Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="steev42" data-source="post: 1539981" data-attributes="member: 17162">The Little OnesNov 1, 9713---------------------------------------------------------------------------The morning dawned bright and cloudy, with a little snowfall. Snow was odd for Cauldron, but being in the mountains did occur on occasion. Isaura woke in the Tipped Tankard, feeling herself for the first time since venturing into the hideout of the Last Laugh. Fortunately, the cleric was not to be seen, so she got up and dressed herself carefully before leaving the room. The others were all in the common area already, eating breakfast. She sat down with them, not particularly eager to venture back into Jzadirune, but wanting to get the reward money for returning the children. The innkeeper came over to them and demanded that they pay the 12 gold for the three days they had stayed there; a small argument broke out after which it was determined that each of them should pay an equal 3 sovereign share. Gryffth started his annoyances early today, with a wry comment. "I am destined to shepherd an unruly flock it seems."Crunch, for his part, had been up and about for a whole day already. He was anxious to get back down and search the place. After all, he hadn't taken an acid bath for nothing. There had to be something in that room he had opened up, and he wanted to see what it was. So he said so. "Let's go down and searched the room that I opened up." He was pleased to see that the others all readily agreed, and they set off back to Ghelve's Locks.Ghelve was happy to see them. "You've come back to search for Starbrow some more? It's been a while since I've seen you." The gnome was nearly twitching, so Gryffth asked him if the creatures from below had been bothering him any. "No, not me. Starbrow's still scared though. Oh, and I did some research on them, since you captured the other one. The guard took him away, but not before I could look him up. It seems that they're known as skulks. They apparently have the ability to vanish pretty much at will. I wasn't able to discover how, unfortunately." The gnome seemed genuinely upset that he hadn't been able to figure that out. Thanking him for the information, Crunch led the way back down into Jzadirune.Owen offered to use a Light spell to allow them to see, and was chided by Gryffth who lit a torch. "Knowing when not to use magic is just as valuable as knowing when to use it. Something you should keep in mind, friend mage." Owen absorbed this nugget of advice, and continued to descend in the light of the torch. The room with the masks was just as they had left it, the tittering and giggling coming from the masks just as annoying as they remembered. Both doors were still open, so they went into the broken down door, to discover very little. A set of clothing did reveal that this was definitely Jzadirune they were exploring, and Gryffth broke into a story about the creation of Cauldron and Jzadirune by the gnomes.Gryffth finished up, not thinking that any of them had understood the message he had been trying to get across. Still, they seemed to listen to him well enough, so that was something at least. He walked with them out of the room they were in, and to the north. They bypassed many doors, all of which were inscribed with strange symbols. Probably something gnomish. He never had had the reason to learn anything much of their culture. Reaching the dead end described on the map Ghelve had given them, they paused as Isaura looked over the door. For some reason he was not surprised when mist shot out of it as she tried to open the door, enveloping everyone but him. Fharlanghn was watching over him today. As his companions coughed and sputtered, he noticed that they all seemed a little more clumsy than usual. Owen, in particular, started tripping over his feet nearly as often as he was walking straight. Hopefully that didn't happen for him at an inopportune moment. At least Crunch, or whatever his real name was, seemed to shake off the effects quickly enough. Crunch suggested trying another door, but Gryffth thought that would be a bad idea. "Don't touch the doors!"Isaura thought she saw a pattern. Unlike Gryffth, she actually could speak gnome, and she recognized the glyphs on the doors. The first one, the one that had been propped open by the...skulks...had been labeled with an 'A'. The one that had spit acid at them had been labeled 'J', and this most recent had been labeled 'N'. She relayed this information to everyone. "Perhaps we should keep wandering until I find a door labeled B?" Crunch was confused, and asked about finding an A door, but after being reminded that the open one was A, he agreed that this was a decent idea. So they headed south, to look at the doors at that end of the corridor. She heard people talking about there being a false wall to the south, at least according to Ghelve's map, and so wasn't watching where she was going...and fell right into the pit that opened underneath her. What was almost worse than the twenty foot fall was