Patchwall 12, 584
On the 12th day of Patchwall, 584, Occa finally returns from Earth
with the people he took away for training and such. It is well into
autumn in the Flanaess, though the weather remains warm and sunny.
After returning and unpacking, those of you in the adventuring party
gather up your gear and head off to Zagyg's ruins, for you are eager to
resume the exploration.
Reaching the fallen falcon statue you pause.
"I think we should investigate the exit we used to see if anyone else
has been through there."
Blade in hand, the elf mage/fighter follows quietly.
You head down the ravine, following the path to the second entrance.
Upon entering, you see that all is as you left it previously...except
that the portcullises have been raised. The secret door in the north
wall is open.
"Zanax, I think we should send the new guy ahead, you know an
initiation of sorts into the nature of this group," says the
dwarf. "I'm thinking we go down via the Badd tunnel."
The jungle elf turns on the dwarf and seems like he wants to reply, but
decides not to. He exhales through his nose slowly and says, "I do not
do well with traps, spell hurling and sword play is my forte!"
He then slips a silver ring onto his right hand and vanishes from sight.
Zanax nods, "The tunnel is a good idea. Badd, please take point
and check for traps along the way."
You head down the tunnel, with Badd leading, Logan behind him, and the
rest of you in a chaotic, DM-assigned pell-mell order that gives the
paladins a headache. The tunnel, as you recall, is only about 2' in
diameter...no problem for the gnome, but the rest of you must crawl and
squirm.
The tunnel descends steeply to the northwest, then levels out and
curves sharply, ultimately heading south-southwest.
Badd slides down the steep incline on his behind, but Logan goes
skidding head first down the slope and piles into the gnome at the
bottom. That is as far as anyone goes, as the next in line, Zanax, gets
stuck in the tunnel with that large shield of his, and cannot budge.
Badd rubs his head as Logan lands on him.
"Good thing I only work with the best of the best," he says.
Zanax cannot move back, as Drandar currently has his face dangerously
close to his posterior.
"Drandar! Enough brown-nosing! Help me get my shield
unstuck!"
Amberle, still out in the passage, says, "Does anyone have any rope?"
Drandar, who is laughing, sees what he can do to push Zanax through.
He pushes and he shoves, but Zanax does not move.
"Zanax, you've got to stop eating so much. You're getting as
stout as me."
The dwarf then backs up a bit, ties a rope around the paladin's ankles,
and with the help of Tragon, pulls Zanax unceremoniously out of the
narrow tunnel.
All but Badd and Logan, who are still in the tunnel, are back in the
passage between the portcullises.
"Why don't you have him take off some of his armor, pass it down, come
down, and then put it back on?" the elf shouts up to the group, after
hearing that their leader got stuck in the tunnel.
"Badd and Logan, do you see any stairs going up?"
They see none.
"Shall we check this out?" Badd asks Logan. "Or shall we wait for the
er...stout-hearted fellows to find a way down?"
"After you, my short friend," he smiles as he follows Badd around with
his sword drawn.
Badd slips on his ring of invisibility.
"OK," he says. "Don't crowd me."
Carefully watching for traps and monsters, he makes his way down the
tunnel ahead of Logan.
"Cute," Logan says as he slips on his own ring and he vanishes. "I have
one, too!"
Back at the top, Zanax looks around for pieces of wood long and sturdy
enough to prop underneath the portcullis.
Between the portcullises there are none. The outer portcullis has
several bars cut out, courtesy of Badd.
The paladin heads back outside. He finds some wood and braces the
portcullises.
Zanax looks for several more to brace the next portcullis.
He finds all that he needs.
"Zanax, want me to go down there too in case the two of them get into
trouble?" asks the dwarf. He also examines the area with his
dwarven senses.
The stonework here is of very good quality...Drandar suspects that
Zagyg brought in dwarven stonemasons. He notes nothing unusual, though.
Zanax sighs."Yeah, but take our paladin-in-training with you. He
can sense for evil...and there's likely to be quite a few undead down
there. Try and locate a staircase."
Tragon eyes the tunnel and his shield to see if it'll get stuck like
Zanax's did.
Tragon's shield is smaller.
Zanax nods. "Just try and bring them back up as soon as
possible. I don't like the idea of them wandering around
invisibly down there by themselves."
