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The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith
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<blockquote data-quote="Devo" data-source="post: 2886614" data-attributes="member: 32183"><p><strong>The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw, Excerpt 5</strong></p><p></p><p>"... flaring into light in order, one after another, until it took on the exact shape of the dragon constellation. I paused, then, unsure what to do. The crystal at the creature's eye was pink, and the nose blue, and those were supposed to be reversed. It was something that would only matter if someone was detecting the vest for magic -- and even then only if they were looking at it from behind -- but it bothered me. I was only two hours into the process, so I allowed the enchantment to fade, reversed the crystals, and started over, using my stylus [ref: CJ-V3-66] to draw the magic to the crystals, one at a time. It was like working one of those numbered drawings in a child's book, but this time I would get it right."</p><p> </p><p>. -- An excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3</p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"I don't want to say that our descent was slow and controlled, but it was rather exhilarating, like flying downward. We fell gracefully down past the floor of the temple, past the smiling head priestess, and into the darkness beyond.</p><p> </p><p>Things became far less exhilarating when my enchantment ended. We were floating down through the darkened shaft when the spell simply ended, and we started to plummet. Plummet. There's something I don't ever want to do again. XL and IR both screamed. I don't think I even had time to react. Then, suddenly, we were floating again, out of the shaft and into a large, poorly lit room. GR, YI, and DA were all standing there. Just the way they were a moment ago. Unhurt. When we saw them from so far above.</p><p></p><p>I should have realized it earlier. Obviously, there would be a feather fall zone at the bottom of a shaft like that. This place was built by wizards, after all.</p><p></p><p>Somewhere above us the grate crashed closed, locking us in.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>We landed in a large, round room. I landed gracefully on my feet, letting go of IR so she could do the same. Maybe I held her for too long, though -- she bumped noisily to the ground, as did CA and XL. CA was on his feet in an instant, though, ready for trouble. We didn't find any. Not yet. It was out there, though, and on it's way.</p><p> </p><p>We were in an ancient library, ransacked long ago. Every open wall held shelves for books. They were universally empty, curse our luck! Circling the room, just a short distance above us, was a wide balcony angled theater-style so that observers on the top deck could look down to the lower floor. In the center of the ceiling was the opening we had fallen through. It looked quite out of reach. Doors led from this floor to other chambers. A few of the doors were big enough that they probably led out, too. I was checking one such door, and XL another, when we first noticed something wrong.</p><p> </p><p>Far above us, the hole in the ceiling was flickering a harsh blue-white light. Accompanying the sound was a rapid, uneven clicking noise and many strange footfalls. A creature appeared, bulbous and horrific. It's tentacles waved spastically through the air while it's four feet clung to the underside of the ceiling. It climbed inverted across the roof and down the wall towards us.</p><p> </p><p>To be honest, I wasn't sure that my companions were in any shape to deal with the creature, and I didn't think I could take it by myself. I wasn't even sure what it was. Worse, the enchantment on my cane [ref: PJ-V3-19, CJ-V1-21] was geared towards dropping humans with a touch. And this thing was not human -- even now, after the fact, I'm still not sure what it was! </p><p> </p><p>It was getting closer, so I hurriedly turned back to the door I was working on, looking for a way through. I glanced over my shoulder, knowing that it would be a mistake. And it was. The creature was drawing closer. I pulled on all of my training to focus on the task at hand, turning my attention back to the lockpicks I had out to work the door. The enchantment on the lock must have warded it against anything other than it's intended key, though, because the tools shook uncontrollably in my hands. Behind me, the creature growled, charging. Someone near me cried out in terror, and I turned, knowing that I was it's intended target.</p><p> </p><p>When I spun around, I realized that everyone had moved from where they were a moment ago. CA and YI were now out into the center of the room, trying to draw the creature's attention. XL was still over at his door, trying to open it. GR and IR had slid around so that they could flank the creature once it engaged with CA and YI. DA stood back guarding XL. I didn't understand that last bit at all.</p><p> </p><p>The creature charged, reaching out a tentacle towards CA. A bright blue-white flash of light arced between the two of them, and CA reeled back, badly burned by the spark of electricity. He came back in, though, blades lashing out in an attempt to kill the creature.</p><p> </p><p>GR got one shot off with his crossbow, then moved in with his axe. IR summoned another one of her undead -- "undying", she always calls them. I don't see the difference, really. </p><p> </p><p>Lightning kept arcing out of the creature, burning my companions. I knew that it would take more than mundane weapons to kill this creature. I was taxed, though, after so long a day. Calling upon the last of my inner reserves, I enchanted my cane once again [ref: CJ-V1-21], this time making it an anathema towards abominations like this one. I circled, looking for an opening. Timing is very important in these situations.