Chapter Four

Things bumping in the dark

Lyndon and I lead the party through the doorway opposite the staircase. The tunnel was a simple 10 foot wide by 10 foot high going down 20 feet where it opened into a wider corridor. Suddenly there was an extra 10 feet to the south making the new section 20 feet wide but otherwise not any different than the first room or the tunnel we took to get here.

At Rolo's command Rada moved up and in the middle of Lyndon and Graic and Trevor moved up to his right. They all spread out to allow their torch light to cover as much as possible.

No one said anything until they had progressed about 30 feet into the expanded corridor. Then Faeloswien said, "Look at the roof."

All eyes turned up to see roots clinging to ceiling. They seemed to end here and grow thicker as they went into the darkness. I decided the party needed my professional opinion, and said, "There must be some break in the stone work ahead. Maybe a collapse, we should proceed carefully."

Rolo asked, "Trooper Graic do you have any idea what this room could have been made for?"

I answered, "No Captain, whatever furniture or fixtures were down here rotten away long ago."

Rolo gave what he hoped was a little pep talk; "Very well, keep going until we find the source of the roots and stay on alert for any creatures."

The party started moving again but had only gone a few more feet when Faeloswien again spoke, "Does anyone else smell that?"

The party stopped again and all tried to catch a whiff of what had caught Faeloswien's attention. It was Trevor who spoke, "Yes I recognize that particular odor, it is guano."

Everyone turned to him except Faeloswien but it was Rada who asked, "Excuse me, what did you say?"

Trevor puffed up a little and explained, "The smell is that of bat guano, ah the droppings of bats. It has quite a few uses in potions. Once you have worked with it you do not forget what it smells like."

Faeloswien nodded and maybe even smiled and said, "Very good Wizard."

Rolo then spoke, "So we are going to find some bats up ahead?"

Faeloswien nodded again but did not smile and said, "Yes."

Graic added, "It is still daylight outside, if we are careful we should not disturb them."

Rolo thought for a moment and then said, "Then I must ask you two with the night eyes to scout ahead again for us. We will stay about 20 feet behind you. Find the source of the roots or the end of this tunnel."

Neither of us were happy about this command but we both answered, "Yes, Captain."

Graic and Faeloswien handed their torches to Lyndon and Rolo and then proceeded down the mysterious corridor. We walked for a total corridor length of 70 feet when the corridor reduced back to 10 foot by 10 foot. Faeloswien and I closed up and walked on. The stench of the bat guano grew stronger with each step we had taken. Watching above, the tangle of roots also grew thicker as we went.

The shortened corridor was only 10 feet long and opened into room I could tell was 20 foot by 20 foot. Although we were not using light only heat, some features of the room stood out. First there was a large chimney allowing the warm sunlight to filter down into the room. This chimney was choked with the roots. This was where they had entered the dungeon from. Next hanging from the roots were a large number of small, warm bodies. Lower down there might have been a fire pit, but and the floor were covered in the foul smelling guano.

I raised my hand to get Faeloswien's attention and when I had it pointed to the opposite corner of the room. Another archway identical to the one they were standing in, exited the room from there. Using hand signs we agreed to move over to it and see where it led. We moved as quietly as possible through the guano fouled room trying not to disturb the bats and warn whatever might be ahead to our presence. We were making good progress and were almost across when the bats suddenly let out loud cries and begin to flutter down from their perches.

One moment the room was smelly and quiet, now it was filled with screeching bats and an even worse stench as the bat droppings were stirred up. Faeloswien moved quickly toward the archway but Graic could not. All of the bats began to swoop down and around upon Graic. The Dwarf tried to shield himself and swat the swarming bats away but they were to swift and too many for him to concentrate on any one bat.

After a few seconds of swirling bats, I somehow lost my footing on the slippery floor and found myself on my bum again. Unfortunately while trying to avoid the bats I had moved back into the center of the room and found there really was a fire pit and promptly fell backwards into it. No longer worried about bats, I was now worried I would drown in the vile smelling guano.

