A ruined monument to folly and ego, the Shadowed Keep stands atop an isolated bluff deep in a mist‐wreathed forest. Sacked by
marauding goblins decades ago the place was thought abandoned, but shadows now creep among the forest's great boles and footprints
have appeared on the single, overgrown track leading to the keep. Travellers have begun to disappear with alarming regularity from the
nearby road and the local folk fear some slumbering evil has claimed the ruin as its own.
The story begins with four newly-minted adventurers, two pairs of elven siblings, coming to investigate the decrepit tower that their elders have ordered them to avoid. Until now.
"You have heard of the Folly? The tower built by the human amongst the goblins and orcs, only to fall when they became organized? We thought to see if the tales were true or just more stories to scare the children."
"We have come because the forest beckons us here. Well, that is my reason. My brother comes because I could not be dissuaded from my travels"
"Is this that place? My sister speaks true. I am here because we are a team and the forest seemingly needed her here. We had heard rumors of possible evildoing here but did not know this is where her path would lead."
"It is not far. Some human adventurer decided to build a keep so he could retire with his family. Unfortunately, even the stupidest goblin can occasionally find cause to work as part of a team. Seems the goblins of the Bad Moon actually forged an alliance with the orcs of the Broken Arm and they invaded the tower and killed the man, his family, and his allies."
"For humans, this is all ancient history because it happened decades ago, but we remember. We elves did not come to the man's aid because he never asked for it. He was quite successful, actually, destroying one of the goblin tribes utterly. He should not have stopped, however - his unfinished business led to his demise."
"Rhasa and I have talked about exploring the tower for years, but the elders have always refused to give us permission." With a smile, he adds, "We are old enough now to make our own decisions, whether they like it or not."
Speaking in a very soft voice, the girl speaks up, "It was in the midsummer thirty-five years ago that Valentin and his followers were slain. My brother doesn't worry about details overmuch - it was the goblins of the Blood Moon and the orcs of the Severed Hand. The battle nearly destroyed the victors, too - they basically disappeared afterward due to their diminished numbers."
"It is good to see you again after so many years. Would you be willing to join us on our little adventure? When last we spoke, you both were going to study the teaching of our Lady of the Natural World. If you have skill in healing, your talents would be welcome if we run into trouble."
"There have been tales for years of adventures disappearing when they explore the tower, but those that stayed away were safe. Now people speak of an unknown threat that attacks travelers in the region. Our elders have granted us the boon of trying to identify this new danger and see if it is a threat to our hidden villages."
"We will happily assist you but you should be warned that our paths have... diverged from what we originally planned." She shares a small smile with her brother. "The lady has blessed, or cursed if you are coming from my brother's point of view, with a slightly different ability than originally planned. I do her bidding and she has led me here so I will take is as a sign that this is what she wants from us.
"Yes sister, cursed is the word I would use to describe it but then again, she did lead me down a different path also. In the training that I had, I learned that the path of protecting the forest would come down a different road. Now, I am a sword arm of the Lady and I trust in my sister's guidance. Do we have any details as to who might be... inhabiting this Keep?"
With a shrug, "Perhaps human bandits as they have been seen in the area. Or perhaps the goblins are enjoying a resurgence."
He turns and glares in the direction of this Keep. "Well we are here to serve Ehlonna and we will always protect our forest. What are our first moves? Do you have a plan?"
"Our elders want us to explore the area, but stay away from the tower unless we have a reason to approach." With a little smile, "We thought to find a point to observe the tower and wait for our reason to appear. It shouldn't be far - it overlooks the valley from the bluff ahead."
"We know little other than the location. Observation seems wise, but if you have another suggestion, please share it. There is a big difference between the two of us investigating vs. four of us investigating. The old plan is really not applicable any more."
"I think that observation is usually a good decision to begin with. Maybe we can go across some of the paths around it to see if we can recognize the footprints of whatever creature might be inhabiting this keep. We could also split up if we deem it wise to observe more than one point."
Nodding, "A good choice. Thus far, we have seen tracks of animials and a few footprints that we were unable to identify. We came from the east, however - I believe the path to the keep comes around from the west."
Glancing at his sister, "I think for now sister, that sticking together is a much better plan. I do agree that we should swing around and take a look at the perimeter and see if we can... be prompted... to approach.." winks at Rhasadinar "Let us move"
"Let's continue, then, quietly." He takes the lead, handing his shield to his sister before moving onto a barely-visible game trail.
His sister carries the heavy wooden shield loosely, ready to drop it if necessary, and keeps her distance to avoid giving him away as he scouts ahead.
"Do you wish to follow me Talleledar while your brother watches our collective backs?"
As you move along the animal trail, you see occasional sign of local fauna including wolf tracks and, once, tracks of something larger. Probably a bear of some sort.
Yes, definitely a bear. And a large one, at that. You are all familiar enough with ursine behavior to realize that a bear is not automatically a threat, but it is definitely worthy of respect.
Shortly before the tower comes into view, you spot a quarrel from a crossbow sticking out of a tree trunk. It has been here long enough that it appears slightly weathered and came from the direction in which you travel. Elves don't generally use crossbows, but you are pretty sure this bolt was made by human hands.
Finally, you come to the edge of an area where the larger trees were cut down many years ago. It appears that it was left to grow wild in the intervening years, but has yet to produce the larger trees that you have been walking among. Smaller trees - less than the size of your leg, for example, and brush predominate.
