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After a thorough check and listen at the door,
Jarek signals "get ready" and opens the door slowly:
there are two orc guards either side of the door - they are
guarding entrance rather than exit and thus face away from
the partry but they are immeditately aware of the door opening.
Their first instinct is to stand to sharp attention but they
then quickly react to the fact that whoever is coming out
of the door is not who they expected it to be.
Not quickly enough.
Jarek slams himself flat against the wall to let the warriors
pass and they do so without hesitation - Darius is through
the doorway in a bound and the orc to the left has a blade
driven through his throat before he can cry out or even draw
his own sword. Darius spins, an arc of blood spattering from
the orc's throat as it drops lifeless to the floor and his
sword hacks into the second guard. This orc was quicker and
partially blocks the
Blow but in doing so leaves a flank open. It is all Balin
needs to send him on his way.
Mere seconds have passed and thankfully little noise has
been made. The two corpses gutter out last wheezing breath
and complete silence returns.
The party are able to take in their surroundings at last
– the end of a corridor which runs off in a long straight
line to the north.
The party deicde to lightly cover their tracks and Balin
unceremoniously boots the orcs off the edge of the stairs
where they plummet and land with a sickening crunch and clatter
of bone, flesh and steel. It was a little noisier than he
might have intended – but little of the sound will have
travelled out through the doorway the party stands at.
Then they continue onwards: after a distance along the corridor,
it turns - at the turning point there Is a stand with a large
number of unlit candles stacked in it. The north wall here
has a large hole in it and an unlit torch in a holder to its
side. The hole is not big enough to climb through but large
enough to lean in. The flickering tops of a few burning candles
on the other side of the opening indicate what the opening
is for (i.e. lighting high up candles which are in the downsatirs
room beyond the wall).
The corridor continues west but before the party can move
on, there is a curious noise from somewhere below through
the opening, like a howl; seconds later there is another noise
- Darius looks at the conch with shock and realises that it
is coming from it. There is a low drone that swiftly builds
to a
higher pitch and fills the air with a note like a lament then
the conch shatters into hundreds of fragments that skitter
to the floor.
Deciding that moving on quickly is the best bet (the party
don’t want to retreat back to find the others and end
up locked away from here behind the deadbolt door), the party
move west along the corridor, ignoring any further investigation
of the opening for now and leaving the remnants of the conch.
Very soon the corridor comes to an end with two doors, south
and north. A quick check by Jarek reveals no traps and all
still remains quiet for now.
Jarek moves to the north with Darius in support as Balin
heads to the south door, Kin watching his back. Jarek's lantern
reveals a corridor and doors beyond the north door. The area
is empty but there a few objects scattered about - a couple
of lanterns,
torches along the walls, which are lit, a small battered shield
in the north east corner, some scraps of food on the floor.
The overall feeling, with smells aiding the ambience, is
that this area is much more populated ordinarily than anywhere
else you have been so far.
The door at the south end opens into a room filled with boxes
and crates and lit by a lantern just inside the door. There
are candles and torches, oil, rations and other sundry items
- a store room, with another door leading out.
This, too is empty of life at the moment and Jarek heads
off to quietly check through the door and returns moments
later to inform the rest of the party that there is what looks
like a urinal beyond (the acid smell had already given this
away!) but there is also another door with a grille. The door
is locked but light snoring can be heard just beyond the door.
As Balin helps himself to some rations in the barrels, jarek
checks the two doors in the northern corridor – ogres
or orcs sound as though they’re behind one of the doors.
As the route through the urinal leads to a sleeping impediment,
it is decided that this is the better route to try, in order
to maintain quiet for a little longer.
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The party is frozen for a moment then each
moves - Morin towards one of the Columns, Dalrylshana and
Suva towards Jiriki who is ready with two-handed sword, feet
balanced and face alight with the joyous promise of battle!
It's fortunate that he is: the huge beast suddenly springs
with a growl; Jiriki manages to deflect some of the savagery
of the attack but his flesh is still torn by the great dripping
maw and charred by flames that have begun to dance around
the teeth as he is thumped to the ground. Suva commands the
beast to flee but it barely pauses before being buffeted off
the prone barbarian by a tremendous crackling lightning bolt
from
Dalrylshana.
Jiriki recovers and goes on to the offensive, dealing the
beast a thrusting blow which buries into its shoulder, even
as the length of his blade erupts into flame. A kin of fire
the dog may be but it is not immune to this flame and it howls
with pain as it lunges at Jiriki again, almost loosing the
sword from his grip and ripping at flesh again.
Dalrylshana manages to give the warrior some magical protection
before she is herself bludgeoned by the enormous head and
then Suva improves the party's chances with another spell;
a milky coating spreads across the beast's eyes. It is badly
hampered but not helpless as it's nose takes over the role
of finding its prey.
Suva draws his mace and prepares to enter the melee with
Jiriki as Dalrylshana gets back to her feet and Morin, aided
by his foe's visual weakness, finds he is easily able to get
into a flanking position and attacks the soft belly of the
dog for all he is worth, gouging out chunks of flesh with
his dagger and piercing and slashing with rapier.
The dog staggers under another blow from Jiriki, quickly
followed by a crushing impact from Suva that shatters one
of its teeth, all the while with Morin as a thorn in its side
as Dalrylshana approaches from its other flank, hampered by
having to navigate the pit carefully.
Flames spill and dance about the dog's mouth but it can no
longer withstand the continuous attacks from its four attackers
and, though it deals a few final blows, it soon staggers and
with a deafening and unearthly howl, collapses to the floor.
A few seconds later there is a low drone, like the sound
from a horn, that swiftly builds to a higher pitch and fills
the air with a note like a lament. It seems to come form above
you somewhere, but it's difficult to pinpoint. It fades seconds
later and silence returns.
Jiriki sets about removing a couple of canines from the defeated
great dog as Morin moves over to the illusory wall from whence
it came.
With light from the Illuminatus and by poking his head through
the wall (something that takes more than a little courage)
Morin is able to see into the corridor that lies beyond. It
looks as though it opens up into a room and there is a powerful
acidic stench here that would seem to, fortunately, be blocked
from moving beyond the illusory wall. There is evidence of
some detritus - perhaps leftovers over humanoid bodies, but
it is difficult to say from here. Suva, meanwhile, checks
the columns, the figures upon which Morin had noticed appear
to be moving, albeit extremely slowly, twisting and writhing
in the slowest of dances.
Morin feels that an alarm has been set off and that an attempt
should be made to regroup with the rest fo the party –
Dalrylshana shares the concern but feels that a quick check
beyond the second set of double doors is warranted.
Suva, however, is lost in thought regarding the columns.
He has been racking his brain as to what this movement could
signify and is now convinced that these are souls trapped
between death and final rest.
They must be freed!
But not yet – the vote is to retreat in case an alarm
has indeed been triggered. Dalrylshana comes out of the room
quietly, and lofts the Illuminatus so that Morin can see what
he is doing and reassures him that their doesn't seem to be
anything extraordinary about the doors.
Tension mounts as Suva is forced to abandon what he deems
to be trapped souls as Morin urges everyone out so that he
can rig the door. Jiriki puts away the dog's teeth and stands
watch.
After 15 air-crackling minutes, the job is done - and surprisingly
quickly. The double doors are shut again but the left-hand
one is almost off its hinges and loosely tied to the second.
It stands upright easily due mainly to its own weight but
will very likely collapse when the door is pulled open from
the other side. A moment's respite one would hope, if it is
needed. |
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