Into the Night's Eye

Expedition

The party makes their way through the Night's Eye Fortress to find the cause of the corrupted animals in the area and end up stumbling upon some darker machinations....

Having traveled a few hours outside of Trentenkirk the party encountered a large eagle patrolling the area of the fortress surrounded by a swarm of ravens, all with strange red crystalline feathers and glowing eyes. Recognizing the look of them as similar to that of the corrupted creatures described in town the party hunkered down in the brush to not be seen by the patrol and hatch a plan. Recognizing that the eagles large area and aerial abilities was not in their favor the group opted to cause a large distraction lighting the field aflame to coax the pack down to investigate and into their range. Once dispatching the patrol and avoiding the others nearby the party continued on to the main fortress itself.   Coming up the the fortress Ina'vi moved ahead to scout the area, but in turn alerted a number of corrupted wolves to their presence. Afterwards, Aegis recognized a marker within the stone as a sign that the magical wards in the Keep had been reactivated, warning the rest of the party to be careful. Once inside the group navigated various traps, setting off most of them, and observed a number of ghostly figures that seemed to be stuck in a loop of the past conflict that had descended on the location during The Calamity. However, even with setting off a number of the traps and enraging some of the ghostly tenants, the group managed to scrounge together a number of treasures both magic and mundane as well as discovered some of the history from before the Empire along with a number places of power.   Trying to navigate the Hall of the Triad, Ina'vi set off the defenses that had been left in place to protect refugees at that time and a number of great stone statues of the gods became active to protect the area from the intruders. Making a run for it after seeing the statues begin to move after them the group, exhausted and injured, decided to rest in the overgrown courtyard and wait for the Keep to reset itself. While in the courtyard however, Belomar found a ritually sacrificed woman assumed to be the one that had gone missing from town when the corrupted creatures attacked. Burying her in a shallow grave, the party rested only to be awoken by some kind of shadowy creature on the other side of the courtyard door. However, due to preventative thinking by Aegis and quick thinking by Ina'vi and Belomar, the creature was unable to get through to them and, after some time, left.   Morning broke and the group headed back into the Keep hoping that the man they were hunting, Martuun, was still there along with finally putting a stop to whatever was causing the corrupted creatures that seemed to be stemming from the place. As they entered back into the Keep however, Aegis caught sight of a number of shadowy wolf like creatures and backed the group out before being spotted. Setting a trap he hurled his monastery bell stone into the Hall of the Triad causing it to ring out drawing the creatures in to investigate. Setting off the trap that they had experienced the day prior, a number of the wolves were incinerated by the floor while the rest turned on the party. Without missing a beat though Aegis activated his Staff of Fury blowing them all backwards further into the room causing them to be burnt by the holy flames as well.   After dispatching the patrolling pack of wolves, the group went to taking another crack at the Hall of the Triad with Belomar and Seek managing to cross the defenses. As they finished crossing, Aegis spotted an ancient lever on the wall and Seek was able to deactivate the defenses for the rest of the party to navigate. Finding a couple of pristine items on the corpses of old members of the fort, the group pocketed them with the rest of the treasures found so far and moved on to a shadowy hallway.   At the end of the hallway the group found a man, also ritually sacrificed, and a brilliant gold door desecrated by the blood that seemed to be mark it in such a way as to break a seal that locked it. Peering into the room the group found the man they were hunting, Martuun, talking with a heavily armored man, Balazar, flanked by a large white wolf with three red eyes. Martuun handed over a leather bound tome while Balazar mentioned working with an old scientist named Albert and their over hunt for ancient artifacts of some kind. Recognizing the armored man, Ina'vi rushed headlong at him while he portaled away in shadows with the wolf at his side and disappeared while the rest of the group squared off against Martuun.   The battle against Martuun raged back and forth with him claiming that their souls will be taken by the Elder Eye. As battle unfolded, Aegis was shut down and Belomar was knocked unconscious sending wracking pain through Nox at the same time. Aided by a gnomish artificer, Babbit Hobsprocket, and the reappearance of Morgan, the group managed to defeat Martuun with a mighty crushing blow from Belomar while he cursed the child of Il'taab before dying. Hurt and exhausted, but alive, the group took a breather within the altar room examining its treasures and gaining control of a Shard of Yrdall, the sword Galadal.