Session #7 - “Negotiations & Love Songs” (part 2 of 3)
There was the snap of a crossbow string as the female one was struck right in the neck by one of Markos’ bolts; the force of it driving her to the ground. The other rushed forward, biting at Timotheus, who struck back with his flail, calling for Laarus to fill in the ranks beside him. The priest of Ra complied, but the blows of his own flail bounced off the thing’s rubbery hide. The other one was on her feet with incredible speed, croaking angrily as her jagged teeth tore at Laarus.
“Laarus, fall back!” Timotheus said, keeping his opponent at bay as he withdrew some himself. “Victoria! Fill in the second rank!”
As Laarus complied again, Markos was able to find a gap in the line wide enough to throw a spear he had grabbed from Victoria, but the weapon clattered harmlessly against the wall. Bleys the Aubergine was trapped back in the large chamber, unable to reach the melee, but Victoria was able to come forward, crowding into the corridor with Laarus and Timotheus, and thrust her spear at the things, but the close quarters confounded her.
They all withdrew as a group, with Laarus, Tim and Victoria each filling in the gap left by the other as they pulled back, exchanging blows with the monsters. Finally, Laarus landed a solid and skull-crushing blow on the female one, and then leapt back to avoid the bite of her death throes. They all withdrew to avoid the explosion of her flesh, but Victoria suffered a severe bite for her reckless speed.
As they reached the corner of the hall that led back into the trade chamber, Laarus grunted as he was bitten even worse than Victoria had been. The militant of Anhur dropped her spear and drew a morningstar, as there was even less room here, but once again she left herself temporarily open and suffered another horrible bite. Blood was pouring down her leg.
It seemed the creature would not die. It absorbed their blows with angry croaks, and bit at them again and again without fear of death. In fact, it bore so many wounds, it looked like it should have been long dead already. Finally, Timotheus felt the thing’s spine crack as the head of his flail whipped around to catch it about the waist. Everyone leapt clear before it exploded.
Back at the beach, Telémahkos and Tymon were desperately trying to get the sloop back to the beach with the hooked pole.
Bleys moved to a corridor on left side at the top of the trade chamber, just beyond the racks of silk. He had found that two of the bolts were undamaged; one was cornsilk yellow, and the other a deep near-black purple that matched his unique watch-mage’s robes. He carried them over to the stage and put them out of the way with some casks of ale the party gathered to bring back to the boat later.
All this time there had been a snorting and muffled croaking sound broken up by intermittent banging up a corridor in the southwestern corner of the trade chamber. The watch-mage raised his lantern and noticed that there was passageway on the left about twenty-five feet up the hall. It seemed blocked by some kind of tall wooden furniture, and something on the other side was slamming into it violently. It shuddered again, as he withdrew to tell the others.
“It looks like someone shoved a bookcase or something in the way to trap some monster in that room, and it is going to get out very soon,” Bleys said, as he suddenly started gathering all the ruined silk. “Someone was damn lucky or quick… Or both…” He hurried down the hall and started to bunch the silk in front of the bookcase, and then poured a flask of oil atop it.
“Good idea!” Timotheus encouraged him when he realized the watch-mage’s plan. Bleys smashed several lanterns worth of oil upon the silks and against the back of the bookcase.
Whatever was on the other side of the bookcase grew more frantic in its blows against the blockage, and Bleys withdrew, loaded crossbow in one hand and lit torch in the other.
“Maybe someone else should throw the torch so we might use our
magic missiles right away on this creature, for I fear it will be the most deadly of them all,” Markos suggested.
“Fine,” Bleys replied. The torch was handed over to Timotheus, who had his shield out, but sheathed his sabre. Victoria and Laarus moved in behind them, with Markos nearby. The bookcase shuddered again and began to tilt into the room beyond and push the oil-soaked silks out into the hallway. The thing within let out a howl of rage that ended with a burping croak.
