Leaving Underhall & Tackling the Next Obstacle
An accounting from Arian.
Two of the gricks wasted no time in snipping away bits of Greeba with their sharp beaks, but Sirondar was there with his new lance -- he charged forwards with a battle cry that would have done any barbarian proud, and skewered one of the gricks.
Trystan, having heard Greeba's delicate cry of pain, rushed into the room and cast his last healing spell upon her. Wisteria followed on his heels, ready for action.
Gorlock blasted another grick with an eldritch blast that lit it up in a blaze before it sank back into the murky water. Arian cast frostbite upon another, though she only managed to freeze just the tip of it's beak, but at least it seemed to disorient the beast.
Thibault and Greeba both attacked the remaining gricks -- the half-orc landing a particularly mighty blow, but the nasty beast seemed to shrug it off. It did not, however, shrug off Xarius' firebolt.
Little by little, they whittled away at the gricks until finally, finally, they all lay dead though not before they had snipped away at Greeba so many times that beak marks covered any bits of her exposed skin. Elia pouted, grumpy that no matter how hard she had tried, she had not had the luck of even one hit.
They rested for a moment, amidst the carnage, and caught their breath.
"I do not care for these creatures," said Arian. "They combine the worst from both birds and serpents and are wholly disgusting."
Greeba grinned. "They may be tasty, though?"
"I don't know that I am hungry enough to try one, but stranger things have been known to be tasty when grilled correctly." Arian inspected the pool of muck, but found nothing there but...muck.
While Greeba inspected the chest that had led her into danger, Xarius and Arian went back up to the body of the owlbear. The sorcerer had told her of a plan he had of constructing a wondrous cloak -- but he would need a lot of materials. Together, they managed to skin the owlbear fairly successfully. It was a messy, thankless job.
But even from there and covered in owlbear blood, they heard Greeba's groan when she discovered that the chest was unlocked -- and empty.
Everyone was ready to go back home and rest...and clean up. But Arian and Xarius thought they might be able to harvest something from the giant spiders. They called down that they'd be right back, and traveled back up the now-quiet path.
They hadn't been gone long when Eamon noticed a strange and ugly creature watching them from a tunnel to the west. "Hey, guys...there's a weird thing in here," said the monk, softly, hoping not to startle it.
"What kind of weird?" asked Greeba, taking a look. It was indeed a strange creature -- it had a bulbous nose and strange tufts of red that might be fur or ears. It's skin was rather pasty, perhaps from living underground.
"Doesn't look like it has the capacity to speak, but I'll try," said Eamon. He said hello to it in goblin.
The creature blinked at him, but didn't respond.
"Are you okay?" asked Eamon patiently.
Arian and Xarius had reached the spiders, unaware of what was going on. They attempted to harvest a silk sac from one, but it had been too badly wounded in the battle before and there was nothing for it. Arian was reaching for another one when she saw movement behind Xarius.
"Agh, another one! Watch out, Xarius!"
She stepped in front of the sorcerer and attempted to hit the spider, but it dodged. At least it messed up the creature's own aim, and the bite it attempted to land found nothing but air.
Xarius attempted to freeze it, but at that moment, hundreds of bats came pouring out of a nearby tunnel.
"Agh! Bats!!!" yelled Arian. "I hate Bats!" But, luckily, the bats were intent on their nightly hunt and merely passed over head. Still, she inspected her hair once they had gone.
Hearing the shouts, Greeba bellowed from down below, "Do you need help, Arian???"
"I do not know! If I could hit the darn spider we'd be back by now!" With a grunt, she whacked at it again with her staff and finally made contact. The spider died, it's body caved in. "We got it!" called Arian. She took a deep breath and looked at Xarius. He looked annoyed and shoved at the spider with his toe. Well, best to get to it. They managed to harvest some spider silk from this one and rejoined the others, only slightly covered in spider guts.
The strange creature, however, had disappeared once Greeba had shouted. Not a trace of him could be found.
Seeing Greeba's disappointed look and the empty chest, Arian asked, "Should we take the chest, do you think? I seem to recall they are worth a bit on their own."
