| DM | You reach the south
opening in the east travelling corridor. The stairs leads down to a corridor
which continues east. The opening is an entrance to another corridor which
leads to a T-junction. There is a door in its eastern wall, precisely halfway
down the corridor. |
| Narond | [Looks at the
numerous corridors, thinks about getting lost, and suggests trying the door in
the wall] |
| Shianara | Good plan.
Let's spike something - or someone! Heheheh! |
| Leanna | These corridors
sound pretty quiet... we might as well dive into the room. |
| Habib | How would you know
if you keep jabbering so much about where to go? This is a search, so
we must go everywhere until we find what we are looking for - so what's the
worry about where we go first? For if the Immortals wish us to succeed then we
will, time means less to them. |
| Leanna | I'm so sorry,
m'learned Habib. I'll be quiet now. [Proceeds to stop talking for at least
half a minute]
[Sings, to the tune of Frere Jacques...] Shi-a-nara, Shi-a-nara,
Ber-i-llia, Ber-i-llia, get a bloody move on, get a bloody move on, through
t'door, through t'door... |
| Shianara | Yes, oh
leader of ours, who happens to be standing in the way...
I'll be glad once we get out of here and back into the open. Smells funny
too. |
| Dreylin | [Sighs]
Oh, for the rolling hills and forest glades of the Shires! You know, while I
was growing up back on the Farm, my father told me about a time when he was in
a situation much like this, only the castle was ruined and wasn't surrounded
by a deathly red glow, and he wasn't with such a... varied group of people, it
was just him and my uncle - on my mother's side, naturally, as no
self-respecting hin goes wanderlusting with family - anyway, the important
thing is that they were in a similar situation, and as they went through a
door, something snuck up behind them and leaped on my father's back. Now
fortunately for them, the castle was deserted, none of those nasty walking
skeleton things, and this was just a rat who was after the food my father was
carrying in his backpack, so my uncle - who is also called Dreylin by the way
(I was named after him - bit of a tradition in my mother's family actually,
that the first-born son in a generation is called Dreylin), although, of
course, he's a Bramblethorn not a Willowbark, anyway, my uncle grabs a small
piece of cheese from his own backpack and uses it to attract the rat's
attention - much as I did with the rat in the first lever room, having been
reminded of my father's story when we first entered the castle. This worked
for my uncle too, I suppose if it hadn't, I really wouldn't have tried it
myself, and the rat ran away with his prize leaving them to ponder on what
would have happened if that had been something bigger than a rat which had
caught them unawares. So, I'll just go and have a quick glance round the next
corner, while you're all getting into that room just to make sure. [Jogs
off, axe in hand, towards the corner]
Nothing to report from down there, the west passageway joins to the south
corridor from the portcullis, and the eastern route goes down some stairs.
|
| DM | The door leads into a
small square room 20 feet along a side. The floor is stone but you cannot make
out what the walls and ceiling are made of. This is because both are covered
by green, oozing slime. Except for the slime, the room appears to be empty.
|
| Rhea | [Monster
Lore]
This is an example of the imaginatively named "Green Slime".
It cannot be harmed by anything other than heat or cold. That however will
kill it easily. It's acidic, so don't touch it with anything. Don't let it
touch your skin (it will try) because a Green Slime is primarily made of the
other living entities it touched.
So those of us with torches should burn it. |
| Dreylin | ...while the
rest of us beat an orderly retreat, trying not to trample those of us at the
back! [Dodges back out of the doorway] |
| Narond | Right then, let's
burn this stuff.
