The Fall of Balentyne Part 3

Sir Balin was called into a meeting with the Lord Commander the next day. There were a lot of strange goings on in Balentyne and the Lord Commander wanted Sir Balin the Witch Hunter to liaise with Father Althus to get to the bottom of it.

Sir Balin made his way to Father Althus's quarters.

Father Althus was expecting Sir Balin and had a simple meal of bread and water ready for each of them to eat while they talked about the investigation. They talked about all that had happened and what each other's thoughts were on each event. Dread was a master manipulator and was able to use his guise as Sir Balin to steer Father Althus's thoughts right where he wanted them to go.

Right on cue Father Althus exclaimed, what if the failed burglary of Captain Eddarly's was more than it seems? Does it not seem strange that if someone had the skills to pick a lock of high quality that they would be able to remain hidden from a simple patrol?

Sir Balin replied, I think you are on to something. There may be clues around the area that we have missed. We should leave straight away. The longer we leave it the colder the trail will be. I will get my Squire and a few soldiers to aid us.

A while later Sir Balin, Timeon along with Santiago, Chaka and Phillipe who were disguised as soldiers met with Father Althus and his entourage and then made their way into town.

After a look around the area Father Althus appeared to be a little frustrated they couldn't find anything. This seemed like the best time to spring the trap. Sir Balin bent down and said aloud, Father Althus what do you think of this?

Father Althus rushed over and bent down next to Sir Balin. While he was vulnerable and occupied looking at the floor, Sir Balin drew his dagger and stabbed Father Althus who was dead before he hit the floor. Timeon saw what was happening and signalled for the rest of the crew to jump Father Althus's entourage. They were dispatched as easily as Father Althus.

This left Sir Balin with a slight problem, it looked very suspicious that not only were the Father and his men the ones to die, nobody else was injured. To make things less suspicious, Sir Balin then instructed Timeon to beat him up and make it look good.

It was hard to get a read on how much Timeon enjoyed giving the beating but he did a really good job. Sir Balin looked like he had had a brawl to the death and only just managed to come out alive.

Sir Balin then instructed the rest of his crew to disappear and for Timeon to rush back to the castle and bring whoever he could to help apprehend the gang of thugs responsible for the strange things that have been happening. Sir Balin then lay on the floor breathing heavily staring at the sky.

A while later Timeon returned not only with a large squad of soldiers but the Lord Commander as well. Timeon rushed over shouting, Sir Balin!

As Timeon closed the distance Sir Balin struggled to his feet. I am ok, what about the Father?

It was quickly determined that only Sir Balin had survived.

A couple of days had passed when Sir Balin was called into a meeting with the Lord Commander. Sir Balin convinced the Lord Commander that as the morale of the troops was running low and Mama Giuseppe should be allowed to make her special beef stew for the troops as usual. An effort should be made to let the troops know they are doing a good job and that things were starting to return to normal. The Lord Commander agreed with everything that Sir Balin was saying.

While the stew was getting prepared Dread arranged for Chaka to sneak a large amount of arsenic into the food.

There was a buzz in the atmosphere as the troop's troubles disappeared and they enjoyed one of the best meals that they could remember. Dread watched smiling to himself, if only they knew what was going to follow.

The next day a large number of troop's came down with a terrible illness. Over the next few days some of the troop's had become so ill they died and the ones who still lived were in no condition to fight. Now seemed the perfect time for Dread to initiate the next step of his plan.

To help come up with the plans for taking over the castle Dread realised it would be a good idea to get as much information about the design and structure of the castle to see if there were any noticeable weak points. As the dwarf engineers were playing a large role in repairing and upgrading the defences of the castle it would make sense for them to have technical drawings of the work they were doing.

Dread asked Chaka and Philippe to have a look around the dwarf's rooms at the inn while they were working at the castle.

Sure, enough there were drawings showing all sorts of information about the walls and structure of the castle. Chaka used his cartography skills to make some high-quality copies of the maps.

As Dread looked over the maps and seeing all the data about the strengths and weaknesses, an idea occurred to him. What if a few minor adjustments were made to the drawings indicating areas where poor quality workmanship would be carried out by the Dwarfs to aid in an attack on the castle. Dread told Chaka what he wanted to change and told him to replace the drawings in the Dwarfs room with the altered versions.

Disguised as Sir Balin again, Dread made his way to the castle and in a couple of the quieter areas of the castle sabotaged the work that the dwarfs had started and covered it up. Later on, while a patrol passed Dread stopped them and pointed to some of the work saying does that look right to you?

One of the guards took a closer look and as he inspected the work noticed the wall had been weakened. Sir Balin sent the other guard to get the Lord Commander.

Once the Lord Commander arrived the shoddy work horrified him. He was clearly angry and told the guards to not let the dwarfs leave until he had an explanation. Sir Balin then mentioned that it would be better to have more evidence indicating the dwarf's guilt before approaching them and that maybe they had some plans of what they were doing where they were staying.

The Lord Commander sent a couple of guards into town to search the Dwarfs rooms at the inn.

As the Dwarfs were leaving for the evening the guards stopped them in the court yard. The Dwarfs looked surprised and asked why they could not leave. The Lord Commander then arrived from the keep accompanied by Sir Balin and a squad of soldiers. Barnabus explain yourself, we have found the work you have been carrying out to be of poor workmanship and is weakening our defences.

There was then an argument between Barnabus and the Lord Commander and as things began to settle down, Dread could not resist but to stir the pot a little. Are these not your plans. Sir Balin held up some of the drawings recognisable as the dwarf's handiwork.

Seeing the plans Barnabus drew his axe and charged towards the Lord Commander, his intent clear.

A small skirmish broke out, the dwarfs were clearly outnumbered and the fight did not last long. Dread did not need to involve himself in the fight, but decided to anyway. However, during the fight something happened Dread was not expecting.

When Barnabus flanked by a pair of his workers approached the Lord Commander, Dread stepped in after all he was Sir Balin and he would not hesitate to protect the Lord Commander.

Dread stabbed one of the Dwarfs and expecting that the Lord Commander to keep Barnabus busy savoured the kill and watched the life drain from the dwarf's eyes. Dread went to pull his sword out as the Dwarf was about to collapse to the floor, but Barnabus though still fighting the Lord Commander took advantage of Dreads moment of drop in attentiveness and swung his axe at Dread.

Dread too focused on the already dead dwarf did not see the axe until he heard it rip through flesh and bone. The dead dwarf collapsed to the floor, Dreads sword still piercing his vital organs and Dreads now dismembered hand still gripping the sword.

Dread caught totally of guard hesitated about what to do next. His thoughts were interrupted by a shout of the Lord Commander. Sir Balin fall back.

Dread retreated and used the time he had while the Dwarfs were finished off to compose himself.

Once the skirmish was over the Lord Commander asked Sir Balin to go get medical attention on his arm and then get some rest.

Dread went out into the court yard. The price had been a heavy one for Dread, but damn did them dwarfs put up a fight. Not only were all the dwarf's dead but they had taken a lot of the guards with them. With a large amount of guards still too ill to fulfil their duties. Dread picked his sword up; the castle was ready to fall.

Dread found Timon and told him to gather the rest of his crew up. The time to finish this had come and they didn't need the fire axes help to take this castle.