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing my opportunity, I rushed in, striking a mighty blow. The creature convulsed, dead without really knowing it yet. Feebly, another tentacle lashed out and the last of it's electricity arced out to hit YI. Everyone else surrounding the creature hacked wildly at it, forcing it to the ground. I was about to tell them that they needn't bother: I had already killed the creature and it was merely in it's death throes. I didn't get the chance, though. </p><p> </p><p>There was a startled scream across the room -- another of these things had snuck in on us, and had just attacked IR from behind. I quickly formulated a plan to deal with it and shared it with my companions. Naturally, nobody listened. They simply raced across the room, charging and swinging their brutish weapons. I had to sigh. All this brilliance, and no one to listen to it.</p><p> </p><p>This one must have been a weaker or younger version of the first. By the time I got there, it was already dead, hacked up and torn apart like some sacrifice thrown before a rabid mob of barbaric hunters. In a way, it sort of was, I suppose. IR seemed angry at everyone. Not because we let this thing sneak up behind her (and isn't she the one with the keen elven senses?) but because her dead summoned kobold, or whatever it was, hadn't been able to find an opening in the fight that it could step into. It hadn't been able to attack this second creature at all.</p><p> </p><p>We looked around, but it appeared that those two creature were all we'd have to deal with. After some healing, we went back to searching the place. </p><p> </p><p>Four large doors lead out. Well, presumably they lead out. I quickly determined that they were all magically sealed, and well beyond our ability to open. Smaller doors all lead to what was once probably reading chambers or the like. We found nothing of use and nothing of value, and no way out. We were trapped.</p><p> </p><p>Which was fine by us. It had been a very long, grueling, excitement-filled day. Many of us were still sore from the climb, the fall, or the multitudes of fights we'd been in. We decided to close ourselves off in the largest of the private chambers to rest and refocus our energies. It was a long night, but we were undisturbed. </p><p> </p><p>The next morning, our plan was to have YI climb up the wall, across the ceiling, and into the shaft leading up. He said he could do his part, and since we'd had time to rest we knew that IR would be able to heal him up when he plummeted to the floor like the crazy fool he seemed. Amazingly, he made the climb -- and made it look easy. I instantly suspected him of being another one of those cockroach people [ref: PJ-V1-97], but I didn't want to voice my opinions and scare my companions. They are so excitable some times. YI tied his rope to the grate and dropped one end to the floor below. DA climbed up and used magic of some sort to trigger the grate mechanism in the room beyond. With squealing protestation, the grate swung open. That done, we all climbed up. All this climbing around was making my arms sore.</p><p> </p><p>We came up in a cross shaped room. Above us, the shaft continued up towards the main worship chamber. We decided to avoid a further climb, and see if we could find our way out from here.</p><p> </p><p>On one wall was a simple mechanism that tilted the grate up so that sacrifices -- such as ourselves -- could fall unhindered down the shaft. Braziers stood in the center of each of the small side chambers. A quick search indicated no secret way out through there. The longer hallway ended in a doorway, though, so CA and I snuck up towards it to find out what lay beyond.</p><p> </p><p>XL took on the form of a brutish looking warrior -- in poor street clothes. I wonder if he actually fights better when he makes himself look tougher? A moot question, perhaps, as this particular form certainly did not make him any smarter. XL continued his practice of stealing light sources by taking a torch out of it's sconce halfway down the hall. The hall, enraged, perhaps, that it's favorite torch was being stolen, immediately attacked.</p><p> </p><p>Countless tentacles sprouted from the wall opposite XL. They immediately grabbed him and started squeezing. Other tentacles waved about, separating CA and I from the rest of the group. XL cried out in pain and IR -- showing more sensitivity than sense -- jumped forward to try to heal him. She managed to get her spell off, despite the fact that she was battered about by writhing tentacles. Before she was done, though, she, too, was grabbed. GR jumped in and tried to grab XL, hoping to pull him out. CA jumped in too with the best weapon at his disposal; his very excellent scimitar. CA was slicing tentacles away from the wall at an alarming speed. There were too many, though, to make a difference. On the other side of this mess, DA and YI, too, attacked the tentacles. </p><p> </p><p>Knowing this would cause a commotion, I checked the door to see who would be alerted. Beyond was an empty guard room. Tables strewn with food, debris, or dice (it was hard to tell which) were haphazardly scattered around the room. There were a few chairs and what might have been bedrolls littering the ground, too. I was about to thank our luck, when the door on the opposite side of the room started to open. Curses!</p><p> </p><p>I turned in time to see CA free himself from the tangle of tentacles. GR and YI combined managed to free XL, but brave IR was wrapped nearly head to foot in the writhing purple feelers. She was slammed up against the wall, then pulled through it. She was gone!