| DM | The door leads to a
corridor which heads west for 80 feet. It then turns south and continues for
40 feet until ending at an east-west corridor.
This corridor extends for 80 feet to the east where it connects with the
other door in the room you just left. There is a door in the south wall of the
square you are on, and a turn-off south 50 feet to the east of you.
Westward, the corridor extends for 100 feet. There is a turn off south 30
feet to the west, and to the north 70 feet west of you and also at the
corridor's western end, where there is also a door. |
| Narond | Many choices of
where to go next... let's use the door in front of us because it and we are
here. |
| Dreylin | I agree.
|
| Rhea | I think we should
explore the whole corridor in case there's something hiding around the corner,
and then go back to see if the statues have reset in case we need to retreat
that way. |
| Leanna | I don't really
mind which way we go - normally checking corners would be a good idea, but
maybe on this occasion as there are so many we'll just be wasting time?
Maybe the most logical route would be the opening on the south wall of the
corridor leading back to the statue room? That way we don't need to go back
there later. [Draws her sword] |
| Narond | Will the other
direction lead back round to the other portcullis thing? If so that would
probably be the better way to go... |
| Dreylin | Surely you're
just confusing the issue by suggesting we rush back to the other portcullis -
which is of course still closed - I think that we should continue as we are,
going through the castle logically and making sure we don't leave anything
behind. Let's follow Leanna's suggestion and go back to the exit on the other
corridor towards the throne room. |
| Narond | No Dreylin, not
what I meant. If you check out Leanna's map, at the end of the corridor we are
on, the passage turns back in the direction of the other portcullis, to that
half of the castle. I was thinking that we might want to check out that side,
assuming of course that that side of the castle is of a similar size to this
side. |
| DM | The party decides to
check out the eastern passage, and then to follow Narond's suggestion and head
up the westernmost north passage.
The eastern door does indeed lead back into the statue room. The statues are
now back where they were when you first arrive. One of them looks at you. You
leave quickly.
As you pass the opening in the south wall along this stretch of passage, you
notice that it is about 30 feet long with a door in the west wall halfway
along it. It turns east at the end.
On your way to the western end of the passage you see that the southern
turn-off is also 30 feet long with a door halfway down its western wall. At
the end of this passage is a door south.
The north passage which you (eventually) reach is 160 feet long. The turn at
the far end obviously connects with the second, closed portcullis. There are
doors at 50 feet (east), 80 feet (east), 100 feet (west), 110 feet (east), and
150 feet (east). |
| Leanna | I reckon we
should start again at the northernmost door and work our way back south, as
that's looking like our destination.
We should also try all the doors on the east side before the one on the west
side, as they're just filling gaps, whereas the western one might be the start
of a new area. That's my ha'pence... |
| DM | You head up to the
northernmost door.
The door swings inwards to reveal a large square room, 50 feet along a side.
The door is slightly north of the halfway point in the west wall. Much of the
furniture has been thrown around but the quills and dried ink wells point to
this room having been a library or study of some sort. Most of the tables have
been piled into a shell like structure in the southeast corner. |
| Narond | I wonder why all
the tables are piled up like that... maybe something wanted a home or
something. So, volunteers to go and see if there is anything in the table
pile? |
| Dreylin | Go on then,
I'll have a quick poke at it... can I borrow your staff? |
| Narond | I'm sorry I don't
do that anymore, I'm a respected merchant now...
[Grins] If you insist, though it would probably be better if you used
your sword... or maybe your scabbard if it is stiff enough. |
| Dreylin | [Waves his
AXE in front of Narond] Um, have you recently gone blind? |
| Rhea | [Wanders over to
have a kick at the tables] |
| DM | As you poke at the
tables you hear scratches inside. One table is pushed over and three creatures
leap out. The creatures are short in stature, only six inches taller than
Dreylin. |
| Dreylin | Ha Ha, Bloody
Ha. |
| DM | Their faces are pointed,
almost snout like and they could really do with seeing a dentist. Their skin
varies around a not very interesting greeny brown which would be useful
camouflage in a swamp. They wear very little, in one case obscenely little,
but their skin looks fairly tough. A fire burns deep in their eyes... but not
very brightly... |
| Narond | [Moves to help
Dreylin and Rhea, brandishing his staff] |
| Habib | [Defends the
rear, as a surprise would be very unfortunate...] |
| DM | The creature nearest
Rhea makes the first move by drawing a rather ugly knife which he plunges into
Rhea's thigh before anyone can move.
