Back in St. Orlan, Merder organized a new expedition to the mountains south of the city to raid the gnoll hideout found the week before. The annoying halfling called Joai was absent, but two more halflings were summoned from the small group of hangers-on in the homestead field. These were Jorase, a halfling thief, and Mahaza, a halfling fighter. While in town to purchase supplies, they met a scraggly halfling chained outside the Iron Knight Tavern. He begged for release, explaining he’d overeaten and was chained up as punishment for not paying. While the two humans, Anau and Jack, blocked an easy view, Jorase bent down and quickly unlocked the chain. The jailbreak was not witnessed.
Presently, the released halfling, Elelca, begged for food, which Anua offered. Soon, all of the halflings begged for food, and the scout’s pack was much lighter. Jorase, a sneaky thief, successfully fetched another pack of food while Anau wasn’t aware. He headed to the store to buy more food. He also sold gnoll scalps for 5 sp each.
On the morning of the 19th (1/19), they headed down the south road. They were Anau, Elelca, Jack, Jobiacama, Jorase, Mahaza, Mahr, Merder and his (now) 3 Dogs. The walk on the road was easy until they left it to climb into the wild peaks. The hideout was only half a mile from the road, and they were at the entrance by midday.
As before, bootprints lead directly to an open pit where a stair descended 20 feet into a dark chamber. Elelca and Mahr braved the steps, and soon after they entered, the massive stone slab slid into place, plunging them into darkness. Mahr dug in his backpack to retrieve a lantern and light it. Outside, the rest of the party puzzled out out to re-open the door.
Having lit the lantern, the pair of thief and assassin examined the three doors. To the west was a door, beyond which was a small chamber and a locked door. Elelca heard a soft prayer spoken, then nothing else. The door to the north opened to a chamber featuring a fetid pool. The smell in this room was unimaginable. Piles of feces were left all around. Disgusted, they backed out of this room to try the east door. This, they found locked.
Presently, the group outside of the hideout hatched a scheme to force the door open. They jammed a crowbar where the slab met the surround. Anau and Merder struggled to pry the slab back without success, then they attached a chain to the bar which allowed combining the group’s strength. Between them all, they pulled back the slab six inches before the leverage of the bar gave way.
They had struggled for half an hour to move it only a few inches. Anau retreated into the brush to think and to watch for any wandering foes, and his diligence was rewarded. A gnoll chief lead four other gnolls as they crept up to the hideout. Using his advantage, Anua sprinted back to the group to give them warning. They all tried to hide in preparation of an ambush. The halflings did so readily. Jack, the human, found himself alone and fully visible as the gnolls approached.
Just as the gnolls cried out, Merder delivered a patch of entangling roots and weeds that held the gnolls in place. Simultaneously, the slab slid open again. Mahr and Elelca dashed out. The four gnoll warriors struggled to head into the hideout as arrows rained down upon them. The chief was closer to the back edge of the entanglement. He soon stepped from it’s grasp and rushed toward Mahaza. Merder and his dogs followed, so did Jack.
The rest of them peppered the gnolls with arrows as they tried to get free from the patch of roots. Elelca tossed daggers and rocks into brush in acts of terribly bad luck. Jobiacama also missed with arrows, then he stepped up to meet the gnolls as they escaped. He landed two wicked blows, aided by Mahr. None of the four gnolls made it back into the hideout.
On the other side of the clearing, Mahaza whipped a heavy chain at the big gnoll chief. Merder’s dogs latched onto the big monster which became angry with them, missing wildly and then made a fool of himself trying to grab one of the dog by the collar. Suddenly, Merder landed subsequent blows to the chief’s legs. As he fell, the dogs tore him apart.
With the battle over, Anua began the work of scalping them. Mahr rifled through the chiefs pockets and product 11 sp and 6 gp. The other gnolls were dragged into the brush so as not to be readily visible.
Spikes were hammered into the track inside which the slab door travelled such that when the closing would be triggered, it was held open. This work took at least half an hour. During this time, Jorase had opened the locked door and then explored the room beyond. He ignored the fresh water well and carefully examined a trapdoor in the floor. He had just finished opening it when the rest of them arrived. Elelca’s curiosity was strong. Jorase attempted to declare the loot inside floor cache his own. Merder threatened him with death if it wasn’t shared. The statement was to the effect of needing a shovel for a shallow grave.
