After a hard five day ride, Eriumir, Uruk, and Xirex arrived at the Swinging Barrel, a wilderness outpost and lodge that served the hunters and trappers in the woods west of Battledale. There, they rested and equipped for their foray into the nearby Hellgate Keep. Not long after their arrival at the Barrel, the group met several other adventurers headed for the Keep - the paladin Terun, the elven mage Turambar, the dwarven warrior Valerius, and his friend the elven archer Qirath. Despite their initial personalitiy differences, these seven decided to band together into the loosely organized "Company of the Swinging Barrel."
Early the next morning, the Company set out for Hellgate Keep, the stories of the tavern patrons fresh in their minds. After crossing rolling terrain for several miles, they eventually discovered a hidden vale, where stood the ruins of Hellgate Keep. The ancient fortress was now mostly rubble, overgrown by moss and vines. Upon seeking entrance, the party encountered a force of treants who claimed stewardship of the Keep and the surrounding lands. The party was warned against harming the area wildlife, then were released to their own fates.
Beyond the ruined gatehouse, the devastation inflicted upon Hellgate Keep became apparent: A huge, pyramid-shaped hole - Grintharke's Gulch - had opened where the Keep once stood. Seeking an entrance into the lower dungeons, Turambar leapt into the Gulch, confident in his magic...only to discover the strange mystical properties of the place that prevented its use. Turambar fell, and lay broken and bleeding as his companions sought a safer way down to rescue him. Their search led to a cellar stair that descended into the lower levels, and into the unknown...
Descending the dark spiral staircase, the party came to a wall of impenetrable blackness. Scouting ahead, Valerius disappeared into the curtain, only to discover an ambush of orc-like creatures waiting on the far side. The battle was quick and intense, but not all together graceful, and the orc-things were dispatched in due course. Based of the nature of the ambush and the hardiness of their foes, the party decided to attempt a rescue of Turambar from above, as opposed to finding an easier passage in the halls below. After several feet of rope and some expert climbing by Xerix, the gold elf mage was recovered from the side of the gulch and healed into something resemblin ghis former self.
Rested and relatively whole, the party again descended the stairwell, arriving at the first of what would be several dungeon levels. Their path led them through an endless parade of large galleries whose purpose was long since forgotten. Not finding anything of interest or threat, the party began to grow confident (and slightly careless) and proceeded to enter a dark room off another spiral stair. Here, the ranger's torch began to sputter, when suddenly the flames leapt off the brand, taking the form of a small cat like being of fire. While the rest of the party pondered over this, as well as the arrival of several large snakes, Val pulled back a curtain to reveal another orcish ambush. Once again, the sounds of battle echoed throughout the halls of Hellgate Keep. Though this battle, too, was quick, one orc managed to escape, descending down the staircase to warn his brethern below...
Continuing their explorations, the party ascended to a cellar room that had once lay beneath one of the upper towers (now in ruins). Gathering up mis-matched armor and weapons, the group descended again, bypassing an entrance to what they guessed to be sewers and descending to the level beneath what (for reference) was dubbed the "fire-cat" room. There, nearly a hundred feet below, the party's scouts discovered another chamber; moving invisibly, Turambar investigated, revealing another ambush that was lying in wait. While the party discussed their options on the stairs, a great commotion rang out below them, for the orcs waiting in ambush suddenly found themselves under attack by a ghostly apparition. Screaming the name "Marnath!" in fear, the orc's morale broke, and several of them fled into the lower levels while the party turned to confront the spectre. The undead creature extended its chill touch towards Uruk, who felt his life drain away at the contact. Immersed in chaos, the party haphazardly fled east, following a panic-gripped Xerix. Though they outdistanced the spectre, a turn of a corner brought them face to face with a second apparition. Eriumir, Valerius, and Terun stood their ground, while Uruk and Turambar attempted to break into a nearby crypt to possibly find an escape route. Xerix, lost in the chaos, reversed his direction, disappearing down the far west hall...
Fighting valiantly, the party drove the second spectre back, at last finding a small reprieve. Turambar had examined the crypt and discovered a glowing golden warhammer - which proceeded the chime with temple bells whenever anyone touched it. Leaving it behind, other crypts were explored, before someone noticed that Xerix was missing. Eriumir, Val, Uruk, and Qirath set off to find their missing companion, eventually tracking him down the far west then southern hallways. Right where the trail ended, however, they were met with a deadly surprise - the spectre Marnath, the undead form of an ancient Aschali wizard, attacked with his two servants. Eriumir called out to Turambar and Terun for help, then drew the sword Eldritch and began to fight for his life. Conventional weapons proved futile, but the magical blades of Eirumor and Val kept the spectres at bay. Just then, Turambar rounded the far corner and, seeing the spectres about to overwhelm his companions, let loose with a fireball spell into the corridor. Flames exploded outward, and Marnath's rage echoed down the tunnel. His magical elven spellblade flashing, Eriumir dispatched Marnath, banishing him and his servants from the world of the living forever.
