Journal of the Traveling Gnome

[JesterPoet]

WARNING! There be spoilers ahead! If you are visiting the SUNLESS CITADEL, consider yourself properly warned.

Wednesday, 02/07
Today is the day I take my leave of SilverMeadow, the village I have called home for the first half of my quiet life.

I leave with some regrets, as there are many friends and close relatives I leave behind, but I know I must follow my destiny, I must have success associated with my name.

Many long years I have spent in this quiet village, studying and practicing. It became apparent to me at an early age that my family guessed that I would follow my fantastic abilities with the shaping of gems to bring me fame and fortune. Yet, while I do love the craft, I long for something more. I long for a taste of the adventure that my grandfather, Bagzar Bladebender Silverforge Treewhistler Striding Donkey, found so many years ago.

So today I say goodbye to my family and friends. I shall don my travelling cap and throw caution to the wind. Today the road is my path. And I, Papram Gemslicer Orangepants Pagefinder, see no end to my road.

 

[JesterPoet]

Friday, 04/18
Much time has passed since my last entry. The road has been difficult, but dull. I have yet to be beset upon by bandits. Even a goblin or kobold fiend would be welcome at this point.
I must say, I met some interesting humans at the last town I visited. Certainly a strange bunch of people. Very depressing to be perfectly honest.

I have noticed that many of the other races I meet have trouble remembering my names. It seems that, if I stick to two or three names, it is much easier for them to call me by something I recognize. I feel that Dalfast Sorefoot seems to work for now, and have been using this name for a couple of days.

Lumpy isn't taking particularly well to the road. We did pass by a marshy pond a few days ago, and that seemed to perk him up. He's been spending quite a bit of time in my bag, though, as the travelling is long and he tires rather easily. Nonetheless, I am certainly happy to have the company.

I have heard that the city of Oakhurst is only a few weeks travel ahead, and that I may find other travellers there. I can only hope for the best. It would be a shame to die of boredom.

 

[JesterPoet]

Monday, 05/08
At last I have come to Oakhurst, though it is not the thriving city I was expecting it to be. I must say, however, that it has not been a total disappointment.
I was surprised to find that people in Oakhurst have very strange habits. I stopped by the Inn for my morning drink, and found it was completely empty! Just myself and the Inkeeper, and it was nearly 9:30 in the morning! I decided to read, and wait for more people to arrive, thinking that there might have been festivities in the city until late last night, but was not joined by anyone until nearly 11:00 when an elf (a traveller like myself) wandered into the bar.

He grabbed a water and joined me. The elf (Ian, as he calls himself) turned out to be quite friendly and rather talkative. I was unable to ascertain where he might be travelling to, or what he was doing in Oakhurst, but I wasn't overly intererested either, so this did not prove to be a problem.

After a while, a man came in complaining of Goblin trouble. It turns out the foolish people of this town have been dealing with the goblins, buying some sort of magic fruit from them a couple times a year. I could not help but try to correct this poor fellow, explaining to him that goblins are shifty little buggers, never to be trusted, but he insisted he needed this fruit.

As it turns out, the fruit did as was expected and healed his wife of some ailment from which she was suffering. Quite surprising, considering that the fruit came from one of the foulest creatures ever created. I can certainly say that nobody in my village would ever take anything from a goblin! Nonetheless, this man's problem was that he planted the seeds from the fruit, and managed to grow a small tree which was stolen from him before it could bear fruit.

This, however, was not a new problem. It seems that many people in Oakhurst have had the same thing happen to them. They all blame it on the goblins, which I do not doubt they are correct in doing. Yet they seemed unable to accept my suggestion that this was their fault in the first place, as one should never do business with a goblin. The man just continued to grumble about his plight at the bar.

A short time later, a HUGE fellow came into the bar. He was human, as far as I can tell, but much bigger than I have ever seen. I was most definitely intimidated by him at first, but soon found out that he was the only other fellow in town with a proper drinking schedule. He joined me in a mug of ale, as well as a mug of some vile liquid, the name of which I cannot even pronounce. The people in the bar seemed surprised at my ability to drink it. While I don't quite understand why, it was certainly a noteworthy accomplishment on my part.

