Redeye and Rotcheek were among the first to fall to Seraphina's whirling blades as Count Alistair stepped to the fore and challenged the whole pack. Holly and Avina joined the fray while Vilkas unleashed fire and pain. Lo Risten mounted one of the tables, firing arrow after arrow into the unfortunate souls. Shrillmaw met his grisly end, then Egregg burned until life could no longer inhabit his form. Yegg stood strong while Worm and Togrugg ran for help. Pigmud fell to Lo Risten's arrows, then Worm. Yegg breathed his last under the force of Avina's hammer. Togrugg, too felt the bite of an arrow to the back of his neck before he could escape the room of death.
Yet, Worm returned a moment later with Grimeye, Oafgob and Bordung. The party pressed toward the ruined barracks from whence these goblin fiends emerged, Vilkas ending Worm's erratic flight while Alistair tangled with Oafgob and Bordung. Seraphina felled Grimeye, yet still more goblins rushed to the attack. Cugdat and Bottomfood rushed in, bows drawn to help their screaming compatriots, but only arrived in time to see Oafgob fall. Behind them came Sork and Crolk, scampering through the ruined castle. Holly bore the brunt of unleashed arrows and Alistair moved in once more, crushing Cugdat while Seraphina ended Bordung. Another spell from Vilkas and Bottomfood was no more. Then Lo Risten caught Sork and Crolk in their necks.
The tide of goblins was slain and the party stood, panting, in the ruined barracks. Lo Risten suggested they barricade the doors so that the group could take a short rest. Pressing forward, the group found a clumsy trap in the main entryway, the stumbled across a second, larger group of hobgoblins in their own barracks near the front of the castle. Battle was engaged, but Vilkas stepped forward, joining his hands by the tips of his fingers and let loose sheets of fire which melted the room before them, causing the hapless hobgoblins to erupt into fountains of magma, roasted into oblivion.
Feeling powerful, the adventurers moved on into the central curtain of the temple, where Vilkas at last found the altar from his visions, which Oghma had instructed him to purify. The chamber occupied the northern tower of the castle with a stone altar standing in the middle of the room. It was covered with a black and bloodstained cloth. Golden ritual implements carefully arranged belied the grotesque purpose of this abominable edifice to Maglubiyet and Vilkas rushed to tear the vile implements of worship from the stone. As he shoved their things aside with tearful eyes, his companions dove in to slay the goblin Lupo and his two fools for assistants, Hogru and Donkey.
The goblins finished and the altar cleansed, there was but one room left at the center of the castle which had not been purged by our heroes. Through curtains blocking the way south and into a darkened hall, the party was ambushed by a terrifying Grick, the pet of the slain Lupo.
That night, the party slept in peace, the castle cleared of evil for the first time in many years. Vilkas dreamed messages from his god, Oghma, who directed him to the very heart of the purified altar. Count Alistair awoke as well, as Vilkas made his way back to the stone table. Together, they smashed it apart, as instructed by Oghma and found at its heart the very thing Vilkas had dreamed. The Tome of Inductive Knowledge was his to claim.