A moment later Dreylin buries an axe in the chest of the creature nearest
him, killing it instantly. The third creature leaps at Dreylin but
overbalances and falls past him. At the same instant an arrow from Shianara's
bow buries itself in the shoulder of the creature that attacked Rhea. Taking
advantage of its disorientation, Rhea pulls the knife from her leg and slips
it between the creature's obvious ribs. It topples gently backwards. |
| Rhea | [Retreats to bleed
in a corner, trusting the others to deal with the last one] |
| DM | Rhea, bleeding quite
heavily from the thigh, retires to the edge of the room. Berillia, stepping
forward to fill the place vacated, swings her hammer and reduces the last
creature, still on the floor, to a small heap. You are just congratulating
yourselves when a further three creatures exit their makeshift home, knives
drawn. One leaps forward to slash at Dreylin but pulls back when a swiftly
fired arrow pierces its arm.
In the confusion caused by the appearance of three more targets Narond and
Leanna end up deflecting each others' blows. Habib, who up to this point has
been watching the rear, finds his fears confirmed when two larger things walk
into the room. They seem similar to the creatures you are fighting but larger
and definitely more angry. Leaping to intercept them, Habib is only able to
engage one. The other steps past him and slashes Berillia across the shoulder.
Dreylin, recovering his axe from the chest of a nearby corpse, swiftly
dispatches the creature winged by Shianara. The other two hang back as if
uncertain of what to do. |
| Dreylin | [Summons his
best battle cry, and charges screaming at the two remaining littler ones in an
attempt to scare, confuse and ultimately kill them] |
| Berillia | [Tries to
flatten the thing that just hit her] |
| DM | Rhea reaches for her bow
but fires wide, as does Shianara. Berillia, reacting to the cut on her
shoulder, spins to engage the creature behind her. The added force of her turn
brings her hammer round with astounding speed, killing the creature instantly.
A little to her left a single creature fights with Habib. They parry one
anothers' blows until Habib slips his enormous sword through a gap in his
enemy's defence and plunges it into the unfortunate creature's throat.
Dreylin brings his axe to bear on one of the smaller enemies but it is
deflected by a well wielded knife. Narond, on the other hand, trips the
creature from behind and bashes its undefended skull in from above.
The last creature, sensing the trouble, makes for the door, pausing only to
slash at Habib's leg on the way past. Leanna engages her long (but shapely)
legs and swiftly overtakes it, reducing it to corpse status with one fell
blow.
The nest reveals nothing but a small bag of coins and some less mentionable
artefacts of the creatures' inhabitation. |
| Narond | [Admires
Leanna's elegant running]
Well, that appears to be all for this place. Hows about we try the next door
down this corridor? |
| Leanna | Fine by me.
|
| Shianara | [Wanders
around the room, reclaiming any of his or Rhea's arrows that can be
salvaged] |
| DM | You move on to the next
room.
The door is in the northern half of the west wall of a 20 feet square room.
There are shelves with sack on and large barrels stacked underneath them.
|
| Berillia | [Has a look
at the injuries of those who have just been hitted] |
| Rhea | [Investigates the
shelves and barrels] |
| Leanna | [Goes back out
into the corridor, partly to keep watch, partly to keep out of the way, and
also to listen at the doors of the two nearby rooms to the south while the
others search] |
| DM | The barrels contain
beer, and the sacks have grain in them. |
| Dreylin | Wa-Hey!
[Proceeds to have a drink] |
| Leanna | [Returns from
scouting and reports:] |
| DM | The western door reveals
nothing.
Through the eastern door you can hear rough voices and the sound of objects
being smashed. By the sounds, there are at least three creatures in there.