Yet again, in the early afternoon, we were joined by another traveller...

 

[JesterPoet]

Yet again, in the early afternoon, we were joined by another traveller.
I can definitely say that the arrival of another gnome into the bar was not the highlight of my day. She was a priest, who brought news that she had just arrived in town and had been talking to the merchant, eventually discovering that this merchant's children had gone into an old ruin named The Sunless Citadel, and had never returned.

Though the arrival of a gnome was not the best news I had recieved in a long time, her news of lost sons in a ruined citadel filled with goblins was certainly interesting. Figuring this could be the start of a grand adventure, I convinced my elf friend Ian to accompany me to the merchant to find out more.

Upon arriving at the merchant, Ian discovered that she was willing to pay for the return of her children. He seemed a bit dishonest to me, spinning a tale of the seven dwarf fighters who would accompany us into the ruins. Then he ran off for a bit, and returned with a story that the seven dwarf fighters had continued on and that four of us would be venturing into the citadel together. At this point I found it difficult to maintain a straight face and excused myself. I can only guess what terms he came to with the merchant woman.

By the time I returned to the inn, Ian was already there telling Bamf (or Gigantor, as I like to call him) and the female gnome that we would be venturing into the citadel to bring back the lost children, or, at the very least, what was left of them.

Being that we had a long day ahead, I decided to retire and suggested the others do the same. As I headed upstairs to go to sleep (in a room the inkeeper generously provided free of charge) the people of Oakhurst began to come into the bar and drink. What kind of people drink after 5:00? I must say that I, Ramzap Swillswallower, will not be disappointed to leave this town!

 

[JesterPoet]

Tuesday, 06/08
It was bright and early (well, it was before 11:00) when we headed west of Oakhurst to find the sunless citadel. My companions felt it necessary to prepare themselves with a hearty breakfast before setting off. I, however, was ready for adventure and nearly too excited to eat!
We did not have to travel far before we came upon a ravine into which the Sunless Citadel had fallen. I gathered, from the writing on the pillars and stones nearby, that the foul goblins inhabiting this vile place did not want us, or anyone else for that matter, nearby.

As we traveled onward we came upon a knotted rope tied to a tree and descending into the ravine. Everyone moved over to it, and I warned my companions, “Use caution friends, for this may be a dangerous descent. Maybe we should consider other means” yet Ian insisted that he climb down the rope and into the dark below to be sure it was safe. That Ian is a brave soul there can be no doubt!

Gigantor, the priest-woman and I waited for Ian’s return but after a brief time we heard shouts coming from the chasm. Gigantor, who is apparently always ready for trouble, began a swift descent down the rope. I was not far behind, as I did not want my companions to get themselves in too much trouble, and I believe the priest-woman followed me almost immediately as well.

Unlike Gigantor, I took my time climbing down. By the time the priest and I arrived on the scene there was a grizzly sight to behold. There stood Gigantor, covered in blood and holding a large, dead rat on the end of what appeared to be two swords strung together, and Ian, unconscious or dead on the ground.

I made my way to the edge of the ledge we found ourselves on...

 

[JesterPoet]

I made my way to the edge of the ledge we found ourselves on, as there was little I could do with Ian, and little I wanted to do with Gigantor at this point. Upon closer inspection of the ledge we were on I found a set of stairs that descended farther down into the darkness.
When I returned to the group to make them aware of this, Ian was on his feet again, almost as though nothing had happened. He clearly didn’t want to talk about why he was unconscious when we got down there, so I did not press the issue.

Ian claimed he was up to the challenge of moving on, so we did. Gigantor led the way down the stairs into the chasm below. When we found the end of the stairs we were at what I can only assume was the entrance to this Sunless Citadel. Well, the people of Oakhurst certainly had the “Sunless” part right. It was incredibly dark. Even our torch didn’t provide nearly enough light.

As we headed for the entrance to this crumbling structure, Ian lost his footing and fell into a hole in the floor. This was our first sign that the whole structure probably was not particularly stable. We hoisted Ian out, and another large rat followed him out of the hole. Gigantor promptly skewered that rat on his sword-contraption however. I still have to wonder, however... Was that hole in the floor the result of the poor condition of the citadel, or was it a trap, placed intentionally by the foul creatures we may find inside. I certainly hope my first guess was the correct one.

