On the 27th day of Snake, Urgesh led the ragtag band of explorers back into the worm caves. Aside from Tenren and Orris, Raffi returned with a new comrade named Thanite. They returned to the scene of the deadly battle from the week before to find it largely undisturbed. The room where the dark elf fell they judged to be a library, noting the many books, scrolls and loose papers on shelves. All were written in an indecipherable script.
Raffi found a book with many illustrations and stuffed it in his pack without much study. Orris cast a spell that enable him to read the ancient language of the whispering worms. As he began reading about horrific tortures, an overwhelming terror gripped his mind and he suddenly cast the book aside. “Pure evil,” he declared.
Moving beyond the library, Urgesh’s dog headed down stairs to a room clearly used as sleeping quarters by goblins. He dug around the corner used as latrine, indulging in a delicacy only enjoyed by dogs. Leaving this room, they found a room meant for torture. It featured a chair-like contraption used to stretch unfortunately humans beyond bounds.
Deeper, down more stairs, they found an altar room. A sack left behind contained a potion and a gold medallion on a ribbon. It showed a fearsome worm on the front and an engraved work on the smooth back. Orris found his spell to have expired, else he would have read the word, presumed to be one that produced a magical effect. Merely wearing the medallion came to no visible result.
The Pit
Returning to the large chapel, they walked through an archway to double doors which opened to a vast pit around which curled narrow stairs that disappeared into darkness. For many minutes they pondered, wondering if the pit were an illusion. A lit torch was tossed. A rope was released and then recovered.
They also felt annoyance at the terrible statue of an unknown demon placed across the pit. From they body of an ape protruded giant crab claws. Where an ape bears a head was an octopus, with tentacles hanging across the barrel chest of the ape. They debated pushing the statue into the pit but ultimately discarded the idea.
Presently, they descended the stairs single file, Raffi leading the way. And before long, they found a door in a shallow alcove. It was locked, but Raffi could tell easily how to loose the door using a chisel and hammer. He also noted the many blows given to the door without allowing a breach. After a brief effort at foiling the lock, Raffi began the work of freeing door by carving out the rock walls.
The door gave way, crashing inward into a small room filled with squirming shapes. They were foot-long centipedes that scrambled around the room. Raffi pushed past Urgesh with excess caution, shouting an alarm. Orris prepared a flask of oil as the centipedes began to emerge, biting at Urgesh and his dog. Moments later, Orris tossed the oil to Urgesh who hurled it into the room. Insect flesh sizzled in the quick-burning blast.
One centipede that escaped the fire fell silently into the pit by way of Raffi’s swift kick. Most of the rest died oozing ichor thanks to the mighty jaws of Urgesh’s hound. When the short encounter concluded, Raffi grabbed some centipede meat and stuff it into his sack.
The Crypt
Now they had access to some crypt or temple, sealed away from even the dark elf’s crew. Perhaps more loot lay untouched, they reason, and so moved deeper into the complex. Light was plentiful thanks to the many ever-burning torches. They found that removing a torch from its sconce extinguished it, while replacing caused a re-ignition.
Soon they were rewarded when they discovered a small shrine to Molok that featured ruby eyes. Orris pried the rubies out and stuff them in his pocket. They moved on and eventually came to another locked door. Orris bent to fiddle with the lock and found found success. He pushed the door open to face a ghoul.
The monster lunged, snapping its jaws and swinging clawed hands. With unholy strength, the monster gripped Orris by the left arm and yanked it clear out of the socket. Rich, crimson blood gushed from the wound as the ghoul brought the severed limb up to its waiting mouth. Orris collapsed.
Raffi dashed into the room, tumbling past the ghoul to stand at its back. The ghoul whirled to face him as Urgesh stepped up. He was now at the ghoul’s back, quickly cutting it down. Alas, naught could be done for poor Orris whose live spilled out on the loose flagstones of the underground temple.
With the fate of the elf sealed, they retraced their steps, dragging his lifeless body behind, eventually returning to the surface.
End Notes
- Treasure
- Golden Medallion shaped like a worm
- Unidentified potion ID Zmx5aW5n
- Two rubies pried from a molok shrine, 50 gp each
- Kills
- 14 large centipedes 182 xp
- 1 ghoul 100 xp
- Characters
- Tenren 78 xp
- Urgesh 72 xp
- Thanite 78 xp
- Raffi 72 xp