September 23, 349
The next morning, the party, well rested, gathers their things and sets off again.
"Let's go back west and then north to that door at the end of the 10' long
passage," says Tabrina.
Finally making their way to the door Tabina mentioned, El listens, but hears nothing. The door
opens to reveal a passage running east-west. Looking east, the hall runs for 20' and then ends.
Looking west, the hall immediately turns north. The party goes down to the east end and
unsucessfully looks for secret doors.
Turning up the north passage, which from the back wall goes 20' then ends in a door facing north,
El listens at the door. Again, nothing is heard. The door opens to reveal a hallway 20' in length,
running north. A door is in the 0-10' section of the east wall.
Opening this door, the party sees a room 30x30' in size (10 north, 10' south, 30' east). There is a
door directly across from the party in the east wall.
The room looks to be a den, with oversized couches and chairs present. Hanging on the wall are
tapestries depicting scenes of battle between minotaurs and elves. In the middle of the room is a
12' long marble table with an ash tray on it. In the ash tray are ashes , which are cold to the
touch. Opening the door to the east reveals a previously mapped hallway wich runs for 60' and
beyond, with a hallway in the 50-60' section running south.
Tabrina sighs impatiently.
"Let's go back and look for secret doors at the end of the 20' passage
which led us to this room," she says. "Then, if we have no luck, let's go
and get that door to the south of the "T" intersection."
Urwing will examine the tapestries, looking at the scenes and checking behind
them. If the tapestries look valuable, she will see if they can be pulled down
and folded up.
Urwing checks out the 'minotaur' sized tapestries and sees that they are in fair condition, with the
colours not faded too much. They are only made of a burlap-type material and wouldn't be worth
much. Behind them are bare stone walls. Urwing checks for concealed and secret doors, but finds
none.
Going back into the 20' hallway, the party searches for secret doors, but finds none. They then
retreat to the door south of the T-intersection and Elderitch will listen to the door. Nothing can be
heard. The door opens to reveal a 20'x30' room (10 east, 10 west, 20 south.) The room is
unfurnished except for a large oaken desk (10' long and 4' high) with a large, minotaur-sized,
black leather swivel chair. The desk has a top drawer and two side drawers, all with tarnished,
brass handles. The top of the desk is inlaid with a map which Urwing recognizes as that of Mithas.
The map shows the geological and phiysical features of the island.
Sarah remarks, "Never seen a desk that didn't have a secret drawer. Anyone here skilled in
finding such things?"
"I've got a great tool for finding secret compartments in desks," smiles
Angus, as he unstraps his battle axe.
Urwing will look at the map, noting the location of this mount, and other
landmarks, and seeing if there appears to be anything unusual about it.
Urwing smiles. "I've seen some interesting things found that way. But custom
dictates that we try and finesse the desk's secrets before simply cutting it
open."
"Custom is boring," mutters the dwarf.
Tabrina searches the desk...then examines the map.
As she opens the top side drawer, a cloud of noxiuos gas is released, engulfing Tabrina. She
starts coughing and choking which causes 2 hp of damage.
After the gas disperses, she looks inside the drawer to find a torn piece of paper. On the paper is
writing in what, the party assumes from earlier sightings, appears to be minotaur.
"Anything of significance on the map, Krynnians?" she asks Urwing, Sarah and El.
Pondering over the map, El points out the mountain that they must be at. It is alone, but there are
other mountains to the north, along with a large, inland lake. There is nothing else of signifigance
on the map.
Carefully opening the other drawers, the party finds two glass vials. They are full of liquid.
"Anyone here able to read minotaur?" Tabrina asks, still coughing a little.
"Could be potions. Anyone capable of detecting magic?", exclaims
Elderitch, scratching his head. "Of course, they could be poison for
that matter also."
Sarah glances at the vials. "No idea what those are for, they could be
anything. Otherwise we should keep looking around for clues, maybe get
the parchment to someone who can read minotaur writing."
"Here. Taste one, Angus," says Tabrina, handing one to the dwarf.
Angus obliges with a grin.
Angus feels better.
"Now taste the other one," Tabrina says, offering him the second vial.
Angus smiles and does so.
Angus feels lighter.
"Let's go east to the 4-way intersection we haven't been to yet," says Tabrina.
