Five days later, late in the afternoon of 3 Rhaan, the island came fully into view. The air was bitterly cold, and snow was falling on the deck of the ship. Ominous peaks loomed over the sea and the boat. As they pulled into shore, they would see a figure standing on the beach, dressed in white furs and glowering. The pirates began to quickly unload the cargo. The party could see way up in the hills a huge castle, painted white. Tselem had heard stories, more rumors really, about this castle - it was named Illmarrow Castle, and the rumors were all bad (though Tselem was not inclined to believe them).
The pirates had also been transporting another passenger, a Goliath bard named Hapselmath. He tagged along with the party as they went ashore, and asked the man on the beach if he might come see the castle. The man, whose name was Svern, scowled and said they didn't usually welcome visitors. But Hapselmath was able to charm him into grudgingly agreeing to let him and the party come up.
Other figures had now come down from the castle, pulling sleds to load up the cargo. They had the same dress and expression Svern: stern, covered in furs, and kind of ugly. The pirates took their payment and quickly went back to the ship. The inhabitants of Illmarrow Castle began making their way back up to the keep with their supplies, not paying much attention to their visitors.
When the party arrived in the castle, they found it a somewhat dank place, though certainly warmer and drier than the wind and storm outside. Azeri was the first to realize that there was something a little off about these people - they seemed a little inbred, truth be told. Maak Tol was unbothered by the oddness of the place, though, and managed to secure himself a tankard of ale. Azeri's fox huddled close to her for warmth.
Tselem was curious to know if there was any magic in this castle that he could investigate. He quickly found out that there was, and not the kind of magic that he wanted to find. Poking around in the lower levels, he found evidence of some very dark necromancy. Upon coming back up, he and Taumir were feeling more ill at ease about this place.
Before they had much time to dwell on the matter, though, there was a commotion, and the doors to the castle were thrown open. In stormed a giant! Taumir was able to recognize the creature right away - it was a Death Giant, an evil being that harvested and enslaved souls! Some of these captive souls he could see hovering in a shroud of evil magic that wrapped around the giant. Behind the giant were several other creatures they couldn't quite see, but quickly got a good view of as they squirmed past the brute, even crawling up the walls! These ghoulish figures snapped their teeth and scratched at the stones, trying to get to the people within. The inhabitants of the castle ran for their lives, screaming.
Tselem took some more productive action. He cast Stormcage in the narrow entryway to the castle where the giant and his allies were. The magical lightning cage slammed into the approaching monsters, killing most of the ghouls in one go! The giant waded through it though and began to attack them, followed by another figure. This figure looked male, and human, but it was hard to tell - it was dressed from head to foot in robes, its hands were covered in gloves, and its face was covered by a dark mask that showed none of the features behind it.
A fairly one-sided battle ensued. The figured turned out to be a powerful sorcerer, and the giant had some mighty attacks of his own, but the party stood their ground firmly. Hapselmath had a bag of alchemical weapons, and while those didn't do much, he was able to cast a spell that confused and distracted the giant and the sorcerer from making powerful strikes. The giant, true to its evil nature, waded into the fray, and took the bulk of the hits, and soon lay bleeding to death on the ground. The party then turned their attention to the sorcerer.
The sorcerer proved fairly resilient, but the party wasn't worried. As the battle continued, however, Azeri noticed that the giant was still not dead. In fact, she could see that some of the soul shards were disappearing, sustaining the giant's life even as it slipped towards death. Out of concern for the trapped souls, Azeri rallied her allies and they began to lay down blows on the giant again. Only two shards still remained when the giant's life finally left him. They hadn't been able to save the other souls from being consumed, but these last two were freed.
The sorcerer by this point was struggling to stand. From behind his mask and under his robes maggots were leaking out and falling the ground - he seemed to be bleeding them instead of blood. The party was grossed out but did not hold back. Azeri finally tired of it all and let forth a blast of radiant light against the undead monster, which finally brought it down and dragged its corpse over to her feet.
Tselem finally recognized the sorcerer for what it was - a Larva Marge, a necromancer whose spirit reinhabited his own maggot-ridden corpse after death. He realized that the residues of necromancy he'd seen in the 'basement' was his work. As this coprse lay at their feet, gasping out its last bit of unlife, the party asked him why he had come here. He grabbed Azeri's robe and said, "These people are cannibals."
Rewards
- 21,000 XP each. Time for everyone but Maak Tol to level up!
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