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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6567522" data-attributes="member: 9546">Brinewall22 Abadius, 4715The caravan was a week out from Rodric's Cove before it ran into it's next spot of trouble. This time it was bandits. A group of them swept out of large copse of trees, but the scouts, Shalelu and Lucian, spotted the ambush and had time to warn the others. The company was ready for the highway men when they struck. The battle was fierce and swift. The bandits were soundly beaten back and driven away, but the caravan was again forced to stop for several days to make repairs. It was during this time that Yannus thought it might be a good idea to have his brother Sandru begin instructing him in the art of carpentry and being a wainwright. After Rodric's Cove, Sandru elected to take the caravan along an old track that skirted the southern Stony Mountains, avoiding the lawless city of Riddleport altogether. The track wound up into the Velashu Uplands, following the river northwest to a low pass in the mountains, and then due north into the Nolands. Finally, the morning arrived when the wagons passed over an old stone bridge, and came to an overgrown trail that led into the woods due east. An old signpost there read: To Brinewall. It was at that point that Ameiko fell from the wagon seat where she was riding, and landed unmoving on the ground. Haroldo was the first one to her side, quickly followed by Koya."What happened?" the old woman asked.Haroldo shook his head. "She wasn't looking well this morning. Pale and quiet. I just thought it was something she ate. Is she dead??"Koya shook her head. "No, but she is in a deep coma. This cannot be a coincidence. The moment we near Brinewall, where some legacy of her family is said to remain, and she suffers this? There must be some link""Well," Sandru said, "the wagons won't be able to navigate that trail. It's too overgrown. Yannus, I suggest you, Koman and your crew head for Brinewall. It can't be more than three miles further on. I'll stay with the wagons.""And I will watch over Ameiko," Koya said."Then I will accompany you," Shalelu said to Yannus as she shouldered her gear.Sandru was correct in his assessment, and it was little more than a three mile hike along the Steam River before the company reached the ruins of Brinewall. The first structure they saw was a stone lighthouse, now little more than an empty shell, its roof caved in some time ago. A quick search turned up a partially crushed strongbox that still contained a scattering of gold coins, as well as a rusty iron key. When they exited the lighthouse, they could see down the hill to the town proper, as well as the ruins of the docks. However, there appeared to be a ship moored at one of the two piers. It appeared relatively new, but upon closer inspection, it could be seen to be partially destroyed and half-sunken. "That's a longship," Koman announced. "From the Linnorm Kingdoms. Looks like the raiders found this place before we did."The companions made their way down the hill and into the town proper, heading towards the docks. Most of the buildings they passed were burned out or mostly collapsed, though one that they saw bore several architectural designs similar to those of the Sandpoint glassworks owned by the Kaijitsu family. When they reached the docks, they could see that the longship had suffered tremendous damage in the form of tremendous claw marks and what appeared to be scorch marks. Not far away, lying half in the water along the beach of the lagoon, was the carcass of some sort of large creature. Closer inspection showed it to be a green scaled reptile the size of a horse, with finned, winglike arms and a draconic visage. It bore the marks of several violent strikes with an edged weapon. If  this was the creature that had attacked the ship, then the raiders had apparently given as well as they'd got. Koman knelt down to examine the mud on the river bank."I see one set of boot tracks leading away," he said. "There was at least one survivor.""Beware the water!" Shalelu suddenly shouted, pointing towards the lagoon. Crawling out of the water were a quartet of creatures that resembled a cross between giant lobsters and eels. They rushed towards the companions to defend their meal, claws snapping in the air as they came. Before the party could react, the reefclaws were among them, grabbing onto legs and arms with their serrated appendages and holding tight. It didn't take the group long to recover, however, and with Shalelu's deft support with her bow, they made quick work of the scavengers. Boris quickly went to work on their carcasses with his butcher knife."Caravan running low on provisions," he said. "Tonight we eat surf and turf!"The party continued to pick their way through the ruined town, and eventually found themselves in front of the completely destroyed remains of a large church. The symbol on the lintel could still be made out as that of Desna. Beyond the church was a cemetery, guarded by a set of iron gates, flanked by a pair of statues carved in the likeness of a beautiful woman with butterfly wings. The grounds of the boneyard were unusually well kept, the grave markers clean and weeded. A single stone crypt stood on a small hill at one side, bearing the name of Admiral Mercatio Kiameleu, the founder of Brinewall. What appeared to be a gravestone set aside from the others, turned out to be a well-maintained shrine dedicated to Desna. Koman and Mazael, both followers of the Lady of Travels, made their obeisances before the shrine, but of the mysterious caretaker, there was no sign.Finally, the heroes turned their attention to the keep that overlooked the ruined town...Brinewall Castle. It was a walled structure that appeared to be at least two stories, with a taller tower on one side. There was no movement upon the battlements, and the large iron portals of the gatehouse stood closed. The group approached cautiously, noting the numerous arrow slits that looked out like dark, staring eyes. Haroldo carefully boosted Boris up on his shoulders so the goblin could peer inside. The interior of the gatehouse was dim but Boris's eyes quickly adjusted. The floor was packed dirt and numerous wooden support beams rose to the stone ceiling above. Another pair of rusted iron doors opened to the interior of the keep on the opposite side of the