Entering into the main hall of the citadel erased my hesitations. There were dead goblins all over the room. It was then that I realized what a fantastic adventure this would be. One goblin was pinned to the wall with a spear, and he was not long dead. Looking over his body, I actually found some gold! I can certainly use that!

We proceeded down a hallway in the back wall of the main hall. There were quite a few doors in this hallway, and the floor seemed to be pretty solid, so I am not as worried about traps as I was. It does make sense that the floor of a citadel that fell into a chasm would be a little flimsy in some spots. There were three doors off this hallway, so we opened one of them and simply found an empty room. I refused to let this dishearten me however, and I looked across the hall at another door. This door was made of stone and had ornate carvings on it. It was locked, however.

Ian claimed that he could get the locked door open, and I was not about to keep him from trying. In case this was an ambush from the goblins, however (which they are certainly known for) I ran down the hall and pulled the spear from the goblin stuck against the wall. I had Gigantor use the spear to prop the door open so our means of escape could not be cut off, and then told Ian to go ahead and open the door.

Ian, unfortunately, was unable to make the lock work. I suggested that it might be easier with specific tools for the job, but he just grumbled something about tools being expensive. I decided to leave the issue alone at that point.

When Ian finally got fed up with the lock we decided to try the other door at the end of the hallway. Gigantor pushed the door open and we found this room to be far from empty. There had apparently been prisoners in this room at one point as there was a large cage with a hole in it. The room also contained a fire pit and a bedroll. We heard whimpering coming from behind the bed, and went to investigate. There we found a filthy little kobold whimpering unintelligibly. I definitely hate goblins more than anything, but I don’t like kobolds much more.

Gigantor picked the kobold up and we searched him for weapons...

 

[JesterPoet]

Gigantor picked the kobold up and we searched him for weapons since he wasn’t putting up much of a fight. We asked him what he was doing, but he just whimpered so Gigantor got tired of him and tossed him in the cage. The kobold, upon having been set free, ran into an adjacent room. A few seconds later quite a few more kobolds emerged from the room. Gigantor and the priest dispatched them rather quickly and we went into the room they came out of, where we found that same kobold whimpering in the corner.
Well, I’d had it with this little bastard and I am sure everyone else had too. I chose not to suggest that Gigantor stay his hand, and let him put an end to the miserable beast. I, Cyrapel Koboldsbane Goblinslayer, have no patience for such creatures.

Ian is worn out, as am I, so we have decided to rest a while in this room. I am sure we will adventure a bit more, though it must be getting close to nightfall. It is so hard to tell within these darkened underground halls.

 

[JesterPoet]

06/08 continues...
It looks as though we’re not going to rest, however. The group has decided to press on a bit farther. I guess speed is important, as the people we’re looking for could still be alive down here. Such is the way of things.

Gigantor, being the genius that he is, started opening doors as soon as we set off. The first door he opened up closed off a room that was swarming with rats.

“I’m gonna kill some,” he said, stepping over the little ledge keeping the rats in the room.

From the other room we all called to him to come out of there. None of us felt like wading through a sea of rats to try to pull him out, so we just kept shouting, to which he replied “There has to be something in here.”

“Yeah, there is something. Rats,” I said.

Finally he decided to come out, just as the damned rats chewed their way through the little wall holding them in. In a matter of seconds we were infested by vermin. I managed to quickly skewer mine on my dagger, and we dispatched the others relatively quickly. Needless to say, though, I am not particularly thrilled that I had rats crawling all over me.

After we took care of the rats, we headed off into another corridor. This connected to what looked like the main hall of the citadel. Gigantor, as astute as ever, bounded off into the hallway where he was greeted by three kobolds. He ran up to engage them shouting “Guys, kobolds!”

The priest and I looked at each other and shook our heads. I'm beginning to like her. I wish I knew what her name was.

The kobolds had him covered on all sides. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Gigantor was trying his best to cut through them, but it was obvious he needed my help. Luckily, I saw a clear shot on the opposite side of the corridor, so I made for the far wall and lined up my crossbow. I had the little bastard in my sights, and all the sudden I could see nothing but elf butt in my face.

