Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II) — Legacy Forums

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#161

*Click* The thirteenth barb clipped into place along the furrow in the Ouzala. Moruz glanced up to see Jjuldae step into the light, bury his head in a leather satchel and inhale sharply. This night, the druid appeared to be uneasy - when he thought nobody was looking, he limped slightly, and Moruz had seen his hand raise more than once to rest on his midsection. Moruz continued to work on his weapon, however his gaze now rarely left the Druid. In the darkness a whistle blew. The sound of bleating animals surrounded the campsite, and a simple man spoke a greeting which Moruz barely listened to. After Jjuldae replied to the shepherd, Moruz spoke to the tattooed man, "Wild one. You seem... disturbed." It was a comment more than a question, and while to a normal person 'disturbed' would seem insignificant, Jjuldae had always seemed focused and stoic.
Now, Moruz's gaze left the druid and shifted to one of the animals which had strayed near the light. One gold piece, hm? Well, he was hungry!

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#162

Kadarin noted the newcomer with interest - things never seemed what they were with this group. After the false Tristan, Kadarin had difficulty completely trusting his eyes.

The dwarven priest seemed to be doing a good job of keeping an eye on the shepard, so Kadarin bent his thoughts towards the gylph.

"Generally, those gylphs can fire only once, but can be enhanced at great expense to be repeatable." Kadarin said, echoing the words of one of his teachers. Poor Professor Oriph. He specilized in magical defences and abjurations, but those failed to help him against the petty intrigues of the college. His fall from favour was hard, and fatal...

One of Dujek's repulsive Gut zombies would be useful right now, though I imagine the shepard would have a problem with that, Kadarin smiled at the thought.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#163

"You know what? Can one of these bleating furballs trigger the glyph, anyway? 'Cause if it is so, I think they may be worth a gold, perhaps even more."

Musing to himself, Glordren added:
"Farm animals are useful. Food. Clothing. Trap springers. That's why the elves keep so many critters around!"

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#164

"It's definately worth a try, but we really need two sheep, assuming that they can even trigger the trap. One to set it off the first time, the second to see if it resets..."

Though Kadarin wondered how to get a sheep to pull a handle....

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#165

"We'll tie them to it and scare them" Glordren laughed: "Boo, sheep, I am a scary dwarf, so run, run fer yer life!"

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#166

"Okay, but I'm not trying that rope" Kadarin smiled.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#167

Jjuldae turned his attention to the glassman. Such an interesting people... far different from most of the settle folk.
"Uneasy.. Perhaps. I am not used to traveling with companions." The lie came thickly out of his mouth. "And there is some pain left over."

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#168

(OOC: After an ominous discussion with Muro:)

Vorodon sat on one of the numerous weathered rocks that littered the rough countryside and stared out into the darkness. He couldn’t remember when he’d had a worse night’s sleep; all through the night, terrible visions had haunted him. In his dreams, he had repeatedly found himself in tunnels and tombs, relentlessly pursued by undead terrors. Although he was still tired, sitting and shivering near their banked campfire had been far better than trying to sleep after the ordeal of his nightmares.

As he sat, some of the sheep had slowly meandered up, bleating unhappily. As the sheep wandered, they listlessly cropped at the sparse, wiry grass that poked up through the remnant of the previous day’s snowfall. Vorodon wondered what they were doing out at night. Shouldn’t sheep be tucked away in barn or sheepcote, safe from the nocturnal predators of the wild? Perhaps the shepherds of this barren land were different from the little farms he’d known in his native hill country.

The sheep certainly seemed a different breed from those he had seen before: Their coats were shaggy and unkempt, with unusual specks of brown mixed among the oily grayish wool. As he watched, one of the larger sheep stared at him with strange ungulate malevolence. As it slowly chewed a mouthful of the frozen grass, it snorted, its breath visible in the frigid morning air. Something about the movement caused Vorodon to instinctively grasp at the darts in his quiver. Could it be possible that this land has dangerous sheep? He wondered, as he watched the unusual flock that surrounded their camp.

