Milo Windby's Collected Story Hour

[Milo Windby]

You know Nail, that's exactly what I'm looking for, some good constructive feedback. Any one else have any suggestions? I've been feeling that my posts have been a little dry so far, perhaps I am spending a little too much time on combat descriptions. Any other comments are welcome. Don't be shy people.

 

[Milo Windby]

Temple of Elemental Evil - part 15 (session 8)

There was a round of agreement for venturing further into the temple. Milo felt that they hadn't yet found the 'meat' of the temple yet, and he was eager to explore more. But first, Milo thought, the chest. Milo approached the table with the beakers and chest while withdrawing his lockpicks.

"Hang on Milo, lemme try this time." Brigit spoke before he could begin the work on the lock.

"Be my guest, Brigit." Milo said as he made room for the sturdy dwarf.

Milo examined the beakers while Brigit worked on the lock. He discovered they were full of oil, perfect for rigging as firebombs. Milo pocketed a couple and told the others of his find. By that time Brigit had managed to spring the lock on the chest. She lifted a small box out of the chest. Milo peered in and saw what filled the rest of the chest. Coins were heaped up inside, some platinum and gold pieces as well as quite a bit of silver and copper pieces. Brigit opened the box and pulled out two vials of healing draught.

They split up the potions and stowed the coins for later. The other door beckoned to them from the other end of the room. It still stood ajar from the swift exodus of the other troops. Milo peeked past into the hallway beyond. The passage began at the door and stretched west. He could make out a side passage leading left a few yards away.

Milo led the others from the room. Brigit and Jer followed behind with Mazi trailing closely. They skipped the intersection, choosing to continue west. The passage took a sharp turn to the north, continued for a few yards, then turned to the east. A sharp intersection with a passage leading southwest branched off midway through the passage.

Scouting ahead, Milo found that the eastern passage led back to the main hallway. It appeared that the large marble hall led around the earth elemental room. They had skirted the main part of the hall by moving through the smaller outlying rooms and passages.

Milo returned to the others and reported what he found. They chose to investigate the southwestern branch before returning to the main passage. They spotted a door set in the northern wall of the passage further in. Milo searched the area, wary of the last deadly trap. The only thing he found was an unlocked door. They opened the door into another hallway. Three doors were set on the western wall and a curtained arch was set in the east. The passage turned back east in the distance.

The doors to the west had barred windows set about human height. Jeremiah peeked inside and made out three dwarf sized shapes. Brigit perked up when she heard Jer's findings. She moved closer to the bars and called out in dwarven. Her eyes lit up with the answering call. She recognized the voices, as they had her.

Brigit hastily pulled out her lockpicks and went to work on the lock. Her hands were shaking as she tried to unlock the heavy mechanism. After a few failed attempts Milo gently pulled her aside and pulled out his own set. Soon the door was open and the light from the hall spilled on three slumped dwarves in the cramped cell.

Brigit swooped in and helped up the oldest of the prisoners. He was an old dwarf with a patch over his right eye. He greeted Brigit, happy to see that she was alive. The two spoke in hushed dwarven. Bored, Milo spent the time examining the curtained alcove on the other side of the cells. The curtain hid an alcove with a bed and table. It appeared to be a jailer's quarters or the like. There didn't seem to be anything valuable around. He returned to the cell to find out what had happened to the dwarves.

Brigit explained that the one-eyed man was Bill, a family friend from her village. She was overjoyed to find that there were survivors. Not only that, but she found that her father and mother had survived along with her sister. Bill had grim news though, her uncle had turned traitor. Bill had described to her how he seemed to gloat over her father as they were taken into slavery. He also had news that disturbed Brigit greatly, it seemed that her father had been sent to be sacrificed recently. Bill didn't know what kind of sacrifice or for whom, but he was certain that he would never see him again. Her sister and her mother had been taken away by her uncle not too long ago as far as Bill could reckon. He didn't know where they were going, but it seemed to be away from the temple. The rest of the dwarves had been pressed into service excavating under the temple along with some humans that were locked up nearby.

