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<blockquote data-quote="Sammael99" data-source="post: 7234514" data-attributes="member: 1157"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Mission #2: Wrong Assessment</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Following the completion of their mission, and particularly upon hearing how cleverly Gnorman got the metamorphosed magician to betray himself, Zyylla sponsored the gnome for Employee of the Month, and Gnorman was chosen by the board of directors. He leaves for a week of well-deserved rest in the upper levels of Dungeon, Inc. where (presumably) he'll be able to smooch to the important people in the company.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, it's more work for Ssservalax and Zolark. Following an unfortunate series of accidents amongst receivers, Zyylla reshuffles the teams around and adds Banult, a reckless dwarf and Rodriguez, a go-getting skeleton to the team. She calls the four of them in for an urgent mission. </p><p></p><p>- Marketing has set up this scheme a few years ago, she explains. They call it 'proactive advertising' and a number of client areas work this way. In this case, it's the Lair of the Reptile God. It's an area with some big lizardy monster that Troglodyte residents worship. People from advertising regularly set up teams to go to the Outside and bring back some villagers for 'sacrifice' to the Reptile God. That way, adventurers are continually attracted to that area.</p><p></p><p>- Very clever, Rodrigues interjects. </p><p></p><p>- Anyway, Zyylla says, a group of four adventurers have entered the area. Now this is an area suited for clients of intermediary power levels, so I normally wouldn't send you there. But supervision tells us that these clients are actually novices. Chances are they will be wiped out by whatever the level has to offer to them. Still, you need to make sure they're done for, and possibly get rid of a survivor if there is one. </p><p>- Ssso, kill them? Ssservalax asks. </p><p>- Yes, kill them, of course. Oh, and before you go: it has come to my attention that some receivers in my teams may have been keeping some loot on the side for their own enrichment. I don't need to stress that this is not only forbidden by company policy, it's a dangerous path to tread on. Those that do this will be Warned, and believe me, you do not want to be Warned. </p><p></p><p>Zyylla is not looking at anyone specifically, but tension can be felt in the air. She finally breaks it by saying: </p><p></p><p>- So, who will be Mission Chief ?</p><p></p><p>Zolark, who doesn't want to attract any further attention following Zyylla's tirade about pilfering doesn't put his hand up. </p><p></p><p>- If no one else minds, it would be a great honour for me to take the mantle of Chief for this mission, Rodriguez says. I will do my utmost to steer the team in the right direction!</p><p></p><p>- Good, that's done then. Off you go to see Irma. </p><p></p><p>The small band goes to meet the cartographer. She hands them the map of the Lair of the Reptile God and stresses repeatedly, looking Rodriguez in the eye sockets, that the map should come back in the exact state that it's been given in. </p><p></p><p>- You have a reputation, Boney, and I don't like those that think themselves cartographers when they're not. </p><p></p><p><img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/s/j5lgkxyxctoz8ux/25092017-Dinc%20Wrong%20Assess001.jpg?dl=0" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Original Map by Dyson Logos</p><p></p><p>Then they go to see Quinlan for gear. Ssservalax is handed a pristine musket. </p><p></p><p>- You know how to use one of these? the minotaur asks. </p><p>- Of course I do. We are not an inferior race, you know!</p><p>- Yeah, yeah. Well be careful with this one. It packs a punch, but it pulls a little to the left. </p><p></p><p>- Rodriguez' pack holds a rapier, a bola and a scale mail armor. Banult is given a massive war flail, some dueling pistols and a light leather tunic. Zolark ends up with a dagger, a throwing axe and the same oversized helmet he had last time. </p><p></p><p>- Seriously, he asks Quinlan with exasperated eyes. </p><p>- Sorry, little buddy, the Minotaur responds. </p><p></p><p>After a short elevator ride, the four find themselves at the entrance of the Lair of the Reptile God. </p><p></p><p>- Now Team, Rodriguez says. I'm sure we'll do great work here, and I want us to keep a positive attitude at all times. Lets stay on our toe-bones and everything will be fine. Banult, I think you should go first, but please keep cool-headed. </p><p></p><p>Banult lights a lantern that was in his pack, and they enter the Lair. They explore the first corridor, and a short flight of stairs going down leads them to a flooded area with about a foot of water everywhere. Looking at their map, they decide to first eliminate the rooms on their left in order to make sure the clients, dead or alive, are not there. The room marked with a trapped statue looks empty, so they avoid getting any closer. Towards the end of the corridor, they find two changing rooms with adept's robes. The robes are brown with ornements at the bottom that look like Troglodyte speech. </p><p></p><p>- It is our sacred script, Ssservalax says, but it's gibberish. They have just ssstuck random words together. It makesss no sssense...