Savior
Chapter 16
They traveled for two days, alternating who got the bed all the way when they ran across a pathway. It went left, and it went right. Of course, Roy chose to go left.
They followed the path and came into a clearing. Around them, there were ruins around a central tree, a very dead tree. "I'm a Cleric, not a Druid. I am unable to bring it back to life," Meredith told them as they all stood around that tree.
"Spread out and search the ruins," Roy told them. "Doubtful anything is here, but looking won't hurt." So they separated and searched the grounds. Most of what they saw was ruins – the remnants of buildings. Only the base remained.
"Hey, let go!" Lanie yelped since something had her leg. Then, it was working on the other leg. "LET GO!" she shouted as she drew her weapon and hacked at the vine that had her. She finally freed herself just as Roy showed up.
He checked her over. "What happened?"
"That vine reached out and grabbed me," Lanie replied.
"Ah yes, an Assassin Vine. I've heard of those," Roy said. "Their berries make excellent wine. You just have to get past its attempting to kill you, is all."
"Yeah, well, I don't want your damn berries," Lanie told it and moved away.
They met back at the dead tree. "Anything?" Everyone shook their head. "Well, you can't blame a guy for trying." And they moved on from there down a path, which slowly vanished, leaving them to navigate the Forest itself.
oo0O0oo
They zigzagged their way north when they noticed another cave opening, which looked promising. Rick studied the tracks left outside of the cave and just inside of it. "Dragon tracks. I'd say about a week old, and no, I can't tell you how big or how old it is." Rick beat Kate to it as she closed her mouth. "Do we try it?"
"We do," Roy told him and let Rick go first.
"Oh, so now I'm first, am I? Thanks a lot…buddy," Rick said, but went first and followed the tracks.
This one was a winding path full of dead ends, or so they believed, given they didn't go down any of them. They went left, then right, straight, then left, then right again. Since it was dark, Roy had out his torch and held it up high.
They then had a choice of either left or right. Rick chose to go right, but that didn't matter because the left route met up with it later. Then they turned right and saw light up ahead. So Roy put out his torch, and everyone drew weapons and were ready.
But they didn't count on an awake Green Dragon waiting for them. It reared up and breathed on all of them. Like the others, it breathed a corrosive acid gas.
It wasn't as bad as they feared, but it still hurt. It hurt Kate the most, however.
Kate cast Fireball on it and did damage to it. The Dragon didn't seem to like that much at all.
Since it was within range, everyone charged it except for Rick and Kate. They each got a swing and hit it, doing damage.
In turn, the Dragon bit Roy since he was the closest and hit him, doing damage. Roy cried out from the pain. That bite really hurt.
Rick fired his four arrows and watched as all four bounced off its scales, doing no damage to it. Undaunted, he began to reload to fire again.
Kate cast Fireball on its backside away from the others, but still hit the Dragon.
The Dragon turned to flee and flapped its wings to escape, but they all got a chance to hit it. They were unsure just whose hit killed it, but it died.
Meredith hurried over to Roy, cast Cure Serious Wounds on him, and healed some damage. Then came the task of counting coins and casting Detect Magic.
No one went up a level after this encounter, but they did get closer.
They counted 2,468 gold, 4,225 silver, and 6,344 copper coins. They also found one magical item, which, after an Identify spell, turned out to be the Lyre of Building. The effect produced in only 30 minutes of playing was equal to the work of 100 humans laboring for three days.
They each got 411 gold plus one, 704 silver plus one.
"Not bad, not bad at all. We're lucky the Green Dragon was so young. Though I can't help but wonder what the treasure would be if that Dragon were older," Roy told them.
"Yeah, likely kill us all then," Rick countered. Roy only hummed his response.
oo0O0oo
Four days later, they were in the port city of Murann. It was a trading city, but most of their trading used ships. As a result, they had a lot of dock space.
They each went to the closest general store and purchased two weeks of trail rations. Then they located an inn and had dinner. When they finished, they went to their rooms, where Rick and Kate made love to each other, and Roy and Lanie did the same.
Come the morning, after using the restroom, they all paid for a hot bath, clean clothes, and breakfast. It was at breakfast that Roy the Lasher said his farewells. He was leaving them, intending to take a boat somewhere.
"You're certain? We're going to miss you," Rick told him.
"I'm sure," he responded. "I've been on my own for a while, and I like it that way." They each said goodbye, and the other Roy was gone.
"What now?" Kate asked them.
"We could stay for one more day," Roy offered.
"Good idea." Kate was all for that since she got to make love to Rick again, something not done in the tent.