Bill and the others begged to be led out of the temple, most were severely beaten and barely able to walk. As saddened as Milo was by their plight he felt it was necessary to find their jailer and terminate that threat before leading them out. Mazi and Jeremiah agreed, not willing to leave any threat behind them as they tried to lead the dwarves from the temple. Bill agreed reluctantly, not having much choice. He told them that he would take them as far as the door of the path they were led every day. Milo moved to the other doors and freed six more prisoners. Bill told of three more cells on the other side of the wall from their own, also full of dwarves and humans.

They found the other cells in a hallway just down from the original door. Six more dwarves and three humans were freed. All were weak from hunger and broken in spirit. Bill showed the adventurers to a door at the end of the diagonal passage, refusing to go any farther. Brigit told the prisoners to wait in the unlocked cells in case a sentry passed. All but Bill shuffled back to their cells, downcast at the prospect of sitting in their prisons any longer than they had to. Milo had found food in the jailer's room and he distributed it evenly among the prisoners before they left. There wasn't enough to make a full meal for any one man or woman, but it seemed to be more food than they had seen in a long time.

 

[Milo Windby]

Temple of Elemental Evil - part 16 (session 8)

The door was unlocked, as Bill had said it would be. He had also told them that there were stairs down that led into a room behind the door. Milo tapped into Usamigaras' trickery and turned invisible to scout ahead and surprise whomever he discovered. Milo told the others to wait near the bottom of the stairs for him to act.

Milo had no trouble creeping down the stairs without making a sound. He could hear the others follow, barely though. He was impressed that Jeremiah could move so quietly considering his heavy armor. A dimly lit scene of horror awaited them at the bottom. Iron bars sectioned off part of the room into small cells with chained humans. The rest of the room was full of various torture devices. An iron maiden stood open in the corner, it's spikes brown with the lifeblood of past occupants. Assorted racks and tables lined the walls as well.

Only one table was occupied. A dwarf lay stretched out on a rack worked by two shadowy figures. As Milo drew closer he could see that it was a large human and a bugbear. Milo moved behind the human torturer and prepared to strike. He glanced to the stairs to make sure his companions had arrived. The torturer and his lackey were completely oblivious to their presence, too intent on their perverse task.

Intent on the working of the rack, the torturer didn't know what hit him. Milo's axes fell with vicious strokes, cutting into his back. Milo turned visible just as the others charged into the room, weapons raised.

Brigit and Mazithra made it to the torturer first. He didn't even have time to find a weapon. Two blows fell, one from the dwarf, one from the elf, and the torturer fell dead.

Milo tumbled over to the bugbear and slashed at its legs. The creature ignored the pain from the axes. With a malevolent gleam in its beady eyes it stared right at Brigit, raised an axe it picked up next to the table, and brought it down. Brigit was unharmed, the axe was not meant for her, but for the prisoner. The bugbear's attack was fatal to the already weak dwarf on the rack. A rumble emerged from the bugbear's throat, it was chuckling! Jeremiah charged the beast, outraged at its callous disregard for life. Jer's fury tore through the bugbear, leaving a barely reckognizable corpse behind.

Brigit rushed to the dwarf's side. "Can ya help him Milo?" Brigit asked.

Milo stood next to Brigit and put his hand on the corpse. He felt nothing, no spark of life at all. "I'm sorry Brigit, he's beyond my help." he said sadly. "Did you know him?

"Aye, course I knew 'im. He's not me father, if tha's what yer aimin' at." Brigit returned. "They're gonna pay fer this, whoever's behind this is gonna pay."

The others were taken aback with her vehemence. None had known Brigit to feel so strongly, this was a side of her that she rarely showed.

"Ahem" they heard a small voice say at the top of the stairs. Bill waited for them, eager to know if the torturer had been stopped. Brigit spoke with him briefly in dwarven and his eyes lit up. Milo assumed she had told him about the torturer's death.

Milo found a set of keys on the torturer's corpse. He used them to free the rest of the humans in the cells downstairs. They gathered the dwarves and the humans together and cautioned them to be a silent as possible as they wound their way out of the temple.

Regardless of their warnings the group made some considerable noise as they moved through the halls. No alarms were sounded though, no guards came running. It seemed that they had done an efficient job in cleaning out this section of the temple.

