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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 1467991" data-attributes="member: 16069">The Wednesday KnightsSESSION XXII.Chewsday 14th Mork 2000The Pre-Ramble continues.Characters presentLiandri Male Half-Elf Rogue level 2 Wizard level 1 (Kev. M.)Xeolus Male Human Monk level 1 Priest of Hieroneous level 1 (Kev. H.)Endrin Male Human Bard level 3 Sorcerer level 1 (Wayne)Bob Male Human Ranger level 2 (Emma) Whirlwind Male Human Fighter level 1 (Erin)The Knights arrive in Oakhurst and do the rounds, looking for clues before they set of to the Sunless Citadel itself. They spend the remainder of the day going around town where they learn that the Hucrele group set off to the Citadel a little over two weeks ago. There were four adventurers in the group- Sharwyn & Talgon Hucrele, Sir Bradford (a Paladin- Endrin nods his head sagely) and a local Ranger called Karakis. They also discover that there are small rewards for the safe return of the other two. Further investigation reveals that there are Goblins at/in the Sunless Citadel, and that each year they sell a fruit (a ruby-red apple) to the highest bidder. Bob learns that a few farmers have paid for seeds from the plant in an attempt to grow their own- only the saplings that grow from the seeds are always stolen. The Fruit is extremely valuable as it is supposed to cure all ailments- although none have seen it do so. Bob also learns that the farmers about no longer allow their cattle to graze near the Citadel as a number of them have been attacked and wounded or killed, with long jagged claw marks on their bodies.With all the new information pooled and after stocking up with two weeks worth of food each, healing potions and plenty of other equipment they head off. The last stop the Hucrele household where the lady of the house bids them a teary farewell and makes them promise to return with her children. Into the Abyss (the shallow end with armbands).Woodnesday 15th Mork 2000.The three hour journey up the Old Road to the Citadel passes without a hitch, once there the group search around the old ruins and discovers a crevasse with a rope hanging over the edge. A little more searching reveals the remains of several old campfires and some graffiti in a language they cannot read (Goblin). Eventually Endrin secures a fresh rope to an immovable object (fingers crossed) and Liandri climbs down to a ledge some thirty or so feet below.“What’s it like?”“It’s like a ledge.”“Oh. Anything there?”“Some steps going down, a pile of rubble and stuff… oh and a huge rat.”“A what? A hat?”…“Liandri… Liandri… LIANDRI, WHAT SORT OF HAT?”The Dire Rat leaps out of the rubble and Liandri swats it away- killing it instantly, he is about to respond to Endrin’s calls when another Dire Rat appears- the fight lasts a further 10 seconds.“No, A RAT. R-A-T.”Endrin- reacts, “Pelor he’s in trouble.”Endrin and Xeolus climb down the rope in double quick time only to discover the ledge is empty no sign of Liandri,“He… He’s gone.”“Probably went over the ledge- look he killed two of them, bastard rats.”Xeolus kicks a dead rat over the ledge- it disappears into the darkness.“He was… so… young.”“Actually he was over a hundred.”“Oh. Ok.”The two look at each other and smile wanly before Endrin tries again.“He… was… a good… person… at heart… deep down… y’know… inside… probably.”“Mmm.”“Who was?” Liandri sneaks up behind the two peering over the side, they both jump in surprise.“What THE feck, you bastard- you did that on purpose.”“What?”Xeolus shakes his head and moves back to hold the rope, “you’re cruel Liandri- we thought you’d gone over the edge.”“Where have you been fecker?”“I was keeping hidden and staying silent- I’ve been down the steps, you should see it there’s a feck off big castle down there.”“Well why the feck didn’t you tell us that you were hiding and creeping about- you scared the poo out of me… I mean Xeolus, (whispers) he was terrified.”“You want me to shout you to tell you that I’m hiding and moving silently?”“Always. Now let’s not say any more about it… especially that bit about Xeolus being terrified, y’know what he’s like- it’s his nerves.”“I don’t know about his nerves, he gets on my fecking nerves.”“Endrin. Bob and Whirlwind still haven’t climbed down. D’you want me to go and get them”, Xeolus asks peering upwards into the light.