Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1179855" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 60“Mole!” Zenna cried.  The gnome groaned and shook, her face becoming pale as she staggered back from the door.  Arun was there in an instant to meet her, and he scooped her up and carried her back to where the others waited.  She was a bit groggy, but still conscious, and she continued to shiver even as the others tended to her.  “What happened?” Zenna asked.  “Are you all right?”“Cold...” Mole said.  “It felt like... it felt like the heat was being drained right out of my body...”“This will help you,” Dannel said, drawing out his unusually-shaped wand and humming the melody that triggered its power.  The blue glow from the device suffused into the body of the gnome, and some of the color returned to her pale features.  “Thanks,” she said, with a smile. “We were more fortunate than those,” Arun said, with a gesture toward the slain rogues. “We still need to get past that door,” Mole said.  “It’s too risky,” Zenna said.  “We can’t even get near the door, without being affected by the cold.  The next time, one of us might not be so fortunate.”“It’s bearable, if you don’t get too close,” Mole said.  “If we use a battering ram, I bet we could remove the door without being hurt.”“A good idea,” Dannel said.  “But what then, after it’s destroyed?  The cold will still affect you as you move through the doorway.  And we don’t know if the effect fills the room beyond.”Illewyn came forward.  She had spent the bulk of the encounter lurking in the background, but now something of her previous strength was reflected in her voice.  “I can use the power of Helm to shelter one of us from the cold,” she said.  “The power is not without limits, but it should allow someone to move through and investigate.”“That might have been good to know, cleric, before Mole there risked herself,” Arun said dryly. Illewyn’s expression said that the remark cut, but Zenna interjected, “We couldn’t have known what would happen... and what’s done is done.  Let’s see if we can put Mole’s plan into action.”  After a pause, she added, reluctantly, “It should be me who goes, once the door is removed.  My... I have an inherent resistance to cold already, which should help protect me if the spell is insufficient.”Arun looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t offer further comment.  They moved quickly, now that they had a plan.  For a battering ram they dismantled one of the heavy tables from the common room above, lashing together a number of planks to form a compact shaft of wood almost a foot across and just over ten feet long.  Arun found a heavy metal pot that they used to cap the ram.  The whole was unwieldy and crude, but it would effectively transfer their combined strength against the door from a distance.  Working together they dragged this unwieldy device back downstairs, and moved it into position.  Dannel and Arun grabbed onto it from opposite sides, while Mole held on at the end, her meager weight serving as a counterbalance to keep the iron-tipped head up.    The door shivered as they rushed forward, slamming the ram heavily into it.  Dannel and Arun’s breaths frosted in the air as they entered the cold end of the passageway, but the ram gave them sufficient distance to avoid taking damage from the brown mold.  They repeated the action several times, until finally the warped boards began to snap.  From there it was only a few more well-placed strikes until the entire door collapsed inward, revealing a dark chamber beyond.  The two men drew back, dropping the ram to the ground.  “Blast, that’s cold!” Arun complained, rubbing his hands together vigorously.  “All right,” Zenna said.  “Cast your spell upon me, Illewyn.”“Bah,” Arun interjected.  “I should be the one.  If there’s trouble back there, I’m better equipped to handle it.”“If I see anything, I’ll come right back, I promise,” Zenna said.  “If there is anything in there, it would have to go through the cold zone to get to us.”Arun harrumphed, but didn’t say more as Illewyn cast her spell upon the tiefling.  But even as Zenna felt the magical effect settle about her, Arun turned and charged down the passageway.  He let out a growl as he passed through the open doorway, then he was through.  Shaking her head, Zenna followed.  “Dwarves,” she heard Mole say, behind her.  Zenna felt the cold descend about her as she neared the doorway, but steeled herself and strode through.  The brown mold seemed larger than it had, and in her imagination she thought it almost pulsed as she passed before it, as if eager to drink the heat from her body.  But the spell protected her, and she made it past the area of the growth, shivering but otherwise all right.  The room was unremarkable, its walls formed of rough-hewn stone.  A round shaft that was probably a well was the only thing of note, the opening partially obscured by several ill-fitting boards.  Zenna’s darkvision allowed her to see quite clearly, and she made out the squat form of something lying behind the edge of the well, its identity not quite clear from this distance.  Arun had seen it as well; he was already heading in that direction. “Is everything all right in there?” Mole asked from back down the corridor. “Fine,” Zenna replied, moving to join Arun. The dwarf reached it even as Zenna got a good look at the object—or rather the creature, for the recumbent form was that of a woman, apparently unconscious.  Her skin was dark, blending in with the packed earth of the floor, while her hair starkly contrasted with long strands of pure white falling about her head and shoulders.  Her hair partially obscured her features, but Zenna could see enough to indicate that the woman had at least some elvish blood in her heritage.  Arun sucked in a surprised breath.  “Drow!” he hissed.  Almost reflexively, his hammer came up.</blockquote>

Verification