2135 Starting Gold – 80 for Alchemist Fire purchased = 2055 GP in the Guild Kitty.
We head to Mistmere. It's a cloudy day. It has been a couple days since we were last here. At the gate, Mimolette does some recon. Outside, there are kobolds going in and out of the castle and 5 ogres – some with spears, some with clubs – digging graves. We decide to make camp for the night
Iolena, on watch, sees a procession heading into the castle – a dozen kobolds and 2 ogres dragging 2 creatures tied by ropes, both alive. One is a humanoid made of wood, the other a primate with brown fur that has a green mossy tint and kind eyes. Next to the front ogre is a hooded figure. They head into the courtyard. The group follows to the edge of the wall.
Calle casts entangle, but the wizard doesn't get caught. Fledermaus hits the wizard with an arrow. The wizard opens the door to the castle and 2 duplicates of the wizard appear! Fledermaus misses with a 2nd arrow, but Calle puts a flaming sphere on him, but he dodges the damage. Sasha goes after the closest ogre, biting it. Iolena sends magic missiles at the wizard, hitting with all 3.
Finial confers with Franmar on the pronunciation of a word in giant – and successfully Commands an ogre to "Fall"! Pear, wearing the kobold skin, tells the other kobolds to go outside the walls because there are more opponents out there. An ogre bull rushes the wizard into the castle, taking the flaming sphere on himself. Suddenly, a fireball goes off in the middle of the courtyard, dropping all the kobolds. They're all dead. The oakman and ape are wounded, but alive. Finial heals everyone after the last ogre is felled.
The oakman says the wizard came out of nowhere and took him from his tree. We let him go home on his own. The ape bonds with Fledermaus. She was taken from her family. The ape and Fledermaus high-five to indicate they're best friends now. The kobolds appear to only be carrying garbage, so we leave it behind.
Franmar kicks open the door, Pear goes in through the chimney. Everyone heads into a room with a chest and a log hanging above it. We get the chest out of the room, it contains 100 gold and an orange stone. Franmar disables the log trap and the fall echoes throughout the castle.
In the next room we see a kobold statue, and Franmar detects a trap. We find rats and trash in a nearby closet. Pear disables the trapped statue, after much discussion.
Pear, Fledermaus and Franmar go downstairs, and find a statue of a wizard in the room. We don't think it's 'our' wizard. Next door there is a dark room and sound of crunching…
On the wizard statue, Iolena detects transmutation magic. An inscription reads "The orb is the key". We suspect this is a statue of the previous wizard-king owner of Mistmere. Pear enters a room, and someone says, "Halt" in draconic. Pear responds with "Who's there?". They discuss the events upstairs. The kobolds get suspicious of Pear's disguise. One kobold turns to leave the room, and Pear shoots him in the back of the head with a crossbow! Three more kobolds pop up from behind the table and throw alchemist fire at Pear. Franmar throws alchemist fire back, and after a short combat, all the kobolds are down. Finial heals.
In the next room, two kobolds are roasting a dogmeat dinner. Pear asks where the shaman is, and they gesture to a door nearby. Pear asks where the master is, and they don't know. The two kobold chefs are quickly killed by Pear and Franmar.
In the shaman's room is the shaman-chief and 4 elite kobold guards. Pear alerts them that the "skinners" are in the building. The shaman-chief says to call the lieutenants and goes to find the wizard. Pear runs to the nearest door – and it turns out to be a closet! Finial, in kobold skin, steps in and says, "Don't mind him, he's sick." But then his disguise slips a little. Pear runs to a different room and finds the lieutenants, who get up to attack! Pear runs through the shaman-chief room, and more kobolds come in. Calle misses with her bow, and Franmar drop caltrops to slow progress. As a kobold comes into the kitchen, he steps on the caltrops and gets grappled by Sasha. Kobolds run in and stab with spears. The shaman shoots with his sling stones that burn when they hit. The group takes some hits but gives more back, Fledermaus tosses alchemist fire. The shaman points at Finial and says, "Doom…". Finial is baned, but the party is able to take out the shaman and his guards, and lieutenants after a messy fight. Sasha and Buddy the she-ape (shape?) help out. Iolena drops the shaman with a final spell, and one kobold is left alive for interrogation. Calle skins some kobolds and the shaman.
The remaining kobold says the wizard is downstairs, "Behind the doors and ogres". We ask where the orb is, but he doesn't know. Two kobolds got away for sure, but otherwise it looks like we took out the leadership. The kobold confirms there's treasure in the shaman-chief's bedroom. He can't tell us about the crunchy room. The wizard statue was there when the kobolds moved in. They made the kobold statues upstairs. He can't tell us the safest way down. Bargle leads the ogres and pays the shaman for services. There are "many" ogres. Franmar executes the prisoner kobold.