“Heroes of Thricia! Prepare for battle,” Victoria cried, as she called on Anhur to
bless the group.
They still had not gotten a good look at the creature, for the bookcase landed on its back with all its weight and it bellowed again. As Laarus of Ra called to his god to grant him
protection from chaos, Timotheus threw the torch and the pile of silks burst brightly into flame. The creature croaked again, as it squirmed out from under the bookcase, dragging burning silks with it.
It was some form of bipedal reptile, but not humanoid like a lizardfolk. Its body hung low near the ground and it head, whatever it might have once been, was now a tooth-lined frogmouth slavering; its long tongue lolling to one side, singed. It had small muscled arms that ended in black claws that matched the large ones on its froggish feet. As it approached, they could see the splotches of rubbery frog skin along with lizard-like hide, and a tadpole tail. It was about four feet high and made of packed muscle, and all on its back were flicking yellow and black tendrils and bursting boils of the smugliwugs.
Markos and Bleys let loose with their crossbows, but neither bolt hit. They drew back.
“It’s gonna be mad,” Timotheus warned as he reached for his sword. The thing was upon Timotheus in one sudden leap. The cavern was filled with the protest of Tim’s armor against the black talons, but the warrior was unable to get his shield high enough, and the frog mouth crunched down on his helmeted head.
“Come on! C’mon, ya crazy beast!” Timotheus goaded it, falling back to give himself room to draw his sword and ready his defense. Victoria was praying to Anhur to enchant her spear.
“
Veneficus Telum! Bleys chanted. “
Sagitta aquam! Markos joined his voice, and from each shot an arrow of light (though Markos’ was blue fluid light, leaving a trail of momentary droplets as it flew) that plunged unerringly into the creature, drawing moist bruises that oozed caustic ichor.
“Come on, beastie!! Victoria cried, letting the
righteous fury of her deity fill her. Her arms swelled with strength, and she charged with great vigor, but the creature ducked the thrust of the long spear. “Come face the fury of Anhur!”
“Fall back! We want to surround it!” Timotheus called tactics to the warrior-priestess.
“Victoria! I don’t know if you can understand us, but listen to Tim!” Markos called to his companion with real worry in his voice. “Pull back!”
But it was too late, the thing leapt suddenly to its left and rent great jagged scars in Victoria’s armor, drawing blood. Talons punctured her leg, and Tim could see the kneecap split, as Victoria fell. The thing bit deep on her left arm.
Timotheus yelled and banged on his shield, drawing the thing towards him, and Laarus stepped over quickly to stabilize the dying militant of Anhur with an orison. (1)
“We’re screwed if you wizards don’t pull something out of your asses to save us!” Timotheus cried, as his sword blows failed to pierce the thing’s thick hide.
“
Veneficus Telum! Bleys chanted again, and another
magic missle struck the thing. It roared and swiped at Tim catching him across the forehead, and sending his helmet off into the room. (2)
Markos and Bleys took turns trying to pepper it with bolts, one firing as the other loaded. Laarus picked up Victoria’s spear, barely avoiding an errant bite from the beast, and took to fighting with it, to keep the thing at bay. He thrust the spearhead into the lizard-frog’s side, as it dragged Timotheus off his feet, clawing his thighs. Tim was bleeding out.
The two wizards, out of spells that could help, spread out, firing bolts from either side of the cave, as Laarus drew the creature back into the center of the trade chamber, absorbing blow after blow, and bleeding profusely, as he thrust Victoria’s enchanted spear at it again and again.
Markos stepped into the hall leading back to the beach. It was the right hand fork in the corridor where they originally went left to enter the mess hall. And as he re-loaded his crossbow, he wondered if he would have to flee if his companions all fell.
Suddenly, he spun around, hearing something behind him. It was Telémahkos and Tymon hustling up from the beach.
“What’s going on? We heard screaming,” Telémahkos asked nervously.
From within they heard Bleys call out, “It’s coming!”
