From Slaves to Heroes in the Making (Heroes of Destiny)

[AndrewADnDPlayer]

Good Post Taboo... Turk "fondly" remembers the nights he spent with Osa on the boat and the Prancing Stallion getting acquainted. Of course, it will be a lifelong memory for Osa; Turk is sure of that. Turk is also thrilled to get Justice back...she is near and dear to his heart.

Not to give anything away but the squabble with Minx on the trip into Aguila is nothing in comparison to the one on the way out...that should be fun to write about. About as much fun as sitting in the middle of a Hurricane.

 

[Taboo]

Thanks!

That's a good description, unfortunately words will never quite describe the squabble(s) with Minx and Turk! I almost feel like sitting in the middle of a hurricane is mild compared to trying to write that!

It'll take some time to come close to making the story give that part of the adventure justice and not just because of the character interactions.

I agree, Osa will never forget her adventure.......especially the trip back and her time at the inn.

 

[Taboo]

The Stay in Aguila

Our heroes didn’t plan to stay long in Aguila. Just long enough to get a little rest, restock their supplies and get ready to head to Oakhurst. In spite of being gone for nearly two years, they had really only spent less than two weeks together and didn’t really know each other.

They spent a little bit of the time they were in Aguila to remedy that situation, but they really didn’t spend that much time getting to know everyone. Kierwin and Minx were too obsessed trying to figure Snap out At least here, no one and nothing was trying to kill them.

Minx and Kierwin had both tried to talk to Snap, but with no more success than before. Sense Motive didn’t work, all that did was confirm that he really didn’t want to talk about it and was afraid of telling them anything. Their suddenly mysterious friend was determined to keep his secrets to himself for now.

Minx had always been his best friend, so she had tried to talk to him alone. Kierwin had been busy taking care of Rowena when “the Pig”, ok when Turk wasn’t around. She had, after all been closer to him when they were growing up than Kierwin had, she’d spent more time studying with him since their studies were so much the same. Kierwin had spent most of her life in the Temple learning about Elhonna, dedicating her life to being a Cleric. During their free time, what little they’d had, the three of them had spent time together, but Minx had definitely been closer to Snap than Kierwin was.

The problem was, even spending time with him alone didn’t help. He wouldn’t even lower his scarf and let her see his face. In fact, he would barely speak to her. The stubborn half-orc that she loved like a brother was determined that whatever was wrong was his secret alone and he wasn’t going to share the burden.

She was really worried about what would happen when Turk (she remembered her promise to Kierwin and was trying to be civil, even in her thoughts) and Thorin found out that Snap was a half-orc. Most people reacted violently to orcs, even half-orcs and she didn’t know these two people well enough to know just how they would react. Especially given the mysteriousness of the situation.

She talked to Kierwin and Kierwin had already promised Snap not to say anything until he was ready for them to. Maybe if Snap showed that he was a hero they couldn’t help but trust him. Of course, that was a big maybe. Even Minx and Kierwin were going on faith, because this wasn’t the same Snap that left them so mysteriously a few years ago.

Even if she hadn’t talked to Kierwin and found out she’d promised Snap to keep his race a secret for now, she wouldn’t and couldn’t (for that matter) talk to Turk about it. She promised to try to get along with him, she’d fight along side him and she’d trust him with her life if it came to it, but to actually talk to him about something like this and ask for his trust? No way! Not likely! She was leaving that to Kierwin. She could handle talking to Thorin, if it ever came to it. He was ok, for a dwarf, anyway.

It was weird, Kierwin seemed to trust Turk. She actually fell for that chivalrous act of his. She even found him honorable. THAT was a new one! She thought Kierwin had better judgment than that. Maybe Kierwin had spent too much time with humans when she was younger. Kierwin was usually a good judge of character, or maybe she sensed something about Turk that Minx didn’t. WHATEVER! No matter what Kierwin thought, the man was still a pig, at least as far as men went. Besides, he was a HUMAN! She did have to admit he was a good fighter.

Minx didn’t mind traveling with him or more specifically, fighting along side him, she just tried to ignore the parts of him that made her want to kill or maim him. She figured that if she could avoid personal contact and especially avoid any repeat performances of the argument on the boat, they could work together just fine. For now, at least.

Next…..To Oakhurst

 

[Taboo]

The Voyage to Oakhurst

They were ready to head to Oakhurst. Kierwin had already been praying to Elhonna all morning that Minx would keep her temper under control and that Turk would steer clear of her on the trip. She thought maybe she should pray again, just to be safe.

Thorin put his little box in the water and spoke the word “NOS”, the box dutifully became a ship. The group, as well as Justice (which made it a little tighter fit, she was a rather large, though very well behaved horse) boarded the ship. They had a 5 day journey ahead of them to reach their destination.

This time, there were no sea monsters (whales) to panic anyone. Snap kept completely to himself, as far from the others as possible. No amount of coaxing could yield any results. It was infuriating to his friends to see him like this! They were running or rather had run out of ideas.

Kierwin was getting more and more worried about Rowena’s strange condition. She thought that if it was caused by shock that it should have worn off by now, especially with the care that they’d tried to give her. She decided to spend even more time with her, and even tried healing spells. She got nowhere. Either she was just too inexperienced and Rowena’s condition was beyond her skills or Rowena had something far different wrong with her than everyone thought. They still didn’t even know her real name, where she was from, or how long she’d been on that pirate ship. This woman was as big a mystery as Snap.

Turk continued to care for Rowena, she still seemed to trust him the most. She had ever since they’d all been thrown together on the pirate ship. Whenever Turk wasn’t around, Kierwin watched over her. She made sure she ate and slept, and had whatever she needed.