"Sounds good to me", says Reg and follows Tabrina.
"Got that map updated yet, you knucklehead?" asks Tabrina, turning on Reg
and giving his nose a tweak.
Reg roars at Tabrina after she tweaks his nose, "No you &^$&#$! I'm
tired of drawing lines and writing words! I'm a warrior not a wizard or a
scribe!" With that Reg rips up the parchment that he has and throws the
piece of chalk on the ground.
Tabrina steps back.
"A little testy this morning, my man?" she asks. "Didn't get enough beauty
sleep last night? Now shut up, pick up that parchment and get mapping!"
Reg growls under his breath, "Woman...you can live with them and you can't
kill 'em." Reg follows on behind Tabrina..leaving the parchment and chalk
behind.
"What woman would want to live with a big dumb galoot like you, anyway?"
says Tabrina over her shoulder. "You won't even try to better yourself!"
Angus grins sympathetically at Reg.
Reg glares back saying, "Better myself! And just what do you mean
by that! I'm twice the warrior of anyone else you might know...."
"But only half the man, I'll bet!" Tabrina fires back.
"Besides what kind of magic user loses her spell books! Only an apprentice would do something
that stupid!" Reg fires back.
The 5'3", 104lb Tabrina turns on Reg, grabs him by the collar and gives the
big fighter a shake.
"LOSE MY SPELLBOOKS!!!??? I have not lost them! They are in my room back on
Earth, you stupid half-wit! It's not my fault that the gods or whatever had
to summon me here with no warning whatsoever...right in the middle of my
dinner!"
Reg's face flushes and his eyes glow dangerously..."Stay in your place
woman or by the gods I will break my oath and strike you down were you
stand!" Reg then gently but forcefully picks Tabrina up by the sides of
her arms, places her out of his way, and storms forward past her.
Tabrina struggles. "How dare you...you brute! Threaten to strike a woman,
will you? Some man you are!"
The party eventually makes it to the 4-way intersection that Tabrina mentioned earlier.
Angus is chuckling to himself. Urwing, Sarah, and Elderitch, meanwhile, look on in stunned silence
at the turn of events, wondering if the arguement is carrying through the halls.
At the intersection, The hall north goes for 30' then turns east. There is a door at the northwest
corner in the west wall. Looking east, the hall goes 30' in total, eventually ending with doors in the
east wall and at the end of the south wall. The south hall is 20' long and ends in a door in the south
wall.
"Let's go to that south door," Tabrina snaps...clearly in a very bad mood now.
Reg says nothing, but draws his mighty sword and get's into a defensive
position beside the south door that Tabrina indicates.
Pretending as if nothing just happened Elderitch exclaims, "Let's try the southern door." He then
moves to put an ear to it and listen.
Listening, El hears nothing. Opening it, the party sees a large room ahead of them. The room is
60'x40' (20 east, 30 west, 40 south). In the 20-40' section of the west wall is an opening going
west. Across from the party, in the south wall, is a door in the 30-40' section measured from the
east wall.
All of a sudden, from around the west corner, comes flying at the party a swarm of bats.
Reg stays in a defensive posture and readies himself to defend against the bats if necessary.
A group of bats are on Reg. His sword does deft work on one as it is split in two and drops at
Reg's feet.
"Nasty critters." Urwing draws her sword and slices at any that fly close
enough.
Another group is on Urwing. She sprays bat blood everywhere as her sword slices through a bat.
"EeeK! Bats! They get in your hair!" wails Tabrina, then casts sleep on them.
A large group of bats, 14 in all, promptly fall asleep and fall to the ground.
On Urwing, five bats attack her, all bouncing off her armor. On Reg, one bat manages to bite him
for 1 hp damage, while the rest of them bounce off his armor. Upon Sarah, three bats manage to
bite her for 3 hp of total damage. On Angus, all the bats bounce off his armor. On Elderitch, one
bat manages to get through and bite him for 1 hp of damage.
Reg will continue to attack the bats.
Another blood covered bat falls to the ground.
"Nasty critters. Hope they are not disease ridden," Urwing mentions. She continues to swing her
blade.
The bats around Urwing manage to avoid the sharpness of the sword blade.
"Ugh! I hate bats!" wails Tabrina as she backs away and unloads another
sleep spell.
Four more bats around Urwing collapse, along with two bats around Angus.
