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Journal of the Souls of Legend (completed)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nthal" data-source="post: 7632972" data-attributes="member: 6971069"><p><strong>Kobolds – the other kind of Lizard - 07/11/2019</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Kobolds – the other kind of Lizard</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>I kinda like Kobolds. Any creature willing to build anything in the Hive that improves things, is due a bit of respect. Even if it was only a sewer. But it was the only sewer in the Hive.</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Of course, that was Sigil. I had no idea how the rest of the multiverse looked at them.</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Or why.</em></p><p></p><p>I looked at Daneath with resignation. “So. Kill him in his sleep later?”</p><p></p><p>“Sounds good. Wait…are we talking about the ettin or Iesa?” Daneath asked.</p><p></p><p>“Does it matter?” Beepu said somewhere next to us.</p><p></p><p>“We can discuss and pick…afterwards,” I said. “Let’s go.”</p><p></p><p>I closed my eyes a second, gathered my will and walked forward towards the source of that rotten odor. Stepping out of the brush into a clearing I reached Iesa and the…Ettin.</p><p></p><p>Its right headswas locked on a hole in the wall of rock. The left one was staring intently at Iesa, who was projecting an aura of calm. The ettin was dressed in a rotting hide of what might have been a deer or elk. Its body was caked with dirt, and what hair it had hung in greasy clumps at the side of its heads. What I wasn’t expecting though was the expression on the ettin’s faces. The one staring at Iesa was what I expected; angry, suspicious and stupid.</p><p>The other head however, had a look of determination as it stared at the opening in the rock. Even as I moved into clearing, and the first head glanced at me with suspicious, it never turned its gaze away. But the look of anger was clear on its face. But it was the tears in its eyes that surprised me.</p><p></p><p>“So…he’s lost a sack?” I asked looking at the first head, staring a Iesa. It gave a sideways glance and spoke.</p><p></p><p>“LIL LIZURDS TAKE SACK // GET…SACK…BACK.” The second one said slowly and sadly. </p><p></p><p></p><p>“No problem! Right Myrai?” Daneath said clambering behind me.</p><p></p><p>“Sure…otherwise I am sure that Iesa can apologize for all of us. Beepu, I hope you are following us.”</p><p></p><p>He said nothing. But Foggle flew into the rock fissure ahead of us, which I took as a yes. I looked at Daneath, and flexed some power and lit up his shield, and we all made our way inside.</p><p></p><p>The interior of the cavern wasn’t like the one below Yartar; that one seemed to be carved by water and smooth. This seemed to be like the rock fractured and shifted creating smooth walls, and jagged stones across the floor. The entrance wasn’t very wide, maybe three or four paces across at most. But beyond this bottleneck, the cavern opened up to a much larger gallery. From where I stood I could see some pillars of rock and on the opposite wall, there was a ledge looking over the chamber at its rear. Near the back of it, a passage was visible on the right leading deeper.</p><p>We stood there a momen, as the brothers eyes became accustomed to the darkened interior. Mo, who had been scampering on the ground, quickly climbed onto Iesa’s shoulder and looked around nervously. While normally Daneath would take the lead, this time Iesa did, which surprised me. But after a moment I saw why. Kneeling down he pointed at the ground.</p><p></p><p>“Pit trap,” he whispered. “Definitely kobolds. Watch your heads and your step.”</p><p></p><p>Iesa, Daneath and then I pressed our backs to the right-hand wall to avoid the trap. I kept my eyes looking at the far ledges. Watching for signs of movement and listening for anything out of the ordinary. My vigilance did not go unrewarded, as I heard behind me a snap, and the sounds of gravel and the sound of a gnomish voice go “Oof.” Quickly looking behind, me, I saw that the pit was now wide open, and the dust wafted upwards. And from the bottom I heard choking and coughing.</p><p></p><p>“Beepu! Iesa just pointed that out!” I said disappointedly.</p><p></p><p>“Well yes. Only problem is that I cannot see where I am stepping as I cannot see my own feet.”</p><p>I kneeled down and thrust my arm down in the pit. “It’s a good thing its shallow. Can you grab my hand?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, I think so! Harrump!” and I felt his hand in mine and I pulled the still invisible gnome out. </p><p></p><p>“Just step where I do.” I said shaking my head.</p><p></p><p>“That fall hurt, can you work some magic and heal me?” He demanded.</p><p></p><p>“Fine,” I said with resignation. I concentrated a moment and then reached out my hand to where I thought Beepu was. My fingers quickly found his nose, and that was enough contact to allow some energy to mend his injury, whatever it was.</p><p></p><p>“Hey Myr, can you see anything?” Iesa called quietly.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t see anything, but I wouldn’t rely on that,” I said. While the gallery was as bright as day for me, there were many rocks, ledges, pillars and other obstacles scattered around the area. I was sure we were being watched, especially after the noise the trap made when Beepu fell in.</p><p></p><p>“Well, it will not matter Foggle can probably spot them,” Beepu’s disembodied voice said. And Foggle who was circling lazily right above us, flew deeper into the room. I watched its golden body drift through the air, as Beepu focused to look through its eyes. But as it approached the rear third of the room I head the snap of a crossbow, and it was followed by Foggle exploding, with brass and bronze parts scattering and bouncing across the floor of the room. It happened so fast that the mechanical owl never made a noise, beyond the ringing of metal parts on the stone.