You spend a few days in Saltmarsh before loading back onto the Sea Ghost and making the half day sail to Bale Keep. You each have various business to attend to in Saltmarsh (like Zymaan finally getting the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone removed), plus you have meetings with the Town Council who ask probing questions about the lizardfolk armies and black dragon you reported. They ask too about the orcs you saw mining and forging in the great hole inside the troglodyte temple.
“War is coming,” they say, not quite able to believe it. Not wanting to. The Unforgivable War devastated the region twenty years ago. Those who remember wish to forget.
“What should we do?” They fret.
“Let us wait for word from Lord Gilead,” they decide. “We have sent word to him through Grey Cloak Horgan. We should hear back soon.”
Grey Cloak Horgan makes a point of telling you that he also reported that you sold weapons to the very lizardfolk who now threaten to invade. Warrants for your arrest is what he expects back from Lord Gilead.
——————
You set sail for Bale Keep before any word or warrants are received from Lord Gilead. Gundar Gunnarson and Elrik Solarman rejoin the crew in time to row the jetty boat back for you. They express concern that if war does break out they might have to return to their posts as Saltmarsh militiamen, where their families are, but for now they too enjoy the sea. It reminds you, however, that you are desperately in need of a trained crew. Valaria says you can hire a crew in Seaton, but your destination for Bale Keep has already been decided in a group meeting.
Before you leave, Grim places a large order for kegs of Slug Ale on behalf of the party and gives a deposit. Salty says he wants to pull in this year’s harvest before filling such a large order. He promises to make a much greater supply than ever before. He appreciates your business and the wealth and prosperity you have brought to the otherwise humdrum town of Saltmarsh. In his mind, the day you first met in his establishment is an important anniversary to be celebrated. Plans are already in the works.
The sky is clear and the winds are favourable as you sail. You enjoy the journey to Bale Keep. When you see it from the deck of the ship, the keep is far away but much larger than you expected so close to the small village of Saltmarsh. The walls are thick stone that are easily thirty feet high. You count at least five towers.
*Iron Keep = Bale Keep for our purposes.
The keep is set back from the sea shore by about half a mile, so at first the structure is only just visible on the horizon. As you approach you gain an appreciation for the enormity of it. It appears somewhat run down, but at some point this must have been an important defensive position.
Your new dwarven companion, Ash, told you of the Bone Birds he followed from Dreadwood Forest to Bale Keep. He told you that during the Unforgivable War the Nightstalkers used Bone Birds to search the land for Alandra De Winter after she “became the storm” and disappeared at Breaker’s Point. He told you that the Bone Birds have extraordinary vision and the Nightstalkers can borrow their eyes.
You do not see any Bone Birds in the sky now, but you vigilantly keep your eyes looking up.
Your goals for coming to Bale Keep are firstly to find a second sacred Lantern of Light which Alandra de Winter created twenty-two years ago to appease the sniverfbalen about the fact she needed to leave them. She put a small piece of her essence into each of six such lanterns. When Ryparin and Zymaan visited Henry Marshall at the Church of St. Cuthbert in Saltmarsh, Henry saw Ryparin’s lantern and commented that a similar lantern emitting purple light hung in the throne room in Bale Keep.
Ryparin has been experimenting with the lantern he obtained from the avatar’s throne room in the troglodyte temple. When he shines its purple light on Nyneve, she feels a sense of urgency about something but she can’t tell what it is. It feels unsettling, like mom is watching and does not like what she sees, or wants her to do something.
Your second goal is to try to discover what Nightstalkers are and whether they have truly returned to the land, and why.
Soon you have anchored the Sea Ghost. Janaar instructs Gundar and Elrik to defend the ship and its cargo if that duty falls upon them while you are gone. You then take the jetty boat ashore and begin the uphill walk to the keep.
Bale Keep becomes only more enormous as you get closer to it. As you do, however, you also hear the unmistakable sounds of swords clashing and men dying.
“Bale Keep is under attack?” Janaar asks incredulously. “Right now? Just when we decide to come here?” He is suspicious of the timing.
“It appears so,” Kildrak calls back, already drawing his warhammer and running towards the battle.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Nyneve says.
“Me too,” Zymaan and Grim say together.
Valaria draws her magical elven sword OrcTracker, but it does not indicate the nearby presence of orcs.
“If someone is here for the lantern,” Ryparin says, frowning deeply, “we have a spy among us.”
[I have purchased for $2 a very high resolution copy of the Iron Keep map, and I am taking steps to get it printed out in full colour 24×36 inch glory. It will be our combat map for the start of the next session. The lower resolution version of the map in this post can be added to our most excellent web site.]
[If you respond to this email with character reactions to this moment, I may be able to write a second story post before we meet on March 24.]