</p><p> </p><p>In the room behind me, guards poured into the room and immediately began to make it even more of a mess. They overturned two of the tables to use them as protection against our non-existent attacks. Some of them had crossbows, and started shooting towards the door. In the dim light of the room (evidently these creatures can see in the dark), they looked like more of those tall, tentacled "people" we'd seen upstairs [ref: PJ-V3-39]. There was almost half a dozen of them! </p><p> </p><p>I slammed the door, calmly telling my party that we had trouble. The tentacles in the hallway were still attacking. They must have reached some magic minimum number, though, as they suddenly melted away to reveal a hallway leading off to the side. An escape route! I took off at top speed immediately, as did most of my friends. YI jumped to the door I had just vacated, and stood in front of it, barring it with his mighty strength. He bid us go, boldly offering to sacrifice himself, not realizing we were already gone.</p><p> </p><p>IR stood in the hallway, her mace glowing under a newly placed light spell. She warned us that she had seen movement down the hall -- most likely those mutated goblin creatures. Seeking rapid escape, we all ran down the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>I paused long enough to check one of the side doors. Beyond I found a latrine -- filthy beyond description -- and in it one mutated goblinoid. It was too busy to notice us, even with our lights, so we simply let it be. There's probably a moral in there someplace: "Let stinking goblins sit." Okay, so maybe there isn't.</p><p> </p><p>GR and IR had continued down the hallway to find a human priest and two goblinoids recovering from what may have been a compromising situation. The priest was pulling on his boots: one of the goblinoids was brushing it's -- her? -- hair. The room was a rather large bedroom. We outnumbered the half-naked creatures handily, and they didn't last long. The priest put up a little bit more of a fight, but even he didn't have much fight in him. GR was sure that one of the goblinoids had gotten away, but I saw no other way out of the room. Crossing over to the other side of the bed, GR ripped a large tapestry off the wall, revealing another doorway. The party started through.</p><p> </p><p>Except for me. I stayed back to look over the priest and see if he had anything of interest. He had a couple of trinkets, and some keys, so I thought that an excellent find. </p><p> </p><p>I caught up to the rest of the group, and they were lost without my leadership. Next time, I should stay with them to hold their hands. There were a few side hallways here and there in these back halls. GR and CA stood at one intersection, with DA standing firm beside them. They were preparing to take an assault from a dozen-odd creatures from a nearby guard room. In said guard room, one of the tall, tentacled humans was driving a dozen or so goblinoid creatures on. Our recent fights had given them plenty of opportunity to pick up weapons and start donning armor. They were just finishing up, prepared to assault the collected defensive stance of GR, CA and DA.</p><p> </p><p>IR and XL, meanwhile, continued on down another hall and had come back to report that they found a secret door. It lead to a storeroom that we had passed on our way here, though, so the rest of the group paid it little mind. I was all for continuing our exodus, but the group had gotten in over it's head, again, and they would need my expertise if they were to survive.</p><p> </p><p>YI came screaming up behind us, then, followed by the guards he was supposedly keeping at bay. He didn't even make a passable doorstop. I fell back to help him, leaving GR, CA, and DA to defend their chosen ground.</p><p> </p><p>I will concede at this point that YI is an adequate fighter. In little enough time, we'd taken care of the four-armed goblins that had chased him so far. The fight behind us had been raging the whole time, and by the time we joined it, the mutants had been whittled down to half their number. It took a little work, but we managed to kill all of them without losing any of our own number.</p><p> </p><p>All this time, XL and IR had been wrestling with two of the mutant goblins in a very filthy storage room, trying to clear a path for our escape. We joined them in time to turn the tide and defeat the creatures, then decided as a group to go back through the first guard room we'd seen and hope that that was the exit. Beyond, we found stairs leading up -- which was the direction we needed to go -- but not into any place we'd been before. </p><p> </p><p>I am going to break the narrative here to mention that the natives of this place are the most paranoid, danger-seeking group of individuals I have ever had the misfortune to meet. Oft-used corridors were festooned with traps -- pits and deadfalls, spikes and arrows -- and we seemed to find every cursed one of them on our way out. </p><p> </p><p>So where was I? Oh, yes, the way out. </p><p> </p><p>We were travelling in a recently-created tunnel, rough-hewn walls carved out of the stone below Sharn as if by some monsterous creature. It was empty, if a bit damp. So eager were we to get out of there, that I am ashamed to admit that my feet were moving a bit quicker than my well-trainied mind. My dedicated years of training in alchemy and all things caustic allowed me to notice instantly that a harmless-seeming puddle was something far more dangerous, but my feet were already splashing through said puddle before I could redirect my steps. I leapt forward with a scream of frustration, for the puddle had just eaten through my newly-purchased -- and, I might add, rather expensive -- boots [ref: PJ-V2-117]. The acid burned my feet and legs, too, and I continued forward in a great deal of pain, trying to kick away the remnants of my very expensive and utterly ruined footware.