As Graic disappeared into the pit, Faeloswien moved to help her comrade. The rest of the party rounded the corner to see the chaos which had erupted. Rolo, Lyndon and Rada had weapons ready but were at a loss on how to attack the swarm of bats. Before they could decide, Trevor pulled out one of his feather shaped spell tokens and raising his arms commanded, "SLEEP!"

In a moment all of the bats fell to the floor unconscious. The party all turned to Trevor who looked rather smug. Suddenly his face changed to shock and he yelped, "Look out"

Wiping back around all of the party still above the guano saw two enormous bats silently swooping down on them with giant fangs bared. One headed straight to Trevor and the other for the distracted Faeloswien.

The Elf had found me and begun to haul me from the pit. She did hesitate to release me and I fell straight back into the fire pit of guano. She then reached up and pulled a leaf off the necklace she wore. Almost silently she mouthed, "Fay dea misolo" while pointing her finger at the oncoming giant bat. Just as she finished a ruby red ray of light shot out of her finger and almost instantly hit the bat right between the eyes. The creature died as it glided into the far wall and just fell to the floor with its smaller cousins.

Meanwhile Trevor reached for another spell token to stop the bat from reaching his throat and ripping it out with its huge fangs. Before it could reach him, the bat was hit by all three of his companions. Rada and Lyndon swung down and hit a wing each while Rolo stabbed into its body from below and was left with a giant dead bat driven down on his sword.

In the quiet that followed the battle I came sputtering out of the fire pit and exclaimed, "I found something!"

Faeloswien leaned over and helped the Dwarf up. Trevor, Rada and Lyndon held out their torches to look the room over. Rolo called out, "Right let's get Trooper Graic out of there, Cleric Cimitato please look him over. Sergeant Vale and Trooper Faeloswien finish off the bats Wizard Goodfellow put to sleep. I will check out the other room."

Before anyone could move Faeloswien almost shouted, "No! leave the small bats alone."

Rolo was shocked at her tone but she continued, "The vampire bats are abominations of Olympus and had to be destroyed. The rest are creatures of Mother Earth. Leave them be to do their part as Nature commands."

It took Rolo and the rest of the party a full minute to recover. This was the longest thing any of them had Faeloswien say at one time. "I will go and see where the fell creatures came from."

As she turned and left, I held up my hand and said, "Look at this." I displayed a small piece of wood, about 12 inches long, round and only as thick as Rolo's index finger.

Despite the overwhelming reek coming off Graic, Trevor reached forward and picked up the wand. Stepping back Trevor pulled out another feather spell token and simply said, "Awaken magic."

As the spell token vanished, the wand began to give off a green glow. Trevor smiled and happily said, "Well down my stout soldier, this is indeed a worthy find. I will need some time to determine what is does, but I am sure we will find it useful.

Rolo tried not to gag as he also stepped back to reassert himself, "Very good Trooper Graic. Please go now and give what aid you can to Trooper Faeloswien."

From behind me, Faeloswien called out, "Not necessary Captain."

While the others sought to move back from Graic, Faeloswien stepped up to me and reported, "This section ends there," pointing over her shoulder. "There is a short hallway and then a little bigger room with stone shelves."

My eyes widened at this and I snapped his fingers, the others took another step back. I said, "Ah I should have seen it earlier. This whole area is a dining hall," Waving his arms and pointing which just spread the smell more, I continued, "this room was the kitchen and back there is the pantry."

Dodging his arms the others stood as far away from their smelly companion as they could. Still they were interested in what I was saying. Rolo asked, "Can you tell us anything else of this place?"

I beamed and said, "Yes, this place was an outpost which held a garrison of 75 to 100 humans. I do not which empire built it but it was definitely humans."

Rolo said, "Well that is something at least." Looking at each of them he then asked, "What happened to set off the bats?"

Faeloswien curtly answered, "Bats have a good sense of smell, Graic must not have got all the spider blood off. They attacked him, thinking he was a spider."

Rolo nodded and then gave out orders, "Let's get back up top. Trooper Graic you get cleaned off. Wizard Goodfellow and Trooper Faeloswien recharge your spells. Cleric Cimitato please make sure everyone is fine. We will explore the rest of this place more after that.

Nodding everyone took their place and headed back to the first room and the staircase leading up.