Beneath the trap door was a small coffer, which Mahr snatched. Merder grabbed a small, cloth bag. The coffer head coins. The bad held an anklet and a fine pin. Elelca begged for the anklet and wore it immediately. Merder kept the pin.
The party moved north, deeper into the complex. Elelca opened a door to face a spiky loadstar. He slammed the door shut. They heard the floating monster bumping against he door. They returned to the entrance to try the western door. After unlocking it, they found a bedroom with a bed that was little more than a pile of straw. Elelca flopped down for a quick nap, but the other halflings jumped into the bed, jumping up and down.
Mahr kicked over an altar to Molok in the bedroom, and someone opened a large chest. Merder took a bracelet from it. Other items taken were a human thigh bone, a walking cane, a small cask (empty), a clasp and a chunk of cedar bark. Merder took this last item and enjoyed the strong smell.
Next, they prepared a plan for defeating the loadstar. As they did, Merder heard a whisper in his hear and shrugged off a magical spell. Next to him was a zombie, suddenly visible. The halfling and his dogs attacked it. Mahr stuck it with a spear, but the wound hardly seemed to affect the petrified corpse. Soon the monster was dead, but they wondered at a zombie that could speak.
The interruption dealt with, most of the party gathered in the southern end of the room with the well. Anau waited just inside the corridor north of this room. Elelca stood at the north end of the corridor and flung open the door. He dashed away as Anua let loose an arrow. The loadstar drifted down the hallway. They all pulled back, crowding into a 15×15 foot area at the south end of the room, firing arrows.
A few moments later, the loadstar pushed into their group and picked Jack as its first victim. A spike plunged into his right arm, immediately swelling enormously. The party was surprised to have the floating ball of spikes to be essentially engaged in melee. Mahr fired an arrow that missed the enemy and grazed Anua, but weapon blows soon broke the monster apart. Jack was encouraged to remedy the wound that had grown to be ten pounds in weight. He lanced it himself with a long gash, which produced a large volume of orange goo. A tiny loadstar embryo was crushed beneath Mahr’s boot.
The room from where the loadstar came was clear and ready to be examined. The floor was covered in pebbles and dust except for a clean path from the door on the west end to the door on the east end. A curved plat of metal with an iron ring, placed on the floor, was left as is.
Marh and Merder pushed deeper and entered another room with piles of rock. No clean path connected a door seen on the other side of the room. Rocks partly covered metal urns. The two crept towards the urn, triggering rocks to fall down. One hit Mahr. They grabbed urns and retreated. Merder’s urn contained 1700 cp. Mahr’s urn contained 800 sp.
The hours of the day were dwindling. Elelca urged them to go towards a mark on the map label Irinduis. They arrived at a dead oak next to a big, open gash in a rock wall. The plan to camp here or inside the cave was quickly disregarded. They returned to the road and marked through the first hours of darkness without incident, returning to the homestead.
End Notes
- Days 1/19 Trip to the gnoll hideout
- Treasure
- 11 sp and 6 gp taken by Mahr from gnoll chief
- Small coffer containing 800 cp taken by Mahr
- Fine pin (1,400 gp) taken by Merder
- 800 sp in an urn taken by Mahr
- 1700 cp in an urn taken by Merder
- Combat 815 xp
- Gnoll Chief 240 xp
- 4 Gnolls 300 xp
- Zombraire 175 xp
- Loadstar 100 xp
- Characters 78 xp each (10.5 shares)
- Anau (fight with bow, surprise, works alone, human) 88 xp
- Elelca (unnoticed, outdoors, curious, dexterity, attack by surprise) 82 xp
- Jack (fight, human) 87 xp
- Jobiacama (unnoticed, outdoors, fight) 80 xp
- Jorase (unnoticed, outdoors, dexterity) 80 xp
- Mahaza (unnoticed, outdoors, fight) 80 xp
- Mahr (misanthropic, human) 87 xp
- Merder and 3 Dogs (unnoticed, outdoors) 80 xp