</p><p> </p><p>Behind me, the puddle was moving -- an ooze of some sort, evidently. The rest of the party surged forward to combat the creature, and although it did not last long, it managed to splash both YI and DA, ruining the first's weapon and the second's armor.</p><p> </p><p>I had my own problems to deal with, though. My aggressive calls for assistance -- fueled to a somewhat higher-than-normal pitch, perhaps, by the pain in my feet and legs -- awoke something in the next chamber. More specifically, it awoke a swarm of something in the next chamber, and I was suddenly surrounded by a veritable cloud of large, leather-winged mosquitoes from hell -- if you will pardon the expression. There were dozens of them, give or take. Not content to simply flutter about and tangle themselves in my hair -- which they were doing, by the way -- a good many of them landed on me, digging into my skin with their claw-like feet and stabbing me with their wickedly sharp probiscii. They were sucking the blood right out of me!</p><p> </p><p>Now I am a man of fine constitution, and excellent health, but this had been a very rough day for me. Far worse than my usual day in the lab. In one day I had been stabbed by swords, bludgeoned by morning stars, eaten nearly alive by an aggressive caustic puddle. On top of that, I had been forced to climb to the top of an impossibly large chamber, had a full twenty-stone of bricks dropped on my head, and lost my best boots. I just didn't have much left in me.</p><p> </p><p>I gave it the old Heuw and cry, though, and valiantly lashed out against my new attackers. There were more than I could deal with, though, and I lost a lot of blood before I emerged victorious. IR and XL were there at the end, crushing the fist-sized bugs that had stolen so much of my precious fluid. GR had found himself a victim of the stirges, too, and looked in terrible shape. </p><p> </p><p>I sat down, done. I had lost so much blood, that it was an effort to even move. It took all the energy I had to complain to my companions about the ruin that was my outfit, and pick off the pieces of insect that still clung to me here and there.</p><p> </p><p>Our battle had not gone unnoticed, though. Just around the corner and up a few more stairs was a halway familiar to GR and XL, and they excitedly reported that we were nearly out. There were two guards up there, though. They had heard our fight but seemed unsure what to do. They were cultists -- humans, evidently. The rest of the DC went forward to deal with them.</p><p> </p><p>Not that I cared. I was too tired to get up to see what was happening. I sat there and tried to make myself presentable. From what I could hear from around the corner, one of the guards was the man that GR was sent in to rescue -- a young Cyran expatriot who went missing some days ago [ref: PJ-V3-26]. There was some sort of argument, and a fight broke out. My shirt and jacket were absolutely ruined. When you crush a feeding mosquito, there is always a small smear of blood left behind. This was just like that, except the mosquitoes were the size of my fist _before_ they were crushed. Large splashes of blood covered everything. The fight raged on while I worked at loosening a painfully embedded insectile limb from my forearm. Reinforcements had come into the fray in the form of the head preistess and more cultists. A solid-sounding k-thunk from around the bend, followed immediately by an exaltant shout and a pained cry, told me that someone, at least, was doing well. GR shouted out that YI had been killed. Why do insects always have hooked, spiny limbs? I was having a devil of a time untangling some of these pieces. Two very different battle cries -- it sounded like GR and CA -- sounded, and more bodies hit the floor. A voice I recognized -- but didn't bother identifying -- shouted for help, and I knew that my friends were in trouble. Now I know why you never see well-dressed adventurers. The cost of replacing one's clothing on a daily basis would be quite prohibitive.</p><p> </p><p>My boots were, as reported, absolutely ruined. I had nothing left but two heels, and the upper trim from the right boot. Why couldn't the whole boot been made out of the same material as the heel? I was going to study the oddity of the remaining heels further, but decided, instead, to save my friend's lives. I hobbled around the corner, loading my crossbow as I went. </p><p> </p><p>I came to the fight in time to see the head priestess fleeing. She ordered her two remaining soldiers to protect her retreat, and, for some reason, they did. There must be something about cults that inspires such loyalty in it's followers. I fired my crossbow at one of the remaining men. I probably killed him, though I honestly didn't care at that point. Whatever the result, the fight ended soon after I arrived.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone was still alive -- even poor YI. He was in bad shape, though. We had little healing available to us, and XL and GR agreed that the corridor to our right would take us out of there. DA picked up YI and moved up the stairs that lead out -- and immediately fell into a pit. He was mostly unhurt, but only because he had landed on YI. The corpse of YI, specifically. The fall, or something involved in the fall, had killed him.</p><p> </p><p>We were too exhausted, the lot of us, to react to YI's death. Tired, we gathered the body, looted the cultists, and made our way out. I wish the cultists had been carrying more money."</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>. -- An excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"Twiggy. Found this, thought it was yours. Father found one last week and seemed startled and embarrased about it. Maybe you should keep these in your room."