Gordon's Keep-- rumors, info and adventuring notes

This thread will be a place where you can collect, post and consult the information you gather while learning about and exploring Gordon's Keep. I'll leave it up to the players to take notes and make posts about what the party collectively know about this location. These notes may also include 'hand-drawn' maps. Posting screen shots of the dungeon is out of bounds.

I view it as being supplementary to the journals you're keeping. I envision your journals as being a private record of what has happened during your adventuring career. Perhaps the journal would be what is found on your person should you not return from the wilderness alive. If you see them as the same thing, somehow, let me know.

NOTE: You can't post here unless your character makes it back to civilization, in this case, Alba. If you die in the dungeon, your information stays with you. However, whatever you post here is considered common knowledge for future adventurers to pick up on.

I am going to let the four current adventurers summarize the rumors and info you heard on your trip to Alba. In the event that your party learns something about Gordon's Keep in Alba in between sessions, I'll post here for everyone. If your PC happens to get private information about Gordon's Keep, you may post as you wish.

Rumors heard on the way to Alba :

- Gordon's Keep is located near the village of Gordon. This village is/was founded by the People of the Rock. Its name derivates from the word Dragon.
- It seems the People of the Rock do no longer live in the village, and have for some reason left it. Some accounts speak of them taking refuge somewhere in the northern mountainheights, while others indicate they might have set up a new home underground, possibly in the tunnels beneath Gordon's Keep.
- Gordon's Keep today no longer serves its original purpose of being a military outpost, however rumor has it that it is not completely abandoned, and that it is dangerous to venture in the depths of the tunnels and underground galleries benath the Keep.
- Gordon's Keep has come up in local rumors about the presence of demons and witches in the region. While no one is certain what really lurks in the abandoned Keep, acounts concur on that there is something evil at play there. The Keep is also surrounded by an aura of arcane mystery, and along with tales of evil, darkness and demons, there are those which tell of strange and powerful energies within it.
- Gordon's Keep may be the resting place of the Sword of Roland, a noble paladin who dies on the battlefield and whose sword is said to have been taken. Rumors also state that if it is indeed located in the keep, it must be guarded by the person or thing that took it.
- There are rumors of an unexploited emerald vein in the tunnels underneath the Keep.

- The Gordons Keep was destroyed by an army of the people from the south. While the keep itself is destroyed, the underground tunnels or catacombs are probably still intact.
- There are rumors that different monsters (demons and witches, ha!) or people (maybe bandits) inhabit it. The local people tend to avoid the keep therefore.
- Some rumors say that there are still active gold veins or maybe other mines near the keep. But they could be dry as well. There is a promise of different relics, artifacts and other treasures left there. This bit could be pure fantasy though.

As this is also the place for adventuring notes, I'm adding an "current objectives" section, to keep track of both person and party related objectives, a bit like a "quest tracker". As this thread is common knowledge for the whole party, those of us having a secret agenda may want to keep their goals from the others until they become known.

Party's current objectives :
- Travel to Gordon village/Gordon's Keep.
- Investigate the rumors about Gordon's Keep.

Arken's current objectives :
- Enlist adventurers to go to Gordon's Keep.
- Find the emerald vein his father sent him to find.
- Find and acquire Roldan's sword.

Magical Sleep trap (?) affected majority of party on entry.

Found evidence of pretty wanton bloodshed- hacked up bodies and blood trails.
Bodies were recent enough not to be skeletons and have flesh remaining, but were not fresh either.
Bodies did not seem to be he human.

Blue Steel door has no obvious mechanism for opening (did we even try just pushing it open?).

Strange voices heard by all (?) party members except Cuthbert. Do they fear the Lord?
Other strange noises heard but nothing seen.

Library full of books in foreign tongues.

Cuthbert left unobtrusive small parchment markers under the left side of the blue steel door and library door. We shall see if they are disturbed.

Cuthberts noisy approach to doors ensured just about anything in that wing at least was aware of their intrusion.

That is the major points I remember, please add your own thoughts/memories.

Confirmation there is a sleep trap at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Keep. However once activated, those not caught in its area of effect (which seems to exclude the stairs themselves) can proceed freely.
There is a decomposing corpse in the hall down the western stairs. It has been killed by a weapon, and not by a beast, and has been looted. It appears, then, that both humans and beasts lurk in the darkness of Gordon's Keep.
The barricade in that same hall blocks the way to a corridor spralling down to a second barricade, which marks the limit of the territory claimed by a group of seven dwellers, poor men and women living in terrible conditions in and abandoned section of the Keep.
The dwellers speak of "foul beasts" they fear a great deal.
There are numerous giant centipedes living in the Keep, sometime darting in and out of cracks in the walls. The dwellers kill them for food.

