Today was very fruitful. We interrogated the captured beast-man and got quite a bit of information out of him. All it took was a few threats and some singed hairs on his feet, the latter of which he seemed very attached to. First, he let us know that there are 5 dozen or so of his kin hidden in their warrens. Then, he shared that at the bottom of the steam spewing crevice lie a number of degenerate beast-men, cast out for their hairlessness, left to fend in a hostile environment for sadistic training and the pleasure of their so called ‘king’. The furred one also informed us that, in their south-western stable, they have a host of wild apes. Finally, while he knew little of the eastern temple, he mentioned some kind of monster living there. The revelations culminated in the fact that they are preparing their forces, including their deranged kin and brutal apes, to launch raiding parties on the surrounding areas, and to unknown places to the west. Apparently these monster-folk have other compounds scattered about the land, with which they would team up for the raids. All of this is very concerning, although now that we are armed with some knowledge of their plans, we are better equipped to destroy them before they get the chance to unleash their wrath. We have already made significant progress in dismantling the compound to the north, and the men are talking of doing another run where we may poison some of these additional forces.
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With the information gained yesterday from the beast-man, we have formulated a plan. In our past runs, we observed how the furred ones would toss sacks of meat to what we know are now their imprisoned, degenerate kin, and to their wild war apes. After talking amongst ourselves, and consulting with the head chef of Redwood keep, we decided to poison some carcasses of our own and feed them to both of the wretched, imprisoned groups. Doing so should sicken or kill a good number of them with little risk to ourselves, and thus would weaken the beast-men’s ability to launch raids anytime soon. The chef suggested to us a poison made from a type of mushroom found in the forests east of Four Shields Keep, and so we now head over there to collect them.
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The collecting of mushrooms was successful, though not without peril. Both the way there and back was clear and the mushrooms themselves easy to find, however, during the gathering, a monstrous thing attacked us. What initially looked like a toppled, mushroom-ridden tree trunk was actually a huge spider-like creature, residing within the tree and using it as armour. Unexpected to anyone, it suddenly rose from the ground striking with its massive, sharp legs at some of our men. I attempted to charm it into a deep slumber as soon as I could, but the creature was unaffected by my magic. Thankfully, the warriors among us held it at bay while the rest pelted it with stones and arrows. Sir Maurice performed valiantly as he charged the beast again and again on his steed, eventually rendering the killing blow with a devastating strike of his trident. Inside the tree husk, Sir Maurice found several gems worth a few hundred gold, making the endeavour profitable for us, though I am still deeply troubled by my inability to affect it with my spell.
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Yesterday we travelled back to Redwood Keep where the chef prepared our poisoned meat in exchange for 30 gold. We arrived at the beast-men’s encampment at night, where we found our previous stakeout spot trampled with unfamiliar footsteps. We quickly found another hidden place to camp, though without vision over the compound. Also under the cover of dark, we decided to head down there and feed our poisoned meat to the wretches – 3 carcasses down the crevice and 1 to the wild apes. The latter could not fit between the bars of their stable, so we had to hastily chop it up. The smell and noise must have wakened the damned things, as they began howling and hollering as if possessed. Thankfully, we finished our improvised butchery in time and threw the meat inside, just as a patrol bearing a torch emerged from the stairs to the warrens.
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This morning we returned to the beast-men’s encampment to retrieve the barrelful of blessed water. It is only then that we realised the devastation we created during our previous expedition here – the main building had collapsed in many places, some of the walls had fallen, and the entire thing had become a charred ruin. Seeing the holy garden turned to ash made my heart sink, but I hoped that at least the magic of the fountain had been unaffected. As we made our way to the north-eastern wall of the compound, we realised that the previous night’s infiltration made the beast-folk suspicious. Two of them were posted on the ruined walls of the chamber with the stairs heading into the warrens.
We quickly formulated a plan to deal with them silently. Knuckles and Bilbay were handed some gold coins to throw over the wall as a distraction, while I, atop Sir Maurice, lay hidden, waiting for them to step down so that I may force them to slumber with my magic, without risking them falling and waking. The plan worked only halfway, as one of the guards remained atop the walls with his bow now trained and about to discover our men. I took my chance then and put both to sleep. The one who stepped down passed out with his back to the wall. The furred one atop the wall was not so lucky – after falling asleep, he tipped over and crashed to the ground. As Bilbay tells it, when he climbed into the room to retrieve our gold and dispatch the guards, the fallen one had snapped his neck on the way down. In the meantime, the rest of our group rushed the barrel over to the fountain and filled it. Deciding that we attracted enough attention for now, we returned to Redwood Keep.
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Today, we travelled to the Keep on Yeoldelands, and to the elven advisor who requested the barrelful in the first place. There, he shared with us what he found out about the fountain and the water. He said that it had been used by the acolytes of the temple as an initiation rite – those who drank from the water were either blessed by their goddess, and inducted into the order, or suffered ill, and rejected, as it was considered that the goddess had passed judgement upon them. A few among our rank decided to drink from it, and they felt invigorated by its magic. I held off from it, as I did not want to risk myself with so many unknowns. From the batch we collected, I held back a waterskin for private investigation, and suggested that the rest be used for study, so that it may be used for alchemy. Thankfully, the elf thought the same, and so we left the rest of the water in his care, hoping that it may yield us more benefit in the future.