Little Psionic Keep on the Borderlands

[James McMurray]

Ironside Keep

On the far border of the County of Durnst lies Ironside Keep. Known throughout the land as a place where miscreants and ruffians can come to hid, it is tolerated for its need in defending the borderlands from the dangers of the wilderness. Despite the presence of mercenaries, rogues, and scoundrels in hiding, the keep is a very lawful place. Its Castellan makes it perfectly clear that within the walls of his domain you may hide, but you may not conduct "business".

The world has recently undergone a vast change, as the gods themselves were thrown down by a mysterious being known only as Raffi. He stole the divine spark from what was to be the next pantheon, and gave it to the beings of the world. Now there are those whose powers of magic rest solely eithin their minds, even more flexible than sorcerers, these psychics control the world around them with a mere thought, devoid of the incantationsa nd hand waggling of spellcasters that have gone before.

The environment outside the keep is wild. Traffic comes up the road and along the river to Ironside, but very few men travel beyond its walls into the tribal lands. To the north is known to live a mad hermit, who would be avoided completely except that he is a crafter of items of power. To the North East lie the Caves of Chaos, a sprinkling of cave complexes both interwoven and distinct. Within these caves live several different tribes of humanoid raiders, ranging from the tiny lizardly Dinks, to almost dwarven statured dogmen (the Ur-Gurlock), to a race of massive beasts known only as dogmen.

Although they are known to sometimes rob merchant caravans, they have yet to make a solid enough nuisance of themselves to demand extermination, especiallly considering the cost that would entail in time and manpower.

Within the walls of the keep a group of 5 mercenary men meet:

Duerf Trump: Known as "The Duerf", he is an Egoist, acolyte to the keep's resident healer, Laris.

Vides: A Maenad Wilder, he speaks much more than his kind is known to do, but still he holds the ancient rage deep in check.

Lord Tahm Djonnimar: His first act in town was to set a bouncer on fire during a drunken rage. He made expensive amends though, and no charges were pressed. Now he lives in the rented out entire top floor of the inn with his servants, letting all know that Firecracker Tom is for hire.

Tor: Maenad Psychic Warrior. He was not a member of the original troop, but was sent to find them when they disappeared with Laris' 12,500 gold.

Nadeem: Xeph Soul Knife. His speed and agility have a reputation for keeping him out of the front lines of combat, throwing him mindblades with deadly accuracy. Despite his aversion to face-to-face confrontation, Lord Tahm hired him to act as a bodygaurd.

Duerf's boss, Laris the Healer, enlisted him to deliver a chest of gold to Mr. Springs, the mad hermit. He and his hired mercenaries will earn 100 gold each for returning with a Dorje which the healer has requisitioned. Duerf hires the men and they set out, having been told to head due north for one day and then wait for the Hermit to find them.

They travel North and make camp in the forest, and that night are beset by human bandits, intent on capturing the group's cargo. A fierce battle rages, and the party takes a severe beating. They do manage to kill Rock, the bandits' leader, breaking the morale of several of the spearmen. When Rock's second in command also falls, all but the most gold-hungry bandits retreat. Those that stay do not get to leave. Attempts to keep the fallen bandits alive for questioning fail, and the group is left with only questions.

The next morning, a mountain lion pads its wy calmly into camp and looks patiently at the party. When it is not molested, Mr. Springs makes his appearance. An Ur-gurlock, his body would be a mere 4 1/2' tall were it not for his huge spiery legs made from limbs and logs. As he skitters up, he doglike mouth asks Vides why he is there.

When Vides replies, the rest of the party ask his what he is doing, as they cannot see or hear the hermit. Vides tells them, and he and the hermit converse. They learn that the dorje they were sent for is ready, but that the price has changed. Mr. Springs no longer cares for money, he instead demands the death of his entire clan for taking his legs from him. "They must be made to swim in their own blood." He tells them where they live, and says he hopes when next they meet he will be able to say that it is where they lived.

The group sets out, following the river notrhward towards the Caves of Chaos. That evening their camp is attacked by many of the same bandits from the previous night, as well as some new ones. This tme the attack focuses purely on stoping the psions from unleashing their magic with swords at throats and bows at the ready. Several bandits move forward and grab the donkey's reigns, leading it away. One also attempts to take Lord Tahm's warhorse, but only gets 100' before being trampled to death by the enraged beast before it calmly walks back to its master's side. Many bandits are killed, and the rest flee, but they manage to take the donkey and the 12,500gp.

