Around noon, the party departed Phandalin on the quest to save Gundren Rockseeker.
The goblins, unibrowed Fleek and his daughter Droop, intending to seek revenge for the loss of their village, rode ahead on their cow, Bessie. Droop guided the way, being the only one that knew where the castle was hidden.
Sildar, fulfilling his promise to assist, followed a short distance behind the goblins, glancing slightly distrustfully at them on occasion as they rode.
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"Well, you made a right paste of him, di'-nt ya," drawled a deep, loud voice. "Now what we gonna eat?"
Sneaking carefully to the edge of a clearing, they could see two large ogres, standing over the very flattened remains of something once humanoid in shape.
It was at this point that Eva discovered she was not as stealthy as she had hoped. Stepping on a twig, the ogres turned on her in an instant, roaring as they brought their clubs down upon her in a flash. As she fled, she was able to lead the ogres into an ambush, where the rest of the party were able to surround them. From a safer distance, Eva brought down a Moonbeam spell, burning the monsters with radiant energy. Though the ogres' fought ferociously, they were quelled quickly.
Searching the ogres returned little more than a random wagon wheel, which the group decided to strap to one of their horses and take along for some reason. The flattened victim, though unrecognizable as little more than humanoid in size, had one finger sticking up from the gore. Upon this finger, a ring of braided metal caught Durial's eye.
Without much thought the drow placed the ring upon his finger, and promptly grew a beard.
Taking off the ring did not remove the hair, though cutting the beard hair proved just a minor inconvenience at worst. With some experimentation, Durial and Sildar found that this ring produced differing results; Sildar was quite pleased with his new "mutton chops" side burns, though Durial kept the ring in a pocket, in case he found a later use for it.
Though they were able to take down this massive threat by what felt like a hair's breadth, but the accomplishment gave them confidence that they would be victorious when they reached the castle.
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They approached the castle at dusk, the wind howling against the broken towers. A quick scan of the building revealed a concealed entrance obscured by a curtain on the north side of the structure. Droop advised them that the King's bedroom was in the northeast corner.
Sneaking in through the secret entrance, the plan was to go straight for King Grol. With Durial and Fleek in front, Raven and Lemon flanking just behind, and Eva and Lana in the back for ranged support. Droop took up a a lookout position in the rear.
They entered a hallway, and found a door to the east and a curtain to the south. Listening at the door to the northeast, Durial could hear two voices, one gruff and one soft, arguing over something. With a burst, he slammed open the door, and he and Fleek released readied crossbow shots into a large bugbear; both rogues then rolled back, allowing Lemon and Raven to stand before them. With a roar, King Grol picked up a large greataxe and charged, coming down on Raven with a mighty blow.
The other occupant of the room, a female drow in a slender dress, dashed out of sight into the north corner of the room.
The exchange between the King and the intruders went back and forth for a few seconds, when from dark shadows of the hallways, two hobgoblins seemed to appear out of thin air. Their fists and feet flurried in all directions, pelting Lemon and Raven as they fought in melee combat with the King.
Lana blinded one of the hobgoblins, while Eva, Durial, and Fleek brought down the other.
Slashing recklessly, King Grol's greataxe found purchase and knocked Raven to the floor, unconscious. Seizing the opening, Lemon brought her greatsword down upon the mighty bugbear, cleanly beheading him.
Eva magically healed Raven, who leapt to her feet, readying her maul to finish the final foe.
Sensing she was alone and in a bad situation, the final hobgoblin attempted to vanish into the shadows. [DM note: as she was blind and in a panic, rolled a d6 for direction, d4 x 5ft for distance.] As suddenly as she disappeared into the shadow, she reappeared falling 20 feet from the sky above.
Droop was unable to move past Lana, who purposefully blocked the doorway into the hall to protect the small goblin. In frustration, Droop dashed around to the south, coming up behind from the curtain covering the southern entrance to the hall. She was just in time to see the falling hobgoblin hit the ground at her feet, who having survived the fall, did not survive Droop's maul to her head.
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Both were stumbling and wavering, their eyes half shut, holding their hands to each other's shoulders.
Thinking quickly on her feet, Raven cast Detect Evil and Good.
[DM note: rule of cool, just roll with it.]
With a commanding "imposter," the false Gundren knew the ruse had failed. Quickly, it shifted in form. The "dwarf," clothes and all, melded into a blue skinned form and back into her "drow" form in an instant.
The female "drow" pulled a potion from a side pouch that it wore, and with a swig, she became translucent and floated upwards towards a hole in the ceiling, as if she were made of steam. [Gaseous Form, grants fly speed 10 feet.]
Durial reacted by casting Ray of Frost, hitting the cloud of "drow" [reducing her speed to 0].
Calling down a Moonbeam through the broken castle roof, Eva caught the dispersed "drow" mid-air.
The radiant light revealed her true form. Though she was translucent as mist due to the potion, they could see the doppelganger for what it was. Blue skin, faceless, and with a fresh wound from a rapier that had just begun to heal from the night before.
An inhuman scream could be heard, but just barely audible, as the moonbeam dispersed the doppelganger evenly upon the floor and walls in a blue spray of steaming inhuman blood.
Linene's cousin Robert was avenged.
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Gundren was now stable, sleeping heavily on Grol's bed mat; Sildar volunteered to stay by his side.
The enemies defeated, they began a search of the castle. Starting with the eastern side, they checked a double-door to the south of the hall. Noting the doors were bolted from the outside, they approached with caution.
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