Within the caves beneath the abandoned keep, the party found itself entangled in a battle against a lesser demon and its minions. Determined to protect its mistress, the demon fought to the last breath, nearly taking several adventurers with it back to the depths of the netherworld.
With Mullog, the druid's goblin servant (boy toy?) having retrieved the painting from the keep, the party paused to consider both the identity and purpose of the demon's 'mistress' and the veins of ore coursing through the cavern walls. Pulsing with a strange red power, the metal could prove to be a boon to the smith brave and skilled enough to smelt it. Any thought of exploring the caves further came to an end when the paladin turned and headed back to Upper Arlen, leaving his compatriots with no choice but to follow.
Back in the city, the party presented the painting to an exuberant Mistress of Charters. That bargain completed, the party split up to pursue answers to the questions raised beneath the abandoned keep.
The dwarf smith called upon his guildmaster to receive his monthly share of guild profits and discuss the mysterious red power infusing the ore veins. Over ungodly amounts of ale, Krond and Gorak pondered the puzzle of the ore, finally deciding that a crack to an elemental plane must have opened somewhere within the caverns, allowing some of that plane's natural energy to seep into the rock, empowering the ore. Gorak guessed that such power, if handled properly, could lend magical properties to items forged from the infused metal. While the master would dig into the ownership rights to the land, Krond was tasked with further investigating the caverns and reconning how difficult it would be to expel the orc squatters inhabiting the keep.
The rest of the party, based on some belief that an army waited nearby for the sole purpose of helping them clean out the keep, sought an audience with Upper Arlen's duke. In the palace, the group ran into a trio of high elves leaving their own meeting with the duke. The druid, aware that high elves rarely left their island home within the Forgotten Seas, approached his distant kin. Unwilling to discuss their purpose within earshot of lesser races, the high elves commanded Mirri to attend them in the evening when they might talk in more private environs.
Finally allowed in to see the duke, the party broached the plan of leading an army against the bandit infested keep. Amused by the idea that the city retained an army just waiting around to attack a broken down husk of a castle that no one cared about, the duke inquired why the keep mattered to the party. When he learned of the party's quest to retrieve the painting, the duke flew into a rage. It turned out that his sister, the Mistress of Charters (who knew?) has been hounding him for years to retrieve that damned painting. Unknown to the party, the painting has a family legend attached to it, namely that some distant ancestor of the family had magically imprinted a secret map onto its back which supposedly led to a powerful relic. Hogwash, according to the duke but fact to his dear sister. The duke fears the woman will only increase her pestering until he agrees to hire adventurers at, no doubt, a ridiculous cost to his family coffers. Unconsolable, the duke threw the adventurers out of the palace.
Later in the evening, after taking Mullog to be fitted for socially acceptable clothing, Mirri met with the elven ladies. On a private carriage ride around the posh sections of the city, the elven priestess explained that their order's Matrice had discovered a catastrophic event so dire as to threaten even their ancient home across the seas. The Matrice feared that a being of immense power stirred within the Upper Harrow Valley. She could not be precise in its location or its identity but was certain of its imminence. For that reason, the elves had traveled far from home to discuss the danger with the duke, seeking to convince the man to investigate the anomaly. Listening to the tale, Mirri wondered over the similarities with her recent planar experiences with the old hag.
The duke, as ignorant and shortsighted as all humans tend to be, thanked the elves for their concern and promised halfheartedly to look into the matter. Undaunted, the high elven ladies are remaining within the city to ponder their next move.
After completing their tasks, the party retired to the Inn of the Prancing Pony. The following morning, they began the trek back into the mountains toward the abandoned keep. Taking a short rest within a peaceful vale, the party was surprised by a bathing dragon springing from the icy waters of the mountain lake. Unsure how to react, the party was further amazed when they recognized the dragon as the same beast they encountered in its lair while retireving the Eye of Marcellus. Except now the monster was awake. Spying the party, the dragon inquired as to their name. When the adventurers could not respond, the dragon flew into the air and disappearred over the trees.
Reaching the caverns beneath the keep, the party found the source of the mysterious red power. Indeed, a crack had opened leading to a plane of elemental fire. Across the crack, the party faced the demon's mysterious and her minon followers.
We picked up the adventure with the party facing off against the fire mistress from the Elemental Plane of Fire. While the battle was touch and go in the beginning, once the dwarf and warlord managed to scratch their way up the ledge, they made quick work of the naga mistress with her minions falling soon after.
The party decided against another full out assault of the orc infested keep. Instead, they began a campaign of intimidation by killing several of the sleeping orcs and leaving threatening messages for those remaining. The party headed back to Upper Arlen, leaving their propaganda to run its course.
In the city, Krond returned to the guild, reporting the party's success in clearing the caverns and assuring Gorak that the keep would be free of bandits in short order. In the meanwhile, Naugrim answered a summons from Lord Jax, the Marshall of the King's Voice. The wizard learned that the abandoned keep and surrounding lands belonged to the Crown and the Marshall had a proposal to extend to the party. In exchange for full title to the land and knighthood, the party would pledge allegiance to the Crown and stand as his lords in overseeing and defending the fiefdom.
After discussing the proposal as a group and assuring themselves that they were breaking no prior vows to the Lady Alyssa, the party returned to the House of Marshalls to set their mark to the Charter, sealing the deal.
Newly titled as Knights of the Sentinel Tor, the party headed back to the keep, intent on confronting the remaining orcs. After again sneaking into the keep to kill several sleeping orcs, the party waited in the woods for their machinations to bear fruit. Soon enough, an orc hunting party tramped from the keep, scouring the woods for the murderers of their kind. The session ended with the party closing in on the unsuspecting orc scouts.
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