The party discusses what to do, and decide not to follow. Most fear the bows in their weakend state, but Vides says he does not care about the money, that he is only interested in the 100gp payment they will receive from the helaer when they return with his Dorje.

The group moves off of the road and stops to camp and rest before heading into the caves to complete their bloody task.

 

[James McMurray]

Meanwhile, back in town, Laris has begun to grow worried about his money. Casting about town through ther many mercenaries to be found, he settles upon Tor, a Maenad who specializes in Thri-Kreen weaponry. His history is unknown, but a few inquiries (both magical and mundane) point to his being a trustworthy man. Tor is called in to track the party down, and he heads off. He meets with Mr. Springs, and learns of the party's new assignment. Thus he begins the day and a half trek to the Caves of Chaos.

---------

The party has reached the caves and they find the entrance to the Ur-Gurlock caverns. IT is 15 feet up the side of a cliff wall, with a rough-hewn ladder leading up to it. The entrance is surrounded by humanoid skulls, bleached from the sun.

Nadeem sidles up to the entrance and climbs up. As he pokes his head over the ledge he sees a short corridor leading up to a grizzly trophy collection of heads and skulls. He fails to notice one Ur-Gurlock head in the bunch slip away, as the gaurd on duty moves to warn his tribesmen.

Nadeem waves the party forward and slips up to the corner. Looking right he sees 4 Ur-Gurlock gaurds playing cards at a table. They have not noticed him and he takes the first shot. It fails to drop his foe, and the beastmen charge his way as the remainder of the group scramble up the ladder. A battle breaks out, and although the party rapidly gains the upper hand, the gaurds who were warned show up shortly, the newest 4 replacing the 4 that are beaten down. The sound also reaches the common room, alerting almost the entirety of the tribe. Soon the group finds themselves surrounded, with hordes of Ur-Gurlock in front of them and a cliff ledge behind.

Although Ur-Gurlock are killed left and right, the press is too much for the party, and they fall one by one beneath the flails of the dogmen. The Duerf is the last one left standing, and he makes a frantic leap to the ground to escape. He twists his ankle as he lands, and Ur-Gurlock pour out after him.

All looks lost, as the Ur-Gurlock block The Duerf's route to the horses, but at that moment Tor comes over the rise and into the battle. He charges forward and drops the last of the Ur-Gurlock, but not before they manage to drop The Duerf to the ground, unconcious but stable. So strong is the boodlust in the Ur-Gurlock that many jump straight down after The Duerf, injuring and even knocking themselves out in the fall. Tor moves the Duerf onto a horse and heads into the caves to find the remainder of the group.

He works his way deeper into the caves, the magical light from his Githka leading the way. He sees many Ur-Gurlock bodies, but no sign of the party except for several bloody trails which lead deeper into the darkness. Following them, he rounds acorner and finds two massive oaken doors. From behind the door comes the counds of grunting and growling: an order is being given.

Tor steps back around the corner as the door opens, and two female Ur-Gurlock come out, dragging the fallen behind them. Tor strikes as they approach, and one of them is killed immediately. The other shouts for help and the largest Ur-Gurlock in the caves comes to answer the call. The chieftain and his last surviving tribe member batter the half-giant with blows.

Tor drops the female and then concentrates on the leader, but cannot find any holes in the defenses. The tower shield blocks almost all of his blows, and those that get past almost invariably bounce off the beast's breastplate. Tor's defenses are not as strong, and he finds himself inexorably pressed back towards the entrance to the cave.

With a throaty laugh, the Ur-Gurlock chieftain bull rushes Tor off the cliff edge and leaps down after him. The Duerf, who had been merely acting unconcious, joins the fray with several energy rays. Tor reaches deep down into his heritage and calls fortha scream of rage which riups and tears at the Ur-Gurlock. The anger in his soul fuels his swings, and the two remaining men slowly but surely whittle the great beast down.

They finish the job on the unconcious dogman and move back into the cave to recover the fallen. All of the party are still alive, so Tor and The Duerf haul them back to the horses and into the wilderness. The Duerf's expert care gets his friends back on their feet the next morning, and they trek back into the forest, where the mad hermit greets them. He is displeased to hear that they do not know if the tribe is dead, and in his haste to see them all slaughtered he offers up to the party 4 magical tattoos. These tattoos heal people, and although they are still sore and weary, they slog back to the caves one final time. A search reveals no more Ur-Gurlock, but the party does find a coupld hidden caches, one of which is gaurded by two large centipedes (which they quickly kill).