"Should we go back upstairs, kill the goblins and go home?" interrupted Gorlock. They all turned to him in various stages of shock.
Tiffany looked particularly pained. "The quality of mercy is not strained, it falleth as the gentle rain ...Gorlock."
"Just kidding, of course," said the warlock.
"Let's free them and tell them we'll be back to clear the place of all monsters," said Greeba.
"What of that strange creature?" asked Arian.
"It disappeared upon hearing my gentle calls to you," said Greeba without a trace of irony.
They freed the goblins and made their way out into the cool night air. They hadn't gone far, when a voice called out to them.
"Hello there," said Vakara, a crimson robed monk. "We told you, no trespassing in our dungeon." She glared at them.
"Hello, Sir and Ms. Monks!" said Thibault cheerfully. Greeba joined in with her own greeting.
"I suggest you turn over your ill-gotten gains, and you can be on your way." The monk took a threatening step in their direction. A couple of others stood nearby, their chests pushed proudly out as if they owned Underhall.
"No idea what you're on about," said Greeba pleasantly. "Do you see how many of us are here?"
"I think you have us confused," said Gorlock.
"Alternatively, we kill one or two of you and let the others run away and we also keep your stuff, you decide," said Thibault, equally as charming as the half-orc.
Arian growled, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't in her wolf shape, and bared her teeth at them.
"Myrkul could always use more slaves.....even ones in silly red costumes," added Wisteria.
"Don't make me bring some of your costumes to the next city to show how bad you have been beaten, red monks," said Thibault, putting his hand on the pommel of his sword.
Perhaps subconsciously, they all took a small step forward. The monks suddenly looked as if they wished they were anywhere but at Underhall.
"Very well - you may go... this time," said Vakara grudgingly, as she took an involuntary step back. The other monks regarded them sullenly, but none stepped forwards. Cowards, the lot of them.
They swept past the cowed monks to their waiting horses and set off. Given the hour, they thought it best to retire to Cumin Inn for the night, rather than take the longer road home.
At the Inn the night is in full swing - Greeba sees Braltak with Timo & Andrea. Braltak: "Greeba! My lass! Drinks for you and your friends!" he waves his mead cup. Greeba soon joins him, as Gorlock wanders off to chat to some of his lady friends.
Ostler Canton the innkeep: "Welcome friends! So good to see ye again!"
They settled in like old times, drinking and toasting as Trystan played on his lute. The next day, while Arian and Wisteria studied with Starkfeather, Eamon and Thibault took the Chimes of Opening to Ravensburg. Greeba took the opportunity to earn some gold by training up Braltak. Sirondar trained on his own, practicing with his new lance.
Arian did learn from Starkfeather that the strange murky liquid she had collected in Underhall was infused with Wild Magic -- some type of transformative potion. It might do well to make that cloak that Xarius was after! She gave it to him to keep with the rest of what they had gathered already.
More good news was had when Thibault and Eamon returned -- Old Master Temminische had given them 5000 gold for the chimes! Arian was now glad she had covered herself in muck -- she had finally truly contributed something of value to the group. Together, they decided to take half that amount into a treasury for the Fort so they would not have to worry for some time about expenses. Eamon volunteered to manage it, and as he was so good with coin, the others readily agreed. The rest of the money was split between them.
Arian and Greeba immediately put some of it to good use by crafting a +1 staff for the druid and a larger, even more impressive warhammer for the half-orc. It was definitely fit for smashing.
While chatting with others at the Inn, they heard a new rumour: prospectors in Hiddenglen had reported that the wizard's tower known as Raganni's Redoubt now appears abandoned. That got everyone's attention, particularly Gorlock's. They decided to check it out and set off as soon as possible.
They traveled via Skulnar to the Priory and on to Ramvira, and then by D'Ashe Manor. There they stopped at the renowned Festhall, though some in the party were more comfortable in the brothel environs than others. While dining downstairs in the Great Hall, they received an invitation to have drinks upstairs with Lady D'Ashe, mistress of the Hall.
Comments
Post a Comment