Hrefna's Calling: Stonekeep

We have fought a bitter battle to regain Stonekeep. The cost was high, but the enemy has been repelled from her shores.

I had been working here for some months trying to develop enough resistance to turn the tide and undermine the servants of the Evil Ones with some success. My position has generally been fragile, but I eventually managed to garner enough support in the right quarters that if they could be distracted we would have a chance.

But it would require a distraction.

I have sat on this for quite some time, hoping that perhaps when the Pelor-driven Paladin party went after the Egoist an opportunity would present itself. They ran off to what I can only assume will be their deaths on the Seer's plane, and instead we received help from a singular unexpected--and I am sure unintended--source.

A young aquatic elven woman came in through our gates dressed in what I can only describe as the scantiest uniform I have ever seen, comprised entirely out of skin-fitting black leather, and carrying a rod-like flogger over her shoulder. She was, suffice it to say, somewhat underdressed for the cold weather up here, but she had a variety of protective spells up and seemed to be carrying a turtle on her shoulder. Keep guards came out to meet her, and while I do not know the details of the conversation, she seemed to say something about how they weren't very nice "fishies" and proceeded to cast a spell on the guards who went from hostile to calling her "mistress" and falling over themselves as they escorted her into the main building of the Keep.

I can only hope that she is an enemy of the Evil Ones and thus transiently not actively fighting us. After what they have done to her people I would not be surprised, but at the same time, I am fairly certain that she is not on our side either. I also sensed a deeper power that she was tapped into, something that she was channeling with every step, that in truth scares me as much as the Evil Ones do if she has a chance to become established. I recognized her immediately as a former companion of the Pelor-driven Paladins, but some change has seemed to overcome her since then, and I am not sure I want to know what she has become.

Regardless, I cannot say for certain what her purpose here is. I could see that it was an opportunity we should not miss, and mobilized everyone so that they were ready to go. Several hours later she left and we went in immediately, fighting a pitched battle with the soldiers for control of the keep. They seemed disorganized, as if they had lost the communication capabilities that had made them so effective earlier, but they were still highly dangerous and many people were lost.

When we finally made it into the officer quarters, we could not find any trace of the officers or the leaders of stone keep, just a few scared squirrels.

I am not sure what she did to the officers, but whatever it was, Stone Keep is now ours and I have been working with the local wizards to establish additional magical protections to keep it from happening again. I have found a way to counter the Evil One's psionics using magic, and while those aren't foolproof they should give us some additional protection should they ever come again. So I am happy to say that, for the moment, we are safe.

At least until this "Nigori" decides to come back.....