They take their spoils back into the forest and again meet with Mr. Springs, who gives them the Dorje, after rifling through Lord Tahm's mind to ensure the veracity of their claims.

Tired and weary, they return to the keep to claim their 100 gold piece reward and see about learning more of the bandits that ambushed them twice. Laris pays them, and asks the Duerf if he has seen Alphonse, the Duerf's friend and fellow acolyte. Alphonse is farther along the road of the paintakers, being able to actually heal others by taking their hurts upon himself, a feat that the Duerf has not yet managed to duplicate. He has not been seen in two days, and Laris is concerned.

Inquiries about town regarding Rock glean some useful information. He was outcast from the town for engaging in "business activities" within its walls. Since then he has become a sometime leader of other outcasts and mercenaries. They ply their trade on incoming caravans, but hit fast and run faster. It is unknown where they are hiding, but there is a bounty on their heads. 100gp for the head of the Rock, and 3gp per left ear of his fellows. It is believed that they hide out in the northern forest, but have never been followed to its edge soon enough to find their trail.

 

[omrob]

Laris pays them, and asks the Duerf if he has seen Alphonse, the Duerf's friend and fellow acolyte. Alphonse is farther along the road of the paintakers, being able to actually heal others by taking their hurts upon himself, a feat that the Duerf has not yet managed to duplicate. He has not been seen in two days, and Laris is concerned.

Interesting to see an all psionic party in action. Do Laris and the Duerf belong to like an all psionically powerd church? So its based on being an egoist and empathically transfering wounds and then healling themelves?

Thas kool! My character Sybele is an egoist - and boy did I have a fun time converting her to the XPH. She is much more healing oriented now. I'll be watching.

 

[James McMurray]

It isn't a church, but that is the gist of their business. Betwen Vigor and Self-healing abilities, an Egoist can fix a lot of probems without ever feeling the repercussions himself.

 

[James McMurray]

The party attempts to parlay the Rock’s armor and bits of his hair into a reward, but are told they must have the heads. They trek back to the battlefield and return with heads and ears, collecting their reward. They use the reward to hire a tracker and head out to follow the donkey into the wilderness.

After a slow two days in the forest, the tracker loses the trail. They begin to discuss what to do, and voice raised in a heated argument are heard coming from above. The party looks up but doesn’t see anything, so Nadeem climbs a tree. At the top he finds a rope bridge leading across to another tree. He slides silently across it and signals down to his friends when he sees two bandits standing on a tree side platform arguing about money. The rest of the group slides up, but a cracked branch alerts their quarry. The surprised and hung over bandits are no match for the party’s prowess, and are soon stripped of their wealth as the party takes the wider bridge into the forest. It leads to a platform that splits into two bridges, and when scouting shows one branch to be another fork, the other route is chosen. From inside the hollowed out trunk of a massive tree voices are heard.

Stairs lead up in the tree and down, and it is from above that the voices come. Nadeem scouts ahead and is met by a small throng of drunken bandits. He takes a shot from one of them and then tumbles back down the stairs, freeing the opening for Tor to move upward. Archers and swordsmen meet the large Maened, but he shrugs them off and pushes forward.

When the path is cleared, Lord Tahm moves in and draws forth a power stone liberated from the Ur-Gurlock lair. He reaches in and coaxes out its power, filling the room with a blast of abominable cold. All but one of the bandits dies. The one that stays standing is Alphonse, acolyte to Laris.

Alphonse blasts the group with electricity, stunning everyone but Nadeem. Nadeem throws a mind blade at the egoist, but misses. Alphonse again lashes out with electricity, but this time Tor and Tahm shake off its effects while Vides moves up the emptied stairwell and into the room. Moments later the traitorous psion is knocked out and tied up.

The group gathers up their regained money and takes both it and Alphonse back to Laris, where the egoist is plainly hurt by the acolyte’s betrayal. He thank the group and sends them on their way.

 

[James McMurray]

The party decides to head back out and revisit the bandit camp for further exploration, so they gather up their gear and leave through Ironside's massive gates. They get three hours down the road and see three humanoid figures atop the next hill. The party prepares for battle, but one of the Ur-Gurlock seperates himself from the group and walks down towards the party with his arms outstretched and empty.

They allow him to move forward, and he grunts at them "You come see boss."

When asked who the boss is, the Ur-Gurlock "diplomat" repeats his command. "You come see boss." When asked where the boss is, he again replies, "You come see Boss." At this point Nadeem points out that it is probably the only words he knows. He tests his theory with a few choice phrases, to which the Ur-Gurlock replies, "You come see Boss."