</p><p></p><p>“No!” Beepu seethed. </p><p></p><p>“Don’t suppose you saw where the shot came from?” Iesa asked, focused on the darkness in front of him.</p><p></p><p>“Not at all. We are going to need to find all the parts, so I can put him back together.” He said angrily.</p><p>I looked down towards the end of the room, and for a moment I thought I saw movement on the ledge near some small rocks piled together. I waited a moment, and I saw a head peak over the rocks. It was about gnome sized, but with a long snout and reddish scales all over it. It was clearly trying to hide, and it made no sound.</p><p>Once I saw the head, I threw a bolt of energy at it and heard a yip as a shower of purple sparks appeared after I struck </p><p>it.</p><p></p><p>“About there, on a ledge.”</p><p></p><p>“Well then, watch your feet!” and Daneath and Iesa moved forward, taking the light with them. This wasn’t a problem for Beepu who could see well enough in the dark, certainly not a problem for me. I moved forward a bit, so I could get a better view of the kobolds, while Iesa and Daneath looked for a way up onto the ridge.</p><p></p><p>Moving forward was tricky as Iesa and Daneath soon discovered. After ten paces each was presented with different problems. First a net dropped from above narrowly missing Iesa. Daneath’s choice of path apparently had tripwires or snares. But the big man was stronger than the material and just plowed his way through. Finally, moving forward I saw another target and struck it, and a bolt of fire streaked from just ahead of me finishing it off. Beepu then faded into view and took cover behind a stone pillar.</p><p></p><p>It wasn’t much of a fight really. In a matter of seconds, Iesa had lept onto the ledge and was stabbing at the Kobolds, while Daneath drew the fire of several crossbows. Beepu who was now several paces in front of me, couldn’t be seen, and kept shooting with fire bolts easily hitting targets. And while I was perhaps visible, I had the impression that I was out of their visual range, allowing me to pick them off as quickly as I could see them. It didn’t help the kobolds that they were terrible shots with their crossbows, with quarrels shooting wide, or bouncing off of Daneath’s shield. It wasn’t long before the sounds of quarrel fire and yipping ceased.</p><p></p><p>I made my way to the ledge where Iesa was standing. As I approached he spoke,</p><p></p><p>“There is a passage up here leading down deeper into the rock.”</p><p></p><p>“That is good. Now help me up on that ledge!” Beepu demanded, his voice still angry at the recent obliteration of his owl.</p><p></p><p>“Where’s Daneath?” I asked</p><p></p><p>“Here,” he replied. “There is a ladder that you can climb up, on the far end before the cavern narrows and descends.”</p><p></p><p>“So which way down?” I asked.</p><p></p><p>“I’d say this one. I bet the main passage has more traps. Plus, this entrance had a boulder here that is meant to hide it. They didn’t close it in time.”</p><p></p><p>“Wait for me to climb up then,” and IBeepu ran down to where Daneath indicated the ladder was. While he did so, Iesa pulled me up onto the ledge directly. On the stone shelf were scattered bodies of Kobolds, about seven in all.</p><p>As we waited for Beepu to catch up, I felt a rush of satisfaction. We weren’t on the edge of death or defeat or anything like that. And I clearly wore it on my face.</p><p></p><p>“You seem to be enjoying yourself Myr,” Daneath commented.</p><p></p><p>It took me aback a moment. Sure, I was happy to on the winning side, and not having to save someone’s skin. But enjoying myself? I thought a moment and realized that I did relish the fight. It was like the time with the gnolls and their withered zombies. But this was more intense for some reason.</p><p></p><p>“Are we ready?” Beepu’s voice asked.</p><p></p><p>“Sure, we’ll follow you,” Iesa said gesturing toward the small tunnel down.</p><p></p><p>“Well then let us…wait. Iesa! Get moving!”</p><p></p><p>With an impish smile, Iesa took the lead down the passage, moving slowly. His eyes looking for surprises. As the passage was about to open up, he stopped. He then pointed at a thin rope strung across the floor. It was hard to see, even with my vision as it had been coated with ash that was very close to the color of the surrounding rock. The rope snaked its way along the wall until it reached a bucket hanging above. I wondered what they might put in that bucket, but then I had second thoughts about it. Iesa moved the line out of the way and tied it tightly so it didn’t dump the contents. Then we snuck into the next vault.</p><p></p><p>It was similar in some respects to the one we just left. We were on a ledge overlooking the floor of another room. But on the floor of this room, there were many lean-tos scattered around the floor. There were a number of smoking fires, and there was debris of all kinds along the floor. Bone, wood, shattered stone, hides and junk.</p><p></p><p>There were a couple of kobolds visible around the fires. And while most of them were distracted, a couple of them were watching the entrance and saw us. A tall lean one, festooned with feathers and small bones started to yip something in perhaps draconic. It pulled a pot hanging from its belt with a leather thong and stared at it when it suddenly became lit with fire. And when it did, the kobold wasted no time to hurl it high over to the ledge we stood on.