The sleep/confusion trap at the entrance can also induce fear.
In the western part of the Keep, south from the Hall of the Flying Horses a creature is contained with a glass prison. This creature is a very large, round being with a large central eye and dozens of tendrils all of which carry an extra eye. It is most definitely evil and can shoot coloured rays from its eyes. However the rays cannot pass through the glass. There is no apparent mechanism to release it (though we did not specifically look for one). Rolland sketched the creature in order to have Bruno go to the Legio library find out more about it and how to kill it.
Two doors in the creature's chamber have attracted our caution. The south/south-west door has strange, possibly arcane markings on it (which Rolland also drew). The south/south-eastern door has no markings, but is ice-cold, and behind it can be heard a strong gust of wind, even though the chamber is beneath the ground.

the creature in the glass cage is gone....

In another room nearby were some evil stone idols, which could become animated and combine into ferocious golems.

Found the empty glass cage. It's damn thick glass since it sounds like tapping a rock when you knock on it.

Went into the home of the crazy people, ventured up the balcony and found some mattresses and broken arrows with blunted arrowheads, oh and the first step creaks loudly. Still... broken arrows, blunted arrow heads... maybe somebody just broke the useless arrows... maybe somebody tried taking pot-shots at somebody sleeping or...

The crazies are still around... Would have gotten us for sure...

Saw that one of them had fungus growing in his hair.

Investigated the rooms on the north-west side of the glass cage. Found fur and weird looking bones in there, probably animals. Continued on to another room, we opened the door halfway before the stench of urine, sweat and other things stopped us in our tracks. We were close to throwing up but we did notice a keg of some sort standing in the corner on the right hand side.

Here's a look at the immediate surroundings of Gordon and the Keep.

It's about 200m in altitude from the village to the keep. The larger dotted line is a trail and the smaller dotted line is a path.

In the long chamber running North to South just to to the west of the entrance fork (the room also contains the partially barricaded corrirdor leading to the lair of the "demon-possessed" humans) there is a trapdoor leading down. This trapdoor can be found in the Nort West corner of the room.

One of the prisoners (the female) spoke of the Beasts Below and of being "unworthy", the implication being that these creatures chose not to eat her for some reason. As such, she had been scorned by the rest of the human community in the ruins.

That Bestial severed claw continues to crop up more and more. Its becoming distrubing.

Being something of an outdoorsman, Gaskon was able to determined that the claw marks on the walls of the "Charnel Room" are too large and too high to have been made by any natural wolf. This has raised the concern that we might be dealing with some form of were-creature down there. Keep your eyes peeled for anything we can use as a weapon against them.

Finally, the objective of the next mission is to rescue Baylen (if he's still alive) from the Statue room. Alas, these horrid statues seem to be able to merge themselves into larger and larger statues, making for a difficult foe. Edged weapons seem to be of reduced effectiveness against them. If Rolland and his companions from the next expedition do not return, you'll know where to look for our bodies.

Note to self: Try to recruit a few more healers to the party. One cleric for such a large group is not enough. In the absence of additonal healers, it may be prudent to hire some additional men at arms.

It's been two days since the boy and the woman were brought out of the Keep. The parish priest and nun responsible for their care say that they are being looked after. It's is not possible to check in on them. In any case, the woman is babbles incoherently and the boy remains mute.

The locals have told conflicting stories about what you'll find in the Caves of Saint Mateu. Most agree that it was the home of a voracious ogress who was slain by Mateu, a local man who became a saint. Others disagree saying that the apostle of the same name came to Gordon and slew the ogress. Finally, a few wrinkled faces claim that Sir Mateu defeated a dragon that used to make it's home beneath what is now Gordon's Keep and that he spent the end of his days as a hermit in the caves. In any event, there are deep sinkholes and fissures in the caves which make them dangerous to explore. Most locals know better and the few who don't usually aren't seen again.

The locals proudly state that the great Roldan's sword lies somewhere beneath the Keep. It was taken from him by The People of the Rock and brought to this area. They speculate that some ancient underground King used it to consolidate his rule and well (shrug), it must lie somewhere. May as well be here.