</p><p>- OK, team, Zolark points out that in case we meet the resident troglodytes, we will need a cover story. I suggest that myself, Zolark and Banult put some robes on. That way we can be penitents that Ssservalax has recruited if we should meet the locals. </p><p></p><p>They find appropriate sized robes, and don them on. They also take some extra cords tying the robes in case they need something akin to rope (which was not in any of their packs). Then they make their way back towards the entrance to explore the other branch of the complex. They are wading through water and while they aim for quiet, it's not that easy to achieve. </p><p></p><p>As they near the area where the albino alligator dwells, discussions start again about who should go check that the beast hasn't eaten one or more adventurers. Finally, Rodriguez uses his prerogatives as Mission Chief: </p><p>- I'm going to make a decision. Banult, you go and check the alligator room. </p><p></p><p>Banult shrugs and goes. He advances prudently to the edge of the room and notices the headless body of a white alligator floating in the (deepers) basin in the room. He calls in the others. </p><p></p><p>- Maybe it's eaten a client that has sunk to the bottom ? Zolark asks. </p><p>- Well, if that's the case, we can always go check once we know one of them isn't accounted for. Agreed?</p><p></p><p>So they continue on towards the location marked as Vicious Pit Trap on their map. </p><p></p><p>- It's got two skulls on the map, so it must be pretty deadly. Let's all be careful here.</p><p></p><p>Before they head down the corridor, the search and find the mechanism that opens the secret door to the Oars and Boots cabinet. They pick a couple of oars, thinking it might help them with the pit trap. </p><p></p><p>After having closed the secret passage again, they start tapping the floor in front of them. Quickly they realize that there's a grate on the floor where the pit trap should be. Ssservalax even feels like something crunched when she pressed the oar handle on the grate. Rodriguez decides to have a look. </p><p></p><p>The skeleton pushes his head underwater while Banult lights the lantern above him. Rodriguez sees that there is indeed a sturdy metal grate, and two hands are gripping it from below. He emerges to explain this to the others. </p><p></p><p>- I remember this! Zolark says. I was once chatting with Geraldine, you know the dwarven gal from Upkeep. I asked her about some of the nasty traps they had to handle and she told me about this one: it's underwater, and by default the pit is open. Someone steps into it and momentum and weight carries them to the bottom, not too far. There's a pressure plate there, and when pressed it slams the pit shut underwater, so they basically drown. </p><p>- Oooh, that is vicious... Banult says admiringly. </p><p>- Anyway, I know how to open it again. We need to collect the body, or rather its belongings, right?</p><p>- Indeed. </p><p>- Geraldine told me that for this kind of trap there's usually a lever a few meters before, hidden under the water. </p><p></p><p>Zolark finds the lever hidden behind a shifting brick underwater. He actions it and Rodriguez goes into the pit to fish the body up. It looks freshly dead with a terrorized look on its face. It's wearing a light armor, a rapier and miscellaneous tools in a satchel. </p><p></p><p>- Probably a thief, Rodriguez says. </p><p>- You're supposed to say Rogue, these days, Zolark mentions. </p><p>- Who cares, technically all our clients are thiefs. </p><p></p><p>Zolark suggests that they should keep the pit trap closed and tie one of the robe cords to the lever so that if they need to they can run past the pit and grab the cord to open it up. </p><p></p><p>- Excellent plan, Rodriguez says. Love the energy, we're being creative, it's awesome!</p><p></p><p>Having executed on Zolark's plan, they continue down the corridor which opens into a massive cave. There are dozens of natural pillars over the water which clearly gets deeper. There's a ledge however on which the receivers are now standing. The air reeks, a smell not unlike burnt fish. All around them, floating in the shallow water are charred corpses of troglodytes. Several pillars are black with soot.</p><p></p><p>"That feels like some pretty powerful magic for novice clients", Zolark thinks, but he doesn't say anything. </p><p></p><p>Ssservalax looks mildly put off at the massacre of her brethren, but is not excessively outraged. After all, she made a radically different life choice and to her these were mostly bumpkins...</p><p></p><p>Rodriguez looks at the map and says: </p><p></p><p>- We should first secure those side doors leading to the Treasure of the Troglodytes. </p><p></p><p>They head down in that direction, trying to minimise sloshing noises. Where the map indicates that there's a boat, they indeed find a small skiff. They also notice that there must have been a second one moored there, but the rope has been slashed and the boat is no longer there. </p><p></p><p>- They must have gone towards the end of the cave, maybe aiming for the Eggs, Rodriguez states. </p><p>- Should we follow them there? Zolark asks. </p><p>- Does anyone know how to row? Rodriguez asks in response. </p><p>- I think I can manage that, Banult says. I went cave exploring with my pal Jack the Wandered from Exploration a few times and he let me row. </p><p></p><p>Indeed, the strong dwarf's strokes soon get them going, navigating in between the pillars. After a while however, Ssservalax spots some shifting lights in the distance and hear some voices speaking in common. </p><p></p><p>- Be wary, Sir Dramman, as there may yet be more of these slimy creatures around. </p><p></p><p>Ssservalax looks shocked and turns to Banult to quietly say to him: </p><p></p><p>- We're not slimy you know. That's actually a misconception!