The Assault on Broken Spire Keep
Arc 3.
Leander missing
The party camped to meet Leander. He never showed. They pressed on anyway and were joined by Oleanne in the Spiderfell.
The battle
After scouting, the party assaulted Broken Spire Keep. Zarah fell into a pit trap during the charge. What followed was a long fight against orcs, bandits, zombies and an evil priest — Markus, a priest of Asmodeus — who fled into the dungeons and vanished.
What was in the keep
- Leander, alive, in the cells
- A shrine to Asmodeus in the dungeons
- A secret treasure room
- A hidden door to the Underdark
First foray below
They went in, of course. Several days of travel brought them to goblins, a stone double door requiring two keys, and a sleeping Deep Dragon — which they woke, and then very wisely ran away from.
They came back up to the keep to regroup.
Back under, and the first womp womp
Leander and Booger left for Fallcrest, Booger storing half the party's loot at Thistle's shop. Oleanne stayed to guard the keep.
The party found the path Markus had used to escape into the Spiderfell, fought spider-riding goblins along it, then went back down.
They ran into a band of Brokenskull Orcs and an ogre, claimed to be slavers, and agreed to accompany them to their tribe. The orcs staged a night ambush; Zarah spotted it in time and the party won, taking a prisoner for questioning.
Before they could interrogate him, the sound came. A hum inside everyone's skull. Agatha, Jocelin and the orc all dropped into a trance. The party killed the orc as a precaution and hid inside Sharwyn's Rope Trick until it passed.
This is the first appearance of the womp womp, and the party had no idea what had just happened to them.
Return to Fallcrest
At the keep, Oleanne reported goblins and spiders scouting the area — no attack yet, but a promise of one. The party rode for Fallcrest and arrived late at night.
At the chapterhouse, Banner told them the sound had hit Fallcrest too, leaving part of the population catatonic. The Lord Warden had increased patrols. The Septarch was investigating.
- Voren the Green traced the source to the Underdark, far deeper than the party had been. He took the Golden Apple from Kvothe in exchange for spells.
- Leander offered to cast Hallow on the shrine to Asmodeus if the party gathered the components, then left for Nenlast, promising to return.
- Jocelin, wanting better armour, bought enchanted plate from Thistle at a discount. The armour permanently changed her gender to female. She took it in stride and never made a fuss about it again.
Next: back to Harken, for something of Jaylin's the Septarch could scry on.