Something about the shepherd caught his attention. Slovenly and unkempt, his beard a wiry rat’s nest, the man nervously spoke with Vorodon’s comrades. The shepherd seemed friendly enough, with his tale of giants lurking in the more fertile lowland meadows and his hopes of selling a sheep for the inflated sum of a gold piece. Nonetheless, something preyed on Vorodon’s mind.

He watched the man’s nervous eyes as the shepherd assessed the armed venturers of the camp, his glance flickering from one to the next, focusing on weapons and armor. He seemed unusually nervous and uncomfortable, and then he reached into his battered satchel and drew forth a bizarre object. Blackened by years of fire, it was a small pot or flask with a bent handle and a tube projecting from it, perhaps some sort of unusual musical instrument. Vorodon could barely make out the strange symbols that circled it under the layers of grime and soot. The warrior’s meaty hand rested on the shaft of one of his darts, in case the strange shepherd should try anything.

The shepherd’s eyes rolled wildly. “Wannerin’ the wilderness, a man gets a hankerin’ for vittles he cain’t raise nor buy. I seen this book once, back when I was a young ‘un; it showed me pictures o’ things I never seen before nor since. That’s why, when I saw one in the bazaar, I got meself this!” he said, triumphantly holding up the strange flask.

Placing himself near the fire, the man began taking out other items, obviously preparing for some strange ritual. “Since yew folk seem friendly-like, Ah’m gonna make myself free with yer fire. Ye’ll like this!” he said, instantly arousing further unease from the Half-Ogre. The man began muttering some sort of incantation under his breath as he readied his flask for the ritual. Apparently, he needed to wash the inside with herbs and water, warmed over the fire. The flask sat peacefully on the fire while the strange man chuckled ominously and continued to tell them about the treat in store for them.

Apparently undisturbed by this eldritch behaviour, the sheep continued to graze around them. They seemed to be congregating closer, their baleful eyes staring at Vorodon when he looked at them.

Suddenly, the bizarre instrument began to utter an unearthly wailing ululation! Its unnatural whistling grew louder as Vorodon leapt from his rocky seat and drew forth a dart, ready for whatever dire threat might appear from the eldritch thing’s strange summons. Apparently oblivious to Vorodon’s warlike reaction, the shepherd fearlessly grabbed the flask and held it aloft in triumph. His wild eyes now held a look of unholy expectation.

“Yew all want’n some tea?” the strange man offered, madness in his socially-deprived gaze.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#169

D**m wind, down off that mountains. Why's it gotta be so cold? Dujek and Koschei thought to eachother. Waking up to the sound of sheep. Looking around into the night Dujek saw a lot of the blighters, and none of them seemed to be to happy either, though they did look warmer.

Looking around he saw Voro sitting on a rock, watching the herd, with distrust growing in his eyes. Deciding that it'd probably be safer over by the half-orge, who could at least see in the dark, Dujek grabbed up his gear and jogged over, leaning on the leeside of Voro's rock, and watching the man cook tea on the fire.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#170

"Then it's mee who's trying, apparently" Glordren patted Kadarin on the back, adding a loving "pissypants" half a second later.

Leisurely approaching the shepherd, the dwarf produced a gold coin from his beard, and showed it to him: "My coin's as round as yer sheep, mister - care to trade one for one?"

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#171

“North be the Great Escarpment, west of here, the Endless Meadows, east, the odd village of Sepil, one ye be wise to avoid, further north and east from the village lie the Crag Lands of the Hidden Baron, and south be where ye came from,” the shepherd croaked on, addressing the gathered adventurers, while pouring tea, and offering nearly rancid chunks of butter. Moments ago, Vee had asked the wild-man for a brief geography lesson, and shepherd complied.

“What a mighty behemoth ye be!” the wire-haired codger now glanced at Vorodon. The half-ogre had finally made piece with the fact that the screaming kettle was in no way malevolent. A throaty sound, one that might have passed for a chuckle many years ago, escaped the shepherd’s cracked lips.

"Glass?", I dont be knowin' about no glass. Wait, I do!," he intoned, a wild-eyed look on his face. "The merchant-monks of Cazulun are nearby, they be west and north, a monastery carved from rock! But ye will be crushed to paste by the stone giant, if ye go that way", the shepherd grinned, as he addressed Moruz, who had just inquired as to the whereabouts of a glassblowers guild.

