Fully expecting the current denizens of the castle to be waiting for them, the party hides by the tree line and discusses their approach.
Peering at the arrow slits, they notice the shining glint of metal that betrays creatures on watch.
They decide to be careful, albeit not very subtle, and bet on a remote attack.
Kiara casts invisibility on her familiar.
Sigmar casts his spiritual weapon.
Using Kiara’s guidance, through her telepathic link with her familiar, Sigmar begins to whale on the iron door to the south – the one they used before to enter.
Sigmar’s attacks have an effect, but they’re mostly loud instead of destructive.
The door begins warp, but it’s a slow process.
Meanwhile, Dwolf decides to stealth to the northwest – trying to flank the structure from his left.
He finds himself with eye sight to the main entrance of the castle, but is spotted and attacked with arrows.
Spooked, he decides to head back to where the group is.
Before fading, Sigmar’s spiritual weapon manages to bend the door enough for the invisible cat familiar to jump in.
Inside, it sees that the hobgoblins have removed one of the inner doors from its hinges and are waiting with it as a shield.
There are three of them: two in the corridor, and one by the arrow slits of the castle’s old banquet hall.
Flustered and out of options, but the party decides to form a line and sprint to the door.
They run as a unit, Brannus at the head of the group holding his shield high for protection.
Arrow fly overhead, as they rush in, but all miss.
At the door, Sigmar takes the lead, and uses raw strength to break it down.
It does not come down immediately, but it is already fairly damaged – it does not take long.
As soon as the door breaks open, an arrow from beyond the protection of the door-turned-shield fires towards the cleric.
A battle develops in the tight quarters of that corridor, and it is every bit as frustrating as expected.
Sigmar charges in, trying to topple the hobgoblin holding the door as a shield.
The foe keeps his balance, but yields some ground as he is dragged back.
His companion behind him, a more rugged hobgoblin, barks commands as this happens.
With some space available, Dwolf and Brannus head in.
The hobgoblin in the banquet hall, by the arrow slits, is dispatched at range.
Brannus stands ready to attack anyone else that might appear beyond the hall to the west.
Sigmar continues to charge against the door-wielding hobgoblin.
With a particular violent hit, he feels himself loosing the grip on his maul, but instead of holding back he commits into the hit.
The maul slides to the floor, but with it so goes the door.
Unable to keep his balance anymore, the hobgoblin finally falls crushed by the door and Sigmar’s weight.
With the obstacle removed, the party focuses on the more grizzled hobgoblin.
He lasts for a while longer, but alone he is no match for the group.
Meanwhile, a fourth one appears from the west and is attacked by Brannus.
Dwolf deals the killing blow, with a well placed arrow.
The fight ends and the party let’s out a sigh of relief.
They are in.
Still very much aware that there are more opposition waiting for them, the party resumes their planning.
Kiara sends Nori to reconnoitre the west of the castle.
The familiar finds most doors to the west closed and sees no one, but the party assumes those rooms are manned by creatures on watch.
The door to the northernmost tower, the one heading to the shrine they had seen before, is closed and voices are heard from within.
More gear seems to have been brought in to the castle, as there are more crates of goods spread around.
Taking a page from the hobgoblins they just defeated, Sigmar takes the door to use as a shield.
They move gingerly to the north, making sure the way ahead is clear.
They walk through a heavy curtain, leading to a dim area full of rubble.
There are doors to the east and west, and another curtain to the north.
No one is around, but there are voices beyond the door to the east.
They head to the north again, knowing they will find the storage area with a hidden passage to the outside.
They walk in and find the structure must like they last saw it, apparently.
The canvas hiding the exit has been reset to its original position.
The exit door from this room to the east, is closed.
Already thinking about storming the main chamber where they found King Grol last time, the group hatches a plan.
They will fortify their position in the storage room as they rest for a bit.
They will then deal with the “voices” in the southeastern room to avoid being flanked once they attack the room they assume the leader is in.
Their resting period passes without incidents, although they do hear the sounds of footsteps in the hallways.
With Sigmar on point, wielding the door, they gather in formation to attack.
Brannus stays at the tail end, with an eye to the leader’s room.
They strike in a flash, and find themselves opposing two more hobgoblins.
Surprised, they are no match for the group, and are dispatched swiftly.
Satisfied that their position is reinforced, they move to repeat the assault on the large eastern room.
Movement can be heard from beyond the door to the east room, but it is very faint.
The party assumes positions again, ready to storm the room in a flash.
With Sigmar still holding the wood door as a shield, they charge.
As they open it and move in, they notice three creatures inside.
One to the north, lets fly an arrow that hits Sigmar’s door-shield.
The other two are barricaded behind more crates.
One of them is an imposing figure, a clearly older hobgoblin with a commanding presence.
The fight evolves will Sigmar taking the brunt of the attacks.
The hobgoblins move in to melee range and he is brutally attacked.
Dwolf heads inside and finishes one of the hobgoblins.
Kiara tries her best at range.
Brannus calls upon the might of Pelor to try and demoralize their opponents.
As the hobgoblin captain draws his greatsword and moves on him, Sigmar is overwhelmed and falls from his wounds.
And when things seem to be turning to the worst, Kiara and Dwolf have a flash of understanding.
As Dwolf attacks one of the hobgoblins in melee, Kiara feels their connection strengthen.
They become aware of a second sight that gives them battle advantage while one of them is in melee and the other at range.
The remaining foot soldier is hurt by Kiara’s eldritch invocations.
Inspired, Dwolf turns on the captain and strikes him with a critical hit.
The warrior is taken aback by the fierceness of this strike.
Now gravely wounded and outnumbered, the captain surrenders instead of fighting to the death.
With a call for truce, the fighting stops.
At death’s door, Sigmar is rescued by Brannus.
Bound and sitting by the supply crates used as barricades, the hobgoblin captain is at the party’s mercy.
His name is Targor Bloodsword, and he is apparently done with whatever arrangement he had agreed too.
Under his command, this war band had come from the south in search of potential allies.
An alliance for what, the captain did not say and vowed to die before talking about it.
He had no reservations, however, in talking about his current situation.
The captain mentions a name – Nezznar – as the one whom he had dealt with.
In return to the war band’s help maintaining supply lines, this Nezznar would help them in return.
The supplies were none other than the viciously mutated goblins the party has encountered before.
Their point of origin is nearby and it was the hobgoblins mission to make sure they reached from there to the castle, unimpeded.
To the north, following a woodland path beyond Cragmaw castle, lies the source of the unnatural creatures.
They seem to be the work of a wizard.
A human wizard.
A human wizard that wields… a glass staff.
Sensing that the captain is an honorable person, the party tries to reason with him.
They hope to sway him, but it is in vain.
Targor declares his involvement in this affair terminated.
He lost too much, and gained nothing.
If the party wishes to leave, they can do so by the exit to the south and they will suffer no opposition.
But if the group strikes him down, he makes no assurances on the party’s further safety.
The Draconus Dictum