Lord Tahm and Nadeem volunteer to go see "Boss" and begin following the Ur-Gurlocks. They are led back to the Caves of Chaos and into a cave they had noticed before but not examined. The diplomat leads them past ranks of flail-wielding Ur-Gurlock warriors, and Nadeem and Tahm realize that if they are in a trap they will most likely die.

In a large room whose only major furniture piece is a stone chair carved into the wall, the two psychics meet a huge Ur-Gurlock. This one wears full plate and has a massive greatsword sitting at the side of his throne. He speaks to Tahm and Nadeem, exercising his poor Common to the fullest.

"You great warriors destroy the Alakabar. We pay you for more. Dinks make trouble, steal food. We cannot follow them into caves, they are too small." He puts his hand down to knee level to indicate the height of a Dink. "We give gold for their death. We would feast on their bones."

Nadeem asks if the Ur-Gurlock have any psionic devices, and the chief tells them they have a rope and an axe, and the group may have one of them in exchange for killing the Dinks. Nadeem and Tahm excuse themselves and tell the chief that they will discuss it with their fellow mercenaries. As they leave Tahm tells the Ur-Gurlock that they will return when the task is complete or proves insurmountable. On their way out, one of the lesser Ur-Gurlock is given orders to show them to the Dink cave. Outside he points to a small copse of trees and grunts something in Ur-Gurlock which presumably means, "right there."

When they get back to camp, the rest of the group agree to take the job, and the party heads to the cave entrance. The tunnel is short, a mere 4 feet from floor to cieling. It is also more narrow than most of the caves here, being only six feet wide. Nadeem hunkers down and slips into the corridor. He gets about 30' in and the floor beneath him collapses, dropping him into a pit.

As soon as he hits the floor he hears loud squeeking and scratching coming from up above. He looks up just in time to see hordes of rats, some as big as his leg, barreling down into the pit with him. The swarm of rats and their dire cousins bite into his flesh and chew mercilessly as he is forced to climb out of the pit and flee outside.

He gets there, and the large rats quickly fall. The smaller ones are harder to attack though, and it takes the entire party to chase away the ones they cannot kill. While they are dong that, 3 dinks (small lizardmen with thick tails) come out of the end of the tunnel and begin firing crossbows at the people they can see. The pit between them and the party protects them from the group's swords, but not the energy rays and crystal shards, and so the two surviving dinks fall back.

The group fears more traps like that in the corridors and decides that perhaps chasing the dinks into their homes is a poor idea. They instead elect to try to smoke them out. Gathering up kindling and chopping wood, the group builds a fairly large-sized fire directly in the mouth of the cave. For the most part though, the smoke escapes out through the sides of the hill via airholes the Dinks had cut for just such an occassion.

Nadeem moves up to close off one of the holes and falls into yet another pit trap. This one drops him into a pit in the center of a medium sized storeroom. In the room with him, expecting someone's arrival, are two armored dinks. One of them throws a wire mesh net into the pit with Nadeem, entangling him, while the other throws a flask of Alchemist's Fire, setting Nadeem alight and forcing him to roll to put the flames out.

The rest of the group head to the top of the hill to help, and a rope is thrown down. But as Nadeem climbs up, wicked spiked chains lash out at him from the two armored Dinks. His hold is broken on the rope and he falls.

Tor jumps in in an effort to help, but finds that he too has trouble climbing out with spiked chains lashing out at him. The Dinks move towards the edge of the pit to lash downward into it, but retreat when one of them is killed. With the room emptied, Nadeem and Tor are free to climb out. Attempts to cover the airholes with bedrolls and continue to feed the fire are stymied by the dinks. The tent used to cover one flue is shot full of holes with crossbows and falls into the pit below. Another of the flues is covered with a bedroll, but those are pulled down inside the tunnel. Tahm, left to fan the flames on the fire, is ambushed by two crossbowmen and a Dink Wilder. The wilder pummels Tahm with memories of past wounds that become real, and the nobleman moves away from the fire.

A few of the Dinks are killed during their entry-tunnel attacks, but the party is losing the war of attrition and has no idea of the numbers they face. They decide that perhaps these Dinks will be harder to deal with then they thought. Vides comments that it makes sense that the Ur-Gurlock have been unable to wipe this tribe out, and the party returns to town to rest and purchase large metal sheets to use to cover the air holes.

