We walked — except for Olmas, who would not be separated from his horse — the half a mile or so from our caravan to the castle. We came to a small river and the path followed it down to Brinewall. We were uneasy, in part because of the urgency we felt for resolving Ameiko’s collapse, but also in anticipation of what might be waiting for us.According to legend the population of Brinewall had simply vanished, leaving the village and castle behind unaltered. What power could simply cause the entire inhabitants of a substantial village and keep disappear? And could that power still linger and affect us as well?

Kali had sent Nihali aloft to look for signs of trouble, and before we reached the village proper the bird returned and told of a dead sea drake washed up on the beach. Nihali’s concern was obvious: something that could kill a formidable foe lived nearby.

Brinewall was located on a small C-shaped bay, with a lighthouse set upon one end of the C, the fort perched upon a head of rock at the far end, and the village proper nestled in between. The lighthouse was closer, and so we went there first.

It was a ruin, with a collapsed roof and rubble for walls. Ivan and I climbed through the debris and found a strong box, within which was a rusty key and some gold. But other than dust and spider mites there was nothing here, and so we followed the path to the village.

[202] strong box
[203] key (no longer rusty, thanks to Ivan)
93 gp

The village had served as a a small trading center, and the weathered and splintered remains of its docks still teetered above the murky water. A boat was tied to a rickety pier, and although it had sunk it appeared to be a more recent addition to the scene. Kali said it was from the north, and most likely raiders had arrived in it to take advantage of the empty town and plunder what they could find. Clearly these particular looters had not fared so well.

Upon closer inspection we found that the legends of Brinewall did not hold up. All of the buildings bore signs of physical attack, and there had obviously been a struggle for the town, which the locals lost. Searching through the ruins we only found mundane, every day objects — anything of real value had either been taken in the initial sack of the town, or later plundered.

We took care to keep out of site from the castle, which was a prudent move. Nihali returned from a scouting sortie and announced that large bird shaped humanoids patrolled the battlements.

The cemetery climbed a low slope to the south west and was surrounded by a dilapidated picket fence. The iron gate, however, was in perfect working order, and it was flanked by a statues of Desna — this prompted us to investigate. Within the grounds were manicured, the plots were planted with flowers, and headstones clean and in good repair. A large important looking crypt of Admiral Marcatio Kimeleu presided over the graves and tombs.

Up the hill was a small shrine: a statue of Desna stood looking out over Brinewall, with a copper basin of water held between her outstretched hands. The water was holy and we took several vials full. When we replenished the basin with fresh water, it instantly became holy.

It was humbling to stand before such a marvel of holy work, and to be in such a restful and well cared for garden as this. Our reverent attitude was enough to encourage the keeper of this place to come forth.

A tiny woman with butterfly wings flitted out from a nearby tree and approached Ivan, sheathing a small pair of star knives. I had heard of such creatures before: they are said to serve Desna in her realm, but occasionally served clerics in our world.

Her name was Spivey, and a scent of mint and basil wafted from her as she gracefully flapped her colorful wings. She was quite friendly and from her we learned much to our advantage. She had arrived here some years earlier (well after the fall of Brinewall) after her mistress had died (“Eaten by a plant.”), and she had created a small refuge in the cemetery after coming upon the altar to Desna.

Some days ago a sea drake had swooped too close to the water, and crab-like creatures had pulled it from the sky and now fed upon its corpse. The bird things in the castle did not fly, but they did come out to hunt about once a week. It had been several days since they had last come out.

She offered her service as a healer and the cemetery as a refuge where we could return and rest as needed.

We then turned our attention to the castle, for clearly we needed to get inside. But the problem with castles is that they are designed to prevent outsiders from doing just that. Our best bet seemed to be one of trickery, and I had an idea for luring out these bird creature guard things.

They needed to eat, and if we created an illusion of easy to get game right outside the castle gate they would not be able to resist. It sounded too simple and obvious a ploy to some, but how smart could these creatures be? Afterall, the expression bird brained had a basis in reality.

And wonder of wonders, my planned work mostly as envisioned. We split into two groups, hiding in the forest and underbrush on either side of the castle path, made noises and images of pigs, and waited for the bird men to come out. And out they came!

We set upon the startled hunting party, and Olmas ran up to the castle gates to prevent them from being closed — a detail I had forgotten to plan for, but that’s why you travel with allies who can think for themselves. Olmas had left his horse in the cemetery, where it happily munched on the grass, and he appeared to be no less effective on foot than mounted.

Two other bird men lurked within the gate house and they rushed toward Olmas, but Kali moved up and Color Sprayed them, leaving them senseless and twitching on the ground. By then the rest of us had slain the hunting party, and while Sparna and Radella killed the two comatose guards the rest of us sprang through.

We took a moment to get our bearings. Before attacking Olmas one of the creatures had sounded an alarm, and we did not want to rush into an ambush. Directly ahead was another open gate that lead into the bailey: this was no doubt where they would expect us to come, and so we did something different. We took the levers used to lock both the outer and inner gates so it would be difficult to close and bar them from entry.

Ladders on either side of the doors led up to the top of the outer walls, and up these we climbed. A bird man had been perched there, but it ran off to the north. Olmas and I gave chace, and the others followed.

Across the courtyard upon the far wall was a wide parapet, and there a number of bird men were preparing a catapult to fire upon the bailey below. Our bird fellow ran toward the others, and we followed, engaging the enemy and quickly killing all of them.