room. Lying about the room were four odd-looking individuals. The looked roughly human-sized, but they were covered in black feathers and heads like large ravens. They all looked to be sleeping. "Bird men," Boris whispered as he motioned for Haroldo to lower him back down. "Sleepy bird men. Boris think he can squeeze through arrow slit. Sneak very quiet and unlock gate. Good plan, Boris think."The others couldn't argue that the little goblin could be very unobtrusive when he wanted to be. Haroldo boosted him again while the others readied themselves in front of the gates. Slowly, Boris wedged himself into the narrow opening and slipped inside the gatehouse, then lowered himself quietly to the floor. He began tiptoeing across the room towards the exterior doors, where a large lever served as the locking mechanism. He gripped the lever and pulled it, and to his horror, it made a rusty, squeaking noise as it lowered. One of the bird men stirred and opened its beady eyes. Quickly, Boris shoved the door open, and his friends darted inside to stand over the bird creatures, weapons ready. Haroldo and Koman put their fingers to their mouths, warning the creatures to be quiet. Immediately, one of them began squawking raucously. A bowstring twanged, and a green fletched arrow sprouted out of its shoulder."These are dire corbies," Shalelu snapped. "They are evil, murderous creatures, and your mercy is wasted on them!"At that moment, the dire corbies began lurching to their feet, reaching for the heroes with filthy, sharpened talons. Chaos erupted inside the gatehouse. The corbies fought like fanatics, screeching and slashing despite suffering grievous wounds. They fought past the point when lesser creatures would have succumbed, until they finally dropped one by one. "The language they were speaking," Lucian huffed as he struggled to catch his breath, "it was Aklo. They spoke of their master, and how he would destroy us all."A pair of ladders on opposites sides of the room led to trap doors in the ceiling of the gatehouse. Koman and Boris quickly scrambled up them to see what the raucous shrieking of the dire corbies had alerted. When they emerged onto the roof, however, they found another trio of the corbies waiting for them. They began squawking loudly, and their cries were answered from the far side of the courtyard. There, on another battlement, three more corbies were readying a catapult."Down!" Koman shouted as he lunged for the nearest corby. Boris thought his warning was unnecessary, since the little goblin couldn't even see over the parapet. Still, he ducked low and plunged both of his blades into the thick leg of an oncoming corby. From below, he could hear his friends rapidly ascending the ladders. Just as Haroldo and Mazael reached the roof, the crack of the catapult shattered the air. Unfortunately for the dire corbies manning it, the siege weapon was old and in disrepair. The throwing arm completed obliterated the base as it slammed forward, knocking the bird men to the ground and sending its boulder sailing harmlessly into the woods beyond the wall. The three corbies quickly climbed to their feet and began quickly running along the battlements to join their comrades on the gatehouse roof.By that time, all of the companions, save for Yannus, had reached the rooftop and engaged the dire corbies. For his part, Yannus  fished a flask out of his pack, uncorked it, and quickly downed the contents. He grimaced as his muscles began to spasm and stretch, his bones elongating. In a matter of moments, he had grown to twice his size, and he pushed open the inner doors leading to the courtyard. He stepped outside, his head now even with the parapets, and moved to try and intercept the oncoming corbies, using the now over twenty-foot reach that his glaive gave him. However, as he reached the middle of the courtyard, the doors to a stable suddenly flew open. Standing there was a large, hairy spider the size of a pony, and next to it was an emaciated creature that looked like a cross between a person and an arachnid. It gestured, and the spider scuttled across the courtyard towards Yannus, but when it was still several yards away, the giant evangelist impaled it with his polearm. The arachnoid creature, and ettercap, screeched inhumanly and loped forward on all fours, stopping just outside the reach of Yannus' glaive. From there, it began spinning fine silk from a spinneret on its abdomen into a web net, which it promptly prepared to hurl towards the priest.Meanwhile, back on the roof, the battle careened from one side to the other, but the dire corbies were rapidly losing ground. The last one went down just before the other three reinforcements rounded the final corner on the battlements, only to be met by a hail of arrows from Shalelu, and Mazael and Haroldo standing shoulder to shoulder. Though the corbies tried to break through, they were beaten back and overwhelmed."Little help!" a call came from below.Shalelu turned and saw the ettercap advancing on Yannus, tossing net after net of sticky webbing at him. She drew her bowstring back to her ear, sighted, and loosed, burying a shaft to the fletches in the creature's neck.The courtyard was quiet. There seemed to be no further answer to the warning cries of the dire corbies, nor to the sounds of combat. The heroes quickly made their way down to the ground and joined Yannus, and then they all hurriedly crossed the open yard to the keep itself. The front doors stood closed, but that way seemed to obvious. They circled around to one side, and there found a side door that was unlocked. As quietly as possible, Boris eased it open. Beyond seemed to be the ruined remains of some sort of barracks, but all the bunks had been piled into the middle to make a large nest. No sooner had the daylight from outside illuminated the chamber, than a hissing sound came from the nest. Two large reptiles, lizards the size of crocodiles, lumbered out of the debris and rushed forward. Haroldo pushed Boris aside as the first one lunged, and the big warrior swung his sword down and neatly decapitated it. Shalelu darted in behind him, but the second lizard seized her leg and hung on, shaking her back and forth. As she struggled to break free, Yannus came to her side  and jabbed down with his glaive, severing the lizard's spine, causing it to go limp.</blockquote>

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