With the tunnel collapsing around them (thanks to the mage's fireball), the heroes escaped back to the North to regroup. There, in the room off the stairs, they found signs of a battle; apparently, Terun had encountered several more of the orcs - many of which now lay dead in the halls. But the paladin was no where to be found, and only a trail of spilt blood was left to suggest that he had been wounded, captured, and dragged into the depths of the Keep. Weakened, the party retired into a secured crypt, where they rested, healed, and shared tales about their quests. Uruk revealed the story of the lost Ba'alstones, and of the warrior Leif Treadwell who had last possessed them. An agreement was reached to work together towards finding the Stones, as well as helping each other come out alive. To this end, the party rose after several hours and descended the northern stairwell to its conclusion...
At the bottom of the stair, the party found themselves in an ancient hall. Torches illuminated a large room and a southern passage that led off deeper into the Keep. An eastern door was pushed open enough to allow access to what appeared to be a series of damp, natural caves. Choosing to go South, the party cautiously advanced into a large gallery. There, elven funerary statues watched in attendance over several darkened alcoves. As the thief moved to investigate, he found the hallway was not empty - a human woman, wounded, lay towards the end of the hall. But when the party went to offer their help, a deadly trap was sprung - oil spilled from the alcoves, just as the torches flared and sparked, igniting the entire floor. The 'statues' were revealed to be orcs, hidden by illusion. As the party leapt to their own defense, the human woman suddenly grew large batwings and rose into the air! Things were starting to look grim...The orc creatures were having no trouble with the flames, and the party found themselves being corralled into one of the alcoves by the burning oil. Val and Quraith fought bravely, but both began to falter under the greater numbers of their foes. The demon woman used her dark magic to drain away Xerix's strength, and the shaman collapsed to the stone floor. Turambar, invisible and riding the currents of magic through the air, found that the demon woman was immune to his magic. Eriumir and Uruk managed to fall back to a better position, dragging the cat man with them, but then Turambar dropped a large curtain of darkness over the battle, hoping to win himself and his companions a few moments to regroup. But just as he cast his spell, the demoness called forth a massive wall of ice to seal half the party into an alcove while the orcs descended upon the other half with nets. As the ice began to form, though, Eriumir called forth the power of the sword Eldritch, and the ice and the darkness were dispelled. The veil of magic lifted to reveal a dark scene - Val, Qirath, and Turambar were entangled in nets, and being hauled off to the South. Seeing no recourse, Eriumir offered up a surrender...but suddenly a chorus of whispering voices filled his head, telling him to run. Without hesitation, the ranger (dragging the confused half-orc thief) raced off back to the North, escaping into the caves...
Things were looking bad. Terun, Valerius, Turambar, and Qirath had all been captured, and were being held in the main audience hall of the orc's leader - a demonic-looking man named Kaanyr Vhok. Meanwhile, Eriumir and Uruk, seeking refuge in the northern caves, had stumbled across an entity of vast evil - a tentacled, writhing mass of pulsing flesh that rose out of the darkness to demand their cooperation in its goal of revenge against Vhok.
But all of this was unknown to the simple catman Xerix, whose attentions were focused not on his companions' plights but on the five orc guards that currently were blocking his path. Calling upon the spirits of his ancient totems, Xerix leapt into battle with a warrior's fury, surprising his opponents and catching them off-guard. After a short, frenzied battle, two orcs were dead and another had run off for help. Seizing on his foes' indecisive caution, the catman followed his companions before him and fled into the complex of caves. After wandering a short while, Xerix found Eriumir and Uruk, who proceeded to inform him that the Putrid Dark God was not going to Destroy Them All, but had instead given them a quest - recover the companion blade to a silver longsword that Uruk now carried. Only with the two blades together could they have a hope of defeating Kaanyr Vhok and rescuing their companions.
