Disclaimer: I do not own any of the races, classes, lore, spells, or mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition from Wizards of the Coast. This is a fanfiction story based in a personal world with original characters. No money is being made from this work. This is for pure amusement due to my fascination with D&D mechanics.
Missteps: A D&D Adventure
Chapter Nine - Settlement Take Two
The next morning dawned grey and damp. The storm had blown over during the night, but clouds still hung in the sky. Everyone took their time getting ready for the new day.
"Should we do something about these guys?" Elaine nodded towards the Owlbears in the entrance as she checked that her armor was on correctly. "It seems wasteful to just leave them here."
"We could try to skin them, and having fresh meat sounds like a great idea." Carric answered as he dug out a dagger. "Do we have anything to put the meat in?"
"I don't, but surely there's something in one of the buildings around here. People did live here." Elaine countered.
"How about we go and check it out, while a couple of people stay here and work on the Owlbears?" Jun suggested.
"Sounds good, I'll stay and-" Carric was interrupted by Elaine moving past him to the smaller of the two bears. She wasted no time in beginning the process of skinning the hide. "Done this before?"
"Nope," Said Elaine as she expertly cut around the fragile bits, keeping the hide in as much of a single piece as she could.
"The temple back home makes sure that their clerics know some basic survival skills." Kerri explained as everyone took a moment to just watch the dark-skinned woman delicately work the carcass.
"Carric, do you want to stay behind and help Elaine?" Jun asked, but Carric shook his head.
"I don't really think she needs any help." He said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Iados and Lia offered to stay behind and the party set out.
Leaving the cave, the party set off down the way they'd come, intending to scope out a few of the buildings. Just down the road, they came across a group of four buildings, two on either side of the road. Three of the buildings were single story, but one on the right was a two-story.
Getting closer, the group saw a sign over the door written in Dwarvish. They'd all seen enough Dwarvish writing by this point to be able to at least figure that much out. The double-doors were broken, and all it took was a slight push to open them. Inside was a large room. What seemed to be a stage was erected in the middle of the left-hand wall, while the right-hand held the remains of a collapsed staircase. The ceiling went up about 6-ft, brushing the top of the hair of some of the group. Scattered chairs and a couple of tables were all that could be seen. Two doors were along the back wall.
Jun went to take a step into the room, but immediately pulled his foot back as the floor collapsed under him. It seemed to be just hard-packed dirt underneath, but Carric didn't want to take any chances.
"Follow me," He said as he used his quarterstaff to test the floor first. He marked an 'x' in the dirt and dust whenever he found questionable footing. The further they went into the room the more mildew and decay scent reached their noses.
"Do you think this was the tavern?" Kerri asked as she pointed out the stage as they passed.
"I don't think so," Jun answered. "I don't see a bar." The group finally reached the back wall.
"Which one first?" Carric gestured at the doors.
"Does it really matter?" Said Kerri. "I mean, I for one intend on searching both of them at some point."
"Alright then," And with that Carric pushed open the door on the right. This led into a small room with a fireplace on the left-hand wall. Shelves lined the right-hand wall, while a couple of chairs sat atop a rug in the middle. The opposite side of the room held another wooden door. Ander immediately went to inspect the shelves, with Kerri following quickly behind. Jun and Carric stopped for a moment at the fireplace to do a quick inspection, but quickly moved on to the other door.
This door led outside to a small barn. Carric did a cursory glance around, but anything that was usable had long ago rotted.
Ander and Kerri found an assortment of little Dwarven knick-knacks, some with sayings or sketches etched into them. They each pocketed about three of the six they could find. While they compared their finds, Jun came back into the room and checked underneath the rug but found only more rotted wood.
Carric came back from the barn.
"Find anything?" Jun asked. Carric shook his head.
"A dead mule, or at least I think it was a mule." He answered. "I found some tack, but only enough for one animal. There are at least three stalls there, and with a mining operation like this I don't think they'd be lacking in draft animals."
