The night pressed close about Castle Wittgenstein, heavy with damp and rot, as though the land itself held its breath in anticipation of blood. Beneath that suffocating sky, the company moved—quiet shapes threading the black arteries of forest and stone, guided only by instinct, desperation, and the faint promise of violence to come.
They had chosen boldness over caution.
The loss of the boat—stolen, not abandoned—hung over them like a bad omen. It was not merely theft. It was intent. Someone within those walls knew of them, perhaps hunted them already. Worse, the guardswoman they had left behind might yet live, or might already be meat. Either possibility burned in its own way.
So they did not wait.
The woods swallowed them as they returned to the caves, the hunters moving like ghosts ahead of them. Even the air seemed to resist sound, muffling footfalls, swallowing breath. Once, something vast passed nearby—branches cracking under its weight, breath wet and animal. They did not look. They did not breathe. And the thing passed on, leaving only the memory of its presence clawing at the back of the mind.
The caves welcomed them like a wound re-opened.
The worms still fed lazily on the carcass they had left behind, their hunger dulled for now. The stream was crossed again, boots slipping, hands gripping, each step measured. No one spoke. No one dared.
But the caves remembered them.
Felrick saw it first—the thing in the crack, watching. Its body should not have fit, yet there it was: grey, wet, wrong. He did not hesitate. The bow came up, the arrow loosed. It struck deep, and the creature fell with a choking hiss, writhing before it died. Wanda crushed its skull without ceremony, as though stamping out a stubborn ember.
It was not the last sign of what this place had become.
They climbed.
Up the long spiral of stone, toward the castle’s heart. Toward the gamble.
At the hidden door, the coin lay undisturbed. No one had passed.
That was the last moment of stillness.
Felrick slipped through first, a shadow among shadows, Qavitrae close behind. The room beyond was ruin and rot—collapsed stone, broken beams, and scattered forms in the dimness. People. Or what passed for them.
They slept in rags and filth, their bodies curled in on themselves. Some looked almost human. Some did not.
Feathers where hair should be.
Stillness where life should be.
Felrick hesitated. Qavitrae did not.
Her foot brushed iron—a pan left forgotten—and the scrape cut through the silence like a blade. A sleeper stirred.
There was no pause. No question. No mercy.
She was upon him in an instant, blade flashing in the dark, one hand clamping over his mouth as the other opened his throat. Blood came hot and sudden. His eyes widened, trying to form words that could not be spoken. For a moment—just a moment—his tongue flicked out, forked and obscene.
Then he was still.
No alarm came.
The others passed through in his wake, stepping over the cooling body, into the open night beyond.
The courtyard lay before them, a hollow space beneath towering walls. The castle loomed above, its stone bones cracked and weathered, its purpose long since twisted into something foul. Lanterns burned along the walls, but sparsely. The guards were few. Complacent.
Or confident.
Felrick found the stairs. The others followed.
At the top, a lone guard stood watch, back turned, gaze cast out toward the dark river. He did not see them. Did not hear them.
Felrick drew.
The arrow took the man cleanly through the throat. No cry. No warning. Just a slackening of limbs and a slow, confused death as his hands grasped uselessly at the shaft protruding from his neck.
Qavitrae’s crossbow shattered in her hands with a sharp, metallic snap—gears and tension failing in a quiet burst of failure—but it did not matter. The guard was already dead.
They took his weapon. Moved his light. Erased him as best they could.
And then they waited.
Time stretched thin.
The castle breathed around them, unaware.
At last, movement below. Shapes in the dark, creeping along the road, hugging shadow and stone. The rebels had come.
Ropes fell. Hands grasped. The wall was taken not by storm, but by careful, silent ascent. One by one, the outlaws climbed into the lion’s mouth, gathering around their unlikely vanguard.
Plans were spoken in hushed tones. The barracks. The gatehouse. Control the choke points. Kill quietly if they could. Kill loudly if they must.
Felrick led them into the tower.
Inside, dust lay thick. Neglect had hollowed this place as surely as corruption had hollowed its masters. The mechanisms of war remained—cauldrons, murder holes, arrow slits—but no one manned them. No one expected an assault from within.
The next door told a different story.
Voices beyond. Laughter. The clink of dice or coin. Men at ease.
Gambling.
Unaware.
Felrick took his position. Bow ready. Wanda’s hand hovered at the door. Nora coiled like a spring, ready to break.
For a moment, the world narrowed to that threshold.
A single breath.
A single decision.
And then—
Darkness waited on the other side.
