Jon's 4E D&D Campaign

Gygax, Tarnis, Nadar and Kelvin (Paul's human warlord) made it to the site of Shadowfell Keep. Descending into the ruins, they were confronted by taunts from a lone goblin. Sensing a trap, they made their way around the outskirts of the room, but Nadar caught the edge of a pit and suddenly was plunged into a pile of swarming rats.

Meanwhile, three other goblins took position and tried to conduct hit-and-run operations with the party. Tarnis' wizardry soon pushed two of them into the pit to join Nadar, however, and the party dispatched the others.

The rats seemed to have the upper hand for a while, but soon due to healing and timely application of a rope, Nadar was free.

At this point, Tarnis went back outside to explore surrounding areas, and An (NPC wizard) caught up with the party.

Continuing on, they explored around until they found a room with a hobgoblin and 5 goblins. The cowardly goblins quickly took defensive positions, but when the party refused to take the bait, the enraged hobgoblin charged them with two red-hot pokers. He ended up getting picked apart in the hallway leading to the room, while his disloyal goblin assistants decided not to risk themselves in hand-to-hand combat. Then the warlord decided to head through the door, the paladin followed, and the party found themselves subject to the ranged attacks of the goblins. After a fight, the goblins succumbed. The party captured one goblin in a cage in the room, and after some exploration, found another goblin (Splug) locked up in a nearby cell.

Gygax the tiefling warlock (Ben's PC), Tarnis the human wizard (Steve's PC), Nadar the dragonborn paladin (NPC) and Greg Ironbrother the dwarven cleric (NPC) accepted a mission from a sage to travel to the town of Winterhaven, find a nearby abandoned keep and map it. On their way to Winterhaven, they were attacked on the King's Road by a group of kobolds. After a pitched battle, the party prevailed and made it into Winterhaven by nightfall. There, they talked to Valthrun the Prescient, a local sage, who said he could give them more information about the keep, but he needed to search his library first. When pressed, he admitted that he didn't really trust the adventurers yet and suggested that they prove their worth in some way. After talking to Lord Padraig, the party took on the task of clearing out the kobold lair in order to put a stop to the numerous raids.

While on their way to the lair, they were once again set upon by kobolds, this time a tougher group including a spellcaster. After more combat, the kobolds were defeated, but not without exhausting the party's resources. A weary party examined the bodies, and unexpectedly found on the body of the spellcaster a dragon pendant marked with a symbol they identified as that of Orcus.

Upon returning to the town to recuperate, they talked to Valthrun, who shared with them the fruits of his research. The keep was built not to guard against gnolls, as the locals thought, but to prevent evildoers from opening up a rift to the Shadowfell, a realm of much danger. When he learned of the Orcus symbol found on the kobolds, he grew very worried. He told the party that the danger of death cultists of Orcus opening the rift, bringing in legions of Orcus' minions and establishing a kingdom of undead far outweighed the risks from the kobolds. Lord Padraig was more skeptical and saw the kobolds as a more clear-and-present danger.

Encounters:
First Goblin Encounter
First Interlude
A1
Part of Second Interlude