"Well, I hope they don't try to hide from us. Ready, Drandar?"
"Aye lad, let's go," says the dwarf. "You keep your evil vision
up."
Drandar leads down the tunnel
Tragon climbs down the tunnel behind the dwarf.
As Tragon's feet disappear, Zanax scans for evil beyond the
portcullises and down the tunnel. He detects none.
Tragon does the same while going down the tunnel. He detects none.
Lornard follows Tragon down the tunnel.
Zanax borrows the map from Stump. "OK, you guys go down the
tunnel with the
others. I'll take the staircase and meet you down there."
Zanax waits for the others to head down the tunnel before turning
invisible and heading toward the staircase.
So, Kelene, Stump, Nason, and Amberle next head into the tunnel,
leaving Zanax to his fate.
They crawl down the tunnel. After a short way it descends steeply to
the northwest, then levels out and curves sharply, ultimately heading
south-southwest.
You all make it down the steep incline without difficulty.
This is a dirt tunnel just over 2' in diameter. All of you have to
wriggle and crawl, which you proceed to do.
The tunnel runs for about 55', under the portcullis-passage above,
before opening out into a hollowed out chamber (approximately circular,
15' diameter, another tunnel exiting to the east).
In the tunnel at the entrance to the chamber you see your companions.
Stump, Kelene, Amberle and Nason join Tragon, Drandar, Lornard, Badd
and Logan in the tunnel near the entrance to the chamber.
The newcomers see that the chamber ahead of the gnome and elf is a
tangle of webbing. Snarled up in the sticky webs are a number of giant
ants, all dead, and all with quarrels and arrows sticking out of them.
Amberle comments, "Just like a bunch of boys, torturing some insects."
"I'm pretty sure it was going to pull my wings off," says Badd. "Next
time maybe I'll show them my nurturing side, and see what happens."
He makes a face. "Or then again, maybe not."
"Oh you must be fun at parties," Logan snickers. "I am Logan and you
are?"
"The name is Amberle, priestess of Istus, our Lady of Fate."
"I make my own fate, toots, though having a cutie like you watch over
me ain't such a bad thing now, is it?" he asks with a wide smile,
wondering what her response will be.
"Typical response, few like to think that there are things out of their
hands. You wouldn't be the brother of Lo, the monk, would you?"
"Kinda tough, sweetness, as he is a human and I am elf," he chuckles.
"But other than meeting him once, no, no relation that I know of!"
Drandar laughs, "I suspect Aberline is referring to your attitude,
which was shared by Lo, formally of the NDPY."
"Couldn't tell you, never spent any real time with the man." He shrugs his
shoulders. "And what attitude is that? Juvenile? Aren't most men like
that?"
He winks.
Lornard doesn't comment, but those near him may hear him sigh quietly.
"Oh, and the name is Amberle, not toots or whatever infantile names you
may come up with, thank you."
"Well met Amberle." He smiles widely.
Tragon steps back from the two combatants and faces the webbing,
figuring that something's going to come and investigate the imminent noise.
"Begone," Logan concentrates as he wills the web away.
It goes away.
You walk and crawl into the chamber, depending on your stature, and
look around. However, you find nothing of any value.
Looking down the passage to the east-southeast, you see that it runs
for about 15', then turns sharply to the south-southwest. Again, it is
a narrow tunnel, perhaps 2' in diameter.
Badd looks at the others, and
sighs.
"I'll go check it out," he says.
"That's what you get paid the big
bucks for, right? You find the monsters and the rest of us kill
them."
Badd looks around at the remains
of the ants.
"Yes," he says. "That's right."
Tragon shrugs. "So, you did
more than your fair share of the work this time."
A note of injured reproach enters
the gnome's voice. "I don't remember you being so receptive when I
found the privy, though."
"That's because we wanted to
leave, not explore more and you ignored us."
"It's alright," says Badd in a
martyred tone, ignoring Tragon. "I'll kill the monsters, unlock the doors, remove
the traps, and scout out the lairs... no need to thank the gnome."
He grins broadly then scuttles off
down the tunnel, after turning invisible.
Tragon stage whispers to Lornard,
"Remind me next time to keep my mouth shut. Badd is happier when
he feels put upon."
Crossbow nocked, Logan slips his
ring of invisibility on his finger and slowly goes after Badd.
The rest of you wait in the ant
chamber.
