Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Katsuo spoke up. "Some may still be patrolling farther out. I'll keep watch in case they return."



Roy looked over at Siege. "You didn't become an outlaw because dad told you not to. He warned us both to always seriously consider before taking a life. Although I think bandits were the exception for that..."

 

[Darkling0096]

"There's only one entrance," Turac looked around and pulled a loose stone over to approximate a seat, "It won't take much to hold it."


"You know what I mean," Siege shook her head. "Do things on the straight and narrow, and I'm scrabbling for loose coppers, but these assholes," she gestured to the fortress, "Rob and steal and murder, and they've got more than I've ever held in my life." She shook her head, "How do mom and dad have that much money?" She knew the answer, of course. Jerry would find ruins, they'd go explore ruins, take everything vaguely valuable to either sell for more precious metals or to add to their wealth, and hoard it, but still!

 

[Fangs9090]

"It still must be held, simple as the task may be." Katsuo went to wait where he could see the gate.


"'Cause they're old. We're still young. We don't even have our own proper hoards yet."

 

[Darkling0096]

"How are we supposed to get our own hoards if we can't even hold onto a handful's worth of gold?"

"Bury it," Sinach offered.

"Shut up."

"No, I'm serious, if you want something hidden, put it underground. I'm not sure how, but the earth makes most forms of scrying and collection difficult."

 

[Fangs9090]

"I mean, that's what Shuffle did, even if she didn't hide it too well. Raine probably did the same, considering how good she is at digging. But the key is finding a good place to stash it all without someone else finding it, while still being able to get to it ourselves."

 

[Darkling0096]

"How did mom hide hers?" Siege scratched her chin.

"You can discuss how your mother hid her money later," Jalin said as he came back into the room, "Until then, we have approximately two days before the prince and his army arrives, we must sort our affairs."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy looked over at Jalin. "What do you mean by that?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well," Jalin tapped the floor of the room with his cane, "I do believe there was a sizeable pile of treasure in this room, we must decide whether to hand it over or how to distribute it, and we lack travel papers."

"And you owe me an explanation for how you did the thing with the hound," Siege added.

"Yes, that too."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy furrowed his brow. "Damn... Troublesome bandits with no loot would be odd, so they'd know we took it all." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Mm... Maybe we could leave some here for the prince and his men to find, say that was all they kept here but imply that more of it could've been stashed elsewhere."

 

[Darkling0096]

Siege made a face, "Do we have to?", she sighed, "Maybe we can... just leave a few small bags?" Enough that it looks like the bandits had been doing something with their gold, and were trying to replenish.

"Perhaps this is not the only room with treasure?", Jalin offered, "After all, there are likely several chambers within the walls of this crumbling fortress."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy brightened at that, mainly because it meant more looting. "Ah, right. We haven't looked around this place yet."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Then leave a measure of treasure," Jalin smirked a bit at the accidental rhyme, "With Emilia, I believe she is able to produce bags to house it?"

"Was that a smile?", Sinach would have blinked in connfusion if he had visible eyes.

"If, when the fortress is searched, there is no more treasure, then we have made successful preparations to secure our finances for now, and if there is more, then it is already neatly packaged."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia gave a nod. "I'll get started on the bags then." She wandered off to find an out-of-the-way spot to do her weaving.

Roy gave a nod. "Alright, let's search the fort then."

 

[Darkling0096]

It took a quick survey to figure out that this was not a large fortress. It could certainly serve as a bullwark against a marching army for a time, but really it was more of a large waycastle than a fortress. Four towers, one on each corner, with thick walls and three buildings inside, the rest was empty space that was used for horses, supplies, and space for soldiers to take up when preparing for a siege. Right now that space was filled with a bonfire of bodies.

"Not very big, is it?", Sinach said as he eyed the building from Siege's shoulder as they walked.

"It serves," Jalin shrugged, "But that does explain its poor condition. Why devote resources to something so small when there are bigger things that need it more?" That was also probably why the royal family waited until well after it was infested to do anything about the local bandits.

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy spoke up. "It also serves as shelter when you've been run out of every village, town, and city in the kingdom, and the guards recognize you on sight."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well we killed them all, so," Siege shrugged, "Remind me to thank Turac for the new toy."

"Noted," Jalin listened around the rooms as they walked, pausing as they came to what seemed a dead end. "That wall is hollow." He could hear it in how it reflected sound.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Hm? I secret room?" Roy started checking the walls for hidden switches, and for traps.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Perhaps," Jalin put his ear to the wall and knocked on it in places, "There is a shape," he knocked around until he found a vaguely-door-shaped seam in the stone brick wall about the same time as Roy."If the door is here, then-"

"Move," with no regard for damages, Siege put her bracelets back on and put her foot through the wall, knocking the false section in. There didn't seem to be any traps, at least, and the section fell away with few issues, as though it were designed to be knocked down and put up in a hurry. In fact, from what came off when Siege pulled her foot back, it wasn't even solid stone, more like plates of stone fastled to a piece of wood.

"Secret passage," Sinach raised an eyebrow, "Didn't know they were put on these tiny things."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps this fort isn't as tiny as we thought."

 

[Darkling0096]

"We haven't seen an armory, yet," Jalin offered, turning his ears down the passage it opened up and tapping his cane, listening as the sound bounced and he got the kind of jumbled mental image you only got if there was a hole lot of things down there reflecting sound in weird ways. "There's something down there, I can't tell what."

"Well, we're gonna find out," Siege drew her axe and led the way down the tunnel. It didn't lead down far before they came to... a store room. There were lots of shelves, but all the food and perishables had gone bad a while ago. Spiders and rats nested among the mess. What little hadn't been spoiled were non-edible items. Building materials for repairs, tents and such for when the buildings were occupied.

"If this is just the store room," Sinach was confused, "Why hide it behind a false wall?"

"Unless it was also a fallback chamber," Jalin offered, "I can feel tunnels in the ground below us, it is likely a passage to an escape point if the fort was taken. But that doesn't explain how the bandits never found this place."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy kept his staff in hand as he followed. "They never kicked down the wall, I guess. They likely saw a dead end and turned the other way."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well, clearly that was not the intended way to get in," Jalin chuckled. He shook his head and poked a barrel to hear the contents. It was empty. "Well, I suppose these are resources we can use." He poked one of the rolled up tents with his cane, "Good thing we have bags of holding."

"How big are these tents?", Siege picked up one of the rolls and looked it over, "Is the cloth any good?"

"We're not gonna find out in here," Sinach ruffled his wings, "It's darker than an inkwell in here."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy glanced at Sinach. "It is? ...ah, right. I forget we were born with enhanced night vision." He tapped his staff on the floor and summoned a light overhead, for Sinach, if no one else.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hey, I'm not blind!", Sinach said indignantly, "I meant there's no damn space in here! You can't check a tent if you can't open it up!"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Oh. Well, you should've said that instead of pointing out the darkness."