After the Hunger of Hadar had stopped, we opened the chamber to see… Rezmir is not there! Instead we found only ashes on the bed - where the hell did Rezmir go? We have a feeling this was not the last we have seen of her. The chamber also contained a chest, which turned out trapped and pricked Kaiya with a poison needle. Thoredim then tried to smash the lock with his mace, but instead hit Kaiyas foot. We then decided to leave the chest be for now.
Going up one level, we found ourselves in a huge courtyard. Kaiya convinced the three patrolling ogres that she was Rezmir herself and sent them downstairs to “find a white dragon mask” she had lost. Overall the place looks rather deserted - it looks as if all creatures have tried to get away from places they can fall down from, like the castle wall, as soon as the castle went airborne.
After a discovery round of the yard, Posmet decided to climb the crumbling tower in the center. Reaching the balcony on 75 feet high, as it cracked down. Posmet misty stepped to the very top of the tower in the very last moment, and from there rappelled his way back down to the door. In the tower, he encountered two vampire spawns who beckoned him to come inside. In there, he also saw a closed coffin, which must belong to their master, the vampire. Posmet struck a bargain with them: Helping us in exchange for us relocating them to a safer space than this tower. They agreed to meet in front of the tower after dusk.
The westernmost tower is where we thought the control room would be. As of now, the door was tightly shut without any chance to open it that we could find.
Shan then decided to climb another tower, the western one of the two crumbled ones in the middle, with some ropes hanging off the sides. On top, he discovered two ogres, trying our go-to spiel: This is an inspection!
Fynn meanwhile snuck into the easternmost tower - where he saw some ogres with fancy plumed hats, who greeted him with “What are you doing in Blagothkus chamber?”. Fynn also tried the inspection-thingy, which angered the giant in the room - the owner of the castle, as it turned out. And he was angry!
Finally, we opened the door to a long chamber in the south of the yard - and were greeted with a horde of Kobolds, servants of the castle. They told us three very interesting pieces of information: First, the treasures that the cultists amass are in the cave in the mountain that sits in the middle of the yard. Second, Blagothkus talks to his dead wife in the tower. He also likes to go to the tower with the ropes (the one that Shan climbed), says her name.. then suddenly disappears. Third: If the giant dies, the castle falls. Posmet rewards them with some body-warm pocket bacon, and eventually learns the name of the giant’s wife: Esclarotta.
Room with Kobolds - tell us that cave with treasures is in the middle mountain of the map Tell us that Giant talks to his dead wife (in the tower) – Tower with Ropes (Westernmost tower). Says her name, then disappears. Posmet bribes with body-warm bacon, learns her name “ESCLAROTTA”. If the Giant dies, the castle falls.
This might be the key to the puzzle why the giants work together with the cultists, even though they hate dragons! Probably, the cultists have promised Blagothkus to bring his wife back! What are we going to do? Maybe we can convince him that the cultists are not going to hold up their end of the bargain. And if we can offer him solace and peace in his time of mourning instead, he might have an open ear to our wishes, too.