Beyond this area of regrowth, you get your first view of the keep. Crenelated outer walls surround a building and, you presume, a courtyard. In the near right corner of the walls, a watchtower extends toward the sky. All is quiet.
It is roughly noon.
(stealth is fine)
Talaledar and Lalandar start glancing very hard at the building, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
The keep is obviously a ruin and the years have not been kind to it, but much of the structure appears to be intact.
Whispering, "It was never completed. See? There is no gatehouse and no crenelations on the building within. Maybe it was supposed to be even taller before construction was stalled."
The keep has what appears to be a stout crenelated wall surrounding a courtyard. There is a gate in the middle of the wall facing you. A single tower sits at the corner of the wall to the right of the gate. Within the wall, you can see a building that extends several feet above the wall - as Rhasadinar points out, it does appear to be incomplete.
You can see what once might have been a road coming in from your left and leading up to the gate.
Once your quartet stops moving and settles in to watch, the normal noise of the forest gradually return to normal and you can see birds and small animals moving within the brush. Nothing else stirs for the first hour you watch and no sound issues forth from the keep.
"I'm wary. If this was someones house and they were obviously worried, we need to be careful for possible traps here on the outskirts. I mean, obviously someone had mown this area down at once and they probably had some outer defenses. It would possibly explain the crossbow bolt in the tree."
With a frown, Rhasadinar considers Lalandar's words. "The bolt doesn't appear to be old enough to be related to the keep's original defenses. It's been decades since it fell to the goblins and orcs, if the tales are true. I think someone more recent is responsible for that missile - and it doesn't look like goblin work to me."
"Yes, sister, but I'm sure the reduced vegetation is related to the original keep's construction and defenses. I doubt that they had anything significant outside the walls, though. If there are traps to be wary of, they are of more recent manufacture. Which likely makes them more dangerous than something left unfound for dozens of years."
"How were you to planning on proceeding before Our Lady put us together?"
Rhasadinar glances furtively at her brother and gives a little smile.
"Well, we've wanted to come see the ruin for so long that when they asked for a team to check it out, we volunteered first, thought second. No one was interested in coming with us and I am not really a warrior, so stealth was really the plan. But we were hoping to sneak into the keep and not just watch it from out here. Once we had an idea of what was in the area."
The male Dancingbrook snorts quietly, "Yes, stealth. Which is fine until I ask my sister to move quietly with all her gear. I can fight and I can sneak. We together, not really."
"I see no reason to abandon the original idea, honestly. Another blade," gesturing to Lalandar's, "and more eyes and ears will help us greatly. No one is asking us to clear out the keep, just determine what's going on here."
"Of course, if we can improve travel in the area by getting rid of some bandits or goblins or something like that, we might get some sort of reward from the humans nearby. And maybe they will stop treating us like children back home."
"Then let us try and move closer.. see what decides to make itself apparent to us."
"If you say so brother, I will follow your lead. You all must realize though that my perception in the daylight is much weaker than you probably expected."
Tyhal visibly cringes at the racket made by the near-sighted priest, but finds that he's no more satisfied with his own movement.
Rhasadinar grins at her brother's frustration and even more at his clumsiness, especially when she matches him step for step.
The party moves from tree to tree and shadow to shadow carefully and finally find themselves pressed to the outer wall of the keep, two on either side of the gate.
No challenge is heard as they approach and no movement is seen within. It is pretty clear that someone or something has been using the gate based on the tracks even a novice can see.
As they approach the gate, the priest tries to use her sight to see anything out of the ordinary. "I can't believe there are no guards around."
Lalandar starts with a glance for guards before taking a closer look at the tracks. "I agree sister, there should be something here if the trouble is indeed housing in this place."
No creatures are in evidence other than a few birds overhead. However, Lalandar can tell that the tracks indicate a three or four human-sized booted feet passing back and forth through the gate several times. The most recent of those tracks appear to be in the last couple of days, going in.
What's more, he can see a variety of smaller tracks, some booted and some not, that go back and forth. The most recent also appear to be in the last couple of days.
The larger tracks seem to use the wall as cover before entering the gate and keep to the right side as they pass through. The smaller tracks move hesitantly - perhaps being stealthy - but they go right down the middle of the cart path and the middle of the opening in the wall.
"I think there might be a trap inside the gate. Then racks seem to keep to the right when entering. Maybe we should follow their style, to either blend in or avoid whatever tricks might be towards the gate. "
Tyhal nods, checks to see if his sister is ready, and moves forward, keeping to the right and watching for traps or guards.
Reaching the muddy courtyard within the strong, if neglected, walls, you see charred and moss-covered ruins of wooden buildings along the north and east walls of the keep. These could have been stables, perhaps.
The rest of the north wall and most of the west wall is occupied by the large unfinished building that was visible from outside. An L-shaped structure, a pair of double doors are the only visible entry. They are located near where the walls on the inside of the L join, on the west wall.
In the southeast corner of the courtyard is the tower you noticed earlier. A single door is visible at the base.
"It appears that we have two different paths. The smaller units heard toward the L while the bigger footprints head towards the main tower. Assuming the tower heads down below, I'd be more willing to take the L first to try and prevent anything from slipping in behind us but I'm up for suggestions."
An exasperated Rhasadinar hardly looks at the tracks. "I'm no hunter - I have no idea who stepped where."
Looking at the buildings from where she waits within the arch of the gate, she asks, "You think there is a lower level in the tower but not the donjon?"
She studies each building for signs of lower levels such as openings for light and such, but none are apparent.