Heroes Present: Tarmon Colavere, Gaelin Lyonthorn, Jaques Provolone, Some, Ming Lin, Hazma, Tear Nguyen, Drogyn Wolfsbane (guest player)
Our story began on a typical winter night in Castle Rimmersmoore. Our heroes were meeting up near the Great Hall West to go into town and visit the Eagle's Roost. As the heroes began to trickle in one by one, a few of the heroes noticed that a recent snowstorm had knocked some of the masonry loose near the base of Victor's Tower. As the others stared into the hole, which seemed to lead into an abandoned room, Tarmon bravely volunteered to crawl inside.
While Tarmon examined the room by the dim light coming in from the hole, Some left to find torches and rope. Tarmon discovered that the room was an ancient great hall, probably part of the ruins of the older castle which Castle Rimmersmoore was built on. Meanwhile, Some went to the Servants' Quarters to get some rope and torches, meeting up along the way with the Chief Steward, Marcus Mallory. After a brief conversation in which Some came up with a bizarre excuse for wanting torches and rope (he claimed he was all out of torches at home), Some returned and the others began clambering into the hole, one by one.
Leaving Gaelin and Jaques to stand guard, the others climbed into the hole and examined the room more thoroughly in torchlight. They discovered that the room had three exits: two stairwells which seemed to lead down (though one was blocked off by a pile of debris) and a hallway which lead to the north. After clearing the rocks from the clogged stairwell, the heroes decided to explore the hallway first. They found several bedrooms, obviously designed for royalty or nobility, but there was little left in them except for a small sigil with a design none of the heroes recognized which was found in one of the rooms.
The heroes next tried the northern stairwell. It lead down to a landing with a doorway and a continuing stairwell. Going through the door, the heroes discovered a short hallway which was cut off by debris. They continued down to find another landing and stairwell. This hallway lead all the way across, but a huge hole in the floor which seemed to lead very deep prevented them from traversing the hall.
Taking the final stairway down, the heroes found themselves in a huge, cavern-like room hundreds of feet high and wide. A broken staircase lead into the room, and the heroes spent several minutes trying to find a way across the forty-foot gap in the staircase. They finally agreed that they needed more rope, and Tarmon used magic to contact Gaelin on the surface and send him for more rope.
Gaelin and Jaques, meanwhile, had been standing guard the entire time. Jaques had gathered up fallen branches to disguise himself as a bush in front of the hole, while Gaelin was simply standing there. They were approached by their friend Drogyn Wolfsbane, the King's huntsman, who wondered what they were doing. After explaining the situation to Drogyn, Gaelin was sent for more rope, and returned shortly, having gathered it, along with some pitons and other climbing gear, in one of the supply closets.
Gaelin returned with the equipment, nearly falling to his death as he climbed in the hole, but luckily he was saved by the coils of rope wrapped around his torso catching on a rocky outcropping. Jaques and Drogyn followed him, and soon all the heroes were examining the long staircase, trying to discern the best way to get down it. While the others planned, Jaques, Some, Hazma and Ming went back up the stairwells to examine the stairwells on the other side. What they found was that each stairwell on the south side coincided with one on the north side, leading them to the hallways which had been blocked off. They also discovered something very interesting: on first hallway down, they found a small room with a cot and various other signs of being lived-in recently, including a smouldering fire. Inside the room they discovered another sigil, the same as the first, and took it. Some also expressed interest in returning to the room to steal the cot, so that whoever lived in the room would have to come to them looking for it.
After everyone met back up in the cavern, they finally attempted to climb down the stairs. The heroes decided that the easiest way would be for Hazma to fire two crossbow bolts into the other side of the staircase, then have the lightest of the heroes with the best climbing ability (which turned out to be Tarmon) climb across the ropes and replace the weak crossbow bolts with stronger pitons so that the others could climb across. The plan went well, although both Ming and Jaques almost fell on their way across. Finally, all of the heroes had made it across the gap and continued down the stairs.
In the cavern, the heroes found an enormous underground lake, which seemed to have some sort of creature swimming in it. The stairs lead to a small island with a boat which held two people, and so the heroes began ferrying each other across the lake two at a time, exploring the cavern. They discovered a small island in the center of the lake, which held only the foundation of a building (Hazma determined that the ruins were over eight hundred years old). On the other side of the lake was a small beach which the creature in the water seemed to be using for a nest, containing one broken eggshell the size of the boat they were in! Finding nothing else in the cavern, the heroes went back upstairs.
On their way back out, Some did as he had intended and took the cot with him, leaving a note which said that he had the cot and where to find him. Jaques was instructed to keep watch on the hole into the ruins, to see if whoever lived in the room returned there or came back up. On their way to the great hall, the heroes spotted a shape dashing past them, but it went by too fast for them to determine what it was. After leaving the ruins, Hazma went to the castle library and looked up the design on the sigils they had found. He discovered it was the emblem of the dynasty which had previously held the castle before the Tasseth dynasty had taken control. Worn out from their adventure, the heroes made good on their earlier intentions and went to the Eagle's Roost for some well-earned refreshment.