The clearing outside was quiet when they emerged. Milo scouted the path ahead, making sure that no ambushes waited. He was certain the Baron had heard of his missing garrison by then. He found no opposition in the woods or on the trail. They led the prisoners within one day of the town, worried that a sudden influx of disheveled, wounded, and newly liberated dwarves and humans might raise more than a few eyebrows.

Mazithra and Milo went ahead to the town. They decided to check in with the smith/stable owner before anything. The jovial man greeted them warmly, a little surprised to see them. He warned them of a current investigation of a rumor. It seemed that a band of brigands had cleaned out the Baron's garrison. Milo and Mazi had the decency to look sheepish. The smith told them to lay low, he had no love for the Baron either.

Milo broached the subject of the liberated prisoners with the smith, asking if he knew of any place that many people could go without raising too many questions. The smith looked sly, he told them of a clearing where they might find food and supplies for just that many people. He also knew of transportation that could take the same amount of people back to the capital. He wouldn't tell them who was willing to go to so much trouble. Milo and Mazi both tried their best to read the smith and his intentions.

They excused themselves and stood away for a moment. They had both come to the conclusion separately that the smith was honest and had good intent. What his own motives were they couldn't tell. They returned to the smith and hinted that a group of people would probably find their way to the specified clearing by the next evening. The smith looked happy and relieved, perhaps he had personal reasons for wanting the prisoners safe.

They settled their bill for the keep of their mounts and gave the smith a little extra for his help. Milo and Mazi left the town quietly, choosing a roundabout way to get back to the rest of the group.

Bill was excited to hear the news. They left immediately for the clearing. Night fell by the time they approached their destination. Milo went on ahead to make sure that the smith wasn't mistaken in his trust of the mysterious benefactor. Milo couldn't spot a soul Blankets and clothes were set in a neat pile near the edge and a fire had been set in the middle, ready to be lit. A chest of food and two barrels, one of ale, one of water, were near the fire.

Milo returned to the others and led them into the clearing. Many of the prisoners went straight for the clothes while others rushed for the food. Brigit moved to the dry wood in the clearing and started the fire. Milo found some ponies tethered a little distance from the clearing along with a small chest of healing salves and directions to the capital city. When he returned to the clearing the fire was blazing and a celebration was in the works.

The adventurers decided to camp the night with the freed dwarves and humans before seeing them off in the morning. Brigit and Jeremiah won a few drinking contests with the brandy they had found. They stayed up late in the night, celebrating the freedom of Brigit's townsfolk and the other humans.

In the morning Milo and the others helped to see Bill and his people off to the capital. Brigit and Bill had one last dwarven conversation that ended in a fierce embrace. Milo could see tears in the one-eyed man's eyes, he swore he saw a bit of moisture in Brigit's as well. The ex-prisoners got on their way, refreshed and clothed from the supplies left for them.

The adventurers decided to leave their other keg of brandy as well as some platinum pieces for the mysterious benefactors to find. They made their way back to the temple, making sure no new developments had occurred. The temple was just as they had left it.

By mutual consent they all decided a few days of rest before heading deeper into the temple would do them all a world of good. The four friends spent the next four days training and scribing scrolls in the forest.

 

[Rel]

You know Nail, that's exactly what I'm looking for, some good constructive feedback. Any one else have any suggestions? I've been feeling that my posts have been a little dry so far, perhaps I am spending a little too much time on combat descriptions. Any other comments are welcome. Don't be shy people.

Well, Milo, you clearly have a talent for providing detail when you describe your combats. I don't really mind that (I am usually pretty detailed with the combats in my own Story Hour).

But, in light of the fact that your story is told from the perspective of Milo and not the 3rd person of the GM, perhaps you could strike a medium. Maybe you could detail the fight from Milo's perspective, discussing his every swing with Reft and Rend. But with regard to the other characters, you could more simply describe the outcomes without discussing every blow.

Just a thought. Keep up the good work. I'm having a lot of fun reading it.

 

[Nail]

You know Nail, that's exactly what I'm looking for, some good constructive feedback.

Constructive? Ya mean: me? Huh. I'm sure I could dig up a few people tha' might say quite the opposite.....

