pogre
Legend
Intrepid Adventures of Legend or Hobo Murderers on the Loose (a pogre storyhour)
Episode 06
Standing Peck Toss
The fight with the troglodytes was indeed brutal. The dwarf, Brodek, suffered the brunt of the attack, but nearly the entire party was wounded. They rested and attended to their wounds.
“Puzzling,” Brodek mused aloud as he bound another wound on his arm.
“What is?” Osbourne asked.
“Troglodytes here. Not a usual place for those type critters. They usually prefer the deeper caverns and we have yet to run into any food sources.”
“Maybe they already ate everything,” Cabo postulated.
“Likely,” Brodek agreed. “Still, there should be some source of food if this was a permanent lair for them. They will eat almost anything, but we have not even seen a sign of fungi or large insects.”
“There were the goblins,” Osbourne said. “Maybe the troglodytes ate them and then they escaped through that concealed door.”
“Maybe, I’d like to see some scat and check,” Brodek replied.
“Scat?” Cabo queried.
“Trog poop,” Osbourne answered.
“You want to inspect what comes out the back end of those god-awful, smelly things!” Cabo exclaimed.
“It would tell me a lot,” Brodek replied casually.
“It tells me you are not right, not right at all,” Cabo said shaking his head slowly.
*****
Mostly, healed the group found some old cells long ago abandoned and what appeared to be an old wine cellar. There was another set of stairs leading up to daylight, although Brodek adjudged these stairs to be more sturdy than the last set they found. They decided to push on to see what else they could find.
They stumbled into an old temple venerating a common local deity and four more troglodytes.
This time the adventurers were luckier and these trogs were dispatched with relative ease. The room also contained a set of stairs going down. The decision was made to return to the wine cellar and check out the stairs going up to see what was above them.
The trouble immediately facing the vertically challenged adventurers was the trapdoor was six-feet above the top landing. Brodek scaled to the top of the stairs and called for one of the halflings to come help. Gideon volunteered.
“Get atop my shoulders,” Brodek said. Gideon quickly scrambled to a perch on top of the dwarf’s shoulders.
“I don’t know if I can push it up from here,” Gideon called down to Brodek. “Maybe if you…”
Brodek let out enormous grunt and with a mighty upthrust of his arms launched Gideon upwards. Gideon crashed through the fragile trapdoor and with a half roll landed outside the trapdoor in the open air.
“What do you see?” Brodek asked. The dwarf has been temporarily blinded by the sudden burst of sunlight now streaming through the Gideon-sized hole in the trapdoor.
“There are some sort of ruins up here. Looks like the remnant of a keep and courtyard maybe. Mostly just overgrown stone,” Gideon managed to reply. The halfling monk dusted himself off. He reflected that if the trapdoor had been solid he would have been an unconscious heap presently.
“Much as we suspected,” Cabo mused. “Come on back down.”
Gideon took in one more full lungful of the fresh outdoor air and proceeded to swing back down to the top landing.
“Down the stairs then?” Osbourne asked.
“Aye, spellcaster, down the stairs,” Brodek replied.
*****
The square chamber had two exits - one was a broken down door and the other was a very solid-looking carved stone door.
“This place has the stink of trogs,” Brodek declared.
“Let’s stay sharp then,” Cabo noted. “That stone door gives me the creeps, let’s head through the busted door.” After a short discussion the rest of the group agreed.
Through the broken door the adventurers could see a long hallway with numerous niches lining both sides. “Everyone stay close and be careful. Except the dwarf, you can lead,” Cabo stated.
“Follow on then pecks!” Brodek said in a far too loud voice and stomped through the broken door.
The group carefully checked each niche and found a few trinkets, including an old silver holy symbol. It was clear the niches once served as burial resting places, and each had already been thoroughly trashed.
Past the final pair of niches the group found a larger chamber. A sarcophagi once rested there, but it had been overturned and shattered in the process. There were a pair of troglodytes staring down a long, deep tunnel descending from one corner of the room. The group leapt to the attack and quickly had the stinky humanoids cut down.
The tunnel down was rough-cut, in contrast to the finished stone the adventurers had seen on this level and the one above. “What made this Brodek?” Osbourne asked.
“Hard to say,” Brodek replied. The dwarf began running his calloused hands along the walls of the tunnel. “Part of it’s a natural crack or fault, but it certainly has been enlarged by primitive tools or claws.”
“Claws?” Cabo asked in alarm. “Like troglodyte claws?”
“Perhaps,” Brodek replied. “Maybe something bigger coming after the troglodytes.”
“We should head back to that carved stone door,” Osbourne suggested.
“No way. Even the troglodytes avoided going through there,” Cabo replied.
“Yeah, and they were running from whatever was down there,” Gideon countered.
“I’m telling you, I don’t like the looks of that door!” Cabo complained.
“Well Brodek said something even bigger than the trogs might have carved this tunnel,” Osbourne stated. “Right Brodek? Brodek?”
The halflings turned in unison to see the dim outline of the dwarf heading down the tunnel.
“Come along if ye like pecks,” Brodek called back to them.