</p><p></p><p>We all reacted differently; Daneath raised his shield, Iesa stepped behind a boulder for cover. Beepu simply backed out of the way of the detonation that was to follow. As for me, I dove for the floor, covering my head as I did so. I felt the warmth and then heat of fire, and the sound of a dull roar as the world around us was engulfed in flame. After the din had died down, I looked around, and of the two I could see Daneath and Iesa were fine, while I was a little singed. My ears were ringing from the explosion, and the air tasted of smoke.</p><p></p><p>I crawled up to the edge and threw a bolt of energy at a visible kobold, knocking it down. Pulling myself back, I could hear scampering and claws on stone, as some of the kobolds ran towards us via a ramp.</p><p></p><p>“Hey Beepu,” I yelled “It would be really rum if you could make stuff explode like that. It would save a lot of time.”</p><p></p><p>“Amateurs! Not everything needs to explode to be effective!” he retorted. He then chanted a moment and tossed some sand from his pouch in an arc in front of him. As the sand hit the ground, I heard noises below me. Peering over the ledge, a number of the Kobolds had fallen down in small heaps.</p><p></p><p>Snoring.</p><p></p><p>“Point made!” I shouted and rolling to my side I found myself face to face with an angry pair of the little lizards. Now, Iesa made his move, moving from his boulder and quickly dispatching another one with a quick thrust. Meanwhile Daneath also stepped forward and slashed at one standing over me, running it through.</p><p></p><p>I glanced at the other one, who was readying to stab me with a pointed spear. I rolled to my right and flexed a moment and called down a radiant beam of light onto it. It yelped in pain and started to run back down the ledge. But it wasn’t fast enough as a bolt of fire streaked from nowhere and hit it square in the back, causing it to fall over the edge of the ledge into a crumpled heap.</p><p></p><p>For the moment, nothing else approached us. But we could hear soft raspy snores from the lean-tos below. I stood back up and looked around and saw that there was another tunnel that opened into another cavern. Iesa saw it as well and quickly moved down of the ledge and stood next to the passage. He then cocked his head to listen. He turned to look at us and said, “Sounds quiet down there, and there is some torchlight below. I’m going to check it out.</p><p></p><p>“Wait a moment, you barely can see as it is I’ll come with you,” I said.</p><p></p><p>“I’m going to take care of things here. Give me a hand Beepu.”</p><p></p><p>“What? I am not some murderous vagrant!”</p><p></p><p>“They did shatter Foggle into shiny pieces.”</p><p></p><p>I didn’t hear how the rest of the conversation went, as Iesa and I crept down the tunnel. It wasn’t long, perhaps fifteen paces we found another trap. It was right before it opened up into the next chamber. At that point, Iesa motioned for me to stop. He pointed at the walls and I could see pieces of wood with rusty swords fastened to them. The wood was bent, ready to snap forward and cut and intruders to ribbons. He pointed to another thin ash colored rope on the ground, and we both stepped over it.</p><p></p><p>Stepping into the room, it was clear that we were in some kind of hatchery. The remains of eggs hells were scattered in what looked to be nests lining the walls of this circular room. On one end was some small bags, but one large on made of crudely stitched hide stood out. Iesa and I looked at each other and nodded smiling.</p><p></p><p>We moved over to the pile and Iesa looked into the smaller sack, and I heard the clinking of coin and the sloshing of liquid. He opened the sack and pocketed the coin and looked at the vial briefly, before pocketing that too. I stepped over to the larger bag and looked it over. It was not small, and it would likely take Daneath to move it. But I decided to look inside to make sure that this was the right sack.</p><p></p><p>I don’t know what I expected to find. I opened the crude hand stitched sack and my nose was assaulted by the smells of rotting meat. I covered my mouth, holding back the urge to vomit as my eyes welled up in tears. I was about to close it, when I saw something silvery. </p><p></p><p>Still holding my hand over my mouth, I reached inside and retrieved a small silver bag, barely the size of a deck of cards. It held something soft that with a little give, like wet sand. I quickly summon some power to clean the exterior of this pouch. I then loosen the silver drawstrings, revealing a find powder. I grasped as small pinch between my finger and thumb. The texture was like a fine sand as I rubbed it between my thumb and fingers. Lifting it up to my nose I sniffed. I caught the order of pepper and I then had a strong urge. I quickly pulled the strings closed, and then sneezed, narrowly avoiding sneeze scattering the contents.</p><p></p><p>“I can smell that sack from here, and it’s nothing to sneeze at Myr,”</p><p></p><p>I rubbed my nose, trying to wipe away the smell, “Funny. This seems to be an emergency item belonging to someone.</p><p></p><p>“I wonder who?”</p><p></p><p>“Good guess they are the rest of the contents of the sack.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh. Well, forget that. Let’s get out of here. Hey Daneath! Need you to carry this!”</p><p></p><p>Moments later, I saw Daneath striding down the tunnel. In front of him, he held the unconscious kobold that threw the pot of fire at us.</p><p></p><p>“Think this will be proof enough we did the job?<p style="text-align: left"><span style="color: #222222"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">”</span></span></p><p></p><p>“I guess so,” Iesa started. “But you need to watch out fo—”</p><p></p><p>The sounds of whistling blades, and blurred motion for the tunnel walls cut him short. In a flash, what was once a corpse, was now a flayed pulp of bone and muscle, barely recognizable as a humanoid at all. Daneath stood there in shock, covered in blood and gore from the assaulting blades.</p><p></p><p>“—for the trap.”