the spike that went through her, nearly causing her to black out from the sheer pain.Crunch saw Isaura falling, and tried to catch her, but just wasn't quick enough. He looked down to see her pulling herself off a spike, and dropped down a rope, helping the rogue back up. As she caught her breath, the pit slowly closed itself back up, concealing itself nicely. Isaura seemed determined to break the thing, so he held on to her as she carefully, but not without mishaps, destroyed the mechanism that caused it to work. The pit would act just like a normal floor would now. The moved on, all thoughts of false walls gone from their minds after the pit trap. And then Isaura announced that one of the doors was labeled 'A'. Even though they'd already found one. Owen put forth, "Maybe they aren't going in order." Nevertheless, Isaura was determined to try to open this one. Crunch backed the others well away, all having by now determined that being near an opening door wasn't a smart thing to do.Isaura was determined to get through this door unscathed. She'd been unconcious too many times recently, and now that she was fumbling over the picks from that earlier gas, she just wasn't the same. She had to get her confidence up again, and the best way to do that was to pick the lock on this stupid door. Gryffth would not have to heal her again, she was determined that that would be the case. She heard the snap just a moment too late, and found herself singed by flames leaping out of the keyhole, leaving a black mark on her hair as she ducked. That damned cleric..."Isaura, you're badly injured. Come here." She tensed her lips, but did as he asked. No sense in refusing the healing, even if she didn't like the man. Feeling the positive energy flow into her, she was startled to hear a revelation from Owen."From the letters we've seen...doesn't it look like something? Like the name of a clan of gnomes?" How could she have missed that? All the letters were those in the name of Jzadirune. How stupid of her to allow the mage to realize that before she did. They moved to another door marked 'J' that they had seen, except... "I am not opening that one." She wasn't that stupid. No way in hell she was going to be caught by another one of these doors. Then Owen remembered something else..."Doors with teeth...Beware the doors with teeth. I think all the doors like this will be trapped! We have to find another way."Owen couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. He had been thinking of that riddle, the answer from Jenya's Divination with St. Cuthbert. It was so obvious that these gear doors had teeth, that he had just overlooked it until now. He led the way back to the original room, the one with the tunnels carved in the side. He looked around at everyone, and then followed as Crunch chose to take the eastern tunnel. It was cramped, no room to swing his quarterstaff. He hoped he wouldn't have to fight in these tunnels, they weren't designed for those such as him, and with as clumsy as he felt right now...he stumbled and nearly went down just thinking about it. Eventually, the tunnel after turning a few times, split into two branches. Gryffth said they went north and south, but Owen had to take his word for it. After seeing the cleric tilt his head just like a puppy for a moment, the group headed to the south, and was greeted by the chirping of birds...Though they could see into a wooded...room?, they chose to continue on to the south, into a room that they could just make out looking like a kitchen. Owen's idea, "Perhaps there is some medicine in there." Crunch responded with "Cured ham?," to which everyone groaned. "I don't know which is worse, Crunch, your jokes or your breath?" As usual, Isaura and Crunch led the way into the room, with Owen and Gryffth right behind. The shriveled husks of three enormous spiders lay on the ground, and their webs littered the room. Unfortunately, though, that wasn't the only thing in the room, and Owen and Gryffth both suddenly cried out in pain as daggers from behind them crashed into their back.These creatures could only be Ghelve's short ones, Isaura thought. About the size of a halfling, and covered in black clothing, holding a dagger in its hand...one of these stood behind each of those who had just been stabbed. Crunch didn't even hesitate, but strode forward with purpose and determination, and with a mighty swing splattered the little creep back into the tunnel they had just left. Not much was left of him except blood and gore. Gryffth had had enough, feeling himself approaching just a little too close to seeing Fharlanghn in person, he backed away and called upon the holy power of his god. The energy ripped into him, easing his pain a little. Isaura's chain flashed out, the the remaining foe was a nimble one, and dodged the chain, slashing at Owen again in the process. Perhaps Fharlanghn still smiled upon the group, however, as Owen's new-found clumsiness worked for him this once, as he tumbled backwards away from the dagger. Coming back to his feet, Owen placed himself in as defensive stance