The locals wouldn't be surprised if the noises heard in the hillsides were some kind of witches coupling with wolves. The Keep has always drawn wickedness to it and maybe the best thing the Moros ever did was raze the place. Of course, if there is anything valuable down there, the villagers should get something out of it. After all, whatever is unleashed from all of the messing around that's being done will affect them long after it's been pillaged. Better that they should share in some of the rewards.

You have noticed a trend since you arrived in Gordon. The stream of strange faces has made the locals wonder if there is something worth going into the Keep and finding before it's stolen from under their noses.

Thankfully, it was not neccessary for Beylen to be rescued, as the man did a fine job of rescuing himself by crawling down the inn under his own power. Just as well. Given that Beylen, Rolland and Gaskon together could not defeat the denizens of the Statue room, it seemed unlikely that Gaskon and Rolland alone could suceed in a rescue attempt.

Rolland sent his squire Bruno, back to the Legio with word of the groups findings thus far. He also requested a batch of healing items be sent back, if possible, and provided Bruno with a some of gold to hire three mercenaries. They are expected back in three days, whereupon the Mercenaries in question will be contracted to the group (well, to Rolland and his designated agents within the group) for a further week (7 game sessions).

Meanwhile, this timethe group exprored the Northern fork at the crossroads, while leads to a long hall heading north (with stairs about halfway along leading to a ledge). This hall, and the general area, seems plastered with wolf droppings. Alas, the wolf droppings are left behind by a small demon and his pet - a wolf. Though Rolland and Gaskon attacked the foul thing, Rolland (uncharacteristivly) called the attack off at the creatures request, while being unable to articulate why (seemingly even to himself). The creature attempted to place it self in the two mens "service" but this was refused. The demon also wished the two men to help themselves to two large sacks of treasure on the ledge. The group, questioning its motives, refused to touch it. The demon also claimed to have knowledge of Rollands missing brothers, but really only parroted back to Rolland the same information he had given it in the first place. Rolland and gaskon we not convinced.
As the demond left, Rolland once again seemed to wish to attack it, as all true knights should, but for some reason he does not understand, felt he could nto bring himself to do so.

The two men explored beyond the first four doors of the hall. In the first left, which itself appeared to be a long hall, they disturbed a corpse, sending spores into the air. Both men managed to avoid breathing in any spores, whereupon Gaskon poured oil on the corpse which (after retreating behind the door) Rolland set alight with a thrown torch. The effects were somewhat explosive to say the least.

The second door on the left led to a dormitory that had been trashed, as did the second door on the right. Both were thoroughly looted and explored, and in one such room Gaskon came upon a small key. The first door in the left lead to another long hall, which turned out to be a throne room. A battle of some kind had taken place here, and much loot was scattered about the floor. Near the throne is a single door on the north wall. To the west of this is a smalla alcove bearing a singed bronze plaque, which did not appear to bear any writing or other markings. All to aware of their lack of skill in mechanical matters, neither man was willing to guess what sort of mechanism might be connected to the plate and so wisely left it alone. Several large kegs of strong alcaholic liquid were also present in the throne room. These likewise remain untouched for the time being.

At that point, having braved the dangers of the Keep for long enough given the small size of the party, the pair returned to Gordon village to divide their gains.

It should also be noted that the village has a hut wherin dwells an old woman skilled in the healing arts. She charges 16sp for a poutlice normally, but given the large sums of money Beylen and Rolland have been offering her in payment, the cost of her aid is likely to rise soon.

It was a fine crisp morning, I enjoyed a stroll through the village whereupon I chanced to come across new companions. One seemed to be a fellow brother, another an adventure eager for action. The maiden seemed strong and held her axe with confidence. We could not find Brother Roland that morning and it fell to myself to lead the group back to the keep where we had agreed albeit for different reasons to venture in together.

The weather had turned, it was almost impossible to see through the driving rain .... On arriving at the tower we were joined by a ragged woman who seemed to resist most offers of assistance. Nobly Brother Thedin took this person under his protection .. But at what cost ? I mused to myself at the time......

Suddenly beset up on by wolves, Nieva showed great fighting prowess and if it were not for her perhaps Brother Thedin may not have shaken off the animal that pinned him to the floor

We made little progress at first .. Chasing the ragged new comer we returned to the room in the east with the stagnant pool. There was little there. Whilst some chose to stay standing in the dark, the rest tried the door to the south corridor again but to no avail.