Angus keeps fighting.
Angus happily slices and dices a bat as he gets blood splattered on himself.
Elderitch attacks the bats, swatting them with his sword.
Another bat bites the dust.
Sarah grabs her hammer and swings at bats.
She bonks one on the head, sending into the corner of the room.
Attacking back, The bats continue, unsucessfully, to penetrate Urwing's armor.
Reg takes another hp of damage from a bat bite. Angus is bitten by a bat for 1 hp of damage.
One bat manages to bite Sarah for 1 hp of damage. Elderitch takes 1 hp of damage from a bat
bite.
The next round, the bats still can't penetrate Urwing's armor. Reg is successfully attacked by two
bats for 2 hp of damage. Angus is shocked as four bats manage to inflict 4 hp of damage into
him. Sarah takes 2 more hp of damage from two bats. Elderitch's armor repels the bat attacks on
him.
There are 4 bats on Urwing, 7 bats on Reg, 3 bats on Sarah, 7 bats on Angus, 8 bats on Elderitch.
"If any of you are being overcome, run back to the yeti cave. We'll meet you
there." Urwing continues to swing at the creatures.
The party sees that she has no intention of running herself as she knocks another bat out of the
air.
"I've got the least.. assuming none of them attack me afterwards, I'll heal anyone who needs it,"
Sarah comments. She sees that there are 3 bats on her however, so she clobbers one over its
head, causing it to stop dead in mid flight.
Reg impails a bat on his sword.
Angus slices another bat to pieces.
Elderitch cleaves the wing off a bat, casing it to plunge to the ground kamikaze style.
Tabrina, having no bats on her, stays out of harms way.
The next round, the remaining bats fly out through the door that the party came through. The
party kills the bats that Tabrina put to sleep.
Looking around, the room is filled with chairs, minotaur-sized, that are made of a dark wood. They
are in random order. They appear to be in good condition, as indicated by the leather seats.
There are also couches, also minotaur-sized, made of leather in good condition, set against the
south and east walls.
The west alcove that the bats came out of is 20x20' in size. There is a hole in the ceiling in the
northwest corner of the alcove. It is about 12" in diameter and quickly turns out of site.
As mentioned before, there is a door in the 30-40' section of the south wall, measured from the
southeast corner.
Sarah mutters, "What were those bats doing in here? That didn't make sense for us to find them
here. Where should we go next?"
Urwing shrugs. "Its a cave. Some of its been furnished, but the entrance is still open. I've seen bats
lodge in attics and barns. Makes as much sense for them to be in here. There is probably a hole or
something leading into this room that they use when the doors are closed that we've passed
through."
Tabina kicks Reg in the ass and tells him "Go open that door you goofball!"
Reg obliges and opens the door in the south. the party sees a 10x10' room totally empty. There is
a door in the south wall.
Opening it reveals a 30x60' room (20 west, 30 east, 30 south). There is a door in the middle of the
east wall and a door in the 20-30' section of the south wall measured from the east.
The first thing that hits the group is an awful stench that permeates the room. In the middle of the room
is a 6' by 20' dining table with 8 large chairs around it. On the table is what looks to be a finished
meal, with dirty plates and utensils in front of each chair. Also on the tables are platters of bread,
meats and vegetables, that are in various stages of decomposition. The party now sees what the
source of the stench is.
The party examines the food. The food looks like it has been there a long time.
"Anyone hungry?" asks Angus.
Tabrina goes in and pokes around the room.
If she finds nothing of interest she'll motivate Angus to open the east door.
Tabrina doesn't find anything of interest. Opening the east door, she sees a hallway going east for
10' then opening up into a room 30x30' in size (20' north, 30' east.) There is a door in the south
wall in the 10-20' section measured from the SE corner. The room has the appearance of a
kitchen. Along the east wall is a table spanning the whole wall. The table has drawers and
cupboard doors. On the table are sets of cooking utensils and knives.
Along the north wall is a massive cast iron stove about 8 feet in width. In the front are two large
doors. Beside the oven is a pile of dried split wood.
Urwing checks out the stove. It looks as though it has not recently been used.
Angus opens the stove up and looks in.
"Look at that fool," says Tabrina.
Inside the stove, Angus can see a few ashes at the back that are cold to the touch.
