The hobgoblin falls to Alainn's vicious assault!
Felix flashes Alainn a pair of worry-filled eyes as he starts to tend to the shifter's wounds. "That could've gone worse! You scared me there, Alainn! My great great grandma whispers that you ought to be more careful."
Alainn gives a solemn nod of thanks for Felix's ministrations and then curls up and begins licking at what remains of his wounds.
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The rest of the night passes without incident, and the next day you head out, taking care to move slowly and conceal your trail. The tracks you are following stop and double back the way you came, indicating that the hobgoblins you fought last night were likely the ones you were tracking. However, a well-worn trail leads further northeast.
It is early afternoon by the time the trail opens up into a large clearing in the forest. Here, a large fort stands, constructed from weathered blocks of smooth, gray stone. The mortar between the stones is discolored by a dark, tenacious mold, and creeping vines crawl up the fort's exterior.
Two massive towers on the western side of this fort are connected by a high wall with a gatehouse festooned in ivy. Mushrooms blossom amid ferns along the ground. The wooden double door of the gatehouse is banded with iron, but one door stands slightly ajar.
It appears the northeastern tower of the fort has collapsed onto the northern wall, scattering chunks of stone across the area and knocking a ten-foot-wide gap in the wall. A massive keep looms over the courtyard beyond the gap.
Alainn, leading the group, circles the rest of the group and then makes a firm *stay here* gesture, before running up into the air and soaring over the keep, intent on getting the best possible view of the fort from above.
Finding the trail that led to the northeast Eilyne followed the rest of her companions, though she stayed in the trees to one side, and enjoyed the walk. When they finally found the fort she actually found herself liking the place. While it didn't look natural it was far more comfortable looking than most human dwellings what with all of the plant life and she thought she could actually like living in such a place. Too bad it was likely overrun by hobgoblins and their minions.
She saw Álainn indicate they should stop and let him scout first and took up position in the trees where she could more readily hide and keep watch.
Alainn peers down into the courtyard from above. Consisting of hard-packed earth and gravel, it is filled with large stones spilled from the tumbled northeastern tower. A building situated against the northern wall has been almost entirely crushed, while an intact stable stands against the southern wall. A wooden double door stands slightly ajar to the west, leading out of the fort. Another double door leads into the large keep to the east, and a balcony twenty feet above the keep’s entrance overlooks the courtyard. A narrow wooden door stands at the base of each of the three remaining towers, and a trap door atop the battlements of each one provides access from above.
Of the stones scattered across the courtyard, the largest are as tall as a human and all are stained dark red. The source of the stains is no mystery: hobgoblin corpses with slit throats hang upside-down from crude gibbets above each of the gruesome stones.
A dozen severely inebriated fey celebrate here, drinking copiously from over a dozen barrels of wine in a heavy wagon against the wall of the keep. More than a dozen more empty barrels are scattered around. The creatures resemble knobby-kneed humanoids with particularly thick beards and wild manes of hair. The fey dance, belt out odd songs in Sylvan, and pound out rhythms on makeshift drums. None seem to be paying much attention to their surroundings.
Alainn can hear a snippet of conversation from below: ""Halk Grundlechar is a brute, but he's doing a fine job as First Drinker of the Red Rock Revel. I cheer every time he comes out on the balcony with a command to open another cask. May the revel never end!"
Alainn retreats once he has seen everything he is likely to, returns to his companions and explains what he has seen and heard via Felix's magic cat. He supplements this by scratching a drawing into the dirt.
Eilyne listened to what was said about the fey inside the fort. It was an intriguing scene that Álainn had described and tried to decide what kind of fey they were based off of the description. What they were would be key on how to handle this.
Eilyne recognizes the fey as korreds. Korreds are an ancient fey race who like forested areas with nice, rocky ground. They resemble small, wild-haired humanoids with wild, knotted hair. Korreds especially like to dance in ancient stone circles within forest glades, often led by satyrs with panpipes. They are a shy race and do not take kindly to outsiders discovering them, even by accident. They almost always attack non-korreds who stumble into their territory, seeking to kill them or at least drive them off.