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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1078068" data-attributes="member: 143">Done.  Check out the Rogues' Gallery.  Both are straight from the module.And don't noboby be down on my man Ruphos... that kid's got a 17 point build, it's not his fault that he's a wuss (5 of his stats end in odd numbers, for criminy's sake!). <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />* * * * * Chapter 26It was Zenna who first detected the danger, but too late to save them from harm.  “Look out!” she cried, hefting her crossbow.  A long shaft shot out from behind the door, flying across the pit to strike Ruphos in the shoulder.  The javelin did not bite deep, his armor protecting him from serious harm, but the cleric cried out in pain and surprise, dodging back as he wrenched the head of the missile free.  Zenna fired her crossbow, but the shot glanced off of the wall just left of the door.  The portal formed by the rotating secret door was a pair of slit openings, each about two feet wide and four feet high, giving whoever was behind them excellent cover.  The companions on the far side of the pit caught a glimpse of a ferocious humanoid visage for a moment before another javelin came flying out, narrowly missing Zenna and caroming violently down the corridor behind them.  “I have it!” Mole cried, hurriedly unwinding the rope and tossing one end down to Arun.  “Help me!” she yelled to Ruphos, offering the other end to him.  The dwarf had quickly realized what was happening, and ignoring the blazing pain that continued to sizzle up his legs he turned and hurled one of his light hammers up toward the opening.  The missile shot up just a foot over the threshold where Fario held on, but they did not hear the sound of a successful impact, only the delayed thump that indicated the hammer had hit a wall somewhere beyond.  Zenna crouched down and reloaded, while Ruphos and Mole grasped onto the rope.  “It’s no good, he’s too heavy!” Ruphos said, even before Arun had taken up the rope.  “He’ll pull us right in after him... we have to anchor it somewhere!”“I’m open to suggestions!” Mole replied. Fario, meanwhile, was slipping, his body stretched by the strain of holding he and Fellian up by one hand.  The two half-elves shared a quick look, some unspoken communication passing between them in that instant, and Fellian let go.  He only dropped a few feet, landing easily on the slippery surface, but the acidic slime quickly went to work on his boots, smoking where the splash of his short fall had landed it on his leggings.  Ruphos, thinking quickly, turned and dashed down the corridor back toward the first secret door.  For a moment he stood there blankly, faced with a featureless stone surface, but then he remembered the location of the triggering stone and swung the rotating portal open.  The gnomish door was counterweight to swing back shut when he released pressure, but before it could close again he’d wrapped the end of the rope around his mace, and jammed it into the corner of the opening, where it was quickly wedged into place by the closing door.  “Go!” he cried back down the corridor.  The enemies behind the portal had not let up in their attack, although fortunately they had not apparently noticed the fingers hanging on at the base of the threshold.  Another javelin shot out, this time aimed at Arun, thankfully glancing off of his armored torso without causing damage.  A few seconds later a second shot out across at the far side of the pit, this one hitting Mole with a glancing hit that grazed her left leg.  “Ouch!” the gnome cried.  She dove for her crossbow, hefting the loaded weapon and taking careful aim before firing.  The bolt shot straight and true into one of the openings, where she was rewarded by a sudden cry of pain that turned into a bloody gurgle.  With Fellian’s weight removed, Fario grabbed onto the sill of the door with both hands and pulled himself up with a mighty heave.  He was immediately faced with a heavily armored hobgoblin warrior, whose eyes widened with surprise as the half-elf rose up before him.  The hobgoblin didn’t hesitate, eschewing the sword at his hip for the javelin that he already had in hand, thrusting the weapon like a spear at the half-elf.  The javelin bit deep into his side, but Fario thrust forward anyway, tearing himself off the point and quickly drawing the shortsword from his belt.  The hobgoblin backed away, trying to draw his own sword—and nearly stumbling over the body of his companion, Mole’s bolt lodged in its throat—but crumpled as Fario stabbed him in the gut, half the length of his short blade crunching through his armor into the organs underneath.  Arun had grabbed onto the rope, but hesitated as Fellian—already limping as the acid made short work of his boots—came up behind him.  “Go!” he yelled, shoving the rope at him.  “You first, you’re hurt more!” “Don’t be arguing, elf!” the dwarf roared, though the pain showed clearly in his face now as he all but dragged Fellian to the rope.  The half-elf nimbly moved up the rope, although it was difficult given the current condition of his feet.  Arun waited until he’d reached the lip of the pit, however, and Ruphos had pulled him over the edge, before he started up the rope.  The rope had started to smoke where Fellian had touched it with his legs, but it held long enough for them the paladin to reach the relative safety of the top.  Fario, meanwhile, had reappeared in the opening, waving to them that the way was now clear.  “Two dead hobgoblins,” he reported.  “Well equipped, with heavy armor.  It looks like this is the lift the skulk mentioned, there’s a wooden floor and a chain that connects with some sort of winch in the ceiling.”“Good work,” Zenna said, “Especially since you were off your guard, climbing up.”“I can’t take all the credit,” he replied. “Your markswoman there took out one, critical hit to the throat.”“Well, he made me mad,” Mole said.  But their relief at winning past this difficult encounter quickly faded as they realized the difficulty of their current situation.  All of them save Zenna were hurt, Arun seriously.  His and Fellian’s boots were ruined, with only pitted leather left.  Ruphos’s healing wand and Fellian’s own divine powers—the half-elf was a cleric of Shaundakul, as it happened—were able to treat their injuries, but of more pressing concern was how they were going to get across the pit.  “What about the rope?” Zenna suggested.  “It should be long enough to make it across, and Fario can anchor it to something on that end...”“The rope’s shot,” Arun broke in.  “Between Fellian and I crawling up it with that stuff all over our legs, I’d not trust it to hold even the gnome here, not over that pit.”“So what do we do?” Ruphos asked, tucking the wand back into his pouch.  They were now restored somewhat, although Arun would be walking about on bare feet for the time being.  Mole drew out her map, the one that Ghelve had given them what seemed like days before.  “Look, I’ll bet that the lift is this octagonal room here,” she said.  “We should be able to get to it by going through these doors here, and here.”“But we know those doors are trapped,” Zenna said.  Mole shrugged.  “I don’t see another option.”Arun hefted his hammer.  “All right then,” he said.  “Fario, you stay put, we’ll be there shortly.  I’d stay away from the door, if I were you.”  The half-elf nodded, and retreated back into the room, leaving the secret door propped slightly ajar.  Ruphos recovered his mace, and the companions set out once more.</blockquote>

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