The party returns three weeks later and begins to move towards the airhole pit traps and the entrance. As they get closer they trigger several traps, and spring-loaded spiked lattices slam into them. The thick grey paste smeared on the spikes burns and stings as it hit, causing small muscle spasms in those affected. Up above, two of the group falls into the enlarge antlion-like trap around the original airhole. It funnels them into the pit and they once again find themselves fighting for their lives against alchemist's fire, spiked chains, and the Wilder. The rescue effort is hard, but they are pulled out alive, and the groups gives up on their mission altogether, leaving without even telling the Ur-Gurlock of their failure.

When they return to the Keep they discuss things and decide to explore the ancient tree city the bandits had used as a camp.

 

[James McMurray]

The party attempts to parlay the Rock’s armor and bits of his hair into a reward, but are told they must have the heads. They trek back to the battlefield and return with heads and ears, collecting their reward. They use the reward to hire a tracker and head out to follow the donkey into the wilderness.



After a slow two days in the forest, the tracker loses the trail. They begin to discuss what to do, and voice raised in a heated argument are heard coming from above. The party looks up but doesn’t see anything, so Nadeem climbs a tree. At the top he finds a rope bridge leading across to another tree. He slides silently across it and signals down to his friends when he sees two bandits standing on a tree side platform arguing about money. The rest of the group slides up, but a cracked branch alerts their quarry. The surprised and hung over bandits are no match for the party’s prowess, and are soon stripped of their wealth as the party takes the wider bridge into the forest. It leads to a platform that splits into two bridges, and when scouting shows one branch to be another fork, the other route is chosen. From inside the hollowed out trunk of a massive tree voices are heard.



Stairs lead up in the tree and down, and it is from above that the voices come. Nadeem scouts ahead and is met by a small throng of drunken bandits. He takes a shot from one of them and then tumbles back down the stairs, freeing the opening for Tor to move upward. Archers and swordsmen meet the large Maened, but he shrugs them off and pushes forward.



When the path is cleared, Lord Tahm moves in and draws forth a power stone liberated from the Ur-Gurlock lair. He reaches in and coaxes out its power, filling the room with a blast of abominable cold. All but one of the bandits dies. The one that stays standing is Alphonse, acolyte to Laris.



Alphonse blasts the group with electricity, stunning everyone but Nadeem. Nadeem throws a mind blade at the egoist, but misses. Alphonse again lashes out with electricity, but this time Tor and Tahm shake off its effects while Vides moves up the emptied stairwell and into the room. Moments later the traitorous psion is knocked out and tied up.



The group gathers up their regained money and takes both it and Alphonse back to Laris, where the egoist is plainly hurt by the acolyte’s betrayal. He thank the group and sends them on their way.

 

[James McMurray]

Most of the group deposits their gold in the keep’s bank, but Lord Tahm has bigger plans He petitions the city to allow him to purchase and refurbish the burnt out church. Its an expensive endeavor, but when it is done he and his fellow mercenaries wil have somewhere to stay and use as a base camp.

The group takes a few days to recuperate and celebrate, then decides to head back into the tree city to explore. When they arrive, they climb back up the ladder and check the bandit hideout. It has been uninhabited since they cleaned it out, so they continue their exploration of the city.

One thing they notice that they had been too busy fighting to see before is that the entire city appears to have been grown. There are no seams in the bridges, nor breaks in walls. It looks as if the forest was coaxed into becoming a city.

Nadeem heads to the ladder up he saw before, and climbs. At the top he peaks over the ledge and sees a large eagle-headed winged lion in a nest. It sniffs at the air and looks his way, pulling itself up on its haunches. Nadeem waves the group forward, and slips aside to let people pass. Vides climbs up the ladder and the griffon charges the moment he is up top, clawing and pecking the wilder mercilessly. Duerf also climbs up, only to be shocked and hurt by a screaming griffon dropping from the sky to claw and bite.

The rest of the group climbs up, except for Vides, who stays down below taking pot shots up top. The griffons rend and tear into the wilder and the egoist, dropping them both and setting their sights on the rest of the group. The party is forced to flee back down, and they rush into an empty tree to fight on more favorable ground. One griffon is killed and the other driven off, so the party stops yet again to lick their wounds. This time recovery is hastened by assisted healing, and when the Duerf wakes up he fixes them up by taking the wounds onto his own Vigored body. Ever vengeful, the group decides to assault the griffons again.

This time when they climb up. They are attacked by only a single griffon, but it screeches and another appears. The battle rages, and it seems fairly even. The party is taking slightly more damage than the griffons, but then the tables turn. The sounds of fighting attract three more of the strange creatures, and the party wisely decides to retreat. This time the griffons do not follow. Yet again the group is forced to rest before continuing their exploration of the city’s lower level.