</p><p>"Family. Have gone down to Fallen in Lower Dura looking for undead. Will return for lunch."</p><p>"Father. Attached is calling card from fifth litigator to come to the house today. See you for dinner."</p><p>"When you find this note, please put 20gp back into red vase emergency fund."</p><p>"Jenvis. By 'quarters', I meant corner-to-corner. Please cut my sandwiches diagonally in the future."</p><p> </p><p>. -- An excerpt from Notes to Family and Staff, left around the house and authored by Artemis Heuw, 998YK</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Devo, post: 2886614, member: 32183"] [b]The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw, Excerpt 5[/b] "... flaring into light in order, one after another, until it took on the exact shape of the dragon constellation. I paused, then, unsure what to do. The crystal at the creature's eye was pink, and the nose blue, and those were supposed to be reversed. It was something that would only matter if someone was detecting the vest for magic -- and even then only if they were looking at it from behind -- but it bothered me. I was only two hours into the process, so I allowed the enchantment to fade, reversed the crystals, and started over, using my stylus [ref: CJ-V3-66] to draw the magic to the crystals, one at a time. It was like working one of those numbered drawings in a child's book, but this time I would get it right." . -- An excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3 "I don't want to say that our descent was slow and controlled, but it was rather exhilarating, like flying downward. We fell gracefully down past the floor of the temple, past the smiling head priestess, and into the darkness beyond. Things became far less exhilarating when my enchantment ended. We were floating down through the darkened shaft when the spell simply ended, and we started to plummet. Plummet. There's something I don't ever want to do again. XL and IR both screamed. I don't think I even had time to react. Then, suddenly, we were floating again, out of the shaft and into a large, poorly lit room. GR, YI, and DA were all standing there. Just the way they were a moment ago. Unhurt. When we saw them from so far above. I should have realized it earlier. Obviously, there would be a feather fall zone at the bottom of a shaft like that. This place was built by wizards, after all. Somewhere above us the grate crashed closed, locking us in. We landed in a large, round room. I landed gracefully on my feet, letting go of IR so she could do the same. Maybe I held her for too long, though -- she bumped noisily to the ground, as did CA and XL. CA was on his feet in an instant, though, ready for trouble. We didn't find any. Not yet. It was out there, though, and on it's way. We were in an ancient library, ransacked long ago. Every open wall held shelves for books. They were universally empty, curse our luck! Circling the room, just a short distance above us, was a wide balcony angled theater-style so that observers on the top deck could look down to the lower floor. In the center of the ceiling was the opening we had fallen through. It looked quite out of reach. Doors led from this floor to other chambers. A few of the doors were big enough that they probably led out, too. I was checking one such door, and XL another, when we first noticed something wrong. Far above us, the hole in the ceiling was flickering a harsh blue-white light. Accompanying the sound was a rapid, uneven clicking noise and many strange footfalls. A creature appeared, bulbous and horrific. It's tentacles waved spastically through the air while it's four feet clung to the underside of the ceiling. It climbed inverted across the roof and down the wall towards us. To be honest, I wasn't sure that my companions were in any shape to deal with the creature, and I didn't think I could take it by myself. I wasn't even sure what it was. Worse, the enchantment on my cane [ref: PJ-V3-19, CJ-V1-21] was geared towards dropping humans with a touch. And this thing was not human -- even now, after the fact, I'm still not sure what it was! It was getting closer, so I hurriedly turned back to the door I was working on, looking for a way through. I glanced over my shoulder, knowing that it would be a mistake. And it was. The creature was drawing closer. I pulled on all of my training to focus on the task at hand, turning my attention back to the lockpicks I had out to work the door. The enchantment on the lock must have warded it against anything other than it's intended key, though, because the tools shook uncontrollably in my hands. Behind me, the creature growled, charging. Someone near me cried out in terror, and I turned, knowing that I was it's intended target. When I spun around, I realized that everyone had moved from where they were a moment ago. CA and YI were now out into the center of the room, trying to draw the creature's attention. XL was still over at his door, trying to open it. GR and IR had slid around so that they could flank the creature once it engaged with CA and YI. DA stood back guarding XL. I didn't understand that last bit at all. The creature charged, reaching out a tentacle towards CA. A bright blue-white flash of light arced between the two of them, and CA reeled back, badly burned by the spark of electricity. He came back in, though, blades lashing out in an attempt to kill the creature. GR got one shot off with his crossbow, then moved in with his axe. IR summoned another one of her undead -- "undying", she always calls them. I don't see the difference, really. Lightning kept arcing out of the creature, burning my companions. I knew that it would take more than mundane weapons to kill this creature. I was taxed, though, after so long a day. Calling upon the