On the first day of the month called Dawn, Stoyk felt rested enough to lead another adventure into the caves, through the worm tombs and down the stairs around the bottomless pit. Joining him were Tenren, Raffi, and Thanite, plus another bounty hunter called Orbis and Ganna, elven druid. When they got into the tomb area, they found it ransacked. All idols and murals were destroyed or defaced.
They walked carefully down the stairs that circled the pit and stopped at the door into the mysterious chambers. They retraced steps taken before, past the short Malok idol, and then started exploring new areas. They found a toppled statue in a passage, then presently arrived back in fateful room that once held a ghoul, the very monster who slew their comrade.
Raffi opened an unexplored door to find a room filled with rats. The druid attempted to calm them with sweet words to no avail. They swarmed out of the room and them up their legs, biting viciously. A furious episode of kicking, cutting and squishing commenced. Though ordinary rats that died easily with a single blow, the vast mass of them proved troublesome. Ganna and Tenren suffered bites, as did Thanite who clumsily struck himself in the knee in retaliation. He collapsed into unconsciousness from the blow.
Orbis found good luck grasping the rats in his fits, squeezing out their guts. Stoyk attempted a dive onto the floor, attempting to smash several at once, but they scattered before his hulking shape. A rat savagely tore into Thanite’s oozing wound, but suddenly it ran off with the rest of rats, perhaps sensing danger. Stoyk bent over Thanite to restore him to consciousness.
Presently, they began searching the room thoroughly. Among trash, they found an iron chest. Tenren prodded it and was rewarded with a burst of fire. None of the others with lockpicking skills could puzzle out the locks, so Raffi broke off the hinges. Inside were pieces of copper. In a fit of frustration, the dwarf dumps the entire contents onto the floor. They didn’t bother to collect them, leaving them scattered about, and returned to the surface for rest.
For three days, they camped at Lionerdhon’s farm, and he offered them simple farm food. On the 4th day of Dawn, they returned to those underground chambers. Soon enough, they found themselves in a room filled with benches with an adjoining room blocked by a portcullis. Suspecting trouble, they pushed many benches against the passage, and soon enough a gruesome humanoid appeared and jabbered at them. As it raised the portcullis, they lit the benches on fire and then sent many arrows his way. He took cover around a corner, then charged when the fire died down. Raffi sent him to the great beyond with a well-placed arrow.
In the room beyond, they found a thousand pieces of copper and a fine gem.
In another adjoining room, they found black rocks arranged in spirals. Looking up, they saw dried blood on the ceiling. Ganna placed a dead rat in a spiral. The rocks vibrated and then began to rise. The rat corpse was smashed into the ceiling and the rocks fell down and tumbled into disorder. They considered this room as a potential trap into which to lure monsters.
Moving on, they returned to the room with rats, finding they had returned. Ganna successfully charmed six of them, and none acted aggressively. The idea of burning them came up. Raffi refused. Without more discussion, Stoyk tossed a flaming flask of oil into the room, killing all of the rats.
Leaving this room, they found a long room with a channel cutting across it. Thick liquid flowed out from one wall, through the channel and then out another hole. Raffi lit the liquid on fire, proving it was oil. That produced a wall of fire from which they had to retreat.
End Notes
- Kills
- Ugly humanoid 75 xp
- Rats 200 xp
- Treasure
- 1,000 cp
- Gem (80gp)
- Characters
- Stoyk 76 xp
- Tenren 69 xp
- Raffi 69 xp
- Thanite 69 xp
- Ganna 69 xp
- Orbis 69 xp