Dr Midnight
Explorer
Grumbar was helped out of the pit. “How are we going to cross this?” Kizzlorn asked. “I’d hate to waste a fly spell on it.” The pit was thirty feet long, and by Vek’s estimation, a hundred feet deep.
“I’ve got it.” Edge backed up to the entrance to the tunnel, and took off. He ran towards the pit, and jumped. He floated through the air and landed deftly on the other side. He tossed a coil of rope to his astonished companions while he held one end. He hammered a piton into the ice and tied the rope off.
“Oh, I like this guy,” Grumbar said. They all crossed the pit and walked on. The passage curved up ahead.
Edge said “Stay here, I’m going to have a look… There might be more pits.”
“I’ll fill ‘em!” Grumbar replied with pride.
Edge scouted forward, and came back quickly. “There’s a glyph of some sort beneath the ice at the curve.”
He took the group up and showed them, at a healthy distance of course. “Fireball,” Jamison said. “Delayed Blast.”
“Hmm. How do we get past that, Gregg? Do you know?”
Jamison stood up. “We set it off… everyone get back.”
Vek asked “Now, Gregg, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“As sure as I ever am. Don’t worry, I have lots of resistance to fire. I’m Gregg Flamebrow.” The others walked back to the pit’s ledge, and Jamison strolled over the glyph. It detonated and a bright orange ball of flame that lit up the entire corridor. When it cleared, a blackened, sooty Jamison was standing there. He coughed a cloud of smoke. “Ouch… It was more… powerful… than I had believed.”
Edge asked “Are you alright?”
“No, but let’s carry on.”
They walked to the next room, and it opened into an ice cavern. A huge skeleton of some draconic beast was slumped at the far wall. It had nine necks and heads and was shackled to the ice.
“Yeah. How much do we want to bet that thing attacks us?” Jamison asked.
Edge kept to the shadows and searched the walls. “Looks dead enough.”
Vek chuckled and said “Looking dead doesn’t mean IS dead.” He stepped cautiously up to it and summoned a clerical power to rebuke any undead that might be lurking nearby. The powerful wave of red-feeling magic washed over the entire room, and the skeleton didn’t move. “Hmm. I guess looking dead means dead, in this instance. So where’s the catch?”
Edge completed his sweep of the room. “I couldn’t find any hidden doors.”
Vek cast a spell on himself that allowed him to see through all illusions. He looked about, and the only thing in the room that changed was “Gregg Flamebrow” looking like who he actually was.
Jamison said “No trap, no beast, no way out except to go back. A dead end… pun intended. Why?”
Vek thought back. “I remember sitting with Taigiel- he was the half-dragon son of Acessiwal we traveled with- and he was telling us what he knew about Coldheart. I think I recall something about a distraction- a dead end.”
“So what’s with the skeleton?”
“I’m guessing that twenty years ago, it wasn’t a skeleton. It was meant to serve as death for people choosing this false entrance. Since Acessiwal disappeared, it starved to death here in the cavern.”
Kizzlorn said “Oh. That’s a little sad.”
“Death comes to us all, my dear. So where’s the real entrance?”
“Perhaps we missed it? Is it outside?”
“It’s worth looking.” They walked outside, and immediately Vek spotted something that hadn’t been there before. There was a large chunk of ice missing on the ground, and there was a swift black river flowing just beneath the surface, flush with the ice. “Was that hole in the ice visible before?”
Jamison asked “What hole?”
“I’ll take that as a yes. We’ve found something covered by an illusion… but what does this mean?”
They dispelled the illusion so everyone could see. The water was flowing away from the glacial cliff. Jamison knelt. “Looks like if you move upstream, you’ll enter the glacier.”
Edge said “That’s somewhat ridiculous… why travel through ice cold water to get to a lair?”
“It would make the place almost impregnable,” Jamison suggested. “With the proper potions, anyone could do it. This hole is easily big enough for the dragon to get through. I think we’re on to something.” He stood up. “I intend to find out.”
“How?”
“Here, someone take Scratch.” Jamison took his weasel familiar from his pack and handed him off to Grumbar, who petted him lovingly. “I’ll be right back.” Jamison jumped up into the air, uttered a word, and plunged into the water as a fish.
They waited. Grumbar held Scratch and said “oo’s a cute widdle weasel-measel? DAT’S WIGHT, OO AW! This thing’s cute. I might have to get a familiar. I’d never eat him, no matter how hungry I got.” He smiled.
Jamison the fish flopped up onto the surface of the ice and wriggled there for a moment, before turning back to the soaking wet wizard. “G-g-g-g-guh….” He chattered. “Cold.”