...but hey, I'm in a givin' mood, so here's some more construction:

More dialog! Anything you can remember from within sessions by the players would be good. Heck, you could even do some o' the exposition (wha's that?) wit th' dialog.

Jus' tryin' ta be helpful,

Nail

 

[Milo Windby]

Thanks guys, I will take your suggestions into account. Both sound like good ideas. It may take a couple of posts to train myself. So bear with me.

 

[Milo Windby]

An apology, and a link

Hello all, I have to apologize for not posting this week. Instead of writing (bad Milo) I spent the weekend composing a website for the story hours. I will continue to post all of my story hours here but they will also be present at Milo Windby's Hole in the Ground.

Please go take a look and tell me what you think. It's a work in progress but most of it is up and running, including all of the story hours that have been posted on these boards.

 

[Milo Windby]

Temple of Elemental Evil - part 17 (session 9)

Milo and Mazi spent the following days scribing scrolls like mad. Milo could be found pacing the clearing massaging cramps from his hand. He wasn't accustomed to so much handwriting. He hoped the scrolls would serve them well. Jeremiah and Brigit spent the time training. On one of his pacing breaks Milo noticed Brigit practicing with not just one, but two dwarven waraxes. He could tell she wasn't as adept while holding both of the heavy weapons, but she was improving fast. Jeremiah was intent on improving his accuracy and deadly power with his greatsword.

Refreshed and ready to tackle the temple again, the party set out for the evil grounds again. The temple's clearing seemed abandoned. They could see no change in the surroundings, it didn't appear that anyone had come or gone. The inside was the same, no evidence of passage other than their own. They made their way to the same vestry and descended to the lower level.

Rather than begin where they left off before they chose a different route from the first intersection. The dank hall led them to another intersection with the passage stretching left and right. A few paces to the right the passage opened to an abandoned room. Skeletons of humans and gnolls lay intact and scattered across the floor. Broken weapons lay next to the long dead corpses. Milo moved in cautiously, fully ready for the bones to jump to life and attack. Milo hated undead, really.

As he ventured further in he let his attention wander to the walls, curious if they held any secrets. Milo scanned the floor for any obvious traps. He noticed that the engineers that built the temple seemed to favor the simple pit traps they had experienced before. Scanning ahead, he placed his footing carefully, cautiously, right on a bare femur. His foot rolled and he pitched forward into a pile of bones.

"Well if there is a trap in here, you just set it off." Mazi said with a laugh.

Milo picked himself up, brushed off his sleeves and harumphed. "Everyone's entitled to their off days. Besides, I could tell with my keen sense of observation that there was nothing under the bones." he said before sticking out his tongue at the elf.

Whether by purpose or by luck, Milo was right. No one came running at the sound. More to his relief was the fact that none of the bones formed anything to attack him. They all watched their footing as they searched the room. Nothing but rusted and broken weapons and decrepit bones seemed to fill the area.

Down the passage past the intersection they found a room that mirrored the other in placement. The contents of this room were markedly different than the last. It was empty, completely bare. Milo searched the walls and floor, certain that an empty room may as well been a huge sign reading: 'Secret stuff here!' Apparently Milo was wrong, he found nothing. Brigit and Mazi used their knowledge of stone work and innate ability for finding secret portals respectively with similar results.

Milo left the room in disappointment, so far they hadn't found much of interest. Backtracking and taking another turn of the main passage they came across another odd shaped room. The walls were set diagonally to the entrance, creating a diamond room. Garbage covered the floor, piled halfway up the room in the corners.

"Oh no, I'm not going in there." Mazi spoke up, "Garbage means rats, rats mean disease, disease means I'm the one that gets sick."

"Suit yerself elfie, we found a couple O good things in tha last garbage pit, I'm checkin' it out." Brigit replied as she readied her twin axes.

"Just wait here Mazi, we'll clean out the rats then you can wade into the trash." Milo said with a grin.

Jeremiah was already stepping into the knee-high garbage, his greatsword drawn. The trash came up waist high to Milo, he wrinkled his nose and pressed forward. Jer reached the middle of the cramped room and began to poke at the trash with his sword. The garbage seemed to respond. It was as if the whole room came alive at once. Squeaking noises filled the air, Mazi was right, rats.