[Puts his torch to the slime and attempts to leg it out the
door] |
| Berillia | [Adopts a
"slightly more ready to administer healing to the clearly pyromanic mage"
posture] |
| Leanna | [Dives lithely
back out of the door and gets out a flask of oil to chuck on the flames if
it's not catching very well] |
| DM | Narond's torch turns a
small area of the slime gently brown. In response the slime starts to flow
towards him. Leanna throws a bottle of oil into the room. The oil catches
rather well. Ok, it explodes into flame. The green slime is now more
accurately a black blob. The room fills with smoke and Narond (the last to
leave) escapes roughly intact. Surprisingly, he is unharmed except for the
loss of both eyebrows. |
| Berillia | [Glances
thoughtfully at her staff of healing, then at Narond] You will look
silly until those grow back. |
| Narond | [Looks at
Berillia with annoyance] Thanks for your support my dear. |
| Rhea | I think we should go
back in and investigate this room. |
| Dreylin | [Walks
forward and holds the door open for Rhea] After you, my dear. |
| Narond | [Heads back
into the room, while fingering the singe marks where his eyebrows used to be,
and muttering pointedly in the direction of Leanna about oil flasks and
waiting until people are far enough away] |
| Leanna | [Pouts at
Narond...] |
| Narond | [Looks at
Leanna - he would raise an eyebrow but he doesn't have any left - and sticks
his tongue out at her] |
| Leanna | [...and once
his back is turned grins broadly to nobody in particular] |
| DM | The room's bare. Really
bare. No doors, no money, no sneaky explanations as to what actually happened
here. In all likelihood this was a storeroom. Whatever was stored here was
turned into green slime and shortly afterwards into ash. |
| Narond | Well, since this
room is somewhat on the empty side, let's move on. I suggest left out of this
room, left again and find out what's down that corridor, in an attempt to
search this floor before we pick a set of stairs to proceed down. |
| Dreylin | That sounds
like an excellent plan, Narond, I'm with you all the way. We may also want to
explore the other half of this floor before moving down.
[Starts humming a merry tune] |
| Rhea | Shush, you tuneless
gnome, or you'll go in front seeing as you're trying to attract enemies...
|
| Dreylin | Small I may be,
but I'm not a gnome! Besides, if I'm at the front, at least I'll be able to
see what's going on for a change rather than having to peer round a large
group of gangly humans! |
| Leanna | Bloody racist...
pick on someone your own size, love. I guess it's round the corner to the gap
in the wayy that is as yet uninvestigated, on the eastern wall of the
north-south corridor? And while we're at it we can have a proper look down the
corridor to the east that Dreylin said had some stairs on. |
| Shianara | Dreylin, I
think you may be generalising a bit much there: we are not all of that
ilk. [Smiles] By the way, did we ever find out what direction the
explosion (or whatever) happened in? Presumably not? |
| Narond | Yes we do know,
it was contained within the room, and directed slightly towards my eyebrows.
|
| DM | As you pass the area
which Dreylin scouted, you see that the stairs are parallel to the stairs in
the corridor to the north.
Passing out of the square of corridors back into the main north-south one,
you see the next entrance leads to a short passage only 30 feet long. It is
bare apart from a torch, still burning in its bracket. At the far end, in the
south side of the wall is a door. |
| Narond | Well, we might as
well investigate what is through that door.
[Plays with his torch while smiling sweetly at Leanna] |
| Leanna | [Blushes
slightly and pokes her tongue out, smiling back. She draws her sword, walks
towards the door, then turns back to look at Narond]
Would you be so good as to hold the door for me?
[Walks more slowly towards the door, mumbling under her breath...]
...quite cute without them actually.... |
| Narond | [Looks at
Leanna and blushes, and walks forward with the intention of holding the door
open so she can be ready for anything she finds through the door] Allow
me. [Grins] |
| DM | You open the door to
find a storeroom similar to the one you were just in. This one, however,
doesn't have slime all over it. It is a square 20 feet along each side, with
the door in the eastern portion of the north wall. It is shelved and filled
with boxes. |
| Narond | If we all dive in
together then we can search this room quicker... [Starts poking around in
the box nearest him] |
| Dreylin | Right, I'll get
started on the ones on the floor and lower shelves. |
| DM | The boxes are filled
with soldiers' iron rations. Other than that the room is empty. |
| Rhea | Let's go through the
door to the next room. |
| Dreylin | OK, sounds like
a good plan. |
| Leanna | Yep, gets my
vote.
Actually, thinking about it, there isn't another door, look at the map it's
obvious, we either pick a set of stairs or go through the other portcullis. As
nothing has charged up the stairs at us I wonder if we might be best going for
the other portcullis. |
| Berillia | I suggest we
go east. |
| Dreylin | I think that I
agree with Berillia that we should finish exploring this side of the castle
before we open the other portcullis. After all, just because we haven't met
anything wandering these corridors, doesn't mean there isn't anything.