Badd returns to the chamber where the rest of you wait, after collecting Logan, who had been waiting further up the tunnel.
"Fire ants," he says. He describes what he's seen...
[You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike...]
Rounding that sharp corner, Badd and Logan see that the tunnel begins
to ascend again. It climbs gently for about 20', until you suspect
that you are back at the same level as the other passages and
chambers on this level.
At the point where it levels off is an intersection with another
tunnel that runs more or less east, before curving off to the left
after maybe 15'.
The tunnel before you turns more southwest and continues for about
30' before turning south. After 10' is a four way intersection with
another tunnel.
---
Badd proceeds to the four-way intersection and takes a look.
To the right, a tunnel runs pretty well northwest for 30', turning
north after that.
Ahead, the tunnel continues roughly south-southwest for about 15',
then angles south for a few feet. After that is another four-way
intersection.
To the left, a tunnel runs east-southeast for about 15', then turns
more to the east for about 10'. After that is another intersection.
---
Badd goes straight ahead.
He continues on to the next intersection, which is sort of four way
(actually the continuation of this tunnel is offset to his right by a
few feet).
Looking right, he sees a tunnel which extends to the northwest for
almost 30' before curving off to the north. In the 5' - 7' section of
the right side is a tunnel running northeast; and in the 13' - 15'
section of the left side is another tunnel running south-southwest.
To the left, a tunnel runs for about 20' and ends. There is another
tunnel opening on the right hand side after 8'.
Ahead, the tunnel runs south and slopes downwards for about 18'
before ending at an intersection with another tunnel running
northeast - southwest.
---
Badd goes right.
Looking northeast, you see that this tunnel curves around to your
left and out of your sight after 10'.
You move to the 15' tunnel on the left and look round the corner.
This tunnel runs more or less southwest for about 10', then opens up
into another chamber. The place is full of giant ants running about;
mostly workers, but you see some warrior ants as well. You cannot
tell how many there are without advancing, but there has to be at
least a dozen.
"Guess a fireball would be bad about now, eh?" Lo chuckles invisibly. "Well, we can bypass them, I guess," he offers.
As you all silently ponder this seemingly insurmountable problem for a
seemingly insurmountable period of time, your mental meanderings are at
last interrupted by the arrival of a troop of giant ants, apparently
sent here to flush out the invaders. That's you, by the way.
In come five warriors and four workers. Their intentions do not appear to be benign.
Badd turns invisible, and scuttles off into a corner somewhere.
Drandar charges, broadsword in hand.
Tragon draws his magical longsword and meets one of the warriors head
on. "St. Cuthbert, guide my arm and let me strike true!"
Stump confronts one of the ants.
Drandar meets the first monster on his knees and sticks it with his blade while deflecting its mandibles. His next jab kills it.
A worker moves up.
Tragon, attacking on his belly, misses badly. He is bitten for 4 hit points of damage.
Stump, also on his belly, fans badly as well but manages to roll away from the warrior's pincers.
Lornard gets bitten for 3 hit points, then is stung for a further 6 hit points, leaving him seriously hurt. His blade misses.
"Eeeeek!" says Kelene, as a worker rushes at her. She scuttles
sideways, but the ant nips her for 2 hit points. She stabs it with her
glowing shortsword, almost killing it.
Close by, Nason battles a worker ant as well, and gets bitten for 5 hit
points. he lashes out with his shortsword and injures his attacker.
Amberle is also attacked, and is bitten for 3 hit points. She attacks but misses.
"You really need to stop getting injured," comments Drandar to
the ranger. The worker now attacking him misses, as the dwarf lands a
nasty hit and kills the offending monster.
Stump continues attacking. The warrior is bitten for 8 hit points as he
misses with his blade, then is stung for a further 9 hit points.
"Logan, you're a mage, right? Any chance you could even the odds a bit?"
Tragon continues to attack the ant in front of him. The paladin
gets bitten for 8 hit points of damage by the warrior as he fans again
a few more times.
The mage sprinkles some sand at the ants and chants a few words.
Amberle, two worker ants and Tragon fall asleep.
"Oops," Logan says as he pulls his enchanted blade and goes after the ant that killed Amberle.
Nason is there first as he dodges those pincers before fanning with his
shortsword. Logan, though, strikes handily, killing the giant ant.
