Secrets revealed...

With the chores of the day done, and the kank herd milked and grazed, the small group of residents at the muddy water hole looked forward to a shared meal and the continuation of the old ashik’s tale. The old ashik had spent the day helping the elders of the village preparing the meagre meal and helping to repair some of the kank harnesses. But now it was time for him to do what he did best, tell his tale.

Having recovered from the fight with the crystal spider, and Arthur having found the gems that had caused him to enter the side room, the group agree that it is time to push onwards. Taking a more cautious approach Kank picks up a large stone and throws it down the passage to try and disturb anything hiding within its shadows, he hears it clatter along the floor in the dark and its noise is followed by nothing but silence. The group push on into the unknown and after a few yards they discover that the passage opens up into a large hall lined with statues. Major Drog’s words come back to them;

Pass through the Hall of Heroes and take the next right hand passage.

While the others waited at the edge of the hall Scar heads in to get a closer look at the statues. She finds that they are life size statues of dwarves, but not like the dwarves of Athas. These dwarves appear to be styled in some kind of close fitted armour, not carapace, and they have long hair and full beards. As Scar is inspecting the first of the statues on the right hand side of the room Kank decides to follow her in, but in doing so he gets entangled in some strands of crystal spider web. As he jerks from being caught on the razor sharp strands his foot slips on the loose footing as falls backwards driving the web further into his limbs and slamming into the ground.

The impact of Kank’s fall dislodges a section of the loose masonry in the ceiling and it falls on his prone body, but he is fortunate that it clatters off of his armour. Having winded himself Kank lays on his back considering the pain in his arm and leg were the web strands were cutting into him, he then heard Scar shout;

I think that I see some gems!

At the archway leading into the hall, Arthur realises that Scar means that she has seen another crystal spider within the hall and so he reaches down and grabs a handful of dust and throws it into the room in an attempt to see if he can detect the strands of the web. But the webs are more like long strands of glass and are not sticky and so his gambit doesn’t work. It is then that everyone spots the intense heat glow of the crystal spider deep within the room.

Kank manages to free himself of the webs just in time to be hit by the crystal spiders heat ray, he does manage to clamp his eyes shut just before it hits so that he is not blinded by the intense beam of light. Kank rolls onto his hands and knees and starts to crawl towards the hall entrance, but is unlucky enough to be caught once again in a drifting patch of web. Scar manages to get to Kank’s side and holding her torch high can make out the strands of the web and starts to disentangle the big Mul. As she is doing so she can hear the ominous sound of skittering in the dark.

Having managed to break all of the strands Scar grabs Kank by his armour harness and drags him back towards the hall entrance. Once she gets him clear of the room she goes about removing the strands of web still stuck in his wounds, as she pulls one out she causes more damage but eventually she manages to staunch the flow of blood from all of his wounds. The group crouch around the arch leading into the hall staring into the dark searching for any sign of the crystal spider, they raise their torch’s high and can see nothing of the monster out beast. The light does fall across the walls and shows them to be covered in bas-relief carvings depicting scenes of trade and commerce as well as scenes of the dwarves once again fighting against a tall human holding a crystal ball. Very similar to those seen in the howling tombs.

They agree to try and lure the crystal spider into a trap by using Kank as bait. The rest of the group hide out of sight along the passage and Kank does his best to act like he has collapsed from loss of blood and lays on the floor at the entrance to the hall. After almost twenty minutes nothing has happened and so Arthur decides to investigate the other small room, but as he approaches it he is caught up in more webs. With the help of Kank he frees himself and suggests a new plan. Arthur ties a chunk of the erdlu leg to a length of rope and they cast it into the room and manage to snag it on one of the webs, they wait with Arthur and Kank holding the rope ready to pull the spider into the open.

After several heartbeats they both spot the glow of the crystal spider high up near the ceiling of the hall, and Kank only just manages to dodge the resultant heat ray. Arthur shrugs and pulls in the chunk of erdlu leg with an expression of a dwarf who has discovered that his prey is far more intelligent than first thought. The group retreat once again and discuss how they are going to make it through the room. After a lot of fruitless ideas, eventually Arthur says that he will go first and clear a pathway through the webs for the others to follow. Arthur makes it to the statues without incident, the others tucked in close behind him as they caterpillar their way through the room, and he begins to proceed along the right hand wall.

As they move Scar shouts that she has been caught in some web and Kank, spotting a red glow within the darkness, shouts a warning just in time for Scar to close her eyes and not be blinded by the heat ray. The crystal spider disappears before the group have a chance to return fire. Balboa helps Scar free herself and the group push forwards once again. Just over half way along the back wall Arthur discovers that there are no longer any webs and shouts to the others that he is in the clear. Kank follows him out but Scar and Balboa once again get caught up in the razor sharp webs.

