Quickly boarding the carriage they set off and start to leave the hole behind. With an explosion of earth and a furious cry another Ankheg appears behind them. It spits a stream of acid; Osgoth ducks but Makfire turns just in time to receive most of it. Another Ankheg erupts from the ground ahead of them. Osgoth jumps from the carriage and charges ahead at the nearest and exchange blows. Morlaf casts Lightning and Hydrix casts Concussion while Makfire and Trixie provide covering fire. Morlaf finishes the one with Magic Missiles and Hydrix downs the last with another Concussion.
Apart from Trixie being spooked by some cattle in the night the trip north seems uneventful but unbeknown to the rest Trixie is meets eyes with a stranger in the middle of the second night but doesn’t mention it in the morning.
They get to the red knoll halfway through the next day. A narrow track leads up to the turreted castle. The main gates lay broken open and they enter the crumbling courtyard heading directly for the main doors. The long corridor is blackened by old fires and ends in a similar set of doors. Osgoth charges through doors slitting them open and finds himself in the middle of a pack of hell hounds. The party gets badly burned by their fiery breath except for Morlaf who stands well back. With Makfire slashing, Trixie diving and Blinking, and Hydrix and Morlaf casting spells the hounds are slain. It doesn’t take the party long to search everywhere on the ground level. They trip traps and Morlaf sets one of his own on a stairwell. They barricade themselves in the main dining hall to rest and lick their wounds. After a few hours a pack of rats come scurrying up the stairs and release Morlaf’s Chaos Mine spell. The Stinking Cloud doesn’t do much to them but with the nature of chaos it is duplicated around Morlaf and the party have to suffer his noxious fumes too. The rats keep them awake so Morlaf casts Lightning Bolt into the corridor and they all get eight hours sleep.
They go down the stairs at midnight and true to form Osgoth smashes open the nearest set of doors only to set off a Lightning Bolt trap and frazzle the whole party. Many healing potions later they enter the larders through the kitchens and Trixie finds a large steel ring one of the old carcasses. She wears it as a bracelet but it doesn’t seem very magical. She then finds that it won’t come off. Osgoth greases her ring it slips off easily. In the next larder they find undead waiting. Being used to these now the skeletons are easily smashed. One of them has a fine sack similar to Morlaf’s Bag of Holding. Trixie pulls out a 5’ pole arm and then puts her hand back in to see what else is in it but is pulled into the sack. Acting quickly Morlaf ties a rope onto Osgoth who tries in vain to rescue Trixie and is swallowed too. After moments that seem like an age he manages to pull himself out of the sack but Trixie is gone forever. They go back through the kitchen and Makfire opens the next door. “Welcome to the Office of Vengeance.” the shadow inside barks. Hydrix casts Sever Tie and Makfire quickly closes the door but the shadow reaches through the wall at them. With a couple of more spells it is diminished and they search they plunder the draws.