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Chapter 66

Henry the Head Gardener 

9:30 Dragon, 15th day of Justinian - Summer

     Our Heroes and their allies had discussed plans, while sailing aboard the Mistral north towards the mouth of Denerim Bay. We were hoping to mount simultaneous assaults on several military positions on the peninsula north of the Bay of Denerim, with the main attack to be at Alton Keep, where the Regent was holding captives.

     We consisted of:

• Grey Wardens

• Sextus, Warden Commander of Fereleden, mage and scholar of the dark arts
  

• Alistair, formerly a Templar
  

• Landon

• Alpheus

• Bartreg, dwarven warrior, and former captive of the Architect
  

• Sir Roderick, a Knight-Captain of Templars, recruited by Sextus
  

• Shivana, a mage from Arksmonten

• Allies

• Bran Helwyr, powerful warrior
  

• Eornan, elven scout
  

• Grey, an elven Shepherd

• Zevran, Antivan assassin 
  

• Monica Hengst, Circle mage

• Fergus Cousland, captain of the Mistral

• the crews of the Mistral and the Grand Wolf, all warriors and rogues

   

the star marks the location of Alton Keep

     Among the booty taken from the Grand Wolf's crew were a silverite longsword, with a frost rune (+3 damage), and a silverite shortsword. Most of the minor items, taken only from the dead were Captain Fergus's to distribute. Sextus commandeered small magical items from the Templars which he redistributed to Grey Wardens.

     The Mistral was going to separate, and take Gray and Alistair along the coast -- they were going to travel to Redcliffe. Before the ships parted company, we sought among the crews for anyone with knowledge of Alton Keep or the peninsula. One man from the Grand Wolf, Peter, had been inside Alton Keep once; he provided a rough sketch, and told us that the nearest proper beach was about five miles north. From that beach a footpath led up to a little-used road leading along the peninsula. The nearest village, Mamble, was about five miles inland --  the area directly around Alton Keep was rocky, steep and very difficult to cultivate. The road leading to the keep had a few paths branching off to isolated residences, but the keep is really the only thing of note in its area.

     Our Heroes transferred over to the Grand Wolf; with many wishes for safe travel and fair winds, the two galleys parted company. The Grand Wolf was now under the command of an experienced sailor recruited from among the Mistral's officers.

     In the outer reaches of Denerim Bay, at least 40 miles from the city, the Grand Wolf pulled alongside a fishing boat, recognized by some of the galley's crew as a reliable man (and possible smuggler). The boat's owner, Mintel, agreed to carry some of us ashore.

     Thus, later that day, a fishing boat was working the waters under the cliffs near Alton Keep. Eornan, lightly-clad and covered in grease, slipped over the side of the boat and swam to the cliffs. He was able to reach the entrance of the sea-cave and look inside.

Alton Keep -- the inland portion is hidden in this view

     The cave was spacious, and had a stone dock with four large skiffs tied to it. Four men were working along the dock, moving boxes and barrels around; a foot-passage led further into the rock, and other guards and workers came and went from time to time. Eornan heard them discussing important visitors expected soon. Freezing, the elf pulled himself away along the rocks, and swam back out to the fishing boat, which sailed quickly away to where the Grand Wolf was waiting out of sight behind a cape.

9:30 Dragon, 16th day of Justinian - Summer

     By dawn a storm arrived, with heavy rains and strong winds. Our Heroes landed from the Grand Wolf, using the fishing boat, on the beach five miles from Alton Keep. Going ashore were:

• Sextus

• Shivana

• Bran

• Landon

• Eornan

• Alpheus

• Bartreg

• Sir Roderick

• Zevran

     We trudged over the beach, scrambled up the rocky slope, and found the narrow cart-track which roughly followed the coast; we turned in the direction of the keep and began marching. The weather continued with rain and wind.