“Eh?” Mosli the shepherd suddenly exclaimed at the dwarven priest’s approach and offer.

Mosli eyed the gold coin as a child would a sugar pie, and immediately cast his eyes about, examining his herd. “Aye, Aye, bearded brother, two gold pieces for two sheep. Canna’ see them?” he asked, a man unaccustomed to seeing gold. Once shown the coin, Mosli gestured toward two, shaggy beasts grazing near him. “Take them”, he announced proudly, reaching his bony hand out for the coin.

It was nearly morning now, and after bidding the group farewell, the shepherd rose, gathered his flock with whistles and gestures, and began to move out again, heading East, toward the soon to be rising sun. As he did so, he issued a warning, in that broken, halting voice of his, "Ware' the stone giant, ware' the village of Sepil, and ware' the Nucklevee!", he chortled.

Glordren eyed his purchased sheep. The foul-smelling creatures eyed him back.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#172

The iron portal now lay exposed, beckoning Glordren, while Kadarin eyed the Glyph as if it was a living being. There were ways to dispel them, these deadly runes, but he had not the means, the young mage thought in frustration as he eyed the looping swirl.

A frigid wind picked up, moaning, as if in mockery of the earlier whistling from Mosli's burning tea kettle. The sheep began to disappear into the gloom, all except for the wretched pair which Glordren was now leading toward the cylindrical trap door in the earth, the one barring the priest from entering Onruldt's Oubliette.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#173

"So, what if we use a rope to open the portal?" Vee asked Kadarin, eyeing the top of the stone plinth and back to the portal. It wouldn't take a very long piece of rope and if they had a pair of iron spikes they could set a guide in the top of that stone. A bit of leverage, he eyed Voro, and the dorr would swing open. Vee hadn't had much experience with magical traps, but he had a notion that the coldy stuff would happen at the door, and the spell wouldn't go hunting around for the person who opened the door if they were at the other end of 50 feet of stout rope.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#174

"Sometimes just coming close to the gylphs will set them off, but it might work. There probably is a ritual Dwarven phrase to disarm it, but which one? Unless there is a clue in that inscription."

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#175

"Hm. Might us save the sheep, right? Will think about it. No sense in carrying a dead sheep if it can just follow you., right?"

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#176

Vorodon, finally satisfied that the kettle posed no immediate threat, decided that the dwarf and Vee were never going to go anywhere until their curiosity about the iron hatch they had dug up was satisfied. Apparently, they were afraid of some sort of mark that had been carved into the metal and each had some sort of idea for removing it, apparently using either a sheep or Vorodon as their sacrificial goat.

Trying to figure out a solution, the warrior looked around at his comrades. The druid that had joined them in town was snorting some sort of herbs with a furtive look of relaxation on his face. Dujek was apparently trying to coax his lizard out from his shirt, where the chilly reptile had hidden without regard for the effect its claws had on his pallid flesh. The Insecter seemed out of it still, and Voro wasn’t sure where Talia had gotten off to. This didn’t concern him much, as he knew that the mysterious ways of women were beyond his reckoning. In any case, it was up to him to get the thing open, or they’d be puttering around all day.

Now Vorodon didn’t know anything about “Magic Glyphs” and “Wardings”, but he was fairly sure that it wouldn’t be something too easy to set off. Otherwise, the first fool that wandered by it would have gotten himself killed. Nonetheless, the look of the portal worried him. It reminded him of something… Something from a dream…

Disregarding his fears, Vorodon pulled the length of stout line out of his battered satchel and strode up to the sheep that the dwarf had purchased. Grabbing one unceremoniously, he threw it over onto its side and held it down with one knee while he attempted to tie it up the same way that he’d seen farmers in the hills tie their stock for branding.

A few minutes later, the huge warrior had acquired a new respect for farmers and for their vicious local sheep. He tried to ignore the snickers from the rest of the party as he picked up the hopelessly tangled rope that he had approximately tied up the sheep with. The veteran hadn’t known that sheep could bite like that, and they were apparently not impressed by threats to punch the nonsense out of them, even when delivered in a mix of the hill pidgin and Volgotoi tongues.

