Squirrel and the Keep
Heydrus, a young man all of sixteen years old, was a study in the abuses of mankind on mankind. On the tall side of medium height, he was painfully thin with scrofulous skin and light brown hair that looked as if someone had been using it to mop up greasy floors for a week. The first word in most people’s mind when they first met him was either ‘wretched’ or ‘victim’.
In need of money and somewhat lazy he had fallen in with the group of bandits almost by accident and became their all-purpose servant and dogsbody. With hindsight Heydrus daily regretted his choice, if only because of the intimidation and occasional random violence visited upon him almost daily. If he had any moral qualms about what the bandits of Broken Spire Keep was doing, he wisely kept them to himself.
At the time of the assault on Broken Spire, Heydrus had been peacefully sleeping off a very wearisome day and had never heard any of the fighting that had broken out. As dawn broke over Broken Spire Keep, the young man found himself being slapped awake by several bandits just returning with some supplies. Somewhat confused the young man could only stammer that he knew nothing of a fight. He had slept throughout the entire night after cleaning Wilmor’s boots five times after dinner (the thug had made Heydrus clean them and had then walked outside in the mud, dirtied them, came back inside and had beatened the young man for not doing a good job).
The bandits, five in all, looked at each other in worry and as one came to the same decision. “Go get Ranchefus.” They told Heydrus. Heydrus wasn’t stupid. Ranchefus wouldn’t like this and would probably take out the bad news on him.
Unfortunately, just getting up, Heydrus didn’t get the entire story on the assault and wasn’t given much time before being told to get the boss. It never crossed his mind that everyone upstairs was dead. He just assumed that the gate guards were dead.
It was early morning with Ashimar and Lyntern on the third watch. So far all had been quiet and the rest of the group was sleeping peacefully. For Lyntern’s part, the eighteen-year-old man was excited.
After killing the priest they had searched the two rooms. Kestral had found a secret door leading to a passage that descended into dark, stone passages. Even more exciting was the obvious wealth the bandits had taken in. Both rooms were lavishly appointed (though Kellron had pulled down and slashed the tapestries showing the dark gods). The furnishings were of the finishes, polished wood, and the decanters and glasses were of crystal.
In a locked strongbox under the bed in the next room (which had been covered in fine furs) they had found hundreds of coins of gold and platinum, as well as gems and a pair of bejeweled bracelets. Kestral’s estimate was that the entire box probably worth close to six thousand gold lions. Six thousand! It was worth more than the entire county of Haranshire and it didn’t include the trinkets taken off the bandits themselves. Latina alone knew where the bandits had gotten it all.
Finally there was the magic. The mysterious sorceress, Jallarzi, had noted with some authority that a number of the claimed items were enchanted. They included two magic rings, a pair of magic bracers, two magic swords, a magic bow, a cloak, chainmail, and flail, as well as six magic potions – four of which smelled weirdly fishy.
<wham><wham><wham>!
The banging at the door woke those sleeping with a start, while Ashimar and Lyntern who were on guard duty picked up their blades and padded over to the door.
“Sir! Come quick! There’s been a fight upstairs!” Came a muffled voice from the other side of the thin stone door. Again there was a banging on the door.
Kellron walked over to the door also and he and Ashimar eyed each other. Ashimar nodded and, as soon as Kellron looked ready, pulled open the door. The warrior of Sarath lunged past Ashimar, grabbed the startled kid standing there before he could do anything, and pulled him inside. Ashimar then poked his head outside, looked to see that the hallway seemed clear, and then quickly closed the door.
As the door closed Kellron had the boy held up against the wall. “Who are you?” He growled. As he did so, Kestral came up and quickly divested the youth of his short blade.
The youth looked quickly around the room, his eyes wide. There was no sign of Ranchefus. “He…Heydrus, Sir.” Stammered the boy with cowering respect. He was use to rough treatment and knew how to make himself as non-threatening as possible.
