***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY (temporarily split up; this is the "sea" group): Belphanior, 6th/6th/7th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN) Ged, 7th/7th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG) Mongo Thunderhead, 8th level dwarf fighter (CG) Rillen, 8th level human fighter (N) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 1/7/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: early evening Place: a lost city buried beneath part of the Suss Forest ------------------------------------------------------------------ LVIII. Mongo Goes Berserk The "sea" party found some sort of dungeon beneath a region of the Suss Forest and began to explore it. After facing a few threats in a complex of five hemispherical chambers arranged in an "X" pattern, they prepared to descend the spiral staircase found in the central room... Rillen: Come on. Time to go down. Ged: Quit hurrying things, pal. Mongo: (hefts his hammer) He's right, though. It's time to get down there and check this place out! Belphanior: I'm ready. I've had my undead control potion and everything. Ged: Only _evil_ people try to control undead. Besides, my own spell for detection of evil will surely prove more useful than your own measly potions. Belphanior: Nyah, nyah. (making faces at the other elf) Ged: Why, you... Mongo: Bah. Enough bickering. (tromps down the stairs) Come on, Rillen. Rillen: (holds the lantern high) Right. (descends after the dwarf) The others followed shortly. The spiralling stairway led down about twenty feet, its worn stone steps thick with dust and cobwebs. The air in this new, lower section was mustier even than above, and the whole place reeked of age. There were webs to be brushed aside at every turn, though no one could see any spiders or other such denizens of the underworld. The stairway ended in a circular chamber, some thirty feet in diameter. There were four doors, spaced equidistantly around the perimeter of the room; they were of some wood, and quite thick, to all appearances. Unlike the other doors above, these seemed intact despite their age. The place was made of large stone blocks, the mortar between them crumbling in some places. The ceiling was about fifteen feet in height. Mongo: (moving over to the northern door) Wonder what's in here? Hey, it's locked! Rillen: Try those keys that you found. Mongo: Yeah! Good idea, I'm glad I thought of it. Ha ha. (tries some of the keys on the ring; one of them opens the door) Hmph. Belphanior: They open a lot better this way, eh? Mongo: Maybe. But my way's more fun. Ged: You mean kicking the door in. Mongo: Yeah, that. (still holding the door, which is now unlocked) Rillen: (holds the lantern up) Well? Open it. Mongo: Sure. (raises his hammer and pushes the portal ajar) Beyond the aged door was another, similarly sized and shaped room. It was full of barrels, boxes, and crates, but had no exits. Almost all of the various containers were rotted or caved in. Unidentifiable substances leaked from some, staining the floor in many places. Rillen: Looks like a storeroom. Mongo: Not anymore. Phew! Something's rotten in here. Belphanior: I don't detect any undead... Ged: I can't sense any evil, either, with my spell. Of course, most undead _are_ evil. Oh well. Let's check out the things, but carefully. Belphanior: (poking barrels with his sword) Rillen: (knocks in a crate's side with a touch of his staff) I hardly touched that box. These things are too old. Ged: (looking around) I detect no evil in here. Mongo: Hey! Look what I found! (holds up a small silvered box) Rillen: What is inside it? Mongo: Dunno. (opens the container) Ged: Hmm. Looks like stones to me. Belphanior: Gems? Mongo: No way. They're not of such quality. Rillen: Sling stones. Mongo: Huh? Rillen: They are sling stones. Used with a sling. Ged: What, do you have a sling? Rillen: No. But I can get one later. Mongo: We'll hang onto these. (stuffs the box in his pack) Belphanior: (still searching the contents of this chamber) I can't find anything else here. No secret doors, even. Ged: Let's check out another room. (they head back into the stair room, then take the western door, using another key from the ring) Mongo: (entering the new room first) Whoa! Ged: What? What is it? Rillen: All I see are a lot of rocks. Belphanior: Looks like a cave-in. Ged: Yea. (casts Find Traps on himself) Hmm. Well, there are no traps here, in any case. Mongo: (peering at the mess of fallen stones, collapsed beams, and crumbling dust filling the room in front of the party) Well, folks, I don't think we can get through this. Rillen: Why not? Mongo: You wanna dig all this crap away? Even with a crew of ten good dwarves, it'd take us a whole day! Ged: We can always come back here. Let's take a look at one of the other exits from the main room. Belphanior: I agree. They went back to the stair room, again, and this time tried the southern door, using a third key from the ring found by Mongo earlier. This door led into yet another thirty-foot diameter chamber like all the others. Ged: Boy, whoever designed this place was surely one of the most creative architects who ever lived. Mongo: Aw, come on. It's not _that bad_. Simple, but not bad. Rillen: Many circles, in patterns... Belphanior: What? Rillen: Karma. Mongo: Bah, I say. (looks around, at this new room, which has no exits) What are these things? Ged: (examining one of four old, sagging wooden racks mounted on the walls) Weapon racks? Mongo: Hey, I knew that! Just testing you. Belphanior: Duh. Rillen: Someone left these weapons and armor here. I wonder if they are still good? (grabs an old, rusted sword) The racks contained various things. There was a single suit of plate mail armor, badly rusted, and another suit, of banded mail, which was human-sized and intact. Another rack held two rotten shields, one of them consisting only of metal bands. There were also two poor-quality swords, a morningstar with no head, a rusty axe, and several old helms. Mongo: (fingering the axe) Hey, there's a gem in the pommel here! Belphanior: Let me see that, I'll pry it out. Mongo: Don't you dare try and steal that... Belphanior: Relax. I just don't want to see you damage a fine gemstone while trying to pry it out with a sword. Mongo: Hmph! (hands the axe over to the elf) Rillen: (poking at the helms, knocks a hole in one) Hmm. Whoever left this here was better off without it. It is useless. Someone who wore this might have lost his head. Ged: (opening the plate mail) What's this? (grabs a tube from inside the suit) Look here! I found a scroll case! Belphanior: (has the gem extracted by now) Well, is there a scroll inside it? Ged: Ungh! (opens the case) I wish I was stronger. Now, what's this scroll? Rillen: (to Mongo) Maybe we should open such tubes from now on, if the elf is too weak. Mongo: Yeah. Ged: (reading the scroll) Damn! I can't read this scrawl. It's in some strange language. Belphanior: Let me see that. (snatches the scroll) Ged: Hey, be careful with that! After all, it's ancient! Belphanior: Hmm. I can't read it either. Oh well. For a minute there, I though you might have forgotten how to read or something. Ged: If only I had gotten the read languages spell, no old scripts would be immune to my magic... Mongo: (examining one of the swords) This so-called arsenal sucks! No wonder this crap was left here! Rillen: (looking toward the central chamber and the remaining unknown door) Time to go. Ged: (puts the scroll back in its case) We'll figure this thing out later. Belphanior: (searching for secret doors, in vain) Damn. Mongo: Let's split. (leads the party back into the main room and then to the eastern door, which opens with another of the keys) Rillen: (looking into yet another circular, thirty-foot room) This place is empty. Mongo: Yup. But, there's another door across the way, there. Belphanior: (checks the ceiling, just in case) Ged: That door looks sturdier than the others. Mongo: (trying the keys on this new door) There, it's open. Rillen: (raises his staff) It is pretty dark in there. Ged: (looks up intently) Hold! I sense beyond, the presence of...Evil! Belphanior: (concentrating, with his own spell) No undead, though. Whatever foes await must be alive... Mongo: Not for long! (raises his hammer) Light it up. Rillen: (shines the lantern beam into the area beyond the door, revealing a large cavern with several side tunnels) Look in there, it is holey. Suddenly, from one of the passages, there appeared a pair of huge, hulking creatures! These new arrivals were over eight feet in height, with large pincers on the sides of their maws. Each had a small pair of beady little eyes as well as a larger, multifaceted pair on the side of its head. These larger eyes regarded the four adventurers, somehow suggesting chaotic and insane things... Mongo: (fails his save against umber hulk confusion) Huh? Rillen: (saves) Who are these bug-eyed things? Their gaze is strange...