"Actually I'm a bit unsure of that myself. On the road I trusted in the fact that most wild animals are not as dangerous as they seem if you know how to behave. People have been impressed enough by Abons threatening behaviour to leave us alone up to now. But he won't help much waiting up on the platform. I can call for an animal to help us for a short time and I can heal wounds as well. And apart from that I will have to do what I can with sling, stick or knife if it comes to the worst - but never have been particularily good with that. What can I say - Silas hired me as a guide, not as a guard."
===
"Now we've been working together with the caravan for a little bit of course, but it's a little less clear what our jobs are down here so maybe we should discuss what our talents are in regards to you know, exploring and fighting creatures and what not, seeing as we didn't get much of a challenge on the trip up to Belhaim."
"I'm good with dagger and rapier. Better when I'm flanking. I'm light of foot and can find and disable traps. I've a knack for slipping bonds and escaping grapples. I speak the kobold tongue and I can see well in the dark," Cordia answered, believing she had given her companions enough information for now.
Xylas smiles and nods at the introductions. "Well, praise Old Deadeye! I'd say we've got some good folks here with a bunch of talents. You can actually talk to those little kobolds, Cordia? That's good to know.
Sounds like Cordia, Thorfinn, and Roxy ought to be our front line and the rest of us provide support. I guess we're ready to see what's behind that door now, Thorfinn."
"You can actually talk to those little kobolds, Cordia? That's good to know. Sounds like Cordia, Thorfinn, and Roxy ought to be our front line and the rest of us provide support."
Cordia nodded as a familiar knot formed in the pit of her belly. "Aye. I learned it from an old friend. Lucky that. And, I can slip in and out from where you need be, depending on the situation. I'm ready to move on, too."
As the group confers with who should take which types of responsibilities, Abon starts to snort and stamp its hoof on the edge of the trapdoor. The noise alerts everyone to two pairs of insectile antennae emerging from the darkness. Two bugs the size of large dogs taste the air in search of food. Long with segmented bodies and dozens of pairs of legs, one of the creatures looks ready to come at the group as the other looks to climb the trapdoor for some fresh bacon.
Thorfinn laughs and strides forward to meet the anomalous arthropods, swinging his sword in a slashing arc. "These nithings are not worthy of my worst!"
"Thank you Abon, this could have been bad."
Bumolin takes out his sling and a small stone and shoots it at the climbing beetle.
He thinks to himself: "Where have I seen those before?"
Cordia, not having a ranged weapon in her arsenal or skill set, drew her rapier and then moved carefully forward to stand closer to Thorfinn and Bumolin, but keeping to the shadows and walls where she can.
Xylas moves up to Bumolin's side. "I don't know if I can do any better, but Ill give it a try," he says as he nocks an arrow and releases it.
"Well, I think I"m going to need to warm up a bit."
Roxy draws her sling. She uses arcane strike.
Thorfinn's blade cleanly severs the creepie crawlie's head from the bulk of it's segmented body with one heavy blow. The other insect is smashed by a sling bullet from Bumolin. It snaps its dripping mandible at the druid, preparing to lunge when Roxy follows the dwarfism stone with her own well-placed shot. It collapses and twitches violently before laying still.
Although the information does not matter as much now, Xylas recognizes these pests as typical giant centipedes. They're simple creatures focused only on eating and mating, but they are capable of delivering a venom when they bite that causes significant nerve trauma. These two probably felt the collapse and went hunting.
Bumolin turns to Roxy: That was great timing. You sure know how to use a sling. Maybe you could give me some tips one day? I fear my shot was more luck than anything else.
Thorfinn wipes the centipede's circulatory fluid from his blade before resheathing it. "Ha! Well done, all! A small fight against small foes, but a victory is a victory!"
"Well, alright. Just a couple giant centipedes, but their venom is still nothing to scoff at. They were probably shaken out by the collapse. Wonder what else might have been roused."
Bumolin turns to Roxy: That was great timing. You sure know how to use a sling. Maybe you could give me some tips one day? I fear my shot was more luck than anything else.
"Sure! It's all in the wrist. Halflings are great with slings!"
"We were wise to swiftly slay them, then. Poison...." He spits in disgust.
"Well, alright. Just a couple giant centipedes, but their venom is still nothing to scoff at. They were probably shaken out by the collapse. Wonder what else might have been roused."
Xylas transfers the magical light to the wooden disk dangling with the overly large feather tied to the top of his bow. "So should we have a look at what's beyond that door now?"he asks.
"Nice, swift job with the two creepy crawlies." Hearing Xylas speak of looking behind the door to the south, Cordia answered quietly, "Before we make to go through it, allow me to check for traps."
