as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 17 Erastus

There was still much to explore. Certainly down was an option, but it was pointed out that the (upper part of the) tower to the NW had not been fully examined. So Qatana (naturally), Ivan, and Sparna headed up the stairs. I stood watch at the base, along with Anavaru, Radella, Etayne, and Kali.

There they encountered a harpy whose name was Zaiobe. I’m told she could only communicate telepathically, and then only by touching a person. Harpies are known for their songs which can harm mere mortals, but this one was apparently different. She was much more into reading and studying. She made them an offer: if they would help her kill her boyfriend, Kikonu, who apparently was some sort of demon, then she would let us have free run of the castle.

(When I heard of this later, my first thought was that we could probably achieve the same by killing her, but the fact that she made the offer first seemed to sway some of the party. Plus, I’ve no idea how easy it is to kill a harpy (although killing a demon sounds harder and more dangerous.))

Anyway, she’d apparently been here for some time, and was able to tell us the corbies were here already when she’d arrived many years ago.

It seems her boyfriend was from Tien and was feared there. But he was also the playwright whose work we’d found earlier, and she had tired of his efforts to be “king of the corbies” and consummate theatrical director.

She recommended attacking him outside the castle. He does have raven wings, if he chooses. In hindsight, if your victim has wings, wouldn’t you want to attack him in a small room? Ah well, live and learn.

Zaiobe arranged to meet Kikonu at a location outside the castle, and we arranged ourselves well before that. Ivan enchanted a weapon for Sparna just before Kikonu entered the small building we were in. He brought with him four corbies, but he approached first, proudly saying something about fresh changes to the play.

Qatana and Etayne attacked two corbies, while the rest of us attacked Kikonu, presuming him to be the tougher opponent. At first he looked angry and called to Zaiobe (“we can take out these intruders together!”) but he understood what was at stake when Zaiobe fired a flaming arrow at him herself. At that, he teleported directly to her.
Ivan used an external bane arrow on Kikonu to good effect, and Sparna also dealt a hard blow. I tried the same, but all I got for my trouble was the empty swish of my axe and a fairly deep cut from his odd looking sickle-on-a-chain. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but one of his corbie buddies got in two solid hits as well, and I fell to the ground, gravely wounded.

I awoke again to Qatana standing over me, with sounds of battle still going on around me. Kikonu lay prone and bloodied near me, and his head was at an unnatural angle. As I struggled to my feet, I saw the last of the corbies fall, denying me some small measure of revenge.

Zaiobe said it was ok to take whatever we wanted from his body. Qatana healed me more and I was back to full strength.

Before we closely examined Kikonu Etayne took both blood and feathers from the body. Witches. Anyway, we found

[218] Kusarigama – I’m told this is the name for the sickle thing. It’s
+1, and once per day its wielder can summon a giant wasp. Not
surprisingly, it is named the Dancing Wasp.
[219] small leather pouch
[220] 4 vials of ink
[221] 5 shiny pearls
[222] dark wood and silver disk. Intricate drawing of Brinewall.
Radiates transmutation magic but we couldn’t identify it.

Zaiobe announced she was flying back to the castle and would see us in the morning and flew off. But instead of doing so, she circled around and started shooting arrows at us. Although she had an advantage on us by flying, there was adequate cover around and she had just seen us defeat a demon and four corbies. Some beings just don’t know when to declare victory.

Naturally her first flaming arrow hit me. As we scurried under the bushes and trees, Ivan got off two shots that both hit her, so her next arrow hit him. Anavaru, Radella, and Ivan again all hit her with arrows, but I continued to have abysmal aim. As Kali and Radella hit her again, she paused in her shooting to heal herself. But if she needed healing, the battle was already decided. Radella nicked her again, but Ivan’s arrows hit vital organs and she fell to the ground. Which also bruised her up a fair amount.

On her body, we found
[223] potion cure moderate wounds (Sparna)
[224] potion cure moderate wounds (Radella)
[225] chain shirt
[226] composite long bow +1 (STR 12) (Ivan)
[227] holy symbol of Pazuzu (wood)

We took stock at this point and realized we were low on spells and we’d be smart to call it a day. Returning to the cemetery, Spivey healed me back up before we slept for the night.

Wealday, 18 Erastus

I awoke feeling much more refreshed than I expected. I felt quicker on my feet, stronger in my swing, and more invigorated than I have before in my life. I hope this is a good sign.

We returned to the castle knowing we had an unknown number of lower levels to explore yet. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking that if we can rid this castle of the evil in it, it will somehow be ours to take, but of course that’s ridiculous. The best we can hope for is to find whatever is causing Ameiko to sleep unnaturally, and cancel it, kill it, or reason with it. But although she has understandably done little fighting to date, she’s as much a member of our party as anybody, and it’s a basic tenet of my order to protect and defend all in our group, and I have felt helpless as she continues her troubled sleep. Before we went to sleep last night, Kali sent her bird Nehali with a message updating those back at the caravan of our situation. I presume if there was a significant change we’d have been notified by the same mechanism.