(aims his staff's blade at the nearer of the two monsters and enters the room) Ged: (saves, easily) Umber hulks? Damn, I bet Alindyar would know. (prepares a spell) Belphanior: (saves, draws his sword) Let's see if I can cut one of those neat eyes off. It would make a good trophy. umber hulks: Grawwwr! (lumber toward the party) Mongo: (inside the cavern, wandering about aimlessly) Huh? Belphanior: (charges the beasts) Ged: (casts a Slow spell at the hulks) Take that, you bug- eyed freaks! first umber hulk: (saves, barely) Rrrrar! (charges Rillen) Rillen: Aaaa! Here it comes! (raises his staff to defend himself) second umber hulk: (fails the save, slowed down considerably) Rrrrrrrraarr... Ged: That got him! Belphanior: Cripes. He's even slower than he was before! (slashes the hulk, nicking its tough hide) Boy, this thing is dense. first umber hulk: (bats Rillen, knocking him aside roughly) Raargh! Rillen: Ooof! (hits a wall) Ungh... first umber hulk: (approaches Ged) Ged: Yipes! Mongo: (still wandering around aimlessly, headed for a side tunnel) Hammer, hammer... Belphanior: What's wrong with Mongo?!? We need him now, more than ever! Ged: Looks like he's confused. I think umber hulks have some kind of gaze weapon. Maybe he'll snap out of it soon. Belphanior: I sure hope so. Rillen: (rises to his feet) Ungh. Hey, ugly! first umber hulk: Rrrgh? (turns around clumsily) Rillen: (smacks the monster over the head with his staff) umber hulk: Raaargh! (lumbers about, swiping at the warrior) Ged: Another spell, by Boccob! (begins preparing to cast a second spell) second umber hulk: (finally gets a chance to attack, but its slowed claws are easily dodged by Belphanior) Rrrrrrrrrr... Ged: Rillen, you keep him busy while I zap him with my spell! Rillen: Right. Ged: Maybe you could hit his knees and knock him down. Try something, damn it! Rillen: (smashes the first hulk in the kneecap, hard) Topple, monster! umber hulk: Raargh! (gashes Rillen on the back with a clawed paw) Rillen: I do not think he fell for it. (gets nailed by the hulk's other swipe) Aaargh! Ged: No problem. (casts Blindness, and dashes forth to tap the umber hulk, succeeding easily since the thing is busy mauling Rillen) umber hulk: Rrrr? (fails to save against the spell) Raaaar! (flails about aimlessly, smashing parts of the cavern wall into powder) Raaaargh! Ged: Blinded, by Boccob! The magic of the Uncaring One conquers all this day! Mongo: (entering yet another state of confusion, he now seeks to attack the nearest creature - which happens at the moment to be the second, slowed umber hulk) Hammer? (moves toward the monster) Hammer! (swings his hammer moronically) second umber hulk: Rrrr? Ruh-roh. Mongo: Hammer! (bashes the monster in the belly with the magic mallet) umber hulk: Rrraaargh! Belphanior: All right! Mongo's back with us! (stabs the hulk in the thigh) umber hulk: RRAAARGH! Mongo: Hammer! Hammer! (leaps up about a foot or so and hits the beast again, in the shoulder) HAMMER! HAMMER! umber hulk: (severely wounded now) AARGH! (picks Mongo up and hurls him across the cavern, into a side tunnel) Mongo: (sailing through the air) Hammer! Hammer! (smacks to a halt against a wall) Urgh. Hammer! second umber hulk: (to the first, in umber hulk language) Let's get the hell out of here! first umber hulk: (in umber hulk language) Yeah! (runs into a wall) Ged: What in the hell are they jabbering about? Though everyone except Ged was seriously wounded, the pair of umber hulks turned to a stone wall and quickly tunneled their way out of this cavern - much to the surprise of the grey elf. Ged: Retreat?! They ran away! Rillen: (dragging himself to his feet) So? Ged: No evil creature runs from Boccob's might! (prepares a lightning bolt) Rillen: (looking down the tunnel) They are already out of our sight. Those things dig very fast. Ged: Get out of the way of the tunnel. Belphanior: (guzzles a potion of extra-healing) Ahh... Mongo: (still confused, stnads dumbly to one side) Hammer? Ged: Fry, foul ones! (sends his bolt down the long, winding tunnel that the umber hulks made) Hah! The crackling energy quickly bounced its way down the roughly hewn corridor and out of sight. About five seconds later, there was a loud from somewhere down the tunnel, and the smell of ozone slowly grew stronger. Rillen: I suppose they found that...shocking. Ged: I sure hope so. Mongo: (looking evilly at