NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2419860" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Ruined Keep of the Small Folk12/12/369 O.L.G., 3 p.m., ZacradoseRain and mud; those are the two pieces of the environment most necessary to conveying our heroes’ current experience.  But who knows how long until some Zacradosian hound picks up their trail?  If they are to follow up on the rumor they have heard, they cannot wait the winter out.Just whispers, the word “prophecy” in conjunction with an old halfling ruin- but it is enough to entice our heroes out.  The so-called Halfling Prophecy, told to them by a water weird and tattooed on Naomi’s inner thigh, promises great things- cows that give cream, just to give one example.  Any clue, any hint must be followed up on.  Paradise itself might be at stake!So it is that our heroes slog through the mud as they mount an old motte, heading up to a walled ruined keep.  The portcullis is down but askew; our heroes slip easily past it and into a large courtyard.  The main castle dominates the yard, and there are three additional outbuildings (one of which looks to be a stable, one a privy, and one some sort of shed) and a well.  The rain comes down in sheets.  “Let’s check out the outbuidlings first,” suggests Martini.  The others agree, and our heroes begin with the stables.  There are no garen, though old straw is scattered about and the loft appears to have old hay bales up in it.  The sound of squeaking is evident from the shadows of the loft.  A rickety, unsafe-looking staircase heads up into the loft.  “I wonder if anything’s up there,” muses Martini.  “The stairs don’t look safe,” points out Ari.“Hmm... I’m pretty light.”  Martini shifts his 40 pounds around a bit.  “I have to try.”When the stairs, predictably, give way beneath him, Martini bangs his shins up a little, but he rises with a chuckle.  “All right,” he concedes, “I guess I knew that was going to happen.”Ari, meanwhile, speaks to a tumorous rat.  After a period of squeaking, he tells the others, “The rat seems to think we want to put them on a stick and eat them.  I tried to reassure him, but he was terrified of us.”Our heroes move on and check the well, as it is on the way to the other outbuildings.  There is a bucket and fresh water below.  Glancing at the ruins of the castle itself, Erasmuz murmurs, “I wonder if there’s anyone in there now.”The party next looks in on the shed.  Though long abandoned, and now choked with weeds, there are a few basic halfling-sized tools in the mess within- a shovel, a rake, etc.  Leaving these old, brittle relics behind, our heroes move on to the privy.  Naomi glances within and reports that there is a huge mound of ancient stuff below, with some more recent excrement on top.  Our heroes glance at each other.  It seems there is someone here now, or at least someone has been here recently. Into the main castle our heroes go.  As they enter, however, a strange growl greets them.  The halflings stare in horror at the two monsters in cages on the far side of the room- hideous things, with the bodies of lions, great dragon-wings, spikey tails and weird, human-like faces.  There’s a strange sound as both creatures flex their tails and snap them forward, and suddenly spikes are flying everywhere through the air.Next Time: Our heroes do battle against other small folk!</blockquote>

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