Thorin got along with everyone. Just as he had on the voyage to Aguila, he kept watch for any kind of dangers that might come along. He was a slightly unusual dwarf, friendly, quick to climb around on the mast and just plain do whatever needed doing. Geirmund spent most of his time at the helm during the day, giving it up only to rest. He was quiet, but also got along well with everyone.

Osa and Turk continued their relationship (for lack of a better word) during the voyage. Kierwin could see Minx’s eyes smolder with fury when she noticed that Turk’s bedding was empty and he was in the cabin with Osa at night during Kierwin and Minx’s watch. So far, Minx had refrained from starting anything, and had remained true to her word that she’d keep out of it. Everything went fine until the last day of the voyage, that is....

At dawn, Kierwin had been praying to Elhonna, then, as usual, Minx took her turn during their shared watch to study her spell book. Just as she finished and stood up to admire the beautiful day and the sight of the ocean, Turk came out of the cabin stretching with a smile and a very satisfied look on his face. That did it. Minx whispered under her breath that Osa was a tramp, not expecting Turk to actually hear her. Turk made a beeline toward Minx.

Kierwin just dropped her head onto her hands as she stayed at the helm. She prayed with all her heart and soul that the two of them didn’t kill each other and that Minx didn’t burn the ship down in her fury. She also prayed that Snap didn’t come to Minx’s defense and do anything at all for that matter, a quick glance showed her that he was still asleep, but he wouldn't stay that way if things got out of control. At this stage, she had no idea what Snap was capable of. She almost wished for a real sea monster right now, or a freak storm just for a distraction. Almost anything would be better than what she was sure was about to become a major fight. She was tempted to beg Elhonna for a storm, but of course, she knew that wouldn’t work!

Minx ripped into Turk, what was done was done, there was no going back. “You are a pig, you realize that don’t you? Do you know she’s married? You have no morals! I take that back. You’re worse than that, you’re morally corrupt! And for that matter, Osa IS a tramp!”

Turk was turning red with the effort of trying to remember she was a lady and a member of the group and not losing his temper. He was also trying not to say or do something he’d regret, like kill her. “It’s..none..of..your..business..and..I..strongly..recommend..that..you..remove..yourself..from..my..sight..right..now.”

Minx never backed down from anything, not when she thought she was right, and right now, she thought she was. “Look! I said I wouldn’t say anything in front of the so-called “ladies” and I’m not! But you… YOU think you’re chivalrous? You’re sleeping with a married woman! I don’t care what state her marriage is in, and that her husband is ancient and half dead! It’s not even so much the point that she’s married, it’s the fact that you’re sleeping with her and you just met her! MEN! And YOU!!! YOU ARE ONE OF THE WORST I’VE EVER MET!!! You make me sick! How can you do that? You may have Kierwin tricked into thinking you’re honorable and chivalrous, but I can see you for what you really are. A dishonorable pig!”

Turk was nearly shaking with rage and trying to contain it.“You need to learn that you are overly judgmental and you can’t force your values on people. You are an intelligent person, but you’ve got a lot to learn about the world little lady. You just flat out don't know what you're talking about. I find you completely without honor, and you've no right to speak of this here or anywhere else, for that matter! Please drop this before it gets any worse, I have no wish to fight you or to carry on with this. My warning stands, and it's the last one. Don’t ever challenge me like this in front of Osa, Rowena or any other lady who happens to be around. I won’t tolerate you dishonoring any lady.” He started to turn and walk away, but this time Minx wouldn’t back down. She continued her tirade, and grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you're bedding poor Rowena, too. It's not like she could even stand up for herself." That was her mistake.

Turk pulled off a gauntlet, and threw it at Minx's feet, actually challenging her to a duel. He’d been pushed too far this time. "I've put up with your endless tirades because you're a Lady, and I will not fight a Lady unless driven to, but you've just gone too far. If you'd been a man, I'd have struck you down long ago for speaking like this in public. I've asked you to drop this, it's none of your business, and you really don't know anything about it."

Of course Minx did back down at the threat of a duel, she had no wish to physically fight Turk, but she certainly found the man to be without honor! She realized her mistake, now when it was too late. Fine, let Kierwin deal with him, she seemed to like him for some odd reason!

Kierwin had lifted her head from her hands and witnessed the exchange. Oh, Elhonna, what should I do now? She didn’t wish to interfere, but she also didn’t wish to see either of her friends dead, or the boat burned to cinders and lying at the bottom of the ocean.

This stupid mess had to stop. She nearly ran the short distance to the two people. One, whom she’d known all her life and loved even more than a sister. The other whom she’d only just met, but trusted with her life. She took Turk by the elbow and the look on her face and in her emerald eyes begged him to hear her out.

He listened to her pleas. It wasn’t much more than she’d said before, Minx had always been hard headed and expected others to have her strict values. She did jump to conclusions, and she was judgmental, but she would hold up her end of the group. Any arguments she had on a personal level would never affect the way she functioned as part of the group itself. No matter what Minx thought of Osa, she would even risk her own life to protect her.

Kierwin would talk to her again and make sure she understood just how strongly Turk felt about what she said in front of the ladies. Kierwin knew Turk was hurting, but beyond the fact that he was upset about worrying about Minx bring ing things up in front of the ladies, she had no idea what else was going on in his head or heart. She would keep trying try to keep Minx from blowing up at Turk again. If she didn’t meet those conditions, then Kierwin would go along with what Turk decided.

