Pick up in the basement of the moathouse, post hobgoblin interrogation, over in the room with 3 doors.

Check "closet" door and it's a closet, empty. Check middle door - blank wall but crashing behind us. Head back to check it out - portcullis has blocked a hallway on the way out. Heavy, iron. Leave it alone for now.

Heading off toward the bugbears, Diren spots a secret door. Down there is a winch. it's not trapped, Gnarsh winches the portcullis open. Head toward bugbears, opens into a room much like the other 3 door room.

Bugbears coming from next room over. Combat! Gnarsh tries out his new battle cry,"St. Cuthbert will rape your bloody corpse!" Pire will fine tune it later. after killing them, loot the bodies - 12 gp on each bugbear and one silver necklace with chrysoprase.

Checking the room and doors - two closets (one a latrine) and a trap for the portcullis again. Back the other 3 door room, into the last door to a hall which splits. Down one split, we have a door which leads to a long tunnel headed up and out a few hundred feet from the moathouse by the road. We make note of where that is and head back in. Another door opens of the passage, behind it is a guy in scale mail who is startled to see us.

Gnarsh pushes him into the hallway, with a cry of "Blood and souls for St. Cuthbert." We head into the hallway as Spit shoots the first guardsman with an arrow but doesn't take him down. Combat! Gnarsh takes a terrible sword wound, which Pire heals a bit of it, As Diren backs out, Spit fires an arrow through the head of the guard threatening him (crit for 20 points of damage). Moth casts sleep and knocks a few at the other end of the hall. Then the others charge us and knock out Diren and put Gnarsh on his last legs. He takes a desperate swing and misses and falls to the ground. A sergeant wakes up a sleeping soldier. (once Pire is the only one in the corridor with the enemies, there's a joke of Spit saying "the Druids say hi") There's a quick withdrawal, a spiking of the door, and retreat to the surface.

We appear to have got away from them. Drag the bodies to the merchants and Keg the mule. The merchants are nervous but are willing to help. There's some rough healing and Gnarsh is conscious again, if badly wounded. Diren remains unconscious. Camp is made in the swamp, away from the moathouse.

It's not too cold overnight, which is well as since the camp is rough. Pire wakes the party extra early with prayers to St. Cuthbert after tending Diren and Gnarsh through the night. Pire heals Diren and Gnarsh with his magic.

Head back go town.

Set upon by an armored man and a monk. Smite them. Turn them in to Rufus, given our gold and permissions to seize their effects from the inn. Not so much in their room, but they had a heavy warhorse, a lance, a flail, and a battleaxe.

We ask around after chain mail, the trader doesn't have any but we find out that one of the guards at the tower does. We trade our brigantine, looted from the brigand, for the chain mail and track down Elmo. He'll hire on for the chain mail, the battleaxe, and a half share of the loot (and XP).

Divvying up the loot, we break the valuable gems fromm the necklace and everyone gets a nice 50 gp chryoprase except Pire who gets the bigger one, worth 100 gp, as a donation to St. Cuthbert.

Back to moathouse and in the back entrance. The bad guys have set a noisemaking trap that Diren notices and steps over it with Moth. Lead the rest down the path. They've set a guard. A plan is hatched. We set a line of caltrops and oil in the hallway. Diren creeps past into the edge of the guards light and looses an arrow. It catches the guard fulll in the throat and drops him. Diren yells "Argh, I am slain." and dashes back to the line.

Guards come pouring out into a hail of arrows. The combat moves toward the caltrop line which is lit on fire. They are cut down and the combat moves past the caltrops towards the door as more guards come out. It gets ugly and intermixed as the melee lines clash. As the enemies are winnowed down, Gnarsh calls "Send more guards." The lieutenant obliges him as he falls back.

We setup and heal quick as we can, with two lines on either side of the door. Things get tricky with a spell caster throwing magic darkness, commands and the like but eventually we get back to the caster. He is rapidly surrounded and Gnarsh decapitated the foe (nice crit!)

To do... Loot, interrogate with speak with dead, XP award!