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Watches were kept but the night passed uneventfully. In the morning the lower floor of the inn was deserted - Of Earl, his Wife, Molly, even the fleas there is no sign. Jeffery also seemed to have vanished while the blacksmith was conspiciously avoiding the party. However Tabitha was still happy to see them and sell them anything they might need in the way of alchemical items which might damage a werewolf where mundane weapons were unlikely to suffice. The party loaded up on flasks of alchemists fire (and flasks of oil to make it go further), alchemists frost and acid. Some tanglefoot bags, caltrops and a smoke bomb rounded out what could be afforded.
Zedizir spotted that Tabitha included some extra items in the package - fragile-looking clay flasks baked around thin, silver-tipped spikes. These were very gently distributed around the group.
Anthony's trail was easy to follow, even had his destination not been guessed. Carriage wheels left a trail directly to the south through the canyon, up the other side along a freshly burned path through the overgrowth and across the plain beyond By the time night fell and the party opted to camp beside a clear but strangely silent water-hole Zedizir estimated they were only 12 hours behind. He also estimated about 12 others travelling with Anthony.
It was less than 12 hours travel the next day when the party came in sight of the ruined fortress of Gloom. Armoured figures stood "at guard" on the towers but showed no sign of reacting to the presence of the party or in fact any sign of life at all. Markos hazarded a guess that they might simply be scarecrows, a tactic the Kingsguard has used before. Nevertheless the party scouted around the ruin from a discreet distance before opting to enter through a gap in the wall. Zedzidir aimed his crossbow at the guard visible here - missing with the first bolt but scoring a direct headshot with the second. The target plummeted off the wall landing with a loud clattering on the far side. The plan was rapidly revised and the party made instead for the main gate from which attention might now be diverted.
As they stepped under the wall and into the "killing field" a portcullis dropped ahead of them and the drawbridge started rising behind. Thinking quickly Markos ran up the drawbridge and rode it to the top of the towers - the others meeting with mixed levels of failure at this were forced to drop back into the enclosed entryway. From the tower the inner courtyard was clearly deserted although dotted with empty tents; and the "sentry" merely a stuffed suit of armour. The drawbridge was being raised by two unmanned winches which radiated a strong aura of magic. Fortunatley the mechanism for the portcullis was simpler and able to be manipulated. [Is that right? I can't actually remember how we got everyone out of there.]
Cautious exploration began. In the courtyard was a broken catapault - but still primed and ready to fire. A great set of metal stocks to hold something incredibly large and with disproprtionately long arms had been set up to one side. Peering in through the main doors Markos saw the remains of the carraige and a giant-size figure sitting in a corner breathing heavily. Aiu meanwhile looked around the other side of the crumbling inner keep and spotted two more still, armoured, giant-size figures standing inside. As Markos came to find her (before disturbing someone it might be possible to negotiate with) the Detect Magic spell he was maintaining picked up a very strong source of necomantic energy from inside this side of the keep.
Again the party eschewed the main entrance for a crumbled hole - this time going all the way in. These figures animated as Aiu stepped up to the passageway where they stood and she was able to engage them in conversation in giantish - they claimed to be guardians sworn to prevent any more bloodshed in the Keep. The only other travellers they had seen recently were "an old man and his pet wolf". Across the hall from where they stood was a door, beneath which seeped a foul smell and behind which must be the magical source Markos detected. Beyond them was a door to the main hall. Granted passage, Aiu made for this door but Zenon, unable to retrain his curiosity pushed open the nearer.
On the far side was a small room containing a cauldron from which the foul smell bubbled and benches of various alchemical apparatus much of it in use. Sitting before the cauldron was an old man wearing stained alchemists robes and bearing a strong resemblance to the Anthony the party was familiar with. He laughed and spoke "I wondered how long it would take you to find me." In a brief conversation he revealed that his life was bound to the Scroll of the Undying which he had used centuries before. When Aiu asked "Are we going to have any trouble with you?" he laughed again and said "No I don't think so, but you might with the other me." - at which point a massive werewolf burst through the door from the main hall and badly savaged Aiu before any of the party had a chance to react.
