D&D Campaign: The Seal of Akatiel Part 5.

It has been a while since my last installment on this campaign:
The party commences its trip back to the surface. They back track along the flooded tunnel, and make their way back into the entrance ante-chamber, only to find that there is water now flowing into the room from outside. A distant flicker of light can be seen coming down the entrance-tunnel, followed by a loud rumble of thunder, and although it is sheltered, everyone decides that they would rather be up near the surface than deep underground and at risk of being caught in a flood.

In single file, they make their way back up the long passage, the rocks slick with the rainwater trickling down. a few more lightning discharges and they are nearing the surface. From a recess in the wall near the entrance, Cassie steps out behind the party, and greets them, asking if they found her Dolly. Tsavong holds forth body of her sister, and the Dolly. Cassie snatches the Dolly from his grasp and cheers, and hugs him thanking him for returning it, completely ignoring the body.


The group step out of the entrance to the tunnel and are faced with a dark, windy and rainy night, the rain beats hard down upon their armour and the party start making their way back to town - Cassie on tow.


As they walk accross an open area, some movement can be seen in some bushes to the left - and it doesnt appear to be rain.


A moment later, half a dozen goblins break cover, several of them charging at the party and the others sitting back and firing their crossbows into the group. After a brief scuffle, which involves Karnezer destroying the keg of ale he has been carrying from the dungeon whilst crushing a Goblin beneath it, the party make haste and double time it to the town gates.


There is no resistance to their entrance, the guard simply greet the party from their watch posts, and let them through. A long central road runs East through the town from the gates right over to the Town hall - on either side there is a blacksmith, a general store, an tavern, a stables and a magic shop. A few smaller paths lead north and south off of this to the more residential areas. 


Cassie leads the Tsavong straight to her fathers hut in the southern, poorer part of the village. (It should be pointed out that Tsavong has a character trait where he tends to shift alignment every day at random - and today he is Lawful Good...) Whilst the rest of the party head to the tavern, Tsavong knocks on the door of a dank and sodden straw thatched hut that he is lead to, and a frail and elderly man answers the door. 


"Ucle Bailen!" Cassie yells and jumps forward to hug him.


Tsavong hands over the corpse of the other girl, and the uncle sits down in despair. He mentiones the death of his wife the previous winter, and that girls have had to endure much, but he is thankful that the body could be returned. As he goes to rummage for a reward for the party, Tsavong halts him and hands over a pouch of coins containing 400 Gold Pieces, and tells Bailen to make a better life for Cassie. Bailen is pleased at this show of generosity, and Tsavong bows and returns to the rest of the party at the inn.


After drying off by the fire and a nice mug of ale each, the party head back into the rain, to search through the shops to see what equipment they can buy. Oddly they are all open - likely due to the oppertunity to get new customers, this is a small fishing village after all - the oppertunity to sell adventurer gear and magical equipment does not come often.


A large blacksmith sits opposite the inn, and some of the more melee oriented party members go take a look and buy some upgrades off of Asadas the gnome. Some others head over to a round white hit, that has a picket fence around its garden and a couple of blooming Willow tree's in front of it. Willows magic emporium. 


Entering the shop, there are clothes racks around the floor, shelves with potions and strange items on and behind a desk filled with ornate Jewellery there stands a white haired elf who looks by human standards to be in her mid twenties. She is flanked by a couple of large metallic statues wielding maces. The party assume these to be Golems and decide it would be in their interests to behave whilst in here.


Several items are bought, and a few are ordered for Willow to craft through the night. The party then heads over to the Town Hall where a receptionist directs them through a door at the rear of the lobby where they find the Mayor, Delrick, a rotund man with a fuzzy half-beard, who is sitting at a table having a feast, shovelling handfulls of food into his mouth. He nonchalantly acknowledges the group whilst devouring a plump greasy chicken leg.


Joe waltzes up to the table and starts gnawing upon another chicken leg, smiling at Delrick, who rolls his eyes and signals for the party to sit down and help themselves, which they happily do. 


After some inquisition about an old keep that they can see in the lower hills behind the town, they find out that it is abandoned, and has been for a hundred years, and is called Mithrall keep. The mayor upon finding the party is interested in checking it out offers them some coin in exchange for an ornate sceptre that should be found somewhere in the keep.


Everyone returns to the inn for some rest, having decided they want to go inspect Mithrall keep in the morning.


During the night some commotion can be heard momentarily outside... Peeking through the window outside Dreinell and Ceinwen spot some movement down near the allotments in the poorer part of town... Goblins. More can be seen skulking over by the blacksmiths.


Everyone grabs their gear and run outside, and start attacking the Goblins. A couple of them can be seen making off with a small humanoid to the south, and Bainlen comes bursting out of his hut swinging a mace at one. The party help rescue him and he begs for them to return his daughter. A few remaining Goblins can be seen fighting with members of the town watch, but are no match.


Tsavong tracks the girls footprints through the town to the school that lies beside the Town Hall. Entering the building they see the tracks lead to a back wall where they seem to disappear. Joe manages to open a secret passageway that leads under the school and out of the town. The party follow the tracks out of the town bounds, and north, losing them momentarily at a stream but picking them back up on the other side... They clearly lead to the keep. "Two birds with one stone" the party think, and head to a pathway that cuts its way into the rocky hillside.

As the party traverse the path, Joe and Ceinwen take the higher ground to the left, staying atop the rock face whilst the rest of the party march along the path below. As they near the keep they can see that it is a bit delapidated with a few decaying sections of castellation. A large gong is placed next to the main entranceway into the keep. Ceinwen and Joe climb down the rock face and rejoin the party at the entranceway, which just happens to be open a crack.


Peeking through the gap in the open door Joe can make out several bipedal hyena like creatures crouched around a fire. Gnolls. He signals to the party who burst through the doorway and charge into the room, easily dispatching them with a combination of spells and swords.


The reception room has three doors - the left one that leads to the library, the right one that leads to a cloakroom and the one opposite the entranceway that leads to the rest of the keep. The party open this door and inspect the corridor ahead...