last of my inner reserves, I enchanted my cane once again [ref: CJ-V1-21], this time making it an anathema towards abominations like this one. I circled, looking for an opening. Timing is very important in these situations. Seeing my opportunity, I rushed in, striking a mighty blow. The creature convulsed, dead without really knowing it yet. Feebly, another tentacle lashed out and the last of it's electricity arced out to hit YI. Everyone else surrounding the creature hacked wildly at it, forcing it to the ground. I was about to tell them that they needn't bother: I had already killed the creature and it was merely in it's death throes. I didn't get the chance, though. There was a startled scream across the room -- another of these things had snuck in on us, and had just attacked IR from behind. I quickly formulated a plan to deal with it and shared it with my companions. Naturally, nobody listened. They simply raced across the room, charging and swinging their brutish weapons. I had to sigh. All this brilliance, and no one to listen to it. This one must have been a weaker or younger version of the first. By the time I got there, it was already dead, hacked up and torn apart like some sacrifice thrown before a rabid mob of barbaric hunters. In a way, it sort of was, I suppose. IR seemed angry at everyone. Not because we let this thing sneak up behind her (and isn't she the one with the keen elven senses?) but because her dead summoned kobold, or whatever it was, hadn't been able to find an opening in the fight that it could step into. It hadn't been able to attack this second creature at all. We looked around, but it appeared that those two creature were all we'd have to deal with. After some healing, we went back to searching the place. Four large doors lead out. Well, presumably they lead out. I quickly determined that they were all magically sealed, and well beyond our ability to open. Smaller doors all lead to what was once probably reading chambers or the like. We found nothing of use and nothing of value, and no way out. We were trapped. Which was fine by us. It had been a very long, grueling, excitement-filled day. Many of us were still sore from the climb, the fall, or the multitudes of fights we'd been in. We decided to close ourselves off in the largest of the private chambers to rest and refocus our energies. It was a long night, but we were undisturbed. The next morning, our plan was to have YI climb up the wall, across the ceiling, and into the shaft leading up. He said he could do his part, and since we'd had time to rest we knew that IR would be able to heal him up when he plummeted to the floor like the crazy fool he seemed. Amazingly, he made the climb -- and made it look easy. I instantly suspected him of being another one of those cockroach people [ref: PJ-V1-97], but I didn't want to voice my opinions and scare my companions. They are so excitable some times. YI tied his rope to the grate and dropped one end to the floor below. DA climbed up and used magic of some sort to trigger the grate mechanism in the room beyond. With squealing protestation, the grate swung open. That done, we all climbed up. All this climbing around was making my arms sore. We came up in a cross shaped room. Above us, the shaft continued up towards the main worship chamber. We decided to avoid a further climb, and see if we could find our way out from here. On one wall was a simple mechanism that tilted the grate up so that sacrifices -- such as ourselves -- could fall unhindered down the shaft. Braziers stood in the center of each of the small side chambers. A quick search indicated no secret way out through there. The longer hallway ended in a doorway, though, so CA and I snuck up towards it to find out what lay beyond. XL took on the form of a brutish looking warrior -- in poor street clothes. I wonder if he actually fights better when he makes himself look tougher? A moot question, perhaps, as this particular form certainly did not make him any smarter. XL continued his practice of stealing light sources by taking a torch out of it's sconce halfway down the hall. The hall, enraged, perhaps, that it's favorite torch was being stolen, immediately attacked. Countless tentacles sprouted from the wall opposite XL. They immediately grabbed him and started squeezing. Other tentacles waved about, separating CA and I from the rest of the group. XL cried out in pain and IR -- showing more sensitivity than sense -- jumped forward to try to heal him. She managed to get her spell off, despite the fact that she was battered about by writhing tentacles. Before she was done, though, she, too, was grabbed. GR jumped in and tried to grab XL, hoping to pull him out. CA jumped in too with the best weapon at his disposal; his very excellent scimitar. CA was slicing tentacles away from the wall at an alarming speed. There were too many, though, to make a difference. On the other side of this mess, DA and YI, too, attacked the tentacles. Knowing this would cause a commotion, I checked the door to see who would be alerted. Beyond was an empty guard room. Tables strewn with food, debris, or dice (it was hard to tell which) were haphazardly scattered around the room. There were a few chairs and what might have been bedrolls littering the ground, too. I was about to thank our luck, when the door on the opposite side of the room started to open. Curses! I turned in time to see CA free himself from the tangle of tentacles. GR and YI combined managed to free XL, but brave IR was wrapped nearly head to foot in the writhing purple feelers. She was slammed up against the wall, then pulled through it. She was gone! In the room behind me, guards poured into the room and immediately began to make it even more of a mess. They overturned two of the tables to use them as protection