Satisfied that the box that caught his eye is no longer burning, Aerel snatches up his bow from the ground and moves around the room to get an angle on the korred.
If Benedict is close enough to hit the Korred, he will do so.
If not, he will attack the wicker man if it is still up.
If not, he will move closer.
Grum is unaffected by the spell, but in his eagerness to deal damage his swing is errant.
Everyone else repositions to surround the korred.
The beard and shaggy hair of the fey animates wildly, grasping at anyone who approaches.
He then lets out a deafening laugh that echoes within the small chamber.
Aerel reels at the thunderous cacophany ringing in his head, dropping his bow and putting his hands to his head in an effort to cover his ears and stop the sound.
Despite the enchantment hindering his movements, Benedict is able to dodge the flailing hair.
And he also resists the power of the fey creature's laugh.
He strikes at the Korred .
Benedict curses his falling back on the habit of the magic warhammer rather than the Cold Iron Scimitar, but slowed as he is, switching would take too much time.
Amkarang feels his limbs slow and he grits his teeth in frustration and he slogs up the stairs. He easily powers through the korred's deafening laughter and swats away the korred's animate hair. His fight with the king had taught him a thing or two.
Both archers drop their bows as the stunning laugh of the fey hits them hard.
In turn, however, Grum hits the korred hard back. Benedict backs him up with a hammer blow of his own.
The korred reels from the attacks, his fey resistances not doing much against the heavy strikes. "This is my workshop! Get out!" he shouts, then tries to cast a spell.
Benedict watches his allies succumb to the Korred's magic. He continues to attack, but the Slow spell impairs his aim.
He hopes that Amkarang and Grum have more luck.
William continues staring off into space.
Slowed as he is, Amkarang swings at the korred once with all his strength.
The korred evades Benedict's and Grum's attacks, but Amkarang manages a solid blow.
The korred starts to look worried as he tries to cast another spell.
His spell fizzles out, giving the heroes of Phaendar a chance to finish him off!
Benedict steps into a flank and attacks, but once again curses his foolishness in switching away from his cold iron weapon.
William picks up his bow and fires at the Korred (if it stands).
Amkarang hefts his meteor hammer for another mighty strike. Though his body might be slowed, the velocity of hammer sure wasn't.
Amkarang's attack brains the korred, and he stops moving.
The korred transumter has three potions and one oil, four scrolls, a magical belt, two flasks of alchemist's fire and two tanglefoot bags. He also has a bag of five nails that radiate magic, a magic ring, a magical device, a magnifying glass, mwk thieves' tools, a spell component pouch a pouch of diamond dust (200 gp worth), and 112 gp. He also has a spellbook sitting on one of his benches under several crafting objects.
The tables in this room are covered in alchemical treasures. There are several pouches of powdered jade (worth 150 gp total), three 1-pound lumps of gold (worth 50 gp each), a magical elixer, and a complete alchemist's laboratory.
William slowly moves into the room and looks around with his detect magic active. He whistles at all the magic items and begins pointing them out. "If we have cleared the whole keep I can begin to identify these items. If not it can wait until we do clear it. This is going to take a bit."
Aerel slowly shakes his head as the reverberations clear. He picks up his dropped bow and arrow, stowing them, before turning to the box he pulled from the wicker creature. ”It’s probably nothing, but I thought there might be something valuable in such a nice box, especially since it seemed to be important to the creature’s body.” He shrugs, ”Sounds dumb when I say it out loud, but I didn’t have time to think about it, just grab it.”
Leaving it for William to sort out, the elf begins searching for hidden caches.
Checking out the box, though singed on the edges, Aerel sees that it is some sort of puzzle box. Pieces are cut precisely and fitted so that it can only be opened by cleverly pushing and pulling them in a specific order to reach whatever it is inside.
Aerel carries the puzzle box over to a bench and begins to study it.
Satisfied he has made it as safe as possible, he studies the combinations of moves, his fingers twitching and flexing as his lips move wordlessly, until he nods to himself and starts actually trying to open it.
Benedict watches as Aerel works.
"William, we might have some more towers to explore before we examine all the gear. There is certainly a good amount of equipment here - I know the spellbook will be useful for you, and perhaps I or another of our group could learn more alchemy to make use of the laboratory. I figured out just a bit to help blow up the bridge from Phaendar."
Aerel starts the sequence on the box, but quickly becomes confounded. After a while, and with no other pressing issues in the keep (everything is quiet and no other threats are found in this building), he simply works on it until it opens.
At the center of the puzzle box is a glass container with a greenish substance sloshing about inside.
You're pretty sure the substance inside is green slime (Core pg. 416). Breaking the glass container would cause it to expand and start devouring flesh.
Going back out into the courtyard, you discover that the haunt has been put to rest. To the south of the courtyard, a set of stables is run down and the stink of rotted animals wafts from the structure. Inside, there are the desiccated carcasses of a pair of oxen. Inside the stables, you find six cold iron horseshoes one magical horseshoe.
Inside the northwestern tower, you find a number of redcap bodies, along with a good number of korreds. Apparently, there was some sort of conflict between the fey after you had left. There are several old weapon racks with old and abused equipment hanging off it. However, a +1 cold iron shortspear is found behind one of the racks.
