Exploring the Keep, Continued

The party ventures up the stairs to find two locked doors. The south door has large gouges in the door, and there are continual flame torches on the walls. The party sees shadows dart around in the shadows, they appear similar to large dogs with antennas. Upon further entry into the room a library is discovered. The party encounters the creatures, which are rust monsters. While the party does defeat the monsters, Raziel and Hove’s armor is damaged. After the defeat of the monsters Raziel no longer feels tired. He has been healed for damage the sword took from him and the sword collected life from the slain monsters. The library is meticulously carved and filled with books written in Isril. The metal on the books is missing, leaving them in a fragile state. The stone floor gives way to a wooden floor that echoes. Chairs and small tables litter the area, and the room flows into a larger library with books that appear to be far older. Here there is a vaulted ceiling, which is filled with the branches and leaves of a tree. It’s a laris tree – very much alive, but muted. The tree feels familiar to Violet.

The books here contain information pertaining to the Blackburns, Isril history, magical research, Kurzen’s Beckoning, and the creation of the scepter and magical rings. Some specific family history, like that related to Gwen and Mav, is missing.

The party hears the soft cry of a small creature in the next room along with the movements of a larger creature. There are four large owlbears and a smaller owlbear within. There is a large crack in the wall, and a small one that leads outside. Whatever was previously in the room has been destroyed, and it is now an owlbear den. In the northeast corner of the room there is the small owlbear and an egg. The northern passage, which leads to the former hole in the keep, is rubble. West is the cliff face at ground level – rubble is moved to temporarily block this off.

Additional rooms on this level are:

–A magical laboratory containing all magical things the party could need, save for an alchemy station.

–A personal library depicting history of Blackburn family members.

A staircase leads to a secret panel in the floor under the armory (the normal entrance to the basement of the keep) – the party shifts a large pile of armor off the door.

Loot

• 1 baby owlbear
• 1 owlbear egg