The kitchen looks as though it has been abandoned for some time.
Searching the room, the party finds nothing of interest.
Sarah comments, "Strange place - parts of it have been lived in recently but sections just down
the hall haven't been touched in what looks like years. I wonder what exactly they are doing down
here?"
Tabrina shrugs.
"Who cares? Angus, you damned fool, get your head out of that oven and open the door to the
south!"
Reg snorts..."I'll do it", he says, striding over to the south door and opening it up without hesitation.
Sarah replies "If we knew what was going on down here we might be better prepared. As of now
we are just walking around rooms at random, and I would at least know a little of the area we are
walking around in."
The door that Reg opens reveals a hall 10' long with a room to the south of it. The room is 30x30'
in size (20 west, 30 south). There is a door in the middle of the west wall.
The room contains piles of debris and is uninteresting. Searching it turns up nothing of value.
Opening up the door in the west wall, the party sees a hallway going west for beyond 60'. In the
20-30' section of the north wall is a passage going north. Moving up to look up the passage, it
goes for 110', endin in a door to the north. Opening it reveals the dining room that has previously
been visited.
Shutting the door, the party goes down the west hallway. From where the mapping stopped, the
hall goes for 40' more, ending in a door to the west. In the 0-10' section of the north wall is a
passage going norht. This passage goes for 10' and ends in a door to the north.
Urwing is ready to open the door after someone with good ears listens.
Reg listens at the door to the north, but hears nothing.
Urwing opens to door to reveal a 20x20' room (10 west, 20 north). The room looks to be a large
closet/storage room. On shelves at the back are a dozen wooden boxes, about 2' to a side, that
are in an advanced stage of decomposition. There is mold growing on the boxes. The room also
contains brooms, mops, and empty pails.
Reg buldozes his way into the room and starts to rip open the various wooden boxes, looking to see
what is in them.
"Well, that is one way to find out. Not what I would have recommended however," Urwing mentions.
The boxes contain clothes that are in advanced stages of decomposition. The clothes look like
they would fit a human if they were in good condition. There is nothing else in the boxes.
Tabrina shrugs.
"He's monster fodder, anyway," she says.
"Now there's my kind of man," says Tabrina to Urwing, as she watches Reg. "Hey, you big dumb
lunk, wanna get together later on if you're still alive?"
Reg looks back from his ripping and says, "Shove off Tabrina!"
Tabrina sighs.
"Rejected again," she says in a mock tone of despair.
"Yuck!" exclaims Tabrina at the sight of the molds. "I wouldn't touch that stuff if you paid me! So
someone else can do it!"
She goes in and examines the brooms.
The brooms are made of a hardwood and are unspectacular.
Urwing asks, "Anybody know anything about molds. I've seen some nasty ones in my time, but I
can never tell what's normal fungus and what will try and eat us."
"I think we'll soon find out," says Tabrina, still watching to see if Reg gets eaten or not.
The party finds nothing of interest in the room and move on. Going back to the hallway, the party
go to the door in the west end and Reg listens. He hears what sounds like a faint whistling sound.
Urwing smiles, and draws her sword. "Ready when you are. Be prepared for perhaps a great wind,
or a small fellow puckering his lips."
Reg asks the rest of the party, "Ready?"
"Go for it, Reggie!" says Angus, clapping his hands.
Reg readies his sword in his right hand and opens the door with his left....
Elderitch steps up near Reg with sword drawn and nods.
In front of the party is a 20x20' room (10 south, 20 west). In the west wall directly across the room
is a door.
The room is barren except for two sleeping monsters in the southwest corner. The creatures are
large powerful bipeds, with a vulture-like head and claws for hands. It has an exoskeleton which is
mottled grey in colour.
Reg freezes and slowly raises his had in a sushing motion. He then looks towards Tabrina.
"What are you looking at me like that for, you stupid clot?" asks the magic user.
Urwing raises her sword. "Awake creatures! Awaken so that you may be slain!"
She attacks when they are awakened and on their feet.
"F'ing Paladins!", says Reg, charging into the room (sword at the ready) and attacking the monsters
before they have a chance to get on their feet.
"If I were you I'd pretend to stay asleep!" calls out Tabrina as she throws the paladin a dirty look.
Angus yelps with glee and charges into battle.