“No, no need I’ll take care of it. YOU TWO STOP EFFING ABOUT AND GET YOUR ARSES DOWN HERE- NOW.”Back on the surface Bob and Whirlwind are momentarily surprised when two pieces of vegetation come alive and attempt to tumble them into the chasm- they’re fighting with their backs to the drop.The creatures are only three or so feet high but are proving resilient- well for about twenty seconds anyway, Whirlwind takes a cut but there are no other mishaps, the two head down the rope.“Fecking keep up Bob, will ya’.”The group march down the stairs, the Citadel slowly reveals itself to them as they head down a good 80 feet. At the bottom, the stairs end in a courtyard that was obviously once the top of some battlements- the entire area (and that beyond the battlements) is full of loose stone and rock- treacherous footing. Liandri leads the way but even he finds the going tough, several of the other members of the group are reduced to crawling on all fours, which becomes a problem when another couple of Dire Rats appear, they however are soon despatched. Liandri espies an almost clear section and heads for it.“THHwwokThud”The trapdoor/pit opens and Liandri falls within, inside waiting for him- gnawing on an old bone, is another Dire Rat. Liandri experiences a moment of déjà vu before wading into the creature. The others make their way over to watch.“I’ve never seen an Elven Pit Fighter before.”“Liandri, you should’a been born a Dwarf.”They eventually get him out and head through the door into the Citadel itself. Into the Citadel.The first room is a circular chamber, a hollowed out tower with all the above floors collapsed, within the room are the dead bodies of four goblins. The group checks the bodies and then discovers some runes written in Draconic on the wall “Ashardalon”, Endrin writes it down just in case.Liandri not content with the two possible exits finds a secret door on the southern wall-“Oww.”“What’s up?”“I was trying to find a way to open this door here when…”Liandri holds his hand up to show the needle sticking out of the palm of his hand… “I think I’m going to…”, the Elf goes all woozy and sits down abruptly.“I’ve been poisoned… I’m… dying.”Liandri begins to suck out the venom. Actually what happened is he rolled a “1” on his disable traps and is convinced he’s on the way out- in the meantime the door begins to slowly open- pushing from the other side are three skeletons that leap to attack.Liandri continues to roll around on the floor bemoaning his fate, “I feel all weak”, and, “Oh there’s a tunnel of light- help me Correllan.”During this time the intrepid explorers batter heck out of the skeletons, which is once again not as easy as it sounds with no bludgeoning weapons to hand. I can’t remember how many times I’ve pointed this out to them but hey-ho, what can you do with them- I ask you.The fight over Xeolus goes over and casts Detect Poison on Liandri only to discover that the Elf is not poisoned.“Oh, so I’m not dying?”“No.”“So I should probably get up off the floor and stop rolling around making an arse of myself.”“Yep.”Liandri gets up and dusts himself down. Xeolus in the meantime wanders off through the north door into a corridor. Half way down he throws open a door on the right hand side and discovers a group of Kobolds who react by attacking him with spears.“You guys, a little help please.”  The rest of the group comes rushing down the corridor- Xeolus has gone all Chop-Socky and is doing ok when Bob wades in, the fight is soon over- three dead Kobolds. Meanwhile there is another door further down the corridor and a more intricate stone door opposite the Kobold chamber. Xeolus comes out of the room and heads down to the far door, Endrin and Whirlwind rush to catch him up, meanwhile Liandri, with Bob for support, takes a look at the stone door. The party is effectively split into two groups, Liandri & Bob open the stone door to reveal a barrel with a number of pipes leading from it- Liandri tries to wrench the top (a sort of bung) off.“Why are you doing that Liandri?”“What?”“Breaking it open?”“D’uh- that’s what I do, I’m a bit dodgy, a bit wheeee. I’m a geezer- I nick stuff- that’s what I do. Now you stand there and look hard and tell me if anyone comes along that’s not us. Kushtee.”Bob nods and scans the corridor, at the far end Xeolus, Endrin and Whirlwind open the door into a much larger room.Inside of the new chamber are a bent and buckled cage, a fire pit (no fire lit), a few benches and things, and what looks to be a very small Kobold on the floor making sobbing noises.Xeolus approaches the Kobold and lifts him up with one hand-“Meepo?”“What’s he saying?”“I dunno.”“Bad Meepo, bad… bad… Meepo.”The quivering Kobold slaps himself in the face- full force.“Dragon gone… bad Meepo… bad.”