“You’d better get in there or you cousin is going to die,” Markos replied to Telie.
”Tymon! Go shoot it,” Telémahkos commanded his manservant, as he took a step back himself.
Tymon’s lower lip pouted out, and he looked back and forth nervously, but he stepped into the trade chamber and dropped his torch, to steady his loaded crossbow. The thing looked up from Laarus’ now bleeding form near the center of the room. The thwang of the crossbow was devoured by the roar of the bestial lizard as the bolt buried itself into its shoulder. The creature began to convulse, its tendrils flicking back and forth even more wildly.
“Son of a bitch!” Telémahkos swore as he crept hurriedly behind the scales in the corner of the trade chamber. “Shoot it again!”
Tymon did not even get a chance to look up from loading his crossbow when the frog-monster leapt into the air again, and landed atop him, tearing at the portly man mercilessly. Tymon’s shrieks died as blood began to pour out in all directions.
“Bes! Bless me one more time with your luck!” Telémahkos prayed as he chucked at a dagger at the thing, striking it hard in the head. It looked at him, but then back at Markos who was closer.
“Aaaah! F*ck!” Markos cried as he ran away from the creature around the perimeter of the room, hoping to reach his own dying cousin.
The creature shuddered as a bolt from Bleys buried itself in its neck, and it bit out in his direction with furious futility. It fell inches from Tymon and exploded, burning the already dying man with his acidic blood.
Markos ran over to the dying Laarus and began to work at binding his wounds. “I need help over here,” he cried, but Telie was busy looking at Timotheus, who fortunately had stabilized on his own. (3) Bleys worked on Tymon, who really was a mess.
“I really need help here!” Markos’ voice had a frantic quality the others had never heard before, but the situation was too stressful to really make note of it. “My cousin is dying!”
“Who do I help?” Telémahkos asked himself aloud, looking back and forth.
“I am getting better at this!” Bleys announced, as Tymon stabilized (4), and this made Telémahkos’ choice easy. He went over and began to help Laarus. Bleys walked over and checked on Victoria, just to be sure, even though he had seen Laarus stabilize her during the battle.
There was a brief and heated discussion regarding the danger of moving the wounded versus the peril of staying out in the open where they were.
“We cannot get them onto the boat without opening their hastily bound wounds,” Markos said. “But perhaps there is a safer place around here we can hole up?”
It was decided that Bleys and Markos would check out the roomfrom which the monster had emerged, while Telie remained behind to watch over the wounded. Bleys loaded two heavy crossbows and laid them at Telie’s feet, “So you’ll be ready…”
The room behind the bookcase looked like a combination of a laboratory and someone’s personal quarters. Along one wall, some kind of purple tentacled plant was sliced to ribbons within a smashed glass enclosure over a large ceramic pot. There was another much smaller one in a similar enclosure knocking futilely against the glass.
“Violet fungi,” Bleys the Aubergine said to his companion. There was also a tall wooden tank of some kind, and a splintered and broken stepladder beside it that probably once led atop it. In the center of this nearly round cavern that was about forty feet across was along table, on its side. Smashed beside that was a huge glass tube that once held some kind of preserving liquid and some kind of embroyonic creature with a developing tentacled face, with out of place lupine features and gray hair growing in patches along its length of about three feet.
“What in the Hells is that?” Markos frowned. Bleys shook his head and looked away, noticing a desk and a cabinet in one corner. Markos saw that there was the corpse of a gnome on the other side of the room. It looked like it had been partially devoured by the reptilian frog-beast, but what was left had a leather satchel fastened around it. Markos ignored it for now and walked past Bleys towards the cabinet.
“There is nothing to be gained by opening this cabinet now,” Bleys said, but Markos just shrugged and opened it anyway. Within were a variety of herbs, molds, mosses and powders, along with two vials of a milky white liquid.