The halflings scrambled to catch up to the dwarf.
to be continued...
Episode 06
Standing Peck Toss
The fight with the troglodytes was indeed brutal. The dwarf, Brodek, suffered the brunt of the attack, but nearly the entire party was wounded. They rested and attended to their wounds.
“Puzzling,” Brodek mused aloud as he bound another wound on his arm.
“What is?” Osbourne asked.
“Troglodytes here. Not a usual place for those type critters. They usually prefer the deeper caverns and we have yet to run into any food sources.”
“Maybe they already ate everything,” Cabo postulated.
“Likely,” Brodek agreed. “Still, there should be some source of food if this was a permanent lair for them. They will eat almost anything, but we have not even seen a sign of fungi or large insects.”
“There were the goblins,” Osbourne said. “Maybe the troglodytes ate them and then they escaped through that concealed door.”
“Maybe, I’d like to see some scat and check,” Brodek replied.
“Scat?” Cabo queried.
“Trog poop,” Osbourne answered.
“You want to inspect what comes out the back end of those god-awful, smelly things!” Cabo exclaimed.
“It would tell me a lot,” Brodek replied casually.
“It tells me you are not right, not right at all,” Cabo said shaking his head slowly.
*****
Mostly, healed the group found some old cells long ago abandoned and what appeared to be an old wine cellar. There was another set of stairs leading up to daylight, although Brodek adjudged these stairs to be more sturdy than the last set they found. They decided to push on to see what else they could find.
They stumbled into an old temple venerating a common local deity and four more troglodytes.
This time the adventurers were luckier and these trogs were dispatched with relative ease. The room also contained a set of stairs going down. The decision was made to return to the wine cellar and check out the stairs going up to see what was above them.
The trouble immediately facing the vertically challenged adventurers was the trapdoor was six-feet above the top landing. Brodek scaled to the top of the stairs and called for one of the halflings to come help. Gideon volunteered.
“Get atop my shoulders,” Brodek said. Gideon quickly scrambled to a perch on top of the dwarf’s shoulders.
“I don’t know if I can push it up from here,” Gideon called down to Brodek. “Maybe if you…”
Brodek let out enormous grunt and with a mighty upthrust of his arms launched Gideon upwards. Gideon crashed through the fragile trapdoor and with a half roll landed outside the trapdoor in the open air.
“What do you see?” Brodek asked. The dwarf has been temporarily blinded by the sudden burst of sunlight now streaming through the Gideon-sized hole in the trapdoor.
“There are some sort of ruins up here. Looks like the remnant of a keep and courtyard maybe. Mostly just overgrown stone,” Gideon managed to reply. The halfling monk dusted himself off. He reflected that if the trapdoor had been solid he would have been an unconscious heap presently.
“Much as we suspected,” Cabo mused. “Come on back down.”
Gideon took in one more full lungful of the fresh outdoor air and proceeded to swing back down to the top landing.
“Down the stairs then?” Osbourne asked.
“Aye, spellcaster, down the stairs,” Brodek replied.
*****
The square chamber had two exits - one was a broken down door and the other was a very solid-looking carved stone door.
“This place has the stink of trogs,” Brodek declared.
“Let’s stay sharp then,” Cabo noted. “That stone door gives me the creeps, let’s head through the busted door.” After a short discussion the rest of the group agreed.
Through the broken door the adventurers could see a long hallway with numerous niches lining both sides. “Everyone stay close and be careful. Except the dwarf, you can lead,” Cabo stated.
“Follow on then pecks!” Brodek said in a far too loud voice and stomped through the broken door.
The group carefully checked each niche and found a few trinkets, including an old silver holy symbol. It was clear the niches once served as burial resting places, and each had already been thoroughly trashed.
Past the final pair of niches the group found a larger chamber. A sarcophagi once rested there, but it had been overturned and shattered in the process. There were a pair of troglodytes staring down a long, deep tunnel descending from one corner of the room. The group leapt to the attack and quickly had the stinky humanoids cut down.
The tunnel down was rough-cut, in contrast to the finished stone the adventurers had seen on this level and the one above. “What made this Brodek?” Osbourne asked.
“Hard to say,” Brodek replied. The dwarf began running his calloused hands along the walls of the tunnel. “Part of it’s a natural crack or fault, but it certainly has been enlarged by primitive tools or claws.”
“Claws?” Cabo asked in alarm. “Like troglodyte claws?”
“Perhaps,” Brodek replied. “Maybe something bigger coming after the troglodytes.”
“We should head back to that carved stone door,” Osbourne suggested.
“No way. Even the troglodytes avoided going through there,” Cabo replied.
“Yeah, and they were running from whatever was down there,” Gideon countered.
“I’m telling you, I don’t like the looks of that door!” Cabo complained.
“Well Brodek said something even bigger than the trogs might have carved this tunnel,” Osbourne stated. “Right Brodek? Brodek?”
The halflings turned in unison to see the dim outline of the dwarf heading down the tunnel.
“Come along if ye like pecks,” Brodek called back to them.
The halflings scrambled to catch up to the dwarf.
to be continued...
