Over the Wall

After Ameiko fell into a coma, the party decided to head on to Brinewall “just to take a look around”. The next thing they knew, Bella had a grappling hook over the wall of the castle and was starting to climb. Maybe the word “reconnoiter” didn’t mean what they thought it did.

Nonetheless, Bella quickly climbed up the wall and over the parapet, followed shortly by Shinjiro. The found themselves on a flat area over the gatehouse, with crenellated walkways leading off to the east and west. To the north was a large open courtyard, with no signs of life. There were two open towers overlooking the courtyard, and a trapdoor could be seen in the floor of each.

Shinjiro leaned over the wall and gave the ‘all-clear’ signal to those waiting below, and one by one they followed up the rope, some climbing, some being hauled up. Sawyer waited till last. The hardy fighter seemed less than confident in his ability to climb the rope, so he tied it around his waist and asked to be hoisted up. The reason for his insecurity quickly became apparent, as he began flailing wildly halfway up the wall and managed to flip himself upside down. Shinjiro and Sandoval heaved mightily on the rope and managed to drag the heavily armored fighter the rest of the way up the wall feet-first, but he left most of the skin of his nose on the castle’s stones. The party began to reconsider how he might have actually gotten all those other scars on his face.

Ignoring the trapdoors down into the gatehouse, Bella headed down the parapet to where a wide walkway could be seen leading to a pair of double doors into the second floor of the castle. As she neared the walkway, she began hearing grunts and thuds from the courtyard on the other side. Peeking cautiously over the side, she saw a pair of ogrekin wrestling below. They seemed to be fighting for sport rather than anger, but both were bloody and bruised. Warning the others to stay low and stay quiet, Bella attempted to open the doors, but the lock proved to be beyond her abilities.

With Bella still leading, the party continued their way around the castle wall. Ahead, the walkway divided around what might have once been a solarium, but where the chamber had once had a vaulted glass roof, little now remained save for a few precariously leaning wooden timbers. The southern half of the room had been crudely repaired with thick sheets of canvas stretched over the remaining rafters to form a roof of sorts. To the left of the solarium, another set of double doors led into the main castle, and Bella set off.

Before she tried to unlock these doors, she decided to poke her head into the ruined solarium, whose doors had long since fallen in. When she did, a bat-like creature the size of a horse let go of its perch where it hung from the timbers, and dropped down to attack her. It hit, and hit hard, and Bella staggered back barely clinging to life. Marie rushed forward and scored a critical hit of her own with her mace. The rest of the party also hurried to Bella’s aid, with Sawyer interposing himself between the mobat and the injured rogue.

The mobat was badly injured, and decided to flee. It let out an ear-piercing screech that left most of the party Staggered, and tried to fly off, but turning to run was a bad move, and several of the adventurers scored opportunity attacks that sent it crashing back to the ground. When their hearing returned, they realized that the sounds of combat from the courtyard had stopped; peeking over the parapet, they saw the ogrekin staring up in their direction. So much for a stealthy approach.

After Marie administered some healing, Bella once again tried to pick the lock on the doors leading into the castle, and once again failed. Zhustin had moved ahead to the next tower, and could see that the parapet ahead apparently came to a dead end. He opened the trapdoor in this tower, and saw nothing but an empty tower below, with a ladder leading down. Another small courtyard lay below them. It might once have contained a beautiful garden, but now it was a tangle of weeds surrounding an algae-choked pool of water. However, a door could be seen leading into the castle, so the party decided to descend and investigate.

Nicki and Zhustin led the way (this party having apparently decided that fighters are much too valuable a resource to risk in the front lines). They skirted the pool of water and reached the door while most of the rest of the party were still making their way down the ladder. The door was unlocked, and led into a small alcove with another door leading northwest. However, as they peeked inside, a splashing from the pool alerted them that they were in trouble. Zhustin turned just in time to see a giant beetle (very similar to the one that had attacked them in Brinestump Marsh) emerge from the stagnant water. It grabbed Zhustin with both claws and sank its mandibles into his flesh. Zhustin found himself paralyzed as its digestive juices started to work. Luckily, Bella was able to get into position behind the insect, and scored sneak attacks with both her rapier and dagger. Nicki followed up with a Magic Missile and the beetle released its hold on the young wizard and sank back into the murky water.

