Session 4 - Bandits in Fergus's Keep

The party then decided to clear Fergus's Keep of bandits. Aside from recovering gold, jewelry, and stolen items, there is a 200gp reward from the mayor of Caiseal, and the bandit leader is rumored to have a some arrows of fire +1. They know that these arrows will not inflict their regular damage on the wood golems, but they will still inflict 2 points of fire damage (one for the +1 fire and one more fire damage for the 1 die of damage), and Vedica would still like to not have to close to melee combat unless absolutely necessary.

This ruined fortress has frequently served as a hideout for bandit gangs over the years. Originally, it was an outpost during the time of the consolidation of the three kingdoms of Munster (Desmond, Thomond, and Ormond) into the single kingdom it is today.   A bandit troupe had already been cleared out several months ago, but Phelan and his bandit gang have moved in since then. Phelan had been a contender for the previous bandit leader's right-hand man, although he was never able to secure that position. When Geir, the previous bandit leader, and most of his men were eliminated, Phelan managed to gain the confidence of the survivors and reconstitute the gang.  Since that time, he has even recruited more followers and almost raised the gang back to its full strength.  

During the hex crawl to the keep, the party met and battled two patrols of bandits. As they waited in the woods for nightfall, they were attacked by an owlbear. Tiv used her speak with animals spell to communicate with it, and she found out that it was hungry and angry at the intrusion of the human bandits. She managed to convince the owlbear to join the party in the upcoming attack, but since the spell only lasted so long, the party had to settle for twilight.

The keep is in poor repair, as there is a corner of the outer wall that has collapsed. Vedica used her amulet of invisibility to sneak behind the guards on the rubble wall and start a fire on some broken wooden furniture behind them. In the confusion, the party attacked and made quick work of them.

Then, the party quietly unbarred the heavy oak doors that led to the central area where the horses had been stabled in times of yore. Bandits attacked, but the party (with Tiv riding on the owlbear's shoulders and healing him when necessary) eventually dispatched them all. The next room was the kitchen with a few more bandits. Here, they left the owlbear, as Tiv was out of healing spells and he was very wounded. They said their goodbyes, since Tiv's spell would have worn off by the time they were heading out of the keep at the end.

They battled several more rooms of bandits before making their way up the spiral staircase that served the tower.

They fight their way up and kill Phelan and his lieutenants. Jack manages to secure a two-handed sword +1. Now everyone in the party has a magical melee weapon, so they are ready to take on the golems.

They also found eight sacks of oats (value 20 gp), two casks of wine (value 50 gp), a chest with bolts of linen (value 20 gp), six books (a history of Hibernia, a history of the Roman Empire, 3-volume history of Bael Turath and the Arkhosian war,  and a treatise on fish) (value 2gp each). In the last room, behind a locked door, they also found 300 gp in coins, jewelry, and gems and four healing potions.

Because the PCs completed another set of two side quests, another chunk of XP was awarded. Just a note: the system whereby they are rewarded with an XP chunk for every two side quests or for each main story arc completion is for this portion of the campaign. It may apply in the future, or we may used a modified calculation.