Ragnrr and Alexander moved around the corner
to find there was a light coming from the room beyond the archway, and a
swordsman stood in the entrance with more behind him. This point man was
quickly run through, and two more swordsmen rushed into the hall to engage the
intruders. Alex's opponent seemed a match for him, but Ragnrr's
attacks were both savage and effective. After these two brigands
fell, one more swordsman still in the room began to back further away. Ragnrr and Alex rushed to engage him, but were not
surprised by the two additional fighters waiting to either side of the
entrance. Alex stabbed the one on the left through the head. Abraham
rushed into the room to attack the remaining brigand, and he and Ragnrr quickly took down their opponents.
Perpegilliam, whose courage had
mysteriously abandoned him, had hid in a cabinet he found in the last
room. Vladamir had gone back toward the
stairwell room and verified that the 20 men they had seen aboveground had not
pursues them underground yet.
When the sounds of combat ended, Perry emerged from his hiding
place. Finding that his courage had returned, Perry rejoined the others
and even volunteered to lead them down a hallway on the other side of the new
room. At the end of that short hall, Perry spotted a tripwire in the
entrance to another room. This large room had a crude tent set up in each
corner. Perry moved to investigate the nearest tent and found himself facing two purple humanoids about his own
size. As Perry attacked them, eight more rushed out of the other
tents. Ragnrr recognized them as creatures the
goblins had referred to as mites. Ragnrr and
Alex flung themselves into the fray, to which Abraham even added himself when
the number of mites had been cut down enough. Vlad
hung back and watched the battle impassively. Abraham took a nasty blow
from a club to his crotch, which made the entire party wince. The
encounter was a rout; other than Abraham, the party sustained only bruises,
while only one mite managed to escape by fleeing down a hallway to the right.
Perry searched the tents and turned up only a wooden
tankard. Ragnrr and Alex agreed to pursue the
mite down the right hallway. There was also a hallway to the left which
Perry scattered caltrops around. The party proceeded after the long-absent
mite, and abruptly had arrows fired at them. In the room at the end of
this hall were four mites, six goblins, and a hobgoblin archer waiting for
them. Ragnrr and Alex were met in the entrance
by the mites, who fell quickly. Ragnrr yelled
insults and obscenities at the other hobgoblin to incite him into seeking
melee, but the other hobgoblin simply flung out insults of his own while he
sent the goblins into melee. The battle against the goblins was slowly
taking its toll on Alex and Ragnrr, and it didn't
help when Perry tried to throw a dagger over Alex and hit him in the
back. Perry, determined to become involved in the combat, forced his way
around Ragnrr and managed to push the goblin Ragnrr had been fighting back into the room. The
combat now burst out of the narrowly confined hallway into the large open room,
and the adventurers were facing two to one odds. Perry was fighting as
viciously as the hobgoblins, who went up against each
other sword-to-sword. Perhaps Ragnrr was
fighting too viciously, because he swung his bastard sword into the wall and
shivered it.
The combat did not last long after that, because the hobgoblin
was felled by another party member, and all but one goblin was laid
low. The remaining goblin fled down a corridor in the far corner, which Ragnrr pursued him down. The rest of the party was
prepared to stay behind, but Ragnrr knew that the
corridor led to a staircase that went down to the next lower level, and a
large barracks. Unfortunately, Ragnrr missed a
flying leap and took a nasty tumble down the stairs. By the time he
managed to lift himself up, the goblin was gone. He returned to the
upstairs room, collected the other hobgoblin's longsword,
and followed the party back to the mite lair.
Upon returning, they could see by torch light that there was
somebody down the unexplored corridor now. Perry and Ragnrr
went to take a look, and saw six goblins in a room, but could not cross into it
because of all the caltrops Perry had spread in the hallway earlier. The
goblins ducked around to the sides of the entrance, and Perry and Ragnrr did the same. Ragnrr
called out to them in his own tongue that he had taken prisoners, and needed
help with them. Perry and Abe went along with this plan, and put their hands
behind their backs. They all walked carefully through the caltrops, and
sure enough, the goblins fell for it and let them into the room. The party
took them completely by surprise. Alex and Vlad
followed carefully into the room, and Vlad finished
the battle quickly by casting Color Spray. The adventurers, overcome with
battle lust, killed all six of the unconscious goblins.
By this time, everyone in the party except for Vlad (who had not yet broke a sweat), had several light
injuries. It was decided that the party needed rest, but the question lingered,
where could they rest safely...?
TO BE CONTINUED