against our non-existent attacks. Some of them had crossbows, and started shooting towards the door. In the dim light of the room (evidently these creatures can see in the dark), they looked like more of those tall, tentacled "people" we'd seen upstairs [ref: PJ-V3-39]. There was almost half a dozen of them! I slammed the door, calmly telling my party that we had trouble. The tentacles in the hallway were still attacking. They must have reached some magic minimum number, though, as they suddenly melted away to reveal a hallway leading off to the side. An escape route! I took off at top speed immediately, as did most of my friends. YI jumped to the door I had just vacated, and stood in front of it, barring it with his mighty strength. He bid us go, boldly offering to sacrifice himself, not realizing we were already gone. IR stood in the hallway, her mace glowing under a newly placed light spell. She warned us that she had seen movement down the hall -- most likely those mutated goblin creatures. Seeking rapid escape, we all ran down the hallway. I paused long enough to check one of the side doors. Beyond I found a latrine -- filthy beyond description -- and in it one mutated goblinoid. It was too busy to notice us, even with our lights, so we simply let it be. There's probably a moral in there someplace: "Let stinking goblins sit." Okay, so maybe there isn't. GR and IR had continued down the hallway to find a human priest and two goblinoids recovering from what may have been a compromising situation. The priest was pulling on his boots: one of the goblinoids was brushing it's -- her? -- hair. The room was a rather large bedroom. We outnumbered the half-naked creatures handily, and they didn't last long. The priest put up a little bit more of a fight, but even he didn't have much fight in him. GR was sure that one of the goblinoids had gotten away, but I saw no other way out of the room. Crossing over to the other side of the bed, GR ripped a large tapestry off the wall, revealing another doorway. The party started through. Except for me. I stayed back to look over the priest and see if he had anything of interest. He had a couple of trinkets, and some keys, so I thought that an excellent find. I caught up to the rest of the group, and they were lost without my leadership. Next time, I should stay with them to hold their hands. There were a few side hallways here and there in these back halls. GR and CA stood at one intersection, with DA standing firm beside them. They were preparing to take an assault from a dozen-odd creatures from a nearby guard room. In said guard room, one of the tall, tentacled humans was driving a dozen or so goblinoid creatures on. Our recent fights had given them plenty of opportunity to pick up weapons and start donning armor. They were just finishing up, prepared to assault the collected defensive stance of GR, CA and DA. IR and XL, meanwhile, continued on down another hall and had come back to report that they found a secret door. It lead to a storeroom that we had passed on our way here, though, so the rest of the group paid it little mind. I was all for continuing our exodus, but the group had gotten in over it's head, again, and they would need my expertise if they were to survive. YI came screaming up behind us, then, followed by the guards he was supposedly keeping at bay. He didn't even make a passable doorstop. I fell back to help him, leaving GR, CA, and DA to defend their chosen ground. I will concede at this point that YI is an adequate fighter. In little enough time, we'd taken care of the four-armed goblins that had chased him so far. The fight behind us had been raging the whole time, and by the time we joined it, the mutants had been whittled down to half their number. It took a little work, but we managed to kill all of them without losing any of our own number. All this time, XL and IR had been wrestling with two of the mutant goblins in a very filthy storage room, trying to clear a path for our escape. We joined them in time to turn the tide and defeat the creatures, then decided as a group to go back through the first guard room we'd seen and hope that that was the exit. Beyond, we found stairs leading up -- which was the direction we needed to go -- but not into any place we'd been before. I am going to break the narrative here to mention that the natives of this place are the most paranoid, danger-seeking group of individuals I have ever had the misfortune to meet. Oft-used corridors were festooned with traps -- pits and deadfalls, spikes and arrows -- and we seemed to find every cursed one of them on our way out. So where was I? Oh, yes, the way out. We were travelling in a recently-created tunnel, rough-hewn walls carved out of the stone below Sharn as if by some monsterous creature. It was empty, if a bit damp. So eager were we to get out of there, that I am ashamed to admit that my feet were moving a bit quicker than my well-trainied mind. My dedicated years of training in alchemy and all things caustic allowed me to notice instantly that a harmless-seeming puddle was something far more dangerous, but my feet were already splashing through said puddle before I could redirect my steps. I leapt forward with a scream of frustration, for the puddle had just eaten through my newly-purchased -- and, I might add, rather expensive -- boots [ref: PJ-V2-117]. The acid burned my feet and legs, too, and I continued forward in a great deal of pain, trying to kick away the remnants of my very expensive and utterly ruined footware. Behind me, the puddle was moving -- an ooze of some sort, evidently. The rest of the party surged forward to combat the creature, and although it did not last long, it managed to splash both YI and DA, ruining the first's weapon and the second's armor. I had my own problems