“And what are you doing here?” Asked Kellron, his voice still gruff.
The youth stammered his answered again. “I…I came to warn Ranchefus that we’ve been attacked.”
“Is he the priest?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He’s dead.” Kellron let that sink into the boy as he looked the youth over closely. Surprisingly, there was no feeling of taint on the boy. “How many bandits are left here?”
“About a dozen or so, Sir” answered Heydrus. Truthfully he had no idea how many people were dead, but a fast answer usually got him hit less.
“How much ‘or-so’? Asked Kestral sweetly, playing the good guard.
“I’m not sure, Ma’am.” Answered Heydrus looking at her with a little fear. He had known too many sweet women. They were the worst. “I just got up and was told to come down and warn Ranchefus.” He looked at the seven people, all slightly disheveled and most with blood splatters on their clothes and armor. “Please don’t kill me.” He added.
Kellron looked over the youth. “How did you get mixed up with these bandits?” He gestured to the bedroom behind them where they had put the bodies of Ranchefus and the orcs. “That man in there was a priest of the evil gods.”
Heydrus trembled and did his best at looking pathetic – it was a pretty good effort. “I…I just got mixed up with them. You know. I clean up and cook for them. That’s all.” Heydrus lifted up his chin to show a nearly healed black eye. “They hit me sometimes.” Sensing some soft-hearts, he continued. “Balrat is the worst. He makes me clean his boots and then will beat me when he dirties them up ‘for not doing a good enough’ at it.”
Ashimar pointed to the old, comfortable looking over-stuffed chair. “Sit over there.” He ordered. Kellron carefully let the boy go, half expecting him to try and bolt but there was nowhere for Heydrus to go. The boy slunk over to the chair and sat gingerly in the seat, looking anxiously about.
Kellron rolled his eyes a bit at the obsequiousness of the youth. “Come here... What’s your name?” Before the boy could answer, Kellron, clearly frustrated by the youth, continued speaking. “Come here, Squirrel.”
Heydrus took no offense at the name. He wasn’t in a position too, and the name was a lot better then some things he had been called. He approached Kellron slowly.
“You’re going back up there and telling them that everything is all right.”*
Ashimar broke in. “Tell them that Ranchefus killed us and is interrogating a prisoner.”
Heydrus looked uncertain but nodded. “I can do it sir.”
“Good. If you can help us we can see that you get a pardon from the Count. We can even keep you with us. Kellron can use a squire or something.” Ashimar smiled encouragingly at the boy. “We pay well.” He added. The last perked up Heydrus’ ears.
With that Kestral and Ashimar straightened the boy’s clothes a bit and ushered him out the door. Jallarzi looked at her pack with it’s spellbook and went into a corner to study. If things worked well she should be able to memorize her spells. If they didn’t – well she still had a couple in memory.
While the white-haired sorceress studied the rest of the group chatted about what to do while they were waiting.
“We’ll need to follow that secret passage in the bedroom back there.” Said Ashimar, jerking his head towards the lavishly appointed bedroom the orcs had been heading to. The secret door they had found had led downwards through uncut rock and opened up in a large passage running north-south.
“We should make sure the keep is really clear first.” Said Kellron, clearly not trusting ‘Squirrel’.
Kestral looked around. “Maybe we can get Squirrel to lead the bandits down here one at a time or something.” The others nodded at that suggestion, clearly liking it.
Kupier looked up at Ashimar suddenly. “Didn’t you say that you had to have Lyntern back within the week?”
“Hells.”
“Crap. That’s right”
It had taken three days to get to Broken Spire and they would clearly spend at least part of today exploring. They had no time for exploring the passages below.
Ashimar looked at Kupier. “After we take care of the remaining bandits could you take Lyntern back to Parlfray Keep? While you do that, we’ll check out the passage below.
Lyntern looked as if he was going to say something but kept his mouth shut. He had heard these folk promise his father to return him. It was best that it occurred or his father would cause no end of trouble.