"Well, we know of at least two who survived the initial attack. Perhaps they took the tack, or other survivors." Jun suggested as he and Carric headed back out into the main room. "It's been a hundred years, so I don't think there's much we can do about horse thieves."
"What about horse thieves?" Iados asked as he, Elaine, and Lia walked through the door.
"Be careful of the floor!" Carric called out. "I've made marks in the floor where you shouldn't walk." Carefully the three made their way over, guided by Carric.
As they walked over, Jun, Kerri, and Ander went ahead and entered the other room. Unlike the right, the left room didn't have another door. The fireplace was on the right-hand wall, with another rug in front of it. Shelves once again lined the wall, but this one held the remnants of a few books. A large desk sat in front of the shelves, it's chair broken on the ground behind it.
"Is anyone else getting the feeling that someone cleaned this place out?" Kerri asked as she scanned the almost bare shelves.
"Wow," Lia said as she and the others entered the room. "This must have been an office." Iados opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it and instead went to help Jun and Carric search the room.
"By the way, the sign outside says 'Town Hall'." Lia explained as she went over to help Ander pull open a drawer. The recent rainfall had made the old wood swell up. With a pop it opened, sending both Lia and Ander to the group with a grunt.
"You okay?" Iados called as he and Carric moved the rug out of the way. It was a well-made rug, and heavy. If they hadn't seen the large mold patches growing, they might have considered taking it with them.
"We're good." Lia called back, Ander was already digging in the drawer. "Anything?" The Halfling shook his head.
"It's a bunch of papers, but they're all molded together." He said as he closed the drawer. As he caught sight of his hands his face scrunched up in disgust. "Kerri, a little help here?"
"Sure," She did a quick Prestidigiation over his hands. "Look at this," Kerri handed a book over to Lia. It was practically the only book that didn't crumble in their hands as she and Elaine had searched the shelves. Kerri also found another knick-knack that she'd pocketed.
Lia took the small leatherbound book and began rifling through the pages. She sat down on top of the desk, as Ander worked to open the drawer on the other side.
With the rug out of the way, Iados wandered off. Carric pointed out the faint outline of a trapdoor, and after a little investigating with Jun's help he was able to find the hidden latch to pull it open. The hole dropped down for about five feet, before tunneling out.
"Well, after you." Jun said with a grin at Carric.
"How come I have to go?" Carric stared warily down into the darkness. "Why not you?"
"Me and tight spaces don't really go together." The Barbarian joked as he flexed, his massive stature bulging even more as he tensed his muscles. Carric and Jun were practically the same height, with only an inch or so difference. At a glance, the two of them even seemed to weigh similarly, but Jun's weight was distributed heavily into his muscles, leaving him bulkier in figure, while Carric's frame seemed lankier and lean as the weight distributed more evenly.
"Fine," Carric said annoyed. He dropped down into the hole and made his way down the tunnel. His Half-Elven eyes got him about halfway down the tunnel.
"I need more light down here!" Carric called back. A couple of moments later, Elaine dropped down, a glowing piece of chair held in her hand. She clanked her way down the tunnel to Carric, and together they made it another ten feet before it opened into a larger room.
The room was only comparatively larger than the tunnel. It was about five by ten, and sparsely packed. Elaine and Carric still had to crouch down as they surveyed the room. Along the back wall was a couple of wooden crates, which held rotted food stuff. Sitting against the wall next to the crates, was a small skeleton.
Elaine took a moment to look over the body and found some cracked rib bones with dark staining.
"Judging by these fractures, he might have been hurt when he came down here." Elaine explained as she pointed out the injuries. "The bones also seem to be those of an adult, so I'm gonna say he's an adult dwarf."
"How do you know it's a 'he'?" Carric asked, as he knelt down to examine a ring on the skeleton's hand.