Anyway, back to the castle. We checked out Zaiobe’s room and realized that some of her reading material was quite interesting indeed. She had a set of blueprints for the castle in her room, and Qatana took these up immediately. It allowed us to determine that we had indeed explored the upper levels completely, but unfortunately the contained no clue as to what may lie below.

So down we went. We immediately came across a pungent odor and several creatures that were shorter than most of us. Looking around, I realized that a few of my companions found the odor more than merely pungent, but most of us were able to defend against the creatures when they attacked.

My axe seemed to hit a bit better this day and it didn’t take long to for us to dispatch the four of them. Opening a door we found what was apparently their sleeping quarters, with four only roused by the door opening. I again had good swings and killed two of them myself. Another door opened to what appeared to be a pet lizard, but it attacked and was thus dispatched as well.

Exploring the rooms in this area we quickly came across an ornate room which reminded me of a “throne room”. But the creature in here was no royalty; it was an ogrekin hideously consuming flesh of an unknown origin. Seeing us it showed no fear, but instead commented that it found half-elves tasty, Really? I moved closer to kill the abomination and it nearly killed me in a single blow. Note to self. Ogrekin are not ogres but neither are healthy to be around. Before it could do anything more to me, Ivan and Radella laid it low.

It possessed a [213a] +1 flail and 140gp in a small sack.

Next we entered what appeared to be a ballroom. It was Qatana, I think, that noticed the pillars supporting the roof were not symmetrically aligned within the room. We concluded this room was the victim of budget cuts.

We found a couple of small storage rooms, mostly debris filled but one, still, with a case of 20 masterwork cold iron arrows, and a single flaming burst arrow. Five each of the cold iron arrows were given to Sparna, Ana, Radella, and myself, and Ivan took the flaming arrow.

Outside another door we heard a voice inside that seemed to be talking to an elf. As we listened it sounded more and more like the creature was talking to a captive elf, not an elf visitor, so we entered. The room was filled with various stuffed animals, and it was addressing an apparently fresh, apparently stuffed elf. In other words, an abomination. Kali cast glitterdust on it but I went in with the axe swinging and challenged the creature, inflicting some grave wounds.

But the thing was unearthly quick – in fact, somebody in the party called it a quickling – and were it not for the glitterdust we’d have quickly lost track of where it was. As it was, the dust was its undoing as the fighters quickly began to beat on it, but when it ran away Ivan was able to quickly nail it with an arrow, and it dropped to the ground dead.

We found five vials of spider poison [226] (which is probably how it immobilized its victims while still keeping them awake, as it proudly told us) and an unremarkable short sword [227].

While we explored some rooms around the “art exhibit”, Etayne and Qatana each wandered off on their own to a small garden with a murky pool. They took it upon themselves to poke into the pool, disturbing a giant beetle which began to chase them. The first we knew of this was when the ran into the room panting and slamming the door behind them. We could hear scratching on the door but the door opened towards the bug and it couldn’t figure that out. Qatana decided to attack it from the rear and ran from the room towards another door into the garden.

This was foolhardy to the maximum; there was no reason to kill it when it couldn’t open doors and we’ve no need to go looking for trouble. But Qatana insisted. So I chased her and when she had to stop and try opening a door, I tried to take her to the ground. I failed and she opened the door, ran into the garden, and found that some of our group had run upstairs and shot at the bug from the open atrium above, and it was already dead.

I think my order assumes that the people in your group do not intentionally put themselves into meaningless danger. Others in are party are (correctly) mumbling that I run out of battle randomly but it’s because I’m following Qatana to protect her. But the others need protection too. Ideally, we’d all stay together and work cooperatively but that doesn’t seem to be Qatana’s style. It would pain Shalelu if she were to die, but neither should I allow the others to die because I was trying to protect Qatana from herself.

A dilemma. If only I could consult with Shalelu, I might understand this better and come up with a more nuanced solution. When we return to the caravan, I shall talk to her about this.

And in the middle of that short introspection, off Qatana went again, to a small room beneath the armory. As she entered a room there was a moaning sound and something that used to be a man stumbled after her. It wore a dragon shaped helmet, but it looked like undead … or at least what I’ve read undead should look like. It reached out and touched her and the touch was obviously painful. However Anavaru struck it hard, killing it, and Radella ended up striking a strong blow to its companion that killed that one.

Qatana was shivering and said the touch had been cold. She seemed less … resilient, too. If it was a wight, which we were believing might have been the case, then it may have taken some life force from her.

We examined the one that had touched her and found a +1 longsword [228] and the helmet, of course [229]. There were some pieces of armor [230] that Ivan thought he might be able to mend.

Logs found in the room revealed this was probably the captain of the Brinewall guard. It also gave us some idea of how the castle was overrun. This was not a long siege; it was an overwhelming attack. Men dressed in dark robes .. it reads as though there were several different types of attackers, corbies being but one of them.

We paused for a moment to consider all this.