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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 69080" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #23 (part III)Osilem, 3rd of Dek – 564 H.E.The next morning, after breakfast the party gathered in the Chamber of the Three (79).  From there, Ethiel, accompanied by two other elves and Tirhas Tesfay, he led them down to the lower garbage room.  The fetid smell made Martin wince, and Jeremy looked at the spot where his life had ended and shuddered.“Are you sure that monster is gone?” he asked.“The creature was raised by us.  It would not attack elves, or those with elves, but we are fairly certain it was slain, though it has disappeared for days at a time before,” Ethiel explained.  “It grieved us that Richard’s treachery led our own beast into complicity.”They went down one of the marble corridors leading away from the stinking garbage, and to a large stone door carved with elven sigils. Above the archway were the elvish runes: Ethiel stepped up raised a hand before the door and spoke a hushed word.  There was the gentle yawn of the change of air pressure as the door jerked ajar of its own accord.  “Beyond is Culadin e sila Avelsoliel,” he said turning to the party.  “It means ‘stairway to the honeycomb’.  You will follow it down to a huge chamber”. With two obvious exits to your left, take the one more directly across from the base of the stairs.  It will lead into the Honeycombe, from there you are on your own.  There are probably no more than a score ogres left down there, but that is enough.”One of the other elves handed the party packages of food to pass among themselves, and the other gave them two coils of elven rope (80) and a lantern.“Good luck,” said Ethiel.  “Once you pass through the door, we must seal it against intrusion, so you will have to make your way to the other side below the human town.  And while you seek your quarry we shall search our tomes and papers in our library for references to this ‘Circle of the Thorn’ and the ‘Brotherhood of the Lost’ as you asked.”“Um, Ethiel,” Jana suddenly said. “You never said what Karellena’s powers are like.”“Well, it is hard to know for certain.  She can call on any number of fiendish beasts, and beguile,” Ethiel said.  “Also, we do not know if she will be able to use the powers exhibited by all drow in her current body, but it is possible.”“Drow powers?” Martin asked.“Yes, the standard abilities of the Novilustani.  The ability to levitate, cast globes of darkness, that kind of thing.”“Oh, nice to know,” said Martin.The elf that had handed them the ropes showed Ratchis the sign of the witch’s passage at the threshold.“That is the mark you must look for when you come to the chamber below,” he said to the half-orc.Ratchis nodded.  The rest of party cross the threshold to join the woodsman, and Tirhas came with them.“I shall accompany you,” she said.  “Though if I must choose between catching the drow and letting Richard go, I will choose the former.”Martin raised the lantern as the door closed behind them and they began the long walk down the narrow corridor, which was made of seemingly endless steps, that were of uneven length and height.  It was a wearying and oppressive journey in the dark, ever downward.  Ratchis took point, making his way down as quietly as he could sixty feet in front of the party, while the others tarried to give him room.The descent was tedious.  For what seemed to be an inordinate amount of time the chaotic staircase crawled down spiraling in long loops in one direction and then in another.  At times it was as broad as forty feet and at others barely three feet wide.  And just when they felt that they could take it no longer (except Kazrack who wondered at the fact that each stone had been purposefully made asymmetrical with the rest with a bizarrely masterful craftsmanship), the steps descended into a much larger chamber.  The ceiling fell away into the darkness, as did the floors and walls around them, until the humans could not even see the floor forty feet below them. Twenty feet below them , on a particularly long step something glittered, and there was the shadow of a lump or something partially blocking the way.  Kazrack’s eyes opened broadly, and Ratchis whispered, “treasure” and then “hold on!”He crept forward and peered around, looking above and below to each side and finally up to the large stone that had been placed on the step.  Ratchis motioned and the other crept forward.Upon the step was a large stone about three feet across and two feet high.  It was rough and unpolished.   Heaped upon it were more coins than any of them had ever seen gathered in one place before.   There were stacks of silver coins and dwarven obleks (81), and the bright glint of gold in several places, all on a bed of bright copper holding many gems littered about the surface.However, the pile was also marred with the stumps of many burned out candles upon a collection of bones and skulls and rags, and ripped up canvas bags.  Most of the skulls were of humans, but two were abnormally large and oblong with a ridge in the brow.“Ogres,” Tirhas said, quietly.“Treasure!” Jeremy said, less quietly, stepping forward.“Stop!” Kazrack cried, his dwarven reflexes kicking in.  “It could be trapped!”“Or cursed,” said Jana.Jeremy looked back and forth between the two of them.“Are you saying we are just going to let this treasure sit here and keep going?” Jeremy’s voice echoed with exasperation.“Keep it down! Voices carry,” said Ratchis.“No, I plan to check it,” said Kazrack.  He removed his pouch of runestones from around his neck, and retrieved one.  It came ready to his hand, even though it was a particular stone that he was looking for, as if it knew to be on top.  He place it on his palm, and chanted softly under his breath, is head down. He then looked at the stone and the treasure. “It is not magical,” he said with confidence.