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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 428227" data-attributes="member: 1674">Shadow of the Slarecians, Part 2“None of your business, now let me pass.”.The dwarf sneered:” You know, I don’t like your face. So I am making this my business”.Suddenly, the dwarf threw a punch at Niklas, but the monk’s training kicked in and he moved his body out of the way, and all the attacker hit was thin air. Niklas hit back, using the palm of his hand to knock out the air out of the dwarf’s lung, but the sturdy humanoid was tough- usually a punch like that would have stunned any opponent, but the dwarf merely sneered and punched him into the stomach.Noticing the commotion, the hooded humanoid started to run down the snow covered alley, and Niklas, intending to keep up with him, tumbled past the dwarf, who had pulled out a dagger by now.Niklas ran after the man with the dwarf in hot pursuit, but as the cloaked man reached an intersection, he feinted to run left just to jump right as Niklas eyes were still looking where he expected the man to be and not where he actually was.The short diversion was enough for him to hide in the shadows somewhere in the dark alley, and before Niklas had a chance to check out the several doorways and side alleys, the dwarf had kept up with him.He was panting heavily, and charged Niklas with his dagger. Turning around, the monk didn’t sidestep fast enough and was cut into the arm. Seeing that there was no point in running on, Niklas faced the attacker and covered him with a flurry of blows. Without getting injured any further, he beat the dwarf unconcious and hoping that his friends were at the Wench, he slung the bully over his shoulder and went back to the Tavern.The others had already made it to the back entrance, and after Niklas had told them what had happened, they went to the junction were Niklas had last seen the hooded man. It had been a day since it had snowed the last time and there many feet had stomped it solid. However, Torn managed to find tracks which were fresher than any of the others.They followed the tracks, which ended in front of a small house. Assuming that their target had resumed his flight on the roof, Niklas and Torn climbed up where they indeed found footprints in the snow.Guiding their friends from the rooftops, the monk and the rogue followed the tracks. From time to time, they had to jump over small alleys, and once Torn slipped and fell down, but since the ground was covered with snow and he was able to lessen the impact by rolling with the fall, he didn’t hurt himself and continued the chase.Eventually,  with their friends far behind by now, they reached a part of Shacktown where some buildings had collapsed into the ground. Apparently, the ground under the houses hadn’t been solid enough and it had fallen into a crater. The ruins had been stripped of all materials that could be used to build new houses in the chaotic mass of shacktown, and all that was left was a circular, rubble filled ditch with a radius of about thirty feet.This is where the tracks lead. They climbed down into it, and saw that the tracks lead into a small opening and beyond it, a corridor.Under Mithril, there was a net of catacombs. Years ago, they had been used as a burial ground for the dead. However, the Penumbral Pentagon, a sinister organization of shadowmages, had used it as their base from where they were plotting the downfall of Mithril. They were eventually stopped by the then young Paladin Barconius, but the known entrances to the catacombs were sealed of as a matter of precaution.But here, in the middle of a district where hardly a Paladin was ever seen, they had discovered a new entrance to the catacombs, and it was clear that they would have to go into it. After a short exchange, they decided that Torn would carefully scout ahead- his orcish darkvision gave him a valuable advantage here, while Niklas would run back and lead their fellows to the entrance.Once he was past the rubble in the entrance, Torn saw that the catacombs were mostly intact here. He could only hope that the builders over the parts he would come through were more thorough then the ones who had caused the collapse.The catacombs were a real maze. Fortunately, there was merely one set of tracks- it didn’t look like there were many people down here. And since there were occasional puddles of water, following the wet tracks on the dry parts was easy.Eventually, Torn reached a thirty feet chasm. Twenty feet below, there was a sluggish mass slowly drifting by, and by the foul smell of it, the halforc could easily guess what that mass was. The chasm was bridged by a long plank of wood, and there was a corridor on the other side.Carefully, Torn tested the plank with his foot, and seeing that it could carry his weight, he walked onto it. Then, as he was about in the middle of it, he felt a sensation of vertigo. Everything was spinning around him and he felt sick, but he willed himself to keep on standing upright. He was just about to feel better again, as a hooded figure stepped out of the shadow at the other side of the chasm and kicked at the board.Immediately, the board fell into the chasm, and Torn fell into an ice cold mixture of feces, urine and water. He completely submerged in the sewage, and when he resurfaced, he couldn’t say whether the stink or the cold was worse.He swam to the wall and climbed out of the chasm, pulling the weight of his wet clothes with him. Then he stood in the corridor again, dripping and stinking. He turned around, but there was no sign of the hooded man anymore.</blockquote>

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