Within five minutes there was another knock at the door. The party moved about the room and prepared themselves for battle while Ashimar went to the door. Unperturbed, Jallarzi continued studying, though her fingers flexed just a little as she turned a page in her book.
Ashimar opened the door and used it to partly shield himself from any unexpected crossbow fire.
Heydrus stood there, alone and harlmess. “It’s done.” He said with some pride. “They’re cleaning things upstairs now.”
Ashimar looked up and down the hallway cautiously and ushered the boy in and closed the door. After that they interrogated the boy about everything he knew about the keep. Heydrus was even able to draw them a map of the upper and lower spaces.
Eventually the question was asked, “What do we do now?”
“We could have Squirrel bring down the other guards, one by one.” Suggested Kestral.
The others looked at her. “He just needs to tell them that the boss wants to speak with them.” She explained.
Ashimar looked at the boy speculatively. “He could tell them that Ranchefus wants to question all of them individually to make sure no one is enchanted.”
It took only a brief discussion before they realized they had nothing to lose by the idea.
Alas it was not quite to be. Heydrus was a good enough actor but in the end he was unable to make the remaining half dozen bandits believe him. Perhaps it was something in his voice, perhaps it was just some sixth sense. Not that it matters. In the end the six bandits gather their belongings and what loot they knew about, and left the keep.
For the last two years banditry had been hard in this area, but it had been getting easier. Until now. The six men left the keep for good and were never seen in the duchy of Corlean again.
For his part, Heydrus also left. The thought of being a servant for some warrior didn’t appeal to him, though the man had obvious charisma. In his experience soldiers were a hard lot and didn’t mind hitting people; besides staying with these people was almost guaranteed to involve work. He also left, though he kept the name Squirrel when he felt he shouldn’t use his real name.
The group waited fifteen minutes and explored the rest of the keep themselves. It was nearly empty and so Kupier and Lyntern set off immediately back to Thurmaster. In the end the party found only six more living creatures.
-The first was a woman, apparently mute, and her two guard dogs she kept herself in the guardroom attached to the well-used cells. She attacked them from darkness with a poisoned dagger as her dogs distracted the party but she was easily killed.
-Next was the sole remaining bandit. He was suppose to have been on guard duty that night, but snuck off for a nap in the storeroom. He had slept until dawn. Ashimar was able to knock the man out. He was interrogated and put in one of the prisoner cells, naked and chained to the wall.
-The next was a bizarre creature, a giant caterpillar the size of a large dog with long, lashing tentacles. It was lairing in the latrine dump and attacked Ashimar while he examined the room. One hit from its’ tentacles paralyzed the young man but his friends were able to kill it.
-Finally, there was a lone guard dog trapped in one of the rooms upstairs. Ashimar tried to make friends with it, but they had to kill it in the end.
More interestingly they found a secret room warded with magic. Inside they found the bulk of the bandits treasure including thousands of coins, and a small pouch of gems also worth thousands. Additionally there was a wizards spell book in the treasure room as well as a scribed scroll.
Beyond that they also discovered the Parlfray crypt with the skeletal remains of the original owners scattered about. Briefly, Kellron thought about searching the crypts for usable weapons, but in the end decided that it wouldn’t be right.
The body of the keep’s wizard was also found in his own suite, next to the underground crypt. Something had snapped his neck so many years ago and his body had lain undisturbed. On one hand was a magical ring.
Finally, they found the family chapel, once dedicated to Latina but now consecrated to Tresh by Ranchefus. Both Ashimar and Kellron took pleasure in disposing of it’s skeletal guardians and removing all of its’ profane trappings
By the end of the day Broken Spire was thoroughly looted and the bandits dead or routed.
*In retrospect, as a deception, I probably should have docked something from Kellron for participating. If paladins can’t lie they shouldn’t be ordering people to lie. Quite frankly I didn’t catch it at the time and it made good tactical sense. Oh well.