“Good!” Jeremy leapt forward, but Ratchis put a thick arm before the Neergaardian.  It could still be trapped.“And it may not detect as magical and still be cursed,” added Martin, the emerald of his new ring shining in the lantern light as he rubbed his arms across his body to stay warm in the damp cavern.  “I can’t wait for the day I can take a bath.  A hot bath.”“So, we are leaving it,” Jeremy said. He looked at the others and sighed, and then suddenly fell to all floors and crawled right up to the side of the stone.  He peered at it closely, but kept his hands and body away.“What are you doing?” Kazrack asked.“Looking for traps,” said Jeremy.  “I don’t see any.”  He stood.“That doesn’t mean there isn’t one,” said Ratchis.“Oh, it most assuredly means there is!” said Jeremy with confidence.  “Let’s go.”They continued down the stairs.  Ratchis took the lead, followed by Kazrack, and then Jana and Martin, followed by Jeremy and Tirhas.Finally, they were on the floor of the huge cavern.  The floor below them was moist and soft dirt, littered with sharp stones.  The ceiling of stalactites was shrouded in darkness even to the dwarf and the half-orc, and they walked along, Ratchis keeping an eye peeled for the exits Ethiel had told them about.   Ahead of them to the right was a shimmering column of stone made of where a huge stalactite and stalagmite had met about twenty feet off the ground.   Moisture beaded on its surface, glimmering in the lantern light.“This is amazingly beautiful,” Kazrack said softly. “I have not seen caverns like these since my early childhood.”“The exits from this cavern should be that way,” said Ratchis, pointing to the left. “I can feel colder air from that direction.”The near-silence of their walk across the huge chamber was shattered by a scream from Tirhas behind them.Jeremy was the quickest to react.  He spun around. “Mother of Filth!” he cried, as he saw Tirhas struggling to free herself from a huge spider, nearly five feet in diameter, hanging above her by a thick shining web.  The spider’s venom rolled thickly down her shoulder and arm.Kazrack was at her side quickly, but not quicker than Ratchis had turned and fired his crossbow (already loaded) into the spider’s flank.  There was a nasty popping sound as ichor burst from the wound.  Kazrack’s halberd drew more ichor and a screech from the spider, as Martin attempted his new spell sleep (learned the day before from one of the elves), but the vermin resisted.It plopped down on the soft ground, it’s front feelers wide open, looming taller than Kazrack’s head, and it came down on the dwarf and he felt its hot venom coursing through his veins.  He almost immediately felt his muscles weaken and he groaned, the spider’s teeth pulling big chunks of flesh free from his shoulder.Jeremy’s new sword was in his left hand and stabbed the spider right above the head and it screeched again, letting go of Kazrack and began to turn.“Foul servant of Teneraél Undol!” Tirhas cried and shoved her blade right into the spider’s face, all the way to the hilt.  The creature shuddered and popped, and then its legs wobbled and it collapsed.Kazrack rubbed his poisoned wound and winced from the pain. “Quick, Ratchis try to clean out his wound while I help Tirhas,” said Jana, pulling out her oft-used healer’s kit.The venom moved through their bodies, moving to their hearts.  Kazrack felt a tightening in his chest and a shortness of breath, as the strength was drained from his body.  Ratchis had not been fast enough, but Tirhas was able to further resist the poison thanks to Jana’s help.“Ugh, I feel awful,” Kazrack moaned.  “I don’t know if I can take up the front ranks anymore.  I’d be more of a liability than an asset.”“Well, we have no choice but to move on,” Ratchis said.  “I will carry your pack. You’ll do the best you can and we’ll just hope it is enough.”“Well, even though I am weakened, I want the two of you remaining behind me so you can be safer in case of attack,” Kazrack said to Martin and Jana.“We may need line of sight to cast our spells,” noted Jana.“Don’t worry, I think we can see over him,” Martin commented dryly.Kazrack frowned.  Jeremy laughed.The party kept moving, Kazrack having noticed a bunch of webs up near the ceiling between the glimmering pillar and the ceiling and probably the rear wall which was obscured by darkness.  Ratchis took a few minutes searching the two passages out he had been told about, and found signs that the small boot print, still bearing some rotting trash from the garbage room went down the natural corridor that supposedly was the more direct way to the Honeycombe. The passageway was long and narrow, going down for a long time with a very mind slope. Ratchis stopped occasionally to make sure the track he had found continued this way, but there was nowhere else for it go.  There were no other branches, only occasional alcoves in the stone walls that were not level with the slope, creating perfect little ambush spots for one or two medium-sized creatures.  But no ambushes came.Eventually, they came to fork in the path.  The passageway opened up into a small oval area that branched in three directions.  Immediately before them the path continued at the same level.  On the right went downward, but on the left it went up sharply.Ratchis motioned for the others to stand back and spent fifteen minutes looking around.  “There are two kinds of tracks here,” he finally said. “I almost missed the witch’s because there are a bunch of prints like a two-legged animal with a padded and clawed foot.  The witch’s track goes down the center passageway and then back to the right.  The creature’s footprints are everywhere,  but it looks like the most recent set went to the right as well, but after the witch did.”“Perhaps she turned into the creature,’ Kazrack mused.