As Aiu deperately broke away the two giant guardians reacted, grabbing the werewolf and throwing him through a crumbling but to-this-point intact stone wall into the courtward and bringing down much of the roof in the process. While the giants and werewolf struggled in the courtyard - joined by Zenon and a well-placed tanglefoot bag - Markos and Zedzidir healed Aiu then turned on this Anthony - Zezidir opening by pouring a flask of oil into the cauldron, ruining the brew and enraging the Alchemist.
Markos' attempt to bullrush the alchemist into his own cauldron failed, as did the alchemist's response-in-kind. But with a word of warning to Zedzidir (who wisely fled) Markos grabbed a foaming flask of liquid from nearby and added it to the mix which immediately started to hiss and boil vigorously. The alchemist also fled, knocking Markos' staff from his hands as he went; his new plan to overturn the cauldron onto their opponent foiled Markos grabbed up his staff and pursued, kicking the door closed behind him and, as his quarry had disappeared through a door into another room, pausing to extract one of the special "bombs" provided by Tabitha.
At this point the cauldron exploded, pulverising the area. Markos lost his grip on the bomb, desperately flicking it at the doorway as the walls and ceiling came down on top of him and only getting a little caught in the shrapnel blast. Still alive, inching forward beneath the rubble he was able to see that the alchemist had not been so lucky.
Meanwhile Aiu and Zenon were providing what assistance they could to the giants who, after spending a brief while pounding on the werewolf, had mannaged to get hold of two limbs each and were trying to tear it apart. As the alchemist died the werewolf also went limp, but only for a few moments. Then its eyes snapped open again and it somehow grew even larger, smashing the giants together and then into the walls before charging at the main gates - Zenon directly in it's path. As the beast bore down on him Zenon gripped firmly another of Tabitha's bombs, closed his eyes and thrust it straight up and into the creatures maw, all the way to the back of its throat. The jaws closed - then there was an explosion....
Zedzidir left where he had been helping dig Markos out of the rubble and rushed back to where Zenon was (barely) standing, staring in shock at the stump where his forearm had been, the now headless werewolf laying on the ground beside him. Rapidly applied healing sealed over the physical wound. It was over.
Or nearly over, because now Wrath was standing beyond the wall, his clutch of hatchlings behind him. Warily (and wearily) Markos addressed the wyven, asking if now that two of the Anthonys were dead had thier power over Wrath been broken and was it possible to part ways not-enemies. Wrath agreed, before directing the hatchlings to devour the werewolf corpse and himself consuming the alchemists body. As the wyverns settled in (the Drat deciding to stay with them also) the party took what they could carry and beat a hasty retreat before Wrath's uncommon good mood evaporated.
The trip back to town was uneventful and the welcome was boisterous. It was never clear how word of the events at Gloom had made it back to Brimsworth faster then the party themselves, apparently a stranger had passed trough bearing word but stories about who the stranger was all differed. Eventually the inn emptied and for a little while peace reigned.
Epilogue
"What they could carry" turned out to be the completed Scroll of the Undying (carefully wrapped in what was left of the alchemist's robe and secreted away in Markos' pack), several sets of masterwork armour (sold for a large amount of gold and a sturdy chest with a strong lock), and some dragon-hide sashes found by Aiu which the smith in town, now all friendly again, identified as marks of honour bestowed upon giants who had slain dragons and practically beyond price. He offered Aiu (and by extension the party) the pick of all the items in his store in exchange for one of the old and perished/fragile sashes. Aiu immediately retook the sword Daggakorian had been "borrowing" and whick the smith had claimed back on the partys return. Markos seriously considered replacing his sword-staff but in the end decided against it.
Instead the party settled for letters of introduction to three dealers in magical clothing and other items which might be of more general use. Aiu quietly kept aside the sash in good condition with the intent of later gifting it to the King.
A few days were spent recovering and patching up the inn (many lesser mending spells) and finding someone to lease it from the party. Then with the letters and the gold, and having purchased a mule and wagon to transport them, the party breathed a collective sigh of relief as they left the complications of Brimsworth behind and set out North, for the coast.
