In the Footsteps of the Damned; Chapter 7

Really getting to delve deeper into this dungeon, learning more lore about the area, but still feeling like we are beginning to build towards something…

Chapter 7

We sat around the campfire, getting cozy, and Bejard started to talk and tell us a story; It pertained to a couple of travellers and the risks of being hasty. Child’s stuff. Reminds me of the fables that Brother Nord used to make me sit through in my youth – the stuff of boring Saturday mornings learning to be a “better person”. While he was talking I amused myself watching Rake eye up something that suspiciously looked like a phial of pee… it was an Anti-Toxin potion, he later assured us – but I will happily let the hapless Elf use it before I do!

Come morning, Bejard followed his normal morning ritual, except this time Smoke’s curiosity overcame her and she followed him for a chat or to see what it was he actually did in his morning meditations. Before long they returned and we broke camp to return to the fortress. As we descended the stairs, we caught sight of the Dragon tentatively peeking out of the front gate – I started gathering power in my fingertips and steeling myself for the battle – but before anyone could do anything (including the more timid of the group to ask to hold back), the dragon spread its wings and flew away through the cavern to the outside without paying us any attention at all. I let the power ebb away from me. Maybe another day – a Dragon loose in the countryside is not a problem that will take care of itself.

We made our way back to the room with the undead “gardeners”. Zani discusses the possibility of a Necromancer hiding out here, having clearly instructed these creatures to undertake this task tirelessly. Taking a proper look around the room there were a few entrances and doors in different directions. One had a very hastily painted sign above it: “Wet and Wooshy, Splashy and Fast, Yell the secret name and Magic Door will Open”. I gently opened the door a crack to get a look through and caught sight of some more goblins looking to set a trap for us – I am not sure they saw me, so I gently shut the door again and went looking for a way to see if we could get behind them. I didn’t call out to the rest of the group as my voice would carry and I didn’t want to alert the goblins.

I moved to check the next door on the south while Bejard and Zani were checking out a cave or tunnel to the north. Peeking the next door showed a collapsed corridor with a tunnel that seemed to go in the direction I wanted, but as I turned around to signal to everyone else to come this way I saw that my peek into the previous room had not been as un-noticed as I would have liked – the goblins had sneaked out of the room unseen and I turned just as Smoke let out a battle cry and cut down one readying a crossbow! Calling upon my patron given powers I let loose a blast of eldritch energy that blew away another goblin. Zani, from her vantage point could see through the door into the room they had come from and summon magical missiles of light to fly forth to impact on something I couldn’t see, before running away and hiding behind Bejard. From the corner of my eye to the left I could see Fi nocking an arrow on her bow and drawing with no hurry belied from the chaos in the room around her – a place of stillness in the eye of the storm – before she loosed the arrow and impaled 2 goblins with a single shot! I might have little patience at times for this band of misfits I find myself amongst, but they do still surprise me with their abilities! Rake ran forward, presumably to get a view of what scared Zani through the doorway and shouted something like “big rat!” before summoning an icy blast.

He has some guts, that Elf, because no sooner had he recoiled from his attack, he was beset upon by some large rats – the largest we had seen yet in this place! They were followed out of the door by a Bug Bear with a large mace – this must have been the “big rat”, and the thing that had scared Zani! It made moves upon the small wizard and Bejard did his best to get in the way and restrain the monstrous creature, but found his strength was redirected and used against him, eating a mouthful of dirt as the Bug Bear smashed his face to the floor.

Recognising this threat I pointed my finger at the Bug Bear and issued a threat in my Celestial tongue, before sending an arrow of light trailing dark smoke at the beast. Alas, he flinched at the last moment and dodged the attack. Now, without Bejard blocking the way between Zani and the Bug Bear, she sends more Magic Missiles and panics, running away – taking advantage of this dropping of guard, the Bug Bear clips Zani with his mace, sending her flying into a wall. Fi took a shot at the Bug Bear, but it was not as effective as the one on the goblins a moment before – its hide is rather tough it seems!

Rake was doing his best to contend with the rats with Erki providing some magical assistance, but somehow managed to hurt himself as he tried to strike them as they ran over him. One of the rats leaps from Rake onto Bejard and takes a bite, while the other continues to harry Rake’s attempts to do anything. By now the Bug Bear had turned to Smoke but was utterly confounded by her feline agility, dodging every swing. Bejards picks himself up off the floor, ignoring the rat before him and with a murderous look in his eye, slams the monster against the wall, pinning it there. Unable to move away, Smoke took the opportunity to cut deeply with her scimitar in the Bug Bears side, and I lined up another Eldritch Blast, infusing it with as much hate and anger as I could – the blast connected with the Bug Bears’ nose and the impacting force smashed it backwards, but with the beasts’ head braced against the wall, there was nowhere for it to go and the force turned its’ head inside out with a wet splat. Zani and Fi make short work of one of the remaining rats, while Rake continues to hurt himself, just missing the rat running all over him. Giving up on Rake, the final rat jumps over to Bejard again and sinks its teeth into Bejards’ thigh – still looking murderous, Bejard calmly grabs the rat in both hands and just slowly crushes it between his paws. I sense something dark in Bejards’ past….

In the aftermath of this battle, I gathered 4 more goblin ears, but finding that there was only mush for the Bug Bear’s head, I settled on removing a hand instead.

Moving on through the door that our attackers had emerged from, we found what appeared to be a lab of sorts, exploring the side rooms, Fi found a tortured rat that appeared to be growing bark and twigs or splinters – putting it out of its’ misery, we discussed the possibility that whomever was in charge here was trying to harness the power of the fruit from the mystical tree – perhaps the undead saplings we had passed were the results of earlier experiments? Certainly the phials of questionable sap-like liquid that Fi found near the rat would attest to that. Taking no chances, Zani sets the room with the rat on fire, and shuts the door.

Quickly checking the other doors, we found an empty barracks, an armoury, a partially caved-in room (that looks like it has a crevice that would lead back to the collapsed corridor I had earlier seen), and a distillery. The beverage it produced emitted an eerie glow, reminiscent of the mushrooms we keep seeing. Smoke took a liking to this, and convinced Bejard to take some in his pack – she certainly has the gift of the gab, considering she couldn’t even lift the barrel herself!

Moving on through the elaborate double doors we emerged into something that one time could have been described as more stately, with a lush red carpet, but it was now well into a state of disrepair with vines, weeds, dirt stains and general decay. Inspecting the ever-constant dragon themed carvings and liveries, Bejard discovered a tapestry that was just about discernable. Apparently it told the tale of a Red Dragon who was known as “The Plague Bringer”, this Dragon was meant to have left for other lands long ago, but the similarities with what we have been finding here sends shivers down my spine.

Peeking through some doors to the north, we spot another Bug Bear; having barely recovered from our last brush with one of these creatures we quickly back off, and explore other avenues. In one of the other rooms, I could see something hiding in a wall, peering closer I realised too late that it was a fire snake as it spat embers into my face. Rake put the nuisance down, and then assisted Bejard with chilling some rags that I applied to my face. Fortunately it missed my eyes!

Finishing our scouting of the remaining rooms, they all seemed dedicated to growing more of the glowing fungus that we had come across previously, and was used in the distillery – along with more of the undead “gardeners”.

To ruminate on what to do next, we headed back to a campfire that Zani and Bejard had seen in the northern cave previously, to rest and recuperate. On our way out, Zani cast an alarm on the door that led to the second Bug Bear – we didn’t fancy getting caught out twice!