Kierwin wouldn’t stand in his way again and whatever happened, she wouldn’t hold it against him. Friendship with Minx aside, after this, she wouldn't stand in the way (she didn't mention that she wasn't sure what Snap would do). If Minx agreed to those conditions, and stayed clear of the ladies, completely clear, Turk was willing to give her one more chance. One more outburst and that was it. The duel would be back on. Kierwin agreed, reluctantly, but she didn't have much choice.

Minx went back to Kierwin and the look they exchanged told her everything that Kierwin had promised Turk. Minx knew Kierwin had just kept her and Turk from fighting the duel and what the promise had meant. Minx wished she hadn't said anything about Osa, even under her breath. She had never meant it to be heard. She really hadn't meant anything about Rowena, even Turk wouldn't stoop to that, it had just burst out in the argument. The timing, the look on Turk’s face, and just the thought of what had gone on in the cabin had overwhelmed her. After 115 years, she couldn't just change overnight! Her parents brought her up with very strict morals and standards, and she intended to keep them. No matter how hard she tried, she’d need time to work on keeping her opinions to herself. She would work on it, she’d promised Kierwin she would, and she always kept her word, at least she tried.

Kierwin prayed again, she had a feeling she was going to be praying a lot during this trip. This was going to be a long trip and they hadn’t even gotten off the boat and into Oakhurst yet.

 

[AndrewADnDPlayer]

Interlude:

Turk stood at the stern of the boat and tried to get his emotions under control. Seething, he noticed that if he gazed out over the ocean, instead of looking in the direction of Minx, he felt better. HOW DARE SHE!!! he thought. How dare she butt her nose into something that was completely none of her business. In all the years since he had first discovered the wonders of the feminine form he had never, NEVER, had someone act like this to him. Considering the number of young ladies he had been with; that was rather a large tally to compare against. Why even their Parents or other Lovers, when they found out, as rare as that was, didn’t act like this. To stand before him and call him unhonorable…why he was the most honorable person he knew. Why did she think he was unhonorable? It made no sense to him. Osa had…needs. Turk was extremely well skilled in fulfilling those needs. What was wrong with that? Sometimes, one girl or the other he had bedded in the past would take a dislike to the fact that he wasn’t exclusively hers. Turk never understood that attitude. Did he not pleasure her when he was with her? Did she not enjoy his company? Did she not want to see him again? Then why should she not want Turk to share his…gift…with other beautiful women when he was with them? Did a Fighter fight just one enemy? Did a Baker just bake one type of bread? Did a Sheriff arrest just one criminal? No, people used their God given talents to their utmost…that is all Turk was doing. So why was Minx so hateful to him?

Glancing towards the bow, Turk pulled his gauntlet on tighter; embarrassed he had finally lost his temper and actually challenged a woman to a duel. He had never fought against a woman before, and prayed he would never have to…but she had gone too far. When she had accused Turk of bedding Rowena…TURK WILDHANDS!!! bed a defenseless woman. All he had seen was red and he had challenged her…and now he was ashamed he had. He looked to the sky and made a silent prayer to Pelor to give him strength; to renew the feeling of power that flowed through his blood, as he did each morning. “In the name of Justice” he whispered, and the calmness came to him, supplied by his forgiving God.

Whether it was the ocean’s cold breeze, the thought of Pelor’s forgiveness, or thinking of a defenseless woman, the scar on his shoulder began to ache in rememberance. And, as it ached, Turk gazed upon the ocean, but his mind was not upon this vessel…it was traveling back, back, to that fateful day. The events passed slowly in front of him as if it was not he himself seeing it, but instead as if he watched like a third party from above. Turk saw himself, a fresh squad leader from the Academy, riding back from patrol and passing that farmhouse, and noticing his captain’s horse and some of his men before it. Turk went inside to investigate, and found his drunken captain about to rape, again it appeared, a poor farm girl. She seemed battered, bruised, with her clothes in disarray as they were torn about her. Turk, in all his years of wenching had never forcibly taken a woman and now he became incensed at what he saw. Stepping between the poor girl and his “little” captain he stayed any further harm. But the drunken fool would not hear of it and after a few pushes and shoves drew his saber and tried to cut Turk down. In the cramped quarters Turk could not dodge well enough and finally felt the saber slash his shoulder. Then Turk drew his two handed sword from his back and cut his captain down with one well-aimed blow. Turk still could hear the air as it drained from his captain’s lungs, and feel the blows of the other men as they beat him into unconsciousness.

His whole life had changed that day; only the evil deed his captain had done saved him from the gallows. The days whirled past and became blurred in his vision…Turk came back upon the vessel…his mind regained the present but the memory was still there. Looking up towards the Sun he whispered “Drummed from the Corps, debased by drugs, drink, and debauchery, fallen to the lowest of the lows you saved me Almighty Pelor”. A smile “Your strength gave me a second chance…and I shall fight for Righteousness and Justice in your name.” But the irony that Minx should accuse him of taking advantage of a helpless woman, he who had lost all defending one, was not lost on Turk.

Turk looked back once more towards the bow and saw Kierwin and Minx there and his heart was calm. Pelor had given him the strength to deal with his emotions where he had failed. With Pelor’s guiding hand and strength Turk would fulfill his newfound self-imposed quest. To protect the innocent and the meek, to destroy Evil wherever it may rest. As Turk shook his head he chuckled as he went off to fix himself and Rowena some food…Turk just hadn’t realized that the Evil he would face would also be hidden deep inside the gorgeous form of a companion female Elf.

 

[Taboo]

Oakhurst

Note:From this point out, the story will contain some spoilers for the Sunless Citadel. Much of it has been changed to go along with the Heroes of Destiny Quest, but read at your own risk!

