#22 - Passages and Eyes

Scribblings of a Warforged Scholar On Adventure 

While the party healed and I repaired myself, I took some time to instruct Xoma on the ancient language of the dar. It was very nice to have someone interested in academics, as opposed to mere treasure and glory. In fact, this was such a good time that I made a note to learn a few new languages myself once I've returned to a place of study.

When everyone awoke from the slumber that most living creatures require, I prepared to solve the problem of the spiked pit. All lights were extinguished and I used the Emperor’s Key to command the tomb doors to open once again. They did so with a bit of noise, making me feel uneasy, though nothing amiss occurred. Xoma whispered that he saw a crude barricade erected at the far end of the hallway, atop the pit, and it seemed there may be a tuft of gnoll hair peeking out from the top.  Doongul noted that there was something not quite right about the ceiling above the pit but Xoma climbed down anyway.

The Emperor's Key medallion

He was supposed to signal the rest of us to come follow him by producing a burst of magical fire. However, in a few minutes, he returned and described a trap he had discovered. I detached my new armbow and followed him down, readying my tools and a torch. This is why I was constructed! I was forged for trapfinding, not war. The trap itself turned out to be a simple pressure plate system. I decided that it was better to jam the mechanism—whose full dimensions I could not discern in the darkness—than to disable it outright. Using two daggers that Xoma had been hiding, I carefully jammed the trap at its furthest seam and waited. After just a few seconds, I heard the telltale sounds of a mechanism engaging and then the ceiling broke apart like crumbling dirt. Organic vines shot down from the ceiling! I managed to dodge the vines but Xoma was not so skillful. The drow was summarily hanged by the neck and pulled upward, drawn as high as floor’s original level, thirty feet above the spikes!

As I regained my composure, an arrow pierced the composite plating in my side. The missile originated somewhere by the rudimentary barricade. I tried to spy the aggressor but there was nothing to see there; the torch could not pierce the darkness at this distance. To offset this tactical disadvantage, I hurled the torch up and out towards the barricade, interpolating the distance from how far I had  walked in the pit and where the gnolls were seen previously. The torch landed some distance beyond the crude barrier, silhouetting two creatures I deduced to be gnolls.


Several of the party members immediately made use of the light source and lay siege to the aggressors.  Unfortunately, the gnolls chose an advantageous perch with excellent cover, despite the improvised nature of their barricade. The silhouette effect enabled several of my party members to take aim but they were at a significant disadvantage, especially through the forest of vines now hanging between both parties. Even the hairy Reacher Cyzicus was unable to strike his target, no doubt more upset about the lost munitions than the miss. After dislodging the crude gnoll arrow from my corpus, sensing several droplets of precious alchemical fluid seeping out of the breach in my plating, I realized the severity of my position in the pit, and the even more precarious situation that Xoma faced against these foes. With a well practiced thought, I infused myself with a trace of arcane power and sensed the now familiar feeling of a bolt of pure energy discharging from the middle digit of my right hand. I didn't bother to follow the force missile’s path to its target and instead hurried back towards the near end of the pit; years of study and the past week’s practicum ensure the magic missile will find it’s mark.

After a satisfying "yip!" issued from the targeted gnoll, the far end of the hallway went dark again and the gnoll attacks ceased for the moment. The magic missile had more than the usual effect. My companions began to regroup down in the pit now as the drow disensnared himself. He evoked magical darkness about the far ledge of the pit and the party began making its way up the wall via ropes and grappling hooks thrown by Doongul and Xoma. Upon connecting his hook, Cyzicus wasted no time in reaching the top, shrouding himself in the darkness, followed by Rendar, Doongul, Magnus, and Xoma. It was a curious site to watch the one-legged dwarf shimmy up a rope. They made short work of the three gnolls who waited there. Cyzicus eviscerated one with his scimitar and Magnus sent a spear through the other. With a great deal of yipping, the third ran off down one of the passages. Fifteen arrows and two longbows were recovered and I was hoisted up the rope along with Halbazar, who had been far more compliant since the trip through the portal.