Markos happily grabbed the book and the vials, detecting that they were magical, but the other items were left behind until they could be collected more carefully. Among the items here were several smashed beakers, and a collection of yellow powder and black spores that looked like what was needed to make shannis.
The room further up the corridor from the laboratory held two wooden cages. One of them was smashed open from the inside and scored with acidic burns. The other was filled with bones still covered with tiny bits of chewed flesh. It was clear that slaves had been kept here, and upon their transformation they had turned on each other. Whichever ones had broken out had either been killed or gotten away.
“The two we killed before must have been from here,” Bleys said.
The room smelled like excrement and rot. There were sacks of oats and grain stacked on one corner, but ruined with gore and ichor. There were two smashed chamber pots, their contents spilled out towards a crack in the cave floor, and two open barrels of what must have been fresh water were now fouled.
They went back to the trade chamber where Telémahkos waited, but Bleys was not satisfied that they were safe enough. With Telie help he finished taking Timotheus’ breastplate off the tall warrior and put it on himself. He then slipped on a helmet and took up Victoria’s morningstar.
“I will be back,” he said, walking out the corridor to the northwest, holding up a lantern.
“Telémahkos, you are good at sneaking,” Markos said matter-of-factly, taking up a crossbow. “Why don’t you go follow him and keep an eye out for him. I’ll stay here.”
For once there was no argument, and Telémahkos did just that. He followed the now heavily armored watch-mage through a small cavern that looked like it once served as a kennel. The skeletons of mastiffs were still chained to the wall, the meat ripped off the bone by other canines, which were now ichorous stains on the droppings-covered rocky floor. Beyond that another short corridor led to an area that branched out in three directions. Ahead to the left was a much larger chamber, and Bleys could see there was various things hung on the wall, one of which appeared to be the nameplate from the rear of a ship. To the immediately to the right was narrow passage that led to some cavern from which he could hear the faint echo of rushing water, and beyond that to the right as well, was a dark area of many standing stones creating some kind of natural maze.
Bleys the Aubergine froze and spun around, having heard something, and then called out to Telie. “I see you…” he said.
“Markos sent me to look after you,” Telémahkos replied in a whisper creeping forward. He looked into the large chamber to the left. “Hey! There’s chests in there!”
“We’ll get to them later,” Bleys said, and walked down the corridor towards the cavern he heard the sound of water from. This was a large cavern, of which more than half was a tide pool created by water gushing in at intervals through a gap in the middle of eastern wall. Bleys noted a passage to the west, the top of which was just at the surface of the water.
“It might be possible to swim up that way now, but at high tide it looks like the water reaches all the way up to here,” Bleys said to Telie, pointing out the line where the water reached on the rocky beach. The closer portion of the cavern was set up as a bedroom, except most of the furnishings had been smashed in some great melee. The ichor-stains of former smugliwugs were all over the place. Bleys counted at least nine. There was a torn-up bed, a knocked over footlocker and the bones of a man in shreds of armor, in a pile with a fine rapier. Telémahkos picked up the rapier, while Bleys walked over and checked the knocked over wardrobe. Its doors were ajar and within he saw several long brocaded wool coats of the kind a naval officer might wear. Most were ruined, but he pulled out two that were intact, but left them there.
Telémahkos whipped the rapier back and forth and smiled when he immediately noted the masterwork quality of the weapon. It felt light and perfect in his hand. He walked over to the wardrobe and poked around, as Bleys walked to leave.
“Whoever was building that raft must have a really good hiding place, or got eaten,” the watch-mage commented, as he stopped and turned back to his companion, who had found a locket in amid the pebbles.
“Gods! I do so hope they were eaten,” Telémahkos said, but the tiny portrait painted in the locket distracted him. It was of a handsome young man with black curly hair and a bit of permanent sneer. Telie recognized him. “It is Vanthus Vanderboren… The plot thickens…”
Bleys turned and left, followed a few moments later by Telie carrying everything he had scavenged, including an intact bottle of vermillion ink by the splintered desk.