I briefly considered shooting anyway, but instead chose to shout, “What the hell are you doing?” to the insane rogue who was too cheap to buy lockpicks and too loud to avoid some rats.

“I’ve got the perfect shot” he responded.

“What the hell do you think I had?” I shouted at him. “Get the hell out of my way.”

He jumped back across the corridor on his long legs, but by the time my vision wasn’t obscured by elf read-end, the human had dispatched the kobolds that were surrounding him and more had come.

Just then I heard a scream from across the hall and looked to see Ian not blocking anyone’s view anymore as he crumpled to the floor with a crossbow bolt in his chest...

 

[JesterPoet]

Just then I heard a scream from across the hall and looked to see Ian not blocking anyone’s view anymore as he crumpled to the floor with a crossbow bolt in his chest.

The cleric and I looked at Ian and looked at each other. I could see what she was thinking so I yelled, “I’m on it Priest” and started moving to cover Ian. She looked relieved and headed over to Gigantor to clean up the new batch of scum that entered the hall.

After a brief incantation, I managed to cover the front of me with a magical shield. I knew it wouldn’t last long, so I used the opportunity to see to Ian’s wounds. He was bleeding pretty badly, but I managed to put on enough pressure with a bandage to stop the bleeding. Luckily, he was out cold so I didn’t have to worry about him standing up in front of me as I attempted to kill off the remaining kobolds.

Somehow one of the little bastards showed up behind us as well, so I had a kobold on either side of us with a crossbow. Funny how the elf can’t be in my way when I need him to. Nonetheless, I moved the shield around to my back side and opened fire on the kobold in front of me. As I did, I heard Gigantor fall to the floor.

The priest looked at me. “This one’s mine” she shouted, and in a few seconds, the human was on his feet again.

Someone is always trying to show me up...

Just as I fired on my target, however, another kobold in flowing red robes stepped out of a room in the back of the hall. I could certainly tell no good would come of this. I noticed, as she walked towards us, that she was muttering something. I looked over to Gigantor and saw him swaying on his feet.

“Bamf, resist the evil temptress!” I shouted at him. I realize now that this was a bit melodramatic, but you know how it is in the heat of the moment. Nonetheless, he seemed unable to resist, so I felt it was time for drastic measures. As the priest attacked the kobold nearest her, I shouted out the words “Enchantus Dorminus Nocti” and watched two of the kobolds with crossbows and the sorceress fall to the floor in a deep slumber.

As the sorceress fell to the floor, Gigantor came to. He and the priest became kobold killing machines. I felled the one I was firing at and turned my attention to the one behind me. As the last kobolds behind me were finished off, I exchanged crossbow fire with the coward who was trying to shoot me in the back. I fired off many bolts without hitting him, clearly because I wanted to scare him before finishing him off, not bevause I, Zapfazzle Koboldslayer Goblinsbane Elfcurser couldn't hit him. But in the end, he was slain with the rest. Probably by me. I can't really remember.

Some of the kobolds had silver in their pockets, which was a lucky thing, as we can certainly use the money. We took what the kobolds had on them, and pulled Ian into a room we cleared out earlier. After the preist tended to his wounds, we finally decided to catch up on our much needed rest.

 

[JesterPoet]

06/09
The night passed without a problem. Ian seemed better in the morning when we woke him up, which is good, because he really looked like he needed rest. We decided to get another early start so we headed back to check out the room that vile sorceress came from.

In the room we found three kobold guards who for some reason chose not to leave the room the night before. They seemed somewhat annoyed that we had killed the sorceress. I felt they just needed a good talking to:

“Hey, can’t we just talk this out?” I said.

“You kill wise one, you die now” one of them spat at me in broken common.

“What say you just leave and then we won’t have to kill you?” I replied

“You die” it spat at me. Clearly they weren’t conversationalists. The kobolds charged us with a fervor they obviously didn’t feel yesterday when we were KILLING THEIR SORCERESS. Gigantor took care of them relatively quickly. This batch didn’t even manage to knock out Ian. Not exactly up to snuff as far as guards go in my book.