</p><p></p><p>I stood there in shock. The fresh corpse had a strong resemblance to someone who had crossed the Lady of Pain’s shadow. I had seen the results of that only once, but it was vivid memory. I could only assume that the soul of the kobold wasn’t shredded as well.</p><p></p><p>“So much for that,” Iesa said, dropping the remains to the floor, and wiping the bloody mess from his eyes and face.</p><p></p><p>“I think the sack is good enough,’ I commented. “Mind carrying it?”</p><p></p><p>“Why me?”</p><p></p><p>“Because Iesa needs to make you sure you don’t kill yourself on a trap on the way out, I’m not strong enough, and as for Beepu; it’s larger than him!”</p><p></p><p>“What are you saying? That I cannot pull my own weight?” Beepu asked fuming.</p><p></p><p>“No. I assume you can’t pull something greater than your weight. That and you need your hands free.” I pointed out.</p><p></p><p>“For what?”</p><p></p><p>“I think you need my light to help find all the parts for Foggle, if you want to put him back together.”</p><p></p><p>His eyes popped out a for a moment before replying. “Quite right. Are we done here? We are wasting more time!” he said with his arms crossing and glaring at all of us.</p><p></p><p>“Guest that’s me,” and Daneath grabbed the sack and with a grunt started the climb out of the kobold warren.</p><p>The climb out wasn’t long. It took longer to find all the parts to Foggle. But that had a lot to do with Mo stealing pieces when Beepu was distracted. Eventually he declared that he had found enough, and he had enough spare parts to rebuild him. We then, avoiding the pit in the front made our way outside.</p><p></p><p>The Ettin hadn’t moved. The left head stared suspiciously at Iesa as he exited the cave, while the right was peering around Iesa looking for his sack. When he saw Daneath lugging it out of the darkness, the head smiled and almost looked to be crying.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="color: #222222"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">“</span></span></p><p>KILL LIZZURDS // SACK. GIVE SACK!<p style="text-align: left"><span style="color: #222222"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">”</span></span></p><p></p><p>Iesa nodded and smiled. “Yes, no more lizards and we found your sack.” To which he gestured to his brother’s burden with a flourish. “Now, be more careful next time!”</p><p></p><p>The ettin reached out and took the foul container from Daneath who quickly stepped back.</p><p></p><p>“WE HAVE SACK. PUT DEM IN SACK // NO PUT LIZZURDS IN SACK</p><p></p><p>“LIZZURDS SMALL. MORE MEAT ON DEM // TOO MUCH WORK</p><p></p><p>“YOUZ NEVER LISEN // YOUZ STUUPID</p><p></p><p>“NO YOUZ // TAKE BACK STUUPID!”</p><p></p><p>The exchange become less and less sophisticated, but we didn’t stay to listen to its conclusion. We made good time putting distance between us and the Ettin, just in case it made a decision involving us getting into that sack.</p><p></p><p>By nightfall,we had emerged from the gully, and we looked for a place to camp. Iesa soon found a small clearing near a stream that seemed adequate. As soon as we set up tents, Beepu asked for my light and started working on Foggle. He pulled out a small brass pot, and lit some incense. He then proceeded to take some tools and he began the slow task of rebuilding the owl.</p><p></p><p>I was by the fire, taking our rations and adding some flavor to them, making them more palatable. But I was really lost in my own thoughts about the fight, when Daneath noticed my distraction.</p><p></p><p>“Myr, what’s bothering you? You’ve been acting odd since the cave.”</p><p></p><p>I thought a moment and looked at him, my face scrunched up a bit. “I’m bothered by…well how much I…enjoyed that fight. It seems wrong somehow.”</p><p></p><p>Daneath nodded, “Well, being victorious can warp your perspective. I mean the winners of a war don’t dwell on the ugly side. So, I’d say it’s normal.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s just. I remember someone that killed…a lot of people. And she was, <strong><em>driven</em></strong>. She reveled in killing for sake of killing.” I said, thinking back to the long raven tresses of the Sinker that butchered Elisna. “She reveled in destruction. She embodied it.”</p><p></p><p>“A sinker?”</p><p></p><p>“It’s a nickname for a faction called the Doomguard. They were mostly destroyed in the war in Sigil, but they believed the universe was going to fall apart. And that was the normal order of things.”</p><p></p><p>“But you don’t?”</p><p></p><p>“No. I never believed that. Death might come, but life was to be experienced. Creating things and experiencing new things was important. But then I find myself…enjoying the fight and wondering if…”</p><p></p><p>“If that’s who you really are?” Daneath asked.</p><p></p><p>“Well Myrai,” Iesa said coming over and sitting by the fire. “You don’t exactly come to mind when I think of murderous destruction. Too cute for one.”</p><p></p><p>I shook my head, “The woman was beautiful. Wild, untamed, dangerous. She inspired so many. So many to kill and destroy. So many Sinkers would die for her. Many did in her name.”</p><p></p><p>“What happened to her?”</p><p></p><p>“Before the War started, she and several others disappeared. Might have caused it to start and everyone was blaming the other. She was probably sent to the mazes by the Lady, but…no one knows.”</p><p></p><p>“The mazes?” Iesa asked curiously.</p><p></p><p>“The Lady can throw who she wants into a prison of sorts. It’s said that you will live forever in the maze, never starving, never aging. But it’s a prison that has a way out. A way that few ever find. And in five years, no one had heard from her, or the others.”</p><p></p><p>“Not a very nice Lady?” Daneath commented.</p><p></p><p>“No. She’s not called the Lady of Pain for nothing.”