Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 126
Adventurers
| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Balarus | Fighter level 4 | An ex-woodsman, quite a crackshot with his bow. |
| Bragi Twinefinger | Halfling level 1 | A stout strong halfling. As a devotee of the Great Tailor he is always smartly dressed (under his armour) and overly fond of multiple breakfasts. |
| Ignaeus | Elf level 4 | A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge. |
| Foxglove | Thief level 4 | A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time. |
Gloomfrost 13th, Earthday
“Look—there, among the trees.” Balarus said to his fellow adventurers whilst motioning at a poorly concealed hut. It was a primitive wooden construction with foliage on top surrounded by a copse of trees. Among the bushes three purplish, hobbit sized mushrooms could be spotted.
Balarus followed the trail from the waylaid barge. A hobbit merchant approached Braggi three days ago. His goods—six barrels of fine silk—were stolen by a bunch of bandits. “All I know is that bastards have a flaming eye painted on their shields!” Some people were killed too, but that wasn't his primary concern. He had little to pay with, but did say that “Listen, there was a chest full of coin there. Proceeds from other merchants... I won't tell anyone if you happen to find it...”
Party of six—Balarus, Bragi, Crosonus, Foxglove, and Ignaeus—rode along the mighty river Farhills. Once they found the shored barge, Balarus was able to follow the tracks all the way to the bandits' hideout.
Foxglove snuck up to the hut. Mushrooms began shrieking violently. Everyone promptly hid in the bushes, missile weapons at the ready. After few minutes the lean-to plank that served as hut's doors fell straight to the ground. Groggy looking pig-faced orc stepped out, shielding his eyes from the sun with his right hand, and holding a saggy wineskin in his right.
He looked around for few seconds. Then he proceed to the closest screaming mushroom and poured some liquid on it. Shroom went quiet. He repeated the process with remaining two. Once they were all quiet, he went back into the hut, lifting the plank back in its place.
Adventurers quietly approached the hut. Shrooms remained quiet. Beefy Balarus grabbed the plank with his mighty thews, and then stepped backwards quietly. Foxglove and Ignaeus moved in, surprising the orc sitting on the ground. Elf skewered the beast straight through its throat. Then he jerked the blade sideways, ripping of half of its neck and face.
Heavy wooden trapdoor with a large iron ring sat at the bottom square-shaped depression. Right next to it were three wooden pillars with one beam jutting above the trapdoor. This was obviously a very primitive pulley system to lift and lower heavy objects through the pit below.
Balarus the Mighty forced the trapdoor open. Iron rungs descended down the thirty feet deep pit. Adventurers dropped down a single gold coin that had continual light cast on it. That hadn't revealed much except that the floor was stone.
Foxglove quietly descended, minding the rungs. You never know where a trap could be. As soon as he jumped down he was jumped by eight bloodthirsty pig-faced monsters armed with hand-axes and shields with flaming eye painted on them. Ignaeus rushed down to help his friend. Balarus and Bragi followed. Brutal skirmish was over in less than a minute. Orcs fought to the bitter end, but were no match for the more experienced and better armed adventurers. Searching their corpses produced four hundred fifty two gold pieces.
There were two exits from the anteroom—-doors to the north and open corridor to the south. Party went north, until they reached a four-way junction. A square chamber with a large marble statue of two lovers kissing was straight ahead. It was a rare crimson marble, and would surely be worth something to an arts collector. Two dozen logs rested against the east wall. The statue rested on hay and straw. The chamber was otherwise empty.
East corridor stretched into darkness, as did the west one. Adventurers opted for the latter one. They soon reached another junction, splintering south and east.
Following east route led them to two dead ends. The first was a rectangular chamber with a number of large ceramic pots with lids. One of them had “DO NOT BREAK” inscribed on top. Foxglove lifted the lid, saw a giant rattle snake slithering amongst thousands of coins, slammed the lid shut, and left the chamber. The second was an unfinished tunnel. Abandoned shovels and pickaxes were strewn about. Adventurers helped themselves to some of the mining equipment.
Then they backtracked and went down the east corridor. Forcing the doors open unleashed horrible stench upon the party. Two large white apes with thick iron collars around their necks charged the adventurers. Balarus slammed the doors shuts, but was driven back by sheer strength of the ape duo.
Ignaeus put his magical sword to use and froze one of the apes. Balarus killed the other one with a single blow. He swung his battle axe straight down the giant ape's right shoulder until he hit the hip. Then he kicked the simian, jerking his two-handed axe loose. Nothing but vile stench was to be found in this chamber.
Forcing the south doors led the party to another junction. Pressing further south resulted with an interesting encounter.
“W-who goes there?” a meek voice inquired from darkness.
“Justice!” Ignaeus retorted and marched on.
Four scrawny guys huddled in a center of square chamber. They were armed with spears. Shields with the familiar motif of flaming eye leaned against the south wall. The party hesitated for seven seconds before running them down. One dared to attempt escape. Balarus and Bragi shot him down. Although scrawny, the four bandits had a total of six hundred forty six gold pieces.
“Let's head back to Hara, heal, and return here.”
Everyone agreed. Riding back, they reached the fortified city of merchants several hours after dusk.
Will their follow-up delve be as successful as the first one?
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