</p><p></p><p>Looking afar, Zolark spots three men on a skiff. A man in armor is rowing, his hair are cut short and his face is severe looking. A man is standing besides him holding a torch. He is also wearing armor and a mace hangs to his belt. Finally, there's a lithe silhouette in the shadows sitting at the back of the skiff.</p><p></p><p>Rodriguez has a moment of indecision. He wonders what to do now, when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a small bat appears and starts fluttering around him. It looks like it's got a tiny message tied to one of its legs. Rodriguez puts his hand out and the bat lands. He quickly unties the message. It reads: </p><p></p><p>"Supervision has made a wrong assessment of the situation. These are not novice clients. Try to stall them for as long as possible, we are sending in reinforcements."</p><p></p><p>- Uh oh... the skeleton whispers. </p><p></p><p>As Rodriguez turns around, he notices that Ssservalax has quietly slid into the water, swimming towards the other skiff. Zolark has grabbed her musket and is carefully aiming it at the man holding the torch.</p><p></p><p>- Pulls a little to the left, he keeps muttering. Quinlan showed you how to use one of these last time. Aim... Cock...</p><p></p><p>A ferocious detonation suddenly fills the air in the cavern. Zolark's shot hits the client square in the chest, and he falls back in the skiff, dangerously rocking it. The goblin immediately starts reloading the musket. </p><p></p><p>- Master Rezzan, prepare the artillery! the knight yells as he turns around towards his fallen companion.</p><p>- The artillery is always prepared! a soft voice responds. </p><p> </p><p>The robed figure at the back of the boat stands up and arcane chanting follows. Suddenly, a flame erupts from Master Rezzan's hand and blooms into a cloud of fire that engulfs the boat the receivers are on. All three are burnt pretty bad although luckily the pillars and the lack of a good line of sight has diminished the impact of the fireball. </p><p></p><p>That's when Zolark decides he'd rather not stay around for the next piece of artillery. He remembers how Craicg from Inner Relations told him about the Swamp Goblins and their natural ease with swimming. Taking heart from this he dives into the water. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Ssservalax has slithered very close to where the client's skiff is. The knight seems to be putting his hands on the shoulders of the wounded man, and a while light shines briefly. The man stands back up, and takes a medallion from under his shirt. A bright halo of light suddenly bathes the entire cavern. </p><p></p><p>Ssservalax recalls a conversation with Borisss, a kuo-toan colleague from reception about underground water currents. He told her that just outside the main channels in underground lakes there are often jagged rocks just under the surface. She dives, then gives the skiff a good push, but her strength is not enough to really change the course of the embarcation. </p><p></p><p>However, the nudge attracted the attention of the knight who draws his sword, standing, and prepares to slash at the troglodyte. Ssservalax dives, remembering her times playing hide and seek in the caves with Bronigren, the gnome from Exploration who loves spelunking. She uses the reflections on the stalagmites and those of her own scales to confuse the Paladin, and his sword just slashes the water. </p><p></p><p>Rodriguez grabs the loaded musket and aims it at the wizard. Meanwhile Banult gives their skiff a push from one of the natural pillars, and they start sliding towards the client's skiff. Rodriguez remembers a Flumph hunting party that he got invited to by Smythyngton, the Death Knight from Patron Relations. He has shot back then, but not from a moving boat. He fires, but the shot goes wide. </p><p></p><p>Banult is struggling with the oars and cannot seem to steer the boat. The wizard starts chanting again and three streaks of purple erupt from the robed silhouette's fingers and fly to Ssservalax (undrwater), Banult and Rodriguez. The arcane missiles hit them in the chest and burn with an unnatural light. </p><p></p><p>Ssservalax realises that they are going to get killed unless they get creative and decides to even the odds in the receivers' favour. She floats to the surface for an instant and releases the toxin in her sweatgland sacks. A horrendous stench suddenly swallows the client's skiff and its surroundings. The three clients become nauseous and have to struggle to keep their last meals in. </p><p></p><p>Zolark emerges on a rock outcropping south of the cave. He slides onto the rocks. The clients have not seen him, but he's quite far. Still, he takes his throwing axe out of his pack and tries to throw it at the Paladin. He fails, and the axe sinks quietly into the lake. </p><p></p><p>Rodriguez decides that there's no point in standing on the boat like a sitting duck so he lets himself sink into the lake. Banult meanwhile gets annoyed at the oars. He gives a good kick on one of the pillers and his boat glides over the water towards the other boat. He quickly rolls into a ball at the front of the boat in the hope that they will not see him. </p><p></p><p>Zolark sees what is happening, and decides to attract the attention to him (despite the risk to his own health). </p><p></p><p>- You are filthier than the excrements of a leprous pig! You stink worse than a goblin's drunken vomit! Your mother was a hairless ape and your father a lecherous troll! You're no knight in shining armour! You're just a sanctimonius fleshbag of sputum wrapped in tin!