Seglun and Grunyar rushed under the portcullis into the Barbican. Turning to head up the ramp into the castle they immediately found Goblyns in the the way. Suddenly the outside portcullis squawked and rattled down separating the party into two groups. A volley of arrows rained down from the second floor of the Barbican into the remaining party outside the portcullis.
Arvien called for everyone outside to come and join hands with her. The remaining party members complied but before she could Dimension Door inside another volley of arrows came down on the party's heads. Inside Seglun and Grunyar were dealing with several Goblyns, one of which started feasting on Seglun's face. Just as the remaining Goblyns stepped up facing Seglun and Grunyar, Arvien and the party appeared in the Guard post. Varrid was none too happy as she was beside two Goblyns with no means of real escape, "Arvien, if you ever bring me into this situation again, I'll be more than unhappy!" she uttered. Then several Goblyns on the ramp fired arrows into the Arvien group. Ralom cast a haste and then a bless, while Baru attacked, Drovic cast flaming sphere and Arvien trying to appease Varrid cast Improved Invisibility on her.
With that Varrid started attacking with gusto and through the efforts of all the party the Goblyns started to dwindle. Grunyar was not surprised when the door behind him flew open and arrows hit him from behind. The archers were joining the battle. Baru, Drovic and Arvien were handling the Goblyns on the ramp. Grunyar, Seglun and Varrid turned to face the enemy coming down from the second floor while Ralom attacked at distance with his spear.
The battle swiftly turned to the heroes benefit and soon all the Goblyns lay dead on the floor of the Barbican. After some swift healing the party headed up the ramp, where they found the drawbridge reduced to a single wooden plank, Seglun attempted to cross it but kept falling off the plank and almost strangling herself on the stay rope she wore. Varrid moved forward and crossed to the doors with no problem. She then pushed one door ajar, peeked in, and seeing no further enemies, entered the foyer and tied the rope off. The rest of the party headed across with the guide rope as help. Ralom recalled that a door led into the curtain wall passage which had a secret door into the courtyard. Trying to be stealthy the party entered the courtyard and began searching for saplings. They kept a lookout for Goblyns and wolves as they searched around the oak tree. No saplings were evident but there was obvious evidence of plants having been yanked out of the ground around the tree. Ralom moved toward the ramshackle wooden building build adjoining the curtain wall. Its construction was poor but the stout walls were also showing signs of disrepair as cracks ran up and down the walls and even the keep. Portions of the wall were on the verge of crumbling. Arvien was intent on finding the compost heap where the "weeds" had been discarded. As Grunyar searched right under the oak tree, a group of Goblyns made their way into the front door of the keep and disappeared from view. Ralom looked into the window of the wooden structure, seeing a pile of rags and some broken sticks of furniture on the floor. He decided to use a door to enter the room. Inside was a decaying smell and another door to the south. Seglun joined him and Arvien, who had hit the ground as the Goblyns strode past, army crawled over to join them in the structure. Opening the door they group was hit by a foul odor coming from a pile of decaying corpses. Flies buzzed over the pile of animal and human bones along with the corpses. Another door led to another area with a pile of rags and broken furniture. A rickety wooden ladder led up to a hole in the ceiling. Seglun clambered up the ladder.
Meanwhile Drovic and Varrid had moved toward another wooden building inside the walls on the west. A Goblyn left that building and headed to another structure farther to the north. Grunyar joined them as they approached the first smaller building. He pulled his cloak up over his head and entered the room as if he belonged. Inside was torch lit room dominated by a forge on the west wall, flanked by a large dunking tank. The room was filled with blacksmith's tools and a Goblyn was idly working on some piece of wrought iron. The floor was littered with crudely made pieces of wrought iron. They seem to be tools of torture. Grunyar headed up a stairwell that led to a loft above where he found an iron maiden and a number of pieces of wrought iron scrap. Seeing no saplings he headed back out to meet Drovic and Varrid.
Seglun stuck her head up into a hallway, which turned out to be of a U shape, with doors in the north and south. When she investigated the doors she found an out U shaped hallway with a number of arrow slits in its outer walls. This left an empty room area in the middle of the U. Finding a secret door the group slipped into a treasure room with an untidy heap on the floor. There were sliver serving trays that had been crudely fitted with handles for use as shields? Other items included bags of marbles, household ornaments (mostly chipped or broken), two opals and several pieces of jewelry, gold rings, a brass brooch, broken silver mirror, three silver shoe buckles and a string of pearls. Seglun stored the jewelry in her Haversack for the party. The group headed out and found Baru on the first floor but when they moved back toward the oak they rest of the party was missing.
Eventually the two groups found one another just as some Goblyns reeling and stumbling exited the larger building to the north and headed toward the keep. They were laughing(?) and swearing as they made there way. Baru led a swift charge on the small contingent and the party dispatched them with little effort as it was clear they were drunk on some kind of liquor.
As the party approached the final wooden structure they heard the roar of a crowd, yelling encouragement(?) and insults coming from inside. The first door they entered exposed a room lit by crude torches and a strange table whose top held a series of rough niches. Inside each depression were colored marbles and small toys. On a stool behind the table sat a Goblyn chalking symbols on the wall. The other walls were filled with poorly made metal cages. The locks of some were broken and in two of the cages were small utterly black cat creatures. The Goblyn was quickly dealt with and Seglun talked with the cats who identified themselves as Gremishkas. These were lesser cousins of the creatures the group had fought in Birnam. They were anxious to leave as they didn't want to become part of the fight in the pit next door. Seglun smashed the locks and the cats fled the building. Baru stormed the only door out of this room and came upon a room which featured a shallow round pit surrounded by a low fence of wrought iron. The floor of the pit held several dark stains and two gremishkas tearing at each other. Surrounding the fence were a group of Goblyns encouraging or swearing at the cats. They were totally caught off guard by the heroes who laid them to rest. Grunyar headed up a staircase which led to a viewing loft above where boxes and buckets had been overturned and used for seats to watch the cat fights. The two Goblyns in this area fell of the seats in a stupor and were killed easily. The party investigated the final room on the second floor which was filled with rough looking clay pots in which a sour smelling mess was fermenting. Portions of the thatch roof had fallen in covering some pine needles and rotten fruit. Still no saplings and Varrid was becoming worried about the party's chances to overthrow Tristen/Marc/Minstrel.
Out the north door the group was at the north end of the courtyard where a long narrow area, one story high with a partially collapsed roof faced them. The cobblestone path split and ended at two sets of double doors. Inside the group found six stalls along the north wall, where the last remains of rotting hay were strewn about. Masonry from the castle had torn a hole in the ceiling and crushed part of a carriage stored here. Headed back out from the stables Ralom noted a covered passage on the west side of the second keep, leading up from the ground floor to the third floor. Seglun moved around to find a door into this passage which was a stairway headed up.
DM's Notes: The party earned 2,285 XP for the many Goblyns killed in the Castle. They now have 61, 384 XP and need 15,616 additional XP to reach 8th level.
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