     As we approached the point where a side road led off towards Alton Keep, we saw an ox-cart approaching along the road; we decided to have a word with the driver. "What brings you out this dark and stormy night?"* asked the gray-haired farmer driving the cart.  We made a faint defense of our reasons for being here, and began asking questions about Alton Keep; the farmer was immediately suspicious. "You're asking a lot of questions that could get a person in trouble," he muttered -- but he didn't seem to object. He was willing to say what he knew, which wasn't much about the keep itself, but he told of Templars and Chantry folk arriving recently -- 6 to 8 Templars, and a small number of Mothers and Sisters.

     We chatted a bit more with the farmer, whose name was Campbell. While this was happening, Landon faintly remembered that his father, Wrale, had done some research about the village of Mamble, and that perhaps Old Korcarians had lived in the area.

     After the farmer drove off, we watched him disappear into the driving rain, and then began moving towards Alton Keep, which was only a mile or two away. Eornan scouted ahead of us, and suddenly realized that a group of armed men were milling about on the road -- between 40 to 60 of them, in fact.

     We moved away from the road, and moved around the men. They didn't seem to be setting an ambush (or at least not for regular travelers on the road), but some of them were moving in groups among the rocks and sparse shrubs alongside the road. We pondered having some of our group merge with the troops, but few of us would "blend in" with a platoon of Fereldan warriors.

     By the time we were close enough to the keep to consider sending Eornan ahead alone to observe, thunder pealed overhead and hailstones the size of small berries were pelting us. We sheltered among some boulders for a minute, until Sextus swore and cast a Shelter spell. Once the hail diminished to a less-painful level, Eornan scouted the area, and came back with word of a small manor house nearby.

     The elven scout led us to the manor, which seemed to be dark, boarded up and uninhabited. It was a three-story building, half-timbered in the normal Fereldan style; beyond the rear of the house were a couple of small sheds, and a garden untended and in shambles.

     We pulled some boards off the rear door, Zevran picked the lock, and we entered carefully. The interior didn't match the exterior -- there were marble walls, chandeliers, carpeting on polished stone floors, glass-fronted display cases, and some large pieces of furniture covered by dust sheets. Some of the decorative themes included serpentine and draconic forms -- possibly Tevene in style.

     Books in one room attracted our more literate people -- many were written on Old Korcari or Ancient Tevene. The house was in good order, uninhabited for at least a few months. The name of the place was Linna Manor.

     We split up to conduct searches:

• Upstairs:  Eornan and Zevran checked the upper floor and the attic. There were two attic areas -- one protected by a strange lock, the other with a simple lock which Zevran easily opened. The area they were able to look into (the "attic storage" on the map) had a clutter of broken furniture, seasonal items, unused luggage, snow sleds, etc.; one of the dormer windows was broken.

• the "strange lock" had a hexagonal brass or bronze plate, with a keyhole in the shape of a letter C.

• Main Floor:  Landon, Sextus, Shivana, Bartreg and Sir Roderick looked around the library and other "public" rooms.

• Outside:  Bartreg went to get some firewood from the sheds in the back yard. 
  

• Downstairs:  the house had a cellar area, with the kitchen and larder at the bottom of a stair. Alpheus and Bran crept around the kitchen, which contained a fair amount of bulk supplies. A blocked door, with a partly-collapsed frame, was forced by Bran, and led to a short corridor with bottle racks and bottles, and a pile of rubble blocking a further door.

• Bran called Shivana and Landon downstairs to reinforce the broken supports; but when Shivanna cast a spell while being supported by Bran, strange energies flowed through her, into Bran, and up into the ceiling -- and she and Bran both disappeared! It looked like a case of spell feedback ... 

     Landon and Alpheus yelled for everyone else to come to the basement! Alpheus looked through his crystal ball -- the building seemed mostly the same, but there were some differences. The building seemed to exist in the Fade! Alice was not answering to Alpheus; and we noticed that Sir Roderick and Bartreg hadn't joined us downstairs. Sextus tried using the bronze gorget to speak with Shivana or any Fade spirits; Shivana answered faintly "There's something here ... ".

     At the end of the blocked wine cellar hallway, a door with another of the "hexagon and c-shaped keyhole" locks was seen. Well over a hundred bottles of ... wine? ... were on the shelves, with dates in the 5th age on the ones we examined.