</p><p></p><p>The Paladin tries to stay cool at this avalanche of vile insults, but Zolark manages to distract him long enough that he doesn't see Banult stand at the front of his skiff, war flail in hand. At the last moment, the knight realises he is being attacked, and he manages to dodge despite his nausea, at the cost of being severely destabilised. Banult, who is also feeling nauseous because of the smell instead focuses his attention on the wizard, who is chanting again, and this time hits him in the back with the flail, knocking him off the boat and in the water. </p><p></p><p>Ssservalax wastes no time and, cutlass in hand, starts slashing at the elf (for it is an elf) who struggles to stay afloat. Zolark can only look at the scene remotely and without any idea what he can do to help. Rodriguez finally emerges on the shallow end where the burnt troglodytes lay. He turns around and shouts encouragements. "Love the energy guys! Keep at it!" But he also doesn't know what to do. </p><p></p><p>Banult is facing the Paladin (who has finally recovered his balance) and the other man who looks decidedly like a priest. In fact his hand is now glowing with a golden night, and the dwarf decides he'd rather not touch that hand. So instead, being reckless, he jumps at the other boat and swings his flail as hard as he can at a precise spot he knows is weak: Jon from upkeep told him a while ago that Dungeon, Inc. went cheap on the boat purchases, and all the skiffs in the Dungeon have a structural defect there. The bottom of the boat blows apart and the skiff starts to sink. The paladin loses his balance again and falls in the water. The cleric tries to touch Banult with his luminous hand, but the dwarf is having none of it and evades.</p><p></p><p>Ssservalax realises that she's not efficient enough slashing at the wizard, so she grabs him by the ankle and starts pulling him down. When he sees that, Rodriguez decides he would be more useful underwater helping her than pep talking from the short. He enters the water again. </p><p></p><p>The paladin swims to the Banult's skiff just as the client's skiff goes entirely underwater. The dwarf face the choice of either jumping on the safe skiff and avoiding the cleric's hand, or slamming his flail at the Paladin but risk being touched by the cleric. He decides for neither, and with a mad laugh, he jumps and slams his flail into the intact boat. With a big hole in the middle, the boat starts to sink. The Paladin is plunged into the water again and this time the cleric follows suit. </p><p></p><p>Banult then swims as fast as he can towards the short, with the Paladin hot on his heels. He now measures the advantage of having been handed a puny (but light) leather tunic by Quinlan, and he reaches the short ahead of the knight. </p><p></p><p>Ssservalax has finally managed to drown the wizard. She abandons the lifeless body and moves on to the priest who is trying to swim to short. As she reaches him from below, she is surprised to see Rodriguez who grins (or does he?) as he himself grabs the other ankle of the priest. The two of them make short work of the religious man. How fitting that he should die for the glory of the Reptile God, Ssservalax things. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, on short, Banult is waiting to face the Paladin, now well and truly enraged. He manages to land a blow on him, but the Paladin slashes him in return. He is clearly the superior fighter and while Banult had an advantage with the Paladin still half immersed, on solid ground he might not last long. That's when Zolark from the other side of the cave yells at him in Troglodytic language*: </p><p></p><p>- Go into the corridor and set up the trap by pulling on the cord!</p><p></p><p>Banult pretends to flee. The Paladin's sword is now illuminating the scene as the drowning Cleric's light fades. </p><p></p><p>- I will cut you to pieces, you evil halfman! the Paladin yells. </p><p></p><p>Banult runs down the corridor, sloshing in the thigh deep water, feeling the light of the sword on his back. He grabs the cord and keeps running. The grate that was closing the pit opens just as the Paladin is walking on it, and he falls straight down underwater. There's a noise of a mechanical slam underneath, and muffled yells for a few more instants, and then it's over. </p><p></p><p>Banult sits down, panting, as his companions slowly make their way back swimming (or in Rodriguez' case walking). </p><p></p><p>That's when the dwarf hears a noise coming from the entrance. Weary, he stands back up and grabs his flail firmly. His dark vision allows him to see a silhouette walking towards him cautiously with a long sword and a shield. A very deep voice then calls at him: </p><p></p><p>- Hey Banult, is that you? Is everybody OK?</p><p>- Yes, Sir Robert. We got them. </p><p>- Wow! Good job, man! the zombie says slapping the dwarf on the back.</p><p></p><p>They all meet Sir Robert of the Golden Lance in the corridor while they are stripping the four dead clients of their belongings.</p><p></p><p>- Thanks for coming to help us, Rodriguez says to the undead knight. </p><p>- Think nothing of it. When I heard you might be in trouble, I volunteered to come and help immediately while they put together a proper rescue team. I'm glad I wasn't needed. </p><p>- Well, you did notheless sssave the day, Sir Robert. I was growing quite faint with fear that we might never play draughtsss together again...