 

[James McMurray]

The northern past leads only to a few empty tree dwellings, so the group heads back and follows a wide wooden bridge. Partway along the bridge Vides hears a skittering sound from above and looks up just in time to see what appears to be a squirrel wearing a colorful cloak disappear in to the foliage. He tells the group and they keep a closer look on the trees, but the squirrel is nowhere to be seen.

The bridge ends in a large tree, bigger than any tree should ever be. The inside of the tree has grown into a flat-floored room whose walls are lined with stalls. The group surmises (incorrectly) that the area must be a griffin nursery. When it turns out to be empty of anything valuable, they head out again. The North Western bridge leads to a fork, and the party follows the North branch. It leads to a looted and empty house. A side door has a second bridge leading away towards another tree house.

Inside the next house the party finds a fully furnished home. Fearing that something must live there in order to keep way the looters, the party cautiously searches. As Tor goes to grab a silver candelabra, a man’s translucent hand reaches through the wall in an attempt to grab Tor’s heart. “Who dares steal from me?”

The party rapidly explains that they thought the area was uninhabited, and the tall, slender faced, and pointy eared ghost slides into the parlor with them. Nadeem is surprised to learn that elves actually do exist, and the ghost introduces himself as Elreth Dalornian, councilman of Yethgiliad.

Conversation with the ghost tells the party that there is an ancient evil locked away in the palace on the far Western edge of the city. The creature has apparently managed to gain a small amount of freedom, and now its creatures roam the treetops, watching all who pass and seemingly waiting for something. When asked what they can do the ghost asks them to find and seal the breach that is awing the demon to escape. When asked for payment the ghost seems unsurprised but disgusted. He tells them that if the seal is closed they may have anything in the house.

Driven on by the lure of gold, the party returns to the central platform and heads South.

 

[James McMurray]

At a three way split the group heads left and into an empty house. The right fork also proves to be empty, but the middle path leads up to a locked door, above which is a sign with a potion bottle and a quarterstaff. Above the pictures are unrecognizable glyphs.

Nadeem is unable to open the door, and Tor moves forward to hack it down. When his Githka slams into th door, a cone o razor-sharp darts flies out, pelting both Nadeem and Tor. Hoping that the trap cannot reset itself, Tor continues to hack at the door, finally bringing it down.

Tor moves in and finds a large room filled with empty shelves. A counter blocks the back end of the room from the front, and a closed door is on the other side. Tor tests the door by hurling a bookshelf at it, and when nothing happens he moves up t hack at it. The first time his blade slams into the do, the air around him shimmers and 3 giant yellow jackets step through.

They claw and sting at th surprised Tor, and the rest of the party rushes forward. The wasp’s wound are closing slowly, making killing them very tough. But after a while they disappear, the magic holding them in the world having faded. The group retreats to recuperate yet again.

The next time they return they are more prepared. The gash in the door has healed itself, and Tor moves forward. This time only two wasps appear, and the prepared party puts them down easily.

Behind the door is a storage room. A quick search and a Detect Psionics reveals a small locked strongbox. Th party opens the bow forcefully, and inside its padded interior are 4 small sculptures made of feathers. Three are shaped like tiny birds, and one is a whip. There are also some coins and a potion inside. The party gathers them up and heads out the back door to a wide bridge leading to another tree. This house’s door is surrounded by glowing Glyphs. Fearing a trap, Nadeem uses a tattoo to Vigor himself and then steps up to attempt to open the door. It is locked, so the party rests. Tahm meditates that evening and unlocks within himself the ability to telekinetically open doors from afar.

The group returns, and two knocks later the door opens. Nadeem steps through the door and as his foot passes the threshold the runes flare and he clutches at his chest and drops to one knee inside a richly appointed living room. From behind a door on the far side of the room a nasally voice calls out, “Who th hell is in my house?”

Nadeem replies that he is an explorer and the voice tell him he’s a burglar. A short talk follows, with the voice continually berating Nadeem and calling him “dumbass”. Whoever is there is obviously quite amused that their trap almost killed Nadeem.

When the discussion proves tiresome, the voice tells Nadeem to leave, but the Xeph is afraid of the door. When asked, th voice tells him to figure out if the trap is still active or not. The party outside tells him that the runes are still glowing. Fearing the worst, Nadeem steps though, but nothing happens as the one-way trigger fails to operate. The group heals Nadeem and heads back to the North Western bridge to take the left fork.