Birthright Chapter Six

[JMaytr]

Devlin and Fhylie-

Devlin moves to the cave. He enters, keeping his weapons drawn.

[ewancummins]

Devlin and Fhylie-

Devlin moves to the cave. He enters, keeping his weapons drawn.

Fhylie stands guard outside, watching both the horses and the mouth of the gully, lest some foe suddenly fall upon the searchers.


Devlin's vision quickly adjusts to the poor light in the cave; he sees as well in here as outside, a legacy of his Elvish mother. The rough ceiling rises just a foot over Devlin's head. The floor spreads ten or twelve feet at the widest point, narrower in the back. Smaller openings pierce the walls here and there, some big enough for a wolf or even a man to crawl inside and curl up. The greenish vapor trickles out of a vent in the back of the cave and seeps along the ceiling to escape via the cave mouth. A sharp, acrid odor accompanies the drifting gas, and under that Devlin smells an old slaughterhouse taint. Poking about he discovers a heap of bones, broken and worn as if cracked and gnawed upon by some beast. Some of the bones might be human, but it is hard to be certain, given their state. Other bones look fresher; strings of bloody flesh still hang from them. A horse’s head, partially devoured, lies behind the larger heap.
Further searching turns up a silver embossed, blood-smeared saddle.
Criss-cross drag marks and indistinct prints show up all over the dirt floor.

The sound of a baby crying echoes through the cave. The wail seems to be coming from a hole in the back wall.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

FILBERT AND RENN

Once at the horse Filbert get the reins and waits for Renn to mount so they can ride away.

Once in the saddle, Renn wastes no time spurring the horse into action. As they ride, he tries to spy out the hill with the cypress trees, hoping that Sevet and Gatt have made it.

[JMaytr]

Devlin and Fhylie

Devlin creeps toward the hole in the wall. He tries to get a good look inside, without getting too close.

[kintire]

Safana hears something over Sir Ranald's voice and Dietric's noisy feasting.
Sounds like breaking glass and splintering wood, and maybe a muffled cry...

Safana looks puzzled for a moment.

"Hey did anyone else hear that? I thought I heard a cry..."

She rises and heads towards the sound, a little wary but not too worried in the heart of the manor, with so many armed men around!

[ewancummins]

THE CAVE



Devlin sees a thin, crumpled figure in tattered mail and cloth. Peering closer, he sees that the man’s face has been chewed off. His ripped coat bears the badge of House Ghonallison.
Devlin’s elf-sight saves him from total surprise as what looks like a huge badger thrusts its head forward from the blackest depths of the hole, jaws opening as if to bite him!

[ewancummins]

THE MANOR

Safana hears something over Sir Ranald's voice and Dietric's noisy feasting.
Sounds like breaking glass and splintering wood, and maybe a muffled cry...

Safana looks puzzled for a moment.

"Hey did anyone else hear that? I thought I heard a cry..."

She rises and heads towards the sound, a little wary but not too worried in the heart of the manor, with so many armed men around!

Dietric and Sir Ranald take up arms and swiftly follow the Khinasi woman.


Following the sounds, Safana reaches the servant's hall. The only light here comes from a lamp rolling on the floor. Heavy breathing, thumps, and a ghastly chewing sound come from an open closet door.

Dietric lights a torch.

Safana and the others spot dark stains on the floor just outside that closet.

The door to one of the servant's rooms hangs open.

Dietric says, “That’s our room, me and Cormac…”

A hairy ursine fiend taller than a man thing erupts from the closet, spreading long arms tipped with bloody iron claws and opening wide a jack-o-lantern maw! Madness blazes in its amber eyes as it rushes towards Safana on padded feet, making surprisingly little noise for such a large monster.

Dietric rushes up besides the woman and levels his spear at the oncoming foe.

[kintire]

Safana leaps back behind the spear carrier, diving away from the onrushing thing with lithe agility. Once clear, she weaves her hands in a smooth motion and the air in the hall shimmers. Four knights clad in dark plate armour step from the shimmering, greatswords raised and begin slicing at the monster with lethal skill

[ewancummins]

Safana leaps back behind the spear carrier, diving away from the onrushing thing with lithe agility. Once clear, she weaves her hands in a smooth motion and the air in the hall shimmers. Four knights clad in dark plate armour step from the shimmering, greatswords raised and begin slicing at the monster with lethal skill

Seeing itself sorely outmatched, the creature dodges past the knights and runs down the hall, leaving the closet door hanging open.

Dietric moves foward to check the room he shares with Cormac.
"Empty."


Sir Ranald walks ahead and raises the torch before the open closet.
"Safana! Quickly, help me!"

He lays his sword against the wall and reaches into the closet as if to grab something...

[kintire]

The knights move to form a watchful wall across the corridor, as Safana dashes over to help the squire

[ewancummins]

The knights move to form a watchful wall across the corridor, as Safana dashes over to help the squire

She finds Cormac and a teenage maidservant lying in the closet, both splattered with blood and unmoving.

[ewancummins]

WOODED HILLS OF GHONALLISON, FILBERT AND RENN

Riding as swiftly as the uneven ground and the trees allow, Renn and Filbert escape the armed pursuers...


Renn and Filbert find Sevet and Gatt waiting with the other horses at the hilltop rendezvous.

From the woods to the north and west, all the scouts assembled on the bald hill ringed with cypresses hear distant sounds of men shouting and horses crashing through brush.

[ewancummins]

ATLI'S OFFICE

ATLI'S LAIR


"Your pledge will satifsy me for now. Like I said, beat the money out of Fez if you have to. I don't care, so long as i get paid."

"Sounds good ta ma. Kin yer give us a person to see ter help us fin the scumbag. Or where we kin fin one such person if we give em yer name?"

"My informants tell me that Fez is trying to get a boat for Lofton. He uses hired runners to move his messages. Word is he's hiding someplace in the Fish Market, on the city-side of the River Gate. He must be scared of being caught by the guards at the gate. I figure he'll try to move out at night, when the Men cannot see so well and may not recognize him."

[ewancummins]

THE CAVE

Devlin battles the demonic badger-thing as shrill neighs sound from without the cave.

[ewancummins]

Moving back and striking, Devlin inflicts only superficial damage on the monster.


He falls back out of the cave and finds Fhylie fighting another of the stripe-faced beasts.

It's huge! The monster stands taller than Devlin at the shoulder.

The horses snort and roll their eyes in terror, running away from the gully.

The beast Devlin had fought creeps out of the cave, rearing up to full height. It smiles, revealing sharp bone where teeth ought to be.

Both creatures cry like babies as they attack.