The Story So Far IX

IX

6th day, Greenheart the 20th, 1845 (just after midnight)

The adventurers had barely fallen asleep when they were awakened by the grigs. The denizens of the dungeon had emerged and they were on the hunt for the invaders of their lair!

The party could hear growls and roars coming from the direction of the ruined tower. At first they were inclined to stay and fight but the grigs urged them to follow and run away into the forest, as there was no time for the warriors to even don their armor. The grigs led them on a mad chase through the woods with the pursuing creatures not far behind. Behind them, through the trees, the party could occasionally see pyrotechnic explosions of color and light. They soon discovered that these were magically created distractions by the grigs in their attempt to throw the monsters off their trail. The chase lasted almost two hours with the grigs hopping ahead and behind the party urging them on. Finally the sounds of pursuit faded away and the grigs told them what had chased them. It was a large group of bugbears, gnolls (with a pair of monstrous dog-like creatures), and a troll. The party was now safe and they once again bedded down under the watch of the grigs.

6th day, Greenheart the 20th, 1845

The following day the grigs led the party back to Gormoon’s ruined tower. The group declined an offer to be led to a druid’s grove (a two day march away) known to the grigs to rest and recuperate. Tursan seemed to like this idea but our heroes’ preferred to return to the dungeon and strike at their enemy while the monsters were weakened.

It was afternoon when the party (with Devinal the halfling trailing behind) approached the hill upon which the ruined tower stood and they entered the dungeon again through the secret door past the defeated spiders den. Lono wanted to try to set a trap for the creatures if possible. He thought maybe if the monsters were still hunting for them they could use oil on the main entrance stair to cause the creatures to slip and fall down into a pile of wood and giant spider webbing soaked with oil when they returned. They could then light this aflame and roast them.

They took what they needed for their trap with them. In the dungeon they noticed that many of the torches that were lit before were burnt out and the dungeon seemed quieter in general. Before they could do any of this however they were discovered by some bugbears that seemed to be moving supplies from a chamber that the party entered on their previous foray into the dungeon. The bugbears proved to be tough opponents but the group handled them well and had to slay four of the stinking creatures before continuing. The supply chamber had some barrels of beer missing but the party found that the keg of oil and other supplies were still there.

One room that the party found treasure in before (but did not take for fear of alerting the dungeon denizens to their presence) was now devoid of treasure. When Devinal found out that the party had left treasure behind he groaned aloud.

The party decided to continue onwards and soon encountered a horrid creature walking the dark hallways – a troll! The party ambushed it and after a dangerous battle the creature was killed (Gjord’s dwarvish defensive skill against these creatures really stood out here). They continued on to the areas of the dungeon they had explored before with Svarnos using Jarvis the cat familiar as a scout. They noticed that the gnoll heads had been removed from where Gjord had placed them earlier.

While exploring they were attacked by a troll again! This time it came from behind them and they defeated this one as well but not without getting injured in the process. The fighting also alerted a group of bugbears that came running up the hall and attacked. To the horror of the party in the middle of their fight the troll that they thought they had killed rose up in the midst of the battle and started to attack! Lono got behind the bugbears to backstab them but he could not get his dirk to pierce their tough hides. They were hard pressed but they survived the conflict and slayed the monsters.

Many in the party were wounded and they feared that the troll had the dreadful power of regeneration so Gjord cut off its head and took it with him. At this point, Devinal began to sarcastically critique how the party was handling themselves. He felt that they were getting into too many unnecessary fights and were getting weaker each time. This angered the group, as Devinal had not lifted a finger to help them yet. Again they all began to reconsider their association with the Halfling.

While they were talking they heard a roar behind them and they could see the troll that they just killed shambling towards them with a new head on its shoulders! They engaged the monster and killed it once more. They decided to shred it body into bits and Martijn, Gjord, and Galifynakus hacked away. The warriors were covered in gore but after a minute they noticed that a piece of the troll began to pulse and began to grow and regenerate. Fionulla said maybe fire could destroy it so they used the wood, webs and oil and lit the pieces on fire. Gjord even threw the head that he lopped off into the blaze. The fire seemed to work as the charred flesh did not stir afterwards.

The party was tired and weak so they returned to the spider den to rest and Fionnula cast her healing spells upon the wounded. They spent an uneventful night in the spider den.

7th day, Greenheart the 21st, 1845

The next day Martijn and Fionulla wanted to go back in and explore the griffin room. In the room nothing new could be discovered other than that the words (“Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of it.”) inscribed upon the floor emanated a faint aura of necromantic magic after Fionnula cast Detect Magic on them. Martijn was affected by the spells power and almost ran screaming out of the room but Fionnula cast Remove Fear upon him and the effect subsided. Devinal kept rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he watched the party.

Down one long hall they found a set of double doors that seemed to be made of the same blue stone as the griffin statues they saw before. The doors were locked with an inset iron lock in the middle that was so complex that Lono could not pick it (even Devinal tried and failed).

The dungeon overall seemed quiet and all the torches had not been replaced. There was a silent dread over all.