"Mages," says the dwarf as a curse. He fights as best he can to clean out the ants and protect those he can.
Badd turns invisible, and tries to creep around behind one of the ants to backstab it.
He attacks the ant that just slew Tragon, missing badly. He then backs
up, barely avoiding the ant's pincers. Drandar next has a go at the
ant, but catches his blade on the low dirt ceiling of the chamber,
bringing a shower of soil down onto himself. His next stab is no more
effective.
Lornard continues to both attack and attempt to fend off the
attacks of the ant facing him. The ranger and the warrior ant both
attack, and both miss.
"EeeeeeK!" says Kelene, going for the second ant that had been
attacking Tragon. She is good with her shortsword, and badly injures
the worker. But she is not quite fleet enough on her knees and is
bitten for 3 hit points.
Stump keeps fighting. He is bitten by the warrior's mandibles for 4 hit points. His own attack is wild.
Kelene manages to dodge the worker ant's pincers again, while managing to miss with her glowing blade.
Stump also misses, then deflects the attack of the warrior.
The elf warrior/mage helps out and attacks. The elf lands a devastating hit on the warrior attacking Stump, badly injuring it.
"Mage, can you cast any useful spells?" asks Drandar. "We need to get those dead out of here."
He keeps fighting, trying to get the others back to the opening. The
dwarf lands a heavy blow on the warrior that killed Tragon, then is
bitten for 7 hit points. His next swing also connects, killing the ant.
Hoping ants are dumber than gnomes, Badd tries the same maneuver again,
this time on the monster attacking the drow. His attack misses.
Lornard's next attack finds its target, as he manages to avoid the
ant's attack. Nason helps out as well, though his attack misses.
Next, Kelene fans badly, then connects and kills the last worker ant.
Close by, Stump kills another ant.
Lornard, however, is bitten for 3 hit points and drops.
Nason attacks the ant that just dropped Lornard as Drandar crawls over to help, but misses.
The dwarf misses.
The warrior attacks Nason, but misses. he replies, but misses again. Drandar finally connects, though, and the last ant is dead.
You fix up Lornard, and a few minutes later he regains consciousness.
Lornard regains consciousness to find all of the ants dead. He is at -1 hit points and does not feel the greatest.
"Is this fun?" asks Badd. "Or are we down here for the noble purpose of wiping
out ants?"
He shakes his head. "Perhaps after we fix Lornard up, we should start looking upstairs instead."
Lornard groans a bit and says, "I think I need to pull out for a few days' rest."
"You are one unfortunate guy," says Badd sympathetically. "Kind of an injury magnet."
He stares into space. "If only we could bottle your luck, and throw it at our enemies..."
Lornard shakes his head.
"Unfortunately, I fear it doesn't work that way," he says grimly.
"I suppose not," says Badd with a disappointed frown. "Still, it's
worth thinking about. If I come up with anything, we can split the
profits."
You gather up the dead and the wounded and retreat back up the tunnel
to the entrance. It is a struggle getting back up that steep incline,
but eventually you succeed, and return to the passage between the
portcullises.
However, Zanax, who you left here when you descended, is not to be seen.
"We lost the goody goody!" the elf remarks. He looks at the ground to see if there was any kind of scuffle or fight.
He sees no such signs.
Drandar looks up and rolls his eyes. "We lost a lot more than Zanax,
and you should not mock your betters," says the dwarf.
"Think he put on his invisibility ring and fell asleep?" asks Badd, looking around. "Hey Zanax, wake up, we're back!"
There is no reply.
Badd shrugs. "Think he got bored and went home?" he asks.
"Mage, can you cast any locate spells? Or are you limited to putting your allies to sleep?" Drandar asks.
Before a mage can answer, though, you are distracted by an approaching sound from the direction of the refuse piles:
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Suddenly Zanax comes running into view, arms stretched out straight
before him, a look of terror in his eyes as he flees blindly right by
you and out of the dungeon...leaving a fragrant trail of little paladin
turds behind him.
You look at each other in wonder, then shrug, gather up the dead and wounded, and follow the trail after the paladin.
Zanax regains his so called senses and finds himself cowering outside
of the Greyhawk Ruins dungeon, in the shadow of the fallen falcon
statue.
As he sits up the rest of the party come up the path and join him. He
sees that Tragon and Amberle do not look well; in fact, they are dead.
