Castle Blackmarrow

Dragonforged, Gi'tana, Adrie, and Gilbert the librarian. These are names that would be remembered in Blackmarrow for centuries to come. They've been captured by the Kraken Cult and sold to the order known only as the Faceless Ones, who are based in the Village of Blackmarrow. Whatever their previous life entailed, it is now over, as they are now slaves to this gang of masked arcane bandits.

 For one hundred years Blackmarrow has been disconnected from the greater kindom. It has fallen into the hands of Lord Grumio, a noble Elf originally from the capital city. With his purchased militia he cleared the monsters inhabiting Castle Blackmarrow and hired desperate peasants to tend the fields in an effort to build his own dynasty. The land around Blackmarrow is dangerous, with hundreds of miles of monster-filled wilderness surrounding in every direction. Blackmarrow is a home only for the cruel militia of Lord Grumio, the peasants in the fields, and those who were rejected by the kingdom. What's worse, no one has seen the Lord in years, getting word only through his close assistant, Luna l'deux. 

Etherius of the Faceless Ones greets the confused adventurers, pointing out to them a magic tattoo on each of their hands. The faceless ones each wear dark robes and a blank expressionless white mask. He explains that the tattoo will fade away in 48 hours, killing each of them. Any one of the three Faceless Ones can remove it, but they will only do it if the party will retrieve the legendary sword Moonbreaker which they know is somewhere in Castle Blackmarrow.  

Heading towards the only tavern in the village, the party sees a rotund red-faced militia captain, Frank, brutally punishing one of the serfs. Gi'Tana and Gilbert initiate the fight with Frank defending the peasant. The fight is brutal, with Frank using his Witchbraid Noose, an enchanted whip. Once the battle turns away from his favor, Frank gets on his horse and escapes. 

The party heals the peasant who leads them to the Rock Bottom Inn, where they see another one of Grumio's men trying to intimidate the dwarf tavernkeep into paying more taxes. The solider leaves with a warning. The tavernkeep points them towards Glowkindle Brewery, who is seeking help with a problem. After clearing the rats from Glowkindle's brewery the party earns 250gp. The party gives the tavernkeep 100gp to pay his taxes, and in exchange he gives the party information about Moonbreaker. He points them towards a fence, Tormilav Radmir, operating undercover as a blacksmith.

Tormilav sends the party to one of Lord Grumio's warehouse to retrieve a Space Gemstone. 

The party wakes up in Tormilav's shop, where they slept for some reason. Cigarette smoke and billows of smoke disturb their sleep but they get a full nights rest. They are to make haste through the woods and reach Lord Grumio's warehouse today as the first step in clearing their current enslaved state.

Through the woods the party spots a tall, thin man. Lysanderoth he calls himself, as he stands holding a bloody sword over two dead kraken cultists. He reveals himself to also be marked by the Faceless Ones, showing his tattoo. Calling himself the party's new ally, he gifts them a minor magic item and goes on his way. 

Along the way to the stash, the party is assaulted by more kraken cultists, who have tied up Ootle Thunderslash and stolen his leather pouch. After deafeating the bad guys, the party takes the pouch for themselves, finding the Deck of Manny's Things. A magic item that steals strange items from a far-off wizard named Manny. 

Tormilav arrives, bringing homemade pierogi and cigarettes that restore the party to full strength. The party spots Frank, and overhears him recalling his version of the tale of the creation of the world. 

"Let me tell ya' bout the story of creation of this here land Dreslin, In the beginning, god created Dreslin, and he seen that it were good. But lo, for god don screwed up and created democratic savage Orcs, not properly exploitin' the land. So god created his best creation yet. Good, honest, clean republican humans. And the humans, they created crossbows what to nab Dreslin from them' savages. And that's how we won the civil war. After that, we instill the first king a' dreslin and we've been livin' great since then."

The party tails them to their fort, where they begin their assault. Making their way through an overgrown garden with Orc prisoners on it. They free the orcs, one of them being Olek Outlander, of the Outlanders, a clan of Orcs that used to inhabit Blackmarrow now prisoners of war. Making their way into the mess hall, the party fights off ten of Frank's guards, slaughtering them where they were just eating. 

After confronting Frank in his back room, he sneers with a smile and pulls a lever that collapses the floor beneath the party, sending them falling for a seemingly endless amount of time...