Kank spots the crystal spider start to glow in the darkness and swings his sling preparing to let loose a stone. Scar pushes on but as Balboa frees himself and takes a step forwards he is caught again by the razor web, and this time it is the final straw and Balboa is hung up like a broken marionette unconscious from loss of blood. Kank releases his sling stone and it firmly strikes the thorax of the crystal spider, but it does not stop it from firing its heat ray at Miloch. Miloch is hit but again the warning had been shouted in time for him to close his eyes and not be blinded. Miloch then frees Balboa from the web and carries him clear.

Scar quickly sees to Balboa’s injuries and fortunately is able to bring him back to consciousness. At the far side of the Hall of Heroes is a double door that is blocked by rubble, Arthur and Miloch start to clear away the rubble so that one of the doors can be opened while the others keep an eye on the hall with their ranged weapons ready. It does not take them long and soon Arthur is able to open one of the doors wide enough for Kank to slip through and see what is beyond.

Kank finds a passage on the other side of the door running off into the darkness, the wan light from the groups torches reveal that there is a large fissure bisecting the corridor and just beyond he can just make out a right hand turning. At that moment Kank spots that what he had first thought was more rubble, is actually a number of humanoid creatures slowly climbing to their feet and shuffling towards the opposite edge of the fissure. Kank quickly backs out of the corridor and tells the others what he has seen. The group decide that it is better to greet this new threat than continue to be picked off by the crystal spider and so they press forwards.

Arthur suggests diplomacy and so Balboa steps forwards towards the creatures shuffling and groaning on the opposite side of the fissure and says;

Greetings guardians of the tomb!

He is greeted with nothing but hollow eye sockets and graveyard groans. Having tried diplomacy, Balboa switches to his sling. But unfortunately it is as effective as his ambassadorial approach and he only manages to miss several times. Scar nocks an arrow and sends the shaft deep into the abdomen of one of the shuffling figures, but the accurate strike has little to no effect and the creature continues to shuffle along the edge of the fissure. They agree that they should charge into combat with what they now believe to be the undead, but before doing so, Kank convinces everyone to use one of the remaining jars of weezer honey to heal up. Then Scar casts a spell on both Arthur’s and Kank’s mauls, empowering them with the ability to cause more bludgeoning damage.

Kank calls upon the power of the earth and uses the ring to boost his strength and then he follows Arthur across the narrowest part of the fissure and into combat. Arthur swings his maul at the creature previously shot by Scar and smashes its left arm forcing it to drop its obsidian heavy mace. Another one of the creatures stabs at Arthur with a short spear but misses and then Kank breaks it leg with a clean swing of Bone Crusher, his maul. They both strike again, and again they both destroy a limb of their foe, but the creatures keep on coming. Those with legs and no arms attempt to kick, those with no legs continue to try and claw at the friends. No matter how much damage is done to them they will not die, again.

But Arthur and Kank had made a beachhead and pushed on allowing Scar to leap across the fissure and swing low with the mighty Sword of Kemalok slicing off one of the creatures legs. She swings again and removes one of its arms this time. Arthur swings yet again and destroys another leg, Kank’s overhead blow is parried by the creature that he is fighting but he does succeed in forcing it backwards clearing enough room for Miloch to leap across the fissure and join the fray. Miloch swings with his obsidian axe as he lands and catches one of the undead fighting Scar in the chest with a powerful blow. The creatures chest is destroyed and it collapses to the floor finally lifeless once more.

Yet more of the shambling undead stumble out of the darkness towards the battle and some of the group step forwards to meet them giving Balboa enough space to cross the fissure, but he stumbles as he jumps and lands awkwardly injuring both of his legs and rendering himself unable to walk. His heavy landing also dislodges stones form the ceiling and they fall onto not only himself but also Scar and Miloch. Finally the group get the upper hand and despatch the last of the undead creatures by smashing in their heads, but not before one of the creatures hits Kank in the chest with a heavy crunch of its club.

Balboa calls out in the darkness;

Excuse me! My legs appear to not be working!

Scar drops back to try and heal him while the others push slightly forwards to cover the adjoining passages. Scar finds that she cannot help Balboa with his injuries and so he calls upon the power of the gnomes of the earth to heal all of his wounds, using his last remaining spell of the day. He is just in time to hear Arthur call out that he has two more of the undead creatures shuffling in his direction from the passage that he is covering and then Kank shouts that there are another three coming from his.

Kank and Miloch fall back and the group prepares to fight the undead creatures on two fronts. The fight is fierce and short with the group again removing limbs at will but having to continue to battle the creatures until their chests or heads were destroyed. During the fight Miloch receives a damaging blow to his chest and Scar is hit in the midsection, and once the fight is done and the last of the creatures dies for the second time, Scar and Kank see to everyone’s wounds and bandages are applied.

The group of friends are battered and bruised and they have only made it two hundred yards into the underground complex. They continue to move looking for somewhere defendable to rest up and take the right hand passage. It leads into a square room with an exit in each wall, a large fissure is blocking the opposite archway and in doing so trapping another undead on the other side. Once again Major Drog’s instructions echo in their minds;

Head down the stairs to the aqueduct.