Once “Gregg Flamebrow” had sufficiently heated himself using spells and furs, he was able to chatter out that two hundred feet upstream, there was an opening in a chamber.
“How are we going to get there?” Edge looked very uncomfortable with the idea of plunging into the ice cold river and trying to swim two hundred feet upstream without air.
“Simple.” Jamison took out a large leathery sack. “We all get in this. This is my bag of holding. Vek carries the bag underwater to the hole. We get out.”
“Is there enough air in there?”
“Ten minute’s worth. There shouldn’t be a problem. Vek doesn’t need to breathe, and he’s immune to the cold.”
Vek thought, then nodded. “It’s a good plan.”
They made the necessary preparations. As the group was getting ready to enter the bag, Vek said “If you run out of air, something’s gone wrong… jump out of the bag. If you can.”
“Oh, and everyone?” Jamison smiled nervously. “Don’t touch anything in there. There are some… cursed items… that you might not want to examine. If you touch something, it could become yours. Permanently.”
With that, the bag closed over the shaken group and Vek closed it tightly with his bony fist. He turned invisible and plunged down into the black waters of the river.
Please ignore the fact that Vek is visible in the above illustration. Ahem. -Doc
The current pushed him backward, so he swam. His bony arms and legs didn’t propel him well, but his lack of mass also helped the water to pass around him without giving too much opposition. He swam.
Tiny blind white fish swam past him in the black murk. His vision allowed him to see into the darkness, but the silt beyond clouded his sight. Something was swimming toward him. Something very large. It came into view. A great purplish eel with a mouthful of cruel, jagged teeth. Even though he was invisible, the thing somehow saw him. It rushed up and swallowed him in a great gulp. The huge worm swam onward, sated with his meal. Then, it paused. It opened its jaws and gagged, then expelled Vek (and the contents of the worm’s stomach) out into the water before swimming briskly away. Vek swam upstream through the sickly greenish cloud into clearer water, and kept swimming until he found the cavern above.
He climbed out and opened the bag. The group tumbled out (along with all of Jamison’s possessions) while Grumbar was yelling “NO TICKLING GRUMBAR!”
Jamison looked up at Vek and said “Well, here we are. How’d it go?”
“Wonderfully,” Vek replied. “We’ll recollect your things and be on our way. Oh- by the way, we were just eaten.”
MORE TO COME...
“I’ve got it.” Edge backed up to the entrance to the tunnel, and took off. He ran towards the pit, and jumped. He floated through the air and landed deftly on the other side. He tossed a coil of rope to his astonished companions while he held one end. He hammered a piton into the ice and tied the rope off.
“Oh, I like this guy,” Grumbar said. They all crossed the pit and walked on. The passage curved up ahead.
Edge said “Stay here, I’m going to have a look… There might be more pits.”
“I’ll fill ‘em!” Grumbar replied with pride.
Edge scouted forward, and came back quickly. “There’s a glyph of some sort beneath the ice at the curve.”
He took the group up and showed them, at a healthy distance of course. “Fireball,” Jamison said. “Delayed Blast.”
“Hmm. How do we get past that, Gregg? Do you know?”
Jamison stood up. “We set it off… everyone get back.”
Vek asked “Now, Gregg, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“As sure as I ever am. Don’t worry, I have lots of resistance to fire. I’m Gregg Flamebrow.” The others walked back to the pit’s ledge, and Jamison strolled over the glyph. It detonated and a bright orange ball of flame that lit up the entire corridor. When it cleared, a blackened, sooty Jamison was standing there. He coughed a cloud of smoke. “Ouch… It was more… powerful… than I had believed.”
Edge asked “Are you alright?”
“No, but let’s carry on.”
They walked to the next room, and it opened into an ice cavern. A huge skeleton of some draconic beast was slumped at the far wall. It had nine necks and heads and was shackled to the ice.
“Yeah. How much do we want to bet that thing attacks us?” Jamison asked.
Edge kept to the shadows and searched the walls. “Looks dead enough.”
Vek chuckled and said “Looking dead doesn’t mean IS dead.” He stepped cautiously up to it and summoned a clerical power to rebuke any undead that might be lurking nearby. The powerful wave of red-feeling magic washed over the entire room, and the skeleton didn’t move. “Hmm. I guess looking dead means dead, in this instance. So where’s the catch?”
Edge completed his sweep of the room. “I couldn’t find any hidden doors.”
Vek cast a spell on himself that allowed him to see through all illusions. He looked about, and the only thing in the room that changed was “Gregg Flamebrow” looking like who he actually was.