They found Moonmaiden's Hall, a temple to Selûne, where they purchased more Cure Light Potions.
Then they found Sea Elf's Lover, a pricey feast hall and tavern where they ordered some Assassin Vine wine.
"This is Assassin Vine wine, is it? It's not bad," Lanie said and took another drink.
Then they returned to Asavir's Tankard, the inn where they were staying, and ate dinner. After that, they went to their rooms and made love to each other.
oo0O0oo
It was three days to the Small Teeth Mountains. It wasn't a forest like Kate would like it to be, but it was something at least.
The mountains were home to the Blue Dragon, Iryklathagra. No one messed with her; she was too big, too powerful. Word was that Iryklathagra drove out a pair of Brass Dragons and took over the mountain.
Historically, the Teeth were home to Hill Giants in a vast underground network of caves and tunnels within the Small Teeth.
They were also warned that the Small Teeth had twisting trails that often confused travels.
"Great," Kate moaned. "Knowing us, we'll get lost and end up underground fighting Hill Giants, Ogres, or whatever."
Well, Imnescar was the next town, followed by Purskul and the port city of Athkatla, a Capital City. The Cloud Peak Mountains were next.
"Come on, let's go and fight some Hill Giants. What do you say?" Rick asked them with enthusiasm.
oo0O0oo
It was three days to Small Teeth Mountain. Sure enough, they got lost immediately. They did it without even trying.
"Damn, we're lost." Kate stopped walking and looked around. "Hey, is that a cave over there?" She pointed, and Roy and Rick looked at it.
"Yes, it is. Looks promising. What do you think?" Roy asked Rick.
He got down and checked the tracks. "Footprints, big footprints like a Hill Giant. But these are faint. They haven't been this way for a while now."
"Then I guess we look." Roy drew his weapon, as did the others. There were only five of them now, but it had been worse. It used to be just the two of them. That seemed like a long time ago.
To begin with, it was dark but soon gave way to braziers on the walls. Not many, but it was enough to see by. They came across a stream running down the center of the cave. They heard growling, looked across the stream, and saw a wolf snarling at them.
Rick put four arrows in it and killed it. What they needed now was to find a way across. They created their bridge by moving rocks. Roy tried it and made it across. They all managed to cross safely.
From here, they saw a partial cave-in. There was just enough at the top for them to crawl up and go through. They made it one at a time. "I guess that explains why the footprints were so faint," Rick said.
No sooner than they accomplished this, then they heard growling. They looked and spotted another wolf. Rick put four arrows in it and killed it.
There was a second partial cave-in, but it was clear enough for them to walk it. The other side looked worked. Smooth floors, walls, and smooth ceilings that were 20 feet tall. Tall enough for a Hill Giant.
They saw three doors with a pair of double doors at the end. They tried the door on the right for a change. Inside, they saw a lot of sleeping Giants, too many for them to kill quietly. That and they were too close together.
Roy looked at Kate. "Can you do a Fireball?"
"I think so. Let me look first." Kate took a look and decided it might be safe. If she exploded on the back wall, there might not be enough blowback to reach her.
She stood up against the back wall, 20 feet from the door, and cast Fireball. It erupted, and the confinement forced the blast out the door but came short of her.
Of course, the sleeping Hill Giants all woke up burnt, damaged, and confused.
Kate cast another Fireball, and it erupted just like the last one.
Two Hill Giants escaped out the back door, confused and hurting. Two more escaped out the front door, straight into Roy and Lanie, who each attacked and killed them.
Kate cast a third Fireball. It blew up, killing everyone in the room, all eight of them.
From there, they went out into the intersection. They could go right or straight or go to the two doors on the left.
They wanted those two Hill Giants that escaped out the back door, which meant going straight to the doors. They opened them wide and saw the two damaged Hill Giants. They also saw a large Room of Terror. There were torture items all around the large room. The two Hill Giants spotted them and picked up a torture device.
Rick put four arrows into one of them, killing him. The other Hill Giant charged them with his improvised weapon. Lanie easily dodged the swing and swung her weapon, killing him.
In that room, they saw all kinds of torture devices and four columns holding up the ceiling. They also saw two openings and one door. They went through the door on the far side and saw a Hill Giant just getting out of bed to see what all the commotion was about.
Roy and Lanie hit him before he could armor up or even grab a weapon. They did damage to him but didn't kill him. He hit back with his fist and struck Lanie, but she shrugged it off. They then swung again, doing damage to him. He swung back while calling out for help. He missed and died moments later after being hit by Roy and Lanie.
