After another week of rest in Stilt Town, the group hired several mercenaries and traveled back to the island to the ancient and forgotten Palace in the mountains. The day was uneventful, and the party arrived near nightfall, camping on the mountain road about a mile away from the Palace. That night they were fortunate to have both Silo and Golgo, his retainer, on first watch; they heard and then spotted a massive Wyvern crawling from its lair. Unfortunately the Wyvern quickly spotted the glint of armor and weapons in the moon-light and silently swooped down upon Golgo, burying its massive stinger and spurting poisonous ichor into the wound even as Silo raised the alarm and roused the camp. The group quickly grabbed up what they could (losing any bedrolls or tents in use) and fled towards the palace. The Wyvern was distracted and carried off the fresh corpse of Golgo to its lair before resuming its search for the others. And as the party arrived at the Palace near midnight, they dimly saw the black form of the Wyvern circling in the distance behind them. Exhausted, the group made camp outside the doors of the Palace and slept until the late morning uninterrupted. The next day the group attempted to explore the worm-bored tunnel found in the side of the empty circular stone pool out front. The group spent a couple of hours crawling through the long tunnel, finding that it opened into the bottom of the Southern Tower, at water level, and that it continued on into the darkness. Then they decided to turn back and try a different route. When they arrived back at the entrance, the group entered the middle door of the front facade, finding a room with a floor covered in black soot and bones. Another set of doors led further inside, and upon those were inscribed several words in a strange language. On the ceiling of that room was painted a sunburst with many rays. The dwarf Mi'Gron was spiking the doors of the entrance open when he noticed what appeared to be an evenly spaced crack in the stone at the top of the doorframe. Investigating further, he discovered that it was a stone flap that opened to reveal a portcullis hidden above and the party deduced that the room was a trap and that the portcullis would drop when activated. They quickly left. Having already abandoned two paths into the Palace, the party decided to try another, and attempted to open the left door in the front facade of the tower. Several times Mi'Gron pushed on the door, banging and screeching for nearly 10 minutes he was finally able to open the massive dark wooded ebony doors, the hinges squealing with rust. The doors opened to reveal a group of five goblins standing in front of the door who had come to investigate; seeing a group of armed adventurers they quickly thought better of their bravery and turned to flee only to be put to sleep by a hastily flung enchantment from the Medium Lucien Greycloak. The thief, Thea, started investigating the hallway and lifted the large strip of filthy red shag carpet, unleashing a swarm of cockroaches; their glistening black bodies flitting about the room, and beginning to land on the people in the room; with quick thinking Mi'Gron dumped oil upon the nearby floor, attempting to cover as many as he could, and then lit it. The debris upon the stone caught fire, filling the room with acrid black smoke and heat, that repelled the swarm of roaches before they could be of more than a nuisance. After the swarm departed, the party tied up the goblins and then woke them, spending the next 30 minutes torturing information from the goblins and killing them one by one until only one very frightened but pliant goblin was left. This goblin told them of a treasure through the northern doorway up ahead, and of his two-headed goblin leader through a doorway standing opposite of it to the south. The group had him draw a map, but the goblin was no artist and his scribbles only indicated that the path to the treasure was a winding one and filled with many obstacles. The party then decided it would dispatch the goblin leader first, and moved further down the corridor. Along the way, they saw a painting on the north wall of a pale skinned bald man with a goatee, its eyes appearing to follow their movement; only now do they recall that engraved at the bottom of the frame were the words: "Lord Virez", so intent were they on fighting the goblins. After arriving at the set of doors in the hallway, they saw beyond a mirror set into the south wall, but did not investigate further. The party spiked shut the northern door, and attempted to open the door to the south. At first they heard sounds of sleeping and snoring from the other side, but after wrestling with yet another stiffly shut door, it finally opened to reveal four very awake goblins with rusty swords and helmets, including a larger two-headed mutant goblin who ordered the other three to charge. A quick but bloody battle followed, the goblins struck down Silo and moved out into the hallway stepping over his corpse while swinging to keep the party at bay. Another exchange of blows occurred, and the two-headed goblin was struck down along with the rest of the goblins. During the battle, the captive goblin escaped without notice. The group looted and searched the southern room, and discovered a secret door to the southwest by pulling one of the meat-hooks. Inside they found a worn and beaten level 2 fighting-man named Varn; wearing nothing but ragged clothes and rusted armor. Varn told how he came to the island of Baalor with his friend Asterak the Conjuror to find the Palace of the Vampire Queen. They're expedition was successful, but they were soon captured by the inhabitants of the fortress. A particular magic-user named Nekros had overpowered them and taken Asterak, while giving him to the goblins; he had spent many weeks here being tortured by the goblins. During that time, Varn overheard a visiting goblin chief from the swamps named Blam-Grak talking about a staircase leading further down into the palace from the Vampires' Kitchen. Varn also said that the goblins used a monster to torture him, it was a grotesque large carapaced insect, with two long tactile antennae and strange tail. The monster would climb upon him and feed upon his armor and other accouterments. The party then freed Varn and he swore to find and free his friend Asterak, he offered to join the party and was put under the direction of the elf Nrom. Exhausted by battle, the party returned to Stilt Town by the main road without further incident, burying their friend Silo before leaving.