More than two dozen of the vermin surfaced from the garbage, the dire rats attacked at once. Jeremiah was completely surrounded by the hairy beasts. He invoked the mystical properties of the Windsword and became a blur as he landed his blows. The shrill pitch of the squeaking rose a few octaves as his greatsword claimed one rat after another.

Milo took a second to marvel at the carnage Jer caused. He attacked with his own weapons, slicing into two rats in turn. Both fell, adding to the growing pile around Jeremiah.

Brigit swung with her two axes. Where her blades fell, so did the vermin. The rest of the rats scattered, finding cracks under the garbage to flee through. Not one of the heroes had been touched by the filthy beasts. All told they had brought down over a dozen rats in the space of seconds.

They decided to leave the room before the rest of the rats rallied. Milo couldn't see anything of value, no nice necklaces on a pet rat this time. He waded out of the garbage to see Mazi at the entrance, slightly pale.

"Why so white Mazi? No problems here!" Milo asked.

"I hate rats." came her only reply.

Brigit seemed reluctant to leave. "Come on, It's jus' a few li'l rats! Ya pansies! I bet there's tons O stuff down here!"

"I don't think so, Brigit. I'd say we've terrorized enough rats for one day." Milo responded. "Besides, I want to save the remaining charges in my staff for when we really need them. Let's find someone else to bother."

They continued through the labyrinthine halls of the lower temple. Milo had come to think of it as the earth floor, considering the elementals and symbols they had found. They found two more abandoned supply closets, one with moldy grain and old traveling supplies, the other with empty and broken beer kegs lining the walls. Crushed casks of bad wine were strewn across the floor.

"That's tha saddest sight I've ever seen." Brigit lamented at the spilled spirits. "Woulda been worse iffin it was good dwarven ale I s'pose."

Continuing on they found a door set in the passage. Milo checked it as he usually did, searching for traps or locks. The door was clean, quite unremarkable compared to others they had come across. Brigit opened the door cautiously and entered.

That's when the gnolls attacked.

 

[Milo Windby]

Temple of Elemental Evil - part 18 (session 9)

Jeremiah entered the room first, straight into the four gnolls. They descended on the oblivious barbarian like a pack of hyenas. Thanks to his armor Jeremiah was only marginally wounded.

The room they found themselves in was a plain square chamber. A table with some mugs and cards sat in the middle, the chairs thrown back in the gnolls' haste to attack the intruders. A single door led from the room. One of the jackal-like creatures ran out of the door, probably to gather reinforcements. The others circled Jer, flanking him and inflicted another light wound.

It was not long before Jeremiah fought back. His sword followed a well-placed arrow fired from Mazi's bow. Three dead gnolls were left in the wake of the greatsword.

Brigit and Milo took after the fleeing gnoll. They found four more gnolls in the next room along with the original. This room was much as the last. Weapons lay in one corner next to a table with flasks lined neatly along its edge. Another closed door led out next to the table.

Brigit made short work of the first two gnolls, felling them like young trees with her enchanted axe. Milo rolled into the room past Brigit and tagged the fleeing gnoll with one of his axes.

Mazi was close behind, an arrow already knocked to her bow. Just as she entered a single gnoll in the corner pulled a rope attached to the ceiling, trapping she and Brigit under a heavy net. Mazi was able to loose her arrow before the net came down, killing the last gnoll from the other room.

Jeremiah came charging in behind the others, with one mighty leap he cleared Brigit and landed in front of the startled gnolls with a snarl. The gnolls seemed to cower towards the table near the rear of the room. Seconds later they surged back, with the flasks brandished high. One lobbed a flask at the trapped heroes, poorly aimed, the oil splashed on the net and flamed to life, burning not only Brigit and Mazi, but Jeremiah and two of the other gnolls.

While Mazi and Brigit struggled free Jeremiah advanced on the gnolls. He cut one down with an offhanded blow and stalked on. The gnolls seemed to falter before four more figures burst through the door, two gnolls and two hobgoblins. The leading gnolls attacked Jer but were repulsed by his bladework.

