In the previous session the group infiltrated the castle of the Iron Circle mercenaries with the goal of freeing the Baron of Harkenwold. They had stopped a dark adept of Shar from summoning devils and were now in the chapel in the middle of the keep. In need of rest, they came up with a plan: As nobody appeared to have heard the fight, they planned to pretend that everything was normal, giving them time to rest. So they came up with a guard rotation which included always one guard with some knowledge of the arcane chanting a fake ritual, as if the dark adept was still busy summoning devils. That worked like a charm, apparently the regular soldiers weren't keen on interrupting such a ritual.

Having regained their daily powers, the party considered where to go next. They had asked the rebels to come to Harkenwold, to act as a diversion. While they couldn't see what was happening outside the castle, they did notice that all soldiers appeared to be on the battlements now, with the portcullis separating the outer from the inner bailey now being closed. But with the Iron Circle sentries being armed with crossbows, apparently the rebels didn't dare a full-out attack. The players knew of a secret door leading outside, and thus debated whether to go out of the keep. But as it wouldn't be easy to get in again, and a quick scouting by the rogue revealed the drawbridge to the castle keep to be open, the group decided to go further in.

While the player's disguise as Iron Circle soldiers was feeble, there being no dwarves and halflings in the Iron Circle army, the soldiers on the battlements were looking outwards, and the party managed to get to the drawbridge without raising alarm.But the inside was guarded by some sentries and two dragonborn soldiers. The dragonborn were tough, with a high armor class and very effective breath weapons. But the players managed to get all into the castle keep and barricade all the entrances while beating down the guards.

The castle keep has three floors, with the entrance being via the battlements or the drawbridge to the middle floor. Having taken that middle floor, the group debated what to do next. Free the baron from the jail below, or first take care of Nazin Redthorn, the leader of the Iron Circle mercenaries in Harkenwold, on the top floor. Having been told of a secret staircase between the middle and top floor, the players decided to do some scouting. The rogue sneaked up the secret stairway and peeked into the room above. But Nazin spotted him (opposed perception vs. stealth check), and rushed to attack.

The rogue ran back down to the rest of the group. As the secret staircase was narrow, the enemy troops split up and used that way and the main staircase to go down and attack the group from two sides. Nazin and a dark adept attacked from one side, and three hobgoblin sellswords from the other. The hobgoblins dealt some serious damage to the group's cleric, while the mage hindered them with an area effect spell. This was a rather tough fight, but the group concentrated on the mage and took him out in the first round. The group's wizard cast sleep on the three hobgoblins, two of which failed their save and fell asleep. That allowed the group to kill the heavy-hitting hobgoblins one after another, although the last one managed to run away and escape. Finally the boss fell, and due to the efforts of the two healers the group had not suffered any deaths. As it was rather late by then, we decided the finish the castle keep in the next session.