We had the element of surprise, and I thought we should keep moving to maintain it. I opened a door into a nearby tower and saw stairs. It was no good popping up and down levels right now, and so I moved to the next door, where I saw a hallway that I entered, and the others followed.

The hallway had an unpleasant odor of moldy linen and dust. From ahead I could hear some sort of squawking that the bird men used as language. I ran forward as a small troop of creatures, armed with mops and buckets, clattered into a filthy dining room.

After another sharp skirmish our foes were dead, and we began to explore.

A washroom (neglected and unused) was directly to the north. Another pair of doors led to an narrow hallway with living quarters off it. One was draped in fungal growth, sprouting out from the remains of a decapitated humanoid.

Another door off the dining room opened onto a ransacked store room, and from within I could here the sound of a child crying. I entered and called out softly. Out from the rubble came a vaporous image of an emaciated child with the head of a fox skull and wearing ragged garments of cobwebs and dust.

Poor, innocent child of some long forgotten torment, how my heart leapt out to you.

It was pathetic, and confused, and angry and much more powerful than any child of man. It struck me and somehow stole my voice!

I reluctantly struck back, and Kali managed to grace me with Protection from Evil. Olmas bravely charged in and hit the small form, and was rewarded with a swat and instant fatigue.

“And now you are all going to die!” it calmly announced, using my voice.

Radella moved in and pressed the attack, as it cried out, “Don’t let them die! No, wait, bad, bad birdies!” She mercifully ended its suffering.

We tried various healing and curative acts, but I remained mute and Olmas tired, and so we decided to wait for an hour before moving on. At the end of this time we were both restored to normal.

Further in the room we found the bones of a small child buried beneath an overturned shelf. Its legs were broken. On the wall had been drawn, in charcoal, images of humans fighting bird creatures.

My guess is that the child fled here to escape the attack on the castle, where he survived long enough to draw on the walls. Eventually the storage room was searched, and the shelving toppled upon him, breaking his legs and pinning him. He must have suffered a horrible lingering death. Once we are done here I will take his bones to the cemetery and bury him.

We followed a southern hallway as it curved around, finding several unkept sleeping quarters that the bird things were using. Where the hallway turned back toward the dining room was a set of double doors.

Through the doors was a desecrated temple of Desna. The statue of the goddess had been crudely altered into the figure of a four winged humanoid with a scorpion’s tail: the demon lord Pazuzu. Garish paintings of the lord hung upon the walls, and in the middle of it all stood a lone bird creature.

It looked up at us and spoke a strange word, and the space around us was filled with a sonic blast. We rushed in, surrounding it and hemming it in as we attacked. It created a mirror image of itself, and zapped Olmas with lightening, but we were too many and quickly overwhelmed and killed it.

It had been carrying a number of useful items that were now ours.

[204] scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds (Etayne)
[205] scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds (Qatana)
[206] scroll of Dispel Magic (Kali)
[207] wand of Inflict Moderate Wounds [12 charges] (Etayne)
[208] studded leather armor
[209] master work long sword (Olmas)
[210] silver unholy symbol of Pazuzu (Qatana)

A pair of double doors to the south led back out onto the walls and over to where we had climbed up. Beyond a small door in the north wall was a small room that had been the chambers of a cleric of Desna. Surprisingly there were still items of value we found in a small chest beneath the cot.

[211] 4 +2 evil outsider bane arrows (Radella, Ivan, Ana, Olmas)
[212] small chest
[213] scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds (Ivan)
[214] scroll of Remove Disease (Etayne)
[215] scroll of Restoration (Qatana)
[216] phylactery: wearer becomes aware of how any action they take affects
their standing with their deity

Moving back toward the dining room and through double doors we found a large round tower. On our level a balcony ran around the edge, with a stairway leading down to a ballroom. Another set of double doors was on the far wall, but we left those for later and moved on to the remaining unexplored doors to the north.

A short hall led into a round chamber with stairs leading down. Off either side were other doors that led to empty armories and a narrow stair heading down.

The walls of the round chamber were gouged and stained with blood, and as we watched the gouges deepened and began to drip blood. Images of ghostly figures appeared, shrieking in terror. Ivan and Olmas retreated to another room, but the rest of us could find nothing of interest, and eventually the spooky effects stopped.

Returning to the first tower where we entered we found a desk, upon which was a pile of papers overlfowing onto the floor. The writing on the pages was Tien, and Kali gazed at a couple of sheets before laughing out, “This is a play from the perspective of the bird creatures!”

[217] pages of a play (Kali)

We made our way back to the round balcony and double doors, where Ivan and Olmas had been waiting. The doors were locked, but they key from the lighthouse opened them. Another parapet stretched off to the north and south, and before us was an out building with locked double doors. Again they key worked, and within were the remains of a solarium, the glass roof broken and shards of glass on the floor.

A tarp had been stretched across the southern roof, making a dark alcove beneath, wherein hung an enormous bat. It screeched and tried to bite Sparna, and so we killed it.

We have taken a short break to discuss our next actions. We have mostly explored the wall-top level of the castle, although there are a few gaps on my map I want to fill in. After that, we need to descend to the ground floor and search — the signs from the barracks up here indicate that there are more bird creatures than we have encountered thus far.