  They say that, in this part of the land, time bends and twists upon itself in strange and mysterious ways.  If you spirits of the dead can turn back time, then I beg, nay, demand that you undo what you have done!"
The heroes found themselves back in the keep approaching the guest room.  Arvien opened the door and saw a female sitting on the bed studying a book.  The figure looked up and asked what kind of creature Arvien was.  "I am a Proudfoot."  came Arvien's reply.  The figure pondered for a moment, "Maybe its blood can resurrect he."  Arvien shut the door as the figure started to move towards it.  The group headed back to the south tower apace and headed up the spiral staircase to the next level, a room filled with racks of weapons, barrels of oil, stacks of torches and heavy cauldrons.  The hardwood floor was badly scuffed and the walls held faded murals of kilted dancers leaping over crossed swords.  To the west was a room with rough tables and benches.  Cloaks hung on a peg board.  A stairway led down in the south, a door headed out to the curtain wall on the west and a hallway headed north.  The party retreated to the tower, blocked the door with a table and set Varrid to watch the staircase, which was blocked with a door going up, and they settled down for a rest.
In the middle of the night the Varrid heard a ghastly voice from outside the door "Brangain, Brangain" the voice repeated over and over.  Several party members found themselves so unnerved by the ghastly voice that they had nightmares and did not rest peacefully. 
In the morning Varrid failed to open the door in the spiral staircase headed up so the group headed out to the main keep and north where they found several locked doors.  Varrid opened the first door which led to a room covered with a thick layer of dust.  A four poster bed dominated the room, in addition there was a wardrobe with a gilt-framed mirror, a wash-stand, an overstuffed arm chair, and a desk upon which sat a mortar and pestle and small pouches of herbs,.  Inside the wardrobe hung white shirts and long dark dresses.  The bed was neatly made but the dressers drawers had been pulled out and their contents spilled onto the floor.  Something had been chipped off the walls as colored chunks of stone lay on the floor.  In the desk Ralom found a necklace of prayer beads.  The next locked door led to a chamber with a child's bed, a chest, a play table and chairs and a small wardrobe.  Plates crusted with remains of meals sat on the table.  On the floor beside the table was a silver dog dish, also crusted with old food.  Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, the wardrobe filled with the clothes of a boy was choked with cobwebs.  The wall of the room were painted in a mural depicting dogs of every description in natural colors.  One dog was a multicolored terrier who wore a golden bell around his neck.  The next door was unlocked and led to a washroom painted in bright colors with basic facilities including a shelf with a ceramic bowl and a pitcher in the shape of a dog.
The next locked door led to a chamber thick with dust and cobwebs, with a four-poster bed, a wardrobe, a weapons rack (holding to rusty spears and a bow), a table, and two chairs.  There was a long dark stain on the rug beside the bed.  The bedclothes were rumpled and the table and chairs overturned as if someone had left in a great hurry.  In the room was a young man with long hair missing his lower body from which entrails sagged.  "Put forth your champion!  I will fight him to the death!" the incorporeal figure stated.  The party stood still not responding nor did Baru move forward.  After a short time the figure said "Cowards!  I damn you all to hell."  The ghostly figure moved out through the walls, leaving a piece of paper with a small shard of metal.

 Into the north tower was the groups next move, a room filled with brightly colored blocks, rocking horses, wooden swords and shields, kilted dolls, and other childhood toys.  A thick layer of dust covered all and a spiral staircase led up and down.  The party headed upwards to a room that contained soft couches, a few low tables and frames on which half-finished embroideries were stretched.  On depicted a woman in a woodland setting, removing a thorn from a wolf's paw.  There was a door to the west and the spiral staircase led up.  Up again to the next level an unfinished room covered in dust.  A mural on the walls was never taken further than the first few brush strokes, but the chalk lines on the wall showed what was to be painted.  A woman clutching an amulet at her neck, bending over the bed of a sick person.  Drovic opened a door to the east which led to a crenelated balcony that encircled the tower.  The south tower also had a crenelated balcony which one could step over to if need be.
Heading up once more the group entered a room furnished with comfortable beds and warmed by braziers.  There were armchairs and footstools in each of two round turrets.  The south wall was dominated by a huge cabinet with several locked drawers.  Each drawer was labeled with a brass plaque.  Varrid managed to unlock the drawers with potions of cure light wounds, cure moderate wound and cure serious wounds.  Other drawers held herbs, minerals, animal parts, flowers and oils used in the treatment of illness.  The staircase led up to a trap door in the ceiling.
The room above was well illuminated by windows and skylights in the ceiling where a blue sky was seen.  The chamber was filled with plants, flowers and herbs of every description.  Drovic knew that most were grown for medicinal purposes.  Ralom suggested retreating two levels to enter the keep once again.  When the group entered the hallway on level six, they were met by a servant girl who suggested they find the Minstrel on the floor below.  Then she moved down a side hall.  Ralom opened a couple of doors which led to small rooms that contained cots, a table and simple wardrobes.  Out the windows was sunshine and no curtain wall.

DM's Notes: No XP were earned for this night.