     We heard Shivana faintly yelling "Felix!" (Sextus' original name); she told us, "The House can't see." We decided that fixing the broken window in the attic was needed to get our friends back. Up in the attic we looked at the broken window, but jumped when a terrible scream like a stuck pig came from under a fallen chest of drawers. We found a dirty, writhing shape of gray, ancient flesh -- a possessed corpse that had been trapped under the fallen furniture. After using Arcane Lance on the monster, we looked at the corpse:  probably just that of an ordinary human servant.

     The broken window had probably broken in a storm; there were a few pieces of thick, jagged glass on the floor. After some discussion we figured that Zevran could make a replacement.

     We went back downstairs and outside to find some firewood. Through the crystal ball, the house looked more like Kinloch Hold than a simple Fereldan manor house. Strange forms writhed under the house; the garden seemed unexceptional, but Alpheus saw a rounded shape in the weeds growing among a gazebo's foundation. Amid the mulch and clutter, Sextus spotted a bag, or cloth-covered object -- when disturbed, there was a splash of light and a tremendous clap of sound!

     Rising from the grass was an arcane Skull, without a lower jaw, decorated with swirls and studs.

Henry

     Five other glowing spots on the ground promised Fade entities would arrive in a moment! Our mages cast protective magics; Eornan and Zevran readied their bows.

     As five ash wraiths materialized, Shivana spoke to Sextus:  "Get Henry! Henry, the gardener!" He in turn told the rest of us, "Kill the skull!" ... and we focused our attacks on the skull. The skull shot up into the air, and began hovering about ten yards off the ground.

     Arcane lances, arcane bolts, other spells, and arrows blasted at the skull, as the wraiths clawed at us. The skull itself was also casting spells -- it used Cone of Cold a couple of times. After a minute of combat we had destroyed two of the ash wraiths, but two rage demons appeared.

     Unfortunately, just as we thought that perhaps Henry was nearly "dead", Shivana's voice came to Sextus:  "Don't kill Henry!  She'll kill us all! She wants him with her -- capture it!" Awkward ...  especially as the skull was high in the air still ... but our friends would be trapped in the Fade if Henry was destroyed in combat.

     Eornan fired an arrow created to dispel magics at the skull, and Sextus used a Mind Blast to knock it to the ground. Further enraged (if possible) Henry summoned another type of demons -- two envy demons, disgusting screaming, rubbery creatures with glistening skin and too many limbs.

      With the skull finally at ground level, Sextus was able to grab it; the hideous cranium struggled, but failed to escape. The various wraiths and demons pressed their attacks, while Sextus wrapped the skull in his cape -- just as Henry fired another Cone of Cold, which fortunately left only a crust of frost on the cape.

     Landon rushed over to Sextus' side to heal the elf and take the skull -- just as a rage demon gashed Sextus' arm. Another demon brought a claw down hard on Landon's right collar bone, breaking it; it was just as well that he was holding the skull in his left arm.

     Alpheus was finally able to dominate Henry's spirit, and gave it the command, "Surrender!"; victory followed quickly. Eornan tore an envy demon apart with a powerful thrust; Zevran's arrows sped through the monster's bodies, and the last few of them dissipated into nothingness.

     After a half-minute of panting recovery, Sextus (and a couple of Heal spells), Sextus spoke to Shivanna with the bronze gorget; she said "Go into the house." We limped inside, where Alpheus re-established his dominance over the skull -- but only for a minute or so before it would struggle to begin another attack. We needed to find the keys to the two strange doors; out in the garden Sextus and Eornan were able to find the metal, interlinked keys and rushed inside.

the two Keys, interlinked

     As Alpheus struggled to maintain his suppression of Henry, Eornan fretted over how to un-link the two keys for two minutes. One was gold or brass, the other silver; the golden key fitted the door in the wine cellar passage. The door opened ...

Notes:  Landon was down to 59 Health and 96 Mana at this point; he'd finally gotten to cast Spell Wisp.

Eornan was at 59 Health; Alpheus had 73 Health and 99 Mana remaining.

*it was actually mid-afternoon

On to Piecing It All Together