Sneaking in the suggested way was a good idea
The next location to finding how to get to Defiance Bay, was heading through Esternwood to the north and then head out East, a long but open way to get all the way around while exploring through the land.
The creatures in the way were just some simple spiders and wicht that were quick kills before walking along the path up to the Eastern side of Esternwood which is where they had to be. This greeted them with a polite but injured person named Kolsc.
"I would advise you against traveling this road, for up ahead is the keep belonging to the tyrant calling himself the lord of Gilded Vale. I wonder if we are able to help one another."
Kolsc limps a little further along before taking some more deep breaths and keeping his calm polite manner. TheGoliath nods and agrees by asking what is needed. "You must deal with Lord Raedric and his current forces in the keep. Do what you must, cut his head off or anything as long as the throne lies empty after you are done."
After the party receives the advice he had to offer them, to better their odds of succeeding, he limped away to find a resting spot so his travels back to town would be easier, meanwhile the party set off toward Raedric's Hold.
Upon reaching Raedric's Hold, the two guards noticed the party and asked them to leave, they had no business there.
"Looks like you are the first to die then" TheGoliath said with a menacing look on his face.
They all charged for one another, once Thambelar had cast Armour of Faith on the group to reduce incoming damage. It was a fight of might as they just launched normal attacks on one another and some healing was cast from Thambelars Holy Radiance, luckily easy enough to take out this pair of guards before heading East to get in through the sewer entrance.
Inside the sewer access for Raedric's Hold are Skeletons and Revenants, a force to be taken seriously when grouped up like this lot is.
"Focus this closer Revenant and Skeleton first, then we can take the rest!" shouted Dombara as she charged in with McStabby and Thambelar right behind, ready to heal.
After the first two dropped, so to did Thambelar get a heal off as normal but it is super effective at maintaining the party, helping them last a lot longer to see fights through, less casualties being knocked down. Spells were cast by the mighty wizards, doing nice damage and then finally the last enemy was dropped and they could move forward.
When exploring the sewers and checking things for loot, traps had been triggered and done some lasting damage only fixed with rest. The party were about to head out after they kill off a Black Ooze first, which they thought would be tough but it was quite easy.
A couple more rooms were explored and more traps got activated, prompting a quick escape back to Gilded Vale to fix the weakened states of Thambelar and McStabby, all thanks to the traps.
Back in Gilded Vale, where they were all happy to get rested before going back to that dreadful place in the coming days, trade with the innkeeper happened, included buying multiple more sets of camping supplies so they would be able to stay out longer.
It then leads to welcoming in a new addition to the party, a strange yet powerful friend who was willing to help in their quest to get rid of Lord Raedric. This person was a Druid by the name of Braminic and they were already level 2 which allowed getting the ability Wildstrike Corrode for their shapeshifting bear form.
This was part #5 for my Pillars of Eternity series.
Stay tuned for part #6 and see what happens next and what TheGoliath will get up to.
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