</p><p>- Bla bla bla, Zolark mutters under his breath. He didn't "thave the thay". And that damn rotten do good pile of maggots is going to take credit for our hard work... again!</p><p></p><p>Rodriguez takes a minute to address his receiver colleagues. </p><p>- We are of course grateful to Sir Robert for his assistance, but most importantly I wanted to say that I was really proud of you. What we did today proves that the letters in TEAM do indeed spell Together Everyone Achieves More. </p><p>- Aaaarghl Zolark mutters. Kill me now. </p><p></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>* the PCs have all chosen to speak Troglodyte so that they would share a relatively obscure language to communicate when clients can hear. Well, except Toad, despite his name. </em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sammael99, post: 7234514, member: 1157"] [size=3][b]Mission #2: Wrong Assessment[/b][/size] Following the completion of their mission, and particularly upon hearing how cleverly Gnorman got the metamorphosed magician to betray himself, Zyylla sponsored the gnome for Employee of the Month, and Gnorman was chosen by the board of directors. He leaves for a week of well-deserved rest in the upper levels of Dungeon, Inc. where (presumably) he'll be able to smooch to the important people in the company. Meanwhile, it's more work for Ssservalax and Zolark. Following an unfortunate series of accidents amongst receivers, Zyylla reshuffles the teams around and adds Banult, a reckless dwarf and Rodriguez, a go-getting skeleton to the team. She calls the four of them in for an urgent mission. - Marketing has set up this scheme a few years ago, she explains. They call it 'proactive advertising' and a number of client areas work this way. In this case, it's the Lair of the Reptile God. It's an area with some big lizardy monster that Troglodyte residents worship. People from advertising regularly set up teams to go to the Outside and bring back some villagers for 'sacrifice' to the Reptile God. That way, adventurers are continually attracted to that area. - Very clever, Rodrigues interjects. - Anyway, Zyylla says, a group of four adventurers have entered the area. Now this is an area suited for clients of intermediary power levels, so I normally wouldn't send you there. But supervision tells us that these clients are actually novices. Chances are they will be wiped out by whatever the level has to offer to them. Still, you need to make sure they're done for, and possibly get rid of a survivor if there is one. - Ssso, kill them? Ssservalax asks. - Yes, kill them, of course. Oh, and before you go: it has come to my attention that some receivers in my teams may have been keeping some loot on the side for their own enrichment. I don't need to stress that this is not only forbidden by company policy, it's a dangerous path to tread on. Those that do this will be Warned, and believe me, you do not want to be Warned. Zyylla is not looking at anyone specifically, but tension can be felt in the air. She finally breaks it by saying: - So, who will be Mission Chief ? Zolark, who doesn't want to attract any further attention following Zyylla's tirade about pilfering doesn't put his hand up. - If no one else minds, it would be a great honour for me to take the mantle of Chief for this mission, Rodriguez says. I will do my utmost to steer the team in the right direction! - Good, that's done then. Off you go to see Irma. The small band goes to meet the cartographer. She hands them the map of the Lair of the Reptile God and stresses repeatedly, looking Rodriguez in the eye sockets, that the map should come back in the exact state that it's been given in. - You have a reputation, Boney, and I don't like those that think themselves cartographers when they're not. [img]https://dl.dropbox.com/s/j5lgkxyxctoz8ux/25092017-Dinc%20Wrong%20Assess001.jpg?dl=0[/img] Original Map by Dyson Logos Then they go to see Quinlan for gear. Ssservalax is handed a pristine musket. - You know how to use one of these? the minotaur asks. - Of course I do. We are not an inferior race, you know! - Yeah, yeah. Well be careful with this one. It packs a punch, but it pulls a little to the left. - Rodriguez' pack holds a rapier, a bola and a scale mail armor. Banult is given a massive war flail, some dueling pistols and a light leather tunic. Zolark ends up with a dagger, a throwing axe and the same oversized helmet he had last time. - Seriously, he asks Quinlan with exasperated eyes. - Sorry, little buddy, the Minotaur responds. After a short elevator ride, the four find themselves at the entrance of the Lair of the Reptile God. - Now Team, Rodriguez says. I'm sure we'll do great work here, and I want us to keep a positive attitude at all times. Lets stay on our toe-bones and everything will be fine. Banult, I think you should go first, but please keep cool-headed. Banult lights a lantern that was in his pack, and they enter the Lair. They explore the first corridor, and a short flight of stairs going down leads them to a flooded area with about a foot of water everywhere. Looking at their map, they decide to first eliminate the rooms on their left in order to make sure the clients, dead or alive, are not there. The room marked with a trapped statue looks empty, so they avoid getting any closer. Towards the end of the corridor, they find two changing rooms with adept's robes. The robes are brown with ornements at the bottom that look like Troglodyte speech. - It is our sacred script, Ssservalax says, but it's gibberish. They