The Keep

Chapter X+2
Within the hour the group was on their way to the keep, but Steev was still a bit confused as to why.

“What made you think that offering to find the person who was supposed to prevent you from leaving the jail would get you out of jail?”

“It wasn’t about the deputy, at first,” the princess responded. “I wasn’t in that office for nothing - I was trying to learn more about those two mysterious visitors. I thought there might be something in the logbooks, since they seemed to make such an impression. And I was right!”

She pulled a small notebook from her travelling pouch. “I managed to find and copy the entries from that day. ‘It was raining today. Very muddy. 5 rooms rented. 1 to gnome travelers. 2 to dwarven family. 1 to regular (DBC). 1 to human travelers - very odd, tried to pay with brass bird statue then left it on table anyway.’”

Sariel closed the book triumphantly, as if the matter was now settled.

“I didn’t notice any metal bird in the inn,” noted Steiv.

“Never mind that, what’s this got to do with us going to the keep?” inquired Steve.

But Denny and Sulien knew exactly what had caught the princess’s eye. “The Brass Rook is the symbol of the Raven Queen!” Sulien explained to the mage. “Acolytes over the years have taken to hiding them in public places as a way of ‘claiming’ them in the name of their god. These two must have been either desperate or extreme novices if they tried to buy a room with one...”

“Either way, interrogating two of the Raven Queen’s devotees should be very interesting,” Denny added as she toyed with her dagger.

Steev was impressed, but he had one more question: “What do we do if we get to the keep, and find no one’s home?”

The companions remained silent for the rest of the journey eastward.

---

Steiv had never seen a building this old. This castle had obviously been ancient when it was lived in, and that had to have been centuries ago. Where grand staircases to the upper levels once stood, now were just piles of rubble.

“Why would two crazy cultists be interested in a place like this?” he wondered aloud. “Or any intelligent creature whatsoever?”

“I think you give Raven cultists too much credit,” answered Sulien. “I wouldn't call them ‘intelligent’ by any stretch, and ‘crazy’ is barely sufficient to describe their actions.”

Denny hushed the two quickly, “Quiet! I don’t care how dumb and crazy they are - if they’re in here and they hear us coming, you will wish I just cut your kneecaps off!”

Chastised, Steiv resumed his investigation of the entryway. Just inside the front door (which looked like it used to be made of wood, but was now a gaping hole in the outer wall) was a large room. The ex-grand ex-staircase directly inside would no longer allow any passage to what remained of the upper levels. Which meant only one thing -

“If anyone’s been here recently, they had to go down, not up,” said Sariel, the very thought that Steiv had been about to voice. He knew the elf princess had the usual wizardly powers, but now he was convinced that she had some elvish mind-reading magic as well.

He wondered what other thoughts she had overheard while Steve and Steev managed to forced open a stone door that led into the mostly structurally sound interior.

---

Sheltered from the elements by the collapsed upper floors, the kitchens had escaped relatively intact. There were even still pots on the wall, and cutlery ready to be set on the table. Despite the centuries of tarnish, Steiv took great interest in the forks and spoons (there were no knives) and collected them into his bag.

Steev also found something which interested him. “Ah! A fireplace! Let’s get some life back into this place!”

“No, wait! There’s a draft coming from in there,” Denny stopped him before Steev could conjure anything. “This might be a secret passage of some sort!”

Without waiting for any more proof, Sulien entered the cold fireplace before anyone could argue the point. The back wall had cleverly been set back a few feet, with an passageway heading deeper into the ruin. Denny followed without hesitation, excited at the prospect of finally finding a real clue as to the next step on their quest.

Back in the dining area, Steve and Sariel had found what looked like a storage closet. Empty sacks and broken barrels littered about told the princess that there were no useful supplies to scavenge, and the rat skeletons told her there hadn’t been any in a very long time.

“Oh this place is useless!” she exclaimed, frustrated at their lack of progress. “This castle has been abandoned for so long, even the vermin gave up on it! What are we even looking for?!”

In her momentary rage, Sariel began kicking shards of barrel into the tiny skeletons, making a satisfying crunch. Steve allowed her a few good ones before motioning for her to stop. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what? The sound of dead rats becoming powder?” she growled, as she went to smash another.

“No. Something bigger. Behind that wall.” As he was pointing the sounds grew louder - a sort of low grunting and scraping.

The princess was visibly terrified. “Monsters! They heard me! You, Steve, help me fight them off!” Sariel began to calm herself to begin a spell. She would fry whatever it was where it stood. A nice warm fireball should do the trick...

The wall suddenly gave way, swinging open like a door. As the creature fell forward from the darkness, Sariel raised her hand to cast, but she was pushed over from behind, causing the fire she was throwing to burst uselessly on the ceiling. “Steve they've got us surrounded!”

“Not really, princess,” Denny said, helping her liege up from the floor. “You’re just lucky ol’ horse-face noticed it was us, and not a goblin!”

Steve apologized, “Sorry I knocked you over. I couldn't stop you casting, so I tried to throw your aim off a bit. Guess I tried too hard?”

“Steve, if you ever see me about to burn Denny and Sulien again, you stop me as hard as you need to!”

Attracted by the commotion, Steiv came running, clanking as he went. “If anyone’s seriously burned, I can help...” He was almost disappointed that no one was hurt.

“Did someone say they needed to get burned?” Steev popped in from behind the fake wall. “Nice shortcut you found here Denny. Almost makes the trip from the kitchen to the supply room longer, I’d say.”

“Yeah, but what about to the cellars?” asked Sulien. “I noticed some stairs in the room back there.”

Convinced they had found all of the nothing there was to be found in the dining area and kitchen, the whole party entered the passage behind the wall.

---

“I vote we send Steev down first,” said Steve.>

Steev’s only reply was to snap his fingers, causing a bright, flickering light to appear at the tip of his wand. He illuminated the stairs, peering down. “Let’s hope the basement’s survived the years a bit better,” he said as he took the lead.

The steps were carved from solid stone, and wound around in an ever-tighter spiral for almost a hundred feet down. Even with the magical light, nobody could see to the bottom until suddenly the stairs ended and there was only a small hallway leading straight ahead.

A small room with two doors on the opposite wall was all they found. “Guess this isn’t the wine cellar?” Sulien thought aloud.

“Maybe they keep the booze in the back,” said Denny, as she moved to open the door to the right. En route, something caught her eye. “Hey wizard! Bring that light over here!”

It wasn’t the use of ‘wizard’ that Steev disliked so much as the way in which the command was given. He debated his options: he could simply switch the light off, he could throw a flame at the offending half-elf, or he could feign deafness. Apparently it took him too long to decide.

Sariel stepped over and summoned her own mystical light - a hovering crystalline brilliance. Steiv later swore he saw a glittery trail as it floated over to the plaque on the wall that Denny was examining.

The elven princess was quick to notice what so intrigued her companion. “I didn’t know your family had land this far south.”

A brass plaque bearing the name “BELACQUA” shone clearly in the combined light of the two wizards' conjurations. Beneath it was an empty bracket, which likely held a sword long ago.

“They don’t, or at least I never knew they did. Hey guys! I have a broken castle!” Denny seemed almost ecstatic.

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