Berillia patches up Habib's and Rhea's wounds before moving on to her own.
|
| Rhea | I think we should
either deal with them now or seal them in so they can't come up behind us.
|
| Berillia | Let's just
have a look, yes? |
| Dreylin | Yeah, why not.
|
| DM | The door opens into a
room, 30 feet wide and 50 feet long. It is a pantry of some sort judging by
the clouds of flour and pastry and various other items being thrown around in
an amusing Jim Henson like way. There are five medium height creatures in the
room. They are, as usual, fairly ugly, skinny, a kind of grey-green colour and
totally bald. In short: they're goblins. They all stop and look at you.
|
| Dreylin | [Draws his
axe] Hmm, Goblins, lovely folk. Shall we give them a chance to surrender,
or just beat them about a bit first? [Moves forward
menacingly] |
| Narond | You think they
understand the meaning of the word surrender? I didn't think goblins were that
clever. [Adjusts his grip on his staff ready for an attack] |
| Dreylin | True, good
point.
Do you "boys" think you can take us all, or would you prefer to surrender now
and let us spare your lives? |
| DM | The nearest goblin
snarls and leaps towards Leanna, sadly judging its leap badly enough to fall
in a small heap. Fortunately for it, Leanna's swing was aimed at where it
should have landed and so misses wildly.
Seeing that a battle has started, a second goblin jumps off its shelf and
takes a swing at Habib with a dagger, just clipping his arm.
Rhea and Shianara both fire arrows but, being unsure which goblin to aim at,
they both miss. As the arrows fly overhead, Dreylin steps forward catching the
goblin by Habib a sharp blow in the knee with his axe. It staggers but remains
upright and prepares to hit Dreylin.
A third goblin joins the fray, but is parried by Berillia as she steps
forward. Narond misses completely as the last two goblins arrive from the
other end of the room. Habib, seeing that the nearest goblin is now more
interested in Dreylin skewers it with his sword. It is no more.
Rhea, realising that arrows will be useless at this range, unsheathes her
sword and swings at the nearest goblin. The untested blade slides easily
through its throat, killing it instantly and spattering Leanna with blood.
The goblin near Dreylin makes a half hearted swing, but seeing the carnage to
its left, fails miserably. Leanna, put off by the sudden presence of gore on
her face and side, only grazes the goblin that she is fighting. That goblin
falters and misses.
Narond, seeing an opportunity, swings his staff up, striking the chest of the
goblin near Habib so hard that the ribcage cracks. The goblin falls dead and
shortly after, Shianara's arrow flies through the place where it was standing.
Habib, turning to the enemy near Dreylin gives it a flesh wound with his
dagger.
The last two goblins see the way the battle is going and run back into the
room. One disappears into a cupboard and the other, being the less bright of
the two, puts a bag of flour over its head and stands there quivering.
After a short time, the goblin lifts the bag from one eye. Seeing that you're
still there, it sighs, kneels down and puts its arms out, wrists together.
You tie up the goblin.
And the one in the cupboard.
There's nothing in the room. You move on to the last eastern door in the
corridor.
This is a 60 foot square banqueting hall. There are long tables with food on
and an unusual series of statues, approximately fifty in all, all in various
positions of eating, drinking and serving food. Curiously, the food is real
(although too stale to use now). |
| Dreylin | [Wanders
round the room looking at the statues] [Muses] I think we may have found
the missing occupants of the castle. |
| Leanna | So, anyone think
to buy a wand of Stone to Flesh?... Thought not.
[Looks for a fat, bearded, male statue, away from the head of the table to
prod at, and assuming it doesn't animate, arranges some rotten food
decoratively on his beard]
Anyone got anything better to do, or shall we just move on to that door in
the west wall? |
| DM | The statues reveal
nothing further.
The western door in the corridor leads to a twenty foot long staircase
descending downwards with a door at the end. Through the door is a north-south
passage. It extends twenty feet north of you, and ends in a northward door.
There is a westward door ten feet south of you. At its south end the corridor
ascends a stairway. |
| Leanna | Shall we see if
the southern stairs join up with the upper level first? |
| Dreylin | Sounds like a
sensible plan. |
| Shianara | Why not?
|
| DM | The corridor does indeed
link up by way of a 20 foot staircase. There is also a westward door 40 feet
north of the south wall of the corridor. |
| Dreylin | Let's go
north... |
| DM | The door reveals a 20
foot long staircase that descends into some sort of cave. The cave runs
northwest for roughly 25 feet before turning to run west. It continues west
for at least 50 feet (it is too dark to see further) and is a little over 10
feet wide. About 30 feet along the westward passage you find yourselves face
to face with a large white ape. It looks a bit thin but also a bit annoyed.
|
| Dreylin | Wow, you don't
look well! I don't suppose you could help us, but we're looking for the
Princess who used to run this castle, and we'd be very grateful of any help
you could give us. [Offers the ape some food from his pack
(again)...] |
| Leanna | Erm, Dreylin, you
know the thing about bears being deeply attracted to food in people's packs...