“What did he just say”There are a large number of doors and exits to this room- Endrin after discovering an icy patch on the floor (the hard way), opens one; several more Kobolds armed with spears lurch towards him- he slams the door shut.“Feck…”And from back down the corridor with Liandri and Bob-“…ing Hell.” The bung pops out of the barrel and a small (18 inches tall) translucent blue-ish watery figure squeezes out of the hole- it grins at Liandri.“You’ve gotta see this Bob.”The creature unfurls fragile looking wings that also seem to be made of water and flaps them once or twice until they are a buzz and the creature hovers in the air. Bob reaches out slowly to pet the creature, whilst saying in a loud dumb voice “we mean you no harm.”The creature lifts one leg and produces a strange sound-“BrrBlobblboblobblllobllbbbbol.”Kinda like the noise when you fart in the bath- a thin gas like steam fills the area- Liandri and Bob begin to choke (Stinking Cloud spell).“Feck me what’s he been eating?”“I don’t know just get him.”The creature flies off down the corridor towards the other party members, now getting friendly with a whole host of Kobolds, then switches back over the heads of Liandri and Bob, who are just beginning to breath easy. As it does so it showers them with a spray of stinging acid- Bob and Liandri’s faces begin to blister. The creature heads along the corridor and out into the tower and upwards, Bob manages to squeeze off an arrow shot that wings the creature before it disappears out of sight.Liandri goes back to kicking the crap out of the barrel, while Bob heads for the Kobold fight. Meanwhile back with the others.“Kobolds.”“Where?”“Here.” Xeolus holds Meepo up.“No I meant behind this door.”“And there.”Endrin looks to where Whirlwind is pointing another door is slightly ajar with a Kobold looking out into the room, another of the creatures is attempting to creep by- out of a different exit. Whirlwind rushes over and slays the thing- he then heads over to the door, which has been slammed shut by now, and kicks the thing open. As he does so an arrow is fired from above the door and slams into the floor just behind him. “Right that does it.”Endrin holds the other door shut he can hear and feel the Kobolds trying to break out- Whirlwind returns twenty seconds later, “all dead”, he then bows.Xeolus meanwhile has a plan, he address’ Meepo-“Listen I’m going to let you go, I will not harm you but you need to go in there and talk to them- I want to speak to whoever’s in charge here. Do you understand- on my word I will not harm you.”“Yusdrayl big Queen.” Meepo replies and then nods.“Right Endrin open the door, you [to Meepo] tell them you’re coming in.”Meepo begins to yammer in Draconic while Xeolus throws him into the room one handed.It is at this point that a small blue translucent watery type creature flies into the room and then out again- alas no one is looking in the right direction to see it.After about thirty seconds Endrin, with his ear pressed to the door, begins to hear someone taking a pounding- it sounds like it’s Meepo. He opens the door and looks in, Meepo (the go-between Kobold) is taking a beating from his own side, it seems he’s not the most popular of Kobolds.“Right that’s it, you’ve had your chance- I’ve tried to sort this out amicably- but oh no, not you lot- it starts with pushing and then someone says something about someone else’s mother…”“Kaarrggh Deerst Fhar…”“That’s as maybe, but it solves nothing… do you think I like doing this, do you?”“…”“Well?”There are four Kobolds standing looking at each other, Meepo lies on the floor- where the others dropped him, they are all taking it in turns to stare at the red in the face Endrin who’s shouting at them. “Well I don’t. I’ve had a hard day- I’ve been attacked by Skeletons and Dire Rats and the like and we’ve only just started- Pelor knows what lies ahead.”Endrin looks exasperated Whirlwind and Bob have crept into the room to listen to this.“So you are all my prisoners, what I say goes- do you understand? Nod your heads.”Meepo says something and the Kobolds nod enthusiastically.“Right, good… I’m glad we’ve got that straightened out… now take me to your leader.”Meepo nods enthusiastically once more, “Yusdrayl”, the other Kobolds nod and for the first time begin to smile…Yusdrayl the Kobold Queen.The Knights are led down smoky corridors to an even larger and much smokier throne room- sitting on a makeshift throne is Yusdrayl the Kobold Queen. She is flanked by eight or so Kobolds, another two dozen have wandered into the chamber to see what the fuss is about- news of the Wednesday Knights arrival has spread fast.The Knights notice that behind the throne is a large altar shaped like a dragon- the dragons mouth is open and a key is held within its jaws, also on the altar is a smattering of strange, and therefore interesting, items.