Way of the Wicked 4

Sakkarot's bugbear horde was assembled and ready to attack they just needed the signal to invade. Our villains were feeling confident that they were ready to go and so put in place one last plan to confuse the defenders. Disguising themselves as orcs, they began to burn the poor section of Aldencross. As panic and chaos set in, they raced back to the inn and set it on fire as well. Slipping out of their disguises they entered the secret tunnel hidden in the basement of the inn that connected to the old storage room in Balentyne Keep. Their first target was the wizard who was known to live in the tower. Discovering that the storage room is in the basement of a tower they proceeded to climb to the top and we disappointed to find that they had entered the rookery and not the wizard's lab. Guards were quietly dispatched and the raven keeper was dispatched before he even realized what was happening.

Looking around, the only other tall structure was the Keep's central structure. They flew over to the roof but were spotted by the guards who managed to sound an alarm before being slain. Further alerts were heard as the villains open the trap door of the roof and descended a floor. They quickly found a meeting room and a large chest. Knowing that the clock was ticking Purcy the rogue did a quick check of the chest before trying to open it. He succeeded in opening it but got zapped in the process by a trap and another alarm sounded.

30 seconds later other door in the room opened and a dour looking man in full plate opened the door. Proclaiming that he was going to end their evil once and forever he declared he was smiting the Fighter, Cleric, and Witch. Our villains started to take a pounding but a poor roll on the part of the paladin had him rolling on the floor laughing uncontrollably. Then he was crawling around in Grease unable to stand up. By the time he was back on his feet ready to continue his whooping of the PCs he was just about dead even though he was healing himself every round.

With the keep's paladin commander dead, the villains tried to make it down to the main floor, no longer so concerned about the wizard. They were assaulted twice a choke points by the remaining guard captains and their men but each time our villains triumphed. By the time they exited to the keep's ground only a handful of the keep's defenders remained. Outside an aerial battle took place as the wizard finally showed himself as he rained down Fireballs and IceStorms. Not expecting the skinny witch to be a melee threat, the wizard let her get close and she wrapped him up in her hair and squeezed him until he died.

From here the villains sabotaged the gate house defenses and opened the portcullis. Lastly they fought off the dwarven engineers that had heard the calls and come to help defend the Keep. Alas, for them it was too late and they suffered the fate of the soldiers before them.

Satisfied that their work was complete, they broke the seal that notified Cardinal thorn of their success and sat back and watched the carnage and the bugbears poured through and began to loot and pillage. Tiadora arrived with their reward and instructed to board a boat that will soon arrive that will take them to their next adventure.