"The pelvis is smaller than I'd imagined a female's to be." Elaine explained. "Of course, I'm not that familiar with Dwarven skeletons so I could be wrong." Carric pulled the ring off the finger and examined it in the light.
"Hey, while we'll alone, can I say something?" Elaine asked.
Carric shrugged, "Go ahead,"
"Thanks for looking after Kerri." Elaine sat back against the wall. "She's never been outside Crystaliron before, and I worry about her."
"You're welcome, but judging by the way she can use that rapier, I think she can handle her own." Carric followed suit.
"She learned from the guards at the Royal palace." She sighed. "I'm concerned, because it's only been a couple of weeks since she was exiled."
"Was it really as simple as getting caught in a closet with the Prince?"
"No, her and the Prince Maron seriously dated for almost a year." Elaine explained. "I'm pretty sure in that time frame that her and Maron were caught in more compromising situations if the stories she told me were true."
"Then what happened?" Elaine shrugged with a heavy sigh.
"I have no idea. All I know is that one morning I woken up by one of the acolytes at the Temple. He gave me a message from Prince Maron. It gave the name of a ship that was leaving at noon, and it said Kerri was in trouble. I packed a quick bag and got to the ship before Kerri. Kerri was led onto the ship by two Palace guards, who waited down on the docks until the ship sailed. I met up with Kerri, and all she told me what she was exiled by the Queen and ordered to never see the Prince again. She was a mess, and she refused to tell me anything else, even now."
"What do you think happened?" Carric asked, his curiosity piqued.
"I'm not sure, but I do know that the Queen didn't approve of Kerri and Maron's relationship. I'm not very familiar with the politics of Crystaliron, as I said I'm not originally from there and I focused mainly on my training at the temple."
"What's going on down there?" Jun bellowed down the tunnel.
"We're coming!" Carric called back. "We'll talk more later." Elaine nodded and followed Carric back up.
"What took so long?" Jun asked as he helped them out of the hole.
"We found a corpse down there and Elaine wanted to examine it." Carric said as he stood up.
"What kind of corpse?" Jun looked over at Elaine as she dusted off her armor.
"Looked to be a Dwarven male," She answered. "Carric found a ring on him." At that, Carric dug out the ring and handed it to the other male.
"It's very plain." Jun held the ring between his fingers. It was a simple metal band, with a design printed on its small surface. Jun handed it to Elaine.
"What'd you guys find up here?" Carric asked.
"A couple of books," Lia answered as her and the others joined the three of them. "I've been checking out the book that Kerri and Elaine had found on the bookshelves. It's a biography of a Dwarven general, and Ander found a journal from the town leaders in a drawer."
"Anything useful in the journal?" Elaine asked as she handed the ring down to the Ander.
"It seems to have been handed down from leader to leader if the handwriting is anything to go by." Lia explained. "I only skimmed the beginning till I jumped to the back. In the last few pages, it talks about Janel, a Dwarven cleric coming to town with two apprentices and a group of humans. It's suggested that the humans were servants to Janel and the apprentices. In addition to the mine renovation, they also requested that the Mausoleum and cemetery be built, but the reason isn't given. The journal ends with an entry about how cold it was beginning to get, and how many people were making plans to leave town."
"I wonder how many people got out before the Owlbears?" Kerri asked.
"No idea, but it does answer why this place is so empty."
"Anything on the ring?" Kerri asked as she glanced down at the Halfling who was staring intently at the jewelry.
"I think this might be an Office Ring." He said hesitantly. "I'm not sure, but the design seems similar to some others that I've seen." Iados reached out for the ring and Ander handed it over.
"Hmm, must be a lowly office." He said as he started walking out to the main room. He tucked it into a pocket. "What do you guys think is upstairs?"
"Want to toss Ander up there to find out?" Jun suggested as they all followed the Tiefling out of the room.
"Why not? What's the worst that can happen?" Iados shrugged.
"I can fall." Ander said loudly as he pushed his way forward to the two of them.