Meanwhile, as the ranger, thief, and shaman were receiving their quest, Turambar was bargaining for his freedom with the current Lord of Hellgate Keep. Weaving a delicate tapestry of lies and false promises, the mysterious elven mage managed to convince his captor that he could be trusted, and so was then released with the order to steal the sword Eldritch, a weapon that Kaanyr Vhok and his consort seemed to recognize. Aliisza, the demoness, took interest in Terun, and had him brought back to her private chambers were she began to work her corruptive influence on him, seeking to shatter his holy vows. Valerius, was removed from his cage, and forced to fight for his life in an impromptu arena, where a large orc wielded the dwarf's own axe against him. But the dwarven warrior's battle-honed skills won out over the over-confident orc, and the combat ended with the surprised orc's death. Partially freed from his bonds and wielding his own weapon, Valerius turned to face his next opponent - who turned out to be Terun. The paladin of Helm the Guardian was now being tricked into attacking his own companion. Valerius, however, never gave him the chance; circling around the arena, the dwarf suddenly threw himself into the crowd, breaking through and fleeing down a large flight of stairs. Terun gave pursuit, but the dwarf lost himself in the dark maze of stalagmites in the lower caverns. Angered by the dwarf's escape, Aliisza tried once more to break Terun's vows - this time by ordering that the paladin execute the elf, Qirath. Raising his sword above his head, Terun brought it down...upon the neck of a nearby orc guard, the paladin's morality overpowering the demoness's charm. As the demoness stared, fuming, Terun was relieved of his weapon and locked back into his cage.
Back in the northern caves, Turambar managed to find his other companions. Quickly he explained his escape, and openly revealed his charge to return with Eldritch before moon-set. After some discussion, it was agreed to try and locate the second silver sword and try an assault upon Vhok and his soldiers. Using his magic, Turambar was able to sense the location of the second blade, to the south and several levels above them. Sneaking back to the spiral staircase, they found it unguarded, and ascended back into the catacombs. There, Xerix called the spirits, and a path through a maze of secret doors was revealed, leading them to a large opened tomb. Moving inside, they headed towards a set of large doors to the south, when suddenly two glowing points of red light shone from an alcove to the left of the door. With a puff of brimstone, the ranger, the mage, and the shaman were gone, leaving Uruk alone in the tomb. A second set of lights appeared opposite the first, and two black robed figures emerged from the shadows, their death-like voices ordering the thief to leave...
Things were definitely looking bad.
Somewhere during the course of the expedition, things had taken a very bad turn for the worse. As Uruk the thief stood alone in the antechamber to the Sacred Tomb, he figured it was somewhere around the time that the paladin Terun had entered the Swinging Barrel Inn. Retreating from the shrouded undead that had annihilated his companions, Uruk headed out into the main hallway, and began a systematic search of the surrounding tombs, seeking a hidden entrance into the guarded crypt.
What Uruk didn't know was that his companions had not been destroyed, but merely transported away by the guardians' arcane powers. High atop the plateau, Turambar and Xerix appeared in the remains of an old tower. Finding themselves alone - but reasonably safe, for the moment - they set up a small camp to rest and formulate their next plan.
Across the Gulch, the ranger Eriumir re-entered the fallen city after being magically sent to the gatehouse. Without wasting time, he quickly descended into the lower levels, just barely avoiding detection by the demoness Aliisza and her minions. Navigating his way past traps and catacombs, Eriumir eventually picked up the trail, and headed down into the depths of the caverns. There, the voices of the Dark Entity spoke to him again, and the ranger sought out the being to hear more of its urgent plan...
Down in the depths below the throneroom, Valerius moved through the chambers of stone, evading the orc-beasts that were searching for him and seeking a way to free his friends from the chamber above...
Far below the resting mage and shaman, half again as far down as the searching thief, several hundred feet south of the spelunking ranger, and almost directly above the sneaking dwarf, Terun and Qirath sat bound in their cage, watching the forces of Hellgate Keep prepare for war. Then, something strange happened...One of the orc sentries arrived to relieve his companion in guarding the cages. Instead of taking his post, however, the newcomer spoke to Terun in a strange reverberating voice, telling him to get his weapons and fight as the orc opened the cage and released the paladin from his bonds. Suddenly, the chamber erupted in chaos, as several large trolls - led by the ranger Eriumir - charged into the throneroom, throwing themselves at the assembled forces. Retrieving his gear and freeing Qirath, Terun took up Eldritch as Eriumir charged the Throne of Bone upon which Kaanyr Vhok was frantically shouting orders. The battle was hard, but the combined efforts of the three adventurers and their troll allies won through the orcish throng, finally gaining the throne. There, Vhok's personal elite bodyguard came to their lord's defense. Proving to be much tougher than their fallen comrades. Eriumir broke through, and faced off with Vhok himself, only to be beaten back. The orcs and their leader began to close in...
Above in the catacombs, Uruk had failed in finding another entrance into the tomb. Desperate and almost out of time, he tried again, seeking to foil the guardians' magic. Instead of magically transporting him away, however, the guardians attacked savagely, severely wounding the thief. As the shrouded skeletons came for him, Uruk threw himself against the doors to the inner tomb; they opened just as one of the guardians struck him, sending him flying into the chamber beyond. There, a thick layer of dust covered a vast assortment of glittering treasure and undisturbed artifacts. As the guardians closed in, Uruk scrambled for his sword - and found the remains of a fallen warrior on the ground, the companion silver sword clutched in his bony grasp. Uruk snatched the second sword, and, as the skeletal guardians fell upon him, brought the two notched, silver blades together triumphantly...
