Upon Devious' report of strange sounds and a shimmering light, the party ventured into the remains of the ruined courtyard to investigate. As the party advanced, the whispering grew to a grating hiss, and an unmistakable glimmer of light appeared in the centre of the courtyard. The light flared, and dimmed, leaving five ghostly knights in its wake. From left to right, the knights appear as follows:

A mace hangs from the left side of the first knight, and his shield bears a red wolf. The second knight bears a long sword, with a white stag emblazoned upon his shield. The third knight holds a long spear; the shield at his feet bears golden star. The fourth knight carries a two-headed flail, and a shield with a two-headed dragon (one red, the other silver). The final knight holds a greatsword, the tip at the ground - he bears no shield. From the antique armour the knights wear, the party can see that these ghosts are ancient. Beyond this, the apparitions are too faded to discern any other significant markings.


The knightly apparitions do not respond to the questions posed by the party, other than to state the following, one knight after the other:

First knight: "The wolf guards the way."
Second knight: "The stag will guide your path."
Third knight: "The star will lead you out of the shadows."
Fourth knight: "A path of fire, a path of frost. The two must act as one."
Fifth knight: "The heart is gone. It is lost. Return the heart."

Upon making their statements, the apparitions slowly fade, and then are gone. After this event (and with a hollow stomach) the party returns to the remains of the tower to bed down for the night and contemplate the night's events.

Varg, the ever vigilent warrior, takes the first watch as the party settles in for the night. The night passes still and quiet, other than the snores of his companions. With the breaking of the dawn, the party awakens with many questions to be answered.

"How do I get myself into these things. I was just trying to find somewhere to do a little business but then in the last few days it's been strange villages with undead wandering them, suspicious locals, young men dead and covered in blood, ancient marker stones in 'still clear' clearings, funny old gnomes, starving goblins, giant insects and abandoned castles with piddling riddling ghosts. Not to mention tales of dissaperaing young folk and earthquakes."

Devious shakes his head and tries to make sense of it all.

Varg stops and looks confusedly at Devious for a moment, then says:

"I don't think there were any undead in the village, the insects were only big not 'giant', and the castle isn't abandoned since goblins lived here. And I didn't think the gnome was very funny, either. So don't worry so much. It seems most of your 'problems' are imaginary. Even the starving goblins was only an issue because the little pipsqueak had to go and stab them when I was still haggling and stuff. I think he learned his lesson on that one. So, cheer up!"

*Zey pipes up* "I did? What lesson?"

Varg glowers at Zey:

"You learned not to interrupt my carefully handled bargaining sessions with your attempts at fighting. You *did* learn that, didn't you?"

Ratheof rummages through his belongings and manages to find some dried meat and dried fruit (trail rations). With a sad look on his face he turns to his new companions.
"This is the best I have I'm afraid. Care for breakfast anyone?"

Ratheof starts chewing on some dried fruit.

ooc - Varg if you want your icon to have a clear background (rather than its current white one) here it is edited for you. (yes I am very bored at the moment :) )
http://www.purchase0.freeserve.co.uk/grognard.gif

After a nourishing breakfast of trail rations, the party returned to the large open area of the ruined keep. Searching the grounds, Mr. Devious discovered a hidden stairwell under the crumbled remains of a stone throne. After clearing away the debris, the party cautiously ventured down the stairs into the darkness.

The stairs led down to a long, narrow corridor, which the party followed to a second chamber, inhabited by two decripit zombies. With the power of her goddess Riva, Rhywdd cowed the zombies, banishing them to the far end of the room where they were quickly dispatched by the party. Within the chamber stood five knights, with five different symbols upon their shields: a wolf, a stag, a star, a two-headed dragon, and a heart. When the wolf symbol was pressed in, the statue at the far end of the room swung open revealing a hidden door into the next chamber.

The second chamber contained 4 pillars, and three bronze doors that led out of the room. Each pillar was inscribed with a different figure: a human knight; an elven warrior; a dwarven soldier; and a wolf-like humanoid. The eastern door led to a square room strewn with garbage. The western door, with the symbol of a stag marking it, led to a second square room. Mr. Devious discovered yet another stag symbol carved on the wall - pressing it, a loud click was heard, but what it signaled they have yet to determine. Searching the ceiling and all 4 walls revealed nothing. The southern door led to a third square room which contained 5 skeletons. While Rhywdd, Varg, Ratheof and Juhn engaged the skeletons, Devious ran to the eastern room, searching for another symbol or switch. Devious returned as the battled was ended, 5 piles of bones on the floor.

Putting his mace away after the last skeleton falls, Varg looks quickly around the room. "This room does not look any more promising than the others. I think we should again search the room with the stag symbol. Perhaps we missed something the first time?"

OOC: Thanks Slappy, I'll use that one from now on.




[This message has been edited by Vormaerin (edited December 24, 2001).]

Devious is busily searching the walls especially for anything similar to the button in the west room.

Devious's search (9+4=13) reveals nothing of particular interest. Other than its contents, this room is exactly like the previous two rooms.

(for Zorac)
Ratheof searches the skeletons for any clues how they
were able to move.
"Hmm, it seems some magic is present. I don't see how
else they could be moving around like that"
Ratheof holds up a thigh bone to emphasize his point.

He gives Devious a nudge. "Did you find anything?"
Ratehof helps Devious looking for anything out of the
ordinary in the southern room.

Devious - 'hmm nothing in here or so it seems. I think I'll just check through the room in the east again. I was in a bit of a hurry when I looked in there just now and there was a lot of junk lying about. Perhaps a more thorough search will reveal something.'

'If there's nothing there I suggest we spread out around the three rooms and the hall then I can press the button in the west room again and we can all listen for the click sound. Maybe in that way we can work out where the sound is coming from.'


EXTRA (as you can't double post)

OOC - just in case anyone is still reading this.

Devious - you know that Knight said something about a 'path' of fire and a 'path of frost. Well we have two paths leading to the main door. That is, if you consider those two blood channels to be paths. Those strange pipes and cylinders also remind me of something I once saw in a Blacksmith's shop. So perhaps that could make the fire and we could use those other bits of pipes to channel the fire into those funnels leading down into the 'paths' on the floor. Of course, its not much good unless there is something in the rooms to the south that can make ice. Just thinking out loud.

[This message has been edited by Slappy (edited January 07, 2002).]