"Full. Locked. Departed"
The reverberations of the voice echoed away. The companions stood frozen in their attack stances. Torious lowered
Justicar slowly as the more-then-obvious danger failed to appear. Milo kicked the moss sulkily, his hero mode now in full flow. Thalin remained wary, his knowledge of arcane traps was sometimes a little too much for his own good.
Milo closed his eyes for a second as he searched back to his maligned childhood dwarven lessons.
“Full. Locked. Departed.” said Thalin and Torious in unison.
Milo looked dejected for a moment then sprung forwards and went to touch the wall. The same voice thundered again.
“Full. Locked. Departed.” said Milo as the echoes died again, sticking his tongue out at his companions as he skipped backwards and began to look at the moss covered stacks in the corners of the room.
Thalin suggested the wall was some kind of door and really shouldn’t be challenged further. He began to elaborate on certain necromantic death-wards rumoured to be active in this area, but his companions had quickly stopped listening.
Well, thought Thalin,
any defensive magic would probably still be active by now anyway. Leaving Milo and Torious checking the sodden stacks, Thalin ventured into the cylindrical corridor.
Milo found nothing more than two tarnished gems amid the moss, and already thoroughly bored, went to join Thalin. Torious cast back a layer of moss with
Justicar to reveal a stonework trough, where small luminescent fish swam lazily.
“I think this is a storeroom for those blue creatures,” said Torious, more to himself than to his companions. Dariel landed next to the priest and hopping along the trough rim, began to pick out a choice meal.
“Torious! Milo! Come and look at this,” shouted Thalin from the cylinder room. Torious stalked in and crouched next to the mage, whilst Milo darted further down the tunnel. Thalin carefully withdrew a small silver hunting knife from the depths of the moss, “There are holes all over the floor,” Thalin said, his thoughts suddenly racing towards an answer, “It’s a drainage system”. The mage’s eyes widened as he swung round just in time to see Milo hop up and grab the circular handle at the end of the corridor.
“MILO! You fool…”
But the mage's words died in his throat as a far off thunderous rush of noise filled the passageway. Milo sprung back with an apologetic wince towards his companions. With a wooden thud the entrance door to the passage way slammed tightly shut, trapping the heroes in. Dariel flapped against the doorway, suddenly seperated from his master. Thalin watched in horror as a thin line of water trickled from a hidden vent, then moments later an explosion of water thundered into the chamber.
Torious roared something over the thunder of the water, but could not be heard by Thalin or Milo…
Where was Milo? Torious searched urgently for the halfling, but only saw himself and Thalin on one side of the cascade of water that was quickly filling the room.
Suddenly Torious spotted Milo, the unconscious halfling surfaced for a moment before being violently dragged under again. Handing Thalin
Justicar, Torious took two powerful steps then plunged into the swelling water, which had already reached chest height. Thalin watched the shadow of Torious vanish under the torrent of white.
Thalin knew something had to be done, and sharpish. Dropping
Justicar and using
Erifeci as a focus, Thalin discarded the painful feelings of separation from his familiar and began to draw the Weave around him, channelling it into the magical door.
- - - - - - - - - -
The five blue-skinned goblins gurgled in agreement as they tilted their heads against the outside of the door. With a smooth dialect of snaps, clicks and burrs, they quickly came to a decision, then with dextrous ease, climbed the lichen coated ladder towards the circle of sunlight above.
- - - - - - - - - -
Torious planted his legs onto the bottom of the passage way and with a grunt of effort, broke the surface of the water, holding the unconscious Milo above him. Drawing on his powers, Torious filled the halfling with restorative energy. Seconds later Milo spluttered to consciousness. With a shout of defiance, Torious edged himself into the path of the surging water, shielding the halfling from the vent. With a roar of exertion, Torious pushed Milo sideways to safety then dove after him, taking a sudden rush of speed as the water forced him outwards.
Thalin drove
Erifeci harder into the door as the water splashed over his head. Focusing his mind, he searched for the correct incantation. As each verse came into his head, words were dashed away by the heaving water. Suddenly the water covered his ears and the chaotic sounds blended into a single, steady roar. Forcing all other thoughts out of his mind, Thalin screamed the arcane words as they came to him, sending a stream of bubbles in front of his eyes. With a quick draw back, then a violent thrust of
Erifeci, the door groaned then swung outwards. Thalin, Torious and Milo spilled onto a rusted circular grate. Water rushed over them, disappearing below.
With a screeching whine, the water level abruptly dropped as the holes in the floor opened. Opening his eyes as the water drained around him, Milo gazed upwards to the circle of light at the top of the shaft. Isplit emerged sleepily from his pocket and gestured angrily at a soggy biscuit.
The five blue creatures watched intently from the top of the ladder, monitoring the three adventurers as they picked themselves up from the floor. Clicking hurriedly between each other, they all screeched as a crossbow bolt buzzed angrily out of the shaft and high into the afternoon air. Jumping to their webbed feet, the blue-skinned goblins turned and plunged into their lake, cutting swift arcs towards the far side.