In the room we found a few things of interest. Gigantor took a surprising interest to a feather that was on an altar in the room. That was an amusing sight. There was a vial of pink liquid that I could not identify, but with more study I might be able to, so I slipped it in my pack. I found a few scrolls as well that will be of use when I have time to study them. The human also managed to pull a key out of a makeshift throne and we took that with us as well.

Next we came into a room that had all sorts of rotting meat on hooks. Lumpy was not pleased at all with the room, so I avoided it altogether (I don’t think Lumpy is too keen on rats, he says they like to eat toads), but the elf decided to check it out. He came out relatively quickly, reeking of rotting meat. Wonderful...

Ian went and listened at a couple of other doors in the hall, proving useful for a short period of time. He heard sound at a couple of the doors. We decided to go into one of them. The door was locked an barred, but after lifting the bar, Gigantor managed to kick the door in. Not necessarily the approach I would have taken not knowing what was on the other side, but it proved effective.

 

[JesterPoet]

Not necessarily the approach I would have taken not knowing what was on the other side, but it proved effective.

As soon as Gigantor entered the room I heard strained chatter in Goblin, as well as some broken common saying, “Big human, you save us. Much silver. Chief give big reward.”

Needless to say I did not feel this was something Banf could handle on his own.

Because I figured I would gain more information by speaking to these foul creatures in their own language I began speaking Goblin to the talkative one.

“The kobolds captured us. Locked us up in here. You can set us free and lead us to the chief. He’ll give you great rewards” the goblin promised”

“How long have you been in here” I asked.

“A couple days, a couple weeks. I don’t know” he replied.

I queried, “Why should I let you go? What purpose would that serve?”

“You will get much treasure in reward” he promised again.

I asked my companions to leave the room for a moment, and they surprisingly did. I pushed what was left of the door back into place and then pulled out my dagger and my bottle of ink. I dipped the dagger in the ink and showed it to the Goblin.

“One drop of this poison and you’ll be dead within hours,” I said to him. “I’m going to set you free from this room, but you will remain chained and I will stay with you. If you try anything, I will stab you and poison you. I promise you that, and my promise is more reliable than that of your kind” I warned.

He nodded and I went back outside and told the others I thought we should let him go, but keep him chained up with us. Gigantor went into the room and tried to pull the chain out of the wall, but couldn’t. Then the cleric and the elf told me they didn’t think we should let him go just yet.

“What the hell is your name?” I asked the cleric.

She looked at me quizzically and replied “Ellywick” to which I nodded and went on talking. “What do you two propose we do then?”

Ellywick and Ian suggested that we search some more before letting this guy go. “What do you think” I asked Banf. “I dunno” he replied. No surprise there I guess.

I went back in to the prison and told the goblins to be quiet and that we’d be back for them. They seemed to listen as they hushed up when I shut the door.

 

[JesterPoet]

I went back in to the prison and told the goblins to be quiet and that we’d be back for them. They seemed to listen as they hushed up when I shut the door.

We went over to the other room where we heard sound and before I could stop him, Gigantor tried opening the door. At least he didn’t start with his foot this time.

That didn’t keep him from trying his foot, however, when the door wouldn’t open. After he kicked the door (to no avail) we heard some gibberish that sounded like kobold coming from inside the room. I repeated it back as best as I could, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

We decided to try to find another way into that room and made a long trek along the back side of it. We eventually came to a room with a door that felt cold to the touch, and had something about channeling written on it. Again, Lumpy felt uncomfortable, so I backed away from the door. I think I’ll let someone else figure that out. I doubt Banf will be able to kick it in.

Banf kicked in another door at the end of the hallway and a bell started going off. When I looked in the room I saw it was filled with caltrops, and there were three goblins with crossbows behind a barricade on the far side of the room.

“Was there a sale on crossbows up in town?” I asked them.

“Intruders!” They yelled back at me in Goblin, “You will not pass!”

It would appear that these goblins did not have much of a sense of humor. “Hold on, hold on” I shouted. “We found some of your friends held captive. If you kill us, we won’t be able to bring them safely to you.”