Heydrus, a young man all of sixteen years old, was a study in the abuses of mankind on mankind. On the tall side of medium height, he was painfully thin with scrofulous skin and light brown hair that looked as if someone had been using it to mop up greasy floors for a week. The first word in most people’s mind when they first met him was either ‘wretched’ or ‘victim’.
In need of money and somewhat lazy he had fallen in with the group of bandits almost by accident and became their all-purpose servant and dogsbody. With hindsight Heydrus daily regretted his choice, if only because of the intimidation and occasional random violence visited upon him almost daily. If he had any moral qualms about what the bandits of Broken Spire Keep was doing, he wisely kept them to himself.
At the time of the assault on Broken Spire, Heydrus had been peacefully sleeping off a very wearisome day and had never heard any of the fighting that had broken out. As dawn broke over Broken Spire Keep, the young man found himself being slapped awake by several bandits just returning with some supplies. Somewhat confused the young man could only stammer that he knew nothing of a fight. He had slept throughout the entire night after cleaning Wilmor’s boots five times after dinner (the thug had made Heydrus clean them and had then walked outside in the mud, dirtied them, came back inside and had beatened the young man for not doing a good job).
The bandits, five in all, looked at each other in worry and as one came to the same decision. “Go get Ranchefus.” They told Heydrus. Heydrus wasn’t stupid. Ranchefus wouldn’t like this and would probably take out the bad news on him.
Unfortunately, just getting up, Heydrus didn’t get the entire story on the assault and wasn’t given much time before being told to get the boss. It never crossed his mind that everyone upstairs was dead. He just assumed that the gate guards were dead.
It was early morning with Ashimar and Lyntern on the third watch. So far all had been quiet and the rest of the group was sleeping peacefully. For Lyntern’s part, the eighteen-year-old man was excited.
After killing the priest they had searched the two rooms. Kestral had found a secret door leading to a passage that descended into dark, stone passages. Even more exciting was the obvious wealth the bandits had taken in. Both rooms were lavishly appointed (though Kellron had pulled down and slashed the tapestries showing the dark gods). The furnishings were of the finishes, polished wood, and the decanters and glasses were of crystal.
In a locked strongbox under the bed in the next room (which had been covered in fine furs) they had found hundreds of coins of gold and platinum, as well as gems and a pair of bejeweled bracelets. Kestral’s estimate was that the entire box probably worth close to six thousand gold lions. Six thousand! It was worth more than the entire county of Haranshire and it didn’t include the trinkets taken off the bandits themselves. Latina alone knew where the bandits had gotten it all.
Finally there was the magic. The mysterious sorceress, Jallarzi, had noted with some authority that a number of the claimed items were enchanted. They included two magic rings, a pair of magic bracers, two magic swords, a magic bow, a cloak, chainmail, and flail, as well as six magic potions – four of which smelled weirdly fishy.
<wham><wham><wham>!
The banging at the door woke those sleeping with a start, while Ashimar and Lyntern who were on guard duty picked up their blades and padded over to the door.
“Sir! Come quick! There’s been a fight upstairs!” Came a muffled voice from the other side of the thin stone door. Again there was a banging on the door.
Kellron walked over to the door also and he and Ashimar eyed each other. Ashimar nodded and, as soon as Kellron looked ready, pulled open the door. The warrior of Sarath lunged past Ashimar, grabbed the startled kid standing there before he could do anything, and pulled him inside. Ashimar then poked his head outside, looked to see that the hallway seemed clear, and then quickly closed the door.
As the door closed Kellron had the boy held up against the wall. “Who are you?” He growled. As he did so, Kestral came up and quickly divested the youth of his short blade.
The youth looked quickly around the room, his eyes wide. There was no sign of Ranchefus. “He…Heydrus, Sir.” Stammered the boy with cowering respect. He was use to rough treatment and knew how to make himself as non-threatening as possible.