If I was patrolling these halls, and heard the noise we were making or saw our
lights, I'd go and get my friends and set an ambush rather than attack
suicidally on my own! And going east is probably more sensible as there's less
chance of us looping around behind the other portcullis. |
| Berillia | That is what
I meant, yes. |
| Leanna | In that case,
shall we go for the more northerly of the two eastern stairs? They're the most
likely to be a dead end. |
| Shianara | Northerly
would be the most logical too, since then we could attempt to finish the
"north" part of the palace, then work around to the east, south, etc... not
that it ever works out like that, but...! |
| Narond | Hey, let's do
that then. [Looks impatient to start exploring] |
| DM | The stairs extend for 20
feet and are followed by a passage 50 feet long. At the end of the passage is
a cave which extends southward for approximately 60 feet, tapering at its
southern end. Apart from a small shore by your feet it is filled with water.
The water is refracting a faint red glow from underneath.
Three ripples in the water resolve into creatures. They are two to three feet
long and resemble weasels. As the first one reaches the shore you notice that
they do not look friendly. |
| Dreylin | What is it with
this castle and giant creatures? |
| Rhea | Nothing, they just
look giant compared to you. |
| Shianara | I hope these
aren't diseased... |
| DM | Narond is the first to
react to the rodents. Without extinguishing the light attached to the top of
his staff, he uses the bottom to hit the weasel nearest Leanna. He strikes it
hard and it rolls away, thus it misses Leanna's leg, which it was attempting
to bite. Dreylin swings his axe wildly at the other nearer beast and is
rewarded by a yelp as he nicks the left foreleg. The stunned animal fails to
bite Dreylin in return. An arrow from the back (originating in Rhea's bow)
finds the mark with the furthest weasel but only appears to harm the animal.
As it nears the party it attempts to bite Habib, who dances lightly out of the
way and skewers the beast near Dreylin. It is now dead. |
| Dreylin | Thanks Habib.
|
| Habib | Needed it, though
not through lack of skill, but it is always good to help friends. |
| DM | Rhea fires a second
arrow which also misses (but fortunately lands in a retrievable place). As the
further weasel leaps over the body of the first one, it connects sharply with
Dreylin's axe and is no more. The last weasel leaps forward and sinks its not
inconsiderable teeth into Leanna's leg. While distracted by the taste of blood
she skewers it.
Since all the weasels are dead, the fighting ceases (except for a rather sad
looking arrow released by Shianara some seconds later). |
| Berillia | [Looks at
the bite that Leanna received] Looks like there's a bit of tooth in there.
Keep still while I try to get it out! |
| DM | Berillia puts a
makeshift bandage on Leanna's wound. |
| Rhea | [Picks up her
arrows, and considers the weasels] Anyone hungry? |
| Berillia | We are
already carrying the entire contents of a larder around. Attractive as
the prospect of dragging the corpse of a 4 foot long weasel around is, I might
pass this once. |
| Rhea | But it's fresh meat.
|
| Berillia | I don't care.
It smells. |
| Dreylin | And besides, to
get it to grow this big, it must have been fed on some pretty dodgy
stuff! |
| Berillia | We're
carrying a week's worth of food around each entirely in the form of raisins. I
would consider that to be a touch dodgy. |
| Dreylin | You sure
they're raisins, and not giant rat and weasel droppings?
[Wanders round the room doing a bit of searching to make sure there's
nothing interesting about]
My vote is for the other eastern corridor... |
| Narond | Sounds as good as
anywhere else. |
| DM | The stairs lead down for
20 feet and are followed by a 40 foot long corridor. At the end of it is
another cave similar to the last one but half its size. The water is grey and
bubbles slightly. The air does not smell good. |
| Narond | Urgh, what a
wonderful place this is... [Grins] Anyone fancy tasting the water?
[Tries to identify the smell] |
| Rhea | [Takes a closer
look at the water to see if there is anything submerged] |
| DM | It smells kind of like
rotten eggs.
There appears to be one body in the water, quite near the edge. You now all
have a slight headache. |
| Leanna | [Covers her
face with something and beckons the others back down the corridor for some
fresh air] |
| Dreylin | [Joins the
others in the corridor] I suggest that Narond with his trusty pole should
try to encourage that body to shore, so we can see what happened. |
| Narond | Let me just catch
my breath back before I go and have a look at the body.