“You haven’t seen any of our companions. You lie. Prepare to die!” They shouted back. “Why should we believe you anyway?”

“If you believe us, we won’t have to kill you.” I told them matter-of-factly.

“You can’t kill us. You won’t even come close”

“This is useless” I shouted to Gigantor. “Shut the door.” He pulled the door shut and we went back to the captive goblins. They were still there when we got to their prison. “We’re going to set you free” I said. “Don’t try anything funny.”

I asked Ian to see if he could pick the lock with the fishhook Ellywick gave him. He wandered over and gave it a try. Unfortunately the lock wouldn’t open.

“Wonderful. Just wonderful!” I said to him. “Can’t even pick a lock.”

“I’d like to see you do it.” He said. “It’s not like I’ve done this before.”

I couldn’t believe this. “You haven’t done this before? What the hell kind of thief are you? You have no lockpicks, and you’ve never even tried to pick a lock?”

“I’m not a thief,” he said. “I’m a rogue.”

“What is the difference?” I shouted. “So you’re a rogue who can’t pick a lock! What use is a rogue who can’t pick a lock? You certainly aren’t battle-ready, look at you! If we ever get back to town, which we won’t if we encounter a door we desperately need to open that Gigantor can’t kick down, you had better start spending some serious time learning the intricate art of locksmithing!”

This conversation seemed to cause a bit of tension between Ian and me. I decided it might be a good time to leave him alone at this point. The human managed to lighten the tension a bit by smashing his way through the goblin’s chain with a rusty sword. With the goblin (who told us his name was Racko) in tow, we headed toward the “Goblin Chief.”

Racko pointed us to a door that Banf promptly kicked down. “There’s a pit in the middle of this room” Racko warned us. “There’s a catwalk in the middle that you can walk across.”

Ian carefully made his way up to the pit and knocked away everything but the catwalk, and we walked across it, Racko leading the way. Gigantor kicked down two more doors and Racko told us there were goblin sentries in the next room.

I told him to open the door and tell them what was going on. Racko opened the door and said, “I have been freed by adventurers. I am taking them to see the chief”

“Nobody will see the chief.” said one of the sentries. “Tell them to let you go!”

At this point I stepped up next to Racko and spoke to the sentries myself, “We have rescued this prisoner. If you let us through we will talk to the chief and take you to the rest of them.”

They didn’t seem too interested in talking, as they promptly opened fire on me.

As I took a crossbow bolt to the chest and fell to my knees I remember thinking, “I hope they hit that little bastard Racko.” I must have passed out after that because the next thing I remember is being dragged into the room I am in presently, whereupon I passed out again. We are now resting, and I wanted to get this all down before I forget anything. Now I will rest.

 

[Urbanmech]

Go gnomes! There need to be more stories from gnomes. We have lots of dwarves, elves, humans and halflings but not enough gnomes. Keep up the good work.

 

[JesterPoet]

06/10
After some much needed rest, a little patching up of my wounds using honey and the healing salves and bandages I keep in my pack, and some serious discussion, we decided to continue on. It was clear, at this point, that Racko had very little pull among the goblins, and would not be much help to us. This being the case, we decided to try the Kobolds.

It was a long shot... but it just might work.

We dragged Racko back to the prison we found him in. He was not keen on going back in, so we decided to keep him with us a little bit longer.

Then, an idea struck me. I knew how we could get to the kobolds. The only hitch was the language barrier. Nobody in our party knew any of the kobold language, but it seemed certain that one of them would at least know Common or Goblin.

And so we banged on the door of what we assumed to be the prison guards...

The first thing that came out was a stream of an unintelligible language that I can only assume was kobold. I shouted back in goblin (as I thought that would be our best chance), "We have come to turn over goblin prisoners and discuss an agreement to rid you of your goblin problem!"

The reply that came was a shorter stream of kobold gibberish. This disheartened me, as it appeared they did not speak the language. Yet, as I readied myself to try again in Common, I heard another voice respond in broken Goblin, "What you want?"

"We are adventurers," I replied, "We have goblin prisoners we wish to trade in exchange for your help to clear the goblin filth from this, your citadel."

"We know you. You come from city and kill our friends."