The hook hoorors wake up, but they are groggy for a segment. Reg's attack on one of them,
which occurs while it is still down, is successful.
Reg asks Tabrina, "Can't you cast a sleep spell or something?"
"What...and then have that stupid paladin wake them up again so she can kill them? Sheesh!"
Angus happily chops away at the other hook horror.
Urwing attacks the same hook horror as Angus when it manages to get to its feet, but her sword
does not penetrate its tough exoskeleton.
Sarah shakes her head. "Paladine needs his followers down here, not up above. Doesn't he
represent wisdom anyway?"
Sarah casts Magical Vestament on herself.
"Are any support spells needed? I'm tempted to silence the room so no one will hear this messy
fight.."
Urwing continues to attack...
Her sword pierces one of the hook horrors, causing it to shriek in pain.
Reg says..."let's see what type of damage we can do first....a magic missle or two wouldn't hurt if we
get in trouble."
Reg continues to attack the creature with deadly force!
Reg lops off one of the claws, spurting blood all over.
"What...you're going to butt it with your head?" asks Tabrina. "Use your sword instead, you
donkey!"
Gritting his teeth as he hacks away at the monster, Reg says, "One of these days Tabrina. One of
these days!"
El moves in to attack beside Reg, "These don't look like honorable creatures to be giving a fair
chance."
El misses on the attack.
"Fair shmair!" snaps Tabrina. "Just kill 'em!"
"Whee!" cries Angus as he happily hacks away at a monster.
Angus finishes off the hook horror that he and Urwing were battling.
Tabrina stands back and glares at anything and everything.
The other hook horrk takes a swipe at Reg, but Reg easily deflects the claw.
The second hook horror is done away in no time.
Once the monsters are dead, Tabrina will bustle in and search for loot.
Urwing looks pleased. "Was that so bad? We gave them a chance at a fair fight, and proved our
strength also."
The paladin begins looking through the area now after wiping off her sword.
"My strength didn't need proving," replies Angus.
Urwing laughs. "True. But you have to say that killing them this way is more fun."
Angus thinks long and hard about this.
"It would have been better still to just stick them in their sleep," he says at last. "Less suffering for
them and less risk of hurting us."
Reg wips around and gives Urwing a cold stare..."No that wasn't that bad...BUT everytime we fight
we risk our lives....and this is one fight that we could have avoided...next time keep your big mouth
shut Urwing.", says Reg is a very harsh voice.
Urwing returns the stare. "I suggest you get used to it. I will not attack a helpless creature."
Tabrina looks up from her rummaging and says to the party, "Well, the next time the stupid paladin
pulls a trick like that I suggest that the rest of us just stand back and let her deal with the monsters
alone."
Urwing nods. "That would be fair. If you wish to do so I would not mind." She sounds serious.
"Done," Tabrina replies.
In a gruff tone Reg says, "We didn't NEED to kill them at all....we COULD have just walked by."
Urwing laughs at this. "And have these creatures wake up and attack our backs later? I think not.
Besides, walking away isn't fun at all."
Reg growls..."well....at least they didn't put up too much of a fight."
Tabrina sneers.
"Walking away from those two minotaurs yesterday - leaving them helplessly tied up - didn't bother
you!" she snaps at Urwing. "I wonder if someone's freed them yet...or are they just dying a slow and
painful death due to your honourable actions?"
"We can free them when we leave here. They will not be harmed by being tied up overnight."
"Sure...unless some wandering nasty comes across them and eats them first," says Angus.
"Personally, I think she was too afraid to fight the minotaurs," says Tabrina, eyeing Urwing
speculatively. "Tying them up with a great show of compassion and mercy was a convenient way of
disguising her fears. She could have done the same thing here with the hook horrors...a weaker
monster...but she saw an easy way to show off her prowess and so opted to kill them instead. Pretty
inconsistent behaviour, Urwing," she concludes. "Almost chaotic..."
"Here we go again," says Angus. "Paladin-baiting."
Urwing laughs. "Don't worry Angus."
"Besides, why should I take critisism from Sabrina here? She probably never even had a spellbook
to lose, and is really just an apprentice trying to gain higher status."
"Maybe I am," replies Tabrina. "But you know I can cast more spells than an apprentice. I used two
sleep spells on those bats a little while back. I note that you did not w