the nearest creature - Belphanior) Hammer... Belphanior: (backing up) Aw, no! Look out! He's at it again! Ged: (turns) Eh? Mongo: (stalking Belphanior) Hammer. Hammer! Ged: For crying out- (begins casting another spell) Rillen: (approaches the confused dwarf) Calm down, friend. Mongo: (eyeing the warrior) Hammer! (moves to bash Rillen) Ged: Hold! (casts Hold Person on Mongo) Stop right there! Mongo: (trembles for a moment...then saves) Hammer! (swats Rillen, catching him on the shoulder with the hammer) Rillen: Aaargh! (backs up a bit) Ged: Damn! That's one tough dwarf there! Belphanior: I have an idea. (uses his ring of spell storing to cast Friends on Mongo) Hey, there, Mongo. Nice Mongo. Why don't you just sit down and have a snack? Mongo: Hrm? (his confused mind ponders this possibility, then discards it as he saves) Hammer! (charges the elf) Belphanior: Yikes! (dodges aside as the dreaded hammer swings by his head) He's uncontrollable! We may have to kill him to stop him! Ged: Not on your life! (begins casting another spell) Belphanior: (sword drawn, he faces Mongo) Mongo: Hammer? (stands slack-jawed, doing nothing) Hammer... Ged: Don't bother him! Back off, I'm going to try to dispel the confusion! (casts a Dispel Magic) Belphanior: (leaps back) Dispel?! Wait, what about all his potions? Ged: Tough luck. Besides, it's too late anyway. Rillen: Dispel? Mongo: (eyes roll up, then focus on the party) What in the hells has been going on here? Ged: You're cured! Mongo: Cured? Hey, where are the monsters with the bug-eyes? Rillen: They went away and had a blast. Belphanior: (to himself more than anyone else) I guess we won't have to kill him now. Mongo: Ahhh! Hey, I'm cut up! I'm bleeding! Rillen: So you are. Ged: Hold on. (casts curative spells on Rillen and Mongo) Rillen: Thank you. Mongo: Ditto. Say, did those things have any loot? Belphanior: (making a cursory check of the main cave) Sure thing. (poking through a pile of rubble) Gold! Mongo: Gold? Gold! I knew I smelled treasure! (goes over to the pile and starts separating coins from stones) Ged: That looks like a lot of gold... They eventually got the gold loaded into sacks, which were set aside to be picked up later (they buried the loot with a layer of dust from the cavern floor). Among the coinage, they also found three metal potion bottles, a wax-sealed stone tube containing eleven well-crafted crossbow bolts, and a wand in a velvet covering. All these were confiscated by Mongo, who noticed that one of his own potions had somehow broken and was dripping all over his backpack... They set about exploring the tunnels, and soon found that most were short dead-ends or loops back into the main cavern. A single passage actually led somewhere, so they followed it for five minutes or so until it, too, ended. However, the ground at the terminus of the tunnel was broken, and overlooked some sort of dungeon corridor. This new place was much more evenly carved, having smooth walls obviously made by civilized beings (as opposed to umber hulks, who were not generally known for their architectural finesse). The party rested for a while in the large tunnel, having dinner and binding their wounds before continuing into the newly discovered region. Mongo: Somebody have a rope handy? Belphanior: Here. (they lower a rope about fifteen feet, to the dusty floor below) I'll climb down first. Everybody try and keep the noise down...(descends) Mongo: (whispering loudly) I'm next. (lowers himself down) Ged: (goes as well, followed by Rillen) Rillen: I need more oil for the lantern. Belphanior: (refuels his lantern with a flask) Sure thing. They were now in a long, rectangular chamber. The hole in its ceiling gaped above, and a pile of old rubble marked its opening into this room soem time past. A stout wooden door was visible at the western end of the room, and another exit along the north wall was caved-in, impassable due to a number of large rocks that flowed through it into the room. They opened the door, which was locked, using the keyring found far above, and cautiously entered a corridor. They were at its northern end, facing another door ahead, and the passage itself went southward and split two ways after a distance. Mongo: (tries the keys, finding one that works) I'll open it, you cover me in case something jumps out. Belphanior: Right. (raises his sword) Ged: By the way, guys, the door is free of traps. Mongo: (opens the door, revealing a forty-foot