The session opened with a recap of the party’s situation beneath Castle Wittgenstein. The first major discussion of the session was about whether the party should attack immediately or delay. The party remembered that their boat had gone missing and that the hired guardswoman left with it was also missing. They had originally planned to return to Kemperbad for better equipment, recuperate, train the rebels, and prepare more thoroughly before attacking. That longer preparation plan had been interrupted by the disappearance of the boat. The group discussed whether this meant someone now knew they were in the area. Joe and others pointed out that if they wanted to recover their guardswoman alive, they might need to act quickly. The group reviewed the circumstances: Brian argued that if she was still alive, she had not fully done her job, though the group also noted they had been paying her a very large wage. The group revisited the economics of the arrangement: The party also reminded themselves of the evidence at the scene: It was also noted that a single person could not realistically pilot their boat alone, so if the boat had been stolen rather than merely moved, others were likely involved. Damian argued that if the soldiers who had confronted them earlier were responsible, then the party might be better off accelerating their plans rather than delaying. Ben argued in favor of waiting a day. Luke clarified the situation with the rebels: Luke also told Qavitrae that, as a wood elf and a native of the wilds, she found it plausible that divine protection truly was helping conceal the camp. The party continued weighing whether to go immediately or wait: The group briefly floated and discarded other ideas: Nora’s condition was revisited. Although there were arguments in favor of resting, Damian strongly advocated for attacking that very night. The rest of the group gradually swung behind the immediate attack plan. The final decision was to strike that same night. Once the party committed to the immediate assault, the practical details were set. The infiltration was to happen at night, with the rebels hoping to exploit the fact that only a minimal night guard would be active on the walls. The target timing became: The party would go with the three stealthiest rebel hunters. Luke gave the hunters names and brief descriptions: These three were described as real hunters rather than soldiers: The group returned toward the cave entrance under cover of darkness. The party made a stealthy approach through the forest toward the caves. Luke called for stealth checks from everyone as they navigated the woods at night. The darkness would normally have helped, but Luke specifically said he was not granting that bonus here. The party’s results were mixed: On the way, the hunters warned that the woods were dangerous at night because Beastmen and other things prowled after dark. About half an hour from the rebel camp, the party heard wood cracking nearby and froze. They took cover and remained silent as a group of heavy, snuffling things moved through the vicinity. After waiting until the sounds had faded, the group continued toward the cave entrance. They arrived at the cave with what they estimated was a little over an hour remaining before they needed to be on top of the wall. The party reentered the caves and made their way back toward the secret stair. They intended to move directly through the cave system toward the passage into the castle. The players briefly referred again to their old trick involving throwing a carcass to distract the lash worms. Luke explained that the earlier carcass still had enough meat on it that the lash worms should still be satiated. The worms appeared dormant when checked, so the party proceeded. The group passed through the narrow cave tunnels while hauling ropes and gear, which Luke described as awkward and physically difficult. They reached the underground stream again. The group explicitly kept an eye out for the cave creature that had previously dropped rocks from above. Luke called for Awareness checks. Only Felrick succeeded. Felrick spotted a lurking mutant in the cave before it could ambush the group. Felrick noticed a mottled gray figure wriggling out of a crack high behind the rear of the group. The creature was positioned in a crack about ten feet behind where the last person had passed, and roughly twenty-some feet away from Felrick. It was above them, watching from the wall or ceiling area. Brian asked about closing the distance or using a torch, but Luke explained it was not immediately reachable. Felrick chose to shoot it with his longbow. After some awkward VTT/UI confusion while setting up the shot, Felrick hit the mutant solidly. The attack struck the creature in the throat. The damage totaled 20. Luke described the effect in detail: Wanda immediately stepped forward and crushed its skull with her morningstar to make sure it was dead. The party examined the body. The hunters reacted grimly to the sight. After that exchange, the group continued deeper into the cave without further trouble. The party reached the staircase leading up to the secret entrance into the castle. They discussed the oversized bats they had previously encountered but chose not to investigate their area again. Thindruk reminded everyone that once they reached the top, they needed to keep silent. He also reminded them that they had previously heard voices beyond the secret door. The hunters drew their blades and followed as the group climbed. At the top was a cramped alcove, too small for all eight infiltrators to fit comfortably at once. Thindruk recovered the coin marker they had left earlier. Thindruk listened at the hidden exit, and the party prepared to emerge. Thindruk made an eavesdrop check and succeeded well. After listening carefully, he heard only a snore and no active conversation. He did not want to be the first person out of the door himself. He indicated that Felrick should go first. Qavitrae prepared to follow right behind Felrick. Luke called for stealth checks as the party slipped out. Felrick went first. Qavitrae followed behind him. Qavitrae reacted immediately and