Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 834806" data-attributes="member: 2292">Saturday, August 26th, 508 AF, continued Geoffrey and Halgo pass through the window, the sudden evaporation of the water leaving their throats dry.  "That's...odd," Geoffrey comments.  Halgo is too busy checking the pages of his spellbook for damage to answer.  The top level of the caves seem mostly empty.  The adventurers spend a few minutes exploring a gallery filled with four feet chess peices and a copper bell, giving wide berth to a spiderweb that fills a fifteen foot long stretch of wall.  Following a hall filled with mauled statues of human soldiers and miners, they eventually reach a large cavern that spreads out beyond the limit of Geoffrey's sun-rod.  As they enter into the cavern, Geoffrey and Thrash make out the sound of muffled talking in the distance.  Although much of the cavern is dark, there is a dim patch of illumination from the northeast corner.  A quick exploration finds a ramp leading up to a crack on the wall, and the light creeping through the crack.  The dim sound of talking gets slightly louder here."Check it now?" Trash whispers.  Halgo shakes his head, motioning everyone back."Lets check the rest first," he explains after they've moved back.  "I'd rather not leave anything behind us."The exploration of the room reveals no enemies, but there are a number of curiousities.  The most greusome are ten copper statues, made with such detail that they seem almost lifelike.  Halgo offers the comment that they may have been transformed by magic, but points out that the damage caused to the metal forms make returning them to flesh potentially fatal.The second discovery that takes everyone aback is a small building, over ten feat tall, set into the eastern wall.  The building has no windows or doors, but the ceiling hangs over the walls and bears what appears to be a giant handle.  Geoffrey boosts Halgo up for a closer look, and he confirms that the roof isn't bound to the walls by mortar."It's like a giant doll house," Halgo explains, quickly picking up on the reason for the handle.  "You can take the roof off and peer inside.""Why in hell would you put that into a dungeon?" Geoffrey asks.  Halgo just shrugs.Next to the dolls house is a table nearly ten feet tall, with large chunks of crystal scattered accross the top.  Geoffrey boosts Thrash up, and the slow process of passing the table contents to the floor for Halgo to examine with magic begins.  Although none show any signs of enhancement, Halgo suggests they may be psionic rather than conventional magic."Store them under the table," he says.  "If we get out of here alive, we'll leave them for Blarth to check."They return to the ramp.  Little can be seen through the crack beyond the gleam of light, but Halgo recognises the muffled language being spoken as goblin.  They spend several minutes examining the wall, searching for some secret door that leads to the chamber beyond, but none appears.  Eventually, the three of them settle on the ramp to contemplate the problem.  "Think we missed something in the room?" Geoffrey asks.  "Some hidden doorway in the hall or some such?"Halgo shakes his head.  Like all dwarves he knows his stone, and the odds of something like that escaping his scruitiny is slime.  "It's got to be up here," the wizard says.  "Why build a ramp to a dead end?  It's stupid.  It's almost like..."He pauses and snaps his fingers.   He scrambles up the ramp and sticks his hand through the wall, wiggling it on the far side.  Within seconds, the wall sloughs away and he can see the room beyond.  "Illusion," he says.  Geoffrey is quick to follow, but Thrash is more difficult, stubbornly believing in the walls existence until Geoffrey grabs him and forces his head through the seemingly solid stone.'Whoah," Thrash mutters.Beyond the illusory wall is another large cavern, stretching out for several hundred feet.  The room is well lit by flickering torches and glowing moss, and the floor seems to be made of corroded copper.  The cavern is filled with Goblin equipement, and a number of the ugly creatures scurry along the floor.  The group makes out an impromtu kichen and dining area, a livestock pen with several cows and horses within, and a row of work benches lines with blue crystals much like the ones they found on the giant work table.  In the distance, towards the far end of the cavern, they can make out the form of a giant dragon.  It appears to be dead, its body slowly decaying, but it has been the site of recent activity.  It's mouth is propped open by a pair of spears, and the dragons throat.In addition to the goblins hurrying around, there is a small human child chained to the centre of the chamber.  He cries pitiously, although they are muffled by a filthy rag stuffed into his mouth.  Two other children, both human, are kept in a cramped cave near the livestock.Thrash is the first to respond to the scene."Thirteen," he whispers quietly.  "Four leader types on top of that.""What?" Geoffrey hisses."There's thirteen goblin warriors down there, plus four which show signs of being something special."He points around the room."The guy down by the dragon, the one who'se flesh is going blue and whose head looks like a ripe mellon, he's probably something odd.  Mage, maybe, or something like it.  That one over there, standing guard over the kids, he's dressed in robes like bulgy head so they're probably the same.  Apprentice, if we're lucky.  Over by the ale, with the crown.  Some kind of leader.  The bigger goblin scowling at everyone is probably a bodyguard.""All that in three seconds?" Geoffrey comments."It's a knack," Thrash shrugs.  "We going to take them?""There's seventeen of them," Halgo comments."Yeah, so?" Thrash asks.  "There's three of us," Halgo says helpfully.Thrash shrugs."We've got surprise, a nice ledge to shoot at them from, and there's children down there.""He's got a point," Goeffrey says, but he sounds dubious.  He has three javelins in a sling accross his back, but he's not sure that will hold off a goblin horde."It'll work," Thrash promises.  He readies the enchanted longbow and tests its pull.  "Besides, this was dried out by that window.""Look," Halgo says.  "I'm not saying we can't take them, but we've already lost Yip to this place.  Let's not risk another death.""Do you really think anyone else in Bellhold will be good for this," Geoffrey starts to argue, playing devils advocate.  "Apart from Blarth, and we don't even know if he's..."The debate is cut short."Congratulations," a voice hisses through the air, in badly broken common.  Everyone's eyes snap back to the cavern, and they spot the swollen headed goblin looming over the trapped boy.  "Today is your lucky day, boy!  Soon you'll have power...or you'll be dead.  Either way, human, your life will be better."The goblin raises a hammer while the guards hold the child down, and flourishes what appears to be a shard of blue glass.  As he moves in, the child thrashes against the guards and goes limp."Blast," Halgo swears.  His crossbow is raised before the word leaves his lips.</blockquote>

Verification