They decided to search his room later. They saw an opening and went through it. What they saw surprised them. There were five holding cells, with someone in four of the five cells. All were unconscious and looked tortured, if not dead. They came to a door that turned right and saw three more cells with someone in two of them. They appeared to be all in the same condition: tortured, unconscious, if not dead.
They chose to go through the door. A Hill Giant wearing next to nothing confronted them. He was responding to the Hill Giant calling out.
Roy and Lanie both hit him, and Kate cast Magic Missile. They all did damage.
He swung back with his bare fist and hit Lanie, but she just shrugged it off and swung back as did Roy, while Kate cast Magic Missile, killing the Hill Giant. They decided to search this room and the room he came from later.
From there, they saw a door. They went inside and saw a conference room with papers and scrolls scattered everywhere.
They went back to the two doors they hadn't searched and saw it was a storeroom full of food and barrels of ale. From here, they decided to search the only opening they hadn't gone through yet and found four cells. Two had someone in them, while the fourth cell had collapsed in the back.
"What do we do now?" Kate asked them.
"There's one door we haven't gone through yet." Roy pointed at it. They opened it, and it led to a room full of all kinds of weapons lined up on the walls. There were four columns holding up the ceiling.
There was also a portcullis and a door beyond that, which appeared locked.
They searched the space for gold.
They found 2,566 gold, 5,556 silver, 6,344 copper pieces, and one magical item. Kate cast Identify on it and learned it was a +1 Shield of Absorbing. This +1 heavy steel shield is flat black and seems to absorb light. Once every two days, on command, it can disintegrate an object that it touches, as the spell but requiring a melee touch attack.
"Fascinating," Roy said. They gave it to Meredith for now, even though she didn't do much.
None of them went up a level after this encounter, though they were that much closer.
They decided to go back to those tortured, and after finding the keys, they released them. They told them they were free now with plenty of food to last them quite a while.
Of the eight prisoners, one wanted to come with them. He didn't want to stay there or be set free.
"What's your name, Dwarf," Rick inquired.
"Javier. I am a first-level Fighter and a seventh-level Dragon Disciple. I am a Brass Dragon Disciple, meaning I am Chaotic Good. I have great strength."
They talked about it among themselves. "You can come, but there is no armor for you. We'll share our food and give you a weapon, but that's as good as it gets until we can reach a town," Rick told him.
"Thank you. I accept your kind offer. I will prove my worth," Javier vowed. "I have two breath weapons. One is a Line of Fire; the other is a Cone of Sleep. You will not regret this."
"How were you captured?" Rick asked.
"I got separated by the others – all of them were Dwarves – and found myself surrounded by Hill Giants. I killed two of them but was captured and tortured for days on end."
Meredith cast Cure Serious Wounds on him, and they gave him two potions of Cure Light Wounds to recover some of his wounds; not all of them, but a lot of them.
They were now standing in front of the portcullis and the gate beyond. Roy stared at them. "I wonder what they're trying to keep out?"
Javier tried to get used to his new weapon. He was busy swinging it everywhere. He got Rick's old +1 flaming sword with Keen.
"I believe we should find out what that is," Rick told them.
Javier stood next to Kate. "You are an Elf."
Kate nodded. "Yes, I'm a High Elf."
"Unlike others of my kind, I have no problem with Elves," Javier told her.
"Good to know," Kate said, then turned her attention to what was happening up front.
"The lever to lift the portcullis is on this side," Roy said. He pulled it, and up the portcullis went. Next came the door. "This is locked."
"KATE!" Rick called out.
"That's my cue." Kate stepped up to the door, cast Knock on it, and watched as both doors swung open, revealing a set of stairs going down. There were braziers on the wall, softly lighting a little of the stairs.
"Any guesses on what we'll find down there," Rick asked them.
Meredith offered her choice. "A Dragon, maybe. Meaning that we run. Because if it's behind a locked door and a portcullis, it must be powerful."
"Well, my money is on it not being a monster," Roy said. "I mean, the stairs are lit. What kind of monster lives in a lit space?"
"Let's stop talking about it and find out," Lanie told them. "You go first." She looked at Roy when she said that.
"Thanks. Thanks a lot," Roy told her and went first. He went down the stairs for about 60 feet. "Another door. Whatever is on the other side was meant to stay down here."
"Kate, you're up," Rick told her.
"What we need is a Rogue to unlock these doors instead of me Knocking them," Kate told them, but still, she cast Knock and watched as the doors opened.