lethally. The rest of the group then moved through the chamber. The party successfully exited the ruined sleeping chamber and entered the courtyard. The party surveyed the outer courtyard from the shadows. Once outside, Luke revealed more of the castle layout. The group understood that they were now definitely inside the castle walls. Their immediate objective remained to reach the northern wall of the outer bailey so they could lower ropes to the waiting rebels. They needed to find a stair or route up onto the wall. Awareness checks were called for to locate stairs, identify structures, and spot guards. Again, only Felrick succeeded. Felrick’s observations in the courtyard included: The party remained close to the wall where they believed they would not be seen. Felrick also identified likely stables in the courtyard: He spotted stairs leading up to the wall. The party considered whether they could climb onto the roof of the ruined building they had emerged from and then onto the wall, but Luke ruled that the height and distance made that impractical without a rope and anchor. The group chose to move to the nearest visible stairway. The party quietly took position at the nearest stairway and eliminated the wall guard. Felrick crept up the stair first and made an easy stealth check with his urban bonus. He succeeded and reached a vantage point where he could see the guard above without being noticed. The guard stood with his back to the party, about eight or nine yards away along the wall walk. He wore serious armor: His lantern was down by his feet and dimmed enough not to ruin his own night vision. The group discussed multiple ways to remove him: Because the stair was narrow, only a couple of ranged attackers could easily line up a shot. The party estimated they were a little early for the rendezvous with the rebels, perhaps 15 to 30 minutes before the agreed time. They ultimately chose a coordinated ranged attack. On the attack: Felrick hit cleanly. The arrow went straight through the guard’s throat. Luke ruled that the called shot bypassed the armor there. Felrick’s total damage was 28. The guard was instantly killed without a cry. Luke described the body stumbling in confusion, grasping at the arrow, the shaft sliding through the throat, and the guard collapsing. Qavitrae’s crossbow catastrophically malfunctioned at the same moment. The party searched or inspected the dead guard’s position. Felrick moved the guard’s lantern farther down the wall instead of extinguishing it entirely, hoping to make it look as if the guard had merely shifted position. From the wall, the party gained a much clearer view of the castle approach and chose to hold position. Once on the wall, the party could see the road leading up from Vickendorf. They realized they had killed exactly the guard most likely to spot the approaching rebels. Luke also revealed a separate defensive tower: The group considered whether to keep exploring the castle or simply wait for the rebels to arrive. Damian argued against further stealth exploration. The others agreed. They decided to remain near the wall, watch for the rebels, and prepare the ropes rather than continue scouting. The rebels arrived beneath the wall, and the party brought them up. While the party waited, Felrick and Thindruk, with their better ability to see in the moonlight, eventually spotted a sizable group moving up the road from Vickendorf. The rebels carried no lights. They moved quickly and cautiously. They used the shape of the hillside and the wall for cover as they approached. Once they reached the base of the wall beneath the party’s position, the party dropped a rope. A bundle was attached and hauled up. The party secured the rope ladders to the wall. Over the course of several minutes, people began climbing up into the castle. Once the first rebel leaders were up, they quietly asked for the situation. The party reported: The party and rebels clarified what the sleeping figures below were. There was discussion about whether the sleepers in the ruined room were Beastmen or merely mutated humans. Luke called for Folklore or Education checks. Qavitrae and Wanda succeeded. Based on what they knew: Because the sleeper Qavitrae had killed had a forked snake tongue, and another sleeper had feathers, the party concluded the people below were mutants, not true Beastmen. The rebels identified an important building, and the assault plan shifted from infiltration to seizure of the gate. An older rebel recognized the large tower in the outer bailey as the barracks for the soldiers who guarded the outer bailey. He said he himself had never been into the inner bailey. The rebels began to show some uncertainty once inside the castle: Thindruk stepped in and asserted leadership. The party also confirmed there were likely guards in the main gatehouse and many more in the inner bailey. They chose not to send the full force blundering forward all at once. During this planning stage, Brian asked whether the dead wall guard had looked like a normal human. The party entered the outer gatehouse from the wall and found the first tower empty. From the wall, there was a door into the gatehouse tower. Luke clarified that these wall-access doors were being added logically even if not clearly marked on the provided map. The party entered cautiously and in force. Inside the first tower chamber: A heavy wooden door led farther into the gatehouse interior. The party listened at that door. They opened it. This led into the main defensive chamber of the gatehouse. Again, no one was there. The room contained the mechanisms and facilities for serious gate defense: The portcullis was currently down. Luke noted that this room appeared more used than the first empty tower room, mainly because the portcullis mechanism still had to be operated regularly. The party then reached another occupied room within the gatehouse and prepared to breach it. At the next door, the party reused the results of the earlier listening checks. From behind the door, they heard multiple voices. The party discussed options: They concluded that the most direct plan was best. The session ended on that exact setup:Session Notes