have just ssstuck random words together. It makesss no sssense... - OK, team, Zolark points out that in case we meet the resident troglodytes, we will need a cover story. I suggest that myself, Zolark and Banult put some robes on. That way we can be penitents that Ssservalax has recruited if we should meet the locals. They find appropriate sized robes, and don them on. They also take some extra cords tying the robes in case they need something akin to rope (which was not in any of their packs). Then they make their way back towards the entrance to explore the other branch of the complex. They are wading through water and while they aim for quiet, it's not that easy to achieve. As they near the area where the albino alligator dwells, discussions start again about who should go check that the beast hasn't eaten one or more adventurers. Finally, Rodriguez uses his prerogatives as Mission Chief: - I'm going to make a decision. Banult, you go and check the alligator room. Banult shrugs and goes. He advances prudently to the edge of the room and notices the headless body of a white alligator floating in the (deepers) basin in the room. He calls in the others. - Maybe it's eaten a client that has sunk to the bottom ? Zolark asks. - Well, if that's the case, we can always go check once we know one of them isn't accounted for. Agreed? So they continue on towards the location marked as Vicious Pit Trap on their map. - It's got two skulls on the map, so it must be pretty deadly. Let's all be careful here. Before they head down the corridor, the search and find the mechanism that opens the secret door to the Oars and Boots cabinet. They pick a couple of oars, thinking it might help them with the pit trap. After having closed the secret passage again, they start tapping the floor in front of them. Quickly they realize that there's a grate on the floor where the pit trap should be. Ssservalax even feels like something crunched when she pressed the oar handle on the grate. Rodriguez decides to have a look. The skeleton pushes his head underwater while Banult lights the lantern above him. Rodriguez sees that there is indeed a sturdy metal grate, and two hands are gripping it from below. He emerges to explain this to the others. - I remember this! Zolark says. I was once chatting with Geraldine, you know the dwarven gal from Upkeep. I asked her about some of the nasty traps they had to handle and she told me about this one: it's underwater, and by default the pit is open. Someone steps into it and momentum and weight carries them to the bottom, not too far. There's a pressure plate there, and when pressed it slams the pit shut underwater, so they basically drown. - Oooh, that is vicious... Banult says admiringly. - Anyway, I know how to open it again. We need to collect the body, or rather its belongings, right? - Indeed. - Geraldine told me that for this kind of trap there's usually a lever a few meters before, hidden under the water. Zolark finds the lever hidden behind a shifting brick underwater. He actions it and Rodriguez goes into the pit to fish the body up. It looks freshly dead with a terrorized look on its face. It's wearing a light armor, a rapier and miscellaneous tools in a satchel. - Probably a thief, Rodriguez says. - You're supposed to say Rogue, these days, Zolark mentions. - Who cares, technically all our clients are thiefs. Zolark suggests that they should keep the pit trap closed and tie one of the robe cords to the lever so that if they need to they can run past the pit and grab the cord to open it up. - Excellent plan, Rodriguez says. Love the energy, we're being creative, it's awesome! Having executed on Zolark's plan, they continue down the corridor which opens into a massive cave. There are dozens of natural pillars over the water which clearly gets deeper. There's a ledge however on which the receivers are now standing. The air reeks, a smell not unlike burnt fish. All around them, floating in the shallow water are charred corpses of troglodytes. Several pillars are black with soot. "That feels like some pretty powerful magic for novice clients", Zolark thinks, but he doesn't say anything. Ssservalax looks mildly put off at the massacre of her brethren, but is not excessively outraged. After all, she made a radically different life choice and to her these were mostly bumpkins... Rodriguez looks at the map and says: - We should first secure those side doors leading to the Treasure of the Troglodytes. They head down in that direction, trying to minimise sloshing noises. Where the map indicates that there's a boat, they indeed find a small skiff. They also notice that there must have been a second one moored there, but the rope has been slashed and the boat is no longer there. - They must have gone towards the end of the cave, maybe aiming for the Eggs, Rodriguez states. - Should we follow them there? Zolark asks. - Does anyone know how to row? Rodriguez asks in response. - I think I can manage that, Banult says. I went cave exploring with my pal Jack the Wandered from Exploration a few times and he let me row. Indeed, the strong dwarf's strokes soon get them going, navigating in between the pillars. After a while however, Ssservalax spots some shifting lights in the distance and hear some voices speaking in common. - Be wary, Sir Dramman, as there may yet be more of these slimy creatures around. Ssservalax looks shocked and turns to Banult to quietly say to him: - We're not slimy you know. That's actually a misconception! Looking afar, Zolark spots three men on a skiff. A man in armor is rowing, his