Jamison said “No trap, no beast, no way out except to go back. A dead end… pun intended. Why?”
Vek thought back. “I remember sitting with Taigiel- he was the half-dragon son of Acessiwal we traveled with- and he was telling us what he knew about Coldheart. I think I recall something about a distraction- a dead end.”
“So what’s with the skeleton?”
“I’m guessing that twenty years ago, it wasn’t a skeleton. It was meant to serve as death for people choosing this false entrance. Since Acessiwal disappeared, it starved to death here in the cavern.”
Kizzlorn said “Oh. That’s a little sad.”
“Death comes to us all, my dear. So where’s the real entrance?”
“Perhaps we missed it? Is it outside?”
“It’s worth looking.” They walked outside, and immediately Vek spotted something that hadn’t been there before. There was a large chunk of ice missing on the ground, and there was a swift black river flowing just beneath the surface, flush with the ice. “Was that hole in the ice visible before?”
Jamison asked “What hole?”
“I’ll take that as a yes. We’ve found something covered by an illusion… but what does this mean?”
They dispelled the illusion so everyone could see. The water was flowing away from the glacial cliff. Jamison knelt. “Looks like if you move upstream, you’ll enter the glacier.”
Edge said “That’s somewhat ridiculous… why travel through ice cold water to get to a lair?”
“It would make the place almost impregnable,” Jamison suggested. “With the proper potions, anyone could do it. This hole is easily big enough for the dragon to get through. I think we’re on to something.” He stood up. “I intend to find out.”
“How?”
“Here, someone take Scratch.” Jamison took his weasel familiar from his pack and handed him off to Grumbar, who petted him lovingly. “I’ll be right back.” Jamison jumped up into the air, uttered a word, and plunged into the water as a fish.
They waited. Grumbar held Scratch and said “oo’s a cute widdle weasel-measel? DAT’S WIGHT, OO AW! This thing’s cute. I might have to get a familiar. I’d never eat him, no matter how hungry I got.” He smiled.
Jamison the fish flopped up onto the surface of the ice and wriggled there for a moment, before turning back to the soaking wet wizard. “G-g-g-g-guh….” He chattered. “Cold.”
Once “Gregg Flamebrow” had sufficiently heated himself using spells and furs, he was able to chatter out that two hundred feet upstream, there was an opening in a chamber.
“How are we going to get there?” Edge looked very uncomfortable with the idea of plunging into the ice cold river and trying to swim two hundred feet upstream without air.
“Simple.” Jamison took out a large leathery sack. “We all get in this. This is my bag of holding. Vek carries the bag underwater to the hole. We get out.”
“Is there enough air in there?”
“Ten minute’s worth. There shouldn’t be a problem. Vek doesn’t need to breathe, and he’s immune to the cold.”
Vek thought, then nodded. “It’s a good plan.”
They made the necessary preparations. As the group was getting ready to enter the bag, Vek said “If you run out of air, something’s gone wrong… jump out of the bag. If you can.”
“Oh, and everyone?” Jamison smiled nervously. “Don’t touch anything in there. There are some… cursed items… that you might not want to examine. If you touch something, it could become yours. Permanently.”
With that, the bag closed over the shaken group and Vek closed it tightly with his bony fist. He turned invisible and plunged down into the black waters of the river.
Please ignore the fact that Vek is visible in the above illustration. Ahem. -Doc
The current pushed him backward, so he swam. His bony arms and legs didn’t propel him well, but his lack of mass also helped the water to pass around him without giving too much opposition. He swam.
Tiny blind white fish swam past him in the black murk. His vision allowed him to see into the darkness, but the silt beyond clouded his sight. Something was swimming toward him. Something very large. It came into view. A great purplish eel with a mouthful of cruel, jagged teeth. Even though he was invisible, the thing somehow saw him. It rushed up and swallowed him in a great gulp. The huge worm swam onward, sated with his meal. Then, it paused. It opened its jaws and gagged, then expelled Vek (and the contents of the worm’s stomach) out into the water before swimming briskly away. Vek swam upstream through the sickly greenish cloud into clearer water, and kept swimming until he found the cavern above.
He climbed out and opened the bag. The group tumbled out (along with all of Jamison’s possessions) while Grumbar was yelling “NO TICKLING GRUMBAR!”
Jamison looked up at Vek and said “Well, here we are. How’d it go?”
“Wonderfully,” Vek replied. “We’ll recollect your things and be on our way. Oh- by the way, we were just eaten.”
MORE TO COME...
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Great story, Doc. Can't wait for the rest.