Meanwhile, atop the plateau, Turambar awoke to discover a search party of men and orcs working their way towards the tower where he and Xirex rested. Deciding not to take any chances, the mage simply tossed another fireball into their midst and sat back to watch the explosion. The men suffered the worst, but the orcs again seemed immune to the inferno. The mage then used his magic to cause the ground to be slippery, sending the orcs sliding into the yawning gulch. Xerix attacked, killing the surviving human priest before he could used his spells against them. The battle quickly over, the two began to investigate the gulch, when suddenly they found themselves surrounded by armored orcs - accompanied by Aliisza, the demoness. Instead of attacking, however, the demoness offered Turambar and Xerix an alliance - she would reward them if they helped her kill Kaanyr Vhok, who had become too insane to rule the Scoured Legions. Offering up her elven spellsword to Turambar, the demoness opened a dimension door and stepped through, followed by the mage, the shaman, and her guards...
Down in the throneroom, the battle was coming to a head. Orc bodies were strewn about, but those remaining - along with the might of their demonic leader - were proving too much. Suddenly, a door opened in the back of the hall, and Valerius emerged, hurtling his battle-axe through the air. Another orc fell, but Eriumir was still unable to break through Vhok's defenses. Suddenly, from high above, a whirring noise was heard - like the sound of a thousand bees descending upon a single flower - and Vhok checked his killing stroke, distracted. As the noise ended, and the Lord of Hellgate Keep turned back to his prey, a writhing darkness engulfed the throne. Tentacles, bearing eyes and hideously fanged maws, bore down on the demon, wrapping him up and tearing at his flesh. The party stood, stunned, as Vhok was lifted up towards the dark beast's center, suspended like a gruesome marionette with strands of darkness for strings. A new Lord of the Keep assumed the throne.
As the party gathered together, a rift in the darkness heralded the arrival of Turambar, Xirex, and the demoness Aliisza. Seeing the writhing mass of darkness and its new puppet, Aliisza cried out in anger - and then pain, when Turambar stabbed her between her wings with her own sword - revenge for striking him earlier. After much debate, the Dark Entity agreed to let the party go, considering their help in overthrowing Kaanyr Vhok. As the party began to exit, though, Turambar - seeking one of Vhok's weapons that was now gripped by a black tentacle - activated Mythanmar's Orb, a powerful artifact that Terun had been sent to use to seal away the evil of Hellgate's Keep. The Orb suddenly began to expand, trapping anyone who was not fast enough within an impenetrable sphere. The party ran, gaining the stairs to the surface, while Turambar made a failed attempt for the demon's scepter before finally escaping down into the depths below the throneroom...
As they ascended, Eriumir suddenly stopped, telling the others that he was going to try and find Uruk. Heading into the catacombs, the ranger plunged into the darkness of the secret passage. The others continued their ascent, but Xerix decided to stay with the big woodsman in trying to find their friend. As they moved through the twisting corridor, the blue plane of light of the Orb grew up through the floor, passing through them and continuing to expand outward. At last they came to the Sacred Tomb where Uruk had last been seen, only to make a terrible discovery - the half-orc thief had unknowingly used the Shattering Swords of Coronel Ynoleth against the crypt's guardians. The spinning shards of the blades had destroyed the two guardians, but had consumed the poor thief as well. Nothing remained, save the two silver swords, whole again on the ground. As Eriumir gathered up the two devastating weapons, Xirex sought the spirits, and discovered that one of the crypt's guardians was still present, though was quickly passing. The guardian spirit welcomed Xirex as an elf-friend, but warned that he and the ranger were now trapped within the impenetrable confines of the Orb. Instead of giving up, however, the shaman asked the guardian spirit for a final request - to use its power to teleport both he and Eriumir to safety. With red glowing eyes, the skull of the crypt guardian used its arcane powers one final time...
Atop the plateau, Terun, Valerius, and Qirath emerged from the depths to find that the Orb's effects had finally begun to slow, creating a large blue dome of magic within the crevasse of the Gulch. As they watched, the treants from the gate emerged and moved to the cliff's edge, where they began to collapse the sides of the Gulch down atop the dome. Suddenly, a puff of brimstone heralded the arrival of Eriumir and Xerix, bearing the twin Shattering Swords of Coronel Ynoleth and the sad tale of Uruk's fate. Turambar was also missing, but the mage's resourcefulness was counted on to pull him through safely. So, with Gritharke's Gulch slowly collapsing behind them, the party headed off to find their mounts and seek answers to their persistent questions.