After bidding farewell to the prisoners we rescued, our gang consisting
of Elvis, Christopher, Grimdor, Nicolas, Hanselhopf, Willis, Ralph, the newly
re-acquired Bungor, and I (Quinua) continued to adventure in the caves. Only a
few short steps down a corridor from the healing fountain, some goat-beast
zombies surprised us. They got in a quick attack and Nicolas took a nasty gouge
across his throat. Even worse, Bungor’s newfound freedom wasn’t for long. His skull
was crushed by a quick and vicious strike from one of the nasties. Needless to
say, he didn’t survive. Once we cleared the cobwebs from our heads, we began to
fight back. I instructed Willis to join the front rank for battle with
Christopher. Elvis stepped forth and whipped out his purple sword. Wait… let me
rephrase that. He unsheathed his purple weapon… no, that’s not good either. Umm….
He flashed his purple blade? No, no, no! Let’s just say he somehow invoked
Eclipse to magically produce a ray of purple death that instantly obliterated
one of the zombies. Quite a nice power – makes me wonder what else the sword
can do. After a short battle, we were able to dispatch the remainder of these
creatures with no further problems.
Next, we passed through the area of the caves where the
disembodied souls spoke to me earlier. I could still hear the faint whispers of
their lust for revenge on the goat-men. After some careful searching we discovered
a false panel in the wall that led back to the cave exit where the shadows
confronted me earlier. Their anguish was as strong as ever, but until I obtain
the Shepherds Staff I am of no use to them.
We continued down a new path in the caves and happened upon
the non-secret side of a secret door. Grimdor could hear footsteps beyond, so we
tried to gain an element of surprise on the unknown creature and burst through
the door. What we saw was rather hard to describe. It was an odd beast – some
sort of large half-man, half-stegosaurus type creature that wielded many
weapons. I thought we startled him at first because he stood in place, not
moving nor saying anything. After a while, it seemed as though this creature
was mute. I think that even if he could speak, it’s doubtful that we’d share a
common language. The best we could do is simply gesture that we are friendly
and didn’t intend to harm him. We noticed that his movements were very swift
and deft, so we now refer to him as Flash the Knight. Through our rudimentary
communication methods, Flash has joined our band, but for how long is unclear.
Maybe he’ll just follow us for a while like a lost puppy, only to leave some
day. Maybe he’ll turn on us and devour us all for lunch. Who knows?
Continuing on, we were able to map a good portion of this
level. We found a large formal chamber with many pillars. The walls were adorned
with many murals of Thracian kings and other arcane symbols, but they were
mostly chipped and worn. The ceiling was covered with numerous, leathery winged
bats and conversely the floor was thick with guano. While searching the chamber
and an adjacent kitchen area, we were pleasantly surprised when Claus and two
other men emerged from the tunnels. After a brief discussion, he told us that
his workers recovered all the valuables in the other caves and he sold the loot
to Lord Alexey Romanov. Needless to say, Claus is now a very wealthy man and in
celebration of the haul and his new partnership, he partied in Ilyria with the generous
stranger. He, along with two guards from Alexey’s employ, decided to search for
us to see if we’ve found any new Thracian treasures that we’re willing to sell.
For now, the three men are coming along with us as we continue to explore the caves.
 |
| The entire crew (with Claus, his guards, and a dead Bungor) |
There were two main hallways off the large chamber that were
exceptionally wide and very ornately decorated; however both were impassable
after a short distance due to rocks and debris that blocked the way. Oddly, near
the blocked area in each hall, there was a small, roughly cut tunnel that
connected to other areas in the cave. One of these paths led to a room with a hidden
pit in the middle of the floor. Luckily, I was alert and avoided falling victim
to this evil trap. The rotting corpse of a not-so-lucky victim was at the
bottom and after searching it we found a small bounty of gold.
We decided to call it a day and headed back to camp for some
rest. Once again we left Ralph and Willis behind along with our newest member,
Flash. We’ll return soon to continue uncovering the secrets below and hopefully locate that elusive Chime of Opening.
 |
| Map of Level 2 |
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