***********

By the middle of the day, they’d reached the island and gotten to Oakhurst. Minx and Turk had gotten over their latest fight, although it was obvious they would never agree. Minx was over 100 years old and had been this way all her life, nobody could possibly expect her to change over the course of a few days. Yes, she had strong opinions and yes, she could be judgmental, but she was also dependable, intelligent, and a strong and true friend. Kierwin prayed that Minx and Turk could fight together without compromising the rest of the group or eavh others lives. Everyone else got along so well. The only other problem she would have to deal with was Snap, when it came time to tell the others about his true identity, and as of yet, she still didn't know what his secret was.

When they arrived in Oakhurst, they found that they had arrived too early to buy the apple. Osa had no reason to stay in town, so Turk offered to take her to the house she had on the outskirts of town. They took Justice and were off. Minx didn’t say a word, not even under her breath. Her eyes, on the other hand, showed what she was thinking, but Kierwin was the only one who noticed, and she wasn’t holding that against her. They stayed in town to have lunch, get rooms and see what information they could find out.

They found out that the place to stay was the Old Boar Inn. They had intended to split up, but what better place to start gathering information? Thorin bought a round of ale, he proclaimed it a bit weak, but not bad, considering it wasn’t Dwarven. Kierwin bought food for the party. She also bought a room for her and Minx, then invited Snap to share it, but with no luck. One of these days, maybe they would luck out and he’d run out of money (they really wanted a peak inside his scarf)! He got a room for himself.

So, they spent most of their money on ale and food getting to know the locals, gathering information. Trying to find out about the apple and anything else they could about the town and surrounding area.

They found about the Mayor, a General Store, a Church of Pelor with a priestest named Dem Nackle, who also served as the town healer. (which would please Turk, if he ever got back from taking Osa home). There was also the constable, and a jail, among others.

The next morning, they took off to find the mayor. Turk had returned by that time, and they had filled him in on what they had found out about the town.

Talking to the mayor, Vumor Leng, they found out things were more complicated than they thought. Apparently, goblins came to town one day of the summer solstice each year to sell the red apple and there was always only one. The town always bought the apple, primarily to keep the goblins happy, they didn’t want to take the chance of starting a war with them. In order to decide who got the apple, the town held a lottery. There was no guarantee that Osa would even be able to get the apple.

Further talk revealed that on the winter solstice, goblins brought a white apple to town. That rang a few bells, since that’s what Osa told them had caused the girl in Bellhold to fall into the coma-like state.

The townsfolk believed that the apples came from the Sunless Citadel. A month ago, four adventurers had set out for the Citadel and hadn’t been seen or heard of since. Two of them were brother and sister and their mother, Kerowyn Hucrele was offering a reward for their safe return or the return of their gold signet rings proving news of their demise. The leader of the expedition was a man named Sir Bradford, who had been accompanied by an elf, whom they believed was named Kerakas.

As it turned out, Kerowyn Hucrele was also the primary merchant in the small town. This was good information to know in case they came back in need of supplies. Another merchant in town was a man named Rurik, but most of the party took an instant liking to Kerowin and decided to do the majority of their business with her.

About a decade ago, a man named Belak had shown up asking about the Sunless Citadel. He was a strange, grim fellow accompanied by a large, pet frog on his shoulder. They had never seen him again.

Apparently, the townspeople had tried planting seeds from the apples, but the seeds had produded a twiggy mass of twisted sapling stems that had been stolen once the trees had reached a certain size. The townspeople assumed that the goblins had stolen them to keep them from raising their own trees.

As far as the Sunless Citadel itself, they couldn’t find out much information. The townspeople were afraid to go anywhere near it. Both people and animals had been found dead in the area. The cause of death seemed to be strange, numerous punctures all over their bodies. Nobody could identify the cause of the holes. They described the holes found in the people and livestock (and even wild animals of all sizes), and they sounded quite disgusting, especially to Kierwin, a Cleric of the Woodlands. No one in the party had ever heard of anything like it. This sounded like something else for them to investigate while they were in the area.

After finding a stable for Justice (Turk didn’t want to take any chances on her getting hurt), Turk promptly set out for the Church of Pelor to pay his respects and to make a donation. He spent time speaking with the priest of Pelor. He also spoke to her about Rowena and about the quest they were setting out for in the morning. He did not wish to take Rowena into such a dangerous situation and needed someone he could trust to leave her with. The priest was more than happy to keep her there. He thanked her and promised to return in the morning.

The next morning, the entire party donated money to give to the church to help pay for Rowena’s care. They all felt responsible for her by now and cared about what happened to her. Kierwin was feekubg especially guilty for not being able to help her. She'd tried everything she knew to try to help her and nothing had helped. She knew she was a lower level cleric, but she'd tried her best. She'd tried everything she knew and prayed to Elhonna for help to no avail. It seemed that whatever was wrong was definitely beyond her abilities. She hoped that the priestess of Pelor could help where she had failed.

While they prepared to get going, Turk took Rowena to the temple leave her with the priestess. To prepare Turk for his difficult journey ahead, the priestess prayed to Pelor to grant him with Bull’s Strength. She hoped it would help him with the beginning of what all of the town knew was a dangerous and terrible journey. He thanked her, told Rowena goodbye, and then met the rest of the party at the edge of town while they hurried down the road toward the direction they were told to go to reach the Sunless Citadel.

