We see above and ahead of us that there is a large terrace with two winding stairs leading up to it. At the end of the terrace there is a huge barred door. Along the wall we see guards on either side, but thankfully they don’t see us. We come down from the wall onto the terrace and see in front of us another wooden door. The more astute members of our party notice that it seems less sturdy than the previous door. Krodmich hacks through the door with his axe after a few minutes of trying. We see several guards in the door waiting to attack when we break through.

The Dwarves break down the door and rush into the room, engaging the soldiers. After a few minutes the soldiers are overwhelmed but one of the Dwarves falls. Krodmich is enraged and is barely held back from murdering the rest of them as they surrender. The remaining few tell us that they are mercenaries and are only doing what they were paid to do. We let them go after finding the key to a nearby door on one of the dead mercenaries, but Krodmich demands some retribution for the death of his friend and busts the woman’s kneecap with the flat of his axe.

We continue through the chamber’s door and see the throne room ahead of us. There are four guards surrounding the throne, upon which sits an female evil cleric. The cleric begins chanting and casts a spell at Sarthisis, which is unsuccessful. Everyone else including the Dwarves charge in and attack. Aliga quickly kills the cleric and the battle is soon over.

Sarthisis, still on fire from one of his spells, looks out the door ahead of us and sees the front of the castle. There are quite a lot of guards here, but they don’t seem to be looking in our direction. We decide to go upstairs instead, and see scores of diseased dead bodies here. In no room we visit can we find anyone alive. It seems that this floor is a guest level with 20 rooms total.

We continue back up the stairs and come into a smaller room. Two guards are in here and we attack them as well. It seems to be a barracks of some sort. We see in a side room that the key opens. Inside there are dozens of treasure chests which have been raided and are empty. On the other side of the large room is another hallway-sized room that holds quite a lot of weapons and armor. Some members of the party take short bows along.

We come up to the top of the stairs and see four guards in full plate and what looks to be the king standing at the rear of the room. He appears to have veins sticking out around his eyes and face, but they are greenish. He holds a huge jagged sword with unholy vines surrounding it from his arm. Josephus pushes towards the front of us and moves towards the king. Sarthisis casts a freezing bolt at the nearby guard. The rest of us move in to attack.

The king and Josephus begin to chant towards one another. Huge vines come from the king’s hands and envelop Josephus completely. Krodmich slays one of the guards and his armor falls apart, a green goo spreading slowly from the spot. Suddenly a bluish glowing blade protrudes from the vines that cover Josephus. At the same time the king spits a huge green ball of phlegm at Porodo, but it misses. He turns towards Eilenos and from his hand shoots a vine which wraps itself around Eilenos’ throat; he passes out from the pain. Porodo immediately shoots an arrow at the king and the vine retracts.

Josephus emerges from the cocoon, wielding his blue-bladed sword of energy. He strikes the king and blue light floods the whole room. The king screams out in pain. Porodo rushes over to Eilenos and begins to heal him. The king strikes Josephus with a crushing blow. From behind Sarthisis and his lizard attack the king and he drops to the ground. Josephus comes towards the felled man and begins chanting. A huge ball of phlegm comes from his mouth and he passes out. A few moments later he opens his eyes again and they are unclouded. Josephus appears very tired after this ordeal and must sit down. He explains very plainly to Randar what has happened and he seems very overwhelmed.

We look down from the tower and see the river on fire and much confusion in the fighting as Galignan’s control has been removed from the guards. The king looks at us for some answers. He says that a strange hooded figure visited the castle and brought news of ill times on the horizon. This is the last thing that he remembers.

Krodmich looks at the sword the king was using, and it bears the insignia of a dwarven smith named Thalgus. The sword is called “Plague Raiser.” Krodmich remembers that Falgus often works with an Elvish enchanter named Aranthil to make his weapons which are very powerful. Since this is the first evil weapon Krodmich heard they have made, he suspects that they have been turned by Galignan or Necros himself. We must make visiting them a priority after our trek to the south where we seek the Jungle Protector.