The Dark Castle

> Malum Castle has had an update over the last century!
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## Summary

Olwen Edgeworth made some basic snacks for everyone while they talked about Ray's banishment from the castle. Hoshimi gets a chuckle from Adrian Tanlaial's angry eye so he uses mirror image to avoid her. Hoshimi stops then asks about rooms at the castle. Seven is concerned about going to the castle since she's a griffon but Adrian says she's welcome there. He even says in elvish, "His home is thier home."

On the way to the castle, Ray mentions that he was also banished because of the honkening which Hoshimi take a keen interest in. They also come upon some graffiti reading 'No devil rule' in celestial. Hoshimi helps to erase it and the guard is spooked by it. As they arrive at the castle, Seven does her best to hide Ray. The guards find him but Hoshimi and Olwen persuade them to get inside. The guards announce Adrian and his guests and they're greeted by a grumpy housekeeper, Dolores Fussbucket. She leads tem to Adrian's room where Adrian asks for Seven to stay with him. Hoshimi wants Adrian to be in the same room too but Adrian rejects her. Dolores directs the rest of the party to the southern part of the ballroom and tells them to ring a bell to call a maid to take them wherever they wanted.

Hoshimi and Flint get into a discussion of who gets the largest bed. Flint lets her take the bed but Zu has other ideas so Hoshimi has to yeet her out. Flint ends up going to Olwen and Sybl Indrax for the bunk beds. Adrian senses magic from the wardrobe in his room and gets Seven to help open the doors. A bunch of books flew out along with a note saying to check the lockbox. Inside the lockbox is a fancy crossbow, a grappling hook, a runestone and two talismans (one crying angel and one feather tuft). Adrian identifies the crying angel talisman as a pendant that can help healers and the feather tuft as a thunderbird tuft to help in the shocking grasp spell. The unusual rune from earlier was a crushing rune that could stun someone. The runestone was a fanged tooth meaning someone could transform into a wolf and used a fanged blade.

Adrian looks at a couple of the books. One is called *The Serpent Cults* while the other is *Horrors of the Underdark.* The horrors of the underdark details various creatures found in the underdark. They include Aboleths, beholders and mind flayers. There are many other books about legendary beasts as well. The amount of books makes Adrian drowsy so Seven offers to look through them. She does find something in a Khelket folklore book that notes that elephants and snakes came from this creature that it was said to escape something known as the culling. Adrian guesses that this is what the grootslang meant by sister because it is a combination of two animals like Seven is. Adrian hopes to give the horrors of the underdark book to Olwen when he gets a chance.

Adrian goes over the Serpent Cults book and suggests that the Apophis and the Grootsland could be one and the same. Seven is confused but Adrian convinces her that he is just as confused. Adrian calls himself the elder of the group for being 180 years old and remembers many old friends that are now gone. Seven decides to help Adrian make more memories and gives him a hug. Adrian says that when things have died down, he wants to play a game with everyone. It involves people taking turns on sharing items. Seven asks her questions on why Adrian got so much stuff and Adrian says that it was because he missed a lot of birthdays. Seven gets confused about birthdays and Adrian says that they're both not great at celebrating birthdays. Seven decides to give him a griffon feather as a gift before laying by the fire. Adrian lays next to Seven and they rest up.

## Notable events

* The party arrives at Malum Castle.
* Adrian Tanlaial gets a few trinkets for his journey
* Joshscorcher introduces one-use items that can be made again in the future