Thoroughly exasperated, he picked up the entangled sheep, preparing to unceremoniously heave the bleating creature onto the glyph that marked the iron door.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#177

By Voz's bones, the Volog is going to make loons of us, we stand here quibbling about ropes and wards, and he is binding sacrificial sheep to open the door." Vee said, shocked, and almost embrassed by his lack of action (OOC - forgot about that whole disarm traps thief skill - d'oh!!!) He shouted a few words of praise as the giant mounted his...battle against the sheep. In a few moments, the ward would be discharged, the sheep neatly dead and chilled for preservation and a new tomb to loot...

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#178

Moruz, continuing his ritual of silvering, nodded in thanks to the shephard for the information given. In the background behind the simple man, Moruz noticed the half ogre growling and cursing, in the process of entangling one of the sheep in a rope, and yelping as the sheep retaliated with its teeth. The glass shifter smirked faintly, then turned his focus back to the man before him, "Is there anything more you can tell me about this monestary, and about the stone giant? How fast is it? Does it sleep? Is there any way to bypass it to get to the monks?" *Sssssss* The final barb of his weapon dropped into the bowl. Moruz fastened the final barb to his weapon and drained the remainder of the liquid onto the ground next to him. The inside of the bowl would also have a coating of reflection on it - both a convex and a concave mirror depending whether you looked at the inside or the outside. Perhaps this will have use to the group in the future - Moruz left the bowl next to the fire to allow the coating to dry.

(( Idunno... some sort of gather information check, I guess? :p ))

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#179

"Yay, toss it there, big fella. No magic will stand against my sheep!"

Curious, Glordren partially hid behind his shield a few steps away, braced for anything that might blast forth from the glyph.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#180

The Half-ogre/sheep wrestling match was one of the funniest things he had seen in a while, and it took all of his self dicipline to keep from laughing - he did not want Vorodon tying him up to use in case the sheep was too much trouble.

Kadarin hoped that he was overreacting about the Gylph and it's sensitivity. We shall soon see he thought.

Altough part of him wanted to show he was not scared of the Gylph, he still stepped back futher then the others.
Tristan had already suffered horribly from Kadarin's underestimation of the power of magic.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#181

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#182

As Aerex wished the shepherd well, he turned back to his companions... and gave them a queer look.

He approached Glorden and Vee, wide-eyed in disbelief. He looked at Vorodon, then at the sheep, at the iron door, back at the sheep, and finally back to Vee. "Guys... what the hell are you trying to do?" he asked. As Glorden caught him up on the legendary Tomb of the Smith-Prince, he looked to Vee and Kadarin. "So you think your best option here is to throw a sheep at the glyph? Not try to disarm it like a thief, not try to dispel it like a wizard... but throw a sheep at it?" The constable squinted at them in the moonlight. "I mean, really?"

Aerex turned to Glorden. "Good Sir Blarchtmir, are you certain this is the tomb? And are you certain there's no way through except this glyph?" He looked at the iron door. "I mean, how much do we know about this cold glyph? Is it just going to freeze the sheep, or send an ice storm down on us? We really ought to think this through..." His eyes darted to Talia and Moruz, hoping someone would back him up. By the Dynast, are these the kind of folks I work with now? he thought bitterly. How far down the chain of command have I fallen?

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#183

It was too late to stop the Volgottor, despite Aerex' best attempts at a rational approach.

Glordren and Vorodon were now officially in "cahoots".

As the shepherd disappeared into the early morning grayness, Vorodon heaved one of Glordren’s sheep over his shoulders and with a mild grunt, tossed it quite unceremoniously directly at the Iron Portal in the earth.

Glordren’s eyes sparkled with unabashed, mischievous glee, as he peeked over his shield to see the result. A moment of anticipatory silence settled on the gathered.

The sheep landed with a loud thud, and whined emphatically as it broke an ankle or two.

Other than the animal’s now incessant and cringe-inducing bleating, nothing transpired. The second sheep made a rude noise, and tried to put some distance between itself and the half-ogre, sidling up to the calm, detached Moruz, and looking him directly in the eye.