</p><p></p><p>Iesa shuddered, “Well…I wouldn’t worry about it. You're making it bigger than it is."</p><p></p><p>“You’re…probably right. I’m going to turn in, wake me for morning watch. Night.” And I moved to my bedroll in my tent nearby and took off my armor and weapons.</p><p></p><p>I wanted to believe it was nothing. But something kept nagging me about the fighting. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. It wasn’t about casual destruction. I had felt the exhilaration several times. But it wasn’t the violence. It wasn’t the victory. It certainly wasn’t glory.</p><p></p><p>I laid there turning it over in my mind over and over, never quite finding the answer before my dark dreams once again took control of the evening.</p><p></p><p><strong>Session notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>Foggle exploding was overdue. It had a price on its head for certain.</p><p></p><p>The is only the first time we got magic items. We the players rolled for them. And we rolled…poorly. That would continue for a while on treasure.</p><p></p><p>3,496</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nthal, post: 7632972, member: 6971069"] [b]Kobolds – the other kind of Lizard - 07/11/2019[/b] [CENTER][B]Kobolds – the other kind of Lizard[/B] [I]I kinda like Kobolds. Any creature willing to build anything in the Hive that improves things, is due a bit of respect. Even if it was only a sewer. But it was the only sewer in the Hive.[/I] [I] Of course, that was Sigil. I had no idea how the rest of the multiverse looked at them. [/I] [I]Or why.[/I][/CENTER] I looked at Daneath with resignation. “So. Kill him in his sleep later?” “Sounds good. Wait…are we talking about the ettin or Iesa?” Daneath asked. “Does it matter?” Beepu said somewhere next to us. “We can discuss and pick…afterwards,” I said. “Let’s go.” I closed my eyes a second, gathered my will and walked forward towards the source of that rotten odor. Stepping out of the brush into a clearing I reached Iesa and the…Ettin. Its right headswas locked on a hole in the wall of rock. The left one was staring intently at Iesa, who was projecting an aura of calm. The ettin was dressed in a rotting hide of what might have been a deer or elk. Its body was caked with dirt, and what hair it had hung in greasy clumps at the side of its heads. What I wasn’t expecting though was the expression on the ettin’s faces. The one staring at Iesa was what I expected; angry, suspicious and stupid. The other head however, had a look of determination as it stared at the opening in the rock. Even as I moved into clearing, and the first head glanced at me with suspicious, it never turned its gaze away. But the look of anger was clear on its face. But it was the tears in its eyes that surprised me. “So…he’s lost a sack?” I asked looking at the first head, staring a Iesa. It gave a sideways glance and spoke. “LIL LIZURDS TAKE SACK // GET…SACK…BACK.” The second one said slowly and sadly. “No problem! Right Myrai?” Daneath said clambering behind me. “Sure…otherwise I am sure that Iesa can apologize for all of us. Beepu, I hope you are following us.” He said nothing. But Foggle flew into the rock fissure ahead of us, which I took as a yes. I looked at Daneath, and flexed some power and lit up his shield, and we all made our way inside. The interior of the cavern wasn’t like the one below Yartar; that one seemed to be carved by water and smooth. This seemed to be like the rock fractured and shifted creating smooth walls, and jagged stones across the floor. The entrance wasn’t very wide, maybe three or four paces across at most. But beyond this bottleneck, the cavern opened up to a much larger gallery. From where I stood I could see some pillars of rock and on the opposite wall, there was a ledge looking over the chamber at its rear. Near the back of it, a passage was visible on the right leading deeper. We stood there a momen, as the brothers eyes became accustomed to the darkened interior. Mo, who had been scampering on the ground, quickly climbed onto Iesa’s shoulder and looked around nervously. While normally Daneath would take the lead, this time Iesa did, which surprised me. But after a moment I saw why. Kneeling down he pointed at the ground. “Pit trap,” he whispered. “Definitely kobolds. Watch your heads and your step.” Iesa, Daneath and then I pressed our backs to the right-hand wall to avoid the trap. I kept my eyes looking at the far ledges. Watching for signs of movement and listening for anything out of the ordinary. My vigilance did not go unrewarded, as I heard behind me a snap, and the sounds of gravel and the sound of a gnomish voice go “Oof.” Quickly looking behind, me, I saw that the pit was now wide open, and the dust wafted upwards. And from the bottom I heard choking and coughing. “Beepu! Iesa just pointed that out!” I said disappointedly. “Well yes. Only problem is that I cannot see where I am stepping as I cannot see my own feet.” I kneeled down and thrust my arm down in the pit. “It’s a good thing its shallow. Can you grab my hand?” “Yes, I think so! Harrump!” and I felt his hand in mine and I pulled the still invisible gnome out. “Just step where I do.” I said shaking my head. “That fall hurt, can you work some magic and heal me?” He demanded. “Fine,” I said with resignation. I concentrated a moment and then reached out my hand to where I thought Beepu was. My fingers quickly found his nose, and that was enough contact to allow some energy to mend his injury, whatever it was. “Hey Myr, can you see anything?” Iesa called quietly. “I don’t see anything, but I wouldn’t rely on that,” I said. While the gallery was as bright as day for me, there were many rocks, ledges, pillars and other obstacles scattered around the area. I was sure we were being watched, especially after the noise the trap made when Beepu fell in. “Well, it