Turk was feeling mighty well and was pushing the party to go as fast as they could to get to their destination before the Bull’s Strength wore off. With Turk urging them on, they hustled as fast as they could. Thorin’s legs were really pumping when they came up to the edge of a long dark chasm with a lot of campfire remnants scattered along the upper edge of it. Any tracks that may have been there had been brushed away and the remains of the campfires were of varying ages.

Dwarven graffiti was written on broken columns along the chasm. Thorin translated and told them that it said to “Stay Away.”

 

[Taboo]

Decent into Darkness

They checked both directions and decided there was no way around the chasm and no way across it. It was just too wide to cross, too long to go around, and so dark that they couldn’t tell just how deep it was. Even Thorin’s Dwarven vision couldn’t tell how far down it went.

Thorin could see best in the dark and wanted to tie off his rope and go down a ways to see if he could see anything. The others weren't so sure that was such a good idea. With the stubbornness that only a dwarf could have, he tied the rope off and started down into the pitch black chasm. As soon as he started down, he noticed handholds cut into the rock on the side he was descending. They looked treacherous, so he decided to continue down the rope.

It wasn’t long until he could make out a landing down below. He estimated it to be about 50 feet from the top. So, he climbed back up and made his report to the others. During his recon, he’d figured it all out, they’d found the way to the Sunless Citadel. He told the others. “Don’t you guys get it? It’s the Sunless Citadel, the sun doesn’t reach it! It has to be down there, where else could it be?” They all knew he was right.

Thorin and Turk climbed down first, followed by Kierwin. About halfway down the rope, Kierwin lost her grip. With a scream, she fell about 25 feet straight down to the bottom. Unfortunately, Turk didn’t have enough of a warning or he would have tried to break her fall.

Fortunately for her, she wasn’t badly injured from the fall, but unfortunately while their attention was focused on her, it gave what Kierwin later described as an abomination of nature a chance to attack them. As Kierwin was getting up, she was the first attacked by a rat about three feet long. It took a pretty good chunk of flesh out of her thigh, leaving her bleeding badly.

Minx was on her way down the rope, and having seen Kierwin fall, she also saw the dire rats attack. Snap and Geirmund weren’t far behind. They hurried down to help with what looked to be a bad fight developing between their friends and the fiendish creatures.

Thorin pulled out his axe and started in on the rats. Turk promptly pulled out his greatsword and went to work slicing and dicing his way through the hideous onslaught. It didn’t take Kierwin long to get to her feet and grab her longsword and take revenge on the rodent that had bitten her. It didn’t have long to enjoy the flavor of her flesh since she killed it after just a couple of well placed blows.

Between the sleep spells and magic missiles fired by Snap and Minx, the aid of Geirmund, and the frenzy of blows by Thorin and Turk, the rats were dispatched without too much damage taken by the heroes. Thorin and Turk lost track of how many they killed, there were so many rats that they just kept killing as long as the rats kept coming for them.

Unfortunately, Thorin and Geirmund did take wounds, along with the one Kierwin had gotten when she’d been attacked after she’d fallen. Wounds that they were afraid carried disease that the filthy creatures must have infected them with. None of them were sure if they had contracted anything or not, only time would tell.

Minx helped Kierwin with the healing, they were nearly out of their healing spells, but they certainly couldn’t rest here. They had to keep going. From where they were, they could see several more levels to go down farther into the darkness, so they proceeded down.

As they finally reached the bottom, they came to a courtyard of sorts. The courtyard led to a tower of what was obviously the Sunless Citadel. A rounded wall stood in front of them, and in the center of the wall, stood a door, just waiting for them to enter.

 

[Taboo]

Into the Sunless Citadel

They walked up to the door of the rounded tower. They automatically took up their now familiar positions. Geirmund only moved up to the front if he needed to pick a lock and he promptly moved to the back before Thorin opened any doors!

They opened the door to the tower and walked in. They found the bodies of four dead goblins, one of which was pinned to the wall by a spear, and two doors. One of the doors in particular drew their attention because of the design carved into it, but first they had to check out the dead goblins.

First, they examined the bodies on the floor, and found that they’d already been looted. They wondered if Sir Bradford’s party had killed the goblins or if it had been someone or something else. Minx went over to check out the one pinned to the wall.

Snap pulled the spear out of it for her, since it was really jammed into the wall and the body slumped to the ground.

Next, they went over to the door on the left. The entire wall to the left of it was collapsed, and a mass of rubble. They searched it and found no signs of rats or anything else, so they felt safe focusing their attention on the door. Thorin was especially fascinated by the stone door. It was carved completely from stone and in the shape of a rearing dragon. The keyhole was made in the dragon’s mouth. Thorin pronounced it extremely well made craftsmanship, but found nothing but the keyhole.

Geirmund got to work trying to pick the lock. He shifted position. He stuck his tongue out, shifted position again, and made everyone move back. Eventually, he pulled up his sleeves, muttered to himself, and even muttered to his lockpicks. He tried for well over an hour before he finally gave up. He said that it was just too complicated for him and they were going to have to find a key or another way in. They could tell by the look on his face how disappointed he was that he hadn’t been able to pick the lock.

So, they told him not to worry about it, they could always come back to it and they’d try the other door. They went over to the other door, and Thorin opened it. They found piping on the walls with some sort of distillery farther down the hall. Thorin decided to check it out. Kierwin didn’t want him going alone and decided to go with him. The others stayed at the doorway.