section of passage into a large, square room) Phew! Belphanior: No undead. Ged: No traps. And no evil. Rillen: Look there. The room is full of dead bodies. Indeed, it was. There were dozens of dry husks strewn about this chamber. They were quite old, most of them in several pieces, and appeared to have been smashed by some powerful force. Their limbs were splintered like dry wood, and some of their heads had been knocked in like brittle eggs. Besides this eerie carnage, there was nothing else in the room, despite the adventurers' searching of the stench-filled place. Ged: I'm about to vomit. Let's get out of here and leave the dead to their peace. Rillen: Pieces. Mongo: Yeah. Belphanior: (stubbornly searching the room) Wait! I found some kind of hatch in the floor here. Mongo: Hmm. Let me see. (they manage to pry it up, revealing a neatly carven tunnel going a short distance eastward) Belphanior: I'll lead. (dives in, before anyone else has a chance) Mongo: Damn it. (follows the elf) They found a smaller, secret room, which contained nothing but a chest. Ged detected no traps, and so they opened the container and found eight metal cones within. These were about a foot long and half a foot wide at the base, and were surprisingly lightweight. The cones were put in another sack before the party went back to the corpse room. Mongo: This place stinks. Let's go. (they exit, and turn south, looking down the passage) ___________________________&.__________ N | B __________\ \ A % # | W+E | | | C || |__________________| S |______| |____|| | _ __&.__ | |_____________________________ .. __| \______| ^~ |____| ______ ______ ______ | E _\____ D _______| | | | | | | _/ |______| \_ .. ____/ A entry room &. rubble B corpse room % C secret room D cave-in room/runes \ door E river room/cave/pool # broken ceiling Mongo: (leads the way ahead and rightward, into a room filled in part by a collapsed exit) Cave-in. This next room was squarish, with a short exit passage ending in a thick, wooden door. The room's northern wall appeared to have once been a stairway up, but it was now totally filled with rubble. There were some glowing runes on the southern wall, which immediately caught the party's interest. Rillen: Glowing letters. Ged: Runes? To hell with this. (casts Read Magic) Aha! My hunch was correct! Belphanior: Well, I don't want to waste my own spell, so why don't you fill the rest of us in? What do they say? Ged: Oh, right. They say, in magical script, "THE WAY IS CLOSED FOR NOW"... Mongo: Oh, how useful! Damned runic shitheads... Belphanior: (examining the wall, careful not to touch the runes) There are no secret panels or such here. It's just a wall. Rillen: We could try the door there. Mongo: Yeah! That's my vote! Try the door. They did, and it was unlocked and untrapped. The cavern beyond was fairly spacious, and had a river flowing through it, against one wall. This underground stream entered and exited through small holes at either end of the cave. A small pool had formed at one point along its course, its clear waters sparkling in the lantern's light. Belphanior: (using his Detect Undead, which is still in effect) No undead in the pool. Rillen: Why would they want to go swimming, anyway? Ged: (scanning the pool) The holy powers of Boccob see no evil - or traps - in it either. That thing at the bottom looks a lot like a skeleton, though. So, who wants to dive in and check it out? Belphanior: (stripping his weapons and items off) I'll go. Mongo: No, I'll go! I'm the strongest! Belphanior: You'd take ten minutes to get out of that plate mail. This won't take long. Ged: He's right. Just let him go and risk his neck. Mongo: (grumbling) Belphanior tested the icy water of the pool, then waded in and examined the sunken skeleton. All he could find was a silvery ring on one of its body fingers, and he had to give it up, since the party could see his every move. Soon, he had emerged, dried off, and re-dressed himself. The party went back to the eastern passage, which had not one, not two, but _three_ visible branches; they rested for a bit before advancing down it. next time: Juggernaut! FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: Okay, okay! Normal gemstones don't break if you drop them on the ground. This ominous fate seemed to threaten the gems that Ged and Belphanior found in the last episode. It was late, what can I say? ********************************************************************