Brigit and Mazi were able to struggle free from the net by then. Brigit charged the gnoll that Milo was fighting, easily bringing its life to a close. Closer to the door Jeremiah's sword claimed another victim while wounding the other. Milo tumbled forward and finished it off, preventing Jer from being flanked.

One gnoll made it past Jer's defenses, wounding his arm. Before he could retaliate a swift arrow from Mazi's bow struck the gnoll right between the eyes. Jeremiah instead moved forward and attacked the last gnoll and the two hobgoblins. They lasted no longer than any of Jeremiah's other foes. Soon the room was empty of any threat.

Milo felt almost dizzy from the whirlwind battle. Everything had happened so quickly it was hard for him to come down from the adrenaline rush of battle. He practically bounced as he walked around the room, full of nervous energy. Trying to occupy his attention, Milo set himself to searching the room beyond.

He found ruined chambers, obviously quite nice at one time. They had been through rough times since then though. Nothing in the room was intact. The gnolls and hobgoblins had cleaned out anything of value long ago. In his searching Milo found a catch in the stone wall. He recognized it as the opening of a secret door.

Milo returned to the other room to tell the others. He found that they had been busy as well, searching the other two rooms and the bodies of the fallen.

"Well, anything else guys?" Milo asked his friends after they had gathered in what he referred to as the 'net room'.

"Nah, nuthin but tha oil. I think it'll come in purty handy tho'." Brigit said, hefting a flask in one hand.

"Easy Brigit, I don't need any more of that splashed on my nice shiny armor." Mazi said, shying away from the dwarf.

"Oh, an' I did find this purty," Brigit said as she lifted a silver chain set with a bright green gem.

Mazi's eyes lit up at the sight. "I'll hang on to it if you don't mind, Brigit." came her predictable request.

Brigit snorted and tossed the necklace to her. She caught it and spent the next few minutes staring at the necklace, testing the quality with her hands and teeth.

"I found some coins on the bodies back there." Mazi said absentmindedly, flipping her head in the direction of original room without taking her eyes from the necklace.

"Me too." Jeremiah spoke up.

"Well I found something a little more interesting." Milo told them. "There's a secret door in the other room. Probably leads to a secret cache of some sort." A particular gleam creeped into his eyes at the idea of valuables tucked away in a secret vault.

"A'right, ya know Milo won' be happy 'til we check it out. Let's go." Brigit said.

 

[Milo Windby]

Temple of Elemental Evil - part 19 (session 9)

Pressing the stone that triggered the secret door, Milo stood back and watched. A low rumbling was followed by the grating sound of stone on stone as a section of the wall swung inward. Brigit and Jeremiah went through the dark portal, followed by Milo and Mazi.

Milo's eyes adjusted to the gloom quickly, revealing the contents of the room. It was a guest room at one time. A single door led out of the room in the back. A large pile of cushions sat in the middle of a cracked and ruined bed. Two hulking ogres rose from the cushions as the heroes entered.

"Mmmmmeat!" one said. The other grunted in agreement as they both lifted heavy clubs and advanced.

Brigit charged right in, drawing her two axes as she ran. Milo tumbled into the gap left by her charge, trying to get behind one of the huge humanoids. As soon as the two came within range of the ogre's clubs they were attacked. The beasts moved too slowly to make contact with either wily veteran.

Brigit made Milo's fancy tumble a useless gesture. With two mighty blows from her axe the first ogre fell, its club clattering to the ground. Jeremiah and Mazi concentrated on the other ogre. Jer moved in close, swinging twice and wounding the huge beast. Mazi's arrow brought it closer to the brink of death.

The ogre got one more good swing in before Brigit's axe brought it down. It swung its club straight at Jeremiah's head, its aim dead-on. Jer raised his arm to deflect the blow. The force of the club sent him sprawling and would have broken bones if it weren't for his enchanted armor. Brigit attacked the ogre from behind, inflicting a massive wound to its back and bringing the beast to the ground.

"Meat nuthin!" Brigit said after the last one fell. "This dwarf be no one's meat!"

"They wouldn't have liked you anyway Brigit, you'd be all tough and stringy. Too gamy." Milo quipped.

