The Monastery

After they had freed the young dragon, the party was tired but elated with their recent successes. So, after travelling a bit to get away from the destroyed hobgoblin encampment, they made their own camp in the woods some distance to the north.

Through happenstance, a group of hungry goblins saw what they thought would be easy pickings in a sleeping party, with no one but a lone Halfling on guard. It was a slaughter. Not a goblin left standing. But, at least they weren’t starving anymore.

The next morning the party packed up and headed north, certain that the ancient monastery was somewhere nearby. After the wizard sent her familiar (this time in the form of a hawk) out to scout from above, she confirmed that they were on the right track, and the party headed out with renewed haste.

Not long after, the ranger found the remnants of a road, marked by regular stone, most of which were overgrown with moss, each depicting a strange rune. After a few more hours, they came upon the strangest site they had ever seen.

Carved out of the very side of the mountain was a perfectly circular area, with sheer sides matching the slope of the mountain. The ground inside was perfectly flat and level, and there, in the center, surrounded by the remnants of orchards and gardens, was the fabled monastery.

The party approached with as much caution as they could, and it seemed to work. They discovered that one of the large double-doors was intact and closed, but the other had fallen off its hinges decades ago, but had been propped up where it once had been. Seeing no other entrance, the barbarian and the cleric, both extremely strong, lifted the old door and tossed it aside. For their troubles they each received a thrown javelin.

A melee ensued wherein the party contended with two tough bugbear guards. But, just as they were dispatching these, they discovered that one of the doors off of this main entryway lead to a dining area, where eight more bugbears were having their meal disturbed. A grander melee ensued involving a raging barbarian, a Ball of Flame, and a bugbear-phobic warlock. When all was said and done, the bugbears were overcome, and the room was cleared.

The party proceeded to investigate and found some old, disused “barracks” of sorts. No evidence of traffic indicated that the bugbears had avoided this area for some reason. They also found a long storage area, that lead to an ante-chamber for the main hall. Peaking in the hall, they saw that the bugbears had, oddly enough, set up huts like a real village inside the building.

The party, shaking their heads, explored more of the building, finding the remnants of a library. The books that remained were in varying states of disrepair, and nothing was readable. However, the Halfling warlock cast Mend on a random tome, and came away with a pristine copy of Osgood’s Guide to Flora and Fauna in The Shades. They also found evidence of a lower level that had seen much recent bugbear traffic.

After a tense period where the remaining bugbears discovered their slaughtered compatriots, and seemed to be investigating the rest of the building, the party ventured back to the dining hall to find three guards posted, all nervous. The party made quick work of them, and decided to further investigate the main hall. What they found was the doors shut and barred from within…

The party is nearing the end of this first arc. After some asking for opinions, it was decided that I would continue this campaign for the foreseeable future, so that we alternate between it and my wife’s Dragon Age game. I already have some ideas about where it is going, and what they will face in the future. This is going to be fun!