Brunig takes the longsword and studies it. He remembers a warrior known as the Black Hawk who died fighting off the orcs that attacked through hidden caverns below his manor. His sword Talon must have been lost here and the nothic kept it. Brunig takes the sword to use.

The friends head through the west corridor and there is a room to the left and a hallway to the right. Brunig throws the door open and there are three bugbears here taunting a small goblin. The goblin passes out cold on the floor when he sees the warriors enter. A fight ensues and the bugbears are defeated, but the friends are badly wounded. They opt to rest here for a while to regain strength. As they begin to stir again, the goblin wakes up and says that his name is Droop. He’s afraid that the friends will hurt him, but they say that they came to save him and he seems happier. Droop says that he knows his way around the hideout and that a wizard is here who bosses around the men in red cloaks.

Nylian checks the room and the bugbears, and they have some treasure and an iron key. Droop says that the key will open all of the doors in the hideout.

The friends decide what to do next and Droop says that there is a room with Redbrands across the hall, this is where they normally congregate. The friends ask if they could get around that room and go to where the wizard is, and Droop leads them back through the crevasse room and then north.

The door to the wizard’s study is locked, but the key opens it. A rat scurries under the table as the friends enter. They check around and see lots of alchemical supplies and papers. They take some of the supplies and also a book in dwarvish that they can’t read.

In the next room they see a bed chamber and desk. Some valuables are found here and also a secret door that leads to another room. It was slightly open, which may mean that someone just escaped quickly.

Through the secret door, there is another corridor and a supply room. Next to this is an armory. Nothing much is found here.

To the south of the armory is a room with three sarcophagi and some dusty skeletons. As soon as the friends enter, the skeletons animate and attack them! After the skeletons are dealt with, the friends search the crypt and find three platinum rings.

+238xp, total 850xp