Menace in the Zarek Valley - Treasure Castle

As the adventuring party moves along the road towards Beverna, the old sage finds a reference to an ancient castle where powerful artifacts have been buried and sealed away in times past. Conveniently, Zyn comes along. According to his maps (stolen from his homeland), a family heirloom is buried somewhere... and he knows the approximate location. Could it be the same castle?
Yes. Yes it is.

======== DM SWITCH! ========

At this point I let Groin's player take over as DM.

======== DM SWITCH! ========

The adventurers reach a small hill with a well on top - it looks like this is the entrance on Zyn's map.

Unfortunately, many details have been lost. I do remember that the descent itself lasted quite a long time. We used ropes, fumbled climbing checks, fell against walls and the bottom of the well, etc. At least we found some light-emitting potions (for those of us who can't see in the dark).

Once we were all inside the well, we discovered an underwater tunnel. Being the most suited for traveling in the darkness, Zyn went ahead to scout the area. He got bit by electric eels on the way (the stuff you find living in underground wells!), but he did manage to climb out of the water on the other side, in a dungeon. Furthermore, he managed to cast Invisibility on himself before the two goblins noticed him.

(That is a marvelous dungeon, wouldn't you say?)

Scouting a bit around, Zyn then turned back to let the others know of the situation. The party came through in force, killing the goblin sentinels.



The notes lack any details, but I remember hearing sounds of battle from one side. Through cracks in the wall, we noticed two humans were holding back a horde of goblins. Obviously, we charged in. A huge fight ensued, and we Shatterred goblins left and right.

There were also some suits of armor that animated for no particular reason (that we noticed), but they never left their room, so a little maneuvering around made an escape possible.

Unfortunately, the two humans died before we could reach them. I mean, before we slaughtered all the goblins. Oh well.

There were also other hazards: loose rocks falling from the ceiling, which disabled at least one unlucky adventurer (though I can't remember who); and of course, having no natural light source meant Szivem was stuck in the dark at one point, with no one to help her out (except Zyn, of course, who did his best to support the party - I even did First Aid at some point).

After all threats were neutralized (or at least, escaped from), we moved along the dungeon, eager to explore.

We had one last fight with a band of goblins emerging from a hidden door. We discovered a magic book inside a forlorn altar. And we went through the secret door, uncovering a room filled with artifacts.

======== DM SWITCH! ========

I took over as DM again.

======== DM SWITCH! ========

The players had a bit of fun discovering which artifact was meant for whom. Yes, I did quite a lot of prep work, making something custom for each of them. Furthermore, the artifacts were able to "level up" along with the players, and so everyone now had "secondary objectives".