“Baaaaaaaah”

Nothing attracted attention in the desolate wilderness quite like the awful sounds of hurt sheep, one physically, one emotionally.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#184

Jjuldae snarled in disgust. "The way you treat the living creatures... As if to enslave your equals and betters! Men endowed with speech to behave this way." The druid looked hard at the Volgottor. "Disgusting."
They knew nothing of the Old Ways.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#185

*Crunch* the sound of cracking limbs echoed in the night as the sheep which had been thrown collapsed to the ground. Moruz frowned and stared at the second sheep eye-to-eye as it sidled up beside him, and after several seconds of silence, the glass shifter stood. "You would do well to listen to Aerex - removing the obstacle safely would be far better than triggering it; unless you know exactly what it does." The warrior hefted his packs, and glanced at the dwarf, "And did you stop to consider that if that trap is set off, it may cause a cave-in? All the mystery and treasure you seek, buried in tonnes of stone and earth." Moruz unhooked his sickle from his belt and moved over to the injured sheep, who was trying weakly to stand once more; every time it managed to get two feet back up, a fractured ankle gave way and it collapsed to the ground once more. Its pitiful bleating was cut short by a quick thrust of the sickle's blade across the creatures throat. "I feel the urge to spend time alone - I am leaving to find the monestary which the shephard spoke of; besides, perhaps one person can go unnoticed by the stone giant where a group would not. I will find you again in several days time to the north, along the edge of the great escarpment." The glass shifter hooked the still blood-stained sickle back to his belt and moved to pick up his Ouzala and the mirrored bowl, before leaving the campfire and the group. As the Ouzquin Dremorix left the light of the campfire, he muttered beneath his breath something along the lines of blood-crazed dwarves and ogres.
Alone in the dark, Moruz smiled faintly - he was used to silence, and he was used to travelling. He had several hours left in him before he would decide to stop and get some sleep. For now, he headed north-west.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#186

Kadarin looked at the inspector as he made his points.

"Alas, Inspector, though I am somewhat familiar with these gylphs, it would take a wizard far more skilled to remove one of these without incident. Apart from finding some other method in, or decerning the necessary method to disarm the gylph, I am not aware of any other means of dealing with it. Setting it off is one way, but again, it may simply reset after freezing the first victem. I am somewhat confident that this gylph will not bring down a storm, nor earthquake - these things typically target the one who triggered them.

I still do not know just how they planned on using a sheep to trigger it. I was unaware they were going to throw the sheep at it. "

"Perhaps we should go back to town and find some place to sell us a scroll with the necessary enchantments. I think this the safest course of action..."

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#187

Feeling rather sheepish himself, and now growing weary of the injured animal's bleatings Vee once again chose the often unwise path of action. The glyph hadn't discharged with the impact of the sheep so he moved closer to it, observing it. Some glyphs could be disarmed or disabled, sometimes something as simple as altering the glyph with a chalk mark. some were quite a bit more dangerous.

(OOC - Vee is going to move up and examine the glyph cautiously. Attempt to disable trap)

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#188

Aerex raised an eyebrow as the Ouzquin Dremorix left them. If anyone else had suddenly up and left, it would have been odd, but not so with the desert warrior.

He looked back to Vee. "Be careful," he warned. I like staying warm and thawed, thank you." The constable sighed. "Is it really necessary we go tomb raiding anyway?"

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#189

"Yup" was the sole answer to the last question, an obvious answer at that...
"We have to visit this prince,and pay him our respects, see?"

Sheep not working? Well then. Glordren padded up to the door, examining it.

'Emrissa steel me' Glordren muttered 'to bring to light what rightfuly yours' holding his holy coin, and asking for a blessing of resilience and resistance.

"Smith prince, let us inside, into your prison mansion, to pay respect and bring a taste of freedom, to exchange words and glances, to exchange goods and deeds!" With these words, Glordren knocked on the door with his mace, as if he was announcing his arrival at the gates of a fort.

'C'mon, I'm a dwarf too, wanna see a cousin or not?'

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#190

Kadarin watched the dwarven cleric with some amusement. Would that actually work? I hope he remembers he's our best healer....

Thinking about the fates of the prior healers reminded Kadarin of the little something he carried.

I wonder....

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#191

Keykold knelt and ran his gloved hand gently over the portal, feeling the grainy iron surface with a rogue’s expert touch. “No gate unopened” were the words of Vee’s childhood friend, Touver Klim, to which the young Keykold would always reply, “No tomb unexplored.”