Marie did some more healing and Zhustin quaffed a potion. Having finally found a way into the castle proper, Bella moved to the front and opened the inner door into what had once been the throne room of the castle. Rotting, faded banners hung from the walls of this long hall, depicting a stylized castle sitting on a seaside cliff. Thick stone pillars supported the ceiling, while at the end of the hall nearest them was an old wooden throne, its back carved to resemble the towers of a castle wrapped in the coils of a serpentine dragon.

Sitting on the throne was an odd figure: a wild-eyed Tian man with deep red skin, a mane of white hair, and a prodigious nose. He was toying idly with a strange weapon: a sickle on one end attached to a long chain ending in a weighted ball. Arrayed before him were a group of wingless birdlike creatures; they looked like muscular humanoids with ravenlike heads and were covered with black feathers. The man on the throne rose to greet the party happily. “Oh look, my lovelies – we have an audience for our play! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kikonu, King of Brinewall, and these are my subjects. We’ve just been rehearsing a little play I wrote. It’s a tragi-comedy about a group of humans who find themselves transformed into birds. It has humor, and love, and murder – everything you could want in a great drama. We’re still in dress rehearsals, mind you, but I think you’ll enjoy it all the same. Please – come in and enjoy the show!”

Not quite sure what to make of this odd figure, the party shuffled into the throne room, and took up positions along the wall while Kikonu prompted his “actors” into their performance. The dire corbies began squawking one by one, and as each would squawk, Kikonu’s voice would emerge from it, speaking its “lines”.

“Oh, Jay, your beak is so big!”

“I know, Bluebird. I want to preen you. I want to preen you like you’ve never been preened before.”

“That is my sister! Our families hate each other, and I must kill you for loving her!”

“No, I will kill you!”  “No, I will kill you!”  “No, I will kill you!”

Bella quickly lost interest in the performance. She was standing at the foot of a stairway leading up, and decided to see where it went. As she headed up the stairs, Kikonu noticed her departure, and flew into a rage. “How dare you walk out of my play! Do you know how rude that is? Do you know how long we’ve worked on this? This is art!” He turned to his dire corbies. “KILL THEM!” he screamed.

His minions seemed almost relieved to have an excuse not to perform any more, and rushed to the attack. Although they could not fly, they had an odd leaping pounce attack that sent them flying through the air to charge their opponents. Fortunately, they weren’t very graceful, and none of their pounce attacks hit, but they quickly formed a line blocking the party from reaching Kikonu. For his part, the “king” began whirling the chain around his head. It made an odd whistling sound, and a giant wasp suddenly appeared behind the dire corbies.

Sawyer landed a mighty blow on the corby in front of him, and he could see the life leave its eyes. But the birdman continued attacking, reminding Nicki of Bella’s crude question to Spivey earlier in the day: “Do they keep running around after you cut off their heads?” Sandoval and Zhustin decided to try their one-two punch again: Sandoval sang his Lullaby followed by Zhustin’s Sleep spell. The two dire corbies in the center of the line dropped off into a deep sleep, and the party had an opening once again.

Sawyer charged through, ignoring the giant wasp that stung at him ineffectually, and closed with Kikonu, who continued taunting the party. Shinjiro followed, and began slapping at the self-proclaimed King of Brinewall, attempting to knock him unconscious rather than kill him, in case he knew something important. Nicki cast a Color Spray at Kikonu, but to his surprise, the spell seemed to flow around him to no effect. Most of the rest of the party focused their attacks on the wasp and the remaining dire corbies; like the first, they seemed to fight on even after they should have been dead, although if you kept hitting them they eventually went down.

Sandoval moved through to join Sawyer and Shinjiro in fighting Kikonu, who seemed completely unconcerned. He slashed at Sandoval with the sickle of his weaon, then lunged forward and sank his teeth into Sandoval’s shoulder. As he did so, Sandoval felt his throat close up. Kikonu leapt back, laughing with delight. “What do you think now, my bard?” he laughed, and with horror, Sandoval realized it was his voice coming out of Kikonu’s mouth. “Shall I sing you a song?” Kikonu began singing a song in Sandoval’s clear tenor voice. Sandoval tried to protest, but no sound would come from his throat. Kikonu had stolen the bard’s voice!

The PCs gained 229 XP for the night, and are now at 5455 XP with 9000 required for level 4. We’ll be at Joette and Rich’s again next week. Roger and Dave will both be out of town.