In this post, I will continue the story of the heroes as they approach the Careorraent keep, bringing Rei as a blood slave for the vampires. For a complete background information on this adventure, please refer to the previous posts tagged Rothen Campaign.
The Careorraent Keep
As the heroes' boat approached the Careorraent keep, they were surprised to find an old stone tower standing atop a small island. There was only one dock on the island and it had a soldier waiting for them in it.
The cleric and the fighter were still playing the part of thugs working for the slaver. They attached the boat to the dock and following the directions given to them, unloaded Rei into it.
The soldier came close to the group and started joking with the slaver asking if he brought anything good for the soldiers or if it was only for the master this time. The slaver laughed at the joke and said next time he would, but this time he had found a pretty little sorceress for the master to play with.
The opportunity the heroes were waiting showed itself when the slaver told the heroes to get busy and take the girl inside while he talked to his friend. The heroes acted as fast as possible, rushing in to save whatever precious time they could.
Once inside the tower, they met two human soldiers. Those soldier were no ordinary warriors but trained fighters. They were very well armed and from the looks of it, had a considerable amount of training. They told the heroes to take the girl down to the slave penn in the basement.
Download the Autorealm source file for the basement level from 4shared.com
The heroes did as ordered and, once inside the small cramped basement level, they met a human jailer. The jailer didn't ask anything of them, just moved to open the cell for the new slave.
It was at that moment, the fighter unsheaved his sword and used it to hit the jailer. The cleric joined in the fight while Rei started to untie and ungag herself. Being at a disadvantage, the jailer was quickly killed, having no time to warn the soldiers on the top floor.
Download the Autorealm source file for the ground level from 4shared.com
In the slave penn, the party found six anemic slaves. All of them had bite marks in their bodies which led the party to believe those were the blood slaves for the vampires. Upon seeing those people in such a horrible situation, Cedric, the cleric, told the party they needed to free them.
Rei said there was nothing they could do for them. She reminded the cleric, they needed to get the Lich's diary before dark since the master of the keep was coming soon after that. Not to mention, their boat was too small for all the slaves if they did not turn into vampires during the voyage.
Download the Autorealm source file for the second level from 4shared.com
Cursing fate for such a cruel choice, the cleric silently killed all of the blood slaves, cutting off their heads and filling them with holy water. To everyone's surprise none of them resisted. The ones that were conscious thanked him for ending their suffering.
Cedric was now angry beyond words. He was holding his sword tight and his hands and he told the party that today, he was not going to show any mercy to any of his enemies.
Download the Autorealm source file for the third level from 4shared.com
As the party ascended, they came upon the soldiers who at once recognized what was happening and engaged them in combat. Even though they were well trained and in very good gear, the party was very well prepared for the encounter and dispatched them to their deaths.
Rei said that now they needed to take care of the slaver and his soldier friend outside. Since they could very well take off and leave them stranded in the island.
Download the Autorealm source file for the fourth level from 4shared.com
The fighter said he would rush outside and tell the soldier the sorceress got lose and was wreaking havoc in the slave penns. The party agreed to to the idea with one condition imposed by the cleric, he wanted the slaver to suffer before dying.
Minutes later, the soldier rushes in and is surprised by the cleric and sorceress. Outside the fighter hits the slaver, who upon receiving that very first blow started to beg for his life.
Once the the slaver's friend was dispatched, the slaver himself was brought inside the tower. The Cleric looked at him in the eye and told him that today he was going to pay for the many lives he had destroyed.
The slaver had both hands bound behind his back and was tossed into the cold waters surrounding the tower. Cedric watched him for a few seconds to be sure he would feel some pain before drowning.
The party proceeded with the search for the diary and moved as fast as they could from floor to floor killing any opposition they encountered. Until finally arriving at the fourth level, where they met the wight.
From the very beginning, the wight behaved very differently than most of his kind. He was a controlled calm individual that upon seeing the party asked who they where and what they wanted.
The cleric told him they wanted the Lich's diary.
The wight took a closer look at the party and started laughing saying that they picked an excellent time to invade the tower, since the master of the keep was away with most of his retinue. But once they returned, he would make the entire party his slaves to replace the ones they had undoubtedly killed.
Unimpressed with his treats, the cleric rushed into combat with the undead beast followed by the fighter and the sorceress. The wight proved more skilled then they had anticipated but fighting three well armed adventures was too much for even a strong wight as that one.
In a play for mercy, with the defeat but a question of time, the wight finally told them the location of the diary. With the information they needed, the cleric dispatched the vile creature to the nine hells it came from, while Rei retrieved the diary from a nearby bookshelf.
Once the wight was destroyed and the diary found, the party ran out of the tower. They did not want to meet the master of the keep that day. But Cedric told the party, they would be back one day to finish the job and rid Ralsand of the vampire curse once and for all.
The party left the island a little after dark carrying with them the Lich's diary.