We decided to return to the room with the Statues. This having proven so impassible before I thought perhaps with a larger company we might avail. Heading to the west .. We crossed through corridors and rooms that whilst seemed familiar there were some changes.. until frankly I became lost. Without the sun, moon, or earth to guide me I found the corridors stretched away before my eyes with little to help mark them out. Now I understand why some Brothers keep maps as they travel. I prefer to rely on nature and leave the book keeping to others.

We moved through a large hall — a monstrous creature rose before us – rays shooting form it’s many eyes. It laughed manically but seemed trapped within it’s glass cage.. Gingerly we moved round it to proceed deeper into the tower.

More corridors ... No signs to indicate which way to go .... Feeling the cold and with Thedin distracted through his kind administrations to the one called Siv we ventured into a room that held an odd assortment of curios given a place of reverence on two pedastals.

The more cautious of us simply looked over the ornaments, a dagger and some other trinkets... Damaco reached for the dagger. And immediately fell into a deep sleep, At first I thought perhaps he had become exhausted from his constant running about the rooms and corridors but it did not seem a natural sleep. A call from the others and I turned to see the one called Siv slump to the floor unconscious. We decide it was unwise to proceed as it would be impossible to carry the sleepers and protect ourselves through the many perils that lay in wait....

Reluctantly we picked up their slumbering forms and made our way out of the tower ...........

Just a quick one I'm afraid: Not much in the way of detail (sorry) as I'm a little pressed for time.

Neiva, Siv, Damaco Brother Thedin and Sir Rolland made their introductions and ascended to the Keep. Once more there were the usual problems with the trap/curse at the entry to the stairs. Once resolved, the party resolved to find and kill the demonic creature discovered on a past expedition by Rolland and Gaskon.
Instead, exploring the northern corridor they came upon a disturbance - the strange, in-bred locals had cornered a wolf. They were reluctant to accept the aid of the party until the wold savaged two of their number, whereupon the party intervened with our without the consent of the denizens. Alas, there was a wolf but no demonic rider. The party made short work or the wolf, whereupon the cause for the denizens reluctance to accept aid became apparant: they fell upon the corpse with knives and consumed it raw. They jad also asked for (and received) water during the tense negotions before hand. Though still convinced the denizens were somehow evil, Rolland saw no need to press them or force a combat at this time. Hence the party withdrew.

One of the denizens- a small wizened old lady, seemed rather keen to lay hands on Rolland for some reason, which the party prevented from occuring without resort to violence.

The party then returned to the room with the mould affected corpse, where evidence that mould and flame do not mix well (or rather, do mix well depending on whether or not the intention is to make an explosion. Some treasure was found in the room, but thereafter four small creatures appeared. Some action of theirs caused the room to be filled with darkness that a torch could not banish and in the proceeding strummage, Rolland very nearly received a rather extreme haircut (courtesy of Neiva and her axe) and many party members lost their packs to the thieving wretches.

Thereafter, one of the two exits in the room was explored and a chest duly found and opened.

Some tensions between party members became evident: the squabbling between Neiva and the mute bard, Siv, nearly led to bloodshed. Siv later revealed that she had her tongue removed by the church for blasphemy -causing tensions between Siv and her supporters and Brother Thedin. Sir Rolland, being something of a practical sort of knight, did his best to mediate these tensions and seemed willing enough to look the other way when Demaco revealed his unusual skills - choosing the refer to the man as a "locksmith" rather than what he really suspects. Finally, a certain member of the party expressed something of an interest in Sir Rolland, who does not seem entirely unwilling in that regard himself.

On our last expedition into the Keep, the group and I attempted to avoid further conflict with Werewolves after the loss of our companion Neiva to their brutal jaws. Instead of traveling west at the 4 way intersection (an area in which we had previously found Werewolves) we traveled north to explore. We found a hidden door on the east side of a long hallway which we set by heating a brass plate of some sort. What we saw was... Disturbing. I want to forget about it in all honesty due to the feelings of dread and death that hung in the air of the room behind the hidden door. We also came upon piles of gold. Some members of the party couldn't resist and began to grab the gold despite the warnings of others. Luckily we found no curse so far upon the gold. It does stink of urine however and we fear that it may attract wolves.

Another journey into the keep, and another fallen companion. Armand fell in battle while we retreated to the western staircase. It seems that the wolves only reside in the western wing of the keep. Without a large party this area should be avoided. We tried to scare the beasts with fire but it didn't work very well. Along with the enraged roars of the wolves, we heard bears. Although we haven't seen any signs of bears in the keep as of yet, there very well may be a group of them in the western wing. We will have to wait and see.