"It's six feet Ander," Jun said. "Besides, if you fall through the floor, then we'll be ready down here to catch you." Ander seemed to consider this a moment. "Besides, everyone knows that the good stuff is always hidden upstairs in places like this." Jun added, and that seemed to make up Ander's mind. His eyes widened and he nodded. Taking off his pack he allowed Jun to lift him up, and with a light toss went sailing through the air.
The flight up there was smooth, but as soon as Ander's feet hit the floor, it caved underneath him. Iados and Jun, not expecting the floor to break so soon, reached out to try to catch the Halfling, but failed. Ander hit the ground with a loud thud, as moldy wood rained down softly on him.
"Sorry," Jun and Iados said in unison before they helped the Wizard up.
"Couple of things," Kerri said in between chuckles as she stepped forward. Behind her Lia and Elaine were trying not to laugh as they watched Ander squirm his way to standing with the two men trying to help. Carric had had to turn to face the wall to hide his laughter.
"One, it's only six feet, why don't you just place Ander up there instead of tossing him?" Kerri asked, a grin on her face. "And two, how about we tie a rope around his waist, so that we can catch him if he falls again?"
"Sounds like a plan." Jun agreed and immediately went to his pack that he'd set down and pulled out a length of rope. Iados held out a hand and went about tying a sailors knot around the Halfling's waist. He then explained to said Halfling how to easily get out of the knot in case of emergencies.
"Ready?" Jun asked after the instruction was done. Ander nodded again, but this time with not as much enthusiasm. Elaine handed him the still glowing bit of chair leg, and Jun carefully lifted him up. Before Ander let his feet touch the floor, he used the chair leg to test it. Immediately he found two more spots that just sagged under the leg. After a moment of searching, he finally found a stable place, and he walked into the upper floor.
Looking around, the whole second floor seemed to be just a single room and was almost completely bare save for one corner. From where he stood, the corner seemed to consist of a few cots and more wooden crates. Carefully, he made his way over to the cots, still using the chair leg to test the floor in front of him. About halfway down, he came to a section that sagged no matter where he tested. Seeing that he'd come this far, Ander decided to risk it, and very carefully crossed the section. He got a couple of steps in before the floor caved in underneath him. The rope tightened around his waist, the sudden force causing the air to leave his small body. He hit his head on the floor as he came careening down.
On the ground floor, the party had tried to track the Halfling's movements as he headed across the room. They listened to the tap of the chair leg and listened as he moved. Their movements were restricted though as Carric found more places in the floor that was too dangerous. Even though most of the floor seemed to just be built on packed dirt, they didn't want to take the chance of a sudden drop.
Suddenly, Ander burst down out of the ceiling a few feet ahead of them. Jun grunted behind them as he strengthened his hold on the rope. Ander flailed as he tried to find purchase, his breath coming in gasps. Iados and Carric were the first to reach him.
"Calm down, you're ok." Iados said as Carric grabbed his waist. The ranger motioned to Jun to give them a little slack. It took a few moments, but eventually Ander calmed down.
"I hate this place." He said as he hung in the air, supported by Carric's hands. "I really don't think there's anything up there, so just untie me."
"Are you sure?" Iados asked, meeting Ander's gaze. "What's up there?"
"Just a few cots and some crates." Ander said.
"Did you get to the crates?" Iados asked, and Ander shook his head.
"I fell before I reached them. They're over there." The Wizard told them as the pointed to a place about fifteen feet away.
"You're almost there Ander, surely you can make that?" Iados asked. "I promise, we'll be stationed underneath. What do you say? Aren't you curious about what's in the crates?" Ander looked up at the ceiling again, his lips pursed.
"Fine, I'll try again, but if I fall one more time, that's it." He said as he jabbed Iados in the chest.
"That's the spirit!" Iados cheered as he helped Carric gently raise Ander back up to the second floor. Kerri came up and handed them the chair leg that he'd dropped.