“I am Yusdrayl… Kobold Queen, I rule here, kneel before me.”Endrin looks at the others, he sort of nods and the others follow suit, “er… majesty.”“Why have you entered my domain… land of the mighty Kobold warriors… home to…”“Can I cut you short there, only we haven’t really got time for all this- look we’re after some other humans they came in here about two weeks ago- four of them a bird and three fellers- seen ‘em?”“I have seen the four you speak of, they were indeed here many moons ago, they killed Burt and Fat Alec, no loss really, and then headed off into Goblin territory… the bastards.”The other Kobolds boo and hiss at the mention of the Goblins.“Goblins you say- where are they at, and are there many of them?”“The vile Goblins are our sworn enemies, they are coarse and vile and not refined and civilised like wot we are.”“Dragon, Dragon majesty”, Meepo shouts.Yusdrayl nods at one of her guards who wanders over to Meepo and punches him in the nose.“Dank you dadjesty.” Meepo shuts up.“Ah yes the Dragon- our dragon ‘Cornflakes’ has been taken from us by the vile, uncivilised, ruffian…“Cut to the chase.”“…Goblins, and we wish for you to go unto the Goblin legions and smite them like they’ve never been smite’ed before.”“Now that sounds more like it… and you say that these Goblins have also got the four humans we are in search of- doesn’t sound too bad.”Endrin looks at the others who all murmur approval and nod their heads.“All we’ve got to do now is sort out our recovery fee…”Yusdrayl looks non-plussed for a while, “fee, what is fee?”“Well, let’s see you’ve got your basic recovery mission that’ll be… say a hundred dollars, then there’s the fact that it’s a dragon- dangerous animals you see, not cheap- all adds up, another hundred lets say. Then there’s the wear and tear on equipment, a small charge for any spells and/or magic items that we use, then obviously there’s the insurance money- I think it would be safe to say that I can tick the box for hostile environment. All told… we’ll do it for a pony.”“A pony- a small horse?”“$500 to you… your maj.”“Yusdrayl does not bargain with human scum…”“Steady.”There follows a mutual drawing of swords, the odds are stacked in favour of the Kobolds but many of them work out quickly that there are bound to be many casualties. The moment passes.“There are a number of items atop the altar behind me including this magical key which cannot be removed from the Dragons mouth save by one blessed by the Dragons- only I may remove it. I will allow you take one item from our treasures if you succeed in retrieving our dragon ‘Cornflakes’, another item may be yours if you kill many Goblins. Do we have a deal.”Liandri mooches over to the altar to get a better look, a number of the Kobold guards try to keep him at a distance.“Dunno, there’s not much here.”“Oh feck it- we’re going that way anyway, what harm can it do?”“Well human scum?”“I’ve fecking told you about that, any more and you’ll get a slap… ok we’ll do it, and we’ll take this one- ‘Meepo’ to show us the way.”Several of the other Kobolds brighten up at the thought of Meepo going away for a bit- as does Meepo himself.“Very well and so be it and that, you shall take Meepo and venture into the vile and spiteful and nasty and rude Goblin lair and make the meat of mince out of them. And you will return to us our beautiful and lovely dragon, that is Cornflakes- and you shall be rewarded with great and lovely and great again treasures- for I Yusdrayl Queen of all Kobolds have spoken and thus it is written, word up.”“Ok.”“Oh and watch for the one that they call Meepo for he is small and annoying and as you humans say… crap.”  “er… Ok, we’re going now- be back soon.”The Knights alternately wave and push through the Kobold guards- kicking Meepo out in front of them, “which way Meepo?”“Oh were going to get our Dragon,We’re going to get our Dragon,A Dragon, a Dragon,We’re going to get our Dragon,Cornflakes, Cornflakes, Cornflakes,Were going to get our Dragon…”And a small voice in the distance, “… I warned you.”And so endeth session 22.Next week… When is a rat not a rat? When it’s a shield, eh?Oh and we’ve a new player Erin, who’s playing Whirlwind until she rolls up a character of her own- say hello Erin, “hello Erin”, now play nicely.</blockquote>

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