“And what are you doing here?” Asked Kellron, his voice still gruff.
The youth stammered his answered again. “I…I came to warn Ranchefus that we’ve been attacked.”
“Is he the priest?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He’s dead.” Kellron let that sink into the boy as he looked the youth over closely. Surprisingly, there was no feeling of taint on the boy. “How many bandits are left here?”
“About a dozen or so, Sir” answered Heydrus. Truthfully he had no idea how many people were dead, but a fast answer usually got him hit less.
“How much ‘or-so’? Asked Kestral sweetly, playing the good guard.
“I’m not sure, Ma’am.” Answered Heydrus looking at her with a little fear. He had known too many sweet women. They were the worst. “I just got up and was told to come down and warn Ranchefus.” He looked at the seven people, all slightly disheveled and most with blood splatters on their clothes and armor. “Please don’t kill me.” He added.
Kellron looked over the youth. “How did you get mixed up with these bandits?” He gestured to the bedroom behind them where they had put the bodies of Ranchefus and the orcs. “That man in there was a priest of the evil gods.”
Heydrus trembled and did his best at looking pathetic – it was a pretty good effort. “I…I just got mixed up with them. You know. I clean up and cook for them. That’s all.” Heydrus lifted up his chin to show a nearly healed black eye. “They hit me sometimes.” Sensing some soft-hearts, he continued. “Balrat is the worst. He makes me clean his boots and then will beat me when he dirties them up ‘for not doing a good enough’ at it.”
Ashimar pointed to the old, comfortable looking over-stuffed chair. “Sit over there.” He ordered. Kellron carefully let the boy go, half expecting him to try and bolt but there was nowhere for Heydrus to go. The boy slunk over to the chair and sat gingerly in the seat, looking anxiously about.
Kellron rolled his eyes a bit at the obsequiousness of the youth. “Come here... What’s your name?” Before the boy could answer, Kellron, clearly frustrated by the youth, continued speaking. “Come here, Squirrel.”
Heydrus took no offense at the name. He wasn’t in a position too, and the name was a lot better then some things he had been called. He approached Kellron slowly.
“You’re going back up there and telling them that everything is all right.”*
Ashimar broke in. “Tell them that Ranchefus killed us and is interrogating a prisoner.”
Heydrus looked uncertain but nodded. “I can do it sir.”
“Good. If you can help us we can see that you get a pardon from the Count. We can even keep you with us. Kellron can use a squire or something.” Ashimar smiled encouragingly at the boy. “We pay well.” He added. The last perked up Heydrus’ ears.
With that Kestral and Ashimar straightened the boy’s clothes a bit and ushered him out the door. Jallarzi looked at her pack with it’s spellbook and went into a corner to study. If things worked well she should be able to memorize her spells. If they didn’t – well she still had a couple in memory.
While the white-haired sorceress studied the rest of the group chatted about what to do while they were waiting.
“We’ll need to follow that secret passage in the bedroom back there.” Said Ashimar, jerking his head towards the lavishly appointed bedroom the orcs had been heading to. The secret door they had found had led downwards through uncut rock and opened up in a large passage running north-south.
“We should make sure the keep is really clear first.” Said Kellron, clearly not trusting ‘Squirrel’.
Kestral looked around. “Maybe we can get Squirrel to lead the bandits down here one at a time or something.” The others nodded at that suggestion, clearly liking it.
Kupier looked up at Ashimar suddenly. “Didn’t you say that you had to have Lyntern back within the week?”
“Hells.”
“Crap. That’s right”
It had taken three days to get to Broken Spire and they would clearly spend at least part of today exploring. They had no time for exploring the passages below.
Ashimar looked at Kupier. “After we take care of the remaining bandits could you take Lyntern back to Parlfray Keep? While you do that, we’ll check out the passage below.
Lyntern looked as if he was going to say something but kept his mouth shut. He had heard these folk promise his father to return him. It was best that it occurred or his father would cause no end of trouble.
