Desnova 12, 1423.
Rucia continues to smash up the eggs within the ditch, although no more of them squeal and there is no further response from far off in the Flailing Marsh. Satisfied with the carnage, he climbs out of the pit and the PCs marsh northward towards where they heard the hideous cry. They arrive at the Crumblemoor by moonlight, an abandoned keep that supposedly once belonged to a rotja-brewing family. They approach through a side entrance that leads to a terrace and the south tower of the keep, where they find a pair of strange magical kites tied off to a stripling in an ancient stone planter. The kites give a bit of a lift when held, so they decide to leave them tied back off, and proceed into the South Tower. The structure is in quite bad condition, and they proceed with caution up a central staircase. Aldren and Bjork remain on the 3rd floor so the half-elf can explore some of the wreath-covered pennant poles, while the rest of the group goes to the top floor and confronts a banshee...
The undead creature wails hideously, knocking out three of our heroes: Rucia, Nebol'shoy, and Sludd, and so Mockleg and Bjork begin healing them up before they die from the sonic attack. Eventually Aldren arrives and finishes off what Rucia started, dissipating the woman by the moonlight. Nebol'shoy finds a scroll case near a shattered chest, and the PCs head back downstairs, where they find a crushed human that might be one of the missing Gravers' Guild adventurers similar to the lady in the pit from earlier. The party takes a short rest before pressing on into a Gatehouse around the fallen entrance Gate. Nebol'shoy pokes out of the structure only to encounter the legendary crayfish Old Marrow in the courtyard. It grabs Aldren as he rushes to the roof, and the rest of the PCs file out to engage the creature. Though it hits hard and even manages to hurl an enlarged Rucia across the courtyard, the terrain doesn't favor its particular maneuvers, and severals of the PCs and their support staff deal massive blows to it, including a critical strike with Mockleg's shadow blade and a nasty sneak attack from Sludd! The beast finally topples, never to terrorize the shores of the Jaggerhead again...
The PCs find numerous magical-aura items on the creature, including one of the nets cast over it and several items from its stomach. They proceed to explore the courtyard of the keep, finding an old guard house, a covered well that appears to contain a supply of muddy old rotja, and a stable in which Rucia and Nebol'shoy inquire with some small alligators about what might lie further inside the keep, and the missing lad that the paladin has been tasked to find. The creatures don't know much. Aldren hears some creatures speaking raucously in Giant, and reports to the group. They decide to press further on into the Keep but first examine a boathouse near an old dried up waterway to the northeast of the Keep. As they return from this, they notice a burning projectile fired off into the sky above the keep. Aldren tries but cannot track where the thing lands, so they check out some more of the inner keep. Eventually, they worry that the projectile might attract more allies of the giants within, and forge a plan to assess their forces and perhaps draw them out. 
Four twisted giants and two giant boars eventually answer the summons with the blast of a horn, and the giants hustle into the Crumblemoor before dawn. Sludd, who hid out in the Keep, heard some bits of broken Common that they were searching for several individuals, including some of the PCs, and have some association with a dwarf named Grittnar, who Nebol'shoy identifies as an associate of Borya and Csunoir. Aldren continues to plan a potential trap where he can use a spell and then lay down suppressing fire against the giants, but as they are about to initiate it, several of the PCs stealth poorly, alerting the boars to their presence, who begin to squeal horridly at their approach!
PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia
