Winter's Log: Part 3
I have changed my mind about the monk.
After the party descended the stairs, we saw before us a tower-like structure with only one door. Seeing no other way in, we made for that door. Crons got to the door first and walked right in. Quince made to follow, but managed to trigger a pit trap that Crons had somehow sidestepped. He fell in, got bitten by a rat, and was rendered unconscious. Jonah had to jump in and save his stupid ass.
Inside the tower, there was a big round room with two visible doors. We chose the one on the right and simply followed the path. At the end of one hallway, there were three doors. One led to an empty room, one led deeper into the dungeon, and the other was locked. Doors are only locked when they're guarding something important or valuable, right? So I picked the lock. I was disappointed, however, as the room was empty save for a big rusted-looking barrel sitting atop a pipe that disappeared into the floor. Water is the only thing I know that creates rust, so I figured there was nothing valuable in the barrel. I left the room alone... and that should have been good enough for everyone else!
Midian and I moved on to the door that led deeper into the complex. Jonah was looking after a wounded Quince, and Crons was... doing whatever Crons does. Behind the door was a moderately sized room with an empty cage and a bed of sorts. On the bed was a small creature completely covered by a blanket. The creature was whimpering and sobbing. Assuming it was a goblin, I sneaked around to silence it once and for all. From the corner of my eye, I saw Midian waving frantically. Apparently she didn't want me to kill the creature; she wanted to question it instead.
Suddenly, from the corridor we'd come from, there erupted a loud, hollow BONGGG! What the blazes were those idiots doing out there?! Midian and I held our breath as the creature before us stopped whimpering momentarily. When the whimpering resumed, we breathed soft sighs of relief. I suppose Quince was a little more curious about the barrel than I had been. He was intent on breaking it open, even at the risk of alerting all of the goblins to our presence.
Midian went for the direct approach. She pulled the blanket off the pathetic whimpering creature. A startled kobold squawked and cowered away from us. Hm, so it wasn't a goblin after all. After a bit of questioning, we gleaned some information from the kobold: His name was Meepo. The kobolds had a territory dispute with the neighboring goblin tribe. The goblins had recently stolen a baby white dragon from the kobolds, the dragon being the former occupant of the cage in the room. Also, Meepo was an idiot.
An unearthly screech tore through the passages of the dungeon. It was answered by the startled cries of our male companions. Meepo also yelped and went back to hiding under his blanket. Midian and I went to see what the boys had unleashed. It seemed Quince had enlisted Crons's axe in his quest to get the stupid barrel open. Inside the barrel had been a sleeping water mephit. It was not happy to be woken up. Well, Quince was in no shape to fight, and Crons had also taken a good amount of damage from the creature by the time Midian and I joined the fray. In the end, Jonah had to cast some kind of spell on one of his swords in order to kill the little monster. Then the exhausted cleric had to also heal Crons and Quince. The stupid monk just had to know what was in that barrel, didn't he?
When we returned to Meepo, he seemed more than happy to grant us passage through kobold territory. He wanted us to meet his chieftain so we could negotiate getting the dragon back, or something. As he led us through, the guards we passed whispered and chuckled amongst themselves. I got the feeling that they were laughing at Meepo rather than at us. The thought alone made me chuckle to myself as well.
The leader of the kobolds was named Yusdrayl. Assuming (hoping, really) she was more intelligent than Meepo, we asked her if she knew anything about the stick creatures that were killing the livestock in the village nearby. She didn't know much, but she said someone called the "Outcast" might be responsible. He was a man (they supposed) who tended a garden of magical apple trees. Suddenly all these disjointed tales began to come together. We also asked her about the party that had come in before us, but she didn't know what became of them. Yusdrayl didn't seem too pleased with us on the whole, but she agreed to let us rest in kobold territory if we promised to search for her dragon. She even hinted at a possible reward if we were able to return with it alive. Just another item to add to our list of things to do. Meepo, being the dragon's keeper, would accompany us into goblin territory.
After we had rested sufficiently, Meepo led us down what his people called the "back way." One of the first rooms we entered had an empty fountain in it. There was an inscription on the base of the fountain that was written in the language of the kobolds. "Let there be fire," Meepo translated for us. When he repeated it in his own tongue, a red liquid bubbled forth from the fountain. Jonah knew it had magical properties, but he wasn't sure what the liquid was, exactly. We took a sample to identify later.
There was a room off to the side that contained five sarcophagi. I felt a chill travel down my spine. Sarcophagi are risky things to mess with. At best, they may contain valuables. At worst, they may contain undead. This was a worst-case scenario. How do I know? Because Curious Quince decided to touch a sarcophagus. Once again, Jonah's magic saved us from being killed by monsters we might well have avoided entirely.
Further along, we came across another room with an empty fountain like the last. The inscription on this one Meepo translated as, "Let there be death." I warned him not to speak it again in his own tongue. He squeaked and covered his mouth. In retrospect, I don't think even he was stupid enough to tempt fate, however, I'd seen my own party members do dumber things.
All of a sudden, we were attacked by yet another pack of dire rats. I wasn't very close, so I tried throwing a dagger at a rat. Quince then jumped into my line of fire and took the full impact in the back of his shoulder. As embarrassing as it was to hit a party member, I wasn't really sorry. The man had seriously gotten on my nerves with his desire to touch freaking everything he saw. A couple more blows and Quince went down for the count. Then emerged the biggest rat any of us had ever seen! I didn't believe that rodents of such unusual size could exist, but there it was. Crons flew into a rage and hacked away at the remaining rats before turning his fury on the big one. It went down quickly.
In the next room was kind of just a big pile of crap. Most of it was useless, but we managed to find some useful stuff in there. At the bottom of the pile was also the body of a man. The ring on his finger identified him as Karakas, one of the adventurers that had preceded us. We respectfully left the man with his ring, but I simply had to take his bandoleer of daggers. I mean a dead man is remembered by his name, but he has no use for weapons. As we methodically looted the pile of refuse, I got the feeling that we were all becoming a little better at the things we do...
After the party descended the stairs, we saw before us a tower-like structure with only one door. Seeing no other way in, we made for that door. Crons got to the door first and walked right in. Quince made to follow, but managed to trigger a pit trap that Crons had somehow sidestepped. He fell in, got bitten by a rat, and was rendered unconscious. Jonah had to jump in and save his stupid ass.
Inside the tower, there was a big round room with two visible doors. We chose the one on the right and simply followed the path. At the end of one hallway, there were three doors. One led to an empty room, one led deeper into the dungeon, and the other was locked. Doors are only locked when they're guarding something important or valuable, right? So I picked the lock. I was disappointed, however, as the room was empty save for a big rusted-looking barrel sitting atop a pipe that disappeared into the floor. Water is the only thing I know that creates rust, so I figured there was nothing valuable in the barrel. I left the room alone... and that should have been good enough for everyone else!
Midian and I moved on to the door that led deeper into the complex. Jonah was looking after a wounded Quince, and Crons was... doing whatever Crons does. Behind the door was a moderately sized room with an empty cage and a bed of sorts. On the bed was a small creature completely covered by a blanket. The creature was whimpering and sobbing. Assuming it was a goblin, I sneaked around to silence it once and for all. From the corner of my eye, I saw Midian waving frantically. Apparently she didn't want me to kill the creature; she wanted to question it instead.
Suddenly, from the corridor we'd come from, there erupted a loud, hollow BONGGG! What the blazes were those idiots doing out there?! Midian and I held our breath as the creature before us stopped whimpering momentarily. When the whimpering resumed, we breathed soft sighs of relief. I suppose Quince was a little more curious about the barrel than I had been. He was intent on breaking it open, even at the risk of alerting all of the goblins to our presence.
Midian went for the direct approach. She pulled the blanket off the pathetic whimpering creature. A startled kobold squawked and cowered away from us. Hm, so it wasn't a goblin after all. After a bit of questioning, we gleaned some information from the kobold: His name was Meepo. The kobolds had a territory dispute with the neighboring goblin tribe. The goblins had recently stolen a baby white dragon from the kobolds, the dragon being the former occupant of the cage in the room. Also, Meepo was an idiot.
An unearthly screech tore through the passages of the dungeon. It was answered by the startled cries of our male companions. Meepo also yelped and went back to hiding under his blanket. Midian and I went to see what the boys had unleashed. It seemed Quince had enlisted Crons's axe in his quest to get the stupid barrel open. Inside the barrel had been a sleeping water mephit. It was not happy to be woken up. Well, Quince was in no shape to fight, and Crons had also taken a good amount of damage from the creature by the time Midian and I joined the fray. In the end, Jonah had to cast some kind of spell on one of his swords in order to kill the little monster. Then the exhausted cleric had to also heal Crons and Quince. The stupid monk just had to know what was in that barrel, didn't he?
When we returned to Meepo, he seemed more than happy to grant us passage through kobold territory. He wanted us to meet his chieftain so we could negotiate getting the dragon back, or something. As he led us through, the guards we passed whispered and chuckled amongst themselves. I got the feeling that they were laughing at Meepo rather than at us. The thought alone made me chuckle to myself as well.
The leader of the kobolds was named Yusdrayl. Assuming (hoping, really) she was more intelligent than Meepo, we asked her if she knew anything about the stick creatures that were killing the livestock in the village nearby. She didn't know much, but she said someone called the "Outcast" might be responsible. He was a man (they supposed) who tended a garden of magical apple trees. Suddenly all these disjointed tales began to come together. We also asked her about the party that had come in before us, but she didn't know what became of them. Yusdrayl didn't seem too pleased with us on the whole, but she agreed to let us rest in kobold territory if we promised to search for her dragon. She even hinted at a possible reward if we were able to return with it alive. Just another item to add to our list of things to do. Meepo, being the dragon's keeper, would accompany us into goblin territory.
After we had rested sufficiently, Meepo led us down what his people called the "back way." One of the first rooms we entered had an empty fountain in it. There was an inscription on the base of the fountain that was written in the language of the kobolds. "Let there be fire," Meepo translated for us. When he repeated it in his own tongue, a red liquid bubbled forth from the fountain. Jonah knew it had magical properties, but he wasn't sure what the liquid was, exactly. We took a sample to identify later.
There was a room off to the side that contained five sarcophagi. I felt a chill travel down my spine. Sarcophagi are risky things to mess with. At best, they may contain valuables. At worst, they may contain undead. This was a worst-case scenario. How do I know? Because Curious Quince decided to touch a sarcophagus. Once again, Jonah's magic saved us from being killed by monsters we might well have avoided entirely.
Further along, we came across another room with an empty fountain like the last. The inscription on this one Meepo translated as, "Let there be death." I warned him not to speak it again in his own tongue. He squeaked and covered his mouth. In retrospect, I don't think even he was stupid enough to tempt fate, however, I'd seen my own party members do dumber things.
All of a sudden, we were attacked by yet another pack of dire rats. I wasn't very close, so I tried throwing a dagger at a rat. Quince then jumped into my line of fire and took the full impact in the back of his shoulder. As embarrassing as it was to hit a party member, I wasn't really sorry. The man had seriously gotten on my nerves with his desire to touch freaking everything he saw. A couple more blows and Quince went down for the count. Then emerged the biggest rat any of us had ever seen! I didn't believe that rodents of such unusual size could exist, but there it was. Crons flew into a rage and hacked away at the remaining rats before turning his fury on the big one. It went down quickly.
In the next room was kind of just a big pile of crap. Most of it was useless, but we managed to find some useful stuff in there. At the bottom of the pile was also the body of a man. The ring on his finger identified him as Karakas, one of the adventurers that had preceded us. We respectfully left the man with his ring, but I simply had to take his bandoleer of daggers. I mean a dead man is remembered by his name, but he has no use for weapons. As we methodically looted the pile of refuse, I got the feeling that we were all becoming a little better at the things we do...