As they descended into the wine cellar, Hannah paused to find a lantern. Darvin drew out his own lantern and lit it. Krellessa did nothing. As they entered into the cellar, the saw two figures standing over a large hole in the floor. The cellar was packed with barrels and shelves full of wine and spirits, and the hole was directly in the center of the only clear floor space. Looking up, one of the figures caught sight of them. It was the innkeeper, and he motioned them towards him. As they approached they saw that the other figure was a steward, and he was hauling a rope out of the pit, a rope presumably attached to whoever had fallen in. The innkeeper whispered to the three patrons, "Whatever foul hole is down there wasn't there when this place was built. Something, or someone, must have tunneled through here. I will give you each 30 gold to explore what is down there, and then seal it up."
"Fifty," proclaimed Darvin.
"What?"
"I want a fifty gold bar tab for each of us to go down there. Things could be lurking... And I want it in writing."
"Want what in writing?"
"The adventuring contract. To make it legal. I want you to be our adventuring patron, and I want the contract in writing."
"Ok, fine. A fifty gold bar tab for each of you, and an adventuring contract to make it all legal. Now go. Do your work." The innkeeper left.
After the man in the hole had been lifted out, Hannah piped up, "I'm not going. I don't like adventuring. In fact, you both creep me out. Why risk your life for money? I'm leaving. I have a bar to serve."
Darvin whispered under his breath, "Fine, leave, small one."
Hannah called back, "I heard that."
Darvin pulled a silk rope out of his backpack instead of taking the one offered to him by the steward. As he tied it around a nearby support collumn, he asked the steward, "How deep is the hole?"
"Lord, it is at least thirty feet. My rope almost did not reach."
"Good."
Darvin finished securing the rope, dropped it into the pit, and began repelling down with the practiced ease of years of thieves training. Krellessa, hiking up her dress and securing it with a ribbon, followed close behind. Her owl familiar, which had been silently shadowing them from the rafters, flew down after her.
Chapter 2: Into the Darkness.
At the bottom, the pit opened up into three tunnels, all about ten feet wide. One was directly in front of the two adventurers, and the other two were spaced evenly on the wall behind them, forming a triangular intersection. Krellissa lit a torch, and silently cast a spell, moving her hands in big circles, and speaking arcane words under her breath. She let go of the torch, and it hovered in place.
She thrust her hand forward, and the torch began hovering forward. As the torch lit up the passageways behind them, Darvin saw that both were made of carved, chipped stone, and only extended about five feet. The other passage was longer, maybe fifty feet, and a faint light could be seen glimmering at the far end. Darvin motioned towards it, and began walking. Moving her hand around, Krellessa positioned the torch about 25 feet further down the passageway, and kept just at that range as the walked.
The passageway ended at a T intersection, it being vertical part, jutting into a tunnel running horizontally in both directions. When the torch floated into the intersection, Krellessa heard voices from around the right corner. They spoke in a high pitched, guttural language, which Krellessa barely understood. It seemed to be a dialect of orc, but a corrupted one.
"Look! Look! A light!"
"Umm, what should we do?"
"Eat it!!!!"
Soft feet scampered as a quartet of goblins rounded the corner. They all had javelins ready, which they promptly threw.
Two flew at Darvin, but one missed, and the other bounced off his armor and snapped as it fell to the floor. Krellessa was not so lucky. Having nothing but a thin, revealing dress to protect her, she was an easy target. One javilin cut through her leg, slicing it to the bone. The other flew into her side, and stopped after hitting her ribcage. Roaring in anger, Darvin drew his bow and shot a goblin dead. After dropping his bow, he drew his longspear. Krellessa let the floating torch drop and reached for her belt. She drew her hand crossbow and fired. The bolt flew true, and struck one of the goblins who had hurt her in the eye. Krellessa then pulled the javilin out of her body, and held it ready
The two remaining goblins charged Darvin. Like lightning, his spear jabbed out at both, impaling them instantly. The three that Darvin had hit died within a minute, but the one that Krellessa had shot was only unconscious. Krellessa walked calmly towards it, brought forward the javilin that had struck her, and jammed it into the goblins green belly, mirroring the damage it had done to her.
A sadistic smile crossed Krellessa's face. She whispered to herself, "Interogation is the funnest part." The goblin woke up, groned, and fell back into unconciousness after Krellessa twisted the javilin in its gut. She then began to bandage the wound, so that the goblin would be alive later, when she had time to let it screem.
Darvin, always the prepared one, sifted around in his pack until he found some manacles and bandages. He helped wrap the goblin's wounds, and put the manacles around its feet. About this time, the goblin woke up. One look at Krellessa's smile sent shivers down its back. The goblin croaked, "May the Breath of Hassin strike me dead!" before Darvin knocked it out. Krellessa only laughed.
Once Krellessa finished binding the goblin, she brought it back up the tunnel to the hole in the wine cellar. The steward asked what he was doing with a bound goblin.
"It's my prisoner, and if the town guard has something to say about it, then they can shove it! Oh, and tell the innkeeper he's got a little problem with goblins, but we are taking care of it."
"Right then, my lady. You keep on... working."
Krellessa smiled, and headed back down the tunnel.
Darvin was waiting, having already stripped the goblins of any valuables.
"Look. All the goblins were wearing these." He held up three small silver medallions. Each was imprinted with a strange symbol: A circle around a goblin handprint, with a background of wavy lines.
Krellessa frowned. "Who knows? It could be the symbol of a clan, or a religion, or just a weird goblin fad. "I'll check them for magic."
She concentrated for about thirty seconds. The medallions glowed a slight blue, then faded.
"Each one has faint amounts of clerical magic, but I can't read what school it is from. They are definitely holy symbols. Or unholy. That's what the "prisoner" must have meant by "The Wind of Hassin." But these will hardly protect them. They are just trinkets."
"I don't know. Lets keep exploring, and maybe we will get to the bottom of this."
Darvin drew his weapons, and walked towards the intersection.
...
Next: Hassin? What's a Hassin?