Ander was able to cross the rest of the room without any problems. Not even bothering with the cots, he went straight for the crates, but found that they were empty with only a few bits of rotten food stuffs clinging to the sides.
Carefully, he made his way back to the hole, and had Carric and Iados help him down, not even bothering to try to make it back to Jun. As they undid the rope from around him, he filled them on his discovery.
"Well, at least we don't have a reason to send you back up there." Lia said with a shrug. "Do you think there's anything else left to explore in here?"
"I don't think so, we might have better luck with one of the other buildings on this road." Elaine reached down to Ander and offered up a little healing.
"So, next building?" Jun as he headed towards the door, rolling up his rope as he walked.
Across the street was a dilapidated tavern with a sign that Lia translated as "The Falling Rock". The single-story structure was just as moldy and decrepitate from age as the Town Hall. Iados and Carric went around the back of the structure, while everyone else headed inside.
"Should we really be wasting time checking all this out?" Iados asked as the two men headed down the side of the building.
"I think we'd be stupid not to, at least a little bit." Carric kept his eyes peeled on their surroundings. "I mean, there's probably not anymore Owlbears around here. The two from yesterday were probably a mated pair, but who knows what else calls this place home."
"Woah," Iados came to a sudden stop as they turned the corner. Behind the tavern, was a bone pile. Carric didn't hesitate as he went in for a closer look. Iados came after a moment and helped him investigate the pile. After a couple of minutes, Iados went inside through a door on the back wall and fetched Elaine. With Elaine's help, her and Carric were able to identify possibly three or four dwarven skeletons, surrounding the bones of a large Owlbear.
"Well, at least some of them put up a fight." Elaine said. "We should bury them."
"Maybe we should just through the bones in the fire pit and let it burn." Carric suggested. "We've got a cold front moving in tonight, so that way we can get some warmth at the same time."
"Would that work? I don't know enough about Dwarven burial customs." Elaine admitted, and Carric shrugged.
"Neither do I, but at the very least they'll be in the pit with their breathen and not out here." Carric stood up and headed inside through the door they'd found in the back wall.
Stepping inside, he walked into a kitchen that was currently being rummaged in by Ander and Lia. A trapdoor next to the door was open, and Kerri and Iados currently had their heads inside.
"Are they all busted?" Iados asked loudly. Peeking over their heads, Carric could see the light from a Light spell illuminating the room.
"Looks like it," Jun's voice said from the cellar. "There's one that looks intact, but the vinegar smell coming off of it is strong."
"Anything else down there?" Kerri asked.
"Just another skeleton," Jun said. "He doesn't have anything on him."
"You guys find anything?" Carric asked, making his way over to the spellcasters. Lia had found a drawer with a couple of books, and was currently perusing them.
"A lot of bowls and pots." Ander said.
"Judging by this cookbook Stews and Such, I'd wager that this place specialized in stews and soups." Lia said with a smile. She stowed the cookbook in her pack. "Iados said you guys found bones?"
"Yeah, seems like the locals took down at least one Owlbear. We've agreed to put the bones in the fire pit we found before." Carric explained as he examined the pots. He grabbed the biggest one he could find and headed outside.
A few minutes later, he and Elaine were joined by the others and together they gathered up the bones and headed towards the Dwarven Cemetery just up the road.
With a few words from Elaine, they placed the bones in the pit.
"I wish we could do more." Lia said as Elaine finished her prayer.
"We can make sure their story is told." Kerri sighed and looked wistfully around the cemetery. "I'll write a song about what happened here, and sing it in every tavern I come to."
"They'll be included in my report to the Circle as well," Ander stood up straight, a determined look on his face. "We should head to the mine now. There should be more answers down there, hopefully." No one had any objections.
A/N: Onto the Mine! Hope you enjoyed the fun we had in the Settlement! Let me know how I'm doing in reviews! Till next time.