Lornard has to be helped along, having been beaten up again by
something or other.
"Well that's not good," Logan muses. "Anyone know how to contact Occa?
Master Salaam could bring them back if we can get in contact with him.
He'll like require a magic item for it, but isn't that worth it?"
"Salaami?" says Kelene, "Isn't he the cleric back on Earth with the big sausage?"
She giggles.
"Why don't we just take them back to the castle and see if that Nylon guy will do it?"
Zanax sighs as he regains his composure, "What the heck happened?"
"Bugs Mr. Zanax, millions of them," says Drandar. "Or more
precisely, a handful of giant ants and a poorly conceived sleep
spell."
"We were attacked by giant ants," replies the drow, "And Tragon
suggested that Logan sleep them. Sweet fool that he is, Logan actually
did! Imagine! Taking a paladin's advice! Anyway, he slept a few of the
ants, but also Amberle and Tragon as well. The ants that were attacking
them then killed them. So," she asks, looking at the trail of paladin
turds leading back to the dungeon, "What the heck happened to you?"
Zanax sighs, "Well, we can sort out the poor tactics later. Let's
just get everyone back to the castle. Everyone help carry back
Tragon and Amberle."
You gather up the bits and pieces and go limping back to Castle Greyhawk.
Late in the afternoon the party returns to Castle Greyhawk. Darian,
Orlon, Gilstrock and the other bigguns are all present. They see that
there have been casualties today. Tragon is minus his head, and is dead
as well. Amberle is also deceased. Lornard is hurting, and has to be
helped inside. Zanax...smells.
"Drandar, see what can be done for Tragon and Amberle. I'm gonna get cleaned up."
Zanax lays on hands on Lornard and then heads to the baths to hose himself down.
Logan uses the time to re-memorize the spells he cast during the day.
Orlon avails his curing services to the party. He casts raise dead on Amberle, a heal spell on Lornard, followed by resurrecting Tragon.
Darian shakes his head at the party. "What happened to you folks?"
Kelene repeats herself for the benefit of those who were not previously present.
"We were attacked by giant ants," replies the drow, "And Tragon
suggested that Logan sleep them. Sweet fool that he is, Logan actually
did! Imagine! Taking a paladin's advice! Anyway, he slept a few of the
ants, but also Amberle and Tragon as well. The ants that were attacking
them then killed them."
"Orlon, I'll take care of Lornard. You see to the other two. Any other injuries?"
Darian heals Lornard and will heal any of the other injured. Lornard, however, is still out of it after Darian heals him.
Orlon does the healing, raising and resurrecting...
Amberle and Tragon return to the realm of the living, to find Orlon
looming over them. The rest of the party is there as well. Apparently
you are back in Castle Greyhawk.
Tragon looks around, disoriented. "I was... dead. How did
that happen? Last thing I remember is asking Logan to help out
magically. Did he blow us up or something?"
"No, Mister Fancy Pants, I am not that crazy. I put a few ants to sleep
and my magic is so powerful, you and the female next to you were put to
sleep also. Guess the ants like their meat unresponsive," Logan remarks
with a shrug.
"Or more likely that we're novices to adventuring and a sleep spell
from anyone would knock a bunch of us out. So, you put Amberle
and I to sleep. And here I was thinking that you would do that
web thing again."
"Guess you thought wrong," Logan replies. "You said stop them, I did."
"For a price, Ugarte. For a price," says Drandar.
"Huh?" he asks.
"No, I said, 'Logan, you're a mage, right? Any chance you could
even the odds a bit?'. And, from the sounds of it, you did
that. But, I didn't think you'd take some of us out as
well. I'll know better, next time."
"Fine," he replies with a huff.
"If you call assistance casting sleep that puts party members asleep as well, he did fine," replies Drandar.
"I see you were real useful," Logan replies. "Despite that fact that
two of our own were caught in the spell, I took out double the amount
of theirs with it and seeing where we were, it was a hell of a lot
safer than a fireball!" he replies with a smirk.
"Laugh while you can, monkey boy," says Drandar.
"Why would you call me monkey boy, short round? Tree hugger, pansy, I
have heard those, but monkey boy, are you THAT short that you can't see
the pointed ears?" he inquires with a smile.
"I see. Well, at least I'm alive now."