[Waits long enough to feel better, then runs back in to
investigate] |
| DM | Dreylin and Narond pull
the body to shore using Narond's pole (Ooh sir). From the water streaming from
his mouth the man drowned. There are no marks on the body but he wears livery
and a small pouch around his waist. |
| Dreylin | That was nice
pole-work there, Narond. Well, I think we should search this body for anything
useful... especially that nice little pouch. |
| DM | The pouch contains about
130 gold pieces and a small silver ring with a wolf's head on it. |
| Narond | [Pockets the
stuff for now] Let's get moving, I suggest down the other set of steps we
saw. |
| Berillia | [Nods]
Let's go. |
| DM | The southward stairs
extend for 20 feet and are followed by 30 feet of corridor. The corridor then
turns eastward and extends for 90 feet. At the end is a door which, since it's
the only way to go, you open. This leads to a small passage running south for
30 feet. There are three doors, one on the northernmost part of the east wall,
one on the southernmost part of the east wall and one at the south end of the
passage. The northern door appears to have been destroyed by a large amount of
rubble falling behind it. |
| Dreylin | [Goes to have
a poke about in the rubble] |
| DM | It creaks a bit but
remains solid. Looks like that section of the castle has collapsed. |
| Narond | Anyone fancy a
door in particular, or shall we go for the closest? [Goes to have a listen
at the remaining door in the east wall of the corridor] |
| Dreylin | Stop listening
at doors, anyone would think you were a thief! Just open it for goodness'
sake! |
| Narond | Yeah yeah, just
curious... [Opens the door in the east wall] |
| DM | There is a small room,
20 feet square, containing a desk, a table, some chairs and four life-size
statues. The door is in the southernmost section of the western wall.
The room is well furnished, but looks a little worse for wear. There is a
large, leatherbound book on the desk and a four foot beetle with green and
gold stripes prowling the far end of the room. |
| Dreylin | Oh goody,
more giant creatures! Shall we get it? |
| Rhea | Why don't you tame it
and use it as a horse? I'll be reading the book. |
| Shianara | I take it you
haven't seen or heard of that type of "beetle" before then Rhea? [Looks in
a mildly suspicious way at the statues] |
| DM | Dreylin has loosened his
axe. The beetle spreads its wings to show off virulent yellow stripes. It
backs away slowly.
Rhea is reading the book and Shianara is inspecting the statues. The statues
are of four young girls holding various pieces of clothing. |
| Narond | [Wanders over
to the book to have a read of it as well] |
| Dreylin | [Continues to
keep both eyes on the beetle, and his axe at the ready] |
| Leanna | [Puts her hand
on her sword, but doesn't draw it so as not to be too threatening to the
pretty beetle and stands guard a'la Dreylin] |
| Narond | Hey guys, this
here is a diary, probably of the princess, going on about her lover who was a
defender of Thyatis, and she keeps going on about some jewel that some miners
discovered that she wants put back. A later entry says about when her lover
returns, and she will marry him after "this damn jewel thing". Interesting
stuff. |
| Leanna | I wonder if this
bloke is the one who turned up on the dragon? |
| DM | The possibilities of
this room exhausted, the party moves on through the south door in the
corridor.
The door opens onto a room 20 feet square. The door through which you entered
is in the eastern half of the north wall. There is another in the southern
half of the west wall. The room contains a large table with nothing on it, and
a number of tapestries. Most show scenes of typical life in Harren and Biazzan
in general, but one shows a rather attractive girl (she may be 16 in the
tapestry) sitting on a silver throne. |
| Dreylin | Pretty little
thing isn't she? [Examines the tapestry] |
| The following page of
the journal appears to have been torn out. |
| DM | The door opens in the
centre of the curved wall of a small alcove. The alcove is a semi-circle 10
feet deep and 20 feet wide. There are two statues on either side of a small
throne. The rest of the room is also a semicircle, 30 feet wide and 20 feet
deep. The alcove sits in the centre of the curved eastern wall.
There are two doors in the flat west wall, one in the northern 10 feet and
the other in the southern 10 feet. |
| Dreylin | [Wanders
about the room, taking close looks at the statues and the throne] |
| Leanna | [Sits on the
floor trying to make sense of the party's map]
[Gets up, grins, and lounges happily in the throne] |
| DM | As Leanna sits in the
throne, the statues start moving, startling Dreylin who is looking at one.
Moving as one they both draw swords and step forward. |
| Statue | You are in
violation of the law. Remove thyself from this area at once. You have fifteen
seconds to comply. |
| Narond | [Looks at
Leanna] My dear, now would be a good time to move. Let's go for the north
door... |
| Dreylin | Yep, let's go!
|
| Leanna | [Enjoys the
throne for five seconds for sauntering towards the northern door in a huff,
hand on sword] |
| Previous section
Next section |
![[Mystara Campaign Journal]](./mystara.gif)