“I can’t believe I let Cedric die. It was my absent mindedness that led to his demise and I still feel sick about it. But all that is in the past I suppose, and I should be focusing on what is going on now, since it could very well mean life or death. After crossing the river and continuing our journey we were again ambushed!
How many times I have been walking along, minding my own business when out of nowhere some snarling, foaming at the mouth, javelin wielding critter lunges for my throat, it’s really starting to piss me off. Anyhow, while my companions were smashing and popping, I was running around as usual, trying to keep Erhivor alive which was a feat within itself. He is just so fragile and always seems to want to get hurt, maybe he enjoys it?
So after our little battle we continued up the trail towards the peaks and ruins of our destination. When we arrived at the base of the mountain we looked upon a waterfall that seemed to go up and up forever. Next to this was an endless staircase that rose up into the mountaintops. The area around the base of these monoliths of stone seemed to be devoid of life, even the tree’s seemed to have been drained of their essence. The area was dead, and it worried me.
After a brisk nights rest beneath a few trees, we woke stiff and sore, yet ready for the day ahead. After a brief discussion, we decided to brave the stairs and up we went. Gideon scouted ahead to make sure nothing nasty was laying in wait for us again. After an uneventful climb we reached the top and were confronted with several large statues of dwarves. My companions started yelling and talking rather loudly when all of a sudden a huge creature came bounding out of a tunnel or cave and rushed directly at us!
As we started fighting and this brute proved to be a nasty opponent, our blows seemed to have little effect on him and after some careful observation I determined that it was a bugbear, a nasty and hardy creature indeed. Statues fell and arrows flew when finally the creature’s eyes glazed over and he caught an arrow between the eyes and ceased his attack. After searching the bugbears remains we found a large key and a flask filled with some strange liquid that Erhivor decided to confiscate.
The wind whipped through the small ravine we had fought in and the eerie wails and moans that accompanied it were unnerving, but we decided to continue our exploration of these strange and now hostile ruins. Continuing a bit further on we came upon an area open to the sky and wind with a frightening drop off to one side of the path into the river that fed the waterfall. Looking to the horizon we spotted what appeared to be large bats with more riders flying directly at us! Knowing my chances of hitting anything at that range with my bow was slight; I decided to wait till they closed the gap before I let loose my arrow. That proved to be a good idea because I scored a hit and almost killed one!
Unfortunately for me the other rider chose me to hurl his javelin at and caught me directly in the leg, ouch! And even worse, the javelin was secured to the bat by a long rope which promptly yanked me into the air and over the edge of the cliff. The javelin may have been barbed and in deep, but it was not enough to hold my weigh, and after tearing free, I plummeted down into the frigid waters. And seeing as how I was in this bulky armor, there was nothing graceful about my belly flop of doom. Performing an impromptu rescue by climbing down a rope, Gideon bravely rescued me from a watery end, thank you Gideon!
Exhausted and hurt, we decided to rest for the night in the very same cave the bugbear had inhabited. Another uneventful night later, continuing our journey deeper into the ruins, we came upon a massive stone door with a single keyhole upon it. The drawings and marking on the stone were very pretty, and I am sure they have some meaning, but I never got a very close look. Opening the door with the key we had looted from the bugbear, the doors swung open soundlessly on perfect hinges.
I must say that all this stone and lifeless rock is not what I particularly enjoyed. I understood that my companions desire riches and fame that the ruins might offer, but why couldn’t it have been in a sprawling ancient forest or murky and smelly swamp? I guess that I will just have to get use to it, but I still don’t have to like it.
Oh sorry for ranting a bit there, but I do get distracted easily, back to my tale. Venturing through the doorway we came upon a rather large room supported by six great pillars, all of which had been carved into the likeness of some dwarf. In the center of this room was a pedestal or alter and on this were three keyholes. I quickly grew bored with trying to understand some silly statues and wandered off to explore the two tunnels leading off from the main room in hopes of discovering moss or lichen to speak with.
Instead I found what appeared to be some kind of elevator and gathering my companions we all decided to pile into it and pull the lever. After some hammer smashing and metal wrenching the cage started downward slowly into the darkness. As we descended Gideon and I noticed a safe in the wall and with some lightning quick safecracking which seemed a blur the safe was open and its contents spilling to the floor. Dividing up the gold and other loot, I noticed Gideon scratching his back with what appeared to be some kind of strange stick. Grabbing it from the ignorant fool, I tested it on my own back to see if I could get some kind of different reaction. Unfortunately it was not a stick of amazing back scratching but a wand of healing, what a pity.
Once the elevator reached the bottom we stepped out into a dark and foreboding passage. Lighting a torch I cautiously walked forward and took a look around, but didn’t see anything of interest. Erhivor on the other hand had walked past me and noticed a secret trap door in the floor right in front of me! Boy did I feel dumb. Opening the hatch we all jumped down into what I could only assume was certain doom.
I hate being right, because when the last of my companions crawled down into the passageway the bones laying about our feet sprung up into tiny little dwarven skeletons. I may have laughed at them but was cut short by the excruciating pain that tore through my ribs and chest when one of their war hammers smashed into me. I crumpled down and watched from behind my shield in the corner of the room and Penelope rampaged through the little skeletons as if she was some machine of bone crunching devastation. After the fight I did my best to heal myself through prayer but I knew that I needed to rest and set my ribs to fully heal.
Spotting another elevator in a shaft at the end of the tunnel, we all jumped down into it and somehow got it working. Our slow decent was interrupted when all of a sudden the cage dropped about twenty feet I would guess and crashed into the floor below.
Beaten and crushed, smashed and dropped, we were all ready for some rest wherever we could find it. All I could think of was the pain in my side and the fact that I don’t know what I have gotten myself into. As we continue to descend into this maze of tunnels and elevators, skeletons and bugbears, I grow increasingly worried that I may not be able to keep Erhivor alive during our next encounter with something nasty and smelly.
I really hope we are able to make it out of this Timmy, but this is the worst we have ever experienced since I found you all those years ago, alone in the little glade. I hope to someday find a suitable pot to put you in so you may grow large and strong like your brothers. I must sleep now but I will talk with you again when I can, till then sleep well and keep me safe from these horrors.”
-Spoken to Timmy the Trustworthy Acorn in a dank and scary tomb.
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