Forum

[JediSoth]

The Leather Dominators settled down for a well-deserved rest, but it was not to be. Their sleep was interrupted by calls from Bramblevale Keep's guards, "Ring the alarum bell! The keep is under attack! Enemies at the gates!" Hastily donning their gear, the Leather Dominators headed downstairs and went out on the streets. A guard ran up to them, telling them gnolls were attacking and someone needed to help get the women and children to the Inner Bailey.

Using a combination of persausion, bluffing, and outright threats, the Leather Dominators managed to round up several women and their brood and began escorting them to the Inner Bailey. Unfortunately, their attempts at stealth were not entirely successful and they attracted the attention of a pack of gnolls. Argen, Alaraic, Andrea and Killdrak dealth with the gnolls while Marcus and Balken took the women and children to the Inner Bailey.

As they were fighting the gnolls, they noticed some of the buildings were on fire, particularly the Smithy and the Stables. The Smithy collapsed from the conflagration, injuring Argen. After dealing with the gnolls, Argen and Andrea headed for the Guild House to see if there were any valuables that needed rescuing while Marcus, Balken, Alaric, and Killdrak went to the Inner Bailey to see how else they could help. They were asked to try to free the horses from the burning stables. Alaric, Balken and even Killdrak had great success coaxing the panicked equines from their stalls, while Marcus seemed to have no clue how to coax the animals. About this time, they noticed the gnolls, who up until now seemed to have the keep on the defensive were beginning an orderly retreat. The cause soon became apparent: cries of "Undead! Seal the Keep! Seal the Keep!" betrayed the nature of the gnolls' retreat.

While checking out the jeweler's wares in the Guild House, Argen and Andrea came upon five children who were cowering in the building; residents of the upstairs apartments whose parents were guards currently defending the keep and had been unable to make it to the Inner Bailey. They noticed something trying to get into the Guild House; ghouls! After grabbing the jeweler's strongbox, they led the children to the upper level of the building. Making sure the coast was clear, they helped the children down to the street from a window on the second floor out of sight of the ghouls. They made their way to the Inner Bailey.

As the guards repelled undead scaling the walls, the Leather Dominators headed for the main gate in attempt to close it off, making the way in more difficult for the relentless undead. Marcus stood behind the portcullis while Balken and Andrea went up into the guard tower to lower the portcullis and raise the drawbridge, then jam the mechanisms, making a brute force bypass more difficult. Marcus noticed some robed figured in the shadows of the gatehouse; gnolls disguised as humans. They reveled themselves to him and offered to help, explaining "You. Us. Enemies, but alive. Undead kill all. Living stick together over them." Apparently the gnolls disguised themselves to get into the keep, then killed the gatehouse guards so their brethren could attack, but now that the undead were attacking, all the living joined forces agains the army of the undead.

After the gates were barred, the group made their way back to the Inner Bailey. Swarms of undead were fighting the guards on the Bailey walls, while someone, The Castellan they assumed, fought off three ghouls on the balcony of the Keep Fortress. The Leather Dominators joined the fray, but it soon became apparent the undead numbers were insurmountable. Two of the remaining guards informed them the civilians had already escaped via a secret tunnel under the Castellan's audience chamber. After dealing with the ghouls fighting the Castellan, the Leather Dominators, two guards and the Castellans followed the secret tunnel, sealing it off from below and hoping their efforts to hide the entrance were successful.

Earth tremors made navigating the tunnel difficult, and when they were faced with a fork, it was difficult to determine which way the people had gone. The Castellan admitted to not being familiar with the tunnels; he knew it was there but had never used it before. They chose the right-hand fork and were dismayed after walking a bit to find it ending in a vertical shaft, the bottom of which they could not see, even after dropping a torch in it.

Another tremor shook the tunnel, the Castellan shoved the group towards the gaping hole as the ceiling collapsed on top of him. With barely five feet of tunnel left for the six of them, they tried to dig the Castellan out, but he was dead, crushed under several tons of rock; the guards behind him suffering the same fate. Marcus tied a rope to the Castellan's arm, hoping the weight of the rocks would serve as a decent anchor as he investigated the shaft, hoping to find a ledge or another tunnel. Another tremor shook the tunnel, collapsing the rest of the ceiling, forcing the group to jump into the bottomless shaft or be crushed under tons of rock....