I'd throw that food away from us right now. |
| Dreylin | Erm, good
point. Here you go... [Tosses the food to the ape] |
| Leanna | [Lurks in a
non-threatening manner, flexing her sword kind of behind her leg] |
| Dreylin | Is that a sword
behind your leg, or are you just pleased to see him? |
| Narond | [Looks amused
at Leanna and Dreylin, and waits to see what the ape is about to
do] |
| DM | The ape grabs the food,
roars a bit and withdraws into a small tunnel in the north wall. |
| Dreylin | Cheers Leanna.
Oh, would someone remind me to bring more food on the next trip!... |
| Leanna | I'll lend you
some if you want, short-arse.
I mean, darling. [Pouts in her by now all too familiar way] |
| DM | The cave extends a bit
further once you pass the ape, totalling 60 feet of straight westward extent.
The north wall is longer than the south by enough so that the entry to the
next section is diagonal. The next area is nicely carved square room. It is
open on its northeast wall (where you enter) and its southwest wall, which
reveals a wide staircase rising into darkness. The southeast wall is blank and
there are two equally spaced doors in the northwest wall. |
| Dreylin | [Wanders over
to examine the doors]
Well, after a thorough investigation of the doors, I'd like to report nothing
unusual about them. I think we should go through the right hand door.
|
| Leanna | Agreed. |
| DM | The door opens into a
hexagonal room. The door you enter in is in the southeast wall. There is
another door in the northwest wall. The room is decorated with frescos of
pastoral scenes. Leaning against the west wall is a large oaken cabinet.
|
| Rhea | [Opens the
box] |
| DM | It's filled with towels
and dressing gowns, all folded up and on shelves. |
| Dreylin | Do you think we
may be in the baths? |
| Narond | You know, you may
be right. [Reaches out and takes a towel] |
| DM | Narond gets bitten by
the snake that was sleeping underneath the towel. The snake looks annoyed.
|
| Dreylin | [In a shock
move, tries to distract the snake by throwing a morsel of meat into the far
corner of the cupboard and then, while it's distracted, closes the cupboard
door] |
| DM | You now have a snake in
a cupboard. |
| Narond | Say Berillia, do
you fancy trying out your amazing first aid abilities out again?... Does
anyone know if that was poisonous? |
| Berillia | We're about
to find out, hopefully. [Tends to Narond's bite] |
| Leanna | Shall I suck it
for you, Narond, just to make sure? |
| Narond | [Grins at
Leanna] How could I resist an offer like that. Come on then...
[Winks] |
| Dreylin | Oh, please!
[Turns away and wanders off through the door into the next
room] |
| Leanna | [Bends down and
gives Narond's finger a good suck] I'll carry on later if you're still in
pain... |
| Narond | I'll hold you to
that.
Thank you Berillia, that feels much better. |
| DM | Dreylin, having stepped
through the next door, returns rapidly, bleeding heavily from his upper chest.
He slams the door behind him. |
| Berillia | [Does not
arse about and administers a quick bit of first aid] |
| Dreylin | Many thanks,
Berillia, that was most needed. |
| Narond | So what exactly
was... or still is through that door then? |
| Berillia | Can some of
you like hold it shut - I wouldn't want nasty monsters barging through it as
it may alarm my patient somewhat (as the rest of us would then have to run
away). |
| Dreylin | Well, it's much
like this room, only at 90 degrees, with a sunken bath in the middle. There's
about half a dozen flying creatures whizzing about - quite small, but very
nippy. One of them winged me, so I thought it best to leave. It may be best to
try to avoid that room if possible...
I think that we should go back around and try the other door off the main
room. |
| Narond | Given the state
you came out of that room in, I think that sounds like a fine idea. |
| Berillia | Agreed.
|
| Leanna | Okay, the other
door it is. |
| All that remains of the
rest of the journal are a few illegible charred pages smelling suspiciously of
petrol. |
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