The Keep…we’re here for a while.

The party remains in Anchorage for two weeks to buy supplies and tie up loose ends before moving on to their keep.

Ward, a member of the Vanguard Company, provides the party with an estimate for repairs to the keep. It will be 25,000gp to fix the hole, add new walls, install new eldric devices, and to replace the four floors of the structure. The entire renovation will take six to twelve months. Ward will be paid extra for his discretion. They also discuss the possibility of setting up a resonance tower and are told that there is a CORE facility in White Breath to the north, but the city was destroyed. There is one in Dragonheart, and one in a city between Anchorage and Dragonheart.

Welcome Home!

Upon reentering the keep’s grounds the party notices a small makeshift worker’s camp outside of the keep. The ildera are working on the curtain wall surrounding the keep. The party is left to themselves when entering. Ward updates the party on the changes taking place, and he mentions that he noticed footprints not belonging to the workers scattered around the keep. There is some food missing as well — enough to feed a solitary person.

The party settles into the keep. It’s in roughly the same shape as it was when they found it. At first they are unable to find the books they found previously, but later they locate the books stacked in a corner of Gurt’s old room.

The po…water hole.

After settling in, the party wastes no time exploring the hole in the middle of the keep. Within the hole there is water around two feet deep. The first layer have frozen, but it flows underneath the layer of ice. There is rubble scattered at the bottom of the hole, and openings leading further north and south.

The party follows the northern passage, which reveals a manmade stone hallway that is flooded with a foot of water. The halls are old and span multiple floors; there must be an entrance somewhere the party has not located. The rooms that were stacked above and below were made of bedrock, and the higher floors crashed down when the hole was made. The water surrounding the party is not natural — it seems to be coming from somewhere.

The party continues on, even though they feel unsettled. They soon find themselves in a room that was used for burial purposes. They also find gray oozes that appear to have cleaned out the poop. Moving on, the party locates a mausoleum for the Blackburns that contains a secret door. The room is empty, but the hatch is trapped. After Veil disables the trap, they find a sarcophagus inside the secret room that is covered in gems. It is for Lesigha Blackburn. The sarcophagus is adorned with the Lord sigil. This sigil in particular is known to only appear on the Stardragon family of Vavaire. Lesigha’s death appears to have taken place in the year 3588 — she was 41 at the time. Various loot is found in this room, most noticeably a gem-encrusted tiara.

Loot

• 3 vials of Insanity Mist  (Ana)
• Headband of Vast Intelligence, +4 with Linguistics as a skill focus (Violet)
• Gems totaling 5,000gp