Tharhack pauses and listens for any further noises, The doors begin to shut, and Tharhack jumps form the sudden sound. He watches as the doors close, and the man is remade whole again.
"I hope you're on good terms with your god, because you'll he his help to retrieve you from where you're going." The man shouts through the other side of the door.
Tharhack ignores the man's warning, and walks to his right until he gets to the wall on that side of the room. Feeling the wall, Tharhack determines that it is most likely made of bone. Tharhack ponders whether the skull is from some gigantic being, or if it was made from the bones of thousands of individuals. Shuddering at either thought, Tharhack lets his vision fall to the floor, the whole floor is made out of some kind of reflective material. Reaching down and feeling it, Tharhack has no idea what it could be made of, it doesn't sound or feel like metal. Tharhack tries to scrape it with his spiked gauntlets, but he only manages to dull the point on the spike. Tharhack pounds a fist into the floor, no sound is made, nor is there any discernable injury to the floor.
Rising, Tharhack walks along the wall as it curls towards the ladder at the rear of the room. Tharhack stops about ten feet from the ladder, bending down, he tries to get and angle to look up the opening at whomever made the footstep sounds. Seeing nothing, Tharhack stands, and then notices a reflection on the floor under the ladder. A small creature, about the size of a monkey, hairless, with red eyes, and white skin, peers down from the opening trying to catch a glimpse of the visitor, before Tharhack knows of it's existence.
Wishing he had a ranged weapon, Tharhack ponders his next move........
"I see you." Tharhack calls out
The animal, startled, ducks back behind the hole. Disappearing from Tharhack's view, Tharhack judges the ladder to be about twenty feet in height. Disappointed at that, because he wouldn't be able to make it up the ladder quick enough to avoid having the thing get a free shot on him. As Tharhack stares at the ladder, and the opening, he hears a sound like a wet mouth opening behind him. Before he can turn around, the small creature claws at the back of Tharhack's neck, and bites into his shoulder. Roaring out loud, Tharhack reaches back for the thing, only to find it's disappeared.
Tharhack pulls his hand away and rubs the blood between his fingers, his vision is instantly pulled beyond his fingers, as the creature appears in front of him, and chomps down on Tharhack's knee, while raking it's claws across Tharhack's waist. Tharhack backhands the animal's head with his gauntlet, The creature releases it's hold on Tharhack's knee, and winks away again.
"Great, damn thing blinks." Tharhack mutters while attending to his bleeding knee
Tharhack twists around quickly, paranoid that the creature was plotting another attack. Relieved that it wasn't there, Tharhack quickly twists back again, expecting it to be in front of him. But, he finds himself alone once again.
"Probably only does it two or three times a day." Tharhack thinks aloud, "well I sure as heck am not climbing those stairs and into an ambush."
Tharhack limps back to the entry doors, and searches for a knob, latch, lever that will allow him to re-open the doors. Finding none, Tharhack asks the man in the door.
"Where's the exit button?" Tharhack asks
"The is no exit from yourself, your stuck with you, I'm stuck with you, we're all stuck together. Say, since you're back there, how's my butt look? I haven't eaten anything in decades, I hope it's not too bony.” The man replies
“There has to be a way out, there’s a way in.” Tharhack states
“Once you are insane, can you go outsane? What would that be like?” The man replies
Fed up at his twisting replies, Tharhack ignores the man and tries to pry the doors open using his own hands.
“Try head butting then.” The man tells Tharhack
Thinking he’s getting somewhere, Tharhack bangs his head against the door.
“That doesn't’t work either.” Tharhack responds
“I know, didn't work for me either.” The man replies
“What? You’ve been playing with me the whole time!” Tharhack fumes, slamming a fist into the door
“Temper, temper. Keep it down, with all that banging you’re doing, you’re sure to wake them up. Then we’ll have to listen to them berate each other for months.” The man states
Tharhack’s frustration builds, until he has a moment of clarity.
“What’s your name?” Tharhack asks the man
“My name? What’s your name? and you never told me about my butt.” Comes the response
“I am and Tharhack Bonepounder, of the Bonepounder clan. My fath.” Tharhack’s answer is cut off
“Bonepounder huh? Well in that case I don’t want you looking at my butt.” The man replies
Rage boils up through the half-orc, biting it back, Tharhack manages to get out one more question.
“What is that thing upstairs?” Tharhack asks
“That’s the monkey on your back, just be glad you haven’t met chip yet, he’s a real pain in the shoulder if you know what I mean.” The man replies
“I’ve had enough with your games, I want to know how to get out of here, or I’m going to hammer you through the rest of the door.” Tharhack tells the man
“Beat’s me, I just live here.” Comes the reply, followed by an exasperated sigh from Tharhack.
These two monsters are from a set of books called "All the World's Monsters" printed by Chaosium in 1977. (so it was done in 1st edition format, and if any of you have coverted from 1st edition, I sympathize with you.)
