A Risky Rope Bridge

The team of heroes left the fort in the next morning, heading for the Crypts of Hahrai Berzaiti in the Lockwood Caverns. They followed a trail from the fort to a cliffside, looking out at a wide river, and over which spanned a rope bridge. The nimble rogue, Jad, examined the bridge for traps, and found one several feet in from the start of the bridge. Investigating the thin strings connected to the trap, Jad discovered animal skin bags of blood and gore, hung from tripwires on the underside of the bridge. He disabled this first bag, but upon trying to disable the second, halfway down the bridge, it triggered. In the blink of an eye Jad was covered in rotten gore, lying prone on the unsteady rope bridge. As he made his way back to the safety of the cliffside, the others, watching him return, saw small creatures flying towards them from over his shoulder. The band of travelers was quickly swarmed by a small flock of stirges, cat-sized mosquitoes. Yul had one attach its sharp proboscis to his neck after he succeeded in landing an arrow in its side. The druid and wizard hacked the creatures off their friend with flaming and lightning attacks, while Jad's mighty crossbow finished off another that had attached to Cruckshank's throat. The team then proceeded over the rope bridge, one by one. Castlinetta fell into the river after all, but was quickly helped to shore after much coughing up of inhaled water.

Soon the small group found the end of the river, where the desolate land strangled the water's flow to a stream, then quickly to a trickle, and finally, to a dead tree. Next to the tree was the unfurnished, open entrance to a dark crypt structure. A withered, stagnant air smelled like piss and copper. Each taking a final shallow breath, the heroes stepped into the shadows of the unholy gravesite...