will not matter Foggle can probably spot them,” Beepu’s disembodied voice said. And Foggle who was circling lazily right above us, flew deeper into the room. I watched its golden body drift through the air, as Beepu focused to look through its eyes. But as it approached the rear third of the room I head the snap of a crossbow, and it was followed by Foggle exploding, with brass and bronze parts scattering and bouncing across the floor of the room. It happened so fast that the mechanical owl never made a noise, beyond the ringing of metal parts on the stone. “No!” Beepu seethed. “Don’t suppose you saw where the shot came from?” Iesa asked, focused on the darkness in front of him. “Not at all. We are going to need to find all the parts, so I can put him back together.” He said angrily. I looked down towards the end of the room, and for a moment I thought I saw movement on the ledge near some small rocks piled together. I waited a moment, and I saw a head peak over the rocks. It was about gnome sized, but with a long snout and reddish scales all over it. It was clearly trying to hide, and it made no sound. Once I saw the head, I threw a bolt of energy at it and heard a yip as a shower of purple sparks appeared after I struck it. “About there, on a ledge.” “Well then, watch your feet!” and Daneath and Iesa moved forward, taking the light with them. This wasn’t a problem for Beepu who could see well enough in the dark, certainly not a problem for me. I moved forward a bit, so I could get a better view of the kobolds, while Iesa and Daneath looked for a way up onto the ridge. Moving forward was tricky as Iesa and Daneath soon discovered. After ten paces each was presented with different problems. First a net dropped from above narrowly missing Iesa. Daneath’s choice of path apparently had tripwires or snares. But the big man was stronger than the material and just plowed his way through. Finally, moving forward I saw another target and struck it, and a bolt of fire streaked from just ahead of me finishing it off. Beepu then faded into view and took cover behind a stone pillar. It wasn’t much of a fight really. In a matter of seconds, Iesa had lept onto the ledge and was stabbing at the Kobolds, while Daneath drew the fire of several crossbows. Beepu who was now several paces in front of me, couldn’t be seen, and kept shooting with fire bolts easily hitting targets. And while I was perhaps visible, I had the impression that I was out of their visual range, allowing me to pick them off as quickly as I could see them. It didn’t help the kobolds that they were terrible shots with their crossbows, with quarrels shooting wide, or bouncing off of Daneath’s shield. It wasn’t long before the sounds of quarrel fire and yipping ceased. I made my way to the ledge where Iesa was standing. As I approached he spoke, “There is a passage up here leading down deeper into the rock.” “That is good. Now help me up on that ledge!” Beepu demanded, his voice still angry at the recent obliteration of his owl. “Where’s Daneath?” I asked “Here,” he replied. “There is a ladder that you can climb up, on the far end before the cavern narrows and descends.” “So which way down?” I asked. “I’d say this one. I bet the main passage has more traps. Plus, this entrance had a boulder here that is meant to hide it. They didn’t close it in time.” “Wait for me to climb up then,” and IBeepu ran down to where Daneath indicated the ladder was. While he did so, Iesa pulled me up onto the ledge directly. On the stone shelf were scattered bodies of Kobolds, about seven in all. As we waited for Beepu to catch up, I felt a rush of satisfaction. We weren’t on the edge of death or defeat or anything like that. And I clearly wore it on my face. “You seem to be enjoying yourself Myr,” Daneath commented. It took me aback a moment. Sure, I was happy to on the winning side, and not having to save someone’s skin. But enjoying myself? I thought a moment and realized that I did relish the fight. It was like the time with the gnolls and their withered zombies. But this was more intense for some reason. “Are we ready?” Beepu’s voice asked. “Sure, we’ll follow you,” Iesa said gesturing toward the small tunnel down. “Well then let us…wait. Iesa! Get moving!” With an impish smile, Iesa took the lead down the passage, moving slowly. His eyes looking for surprises. As the passage was about to open up, he stopped. He then pointed at a thin rope strung across the floor. It was hard to see, even with my vision as it had been coated with ash that was very close to the color of the surrounding rock. The rope snaked its way along the wall until it reached a bucket hanging above. I wondered what they might put in that bucket, but then I had second thoughts about it. Iesa moved the line out of the way and tied it tightly so it didn’t dump the contents. Then we snuck into the next vault. It was similar in some respects to the one we just left. We were on a ledge overlooking the floor of another room. But on the floor of this room, there were many lean-tos scattered around the floor. There were a number of smoking fires, and there was debris of all kinds along the floor. Bone, wood, shattered stone, hides and junk. There were a couple of kobolds visible around the fires. And while most of them were distracted, a couple of them were watching the entrance and saw us. A tall lean one, festooned with feathers and small bones started to yip something in perhaps draconic. It pulled a pot hanging from its belt with a leather thong and stared at it when it suddenly became lit with fire. And when it did, the kobold wasted no time to hurl it high over to the ledge we stood on. We all reacted differently; Daneath raised his shield, Iesa stepped behind a boulder for cover. Beepu simply backed out of the way of the detonation that was to follow. As for me, I dove