Assault on Vraath Keep

With a rallying cry of "Death to the Gardener's Shack!" SWAG stormed the hobgoblin base at Vraath Keep. Step 1 - investigate the rotting vegetable garden and decrepit gardener's shack. Step 2 -destroy the gardener's shack. With Odette's determined rattling, the old shack collapsed with a thundering crash.

Perhaps alerted by the crash outside, goblin worg riders emerged from the keep and attacked with bows and scimitars. A worg repeatedly tore into Red, yanking him to the ground. Red and Petra responded with hack and slash attacks while Odette peppered the goblins with arrows. Quintavian threw magic missiles and DeKelley was ready with healing and alchemist fire. As the battle turned against the goblins, a manticore flew up and perched itself on the roof of the old keep, watching but otherwise seeming grumpy and bored. Two hobgoblins with banded mail and short swords emerged to join the fight, but were struck down by melee weapons and cleave attacks.

SWAG entered the keep, finding two more hobgoblins. A hobgoblin admonished the manticore for its laziness and ordered it to attack, as Koth was paying it to do. It reluctantly flew up and fired repeated spike volleys from its tail at SWAG. The battle raged on, and Red chased a hobgoblin into a room in the keep. A massive minotaur and a spell-casting bugbear entered the room and attacked. Red backed away while DeKelley and Quintavian fired a web and then fireball into the room.

The minotaur attempted a charge on DeKelley with its sharp horns, but Red, Petra and her horse struck it down. SWAG chased off the wounded manticore with cries of, "You're not paying me enough for this!" The bugbear then drank a fly potion and escaped, leaving the hobgoblin to yell, "The Red Hand will prevail" as he was killed.