“There are several of them, so unless she can turn herself into a pack of creatures…” Ratchis let his voice trail off.   “I guess we go right then,” said Tirhas.The passage to the right curved to the left again after only about twenty feet, and then opened into a tall oblong room.  It was about forty-five to fifty feet long, and its floor was sunken about three feet below the floor the passageway the party followed.  There was another shimmering column near the other end of the room, to the right, and a darkened alcove four feet above the floor to the left.“Wait here, I’ll check it out,” Ratchis whispered to the others and snuck forward.  Kazrack dropped down the cavern floor, covering him with the heavy crossbow the half-orc had handed to him before he left.  Ratchis kept to the right, but came around the column from the left, looking to peer into the darkness of the passage that led out the other side of the cavern, and suddenly there was a heavy weight upon him and intense pain.Kazrack was the only one who could see clearly as the lantern light did not reach that far, but a creature leapt down from behind the column, where it had been clinging to it. It slammed Ratchis in the head with a misshapen club, knocking the half-orc off his feet.There was a roar and another of the creatures appeared in the dark alcove.They had shaggy fur all over their bodies.  It was gray and brown in uneven splotches, and the smell of dung emanated from them.  They had bear-like faces, and broad shoulders, and long canines that dripped saliva.  They hooted wildly.The first creature tried to slam Ratchis again while he was on the ground, but the half-orc rolled out of the way deftly avoiding the blow and letting his pack slide off his shoulders.Jana came forward and with a word and a flick of her wrist the now familiar ray of sickly green emerged from her finger and struck the creature standing over Ratchis, but to no avail.Kazrack fired a bolt at the second creature, knocking it down and back into the darkness of the alcove.Tirhas leapt down into the cavern, and facing the alcove waited, while Martin waited for a clear sign of what to do.Jeremy hurried to Ratchis side and drew rank blood and bile from a deep blow in the creature’s flank.  Covered by Jeremy’s aid, Ratchis leapt to his feet and slammed his war hammer into the creature’s ribs.  It bellowed in pain and dropped unconscious and bleeding to the ground.The creature in the alcove stood and came back into view, only to be met by a ray of silver frost that struck him from Tirhas’ finger.  It roared and threw its club at Ratchis, who was closest, and the half-orc grunted and blood now poured from his temple.By this time, Jana had loaded her crossbow and fired at the second creature.  The bolt seemed to strike more fur than flesh.  Kazrack was busy re-loading the heavy crossbow, while Jeremy waited by Tirhas ready to strike if the second creature came down out of the nook in the stone wall. Ratchis, however, despite being gravely wounded cried out in anger and charged at the creature leaping up to the platform, but it side-stepped and easily avoided the telegraphed blow.“What the hell does Ratchis think he is doing?” Jeremy said aloud, as he readied to leap after Ratchis, but suddenly, from the darkness of the passage beyond the cavern came the hooting another of the creatures  charging at him from his right.However, Jeremy was prepared and slammed his sword against the creature’s chest.  The flat of the blade struck and it drew little blood, but it was enough to knock the creature down.  However, it deftly arched its back and flicked its body back to a standing position.Martin moved up behind Jeremy and cast his daze spell on the newly arrived creature, but to no avail.Tirhas drew her sword and drew more blood from the smelly hairy thing.  She wore a look of determination and hatred on her face.The hooting of the creature facing Ratchis became an incessant babbling as more drool poured from its mouth and it puffed up, its muscles swelling with increased strength.  No longer having a club, it revealed that these things were much more dangerous while weaponless.   He grabbed at Ratchis with two powerful claws, drawing more of the fading half-orc’s blood, but failing to strike with his bite.Ratchis staggered, barely conscious.Jana fired at the enraged creature, but missed.  Kazrack, however, found his mark and his crossbow bilt lodged itself in the thing’s thigh.  This gave Ratchis the chance to step away from it and call to Nephthys for her healing energies.Jeremy drove his enchanted blade deep into the creature that attacked him before it could swing its weapon again.  It shuddered and fell back down, dying.Martin attempted to daze the creature in the alcove as it turned away from Ratchis and looked to Jeremy and Tirhas but again, his spell failed to affect it.  The creature leapt at Tirhas and met her waiting blade, and fell dead.Now that they were lying still, they could see that these creature’s had white fur which they seemed to have darkened with dirt and dung.Kazrack moved to Ratchis and called down the power of the dwarven gods to heal his companion some, while Tirhas went from creature to creature sinking her sword into their necks and finishing their lives.“Quaggoths,” she said, with disgust.-----------------------------------------------------------------------Notes:(79) The Chamber of the Three is the name of the chamber in Aze Nuquerna where the three stone obelisks which held the spirits of the drow witches reside.(80) This is the equivalent of silk rope, a very rare commodity in Aquerra.(81) “Obleks” are common dwarven money that come in copper, silver and gold denominations.  They are round pellets partially flattened on one and stamped with a dwarven rune.</blockquote>

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