as he could. Then, with a might shout of 'Four!', for whatever reason, Crunch splattered the remaining short one into a puddle on the ground.It was all Owen could do to stand up; he felt that if he did anything else, he could collapse and not be able to stand again. "Gryffth, could you heal me?" he asked, as Isaura and Crunch set about searching the room.'The time has come,' thought Gryffth, 'to show this flock that I am more than a walking healing wand.' Out loud he said, "Do you acknowledge the divine presence and luck that is Fharlanghn?" The mage apparently wasn't moved, only commenting that he worked for Gryffth. That wouldn't do. "Do you acknowledge that his gracious will has allowed you to survive this day?""I follow my own code for the most part. Whether it was Fharlanghn or another god who helped, who can say?"Owen was astounded when Gryffth walked away, saying "Very well then. Lay there."Owen shook his head. "You...you're kidding, right?" Here he was, afraid to even move for fear of falling unconcious, and Gryffth wouldn't heal him? It seemed to him that Gryffth was asking him to accept the fact that the clumsiness inflicted upon him was for a reason. Very well, if that's the way he needed it...Gryffth returned eventually. The lesson could never be taught if his companion suffered too much by it. Still, it would not hurt to try one more time. "Do you promise to walk in the path that Fharlanghn has set for you from this day forth, honoring the luck that he grants you to survive by his will?" Owen again protested that he had his own beliefs, but as Gryffth started to walk away again, he acquiesced.He wasn't going to get healed without this, he could see. There was no other way around it, really. And what could it hurt? "Indeed as we are travelers and are on a journey, Fharlanghn must be watching over us. I'm still alive, so that counts for something. I do recognize his influence over us." That seemed to be enough, for Gryffth offered the grace of Fharlanghn, and he could feel the healing provided by the cleric mending him.Isaura had been searching with half an ear open to the conversation between the mage and the cleric. The cabinet was unstable, but she thought she could rig it so that it would be safe to search, at least temporarily. So, she did, and while searching through everything, came up with a small metal rod...engraved with a 'Z' in gnomish on one end. Showing it to the others, she thought that it might very well be a key. Still, if all the doors were locked, it would pay to let someone else go first when they finally tried it.Crunch wanted to check out the trees. He was hungry, and chances were in an area with woods, something good to eat would be there. He wanted ale too, but would have to make due with what he had brought with him, apparently. Fortunately, the others agreed, and they all moved into the room. He was sorely disappointed when Gryffth announced the room was glowing with magics. Closing his eyes briefly, when he opened he could see through the illusion. This wasn't woods after all! There would be no food to be found here. A foodless kitchen, a foodless woods. Jzadirune sucked! Then Isaura found and opened a door hidden in a corner. No food there, either, just more doors that they couldn't go through. Sulking a bit, Crunch moved to the south, and discovered a marking that kind of matched what Isaura had called a Z. Calling to the others to confirm it, he was pleased when it did indeed match.Isaura smiled. Here was her chance. She wasn't going to open this door. So she handed the key over to Gryffth. "Here, Gryffth. Have faith, open the door. Show us the way." She was positive he'd be caught in the trap this time, and maybe he'd stop being such an annoying prick. Owen backed her up, but she couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic as she was or not. "Surely the grace of Fharlanghn will be upon you brother," he said. Well, no matter then, Crunch stole the key from Gryffth and inserted it into the keyhole...and miracle of miracles the door slid open. Just to be safe though, she checked the door's frame before entering; she was rewarded with a very easily found trap.It would turn out that the trap didn't exist, though even much later she was convinced that she had seen it, even attempted to disarm it. Nobody had been affected by it, however, regardless of the trips into or out of the empty room. Gryffth had told her to "see the truth of there being nothing there." He'd even used a spell on her, but she was convince the trap was still there. Maybe it just hadn't gone off because some other looter had disabled it years ago. Yes, that had to be it. There was no way she would be wrong about that, about the trap being there. She was the one that the others relied on to find the traps...even if she did find half of them by setting them off. She followed sullenly as they moved to the other door that was labeled 'Z' they had found, back through the cramped tunnel.Edit: Changed the censored word to tilt from the word meaning tilt that starts with c.</blockquote>

Verification