for the floor, covering my head as I did so. I felt the warmth and then heat of fire, and the sound of a dull roar as the world around us was engulfed in flame. After the din had died down, I looked around, and of the two I could see Daneath and Iesa were fine, while I was a little singed. My ears were ringing from the explosion, and the air tasted of smoke. I crawled up to the edge and threw a bolt of energy at a visible kobold, knocking it down. Pulling myself back, I could hear scampering and claws on stone, as some of the kobolds ran towards us via a ramp. “Hey Beepu,” I yelled “It would be really rum if you could make stuff explode like that. It would save a lot of time.” “Amateurs! Not everything needs to explode to be effective!” he retorted. He then chanted a moment and tossed some sand from his pouch in an arc in front of him. As the sand hit the ground, I heard noises below me. Peering over the ledge, a number of the Kobolds had fallen down in small heaps. Snoring. “Point made!” I shouted and rolling to my side I found myself face to face with an angry pair of the little lizards. Now, Iesa made his move, moving from his boulder and quickly dispatching another one with a quick thrust. Meanwhile Daneath also stepped forward and slashed at one standing over me, running it through. I glanced at the other one, who was readying to stab me with a pointed spear. I rolled to my right and flexed a moment and called down a radiant beam of light onto it. It yelped in pain and started to run back down the ledge. But it wasn’t fast enough as a bolt of fire streaked from nowhere and hit it square in the back, causing it to fall over the edge of the ledge into a crumpled heap. For the moment, nothing else approached us. But we could hear soft raspy snores from the lean-tos below. I stood back up and looked around and saw that there was another tunnel that opened into another cavern. Iesa saw it as well and quickly moved down of the ledge and stood next to the passage. He then cocked his head to listen. He turned to look at us and said, “Sounds quiet down there, and there is some torchlight below. I’m going to check it out. “Wait a moment, you barely can see as it is I’ll come with you,” I said. “I’m going to take care of things here. Give me a hand Beepu.” “What? I am not some murderous vagrant!” “They did shatter Foggle into shiny pieces.” I didn’t hear how the rest of the conversation went, as Iesa and I crept down the tunnel. It wasn’t long, perhaps fifteen paces we found another trap. It was right before it opened up into the next chamber. At that point, Iesa motioned for me to stop. He pointed at the walls and I could see pieces of wood with rusty swords fastened to them. The wood was bent, ready to snap forward and cut and intruders to ribbons. He pointed to another thin ash colored rope on the ground, and we both stepped over it. Stepping into the room, it was clear that we were in some kind of hatchery. The remains of eggs hells were scattered in what looked to be nests lining the walls of this circular room. On one end was some small bags, but one large on made of crudely stitched hide stood out. Iesa and I looked at each other and nodded smiling. We moved over to the pile and Iesa looked into the smaller sack, and I heard the clinking of coin and the sloshing of liquid. He opened the sack and pocketed the coin and looked at the vial briefly, before pocketing that too. I stepped over to the larger bag and looked it over. It was not small, and it would likely take Daneath to move it. But I decided to look inside to make sure that this was the right sack. I don’t know what I expected to find. I opened the crude hand stitched sack and my nose was assaulted by the smells of rotting meat. I covered my mouth, holding back the urge to vomit as my eyes welled up in tears. I was about to close it, when I saw something silvery. Still holding my hand over my mouth, I reached inside and retrieved a small silver bag, barely the size of a deck of cards. It held something soft that with a little give, like wet sand. I quickly summon some power to clean the exterior of this pouch. I then loosen the silver drawstrings, revealing a find powder. I grasped as small pinch between my finger and thumb. The texture was like a fine sand as I rubbed it between my thumb and fingers. Lifting it up to my nose I sniffed. I caught the order of pepper and I then had a strong urge. I quickly pulled the strings closed, and then sneezed, narrowly avoiding sneeze scattering the contents. “I can smell that sack from here, and it’s nothing to sneeze at Myr,” I rubbed my nose, trying to wipe away the smell, “Funny. This seems to be an emergency item belonging to someone. “I wonder who?” “Good guess they are the rest of the contents of the sack.” “Oh. Well, forget that. Let’s get out of here. Hey Daneath! Need you to carry this!” Moments later, I saw Daneath striding down the tunnel. In front of him, he held the unconscious kobold that threw the pot of fire at us. “Think this will be proof enough we did the job?