Amongst the redcap bodies, you find trinkets with a value of around 54 gp. You also find a bloodstained healer's kit, six potions of cure light wounds, and eight bandages of rapid recovery.. You also find three flayed hobgoblins that tell of the gruesome ways the redcaps treated their captives.
In the topmost floor of the northwestern tower, you find a small chest that has 22 gp, 476 sp, a bracelet made from black jet (worth 200 gp), 13 chess pieces carved from soapstone (worth 5 gp each), a stylish cap made from albino beaver fur (worth 300 gp), and a sandalwood statuette of a bear eating a lion (worth 150 gp).
The southwestern tower appears to have been completely vacated. However, a trap is discovered.
A bunch of training dummies were apparently filled with jagged pieces of cold iron. The heroes fail to notice the tiny wires that triggered the trap, causing everyone to be showered with the metal.
After the trap is triggered, the heroes find a masterowrk cold iron greatsword, a cold iron short sword, an alchemical silver dagger, and 17 cold iron arrows.
Aerel sheepishly apologizes for missing the tripwires in the dummies.
He's very quiet for a while, focusing on a number of things he feels he could have done better. He does smile at Grum's continued enthusiasm, though.
William points at the glass vial, "That looks like a green slime. I wouldn't recommend breaking the glass and letting it out."
William pats Grum on the back, "It's always good to be alive at the end. I don't know if the rangers will want this back but it's here for them if they do. I have some identifying to do and this may take a bit."
William determines that two of the potions are of cat's grace and one of protection from law. The oil is magic weapon. The first scroll puzzles William, but he figures out a scroll of elemental body I, scroll of gaseous form, and scroll of owl's wisdom. The belt is a belt of giant strength +2, he cannot figure out the ring, but the nails are stubborn nails. The magical device is a traveler's any-tool. The elixir is an elixir of fire breath. The horseshoe is a lucky horseshoe.
"Marvelous... a glass box of green slime."
Benedict looks at it and thinks. "As a weapon, this would be most underhanded, fighting dirty... it could easily kill a much more powerful foe..."
Benedict smiles.
"Let's keep it. Maybe put it back in the puzzle box for now?"
"Well, let's get back to the caves and then back to Fort Trevalay. Help the refugees get moved in, and let the Rangers know that Fort Ristin is clear."
"I think it's yours, Grum!"
"Is there an easy way to tell if that haunt is ended now?"
Benedict will drink two of the Potions of Cure Light Wounds and walk into the middle of the courtyard.
Benedict notices that the courtyard doesn't feel good exactly -- there was far too much suffering and death amongst the rocks that the place will never be cleansed without powerful magic -- but the spirits that attacked Aerel are much quieter. With the korreds cleared out of the main keep, the haunt seems to be ended. All that's left is a general feeling of unease as Benedict stands there.
===============
The heroes return to the troglodyte caves, likely their last visit to the place. The remaining refugees have just about finished gathering all the belongings and supplies they plan to take with them to the much larger and better protected Fort Trevelay.
The deep gnome Navvi makes one final appearance deep in the tunnels, and will happily purchase whatever goods the Phaendarans would like to sell off.
Then, with the heroes' escort, the remaining refugees ready to make the long trek through the Fangwood to Fort Trevelay.
The weather has turned hot as summer has definitely arrived. Cicadas burr during the day, creating a cacophony under the shadowy boughs of the Fangwood.
Though the shade lessens the heat somewhat, the cool temperature of the caves are sadly missed as eighteen refugees and a small herd of sheep and goats are led through the dense forest by the Heroes of Phaendar. It is slow going, even though the threat of the Ironfang Legion is largely dealt with here in the Fangwood. The forest is still largely untamed and has its share of dangers.
Three days pass as the large group winds its way to their new home in Fort Trevelay, liberated by the heroes a week ago. It's estimated that in another day or two the group will finally reach their destination.
One of the scouts comes back at about midday, out of breath. "There's another group of refugees! You remember Naspen, right? Grover Jarth's boy? He's got about twenty people with him! He said he heard about us from Chang Jie and they decided to try to find us."
Most of the Phaendarans would know of Grover and Naspen Jarth, locals who moved up north to Ecru in the Hollow Hills a couple years ago. Jie and Amelie had left the group to try to find other pockets of refugees and see what they could do for them.
Benedict looks up from his mid-day work on his book.
"Well, it is good that there are more free Nirmathi, but unfortunate that Ecru was hit. Let's see what information he has about the Ironfang Legion. How far away is his band?"
Amkarang perks up when hearing about Chang Jie, ”It’s been too long since I heard from that little sparrow! How is she?”
Tushina, the scout, throws up her hands. "I don't know, she wasn't with them. They just said she pointed them in this direction. They're just around the ridge."
Following Tushina, the heroes find the group of refugees about a half-mile away, working their way in the direction of the Phaendarans. They appear haggard, mostly a mix of men and women, but there are a few children in their group.
Naspen Jarth sees the heroes and grins weakly. "You see?" he tells the group. "Us Phaendarans know the Fangwood. We're safer here." He turns to greet Benedict and the others. "Well met. So good to see some friendly faces."
The group, twenty-three adults and four children ranging from six to twelve, look ill. Many of them are clutching their stomachs and all of them look exhausted.
Aerel is a bit concerned about the condition of the new refugees. ”So many seem to be feeling unwell. How long has this gone on?”