Within five minutes there was another knock at the door. The party moved about the room and prepared themselves for battle while Ashimar went to the door. Unperturbed, Jallarzi continued studying, though her fingers flexed just a little as she turned a page in her book.
Ashimar opened the door and used it to partly shield himself from any unexpected crossbow fire.
Heydrus stood there, alone and harlmess. “It’s done.” He said with some pride. “They’re cleaning things upstairs now.”
Ashimar looked up and down the hallway cautiously and ushered the boy in and closed the door. After that they interrogated the boy about everything he knew about the keep. Heydrus was even able to draw them a map of the upper and lower spaces.
Eventually the question was asked, “What do we do now?”
“We could have Squirrel bring down the other guards, one by one.” Suggested Kestral.
The others looked at her. “He just needs to tell them that the boss wants to speak with them.” She explained.
Ashimar looked at the boy speculatively. “He could tell them that Ranchefus wants to question all of them individually to make sure no one is enchanted.”
It took only a brief discussion before they realized they had nothing to lose by the idea.
Alas it was not quite to be. Heydrus was a good enough actor but in the end he was unable to make the remaining half dozen bandits believe him. Perhaps it was something in his voice, perhaps it was just some sixth sense. Not that it matters. In the end the six bandits gather their belongings and what loot they knew about, and left the keep.
For the last two years banditry had been hard in this area, but it had been getting easier. Until now. The six men left the keep for good and were never seen in the duchy of Corlean again.
For his part, Heydrus also left. The thought of being a servant for some warrior didn’t appeal to him, though the man had obvious charisma. In his experience soldiers were a hard lot and didn’t mind hitting people; besides staying with these people was almost guaranteed to involve work. He also left, though he kept the name Squirrel when he felt he shouldn’t use his real name.
The group waited fifteen minutes and explored the rest of the keep themselves. It was nearly empty and so Kupier and Lyntern set off immediately back to Thurmaster. In the end the party found only six more living creatures.
-The first was a woman, apparently mute, and her two guard dogs she kept herself in the guardroom attached to the well-used cells. She attacked them from darkness with a poisoned dagger as her dogs distracted the party but she was easily killed.
-Next was the sole remaining bandit. He was suppose to have been on guard duty that night, but snuck off for a nap in the storeroom. He had slept until dawn. Ashimar was able to knock the man out. He was interrogated and put in one of the prisoner cells, naked and chained to the wall.
-The next was a bizarre creature, a giant caterpillar the size of a large dog with long, lashing tentacles. It was lairing in the latrine dump and attacked Ashimar while he examined the room. One hit from its’ tentacles paralyzed the young man but his friends were able to kill it.
-Finally, there was a lone guard dog trapped in one of the rooms upstairs. Ashimar tried to make friends with it, but they had to kill it in the end.
More interestingly they found a secret room warded with magic. Inside they found the bulk of the bandits treasure including thousands of coins, and a small pouch of gems also worth thousands. Additionally there was a wizards spell book in the treasure room as well as a scribed scroll.
Beyond that they also discovered the Parlfray crypt with the skeletal remains of the original owners scattered about. Briefly, Kellron thought about searching the crypts for usable weapons, but in the end decided that it wouldn’t be right.
The body of the keep’s wizard was also found in his own suite, next to the underground crypt. Something had snapped his neck so many years ago and his body had lain undisturbed. On one hand was a magical ring.
Finally, they found the family chapel, once dedicated to Latina but now consecrated to Tresh by Ranchefus. Both Ashimar and Kellron took pleasure in disposing of it’s skeletal guardians and removing all of its’ profane trappings
By the end of the day Broken Spire was thoroughly looted and the bandits dead or routed.
*In retrospect, as a deception, I probably should have docked something from Kellron for participating. If paladins can’t lie they shouldn’t be ordering people to lie. Quite frankly I didn’t catch it at the time and it made good tactical sense. Oh well.
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