I followed the party down the middle of three cave passages, pursuing the gnoll that fled. I could sense that the air was becoming fresher, perhaps leading out of this cumbersome subterrane. A swarm of bats flew past quite suddenly, startled by something more than mere gnolls. The passage soon ended in a small cavern with a single, prone gnoll. He was severely damaged, one of his arms hacked away and the gnoll himself visibly shaken. He hardly responded to the party’s presence. Apparently our enemies have an enemy of their own.

Two new gnolls suddenly flanked us from behind and, in broken Common, demanded an explanation for our presence and the sad state of their compatriot. Why they did not attack us was unclear. Perhaps they preferred diplomacy to violence, a welcome change in my opinion.  Far too much blood has been spilled on this adventure. One of them asked something about an "under-beast." As Rendar began discourse with the leader, something happened in the cavern.

Entering through one earthen wall was an extremely large, bipedal insectoid that I had never seen before. Bulkier than an insect, possessing a carapace, massive claws, a set of mandibles, and strange eyes, it appeared to be a formidable foe. My companions closest to the creature unleashed their heavy arsenal. Doongul called forth a powerful blow of invisible thunder from the deity Onatar but it proved to have minimal effect. The drow set a magical web upon the creature. This was a new spell he recently studied; I couldn't help but appreciate the wizard’s dedication to the sciences of the arcane. The creature immediately broke free, however, and advanced on Xoma. It was at this point that I got a better, more studied look at the insectoid, at its abnormally placed four eyes...strange eyes...fascinating orbs with a capacity to...confuse?...no, infuse certainty into one's actions...?

...and so I realized suddenly that Rendar had been deceived by the “diplomacy” of the gnolls!

I grabbed the first weapon I could find—my sling, a simple weapon of rapid rotation and release—and launched a bullet at my enemy. A direct hit on the gnoll's forehead. Hah! He hadn't been expecting my initiative, giving me the upper hand in the exchange and him a crack to his skull and immediate sanguine leak. This taught him to mess with a trained scout of Boranel’s-own Construct Engineering Brigade. Rendar finished the job with curious exasperation, perhaps flustered by his misinterpretation of who the true enemies were. I slung another bullet at the second gnoll, who I now realized should have been everyone’s primary target all along!

Yet Xoma, Magnus, and Doongul continued to engage the hulking insect. Foolish! That was not our enemy! Worse, I saw Magnus, that barbarian dolt, turn his formidable bone-spiked mace on Xoma. Why did he do this? In response, the wizard cast an illusion of dazzling blue lights at Magnus and the hulking creature. Had my companions completely lost the capacity for rational thought? Why wouldn't they attack the gnoll aggressors? It seemed I would have to handle this myself.

Between me and Rendar the first gnoll was now disabled, but the second fled—a fact which may prove troublesome later. When I turned back towards the cavern, I saw Rendar—he'd better watch himself—had joined the fight against the insectoid. A previously unseen cloaked figure fired an arrow into the carapace of the creature from high above at the top of the cavern, spurting acid from the breach. I wondered if Cyzicus would like those arrows for his bow.

As I attempted to understand the tactics of this battle, I looked back into the four eyes of the creature and clarity overtook me again! Now that the gnolls had been beaten, this insectoid was the priority threat! I swung my sling again with carefully honed skill, and sent a bullet at the hulk. It lodged directly into one of its great eyes! Boranel would have been proud.

Rendar was finally able to finish off the strange creature after Xoma cast an effective spell of enfeeblement, weakening the monster. The Tharashk half-orc expertly fired an arrow directly into another eye, permanently disabling the creature—as testified by its crashing to the ground. Victory at last but uncertainty gripped me once again. What had it been that those gnolls had been saying?  What was this beast we just defeated?  And who was the cloaked figure?  Things seemed so much simpler during the battle...