hair are cut short and his face is severe looking. A man is standing besides him holding a torch. He is also wearing armor and a mace hangs to his belt. Finally, there's a lithe silhouette in the shadows sitting at the back of the skiff. Rodriguez has a moment of indecision. He wonders what to do now, when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a small bat appears and starts fluttering around him. It looks like it's got a tiny message tied to one of its legs. Rodriguez puts his hand out and the bat lands. He quickly unties the message. It reads: "Supervision has made a wrong assessment of the situation. These are not novice clients. Try to stall them for as long as possible, we are sending in reinforcements." - Uh oh... the skeleton whispers. As Rodriguez turns around, he notices that Ssservalax has quietly slid into the water, swimming towards the other skiff. Zolark has grabbed her musket and is carefully aiming it at the man holding the torch. - Pulls a little to the left, he keeps muttering. Quinlan showed you how to use one of these last time. Aim... Cock... A ferocious detonation suddenly fills the air in the cavern. Zolark's shot hits the client square in the chest, and he falls back in the skiff, dangerously rocking it. The goblin immediately starts reloading the musket. - Master Rezzan, prepare the artillery! the knight yells as he turns around towards his fallen companion. - The artillery is always prepared! a soft voice responds. The robed figure at the back of the boat stands up and arcane chanting follows. Suddenly, a flame erupts from Master Rezzan's hand and blooms into a cloud of fire that engulfs the boat the receivers are on. All three are burnt pretty bad although luckily the pillars and the lack of a good line of sight has diminished the impact of the fireball. That's when Zolark decides he'd rather not stay around for the next piece of artillery. He remembers how Craicg from Inner Relations told him about the Swamp Goblins and their natural ease with swimming. Taking heart from this he dives into the water. Meanwhile, Ssservalax has slithered very close to where the client's skiff is. The knight seems to be putting his hands on the shoulders of the wounded man, and a while light shines briefly. The man stands back up, and takes a medallion from under his shirt. A bright halo of light suddenly bathes the entire cavern. Ssservalax recalls a conversation with Borisss, a kuo-toan colleague from reception about underground water currents. He told her that just outside the main channels in underground lakes there are often jagged rocks just under the surface. She dives, then gives the skiff a good push, but her strength is not enough to really change the course of the embarcation. However, the nudge attracted the attention of the knight who draws his sword, standing, and prepares to slash at the troglodyte. Ssservalax dives, remembering her times playing hide and seek in the caves with Bronigren, the gnome from Exploration who loves spelunking. She uses the reflections on the stalagmites and those of her own scales to confuse the Paladin, and his sword just slashes the water. Rodriguez grabs the loaded musket and aims it at the wizard. Meanwhile Banult gives their skiff a push from one of the natural pillars, and they start sliding towards the client's skiff. Rodriguez remembers a Flumph hunting party that he got invited to by Smythyngton, the Death Knight from Patron Relations. He has shot back then, but not from a moving boat. He fires, but the shot goes wide. Banult is struggling with the oars and cannot seem to steer the boat. The wizard starts chanting again and three streaks of purple erupt from the robed silhouette's fingers and fly to Ssservalax (undrwater), Banult and Rodriguez. The arcane missiles hit them in the chest and burn with an unnatural light. Ssservalax realises that they are going to get killed unless they get creative and decides to even the odds in the receivers' favour. She floats to the surface for an instant and releases the toxin in her sweatgland sacks. A horrendous stench suddenly swallows the client's skiff and its surroundings. The three clients become nauseous and have to struggle to keep their last meals in. Zolark emerges on a rock outcropping south of the cave. He slides onto the rocks. The clients have not seen him, but he's quite far. Still, he takes his throwing axe out of his pack and tries to throw it at the Paladin. He fails, and the axe sinks quietly into the lake. Rodriguez decides that there's no point in standing on the boat like a sitting duck so he lets himself sink into the lake. Banult meanwhile gets annoyed at the oars. He gives a good kick on one of the pillers and his boat glides over the water towards the other boat. He quickly rolls into a ball at the front of the boat in the hope that they will not see him. Zolark sees what is happening, and decides to attract the attention to him (despite the risk to his own health). - You are filthier than the excrements of a leprous pig! You stink worse than a goblin's drunken vomit! Your mother was a hairless ape and your father a lecherous troll! You're no knight in shining armour! You're just a sanctimonius fleshbag of sputum wrapped in tin! The Paladin tries to stay cool at this avalanche of vile insults, but Zolark manages to distract him long enough that he doesn't see Banult stand at the front of his skiff, war flail in hand. At the last moment, the knight realises he is being attacked, and he manages to dodge despite his nausea, at the cost of being severely destabilised. Banult, who