(August 18, 2002) Chronicler: Isaku
Month 6, Day 30, Year 1561 (of the Drakaran Empire) --
After resting for 3 days in Marike, we set off to clear the bakemono and ogres out of Brightstone Keep. Lord Isaka assigned a ranger named Mulan to help us navigate the wilderness and investigate the keep. Mulan also has some healing skills, which will be very useful with this party.
It didn't take long for Mulan to pick up the trail of a large gang of bakemono. Noku soon heard some bakemono bickering, but Zazu only caught sight of 6 of them when he scouted ahead. We managed to creep up on them and attack. It turned out that Mulan was right, there were 19 bakemono in all. Ashi noticed several of them hiding in the trees just as the battle started. While not quite as tough as ogres, they are still formidable in battle.
I was able to kill a couple of them with flying kicks, this time. I can't recall all the details, but Zenako killed a few, including one that charged on Ashi. We eventually managed to kill 18 of them, but 1 got away. During the battle, we discovered that they know how to fight in large numbers, by flanking their opponents. Zazu was knocked down in the battle, and Noku stabilized him until Ashi could get to him.
We gathered up the loot the bakemono left behind. There was a battle axe with something smeared on it (determined to be some kind of strength poison), a set leather scale armor, a leather pouch containing a potion vial (speculated to be a healing potion), and some coins and bills totaling 157 gp and 70 sp. Zenako cleaned the poison off the axe before anyone would carry it.
Ashi, Mulan and I healed up the wounded enough to get back to a small village near the keep, where we rested for the night.
Month 7, Day 1 --
Spent the day resting and healing, making use of Mulan's healing skills, and Ashi's and my healing spells and scrolls. By the next morning, everyone would be back to normal and ready to set out again.
Month 7, Day 2 --
Spent some time again trying to identify the potion found in the leather pouch, but couldn't. Best guess is still a healing potion.
We traveled to the keep, but couldn't see much as the weather was a bit overcast. It cleared up a bit at night, so I climbed up a nearby cliff to hide and spy on the keep. Saru (Hatori's monkey) and I saw two bakemono on each of the 3 towers of the keep.
I watched the activity in the courtyard for a while. There appeared to be some kind of covered well in the center. An ogre walked up to it, and I could see some kind of creature slink over to the well as the ogre cranked a chain or something across the courtyard.
As I continued to watch, I could see more movement. Looked like a line of people entering the mine. There was an ogre at the front and rear of the line. Presumably the people were slaves, since the ogres were cracking whips over them.
I climbed back down to report to the party, and we spent the rest of the night in the cave we had found on our previous trip to the keep.
Month 7, Day 3 --
I climbed back up the cliff to spy on the keep again. It was much more quiet during the day. I saw two bakemono on each tower, as before, but none on the walls.
I also got a better look at the creature chained up in the courtyard. The chain had more slack, so it was sitting under an overhang a little further from the well than before. I couldn't be sure, but the creature looked like a large wolf, much larger than Raji. Maybe a dire wolf? Probably meant to be a watchdog, to alert the bakemono guards of any intruders approaching the keep.
Month 7, Day 4 --
Started making battle plans for an assault on the keep. I cast Weapon Bless on 3 arrows, 1 each for Mulan, Hatori, and Zenako, to target the wolf in the courtyard.
Month 7, Day 5 --
Began our assault on the keep, by sneaking up to the portcullis of the first tower. Noku and Ashi cast sleep on the bakemono on the nearest two towers, successfully putting 3 to sleep, leaving 1 still standing. Oddly enough, it didn't move or sound the alarm, so we all ran up to the gate. I cast Bless on our party as we reached the gate.
Ashi, Noku, and Zazu squeezed in first, and pulled the chain to hold up the gate for the rest of us. Saru reported to Hatori that the bakemono left standing was drooling, maybe sleeping with its eyes open?
Ashi, Zazu and Noku continued up to the next level in the tower, and heard something squawk as Ashi pushed the trapdoor open. They climbed into the room, stepping on the door (and the trapped creature underneath it), and found several sleeping bakemono. Apparently one sleeps on the trapdoor as a crude intruder alarm. They managed to slice and dice the sleeping bakemono before most of them woke up, and finished off the one under the door, which appeared to be a bakemono warlord.
Meanwhile, I opened the door from the tower to the courtyard, and was surprised to hear the big wolf speak to me in Drakaran. He said something like "What took you so long? I could smell you folks for hours!". Zenako didn't wait to talk to the wolf, and shot it with one of the weapon blessed arrows, knocking it down. Mulan ran over to the dying creature, and identified it as a worg. Basically an evil creature, but it may have been willing to bargain for its life since it hadn't sounded the alarm.
Back in the tower, Noku could not open the trapdoor to the top level. Hatori joined them, and sent Saru up to take a look in the window to see what was jamming the door. Saru reported that there was a 2x4 over the door, and moved it out of the way without waking the 2 bakemono sleeping in that room. Ashi, Noku, Zazu and Hatori went up and finished off the 2 sleepers.
Ashi then cast sleep on the bakemono on top of the third tower, who had managed not to notice any of the activity in the courtyard or the first tower. (So much for bakemono as guards!)
We all gathered in the courtyard, amazed at our luck in wiping out all the bakemono in the towers. A quick investigation of the lowest levels of each tower turned up some loot:
The first tower contained 100 gp, a small breastplate and a partial set of medium sized armor, a katana, a +3 STR diakyu (comp. longbow), a light flail, and a set of leather scale armor. The second tower contained 29000 cp, 5 vials of acid, a battle axe, a +1 STR mighty yumi (comp. shortbow), and another set of leather scale armor. The third tower contained 3100 sp, and some assorted minor items.
Hatori sent Saru to investigate the upstairs arrow slit/windows of the two buildings, to get info on the layout and occupants. They all appeared to be slaves.
The two rooms of the larger building contained 11 humans (possibly 6 peasants and 5 barbarians), and it looked like 3 korobokuru and 2 badger hengeyokai in hybrid form in the two rooms of the smaller building.
Each building also had a room with miscellaneous stuff stored in it. Possibly the belongings of the slave? One building had a more or less empty room, and the other building had a more or less empty hallway.
Each building appeared to have stairways with doors at the top of them, but Saru couldn't tell if there were doors at the bottom of the stairs. The stairs seemed to go down 5' and hit a landing about 5' square, with another 5' stairway down to the ground floor. Saru didn't have a good line of sight from the inner edge of the slit/window.
Saru scuttled back to Hatori while we began to plan our next steps. Apparently no alarm was raised at either of the buildings, and no activity was evident at the mine when Saru was looking that way.