"Yes," I replied, "Unfortunately we have killed some of your friends because they attacked us. We had no desire to kill you, we only wanted to kill goblins."

"We no have numbers. You kill everyone. We not help you. You go."

My disappointment became obvious at this point, which did not help our case, "We can help you. We need the same thing. By tomorrow you will not have to worry about goblins again."

But it appears my attempt was not successful. No more voices came from behind the barricaded door.

 

[JesterPoet]

6/11
After another day's rest to try to heighten both our strength and our spirits, we decided to take one more shot at the goblins. We dragged Racko back to the barricade where the goblins held us off last time.

This time we pulled no punches with the goblins behind the barricade. Banf pulled the door open and I dropped them with a quick sleep incantation. There were no problems there.

We cleared out the caltrops and tied up the two sleeping goblins. We dragged Racko around the corner where there was another group of goblins guarding the tunnel.

At this point I was fed up. I turned to Racko. I reached into my pack and pulled out the needle and ink that I had previously told him was poison. I dipped the needle into the ink, and pricked his arm with it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" he screamed loudly. I should have anticipated this, but I didn't. His screaming clearly unnerved the goblins around the corner, as they were starting to stir. I knew we didn't have a lot of time.

"Cover his mouth, NOW!" I shouted at Banf. Gigantor did as I said, though the whole party looked quite perplexed at the whole situation. "Look, Racko," I said, "Here's the situation. That poison will kill you within 24 hours. I have the antidote, and without it you will surely die. You say you are friendly with the goblin chief. I hope you're telling the truth. Right now that is the only thing that can save your life. Go to your chief. Get him to grant our clearance to see him. If you come back to me within the 24 hours, I will go get your antidote..." Racko's eyes widened. "Oh, don't worry. Your antidote is in the citadel, but I have hidden it. So don't try any tricks. I'm the only one who knows where it is. If I don't live, you most definitely don't. You may find it, but not before 24 hours are up. Better go... you're running out of time. Let him go Gigantor!"

As soon as Banf released Racko he ran down the hallway.

"Now all we have to do is wait." I said to the party as I settled down against the wall...

 

[JesterPoet]

06/12

...and wait we did. 24 hours went by and Racko never returned. What seemed like a great plan was crumbling before my very eyes. Not only did we not get past the guards (who long ago had settled back down) but we had lost our prisoner. And while it was true that we had other goblin prisoners, Racko was at least as trustworthy as a goblin could be. And at least he could speak common if the others needed something from him while I wasn't around.

I, however, was not about to let the party see that I was disheartened.

"Well, that's that." I said. "He's obviously not coming back. There's only one thing left to do-"

"Yes," Banf growled, "Storm in there and kill what is left of the goblins. We'll start with these!" he shouted as he began to run around the corner.

Ellywick, however, grabbed his shirt and shouted, "Wait!" Banf stopped. "There is a lot of the citadel left to explore," she said. "Why don't we go back and check the other hallway off the entry to the citadel. There's bound to be something important back there!"

After a brief discussion, we were off. We headed to the rotunda and entered the far hallway...

 

[JesterPoet]

After travelling a little bit down the hallway off the rotunda, we passed into a room with a large dragon carved into it. It seemed obvious at this point that we needed to use the key that we found after killing the Kobold Queen. I pulled the key out of my pack and unlocked the door.

We entered into a large room. The room had alcoves on either side in which there were pedestals. On these pedestals we found glass orbs. All but one of the orbs were cracked and covered in dust, but one orb was whole and still glowing.

The elf, who, like a weasel, seems attracted to anything shiny, immediately moved to pick up the glowing orb.

As soon as he touched it, however, it began emitting eerie music. Our two goblin captives were the first to be unnerved by the sound. They began pulling at the ropes on Banf's belt to get away. Luckily for them, Banf wasn't too keen on staying either. He immediately bolted from the room.

Ian and I were not far behind. The music just seemed to get to me. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep my legs from carrying me out of the room.

Luckily, Ellywick showed true gnomish strength by striding purposefully up to the orb and snagging it in a bag.

Amazingly, the orb stopped when she brought it outside of the room. Thank goodness for that. I didn't think I could take it anymore. We stuffed the orb (bag and all) in the bottom of my pack. And headed back through the room and out the door on the other side.