"Tough an' stringy?! Wha?!" Brigit sputtered.

Milo laughed and scuttled out of the way of a polished steel toe zoning in on him courtesy of the offended dwarf.

They found a big open chest of weapons on the far side of the room. The weapons were serviceable, obviously a surplus for the guards. Just to be on the safe side Milo spoke a magic detection cantrip. None of the weapons in the chest glowed, although the ones they carried shined bright. Milo winced at the thought of some greedy enemy casting detect magic on their little band, they'd turn a few more shades of green if they could see what he could.

There were a few quivers of arrows and a barrel of shortspears as well. Milo noticed something rather odd about the stone slab under the barrel.

"Hey Brigit, you know a lot about rocks, come take a look at this." Milo said.

After a few seconds of examination Brigit said, "Aye, tha stone's been moved, and often. Jer, come over here an' help me push tha barrel off."

Jeremiah had been admiring the trove of weapons in the chest when he heard his name. He walked over to his smaller companions and took the barrel in both hands. With a heavy push he and Brigit were able to muscle the barrel off of the stone slab. Brigit pulled her crowbar out of her pack to work on the slab.

"A crowbar Brigit?" Milo asked in disbelief. "What don't you have in there?"

"Ya never know, tha's all I'm sayin'." Brigit said as she pushed down on the bar.

Once they managed to move the stone they found a sizable cache of silver coins. A silver bracelet was buried under all of the coins as well.

"Nice place to keep your payroll." Milo noted. "Let's check out the next room."

Milo listened at the door before checking for traps. He heard nothing, and found even less. The door was unlocked and untrapped. The other side wasn't a room at all, but a large hall stretching to the left and right. They entered the passage cautiously, checking both ways for patrols. The cavernous hallway was silent, no echoing boots or clattering claws sounded.

They could see another door further down the hallway and decided to check it before continuing. Hearing noises at the door, the party prepped for battle. They hoped the grunts and shuffling feet they heard belonged to one unaware of their presence. Brigit barged in through the door and the others followed.

What lay beyond was a half-surprised ogre. This one was far larger than the last two. It reclined on a bed made from four ragged couches pushed together. The plaster walls of the room were peeling and stained with smoke. Rotten food was piled next to the door leading out of the other side.

The ogre growled as it stood, it's ham-hock-sized hands grasping a huge maul. The crew was ready for it. The fight was over in seconds. Mazi fired an arrow at the same moment Milo tumbled past the ogre with his twin axes drawn. The arrow sunk into its thick hide, protruding from its ribs. One of Milo's axes sliced at the beast's hamstring, crippling it. Brigit ran forward with her waraxes gleaming in the torchlight. The monster had enough time to swing its giant maul at Brigit, missing by a wide margin. Brigit finished the ogre off with a fantastic blow from Trollgrater. She actually cleaved through its thick neck and brought its heavy head tumbling to the floor.

"Bring on more of those!" Milo said in a rush, grinning ear to ear. "What's that they always say? The bigger they are-"

"Tha harder they fall, aye!" Brigit finished.

They found an iron bound chest in the corner, locked of course. Milo found no traps and went to the precise work of picking the lock. He rubbed his hands in anticipation, always up for a good challenge. The lock sprung open on one try. Milo leaned back and popped his knuckles, grinning at his friends. They all looked on impatiently, apparently unaware of Milo's brilliance. He muttered and flipped open the lid.

The contents shined brightly. Inside were two huge agates atop a heap of gold coins. It was hard to tell who's eyes lit up more at the sight, Milo's or Mazi's. Jeremiah lost interest quickly and turned to occupy himself with the rest of the room. He found a copper belt on the ogre, figured it would be worth something, and removed it. As he heaved on the belt a coin purse fell from the ogre's corpse. More silver and gold coins lay within.

Just as the four gathered together to venture further, the door burst open. Three gnolls charged in, surveyed the room, saw the dead ogre, and attacked.

Milo and his friends made even shorter work of the gnolls than they had the ogre. Mazi shot one in the chest just as Jeremiah cleaved through it. He slashed clean through the next as well. Brigit finished the fight with a vicious swing of Trollgrater, slicing through the last gnoll.