After waking up in a freezing cave with a large body of water nearby, the party discovers that they had been dragged from the water to safety by some unknown being. They also meet a new friend, a strange caster that speaks to a collection of his dancing lights. Plunging themselves into the water, the party finds Lysanderoth tanagled in seaweed. Trying to rescue him, they are attacked by an Otyugh. After a devastating battle, the party finds themselves on the other side of the underground lake in a frozen over cavern that leads upwards. The party and Lysanderoth continue onward. 

Encountering a slew of traps, a Rug of Smothering, a Chest Mimic, and an Animated Sword. The party enters a library with a talking sword that points them in the direction of a chest full of masks that enable water breathing.

The party reaches a completely frozen chamber that includes the statue of Archibald, a lesser angel. After defeating a crew of skeleton pirates, the party frees the angel and it rewards them a magic item, Archangels Fury.  

After passing along knowledge to a skeleton, the party treks through a lava-filled rocky alcove passed the underwater lake. They solve a puzzle that involves casting every type of magic there is, and it unlocks a passage that eventually brings them to an oversized arcane elevator. 

The elevator ride brings the party up to Frank's chambers in the castle. They hear the voice of Tormilav inside, trying to get an official pardon from Frank. The room is filled with guards. Eventually, Tormilav motions to one of the guards and half of them begin attacking Frank and his guards. The party rushes in and decides to aid Tormilav. After an epic fight, Tormilav joins the party in their quest to overtake the castle.  Frank had retreated deeper into the castle, leading his men to die. 

The party meets Duckferrets in the kitchen, as well as some cooking automatons that they face in combat. They find a tied up Glowkindle, the gnome brewer that they had assisted in an earlier session. Eventually they reach Frank's bedroom, where they end his life. Searching the room they find his diary. Apparently, he hated Lord Grumio as much as anyone as well., but was coerced into being his lead enforcer.

Moving through the Buttery, one of the most important rooms in any pseudo-medieval  castle- the party fights a fire wizard named Sir Slurpee who uses the butter to create ignitable slippery surfaces. Regardless, he's dispatched pretty quickly by Gi'tana. There is also a butter golem to contend with, as well as a lever that turned out to be a mimic. 

 After the buttery, they find Lysanderoth's study in the castle. There, they find a lot of posters of himself, as well as books about the Faceless Ones and their plan to overtake Lord Grumio. They plan to enslave the village of Blackmarrow for themselves, but they need Moonbreaker to kill Lord Grumio. There they find the scabbard to the weapon.

Finally, the party is faced with The Sentinel, a terrifying slave knight bound to protect the castle's innermost layers. Although he can't move, his attacks and armor is unmatched. After a grueling battle, the party is victorious and pushes onwards into the final tier of the castle.

The party meets the titular Dolby Outlander who admits that he was forced into service for the lord. He works here as quartermaster of the exotic weapons division. He is accompanied by Jergen Stormcaller, who gifts a weapon called The Mace of the Sands covered in blue dragonscales that deals lightning damage to its foes. 

Moving into the final chamber of the castle, the party finds themselves in a huge room with stained glass windows face to face with a giant beast and a woman sitting in a throne. The woman reveals herself as Luna L'Deux, a witch, and the beast before her as Lord Grumio, who she polymorphed long ago. She offers the party the option to replace Frank as her new enforcers, throw themselves off the castle, or die where they stand. the party chooses die where they stand and the battle begins. 

After many rounds of combat, the party repeatedly crushes Grumio with the gate until Lysanderoth arrives with the other half of Moonbreaker. The party uses the weapon to finish off Grumio. After his death, the party corners Luna, where she pulls out the Galaxy Gemstone, the item they have been searching for. She affixes it to her staff and nods to Tormilav, who turns on the party. The two begin their attack.

An epic battle ensues in which the top of Castle Blackmarrow is completely obliterated. The fight continues on a gigantic piece of rock flying through the sky. Luna summons creatures from all across the planes. Including the ghost of the alchemist Fizzy Fitzwater. Eventually, the party is victorious in killing Luna, but is forced to abandon the flying rock, leaving Tormilav to fall to his death. 

Finally at peace, and in command of Castle Blackmarrow, the party sees the sun rise over the forest.

The final shot of this campaign involves Tormilav casting Feather Fall on himself to not die on impact. He catches the galaxy gemstone in his hands and fades out of existence....