They heard some kind of sloshing inside, so, thinking it could be something beneficial to the group, they tried the spout first. It wouldn’t budge, even with both of them pulling on it. They saw a plug on it and decided to pull it off. It took some work, but they finally managed. They were wishing they hadn’t. As soon as the plug was removed, a strange looking creature burst forth from the opening,

They didn’t have time to tell it that they weren’t there to hurt it, just to look for some kind of healing. They had hoped that they would find it in the main tank, but the creature came out surprising them with steam. Kierwin managed to dodge it completely, but Thorin got burned by the steam. Fortunately, he recovered quickly from the attack.

Kierwin quickly attacked the creature with her longsword, but even though she knew she hit it, the blow didn’t even seem to phase the watery creature. The mephit, on the other hand, could definitely hurt both her and Thorin.

By this time, Thorin had more than recovered from the minor wounds that he had sustained from the steam when the mephit had burst from the distillery. He slammed it with his axe, and even Kierwin could hear and see the damage that the dwarf did to the creature.

The Mephit tried for them again, failing to hurt them through their armor, but after a couple of well placed blows on Thorin’s part, they finally defeated the Mephit. After it died, it left behind a puddle of water on the floor, in which Thorin and Kierwin for 5 small sapphires. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the tank they had hoped that could be of any use to them.

After the fight with the Mephit, the others finally managed to join them, and they continued down the hall. They stopped at the door, and could hear some kind of sound coming from the other side, but it was very faint.

When they walked into the room, they noticed a large broken cage and what seemed to be a primitive wooden altar, but what caught Kierwin’s attention was the sound of whimpering. It seemed to be coming from a bundle of rags over near the altar not far from the large cage that had obviously been broken open. She headed that way asking Turk if he would come with her.

Remembering the Mephit bursting from the barrel and the ferocious dire rats, Kierwin wasn’t taking any chances. “While I lift these rags off of this thing would you mind guarding me with your greatsword, Turk?” Kierwin asked.

“Why, not at all, my Lady!” Turk would never allow harm to come to a lady if he had anything to say about it.

Kierwin, not wanting to bend over and take any chances in case this was a trap, used her sword to lift what turned out to be a blanket off of the pitiful, whimpering creature.

Exposed, it turned out to be a beaten little kobold curled up in a fetal position. He was whimpering and moaning and if he was actually speaking, Kierwin couldn’t make out any of the words. She called to Minx, knowing that she could speak Draconic, assuming that the little creature was probably using that language, if any.

It turned out that his name was Meepo. He REALLY liked Minx because she must have dragons’ blood in her if she could speak the dragon’s language, so she was the special one in the group! He promptly became attached to her. Really attached, as in grabbed her around the leg! He explained that goblins came and beat him, killed the other kobolds in the room, then stole his white dragon, Calcryx. Actually, it was the kobolds’ dragon, but he was responsible for it. He fed it, and took care of it, and felt like it was his. In fact, he sounded very possessive of it.

Then, the other kobolds had come in later, and found out the dragon had been stolen. Of course, he’d been blamed for it! So, the queen and other kobolds had beaten him again, kicked him in the head several times, and left him for dead. Since then, he’d stayed here in the dark, whimpering under this pile of rags waiting for death to find him. Minx was having some difficulty understanding him, since he was saying this in between whimpers, but this was what she’d managed to make sense of. She wasn’t thrilled with being this close to a kobold, let alone having him wrapped around her leg, drooling, but it might be important, so she did her best.

As far as Minx could determine, they needed to meet the Queen of the kobolds. Nobody in the party was too terribly thrilled with this idea, but it didn’t seem that they had much choice. All questioning of Meepo seemed to come back to this idea. He seemed fairly certain that the queen would meet with them, especially since Minx was “special.” Maybe they could even get Calcryx back from the evil goblins who had stolen him. Turk, in particular wasn’t pleased with that notion.

They (or rather, Minx) asked Meepo about the door they had found that had the dragon on it and he knew about that. Apparently, the queen had the key. It was among her many possessions. They also asked about the party led by Sir Bradford, and Meepo knew that they had passed through there. He had no news of them after that. They hadn’t come back.

The party followed Meepo to the throne room. He spoke to the guards and they let the party pass. The Queen, Yusdrayl, was willing to speak to Minx, only in Draconic, of course. The conversation centered on getting the dragon back. Minx tried to find out about the other party, and about the Dragon door they’d found. Of course, the Queen kept going back to the subject of Calcryx and getting him back alive, and she demanded that they take Meepo with them.

Turk could barely be held back when Minx told everyone (in common) what the Queen had told her. There was no way he was bringing the dragon back alive. There was no way to know what the kobolds intended to use the dragon for. He also didn’t intend to lie about it. After much arguing, Minx managed to convince the queen that the party would look for the dragon, although they would not promise to bring the dragon back alive. If the dragon attacked, they would have no choice but to defend themselves. They did agree to take Meepo (under protest). The condition was that they wanted the key first.

The queen mumbled and wasn’t thrilled with the conditions, but she did want that dragon back. At least this gave her a chance to get him. Right now, those stupid minions of hers didn’t stand any chance of getting past the goblins to bring back Calcryx! She finally gave in and gave them the key. She just hoped enough of the intruders stayed alive to bring back her dragon!

“Tell your friends that if they bring back Calcryx, I will reward them with items from my collection behind me.”

Minx dutifully translated her words. It didn’t change anyone’s mind, but they kept that to themselves, they wanted to be careful what they said in case the queen could understand what they said. Turk didn’t care what he said, of course, he was completely honest. There was nothing that would convince him to bring back the dragon alive.

They did have a few more questions for the queen, hoping she would tell them a little more about what they would face down below.

What they got was that she believed the apples came from down below and there was “bad stuff” down below. She knew little of Belak, but he could also be down there Of course, the adventurers didn’t know much of him either, it was a name they’d heard in Oakhurst, and only that he’d been interested in the Citadel and hadn’t been seen for several years.