[LEFT][COLOR=#222222][FONT=Verdana]”[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT] “I guess so,” Iesa started. “But you need to watch out fo—” The sounds of whistling blades, and blurred motion for the tunnel walls cut him short. In a flash, what was once a corpse, was now a flayed pulp of bone and muscle, barely recognizable as a humanoid at all. Daneath stood there in shock, covered in blood and gore from the assaulting blades. “—for the trap.” I stood there in shock. The fresh corpse had a strong resemblance to someone who had crossed the Lady of Pain’s shadow. I had seen the results of that only once, but it was vivid memory. I could only assume that the soul of the kobold wasn’t shredded as well. “So much for that,” Iesa said, dropping the remains to the floor, and wiping the bloody mess from his eyes and face. “I think the sack is good enough,’ I commented. “Mind carrying it?” “Why me?” “Because Iesa needs to make you sure you don’t kill yourself on a trap on the way out, I’m not strong enough, and as for Beepu; it’s larger than him!” “What are you saying? That I cannot pull my own weight?” Beepu asked fuming. “No. I assume you can’t pull something greater than your weight. That and you need your hands free.” I pointed out. “For what?” “I think you need my light to help find all the parts for Foggle, if you want to put him back together.” His eyes popped out a for a moment before replying. “Quite right. Are we done here? We are wasting more time!” he said with his arms crossing and glaring at all of us. “Guest that’s me,” and Daneath grabbed the sack and with a grunt started the climb out of the kobold warren. The climb out wasn’t long. It took longer to find all the parts to Foggle. But that had a lot to do with Mo stealing pieces when Beepu was distracted. Eventually he declared that he had found enough, and he had enough spare parts to rebuild him. We then, avoiding the pit in the front made our way outside. The Ettin hadn’t moved. The left head stared suspiciously at Iesa as he exited the cave, while the right was peering around Iesa looking for his sack. When he saw Daneath lugging it out of the darkness, the head smiled and almost looked to be crying. [LEFT][COLOR=#222222][FONT=Verdana]“[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]KILL LIZZURDS // SACK. GIVE SACK![LEFT][COLOR=#222222][FONT=Verdana]”[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT] Iesa nodded and smiled. “Yes, no more lizards and we found your sack.” To which he gestured to his brother’s burden with a flourish. “Now, be more careful next time!” The ettin reached out and took the foul container from Daneath who quickly stepped back. “WE HAVE SACK. PUT DEM IN SACK // NO PUT LIZZURDS IN SACK “LIZZURDS SMALL. MORE MEAT ON DEM // TOO MUCH WORK “YOUZ NEVER LISEN // YOUZ STUUPID “NO YOUZ // TAKE BACK STUUPID!” The exchange become less and less sophisticated, but we didn’t stay to listen to its conclusion. We made good time putting distance between us and the Ettin, just in case it made a decision involving us getting into that sack. By nightfall,we had emerged from the gully, and we looked for a place to camp. Iesa soon found a small clearing near a stream that seemed adequate. As soon as we set up tents, Beepu asked for my light and started working on Foggle. He pulled out a small brass pot, and lit some incense. He then proceeded to take some tools and he began the slow task of rebuilding the owl. I was by the fire, taking our rations and adding some flavor to them, making them more palatable. But I was really lost in my own thoughts about the fight, when Daneath noticed my distraction. “Myr, what’s bothering you? You’ve been acting odd since the cave.” I thought a moment and looked at him, my face scrunched up a bit. “I’m bothered by…well how much I…enjoyed that fight. It seems wrong somehow.” Daneath nodded, “Well, being victorious can warp your perspective. I mean the winners of a war don’t dwell on the ugly side. So, I’d say it’s normal.” “It’s just. I remember someone that killed…a lot of people. And she was, [B][I]driven[/I][/B]. She reveled in killing for sake of killing.” I said, thinking back to the long raven tresses of the Sinker that butchered Elisna. “She reveled in destruction. She embodied it.” “A sinker?” “It’s a nickname for a faction called the Doomguard. They were mostly destroyed in the war in Sigil, but they believed the universe was going to fall apart. And that was the normal order of things.” “But you don’t?” “No. I never believed that. Death might come, but life was to be experienced. Creating things and experiencing new things was important. But then I find myself…enjoying the fight and wondering if…” “If that’s who you really are?” Daneath asked. “Well Myrai,” Iesa said coming over and sitting by the fire. “You don’t exactly come to mind when I think of murderous destruction. Too cute for one.” I shook my head, “The woman was beautiful. Wild, untamed, dangerous. She inspired so many. So many to kill and destroy. So many Sinkers would die for her. Many did in her name.” “What happened to her?” “Before the War started, she and several others disappeared. Might have caused it to start and everyone was blaming the other. She was probably sent to the mazes by the Lady, but…no one knows.” “The mazes?” Iesa asked curiously. “The Lady can throw who she wants into a prison of sorts. It’s said that you will live forever in the maze, never starving, never aging. But it’s a prison that has a way out. A way that few ever find. And in five years, no one had heard from her, or the others.” “Not a very nice Lady?” Daneath commented. “No. She’s not called the Lady of Pain for nothing.” Iesa shuddered, “Well…I wouldn’t worry about it. You're making it bigger than it is." “You’re…probably right. I’m going to turn in, wake me for morning watch. Night.” And I moved to my bedroll in my tent nearby and took off my armor and weapons. I wanted to believe it was nothing. But something kept nagging me about the fighting. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. It wasn’t about casual destruction. I had felt the exhilaration several times. But it wasn’t the violence. It wasn’t the victory. It certainly wasn’t glory. I laid there turning it over in my mind over and over, never quite finding the answer before my dark dreams once again took control of the evening. [B]Session notes:[/B] Foggle exploding was overdue. It had a price on its head for certain. The is only the first time we got magic items. We the players rolled for them. And we rolled…poorly. That would continue for a while on treasure. 3,496 [/QUOTE]
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