Thanks for all the well wishes. Everyone is doing well!
Episode 26
Rat Rot
The Elves rounded the corridor corner and spotted a human sitting on a stool holding a crossbow. E’lissar shrank back into the shadows and alerted Ranin pointing to the guard.
The man stepped off the stool, lowered his crossbow, and called out, “Who’s there?”
E’lissar and Ranin both loosed their arrows at the man and wounded him heavily. Firing his crossbow in response, the man began running away. The elves dashed after him. The rest of the party, seeing the Elves dashing forward, followed.
E’lissar and Ranin dashed through the small room where the man had been sitting and ran down a small corridor connected to the room. The corridor ended at a door and they rushed through the door and listened. They quickly detected the footfalls of the man to their right and gave chase.
Gerhardt had closed and was a few feet behind the main chase group. The man bounded out of the underground structure into the outside world. By this time he was sprinting to some surrounding woods. Gerhardt popped out of the corridor and took a long shot at the fleeing man. The arrow missed, but E’lissar and Ranin continued the chase.
Occasionally, E’lissar and Ranin would pause to get off a shot, but doing so allowed their quarry to gain some distance. Into the thick woods the hunted and hunters plunged. The Elves actively wondered if they were being led into a trap. They lost track of each other in the underbrush and caught only occasional glimpses of their prey.
E’lissar came over a rise and spotted the man running up a rise beyond him. Bracing himself against a tree, E’lissar let a precise shot go at the moving target. The arrow sped through the air and pierced the man’s neck. He folded and fell.
Ranin appeared beside the rogue, “Nice shot.”
“Thanks,” E’lissar said, “You want to carry him?”
“The honor is yours.” Ranin replied. “If you need some help I can.”
“Nah, I was just being lazy.”
Together the pair carried the corpse back to the tunnel. The chase had carried them over a mile.
…..
While the elves chased the guard the rest of the party checked out the room he had been sitting in. They discovered nothing and waited patiently while Gerhardt and then E’lissar and Ranin returned.
Gerhardt was particularly impressed when the pair threw the corpse down on the floor before the group, “Great kill shot.”
“Thanks,” E’lissar answered, half expecting a rude follow up from the fighter.
“Did you hit him on the run?” Gerhardt asked.
“Yes,” E’lissar answered.
Gerhardt whistled in appreciation.
“The main question is: Does he have anything on him?” Gjord asked.
“Apparently not, and I do not think he is part of the network,” E’lissar stated.
“Let’s push forward then,” Hilde suggested, “I do not feel well.”
The group went down the corridor and found what appeared to be an abandoned dining area.
Hilde sat down on one of the ancient chairs. “This place has not been used in years,” she commented rubbing her leg.
“What is the deal with these ruins?” Gjord wondered.
“Perhaps it was used by the original outpost here,” Ranin suggested.
“Could be,” Gjord answered.
“We need to press on,” Hilde interrupted.
…..
Down the next corridor the party ran into more guards.
The hobgoblins fired their bows at the approaching group and immediately began to flee. Return fire from the party struck one of the hobgoblins down, but the other disappeared into the darkness.
“Let him go,” Gerhardt commanded.
Ranin stated, “He will warn of our approach.” He turned around as he began to move away from the group, but stopped. He could see Gerhardt was holding Hilde up.
“What’s wrong?” Ranin asked.
“I am so weak,” Hilde answered.
“Rats,” Gerhardt answered. “I will take her back to town. You four continue on looking for the tome. I will return as quickly as I can.”
“You want me to go forward with no cleric, no fighter, and three elves? You devil!” Gjord yelled.
“Inga should come this way soon,” Hilde tried to sound reassuring.
“With your stealth you should have no trouble,” Gerhardt added.
“Let us at least map out where we have been thus far,” Quarion suggested.
“Good idea,” Gerhardt agreed. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Gerhardt swept Hilde up in his arms and stomped back down the corridor.
“Does this look like a fair map?” Quarion asked the remaining party members.
The rest of the party mumbled their approval while the consequences of the fighter and cleric’s absence sunk in on them.
…..
“Smart and quick shall win the day,” E’lissar announced optimistically.
The group moved down the corridor where the hobgoblin had fled. In the distance they could hear the sounds of metal pounding on rock. As they neared the source of the sound they could see a Goblin mining crew hard at work, oblivious to their presence.
The party edged down the corridor closer to the goblins.
Arrows flew from the elves’ bows and quickly two goblins were struck down before they even knew they were under attack. The remaining pair turned with pickaxes in hand and charged down the corridor.
The goblins fell short, however, as another set of arrows flew through the air and wounded them fatally.
“This may work out after all,” Gjord commented.
“What? nobody needs a barbarian-healer?” a voice asked from behind the group.
They turned to see Inga smiling at them. Greetings were exchanged and Inga even healed some of Quarion’s wounds.
“Did you see Hilde?” Gjord asked.
“Yes, and she will be fine. An infected rat bite from the sewer is all. I expect a few hours of recovery and care from the sisters in the city and she will fully recover.”
Gjord filled Inga in on the details of their travels thus far and of their goal – the dark tome. They then agreed to push on into the darkness.
Inspecting the area where the goblin miners had been, they determined they were merely expanding the dungeon.
“Why would you expand this area when you are not even using the abandoned dining room?” Gjord asked.
“Ah,” E’lissar answered, “the pitfalls of goblinoid logic.”
The group moved down a corridor to their left that ended in a door. A quick listen allowed them to hear a loud popping noise beyond.
“What’s that?” Ranin asked.
“Let’s find out,” E’lissar said. He opened the door quickly and saw an immense Ogre whipping a small kobold against a column. The entire room was outfitted with all manners of torture devices.
E’lissar drew a bead on the immense humanoid and let an arrow fly. The missile sunk deeply into the ogre’s chest and a huge hissing sound came out as a lung deflated. Ranin followed this arrow with one of his own and in short order the Ogre was in serious danger of collapsing.
Quarion dashed in and tried to finish the job, but missed.
The Ogre still reeling from the effects of E’lissar’s arrow turned and weakly swung his whip at Quarion. The missed attack created an opening and Quarion dug his blade deeply into the giant humanoid. The ogre collapsed in an immense pile.
Gjord stepped over the dead ogre and made his way to the column. He unchained the kobold from the column and asked the reptilian in draconic, “So, do you know a guy named Meepo?”
The kobold, apparently confused by the question only stated, “My name Geenok.”
Gjord questioned the kobold for some time and learned Geenok knew very little about the dungeon complex they were in. The group decided to release the kobold with well wishes and friendly greetings to his chief. They scoured the torture chamber and found nothing of value.
Leaving the torture chamber behind they traveled down another corridor and found a locked door and a continuing corridor. E’lissar moved forward to pick the lock.
As E’lissar slid his picks into the tumbler the door suddenly opened. A large male drow elf asked, “May I help you?”
to be continued…