The adventurers and Meepo set out, but as soon as they got out of the queen’s throne room, they left Meepo hidden where they found him. They didn’t know what they’d find behind the dragon door and didn’t want to have to watch out for him. Minx told him that they’d be back for him as soon as they were done and to keep out of sight. So, they headed for the mysterious door with the frightening dragon carved into it that the kobolds seemed so afraid of.

 

[Taboo]

The Dragon Door

They had deposited Meepo safely back in the room where Calcryx had been kept, telling him to keep quiet so the queen wouldn’t know he was there. Then, they had headed back for the door that had managed to elude them earlier in the entryway of the tower.

Minx gave the key to Thorin when they reached the large stone door intricately carved with the dragon. He inserted the key into the rearing dragon’s mouth. As he turned it, the lock clicked, and the door opened with an audible whoosh. It was as though the room had been sealed for eons and they had just broken that seal. They all felt uneasy when the door opened. Thorin took the key back out of the door and pocketed it. Then, they slowly entered the room.

Thorin could see three alcoves in the north wall and three in the southern wall. There were two empty alcoves in the southern wall, and one with something in it. He went over to search the middle alcove with Turk to back him up, and found an orb glowing faintly with a blue light. He heard faint tinkling noises coming from it.

When Snap walked into the room, he saw the three alcoves in the north wall, and noticed that they also held orbs, although, they were cracked and black. Minx walked over to Snap to examine the darkened orbs.

Thorin picked up the blue, glowing orb. Immediately, both Turk and Thorin felt an irresistible compunction to go wherever the orb was leading them. They immediately started walking out of the room. Kierwin was standing nearby, and though she felt something when she heard the sound of the orb, she managed to resist it. She immediately set off after Thorin and Turk to try to stop them. Minx and Snap were busy on the other side of the room, but when they noticed what was going on with the others, they followed Kierwin.

Kierwin was trying to figure out what to do to get them out from under the globe's influence. She tried talking to them, but they were ignoring her, she might as well not have been there. Then, she caught up and got in front of Turk and tried one last ditch effort, she slapped him.

That wasn’t such a great idea, as the orb had a really good hold on the men. When she slapped Turk, it compelled him to get rid of the obstacle – Kierwin. Fortunately for Kierwin, Turk’s will was so strong that even under these circumstances he would not strike a woman, so he pushed her out of his way and kept going.

By now, the orb had gotten them to the entryway to the Sunless Citadel. Snap had caught up, and had unfortunately gotten caught under the spell of the orb. Thorin was still carrying the orb and was slightly in the lead, when he tripped a pit trap they had missed when they had originally arrived at the entrance. Thorin fell into the pit, followed a moment later by Snap. Turk, managed to keep his balance on the edge. Kierwin, Minx and Geirmund were far enough back to avoid falling in, and didn't want to get any closer to avoid falling under the orb's control.

Now Kierwin and Minx had two problems. Two of the men were trapped under the spell of the orb, and at the bottom of the pit, Turk was still under the orb's control and at the edge of the pit. At least they didn’t have to keep chasing them! Kierwin prayed to Ehlonna for her blessing on the party.

Now that Turk was standing at the edge of the pit, and she could see he was already trying to shake off the effects of the orb, Kierwin tried talking to him again, calling to him, saying everything she could think of, even promising Turk things she’d never promise any man under normal circumstances!

Turk managed to shake off the effects of the orb, but it was his own willpower that saved him, although Ehlonna's blessing may have aided in that. He said that he could feel that the orb really liked the dark. That’s all he could say about it, but the feeling was very strong. Turk knew that the only way to insure the destruction of the evil was to get rid of the orb, so he climbed down into the pit to get the orb that now lay on the ground at the bottom of the pit near Thorin's feet. He'd dropped it during the fall.

Kierwin’s blessing from Ehlonna was fading, so Minx prayed and cast bless on the party to try to help with Thorin and Snap.

Thorin and Snap were just standing in the pit under the thrall of the orb. It was happy where it was, it was dark down there. Turk dropped down into the pit and picked the orb up to throw it as far away from the group, but as soon as he touched it, it took control of him again.

Kierwin sank to her knees. Now what could they do?

Fortunately Turk's willpower was strong enough that he overcame the orb's control, but he wasn't about to touch it again. It wasn't long until Thorin and then Snap managed to fight the orb's spell.

When they finally got out of the pit, Thorin decided to destroy the orb. The others stood back. After several well placed blows, the orb finally broke. It went black like the others they’d seen in the room.

Minx led them back to the room where they’d found the orbs to show them what she’d found. While they’d been occupied with the blue orb, she’d been searching the room and had found a secret door. That’s why she was a little behind the others, but as soon as she’d heard the commotion, she’d gone running after them, and hadn’t had a chance to do anything else.

First, they destroyed any trace of the rest of the orbs, even though they were black and cracked, they weren’t taking any chances. Then they opened the door Minx had found.

After walking through the door, Thorin walked across a pressure plate in a hallway, setting off a trap. An arrow sprang across the hallway lodging itself right in his head. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt him very much, he said it was the way dwarves disarm traps (as Kierwin prayed to heal him), but Turk quit trusting him to check for traps and asked Geirmund if he would start double checking it when Thorin wasn’t looking.

 

[Taboo]

Into the Dragon Priest's Chamber

They walked into a semi-circular room. It appeared to be a dead-end. In the rounded end of the room was a statue of a 10 foot tall sculpture of a coiled dragon, carved from red-veined white marble. When they approached it, its head swiveled down to face them. It asked a riddle.

