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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1700319" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Eyeless Attack4 a.m., 5/4/368 O.L.G., on the bridge in the Neversun Chasm, StrogassOur heroes are sleeping soundly, despite the discordant drumming below them.  That all changes when the monsters charge out of the darkness at the far end of the bridge, gibbering and japing.“Rise!” screams Thelonious, who is on watch, and the others jerk awake in time to avoid being completely overrun and destroyed by the weird creatures.  There are four of them coming in two pairs.  As tall as a human, and upright like one as well, the beasts have skin the color of slate and stringy tangles of hair.  They are ugly, with sharp teeth and, most unsettling, no eyes.  They grip primitive stone axes eagerly as they rush forward.Federico is struggling out of his blankets when the first pair falls on him, axes slicing into him and almost knocking him off the bridge.  The kobold screeches as blood fountains from his chest and side, and he staggers back, moaning and crying, to cast cure light wounds on himself. “No!” cries Thelonious.  “Leave my friends alone!”  Twang!  An arrow shoots out, but the grey-skinned target jerks aside, and the missile whizzes past ineffectually.Laodegan has reached the fight, his sword naked in his hand, and in the dim light from the torch set on the bridge he strikes one of the enemy down in a single blow.  Then he and Jawbreaker advance on another even as Thelonious sinks an arrow into the third, which Ethel (Federico’s dog) drags to the ground and proceeds to tear literally to pieces.  Jawbreaker thrusts with his spear, catching the one he and Laodegan are threatening in the groin, and drops it.Only one remains, and it turns and flees.  For now, our exhausted heroes let it go.“What if it goes and gets more of them?” Federico wails.  “Oh, I knew we should have listened to the mushrooms!”“Listened to the-?  No, I don’t think so!  Are you crazy?”  Laodegan kicks one of the corpses over to examine it while he talks.  “Oh, that’s right- you are crazy.  You’re all crazy.  Why don’t we go back and go around this mad place and avoid it entirely?”“Do you want to haul the dogs up again?” Thelonious asks reasonably.“Your turn,” the other human replies flatly.  “Not run,” scoffs Jawbreaker.  “Not coward.”“We’ve come this far,” Thelonious adds.“And we don’t even know how far the chasm goes, but it’s far,” Federico groans.  Laodegan sighs and sits heavily on the bridge.  He is very tired; they all are.  They’ve had only a very short period of rest.  Not enough, certainly.“All right,” he says at last.  “We have come this far.  But mind you, we’re going straight up and out on the far side of the bridge!”“As soon as we rest,” Federico interjects.  “I’m s-so tired.”“Now look at this thing,” Laodegan continues, and the others cluster around the eyeless corpse.  “Look at the size of those ears and that nose.”  He smiles thinly.  “We should try to put together some pepper and spices and make as much noise as possible.”Below them, in the valley at the base of the chasm, the sounds of the drumming seem to pick up a bit.  There’s a new sense of enthusiasm to them.“I don’t think,” Thelonious sighs slowly, “we have time to rest.”“Oh no,” moans the kobold.  “The one that got away told his friends!”Our heroes drag themselves up and quickly gather their meager possessions.  This takes only a minute or two.  Then they head to the other side of the bridge to investigate.  The question in their minds is a simple one: how do we go up and out?  But sadly, the only path seems to lead down through the mountain towards the base of the chasm.“Well,” Thelonious says.  For a moment silence reigns; then Federico cries out, “Wait- look!”  He gestures and the others crowd around to look. A short distance away from them- but certainly out of reach without extreme climbing skill- is a treacherously narrow stair, carved into the side of the chasm.  It seems to lead from the bottom... up.  It’s impossible to see how far up it goes, but it surely leads to something. “Should we risk it?” Thelonious asks.“Do we have a choice?” Laodegan asks in return, wryly.And just as the group is readying to head down the path into the side of the cliff, a small figure rushes out towards them.  It’s mounted on a riding dog and it’s just the right size to be a halfling...“Look out!” the newcomer cries, in a high, clear voice.  It’s a young halfling lass.  She leaps from the back of her dog.  “They’re coming!” “Who are you?” demands Laodegan, and the grimlocks come.Next Time: The grimlocks assault our heroes!  Who is the halfling lass?  And can the way down possibly be easy?</blockquote>

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