 

[JesterPoet]

Banf, in all his glory, charged ahead. He pushed open the door at the end of the room with the orbs, and ran into the hallway. Immediately thereafter we heard him grunt loudly and ran to see what the ruckus was all about.

On charging into the hallway, Gigantor had apparently stepped on a spot on the floor that caused an arrow to be fired at him. As he was pulling out the arrow, Ian found the plate on the floor and tried to disarm it. Unfortunately, the trap was too much for him, and there was little he could do.

"Forget that," Banf said to Ian, "I'll handle this." He grabbed Ellywick Orbsnatcher's shield and ran down the hall holding it over his head. One arrow fired at him and he took it without slowing his pace in the slightest. He then moved to the spot where the arrows were being fired from and held the shield over the opening. "Come across now!" he said.

Even though Banf apparently had the trap covered, we all jumped the pressure plate just in case.

On the other side of the hallway was a door. Ian heard no noise coming from it, so, even thought it was clearly guarded, we opened the door. It opened to a room filled with statues of elves in armor, and one dragon statue. Ian immediately went to look at the elven statues, during which he noticed a secret door in the wall. He began trying to open it.

As Ian worked away at the secret door, Gigantor wandered over to the dragon statue. As he got close to it, I heard it say something to him that I couldn't make out. He responded to it, and as he did the secret door swung open and Ian shouted, "I did it! Ha ha! Got it open!"

We shouted to Banf to come with us, and he did so, grumbling about something I couldn't make out. We passed cautiously through the hidden door and into the hallway on the other side...

 

[JesterPoet]

The hallway on the other side of the secret passage was short. It ended abruptly in a pit, which Ian immediately hung his head over the edge of.

"It isn't that deep," he said, "but there are spikes at the bottom."

"I think we need to consider that deep is a very relative term for some of us Ian," I quickly replied.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Ellywick Orbsnatcher asked.

"I'll jump across." Banf said matter-of-factly.

"And if you miss, you'll probably die." I replied.

"I won't die" he said.

I could see this wasn't an argument that was worth having, so I brought it to an abrupt end. "Look," I said, "I can climb across --don't worry how, just understand that I can-- so I will go across and take a quick look and let you all know if it is even worth coming over. I think I can be sneaky enough to get a quick look after all!"

They all begrudgingly agreed, and I began to cast Spider Climb upon myself. I crawled up along the side wall (much to the shock of my companions... if only I could put into words the looks on their faces) and as stealthily as I could, crawled along the wall into the room on the other side of the pit.

As soon as I entered I knew I was spotted. I could see the little beast's eyes as it shot across the room toward me. I realized too late that it had wings and was coming right at me. All I managed was a muffled shout as it knocked me to the floor.

I tried to shake off the haze from hitting my head on the floor, but it wouldn't go away. The little beast was flying down to bite me again. There was a thin glaze over my eyes and I couldn't see him very well. I took a weakened shot at him with my crossbow, but couldn't see him well enough to hit. I dropped my crossbow to the ground as he swooped down again and bit me in the arm...

 

[JesterPoet]

I tried to get up but lost my footing. That's when I knew. It wasn't the fall that was making me unstable. There was a burning in my arm where I was bitten. The nasty little critter was poisonus... and I was so weak there was no way to keep him from killing me.

Then it happened. I heard a roar as Banf jumped across the pit and stood between me and the creature. Ian, not far behind, climbed out of the pit and readied his bow.

I dragged myself back into a corner as Banf and Ian tried to dispatch the foul little creature. Clearly the lack of exertion was helping me recover.

Then all of the sudden I heard the creature shout, "Ha ha! You've broken the enchantment that has been holding me here to guard the Dragon Priest! I am free!" and I watched as he flew out of the room.

I finally got a chance to look around the room as Banf and Ian went to help the Orbsnatcher across the pit. The room was mostly taken up by a giant tomb with a dragon carved into it.

We discussed what to do. We decided to rest and open the tomb in the morning. So sorry, Dragon Priest, I guess your tomb guard didn't do you much good. See you in the morning.