The only thing Vee ascertained before Glordren came huffing and puffing, mace suddenly drawn, was that this swirling glyph, adorning the curved iron, shield-sized portal would only “detonate” upon the gate being opened and breached. Which is why it was with some annoyance that Vee got up and out of the way of Glordren as the dwarf came back to the iron slab.

Kadarin raised his wand and somewhere far away Tristan of Trigu winced.

The young mage watched in bewilderment as the dwarf, the new priest, was seemingly attempting to bludgeon the iron gate with his mace. Perhaps I will hold off with the wand of wonder, Kadarin thought. He did not want to be held responsible for frying another healer.

A peculiar thing occurred when Glordren’s mace struck the portal with a heavy clang. The gate slid open, revealing a vertical, earthen tunnel, only wide enough for a single man, or dwarf, to descend at a time, if using rope, harness, or magic.

--Dujek suffered from severe migraines that night. As morning came and his companions excitedly gathered about the yawning portal, or more appropriately the dank, dark, vertical tunnel, Dujek chose this particular moment to lose temporary consciousness, his lizard familiar circling about, protecting its prone master.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#192

Jjuldae noticed the Ouzquin Dremorix leaving. He had no desire to drop into the dank tomb into which the other adventurers were departing, and he was intrigued by the glassman. When backs were turned, he slid surreptitiously out of the circle of the fire, into the grey dawn, following Moruz northwest.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#193

Soon, the half-ogre and dwarf were peering down into the hole, their vision dispelling the darkness below. The tunnel went approximately forty feet, and then suddenly ended in what appeared to be a ceiling entrance, leading to some large domed, single chamber below.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#194

Dujek fell backwards, into the black behind his eyes, and then woke suddenly as his head landed on the foot of the dead sheep. Looking at it, and thinking about what he might meet in these tunnels, Dujek quickly cut the thing open and grabbed its gut out, wrapping them up as well as he could in some unused oil-cloth, and shoving the package under his arm, got up and headed over to where the dwarf and ogre were looking down the shaft.

Grabbing the rope off of the dead sheep, he looped it around the trunk of a small, wind-stunted tree and then tied the rope off as well as he could, pulling on it to make sure it didn't come undone. Tossing the lose end of the rope down the hole he looked over at the inspector, and at Talia. "One of you two want to do it? If the rope doesn't reach bottom, or at least close enough to drop down to, then climb back up and we can leave this hole alone." Looking at the pair hole dwellers, "Unless of course if one of these fine chaps want to lead the expedition?"

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#195

Aerex raised an eyebrow. "Well that did it," he said plainly. "Must be a dwarf-only thing. I'd be careful, Dujek. May Glorden should go first."

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#196

Moruz and Jjuldae

Moruz and Jjuldae traversed the harsh terrain stoically, making good way, in a relatively short period of time. Several hours after their impromptu departure, still an hour before noon, the pair slowed their pace as a gentle, but thick-flaked snowfall began to silently dust the stone meadow around them. Ahead were a few huge, jagged hills of rock, reaching for the white-gray skies like stone fingers of some chthonic thousand-foot giant, buried beneath the earth up to his wrists.

The snow began to fall harder as the two lone specters, wrapped tightly in their cloaks continued on. Soon, visibility was greatly reduced and the wind picked up, sending snow swirling in billowing clouds all around. Whatever was spoken between the two severe, companions, was drowned out by the blowing gusts of freezing wind, now shrieking in earnest.

Storms came suddenly in these parts, and early in the season, thought Jjudae as he examined the rocks ahead for shelter, but then noticed something else. Bending down to look upon the freshly falling snow, he spotted what could only be described as the footprints of a giant, heading toward the series of Crags ahead. They must have been quite recent.

