Bilhah Sashikizu was a little surprised as they approached the entrance to skinsplitter pass. She hadn’t expected there to be so many people here. Not that there were very many people, but even as few as there were, they exceeded her expectations. The pass was the only break in the sheer cliff walls that bordered the Bloody Blade Plateau, which served as the border between the United Kingdoms of Corpse Coast to the south and the Lich King Council’s Domain to the north.
There were about a dozen armed and armored individuals who had set up camp near the entrance to the pass. Leroy, ever the idiot, seemed oblivious to the potential danger as he practically waltzed up to one of the adventurers and began a conversation. She stayed about twenty meters back and listened in on the conversation. There was a lot of good information to be had. Apparently the Lich kings had sent out a proclamation of standing pardon for anyone who kills one of their monsters until they can regain control of them. In addition there was a bounty available for any monsters brought in alive. It seemed strange from her point of view, but when your country relies on a monster army for protection, you do things differently.
The conversation was winding down when a shout came from the direction of the pass, “Help! There’s a HUGE spider up there! Eli got caught! Help!”
There was a rush of activity as the various fighters rushed to begin the rescue. BIlhah held back a sigh as she saw Leroy join the crowd headed for the pass. Of course the idiot would want to join a suicidal rescue mission against a giant spider. She followed after him of course. She was his bodyguard after all, and he would probably need to be saved again before the day was over.
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Didymus had never fought a giant spider before. He figured it probably wouldn’t be that hard, you just have to make sure you avoid the webs and the fangs. Aim for the joints in the legs to immobilize it and take all the time you need to cut off it’s head.
As they hurried along the trail up the pass he began to see the webs he was worried about. One man drew a sword to cut through a large web blocking the path. Rather than cutting through however, the sword just got stuck in the web. A mage further back in the group began chanting and soon a multicolored orb of energy flew through the air into the web. As the orb impacted one of the strands of the web, it began to blacken and smoke, and in a few seconds, the web was on fire. The flame spread quickly and in less than a minute, the whole web had burned away. A few people took the time to light torches to carry with them, the man who tried to hit the web recovered his sword from the ashes, and the group continued on.
Only a few more minutes of walking and burning through webs, and they found themselves next to a cave that was lined with webs. From the darkness they heard a faint scratching, and a muffled shout for help.
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Sergeant Fabian Pónaire grunted under the weight of the battering ram as he and his squad charged towards the door. There was a satisfying crunch, but the solid wood door to the keep was still intact. He glanced nervously upwards to the top of the wall, but nothing was up there. That in and of itself was suspicious. It screamed of a trap, and his squad was about to spring it.
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“Alpheus and TIffany, defensive positions! Everyone be ready to drop the ram and retreat on my signal. As soon as that door’s down we’re out of here!” He shouted. Alpheus and Tiffany slung shields off their backs and prepared to take the brunt of whatever trap lay behind the door.
“Ready! Charge!” At that the whole group surged forward and the ram smashed through the door. One half of the door hung limply off of the other half by a few fibers, and the large reinforced log of the battering ram was impaled through the middle of it. “Retreat!” he called, and the squad dropped the log in unison, and began to carefully, but urgently march backwards from the door. Tiffany and Alpheus were doing an excellent job at the front, ready to deflect any incoming arrows or spells. For some reason though, nothing came through the door. As they fell back, another larger group of soldiers was advancing for the door. They were more heavily armored and armed than Fabian’s own squad, partly because they didn’t need to be able to carry a fully grown tree.
The other reason, that Fabian wouldn’t like to admit, but was nonetheless true, was that the Captain liked his squad less. In officer training he had been a little too eager to open his mouth and tell the truth, no matter who he was talking to or what he was talking about. When he graduated, there was a position open to lead the problem squad and he had been sent there. At first he worried that the soldiers he led would never see him as anything other than an annoyance, but with his honesty and work ethic he had earned their trust, to the point where they were a formidable fighting force. Despite that, he had been passed up on several promotion opportunities and the higher ups were still stingy with his budget.
It wasn’t long before the other soldiers came back out of the keep. There had been no signs of fighting at all. The captain was making a beeline towards him, and Fabian saluted as he arrived. “Sargeant Pónaire, these are your orders. Your squad will be remaining here at the keep while the rest continue. You will be the rearguard here. If the enemy comes through, signal me with this.” The captain handed him a small leather pouch. “This translocatiphonicon is already linked to mine. Anything you say into it will come out of mine as if we were in the same room, no matter how far apart we are.” Fabian handled the pouch carefully. This translocatiphonicon was worth more than all of his squad’s gear put together.
The Captain seemed to be done speaking, so Fabian saluted and spoke, “Orders received and understood, sir!”
“At ease,” The captain said, and turned to walk away, then turned back and said, “by the way, there was only one person in the keep, and he was already dead when we found him. It should be fairly easy to clean up.” Then he walked away.
The Pónaire squad wasted no time settling into the keep, while Fabian went with a few soldiers to dispose of the corpse. They found him in a room in the only tower in the keep. He was lying on the ground next to a ceiling length window with a great spiderweb crack near the top. The side of his head was caved in where it had been struck by a strange projectile that was still lodged there. It was small and gray and seemed to be covered with strange runes. He didn’t dare touch the thing, but Tiffany was wearing leather gloves, so they had her remove it and put it in a box. They dragged the body out the front (and only) door, and took the time to remove the rest of the door from off the hinges. It clearly wouldn’t be useful as a door anymore, so they repurposed it to make a pyre. With the body taken care of and a few soldiers assigned to make a new door, Fabian Pónaire settled down to wait.