Ghosts Come Home to Roost?
5th day of the 2nd Ride of Eleint, Year of the Banner
The peaceful land of Mistledale has been greatly troubled of late by raiding brigands who strike on moonlit nights and then retreat under cover of darkness. Chasing marauding brigands over the fields and hedgerows of Mistledale has proved futile so far, but the other night, sipping your favorite ale while lounging about the taproom eavesdropping at the White Hart Inn in Ashabenford, a new development caught your notice.
Rumor, or perhaps fanciful spinning, has it that the brigands might be using the abandoned keep of Galath's Roost, an infamous ruin a few leagues east of Glen, as a base for their raids.
Local militia sent to investigate the site have found a few monsters but no signs of habitation. Nevertheless, raids in the northeast end of the dale have been heavy, and the company of militia most recently sent to watch the keep through the night seems to have vanished without a trace!
Some of the chatty patrons were not so sure brigands are to blame for the strange doings at Galath's Roost. Until recently, brigand raids were generally sporadic, and most of them took place not only on moonless nights but also always within half a night's march of the forest's edge. The most recent spurt of raids seem to occur more often, and on moonlit nights most of all. Furthermore, at least some of the raiders seem to be mounted.
Galath's Roost has long been rumored to be haunted by ghosts of long-dead bandits. Perhaps the ghosts of Galath's band have awakened to raid again!?
In any case, a great treasure is reputed to lie hidden in or below Galath's Roost, and that is enough to get any young, restless mind's attention. If that weren't enough, there is mayhap coin to be made at the keep! The Rider's in Ashabenford have offered a bounty of 100 gp for any raider captured alive and 25 gp for a dead raider (but only if the bounty hunter can prove the slain person was a raider).
Your ragtag group, gathered that night around a table at the White Hart by the grace of Tymora, has made a pact and set off to get to the bottom of the mystery of Galath's Roost!
You've all yearned for adventure for reasons your own, for fame and coin, or mayhap to shed the yoke of the past. Whatever the reason, there is safety in numbers and so with legs still groggy from that night, you gathered your things, made some last minute purchases and set out for Glen and the ruined keep beyond the forest's edge.
Its been a few days of light marching and you left Glen behind early this morning. The sun had warmed your faces as the miles wore on, a well worn trail led you some eight miles to the forest's edge and an overgrown path led you some seven miles more, deep under the canopy of Cormanthor.
After some hours following the twisting forest path, you emerge into a wide meadow dotted with individual trees. Ahead, you see a vast pile of splintered and vine-covered rock surrounded by a bramble-choked dry moat. Broken curtain walls, now not much higher than a human can reach, line the inner side of the moat. Several gaps, each as wide as a doorway, are visible from where you stand.
A causeway of dirt and rock leads right across the moat to an opening in the curtain wall where a gate might have once stood. The wrecks of stone towers, each only slightly taller than the remaining walls, flank the opening.
The path behind you forks here, the west fork of the path leads in the general direction of Glen from whence you came. The east fork leads north and east, possibly towards the Standing Stone.
Beyond the ruin, to the south, you can see a low hill with several vultures circling overhead. Light game trails run off to either side around the ruin.
You all look to one another. So this is the infamous Galath's Roost?
OOCKnowledge (Local: Dalelands) and/or Knowledge (History) might reveal more about Galath's Roost.
[For sake of clarity, any reference to cardinal directions in posts will assume that North is Top of Map as posted, unless a Compass Rose is visible.]