Episode 1.4

Tony, Brad, Kathy, Greg, Wendell, Ernie

Brad, Wendell and Greg tried to sneak up behind the two bugbears, but in classic Han Solo fashion, their effort failed at the last moment. Despite this, the battle quickly became a rout and the party spent more rounds chasing the bugbears then they spen killing them.

Searching the bugbears, they found a map with several areas marked, including a haunted mountain, a test area, an X (which they assumed was where they were) and a box. They also realized that the bugbears were two of the three that took them and their masters to the test area.

Looking over the hill to see what the bugbears were looking at, they spotted another valley blocked off by a stone wall. The wall was constructed of large rocks, rose about 30 feet into the air and contained a single large wooden door. There were crude battlements on top of the wall. Looking beyond the wall, they could see that there were more battlements on a side wall and a lush valley beyond the wall. They also noticed someone peeking out behind a battlement.

The party grabbed a dead bugbear, drug it down towards the door and called out. In response, a group of humans wielding bows appeared, led by a dwarf whose accent sounded like a bad combination of Scottish and Pirate. He told the party to put down their weapons and come inside. They complied.

Once inside, the dwarf identified himself as Ceodoc, the builder of the wall. The party also met Gwibaen, a half-elvin warrior, a Halfling name Torcyn and a late middle-aged human woman named Gwiand. Each group learned that the other was no longer affected by the donva curse. The dwarf “invited” them to sit with him and have a meal. He explained to them that his primary concern was the security of the keep, called Stonekeep, and that, for the time being at least, he couldn’t allow a group of armed strangers to run around inside the valley. He also couldn’t allow them to leave since they now knew the location of the valley and despite their best intentions, might be forced to reveal that to the orcs. The party didn’t like the situation and protested, most notably Tony, who said he would rather be dead than a slave. Ceodoc basically told them that for now, they just needed to behave themselves and earn his trust. During the meeting, Gwiand came in poring water and serving food and tried to calm Tony down, but had little success. It was accidentally revealed that the party had a map that they found on one of the dead bugbears. The map had markings for Stonekeep, the testing area, a haunted mountain and a non-descript box. Ceodoc copied the map after he told them that keeping things like this from him was not going to make him trust them. He took his copy of the map and left.

After the meeting, Tony started walking around the compound, going into buildings, searching for weapons and generally making a nuisance of himself. After going into two or three buildings, he was approached by a guard who informed him that he needed to settle down or run the risk of getting shot by some of the younger, less experienced guards. Tony wasn’t too happy about that, but he eventually agreed to behave himself.

Meanwhile, Kathy followed Ceodoc to another building. On the way over, he was joined by Gwiand, Gwibaen and Torcyn. She tried to follow them into the building, but her entrance was barred and she could not get into a position to listen in on what they were saying. They eventually emerged. Gwibaen went outside the keep. The others went in separate directions in the valley. The party eventually settled into their own building to rest.

After dark, Gwibaen came to them in secret. He told them he could get them in Ceodoc’s good graces if he helped them and in return, he would give them their equipment back. He said that the box on the map was a group of humans that had been rounded up by the orcs and that he needed their help to rescue them. They were to meet him at the front gate before dawn. The party agreed, but did not promise that after the humans were brought back that they would even stay.