The party takes a short rest after besting the ogres then continues on towards Cragmaw Castle (at least that’s what they think). It turns out that Mystic gets them a bit lost. Hours go by and darkness settles in before they manage to finally find the castle. It’s in ruins. What used to be tall towers are nothing but crumbling heaps of stone. It looks like all that’s left, mostly, is the first floor. The rest of the castle has collapsed in on itself. The party decides to make camp for the night and take on the castle in the morning.

As they are making camp, Dare starts to feel strange — exhausted, lethargic — a feeling worse than any battle fatigue he’s ever felt. The party notices the change in him as well. Mystic asks if he’s okay, telling him that he looks pale. He swears he’s fine, but there’s no denying it: Something hit him hard. He wonders if its an effect of the red grain he snorted or maybe the tattoo. He does the best he can to shrug it off and goes to sleep.

Cragmaw Castle

The next morning, they approach the castle. Besides the guttering torches, there are no signs of life. Dare lifts Mystic on his shoulders near an arrow slit to take a listen. She’s only able to remain there for a moment before losing her balance. Dare helps her up from the ground. She tells the rest of the party that she saw an altar and heard the sound of chanting coming from within. They decide to walk the perimeter of the dilapidated castle, heading East. They see several more arrow slits as they quietly round the castle. Unfortunately, they’re not quiet enough. Mercarri suddenly feels a bolt of pain strike her shoulder. She looks at it, surprised to see the shaft of an arrow sticking out. They quickly take cover and continue South. There, they meet an angry hobgoblin with a longsword. Dare heads the charge followed by Lilvari, Mystic and Mercarri. The hobgoblin gets a good shot in at Dare. The others back him up, fighting the hobgoblin with an assortment of attacks. Soon another hobgoblin is just inside the door, coming to the aid of his friend. Lilvari charges the first hobgoblin, Curse Bringer at the ready, but before landing the blow she utters a spell. As the sword cuts down the hobgolblin, there’s a green flash of light. Green fire erupts on the hobgoblin then immediately jumps to the other one.  It lets out a howl. Caught off-guard, the hobgoblin can’t defend itself against Curse Bringer. With one last strike of her sword Lilvari bests the beast.

Lilvari and Dare start into the castle. The others are close behind. While still outside, they heard voices and the clattering of cutlery coming from the arrow slits above them. They couldn’t tell how many were in that room, but it’s more than a few, and they know they’ll have to be quiet. Once inside, Lilvari passes the door leading to that room from which the noise comes from and continues North along a narrow corridor, past mounds of rubble. There’s another door further ahead. She looks back for Dare, wanting to quietly tell him of her find. Dare is poised against the first door, his eyes screwed up in concentration as he tries to figure out who or what is behind the door. It isn’t long before Lilvari sees the familiar look of annoyance spread across his face. She has a brief moment to think to herself that there’s no way possible he’s going to do what she thinks he’s going to do. But he does. Dare turns the knob and heads inside.

Dare finds himself in a large room filled with several long wooden tables and a little more than half a dozen goblins. They are sitting at the tables — eating, drinking, making merry. They all stop and look at Dare. The room is silent. “Um,” Dare says, “Can any of you tell me where the shitter is?”

One of the goblins shouts out something, and the rest jump up, ready to attack. Dare quickly leaves the room and heads towards Lilvari. She’s already started towards him and can see the number of goblins inside. Looks like sneaking through the ruin is out of the question. They ready themselves for a fight. Mercarri and Mystic hurry in as a flood of goblins pour out the door. Lilvari and Dare  stand ready to ambush the goblins. As the first one makes his way out, Dare slices at it with Talon. There’s a feeling of warmness in his chest, like he can do no wrong, and he embraces it and adds its strength to his swing. Talon finds its mark. Then it happens — suddenly there’s a chill in Dare’s chest, radiating outward from the strange hand-shaped bruise. He looks into the goblins horrible eyes and suddenly is terrified. Dare lets out a yelp and tries to back away.

Mystic, meanwhile, raises her arms and a pale shaft of light bolts appears on the ground. It looks calm, cool, but it’s affects are anything but. A goblin who has just left the room and entered the area where the light shines starts to sizzle and burn. It screams out in pain before falling to the ground. From inside the room, a voice yells out, “Go around the other side!”

The party takes defensive positions at the door to the north as the goblins try to surround them. They can hear goblins coming from the door further to the north. With Mystic’s moonbeam trained at the southern door, they manage to control the flow of goblins. Goblins come from the northern door, but the party lies in wait. Despite his terror, Dare manages to fight. Together with Lilvari, Mystic and Mercarri, they cut through any goblins that come through. Mystic moves her moonbeam to the northern door where it catches an unwary goblin by surprise. It withers and burns and falls to the floor. Dare yells out that he needs a break. Lilvari tells him not yet, that they need to slay the last goblin first. Mystic who can see further south than the rest shout back that there are more coming. With a violent wave of her hand, she sends the moonbeam south to the first goblin it sees. As soon as the goblin is bathed in its light, there’s a sickly sweet aroma of charred flesh. Its skin sizzles and burns and it falls to the ground, dead. Quickly, Mystic pulls back her arms again and releases a bolt of light. It sails over the scorched goblin and connects with the next one in line. The light engulfs it, killing it instantly. Just how many more goblins are left? The party will find out shortly because the sound of more footsteps are hurrying in their direction.