is also feeling nauseous because of the smell instead focuses his attention on the wizard, who is chanting again, and this time hits him in the back with the flail, knocking him off the boat and in the water. Ssservalax wastes no time and, cutlass in hand, starts slashing at the elf (for it is an elf) who struggles to stay afloat. Zolark can only look at the scene remotely and without any idea what he can do to help. Rodriguez finally emerges on the shallow end where the burnt troglodytes lay. He turns around and shouts encouragements. "Love the energy guys! Keep at it!" But he also doesn't know what to do. Banult is facing the Paladin (who has finally recovered his balance) and the other man who looks decidedly like a priest. In fact his hand is now glowing with a golden night, and the dwarf decides he'd rather not touch that hand. So instead, being reckless, he jumps at the other boat and swings his flail as hard as he can at a precise spot he knows is weak: Jon from upkeep told him a while ago that Dungeon, Inc. went cheap on the boat purchases, and all the skiffs in the Dungeon have a structural defect there. The bottom of the boat blows apart and the skiff starts to sink. The paladin loses his balance again and falls in the water. The cleric tries to touch Banult with his luminous hand, but the dwarf is having none of it and evades. Ssservalax realises that she's not efficient enough slashing at the wizard, so she grabs him by the ankle and starts pulling him down. When he sees that, Rodriguez decides he would be more useful underwater helping her than pep talking from the short. He enters the water again. The paladin swims to the Banult's skiff just as the client's skiff goes entirely underwater. The dwarf face the choice of either jumping on the safe skiff and avoiding the cleric's hand, or slamming his flail at the Paladin but risk being touched by the cleric. He decides for neither, and with a mad laugh, he jumps and slams his flail into the intact boat. With a big hole in the middle, the boat starts to sink. The Paladin is plunged into the water again and this time the cleric follows suit. Banult then swims as fast as he can towards the short, with the Paladin hot on his heels. He now measures the advantage of having been handed a puny (but light) leather tunic by Quinlan, and he reaches the short ahead of the knight. Ssservalax has finally managed to drown the wizard. She abandons the lifeless body and moves on to the priest who is trying to swim to short. As she reaches him from below, she is surprised to see Rodriguez who grins (or does he?) as he himself grabs the other ankle of the priest. The two of them make short work of the religious man. How fitting that he should die for the glory of the Reptile God, Ssservalax things. Meanwhile, on short, Banult is waiting to face the Paladin, now well and truly enraged. He manages to land a blow on him, but the Paladin slashes him in return. He is clearly the superior fighter and while Banult had an advantage with the Paladin still half immersed, on solid ground he might not last long. That's when Zolark from the other side of the cave yells at him in Troglodytic language*: - Go into the corridor and set up the trap by pulling on the cord! Banult pretends to flee. The Paladin's sword is now illuminating the scene as the drowning Cleric's light fades. - I will cut you to pieces, you evil halfman! the Paladin yells. Banult runs down the corridor, sloshing in the thigh deep water, feeling the light of the sword on his back. He grabs the cord and keeps running. The grate that was closing the pit opens just as the Paladin is walking on it, and he falls straight down underwater. There's a noise of a mechanical slam underneath, and muffled yells for a few more instants, and then it's over. Banult sits down, panting, as his companions slowly make their way back swimming (or in Rodriguez' case walking). That's when the dwarf hears a noise coming from the entrance. Weary, he stands back up and grabs his flail firmly. His dark vision allows him to see a silhouette walking towards him cautiously with a long sword and a shield. A very deep voice then calls at him: - Hey Banult, is that you? Is everybody OK? - Yes, Sir Robert. We got them. - Wow! Good job, man! the zombie says slapping the dwarf on the back. They all meet Sir Robert of the Golden Lance in the corridor while they are stripping the four dead clients of their belongings. - Thanks for coming to help us, Rodriguez says to the undead knight. - Think nothing of it. When I heard you might be in trouble, I volunteered to come and help immediately while they put together a proper rescue team. I'm glad I wasn't needed. - Well, you did notheless sssave the day, Sir Robert. I was growing quite faint with fear that we might never play draughtsss together again... - Bla bla bla, Zolark mutters under his breath. He didn't "thave the thay". And that damn rotten do good pile of maggots is going to take credit for our hard work... again! Rodriguez takes a minute to address his receiver colleagues. - We are of course grateful to Sir Robert for his assistance, but most importantly I wanted to say that I was really proud of you. What we did today proves that the letters in TEAM do indeed spell Together Everyone Achieves More. - Aaaarghl Zolark mutters. Kill me now. [i] * the PCs have all chosen to speak Troglodyte so that they would share a relatively obscure language to communicate when clients can hear. Well, except Toad, despite his name. [/i] [/QUOTE]
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