(25) The Fortress

[OGRE MAGE]

Beyond a massive well tended garden that now takes up most of the space of the former Courtyard where soldiers once trained horses and celebratory jousts where held, the Fortress inside the Keep looks exactly as it sounds. This building is strongly built and heavily guarded, with high stone towers riddled with arrow slits for shooting threats from any angle. The structure behind the main entrance is also built with safety involved, likely standing as the last defense for any prolonged siege attack.

Acting as the Castellan's private residence, along with his most trusted advisors, the entrance is always guarded. There is an entryway beyond a thick set of wooden double doors and an iron portcullis that are currently open. However, there is always one guard posted just beyond a second iron portcullis that always remains closed unless someone is coming or going from the Fortress.

The lone human guard beyond this portal sees Crabgrass walking towards him. "Yes? What business do you have here in the Fortress, commoner?"

[Stirling]

Crabgrass

"A commoner perhaps though my graduate status might qualify me as Acolyte & Prestidigitator." He tries to sound more formal, "I was a colleague of your Keep teacher, the young man Dubricus. I have some news to report to the Castellan that would be of great importance."

Crabgrass: Charisma 6 vs check [1d20]=19

He wonders if he needs cross the guard's palm with silver coin since silver tongues words elude him.

[OGRE MAGE]

Guard.jpg (34.8 KiB) Viewed 125 times

The Keep guard just snickers without making any move to open the gate.

"Oh good. Learning your numbers and letters is important in life. I have a 7 year old nephew who goes to your school too."

He looks like he is about to walk away when curiosity seems to get the best of him.

"Devereau is very busy most days, so he only meets with the common folk once a week. Do you have a special appointment or is it possible to relate this information to me so I can get it to him?"

[Stirling]

Crabgrass

"I wanted to report in confidence that your adventuring mage-schoolteacher Dubricus has died. A fool's errand he undertook, attempting to lead a party of novice adventurers to assault the brigands hideout in those Caves.

There is more detail, of names and cult members. I think the Castellan would prefer those spoken in quiet".

[OGRE MAGE]

The guard looks upset at the initial news.

"Devereau will not want to hear the news of his passing, as he was starting to become a great addition to our Keep."

After the second announcement, the guard just shakes his head.

"Please wait here. I will......see what I can do."

While the man is gone, Crabgrass notices several common folk milling around in the massive garden planted inside this inner bailey. They appear to be taking a great deal of care tending to all the long rows of fruits and vegetables.

[Stirling]

Crabgrass

Shakes the thought out of his mind that the blossoming fruits are fertilised by dead bodies. "No, that would just be weird", he thinks of a civilized setting, the Cave tribal groups maybe, but here? Perhaps the torc still plays on his mind

He shrugs it off, keeping his left hand under his cloak, more aware how it provokes stares.

If a gardener comes close he will commend the quality of his allotment and ask about the lands outside the Keep. It seemed quite fertile and well furrowed when we first arrived.

"That LandShark creature. Why has Devereau not commissioned his troops to hunt the beast. Surely you would have more land to farm safely?"

He wonders how hunting such a beast might go. Revenge for Thirteen who never made it into the Keep at all.

"There was a strange man, he seemed to pacify the creature as he walked the fields. Do you know of him?"

Not quite sure I can remember the gesture that was used, unless he was casting a spell.

[OGRE MAGE]

A friendly human gardener seems perfectly comfortable chit-chatting with a new stranger to the Keep. “It ain’t just the land shark what hunts the Borderlands outside these walls. They’s all kindsa dangerous monsters out there asides Ol’ Bully. Orcs, Bandits, Gnolls, Bugbears, maybe even Dragons! Devereau can’t spare any guards from the Keep to send out huntin. We barely have enough men to guard the folks around here, if’n ya ain’t noticed. But I’d wager he’d be keen to the idea of some other outfit willing to take on the monster, if ya know any folks looking fer such work.”

The commoner thinks about the second question momentarily before finishing. “A man what walks the fields? Can’t think of anything such. What’d this feller look like?”

[Stirling]

Crabgrass

Tries to dig his memory of what he has seen and heard of 'the Turner of Bulettes', and odd looking figure if I remember correctly.

"One of my colleagues called him 'the Tortle whisperer', as he though that what the man carried gave him a tortoise like appearance. I thought he may have fabricated some type of cage carried upon his back. I don't know if it had livestock inside. But he certainly quieted the beast face to face and both waddled off in different directions. The figure went to the woods, the beast burrowed underground."

This other figure is small. Human sized or less, and stocky in stature. They appear to be almost turtle-like, in that there is an odd growth or shell covering its back. It waddles through the field in a roughly northerly direction, possibly just departing the Keep, and will be directly in line with the much larger creature within minutes. It doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to the menace.

Just as the grey behemoth starts to charge the smaller figure, trampling right up next to it, the humanoid simply stops moving. It holds one empty hand up to the monster, as if to calm the mighty beast, and the horror just points its bullet-like head towards the ground, in complete submission. They appear to stay like that for a few moments before the smaller figure with the seashell on its back heads into the tree line, and the monster goes back to prowling the fields, as if nothing ever happened.