Critwall

The walled town of Critwall gave the most stubborn resistance to Iuz's forces in the war and the signs of that are obvious. The old Critwall Bridge, crossing the Ritensa to the west, is completely shattered and Critwall itself is not much better off. Enraged by the unusual resistance they met here, Iuz's troops indulged in an orgy of slaughter, pillage and senseless destruction in the town. Nearly half the buildings here are little more than piles of rubble and the town wall is breached in six different locations. Rebuilding is in progress, using charmed giants and ogres, and a handful of enslaved dwarves as overseers, but it is a slow and haphazard business. Troops here are also disease-prone, since many of Critwall's ex-residents were long unburied after the war and disease-carrying vermin are plentiful as a result. Critwall has a good military commander, General At-ur Rehmat, a Wolf Nomad exile who was banished from his family for murdering a brother. Rehmat is entrusted by Iuz with the tasks of keeping strong, well-supplied troops patrolling the lower Ritensa and commanding the Scragholme island forces. Rehmat is ruthlessly efficient, so both organization and discipline are far better here than is usually the case in Shield Land forces. For this reason, Vayne is paranoid about him and tries secretly to sabotage Critwall by making sure supplies headed there from Admundfort are of poor quality.

Rehmat faces one unique source of opposition within the city itself. Some forty or so street children managed to stay alive in the rubble-covered basements, sewers, subterranean aqueducts and half-demolished buildings. These children, aged between five and 15 years, include many with thief skills. They regularly steal food, weapons and equipment from humanoid troops relaxing, having over-indulged in drink, or otherwise letting their guard down. The children are fortunate in having foraged two rings of invisibility, an elven cloak and boots, and a pair of boots of speed, together with pipes of the sewers from the basements of one of Critwall’s slain mages. Below the ruins of the Temple of Pelor they have access to a magical fountain capable of healing wounds and neutralizing poison. The latter is especially useful for avoiding the dangerous effects of diseased rodent bites.

These children are mostly ignored by the humanoids, who virtually never see them. Because they are small enough to escape via narrow ducts, sewers and such, they are hard to pursue. They know a great deal about Rehmat's organization and the layout of barracks and defenses around Critwall. If they could be contacted or rescued, the information they have would be very useful to Furyondy's defenders in particular.