Bleys went into the larger cavern with the ship names plates, for there were many more hung around the perimeter than he had first seen. There was the Wavereaper, Asmod’s Hope, the Sea Ghost, Dozen’s Cousin, Lavly’s Future, Tiamat’s Wake, and the
RMN Sea-Tamer.
Hanging from the ceiling by chains near the center of the closer section of the oblong, almost peanut-shaped, room, was the yellowed skull of some great reptilian beast, like a gargantuan lizardfolk with huge teeth. Against the eastern wall were three chests, one of which had been dragged away from the wall by a few inches and was out of the place against the depression it had made in its original position. Telémahkos fell to examining these as Bleys walked over to pedestal that held a display case. Underneath a rectangle of glass were three leather-bound folios. There was no lock upon the case, but Bleys was wary. He cast
detect magic and looked again. He could now see the faint outline of a rune appear on the front of the case. He recognized the glyph as representing the combination of old arcane runes for ‘air’ and ‘cold’, creating ‘frost’. Opening or breaking the case would set it off.
Bleys the Aubergine looked around with his enhanced vision, sweeping over the nameplates and the shark jaws hung on the walls. He looked over the chests as well, but nothing else was magical aside from the rapier now slid into Telémahkos’ belt. Telie slipped a small leather case of tools from his sash, and got to work on the locks on the chests. He was fairly certain he could open them by spend a long and careful time on each. (5) Within was more treasure than Telie had ever seen except in the stolen glimpses at the contents of his father’s favorite vault. One chest was filled with
Thrician coin, another with
Herman Land and Black Island coin[/url], and the last was filled with the often-worthless
Kingdom of the Red God of the West coinage. There were also assorted jewels, including a handful of pearls, an emerald brooch and some garnets.
Bleys peeked into a room off the side of this larger chamber that was reached by going beneath the large nameplate for the
Sea Ghost. Beyond was a weapon storage room with all kinds of spears, crossbows, bolts, pole-arms and swords.
“It is Bleys and Telémahkos. Do not shoot us,” Bleys said to Markos in his even baritone as they came back to the great trade chamber.
Bleys the Aubergine fell to tending to the wounded as Markos and Telémahkos commenced to looting, dragging the chests back to
The Sea Wyvern and hefting them onboard.
When they were done with that, the two who were commonly foes were too filled with good cheer brought on by the promise of booty to fight. They headed into the laboratory despite Bleys’ warning about possibly letting the violet fungi loose, or what might be in the tall wooden vat.
In there they carefully collected the herbs and components in the cabinet, and Marko found a red leather covered traveling spellbook on the corpse of the gnome, along with a satchel full of components. Telémahkos found that the velvet-covered jewelry box held a necklace of pearls that was partially taken apart. There were nine pearls to add to the five found in one of the chests.
When they returned, Markos took over looking after the wounded, while Bleys and Telémahkos went to reexamine the glass case holding the three folios. As soon they were gone, Markos cast
read magic and starting reading through the gnome’s spellbook. (6)
One carefully fired heavy crossbow bolt later, and Bleys had the glass case broken from afar. There was a sudden blast of white frost all around the pedestal. Bleys approached and saw that the folios were the kind that held folded maps, and another
detect magic spell revealed auras that had been obscured by the
glyph of warding on the case. These auras emerged from within the covers, so Bleys felt it was safe enough to pick them up, and slip them into a sack.
As he and Telémahkos got back, Markos looked up and said, “Alien-wolf embryonic specimen.”
“What?” Telie asked. “What was that first word?”
“Alien… It means ‘from somewhere else’,” Markos replied condescendingly. Telémahkos shrugged.
“There might be some thing in this book that might help us figure out what happened here,” Markos said, more to Bleys than Telie. “Oh, and there are a bunch of potentially useful spells here…” He spouted off the names of a bunch of spells, but Bleys did not seem to be paying much attention, having gone back to tending the wounded, which was what he thought Markos should have been doing.
