Into the Depths of Cauldron Keep

July 18 to July 19, 3430, Age of Kings

(DM's note: quite some time has past since we played these games, and this is two sessions combined, so I'll be keeping it short)

 Once everyone manage to get inside the sentry tower, they found a lone guard eating a bowl of pottage down below, unaware of the party. The group was also aware of a guard patrolling the top of the tower, as well as at least two more walking the walls.

Quietly descending the stairs, Grabby unsheathed his sword and Mr. Shiney, once he was half way down the stairs, he quietly mounted the banister and leapt off, landing on the guard below—sword first, killing him instantly. The rest of the group move down to meet him and found a single way out: a locked door. After several attempts to pick the lock, Grabby abandoned the task as they thought of another way to move around the keep unnoticed.

A guard entered above from the wall, calling out to the now dead guard, to tell him his shift was to begin (it had just turned midnight). As the guard came down to see why his ally wasn't responding he was quickly dispatched by arrows and bolts.

The party decided to have an illusion created to fool the guard on the roof of the tower, but as Grabby's spell was quite limited, and he had no line of sight to where the guard was (and Boots tried to mimic the guard's voice) things didn't go as well as planned as the guard called out for another guard to enter the tower.

Eventually two more guards entered the tower and the party attacked them from the floor level, but unable to kill them, the guards fled and raised an alarm.

Now that the keep was alerted to their presence stealth wasn't much of a concern, so Audrey picked the lock on the door with a sledge hammer.

The group ran down a dark staircase to first level below the keep. They entered a well stocked kitchen and servery and tried to barricade the door behind them.

Quickly moving into a hallway they came across three closed doors, the sounds of sleeping men could be heard on the other side of each. Accidentally waking the guards by opening a squeaky door, the party engaged the drowsy, and ill-equipped guards, killing them with little difficulty.

 (DM's note: the following is from the next week, when Boots' player wasn't available)

Moving down another hall they came to a room that was a dead end and housed some tables, chairs and decks of cards—sort of a gambling den for the guards.

Before the could backtrack, the sound of several footsteps were heard coming their way. Quickly peeking around the corner, a large group of guards was coming towards them. When the guards realized where the party was, they called out to them to surrender, informing them they were greatly outnumbered.

Naturally, a battle ensued, with the party hanging back in hopes of bottle-necking the guards, with Grabby and Ander hanging back to provide covering fire, while Audrey, Broak and Lorentz engaged them hand-to-hand, and Brother Shamus healed the wounded. (At one point Ander accidentally shot Broak with an arrow, and Grabby tried to duck and weave between Lorentz's legs, only to trip him up).