Startled, the group gave the correct answer. Hoping that they weren’t about to be eaten, maimed, or attacked in some horrible manner.

A formerly hidden door slid open.

Before going through the newly opened door. Kierwin searched the room, escorted by Turk, but didn’t find anything other than the dragon statue and the secret door that the answer to the riddle had already revealed. The others kept a very close eye on the new opening in case anything came through it.

They stepped through the door into a dust cloaked 20 foot wide hall. It was lined with figures carved out of the same red-veined white marble as the dragon had been. At the end of the hall, stood a stone archway over an open pit filled with spikes. Turk and Kierwin stopped at the figures to investigate them, but Thorin decided to investigate the pit.

When Thorin approached the pit; he was attacked by a creature with spiked horns, bat-like wings, skin that looked postulant and diseased, and filthy claws on both hands and feet. It attacked Thorin who was unprepared, but managed to dodge its claws and horns completely with the uncanny reflexes he’d shown so often. The Quasit roared its outrage at the failure of its attack, but before it could do anything further, Turk was there with his greatsword out, ready to rid the world of another evil creature.

He brought the sword down through its neck and all the way down through it to cut the creature in half. As it slid in two, the corpse oozed, sizzled, and stank up the entire hallway. Although he didn’t know what he’d just killed, he got the feeling that he’d just slain a demon from the foul pits of hell. They all breathed easier that nobody got hurt, that was a short, but furious battle and that creature was the most hideous thing any of them had ever seen.

Turk and Thorin decided they’d best investigate the pit, and didn’t find anything else hiding in there. They also didn’t find a way around, so they would have to go across. Kierwin was trying to get their attention, first though. She wanted Thorin’s expertise.

Thorin took a look at the statues. They were extremely well made, the detail was amazing. That’s what had Kierwin worried. She was almost afraid they’d been real people turned to stone, Minx had looked and thought the same thing. It was actually hard to tell, but Thorin had to say no. He didn’t recognize the craftsmanship, he was sure it was handmade and very well done at that.

So, they went back to the more immediate problem – the pit full of spikes blocking their way. They needed to get across it. Thorin and Turk decided on the solution. They would jump across and pull the others over on their rope.

Thorin jumped first and did not quite make it, but was able to grasp the far edge with his hands as he crashed into the far side. He grabbed it and was able to barely hang on. Geirmund, seeing him in danger, jumped to be able to pull him up from the side of the pit. Unfortunately Geirmund fell slightly short too as he fell on top of Thorin and grabbed his legs as he slid down towards the pit.

Turk, seeing both Thorin hanging onto the edge and Geirmund hanging onto Thorin's legs, knew they were in ever increasing danger of being impaled on the spikes at the bottom of the pit. He quickly removed his armor, and jumped across . He made it successfully and pulled both men up to the top out of danger.

Kierwin and Minx were almost afraid to watch. They expected to see at least one of them impaled on the spikes in the pit. Especially when Turk took his armor off to jump. Then when Turk made it, Kierwin threw the end of the rope over to Turk as well as his armor, the equipment and supplies. Thorin and Turk pulled each of the other party members across. Snap even managed to keep his scarf across his face, so that even now, he remained concealed from his friends and allies.

Once they were all safely across, and armor and equipment was all properly re-equipped; they opened the door. They were shocked to find what appeared to be a large stone sarcophagus. The shocking thing was that it was shaped like a dragon, and even the lid curved up with a dragon’s head.

They looked at the sarcophagus, and Minx found writing on it in draconic, she translated for the others:

“Here lies the Dragon Priest. Death is only the Beginning.”

They promptly decided they weren’t opening the sarcophagus. Instead, they decided to search the room. The floor of the room was made of violet hued marble tiles, some of which had cracked over the years. Kierwin and Minx went opposite directions to search for secret doors in the floor or walls.

Kierwin pulled on a barely flickering sconce, and found a secret door. Mindful of traps, she refused to open it, and called Geirmund. After he pronounced it safe, at least he hoped so, and got in the back of the group, Kierwin opened the door. Then she stepped back behind Turk and Thorin.

It turned out the door led to a small crawlspace with writing on the walls. This writing was in draconic like the writing on the sarcophagus, so they asked Minx to read it.

“A Dragon Priest, entombed alive for transgressions of the law, still retains the honor of his position.”

They followed the crawlspace, and it took a turn, then finally came out in the alcove where they had found the blue orb that had caused them so much trouble.

Since they were back in the hallway, they discussed their alternatives. Go back and try to fight whatever that Dragon Priest was that somebody had locked up in there alive (in that great big dragon shaped sarcophagus), who knew how many hundreds of years ago; or lock the place back up. They unanimously voted to lock the place back up.

So, they got back to the heavy stone door with the rearing dragon on it and Thorin tried to lock it. That’s when they realized what that noise meant when they unlocked it. The door had been magically sealed and they had broken the seal. They couldn’t lock it back up.

Now, if they left it unlocked, anybody could walk in here and that meant the Dragon Priest could be let loose upon the world. They couldn’t let that happen, and Turk was very clear of his intentions, he’d die before he’d leave the door open with that sarcophagus intact.

Short on healing and other magic, they all agreed that they’d rather risk their lives than take the risk of letting the Dragon Priest loose. They’d work together and if it came to it, die, before that creature left the tomb that they’d opened, not knowing that their actions could open a way for a creature locked away for generations to be let loose again upon the world.

***********
Next week: Our heroes face their biggest and most dangerous battle, and a new hint about Snap!