I am writing this to report the odd, and I mean ODD, things that we've found in this fort.
First off, the Stag Lord: After removing his mask we find that he's horribly disfigured. As if he'd been beaten nearly to death from the first day he set foot on this earth. I suppose that would be enough to make a man mean...crazy and mean. And that's exactly what the Stag Lord was...Crazy first, mean as a close second.
We have also stumbled across clues that point to Elsbeth's phantom menace having shacked up with the Stag Lord's boys. He was masquerading as a priest of Erastul and had been here not more than a couple of days before us. A small cot and a hidden shrine to some unknown demon...His most current alias, we think, is Father Avery.
Now the treasure that the Stag Lord was hoarding was quite a find. Stored in three chests we appropriated the following loot:
- 2 magical draughts of curing (cure mod)
- An ensorsceled suit of leather armor (+1)
- 14 magical arrows (+1)
- His stag-horned helm ('Dead Eye', increases hearing, called shot, eyesight)
- Green Wrist Charm of Fae manufacture
- 3 odd leather masks
- Bolts of Cloth
- Empty scroll cases
- Gold (good for buying supplies for beer making)
- Pewter buckle of what Ix calls a 'Succubi' ... she's cute, but she gives me the creeps too
- Silver charm bracelet
- A silver ring
*NOTE TO SELF: Remind me to ask Elsbeth what took her so darned long in that room...
Ah, you're probably wondering about our "prisoners" right? Well, we let most of them go free. Unfortunately our new friend who can't speak, is not only mute, but bloodthirsty as well. All of those "sleeping" guards were summarily executed by him. Maybe they deserved it? Maybe they didn't....I'm not judge nor jury. Although I know that it's part of our charter, it's not a role I'm comfortable in. Not like Durvil or Elsbeth...Luckily for me, I'm not really needed in that capacity.
It gets stranger though...our mute friend is someone that knows me. Yes! From my days as a child in the city. He was one of the street urchins that ran in the same circles as my brother and myself. From the little that I recall, he was a "protector" of those of us that were too weak to defend ourselves. But one day he just up and disappeared. Rumor has it that he beat up the wrong person, was prosecuted and sent to prison. Turned out he ran...and here's where he ended up.
Unfortunately for him. But I do remember that at his core, he was a good soul. And I trust that still. He's single minded at this point though...killing Dovan is his one and only aim in life at this point.
The other "bandit" left alive was the black-clad man who, when we attacked, was sitting in the corner sharpening his sword. His name as it turns out is Aikiros. And get this, he was a fallen paladin of Iomedae! His was a tragic story of misplaced love. He loved a woman who somehow ended up w/ the "wrong" man...I'm not certain of the details here...But worse comes to worse and he kills a man. Running, or hanging, were his only options.
So here he ended up. Another lost soul sucked into the Stag Lord's pit of depravity. But yet again, he's got a kernel of goodness somewhere deep within. Selah is certain of it...and I trust her intuition as well. So he remains free. Durvil is not so certain, and is keeping a very close eye on our two new friends.
While we were cleaning up, I decided to take a walk around our new surroundings and in doing so, stumbled across another hidden trap door. Granted, I didn't just stumble across it, I was actually looking. For I surmised that if this edifice was indeed a chapel or fallen church of some type, it would make sense that the monks had some type of cellar in which to keep supplies.
I notified the others immediately, and Elsbeth came with me to check it out. We opened it up, and sure enough, it was some type of cellar. We retreated to fetch the others after checking the stairs down for traps.
As a group we decided that it would be best if we rested and checked on this cellar in the morning. So we did exactly that.
Next day we opened it back up again and went down. Darkness greeted us like an old friend... The chambers were stacked with old crates and boxes. But not really much more than that. After some careful searching though, Ix found some type of "nest" or bed maybe. Consisting of old rags and refuse, it was surrounded with scraps of food and bones. Someone had been kept down here, and fed! Deplorable! Just another sign of the Stag Lord's depravity.
Who might have stayed down here...and how did they escape? From all signs they'd been down here extremely recently. And the trap door hadn't been opened from the outside till we had done it. So where were the inhabitants?
I wandered around calling out that we would not hurt whomever had been kept in these conditions...That their captive, the Stag Lord was now dead and they were safe. Who knew? It wasn't the right thing to say. For a response was soon in coming.
As we were spread out searching the rooms, the far corner erupted in rats...a furry swarm, all teeth and beady red eyes poured forth from a pile of rubble. And at the same time, near the stairs, a form "emerged" from the wall. Emerged as if they were part of it in the first place! Magic of a high degree I'm certain.
The figure we faced was as beaten as the Stag Lord had been, and horribly disfigured. And it rasped out, "If you've killed my boy, we've got words!" Oh shit...so this is his FATHER!?! Yet another sign of one hell of a messed up family situation.
What a fiasco. I shall write more later...if there is a later that is.
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