to deal with, though. My aggressive calls for assistance -- fueled to a somewhat higher-than-normal pitch, perhaps, by the pain in my feet and legs -- awoke something in the next chamber. More specifically, it awoke a swarm of something in the next chamber, and I was suddenly surrounded by a veritable cloud of large, leather-winged mosquitoes from hell -- if you will pardon the expression. There were dozens of them, give or take. Not content to simply flutter about and tangle themselves in my hair -- which they were doing, by the way -- a good many of them landed on me, digging into my skin with their claw-like feet and stabbing me with their wickedly sharp probiscii. They were sucking the blood right out of me! Now I am a man of fine constitution, and excellent health, but this had been a very rough day for me. Far worse than my usual day in the lab. In one day I had been stabbed by swords, bludgeoned by morning stars, eaten nearly alive by an aggressive caustic puddle. On top of that, I had been forced to climb to the top of an impossibly large chamber, had a full twenty-stone of bricks dropped on my head, and lost my best boots. I just didn't have much left in me. I gave it the old Heuw and cry, though, and valiantly lashed out against my new attackers. There were more than I could deal with, though, and I lost a lot of blood before I emerged victorious. IR and XL were there at the end, crushing the fist-sized bugs that had stolen so much of my precious fluid. GR had found himself a victim of the stirges, too, and looked in terrible shape. I sat down, done. I had lost so much blood, that it was an effort to even move. It took all the energy I had to complain to my companions about the ruin that was my outfit, and pick off the pieces of insect that still clung to me here and there. Our battle had not gone unnoticed, though. Just around the corner and up a few more stairs was a halway familiar to GR and XL, and they excitedly reported that we were nearly out. There were two guards up there, though. They had heard our fight but seemed unsure what to do. They were cultists -- humans, evidently. The rest of the DC went forward to deal with them. Not that I cared. I was too tired to get up to see what was happening. I sat there and tried to make myself presentable. From what I could hear from around the corner, one of the guards was the man that GR was sent in to rescue -- a young Cyran expatriot who went missing some days ago [ref: PJ-V3-26]. There was some sort of argument, and a fight broke out. My shirt and jacket were absolutely ruined. When you crush a feeding mosquito, there is always a small smear of blood left behind. This was just like that, except the mosquitoes were the size of my fist _before_ they were crushed. Large splashes of blood covered everything. The fight raged on while I worked at loosening a painfully embedded insectile limb from my forearm. Reinforcements had come into the fray in the form of the head preistess and more cultists. A solid-sounding k-thunk from around the bend, followed immediately by an exaltant shout and a pained cry, told me that someone, at least, was doing well. GR shouted out that YI had been killed. Why do insects always have hooked, spiny limbs? I was having a devil of a time untangling some of these pieces. Two very different battle cries -- it sounded like GR and CA -- sounded, and more bodies hit the floor. A voice I recognized -- but didn't bother identifying -- shouted for help, and I knew that my friends were in trouble. Now I know why you never see well-dressed adventurers. The cost of replacing one's clothing on a daily basis would be quite prohibitive. My boots were, as reported, absolutely ruined. I had nothing left but two heels, and the upper trim from the right boot. Why couldn't the whole boot been made out of the same material as the heel? I was going to study the oddity of the remaining heels further, but decided, instead, to save my friend's lives. I hobbled around the corner, loading my crossbow as I went. I came to the fight in time to see the head priestess fleeing. She ordered her two remaining soldiers to protect her retreat, and, for some reason, they did. There must be something about cults that inspires such loyalty in it's followers. I fired my crossbow at one of the remaining men. I probably killed him, though I honestly didn't care at that point. Whatever the result, the fight ended soon after I arrived. Everyone was still alive -- even poor YI. He was in bad shape, though. We had little healing available to us, and XL and GR agreed that the corridor to our right would take us out of there. DA picked up YI and moved up the stairs that lead out -- and immediately fell into a pit. He was mostly unhurt, but only because he had landed on YI. The corpse of YI, specifically. The fall, or something involved in the fall, had killed him. We were too exhausted, the lot of us, to react to YI's death. Tired, we gathered the body, looted the cultists, and made our way out. I wish the cultists had been carrying more money." . -- An excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3 "Twiggy. Found this, thought it was yours. Father found one last week and seemed startled and embarrased about it. Maybe you should keep these in your room." "Family. Have gone down to Fallen in Lower Dura looking for undead. Will return for lunch." "Father. Attached is calling card from fifth litigator to come to the house today. See you for dinner." "When you find this note, please put 20gp back into red vase emergency fund." "Jenvis. By 'quarters', I meant corner-to-corner. Please cut my sandwiches diagonally in the future." . -- An excerpt from Notes to Family and Staff, left around the house and authored by Artemis Heuw, 998YK [/QUOTE]
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