Julius was feeling weak and wanted to rest in one of the secure rooms. Vashti used the Way the heal him. Julius' bones itched as the Way forced his marrow to produce more red blood cells, replenishing his veins after the ticks attack. Afterward, the group agreed to continue exploring the keep.
Alaxander found a staircase choked with rubble and casually moved some stones, but found only rocks and rubble. The next room was filled with broken pieces of wood and other garbage. A large open area contained a huge snake, which was coiled up. It looked at the group and tasted the air. Grak and Alaxander saw an old obsidian battleaxe on a rotted wooden weapons rack. Grak raised his weapon, but Alaxander told Grak to wait.
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| "Free axe? It must be mine!" - Alaxander |
Alaxander slowly approached the snake, whispered comforting words and swayed slowly from side to side. The snake began moving with him and they stared at each other's eyes. Vashti slowly moved behind Alaxander and looked at a junk pile in the room; seeing nothing of value, she retreated. Alaxander kept eye contact with the snake and slowly swayed around the snake toward the weapon's rack. He took the axe and retreated back to the group. Satisfied, the group departed.
The next room was filled with more junk and so was the last. The final room, however, also had bat guano scattered on the floor. A large group of bats hung from the ceiling, only slightly bothered by the increased light. The group decided not to search the room, and shut the door.
Having searched the entirety of the upper keep, the group decided to venture downward, into the basement. Julius lit a torch and Alaxander lead the way. When he stepped on the last step in the staircase, he narrowly avoided a vicious spiked trap, designed with inward facing spikes, to trap the foot. He saw a stack of crates on the right, a hallway on the left, and some pillars holding up the roof. Everyone joined him, after he warned them of the trap.
Vashti wanted to open the crates to see what is inside, but upon moving them she saw that there were doors hiding behind them. They moved the crates and saw the doors were in good repair and were locked with wooden locks. Grak ripped the wooden locks off the doors and they looked inside. The two small rooms contained water, food, ale, leather breastplates, medium wood and leather shields, obsidian battleaxes, an obsidian falchion, bone daggers, bone darts, shoes, and cloaks.
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| Pictured: Modern Athasian Shield |
Alaxander asks Grak, through Julius, to carry the obsidian battleaxes to sell later. Kalino got a cloak, to replace his improvised canvas cape and Vashti took the food. Alaxander also replaced his small chitin shield with a medium wood and leather one.Vashti used the Way to make sure the water was safe to drink and when she told them it was, everyone filled their waterskins and drank to excess. Vashti had Grak smash open the crates, which revealed that they were empty.
Julius looked down the hallway and saw the right side of the hallway was lined with doors. Also, a group of zombies were milling about, but coming in his general direction. He called out the group and backed away. Vashti called upon her element and caused the zombies to flee, as much as they could. The zombies had nowhere to go, but would not approach Vashti. Grak engaged the zombies with his trikal, Kalino with his bone club, Julius and Alaxander with the way.
During the fight, Alaxander heard someone beating on one of the doors and calling out in Elven and an unknown language. He opened the barred door and saw an emaciated half-elf inside. The half-elf was wearing a loin cloth, but was otherwise naked. Alaxander gave him his extra bone club. The other doors in the hallway opened and more zombies poured into the crowded hallway.
The zombies had the group out numbered and were able to score a few hits, but they never really stood a chance. While Vashti held back those she could, so the group would not be overwhelmed, the group systematically destroyed the foul rotting undead. The half-elf tried to assist, but it was obvious he was too weak, or too inexperienced, to fight well.
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| And Shade goes down again! |
When the area was safe, the group gave the half-elf food and water. He introduced himself as Shade and revealed he spoke Tyrian and Elvish. Kalino, Vashti, and Julius made fun of his name in Balician. Shade didn't know exactly what they were saying, but knew they were laughing and talking about him. He was too happy to be free to be bothered too much. He put on one of the leather breastplates and grabbed a cloak and shoes.
He followed the group without being invited, but he wanted revenge against his kidnappers. Also, he did not know how to get out of the basement. The group casually looked inside a large room that was next to the hallway. Inside was torture equipment that was recently used, bones scattered from the recently deceased and spots of blood.. Vashti used bone reading on one of the corpses and discovered that the dead man did not come from Magosa and that he was tortured to death.
The heroes went through a door near the stairwell and found a room filled with more junk. Another door was stuck, but Grak smashed the door to splinters. Inside was a disgusting looking creature with a bony, wedgelike head, small ears pressed close to the sides of its head, and sunken, beady eyes. The creature was six feet tall, bipedal, and hunched backed. It roared and showed its clawed hands and mouth full of needle sharp teeth.
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| "Are you the dentist? I got this cavity and ... hey wait!" |
Grak rushed in to engage the monster, with everyone else following suit. The monster clawed at Grak and Grak clawed back. Vashti ran behind the monster, Julius and Kalino used their bone longswords, Alaxander used the Way to throw rocks, and Shade used his bone club. The freakish, twisted looking creature was able to claw and bite Grak a few times and Grak did the same to it. Everyone was able to slice into the thing and did was quickly put down.
They looked around and saw a wood and leather chest, sleeping furs, and another door. Shade opened the chest and found a wood candlestick, a bone hook, fifty feet of hemp rope, a bunch of scattered ceramic beads, a small wood clamp, a large wood platter, a small pile of ceramic pieces, and a single silver piece. Shade took the rope, the hook, and the coins.
Expecting the worst, they all gathered around the door with weapons ready. The door was barred from their side, so they simply lifted the latch to unlock it. Grak opened the door and swung it open. Inside was three dirty and malnourished people. They were wearing loin cloths and looked very afraid. There was two male humans and a female half-elf.
Join us next time for an exciting episode of Adventures Under the Dark Sun. (Time pending due to holidays)
2nd edition AD&D Dark Sun Cast
Julius: Human male psychokinetic. 22 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Giant.
Alaxander: Human male psychokinetic. 17 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Balican and Elf.
Kalino: Human male fighter/preserver. 20 years old. Played by DM. Speaks Rammin, Tyrian, and Balican.
Vashti: Human female clairsentient/water cleric. 20 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Nibnese, Gith, and Balican.
Grak (aka Guacamole): Pterran male ranger. 19 years old. Played by DM (Clyde moved). Speaks Pterran and Giant.
Shade: Half-Elf male ranger, 18 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Elf and Tyrian.
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