SMOOSH JUICE
Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 131
Adventurers
| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tarkus the Promising | Cleric level 4 | Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom. |
| Beorg the Gravedigger | Fighter level 3 | Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers. |
| Thorm | Dwarf level 2 | Ashen hair, beard, and eyes. Left his own clan due to financial trouble. |
| Ambros | Cleric level 6 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Ignaeus | Elf level 4 | A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge. |
| Foxglove | Thief level 5 | A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time. |
| Dalkanarion | Fighter level 4 | A youthful specimen in full strength, full of purpose, bluster, and eagerness to prove himself. |
Dewsnap 3rd, Earthday
“Aha!” Thorm found a secret chamber hiden behind a bookshelf in the commander’s quarters. The chamber itself was barren. Worried that monstrous keep defenders might have retreated only to return through some secret pathways, Thorm and adventurers scoured the room.
Investigation paid off, for they found two more secret doors. One-way doors to the east led straight out of the keep. Smaller, rectangular doors to the north led into ten feet long crawlspace. That, in turn, opened up in a teen feet wide chamber, completely bereft of anything.
Perplexed, adventurers crawled over every inch, finding nothing. But keen-eyed Thorm spotted that torch-light smoke was flowing weirdly. There was something invisible floating high in the air!
Too high to reach, the adventurers assembled a mighty human-elven-dwarven pyramid. Buff Dalkanarion stood on a short stool. Thorm held the stool by the legs—to provide much needed stability—while Ignaeus climbed on the fighter’s shoulders. Tarkus stood to the side, praying vigorously to Bachontoi.
These shenanigans lasted for quite some time. Payoff? There was something rectangular and metal levitating close to the ceiling. It was immovable and felt like a chest to Ignaeus, but was otherwise a mystery.
“Perhaps we should return to this later, after we have secured the keep.”
Proposal most genius indeed.
“High Priest!” Marlon greeted Ambros as he had marched into the keep courtyard. “Beastmen have fled, most likely into the dungeon below. I wanted to take men down, but your friends asked us to wait.”
Adventurers updated Ambros on what they had found in the keep.
“It is time to strike!”
Dalkanarion, Tarkus, Beorg, Ignaeus, Thorm, Foxglove, and a squad of nine heavy footmen were first to descend. The stairs were narrow, allowing for a single file marching order only. They turned right four times until they opened up in a ten feet wide corridor.
Dalkanarion and Thorm were rewarded by a hail of bolts. They charged forth into the darkness, supported by Tarkus and Ignaeus. Sounds of crossbows hitting the ground echoed, as a group of hobgoblins counter-charged.
Ignaeus and Beorg were behind, just at the stairs landing. They were flanked by doors, one to the left and one to the right. Both swung open, and a mass of hobgoblins tried to swarm the corridor, aiming to attack adventurers from both sides.
Ensuing skirmish was brutal. Dalkanarion roared and swung mighty Oathkeeper, slaying beastmen left and right.
“Freeze! Freeze!” Ignaeus yelled at various groups. Few were able to resist his magical sword, and were indeed frozen in place. Soldiers poured down the stairs, fighting ferociously.
Beastmen corpses littered the corridor—but survivors were relentless. They fought for their life bitterly. Ambushing groups retreated and shut the doors behind them. Group to the left hammered some spikes to make the doors more difficult to open, while the group to the right left the doors unsecured. Beorg and Foxglove, supported by four heavy footmen, pursued the right group.
An impressive specimen approached Dalkanarion. Grecian fighter bellowed his challenge. Hobgoblin leader accepted it gleefully. “Cheater!” young fighter yelled as painful convulsions shook his whole being. Thorm could hear sinister chanting up ahead in the darkness. Dalkanarion suffered once again.
Pursuing soldiers met their doom, not at the hands of wounded hobgoblins, but in the jaws of feral giant weasels. Foxglove was half-chewn himself, and would have probably died had it not been for Beorg. Pursuers now fought on the defensive, falling backwards under brutal onslaught of furry beasts. They felled two, but one was still gnawing at them. Wounded hobgoblins rallied and charged.
“Where are you?!” Dalkanarion roared as impenetrable darkness befell his eyes. He could not see anymore!
“Oh, I thought you would heal me…” Thorm whispered sadly as Tarkus laid his hands on the warrior instead. Then he froze in place. Two hobgoblins grabbed Thorm and dragged him into darkness.
“Sirs, we should go!” one of the few surviving soldiers yelled.
Tarkus grabbed Dalkanarion by hand and dragged him to stairs. Ignaeus stood there, shooting, waiting for last of the adventurers to fall back. Roars and cries echoed as hobgoblins rallied and charged the survivors from all sides.
Foxglove, Beorg, and two heavy footmen, were completely surrounded. How long will the last, wounded and outnumbered? Ignaeus watched, his magical sword completely expired. Tarkus dragged Dalkanarion up the stairs, the latter full of fighting spirit but denied by magical darkness, yelling for Ambros to come down.
Purging evil and chaos comes at a price. Often a high one.
Is the high priest ready to pay it?
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