She nodded and then moved steadily to the doorway in question
Cordia notes there is nothing suspicious about the closed door so far as she can tell. It has a lock on it, but it is not locked at the moment
"I don't see any traps and the door isn't locked," she said in lowered voice, pointing at the hanging open lock. "Ready, when you are. Thorfinn, want to take the lead, again?" gesturing for him to open the door.
The Ulfen nods and opens the door, sword held easily in his other hand.
Numerous jail cells line these long-abandoned corridors. Each of their solid iron doors hangs ajar, and includes both a peephole at eye level, covered with a piece of sliding metal, and a smaller slot for food and water at floor level.
Along the ceiling of one side of the u-shaped hallway is a protrusion, about six inches across.
Thorfinn retrieves his torch and steps in, looking around.
Bumolin comes forward and looks through the door behind Thorfinn. "I haven't had much experience with the halls of kings and nobles. Even less concerning those of humans. But is it usual practice to dedicate so much space and effort to 'punishment'? It seems a bit much. Especially in such a small settlement."
Xylas shakes his head at Bumolin's question. "Depends. I'm gonna have a lot of questions about the folks that built this castle though.What do you all think that ridge in the ceiling is for?"
Thorfinn shrugs, the finer points of architectural design apparently lost on him. "Aye, some ancient thane had little regard for their people."
One end of the hallway terminates in a couple privies for guards. The other side turns to the north then turns again and ends in a closed door. The convex protrusion in the ceiling runs to where the corner turns.
"Oh hey, forget that ridge, those cracks on the east and west side look like hidden doors."
Bumolin steps a few steps forward, takes a look into the cells here and there and then observes the ridge:
"this place seems to be all about secrets." Bumolin investigates one of the cells down the corridor. He looks for signs of recent use but apart from that generally tries to imagine how it would have been to be locked up here.
"Secrets are fun! I like secrets. I like sharing other people's secrets!"
Being locked away in this dungeon would have been very rough. The cells have mountings for manacles, and no sign of cots or beds. Each cell had a single chamber pot. Prisoners would have been isolated completely from the outside world.
Bumolins voice echoes in a rather thoughtfull tone from inside the cell. "That might not be one of the fun kind of secrets. That might be one of the kind where people disappear forever in small dark rooms."
"Well, no disappearing, everyone. Stay close. So what do y'all think? Hidden door to the east here?"
Thorfinn shrugs. "All the same to me. You pick."
Bumolin returns to the team. "I think these ruins covered something that has to be uncovered. So let's go where something was hidden.
Xylas opens the hidden door in the eastern passage.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It turns out that the debate was unnecessary after Xylas pushes open the eat door and finds it loops around to the west anyway. The hall consits of more empty cells.
One cell, centrally located in the concealed hallway, does not stand open, but is instead shut tight. A square window is embedded in the metal door. As the group gets close a face pops up with a grimy, skinny hand reaching through the narrow bars.
"Oh, gods, kind faces! Aroden bless you, noble souls! I ain't seen the jailers in ages, I think they forgot about us! We ain't
eaten in days and the water's all but gone-my cousins're both sick. I swear we'd give back the boar if we could, but we ate it, starvin' as we was. We didn't even know it was the baron's lands, didn't know we was poachin'1 I beg you, we're all gonna die in here! Kindness, noble souls, we've suffered
awful! Good Baron Sarvo wills it!" The prisoner pleads.
Xylas is quite surprised to find one of the cells inhabited. "Whoa. How long have you been in there? I thought this place would have been abandoned."
"I don't know, sir, they never let us see the sun! Please, kind souls, just a little food or a drop of water?"
Bumolin mutters to his comrades
"Just what I said - people locked in dark rooms never to be seen again."
To the prisoner
"Who are you? Why have you been locked up here? I would gladly give you some food and water but I didn't have the foresight to bring something. We left in a bit of a hurry."
To his comrades again:
"Do you know who this Sarvo is? Is it the man of the Baroness we just met?"
At the question of who the Baron Sarvo was, Cordia shook her head, "Haven't heard of him, sorry. We recently met the baroness' son - Arnholde."
Glancing at the prisoner in the cell, Cordia quietly informed her companions, "There's a hidden door in the back of the cell, just behind the man. And, has anyone noticed that the man seems faintly transparent as though he lacks physical substance."
Still, the man in the cell said he hadn't eaten or taken water for days. Cordia pulled out her canteen and placed it through/by the square window in the metal door, where the grimy, skinny hand was reaching through the narrow bars. "You are welcome to drink my water, sir. Sip the water at first, so you don't choke."
"Oh, thank ypu m'lady! May Aroden bless you!" The hands and face disappear as the prisoner moves away from the eye slit to drink. Everything becomes perfectly silent. Glancing inside, Cordia sees three skeletons, long dead, on the floor. There is no sign of the prisoner who begged for food, and her canteen sits closed on the floor in the center of the cell. Looking down at the door, Cordia sees this cell is still locked tight.
"Did we put the spirit to rest?"