The passage out of the room to the right runs for almost fifty feet before it is blocked by a collapsed ceiling, the one to the left is around ten foot long and then turns left heading back towards the main corridor. Kank edges along it and looks around the corner to find a set of steps descending into the darkness. He retreats back to the others and they agree to rest up at the end of the blocked corridor, they set a watch and rest up.

Eight hours later, and with no surprises, the group set off once again. Before moving out Kank takes another of the weezer honey and then leads the group down the stairs. The stairs drop around sixty feet into the earth and eventually arrive in the middle of a huge circular tunnel that runs north to south. There is a short platform that runs along the edge of the tunnel twenty feet either side of the archway, Balboa states Major Drog’s directions out loud;

Travel south along the aqueduct for around twenty five minutes and you will find a ladder carved into the wall, the ladder is marked with a carved symbol of crossed hammers.

To travel south the group realise that they will have to climb down into the bottom of the circular tunnel, and before they set off Scar checks the archway they have entered through. She finds that it is marked with the carved symbol of an anvil. And so the group slid down into the bottom of the tunnel and headed south.

They travel past several side tunnels and ladders but none of them are carved with crossed hammers, until twenty five minutes into their journey they find what they are looking for. A carved ladder leads upwards into a dark tube and the base of the ladder is marked with the symbol that they have been looking for. Kank scales the ladder and finds that it ends at a covered hatchway, placing his feet firmly on the rungs of the ladder he braces his back against the stone cover and heaves. Slowly the cover moves and Kank finds himself looking into a town square with a low wall just behind him. He pulls himself out of the tunnel and takes up a defensive stance while his friends climbed up to join him.

Once he is stood in the square Kank realises that the low wall runs around what must have once been a well that dropped down into the aqueduct. The square is at least forty foot on each side and has four tunnels that lead off of it and a separate doorway positioned in the north west wall. Kank recalls what the Major said;

The ladder will open up into an old dwarven square, take the eastern path and turn right just after the temple and join the Great Dwarven Trade Route. You will need to travel ten miles along that road.

As the friends gather around the well Scar spots that beside the door is a chipped and faded painting of various plants. They move on down the east passage passing another doorway that Scar spots is painted with pictures of armour, and then a third painted with a picture of some pots. Arthur stops dead in his tracks;

Did you say armour? That needs investigating!

Scar agrees and so the pair of them head into what they believe to be an armourers shop and search. But their search proves fruitless and they find that the rooms are completely empty but for some debris. So once again they move on eastwards. As they scout forwards across the debris strewn passage Scar manages to trip and fall over, the impact of her fall causes the ceiling to collapse on both her and Kank. The impact knocks Kank to the floor and thus dislodges more of the fragile ceiling on top of them both. As Kank starts to push himself up to his feet he looks up and sees at the end of the passage four creatures.

Kank slowly climbs to his feet staring at the creatures, they are short, only four foot in height, and they have four arms. Each one of them has a javelin pulled back ready to cast. Kank shouts a warning and he and Scar dive for cover. Two of the javelins miss the pair of them, but the other two were aimed at the fragile ceiling and they both hit causing more rocks to fall and strike both Kank and Scar. They both hear Arthur shout;

They are Chitine! They set traps for unwary prey!

Kank shouts for everyone to retreat into the armourers, in the hope that the chitine will not be able to use their javelins, and as Miloch turns to enter he spots more of the creatures sneaking up behind the group through the shop. He shouts a warning and he and Arthur charge into the shop and into a melee.

Kank and Scar continue to back up but a second volley of javelins flys from the four chitine at the end of the passage. One of the javelins strikes Kank in the left leg and it buckles underneath him as he falls heavily to the floor. With their javelins cast two of the chitine rush in to attack the fallen Kank, carrying a shield in one of their hands and twin scimitars in two of their others. Kank is struck twice and manages to land a punch in retaliation crippling one of the chitines arms. Balboa swings his sling and hits one of the javelin throwing chitine in the leg forcing it to collapse to the ground.

Inside the armoury, Arthur and Miloch battle the three chitine. Arthur lands a heavy blow breaking the leg of one of the chitine, while Miloch slashes upwards with his obsidian axe slicing through another's midriff. With his reverse swing he cleaves it leg and the creature collapses to the floor. One of the chitine fighting Kank misses but its companion slashes down with both of its scimitars and severs Kank’s left leg, the big mul screams and passes out. Seeing this, Scar and Balboa charge in. Scar reaches the fight first and catches one of the chitine with a backhand cut but the creature continues to fight. Balboa slides in next to Kank and calls upon the power of the gnomes of the earth.

The chitine focus on Scar and one of them lands a heavy blow against her chest, she retaliates with a clean swing of the sword of Kemalok removing one of the chitines heads from its shoulders. Balboa’s powerful spell heals all of Kank’s wounds in an instant, but it is not powerful enough to regrow his severed limb. Kank sits up and stares down at his loss and says;

Fek! I’d only just got that back!