“There is an eighty to ninety percent chance these are healing potions,” Markos said, holding out the vials of milky liquid.
“Then why not give one of them to your cousin?” Telémahkos asked.
“Okay,” Markos shrugged. “Any objections?”
“Yes,” Bleys said without looking up from his work. “Even a ten percent chance that they are not is too big a risk for this situation.”
“Well, can you identify them?” Telémahkos asked.
“Yes, but I need a valuable pearl…” Bleys began.
“We just found a bunch of those!” Telie said, happily.
“And some fragrant incense…” Bleys continued. No one had incense.
Hours passed. Markos continued to flip through the spellbook, while Telémahkos paced the cavern listening for any approach, and Bleys continued checking on the wound, shooing flies that would land on their bloody bandages, as he made them fresh again. Late afternoon was approaching when Timotheus and Victoria finally stirred.
Victoria sat up in a slow and pained way, and immediately growled in pain as she tried to bend her right knee too quickly. It would be some time before she could walk on it again with any comfort. (7) She put her back to a wall and rested there panting after even that much exertion, her wounds threatening to reopen if she pushed herself at all. (8)
There was more discussion of moving the wounded, but Laarus and Tymon looked so close to death, Bleys did not want to risk it at all. A few more hours passed, and Markos and Telémahkos went to the
Sea Wyvern to retrieve a cask of ale in order to have some. Victoria was taking slow painful steps to stretch out the spasming muscles of her right leg. And Timotheus, sat bored against one wall, longbow across his knees.
Suddenly, Bleys thought he heard footsteps coming from the passage that led to the kennel. He put a finger to his lips, looking at Tim and then Victoria, and began to creep in that direction as quietly as he could, despite still wearing Timotheus breastplate. Timotheus stood and put an arrow to the bow, and stepped forward as well, craning his neck to get a better look down the corridor, but Bleys was in the way.
“Hello…” A woman stepped out of the shadows of the kennel, placing a dim lantern on the floor as her right hand reached for the basket-hilted dagger in a sheath at her breast. In her other hand was a fine rapier. She stood about five foot nine inches tall and had long raven hair and a tanned olive complexion and green eyes. She was a bold beauty with an athletic body, in tall soft leather boots and studded leather armor of exquisite quality adorned with pearls and a fire opal at the collar.
Bleys the Aubergine flinched in surprise, and his hand went for his sabre. “You must be the ones who landed the other day and then took off. Did your ship get destroyed as well? Is that why ya took the Wyvern?”
”Who are you?” Bleys asked, not answering the question.
“I might be askin’ you and yours the same thing now, might’nt I?” She replied with a playful smirk. “Seeing as I am here by rights awarded to me by the commander of Kraken’s Cove, Kilgante… And I don’t think the same could be said o’ you…”
“Kilgante?” Bleys asked.
“Kilgante Valeros… He runs…
ran this place… Now he’s chum for those frog bastards…” She replied. “But you have still not said who you are… Are those watch-mage’s robes?”
“I am Bleys the Aubergine…”
“Heh… Well, I’m Harliss Javell,” the female smuggler replied with a smirk.
. . .to be continued…
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Notes:
(1)
Cure minor wounds
(2) Timotheus suffered the following critical effect:
Helm Removed (If no helm then as #36); See
Critical Hit Results – Slashing
(3) In Aquerra, we use a Constitution check against DC 18 to determine stabilization.
(4) Tymon stabilized on his own before Bleys finished administering first aid.
(5) Telémahkos took 20 on opening these chests after searching for traps.
(6) To see the spells in this book
click here
(7) Victoria suffered this critical effect:
Apply Crit Multiplier to Total Damage (and armor DP damage) – Reflex Save (DC 10 + ½ damage) or Knee Split, -20 to Speed, -2 to AC, Save Vs. Knockdown at –4.
(8) Victoria was
disabled, still being at 0 hps.
