The party refreshes themselves after a long rest. Unlike previous periods, where the party fortuitously had access to running water, the party had to use the water from their canteens to refresh themselves. By the time the long rest ends, the party finds the sun emerging on a cool late fall, early winter’s day. Lucille uses a stone hearth near where the broken statue lay to get a fire going to make the adventure a little less miserable.
“Just think, we only have one more corner and I think the castle is as good as ours… after some repairs, of course,” Alias put in.
“What are we going to do with a ruined castle by the sea? No one would recognize our claim to it,” Nindur asked.
Alias wagged her finger and winked, “Have a little faith, Nindur. There is no other authority to try and press us out of our domain claim.”
“Except maybe the Exiles,” Fenthick said, “They might decide they actually wouldn’t mind a castle to turn into a base and buy us out.”
“They wouldn’t want to dirty themselves cleaning this place out,” Alias noted.
“They can be patient and wait for us to do it,” Fenthick said, “But I admire your ambition.”
“So you're all for putting some of the treasure towards cleaning this place?” Alias asked.
“Let’s take it one thing at a time,” Fenthick said, “We still need to investigate the last two rooms, and I guess figure out what is in that sphere room besides the sphere.” ---
The party moves out of Room #17 and down 40 feet towards the next set of double doors that are open. Inside the party finds several skeletons picked clean amongst the scents of offal and honey that tried to mask the scent. Given what the Vermin Queen could turn into, it’s no doubt in the mind of Cuthbert and the others that these were some of the Queen’s victims, their bones picked clean after she unveiled her true form and took care of them. Alias and Lucille search the bones and finds the following:
A silver locket (worth 75 gp) containing the portrait of the Vermin Queen’s last victim
50 gp in mixed coins
A potion of resistance (poison)
A ring carved from bone, nonmagical, but eerie
---
The party then turns and heads south (Right) towards the door leading into Room #21. The door is unlocked and not trapped despite Alias’ usual searching as the party moves forward. The party finds the room empty. Lucille is able to pick up the scent of wolf’s fur and acrid cigar smoke, suggesting the ogre and wolf from before were sitting around and admiring the only other feature of the room: a fully functional ballista. The only one that remains within the castle. While Cuthbert examines the ballista itself to confirm that the only improvement that can be made is a little oil on the pivot to make the turning motion smoother, it is functional. Alias finds hanging from the firing lever a gold chain that is connected to the pale white fur of a rabbit’s foot. An oddity for sure.
Alias makes a History (Int) check to recall anything interesting about the rabbit’s foot: 12 - She vaguely recalls that rabbit’s feet are often associated with luck, and that soldiers and adventurers would keep one on a chain to bring them luck at whatever hazardous task they were about to perform. She shrugs and tosses it in her bag.
Acquires Rabbit’s Foot.
The party moves from Room #21 and crosses the hall of the Vermin Queen’s chamber towards the door leading into Room #22. Part of the scent of the offal that lingered in the air was drifting from what lay beyond the door. The walls, the floors, all it was covered in splotches of stirge guano in varying stages of freshness. Alias makes a Perception check as she looks into the room.
Alias Perception: 16 - Her Darkvision is able to spot the vague shapes of stirges clinging to the ceiling. There are two swarms of stirges that were resting during the day. She notes this to the rest of the party.
---
“The last threat and its damnable vermin,” Cuthbert grumbles as the smell of guano hits his nose, “Blood suckers too.” The party is able to speak fairly freely while standing outside the room as the morning air leaves the stirge lethargic. (Cuthbert makes a Stonecunning check (+6): 24 - Success - He also knows the floors will be unstable to fight in with all the guano underneath.”
“Why deal with the blood suckers?” Nindur asked, “You said it yourself, the room is filled with guano, I bet you even breathed some of it looking in Alias.” He patted his companion in sympathy as she began to gag and reach for her canteen. Nindur was right, on a limited level, she had breathed and ingested a trace amount of Stirge dung.
“What do you propose then?” Lucille asked Nindur.
“Give me a second, everyone stand back,” Nindur said, waving people to go out past the doors leading back to the hallway outside Room #20. Standing just outside the door, Nindur opened his hand and focused his will into the palm of his hand for a Burning Hands (1st Level Slots: 2/4 Remaining) - Damage: 11…
Q: Does this set off a chain reaction?
A: Yes
Q: Is it severe?
A: Yes, but it does not blow back on Nindur, it blows out.
The fire hits both a large glob of fresh guano in addition to lighting up the lingering dust in the air, turning the world red and orange as the entire room goes up. The explosion rumbles the castle as the northwest tower blows out and collapses into the steel spider lab below. Nindur is able to get back before he loses his footing to any loose floor unsettled by the explosion. He breathes a sigh of relief, for the moment, he then grits his teeth when he realizes that Alias is probably going to kill him over this as he looks out and sees air and distant coastline as the tower has collapsed.
---
A Quick Note
🧮 GRAND TOTAL XP
| Category | XP |
|---|---|
| Lower Level | 850 |
| Shrine & Undead | 4,150 |
| Ogres & Constructs | 2,000 |
| Thulid & Construct | 1,800 |
| Vermin Queen | 1,100 |
| Final Patrol | 650 |
| Stirge Tower Explosion | 800 |
| TOTAL | 12,350 XP |
👥 XP Per Character
12,350 ÷ 5 = 2,470 XP per character
📈 Level Progress Check
Level 4 → Level 5 requires:
6,500 XP total
Assuming they started at Level 4 minimum XP (2,700):
2,700 + 2,470 = 5,170 XP
They are solidly Level 4, about 80% of the way to Level 5 ---
I might actually bump the party up to 5th level for clearing out the entire castle and not losing anyone. That was a fairly intense module. The only item remaining is looking into the sphere room and find what may lie within.
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