The storm grew stronger. Moruz wondered if this was a highly localized phenomenon, and thought of his erstwhile companions, wondering if it was snowing on their heads as well, several hours away south and west.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#197

Onruldt's Oubliette

The hole in the ceiling opened up to a medium-sized domed cavity, thirty by thirty feet across. Another thirty forty drop would deposit one to the floor of the stone burial chamber. Surprisingly perhaps, the chamber was sparse. In the center of the room stood a small green-stone throne, and sprawled out upon it, was a desiccated, shrunken form of what once must have been the Smith-Prince Onruldt, sprawled out like a withered, golem of dust, covered up in cobwebs, a sleeping king. The fragile twigs that were once the Smith-Prince’s legs were resting on what looked like an anvil, which from the looks of the dust trails on the floor, seemed to have been moved from a different part of the room. It now served as a footstool for the sitting figures elevated feet. A long shirt of chainmail, a peculiar rusty red color, held the fragile Smith-Prince together.

If this was done by some design, or rather by some disrespectful grave-looters in mockery, Glordren could not know. Onruldt’s tale was considered old even in Glordren’s great, grandfather’s day.

The walls were sparse. A shield, peculiarly shaped and designed to resemble a turtle’s shell, as well as a stone mallet and steel scimitar, hung on hooks, five feet apart and next to one another.

Next to the weapons, on the curving wall of the circular chamber, hung a grotesque, ten-foot tapestry of dwarven beards(!), nailed to the wall through their rotting braids, a disturbing patchwork of interwoven and braided hair.

Glordren was at first taken aback by this obvious defilement and vandalism! Unless, the dwarf thought suddenly, this was part of the old ritual!

The sacrifice of a dwarf’s greatest pride, his own beard, and depending on the number of those that admired or revered the entombed prince at the time of his death, the beards of those loyal followers as well, were willingly shorn and sewn together in a special ceremony, the rites of which, Glordren did not know.

He did know what it meant however, in a general sense. This collage of beards signified an ensorcelled guardian’s presence.

All was deathly silent. Dust ruled here.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#198

Vorodon felt bad about the sheep. He’d expected it to flash-freeze in a spectacular burst of magical fury, not flop in a pathetic heap of fractured mutton. It was embarrassing, really embarrassing. Apparently, when the dwarf and Vee spoke about magical traps, they didn’t mean the kind Vorodon expected, that actually tried to kill you.

Unfortunately, his rope was now tangled around the dead sheep, 100 feet of tangled and snarled hemp. He patiently began untangling the bloodstained line, but kept being distracted by the dwarf’s shouted description of the tomb below.

Although the dwarf seemed to know something about this pit, Vorodon felt that perhaps one of the others more skilled at climbing should enter first.

Sinking a spike into the frozen soil, he prepared to serve as anchor man as the others were lowered into the tomb. He would follow, first making sure that they were properly anchored as they descended. After all, if they needed to be pulled up quickly, he was the one to do it. "Vorodon not liking hole. Want go hole, but Voro no argue to dwarf for dwarf want in hole first" he explained.

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#199

Hearing about tapestries of dwarven beards, and Glordren's chilling description of the rest of the chamber, Vee felt his courage desert him. There was no real impetus of wealth that he herd, just some weapons and rusted metal bits. Sure it might have been great on the historical end, but battered weapons and armor didn't sell to well and something seemed wrong. If the metal was rusted, why were the beards still holding together...

"Lets close this damned portal and leave this grave for the ghosts." Vee said, hoping that Glordren would agree and come up out of the hole. Maybe if they hurried they could try to catch up with Moruz and Jjuldae. "Maybe another time, when the weather is warmer..."

Re: Adventurers-Upon-Return (Chap II)

#200

"It's warm enough in here, I'm fine, thanks! Lover me a little bit more, will ya?"

While Glordren had heard about an Onruldt once, he knew snatch about his life, virtues and flaws, heroics and misdeeds. What he felt was the apparent sanctity of the place.

"Okay! I'm fine, I'm fine, still alive, nothing eating me" he let the others know. 'Yet' he muttered under his breath. Slowly approaching the throne, he knelt. "I came in difficult times, prince Onruldt, to pay you respect and request aid... my forefathers who could have told me of you are dead, forgive..." Glordren wondered. His people had the urge to decorate anything durable enough with their history: why were the walls of the tomb blank? "I sought wisdom and might to aid me in the journey ahead, to reclaim what lost, and to claim what should be ours..."

Somehow, the dwarf knew: this ancient prince did not rest easily, and he could hear his words, and would judge them one by one, each weighted against a feather.