| DM | 2nd Newmont
The following morning you are having breakfast when an old woman in bad
quality clothes runs into the inn wailing. |
| Woman | It's there again!
It's there again! |
| Harry | [Waddles over to
her and tries to calm her] Now then Mistress Maise, what is the matter?
|
| Maise | [Continues
hysterically] Them noises are back! It's the Orcs in my cellar I'm
certain. They're going to break in and steal my maidenhood just like my old
mother said. |
| Harry | [Glances at you
in a way that implies this is not unusual behaviour for her] Are you
certain Maise? It did turn out to be a squirrel last time. |
| Maise | [Goes from
terrified to furious in seconds] Of course I'm sure you great lummox, it's
the Orcs. |
| Harry | [Looks slightly
panicked] I'll tell you what. Here's a fine group of friends...
[Gestures in your direction]
...who I'm sure would be willing to go into your cellar and find out exactly
what's causing the noise... |
| Maise | [Starts to say
something] |
| Harry | ...and kill them
if it's the Orcs. [Looks plaintively at you] |
| Narond | [Raises his
eyebrow and looks in the direction of Harry]
[Turns to Maise] Well, I am sure we can accommodate looking around your
cellar in our busy schedule, for a small fee of course. |
| DM | She seems to be trying
to decide if this is an insult or not. |
| Maise | I'm a poor old
woman you know. I can't afford much. |
| DM | Her attitude changes.
|
| Maise | ...but it would be
nice to know that the Orcs in my cellar are gone. I'll give you 3 tendrids
each for your help. |
| Harry | [Nods gently in
your direction from behind her] |
| Narond | That will be fine
since you are a friend of Harry. We have some time right now to investigate if
you want to lead the way... |
| DM | The woman leads you out
of the inn and down a small alley into the back streets of the city. You enter
a small house and she takes you to her kitchen. |
| Maise | The cellar is down
there. [Points to a trapdoor next to the brick oven] |
| Dreylin | [Waits for
someone larger to open the trapdoor] |
| Leanna | [Opens the
trapdoor and peers down] OK, there's a ladder leading down here. Shall we
lower a lantern down on a rope and go down after it - after all, just opening
the trapdoor should have alerted anything down there to our presence, so we
might as well make it easy on ourselves? |
| Dreylin | Sure, why not.
|
| DM | You do that then. The
light illuminates a smallish room and you climb down after it. The ladder is
next to the western wall of a rectangular room.
The room has a dry dirt floor and contains several sacks piled up against the
walls. A bag of rather old apples is spilled. A scratching noise is coming
from the south-east corner of the room. |
| Leanna | Let's leave the
lantern on the floor, draw weapons and investigate. |
| Narond | I concur.
[Gestures for Leanna to lead the way] |
| Leanna | [Leads the
way] |
| Dreylin | Unbind our
weapons? |
| DM | You do so.
As you head towards the corner you see a medium sized rat come scurrying out.
It looks at you and then vanishes behind some bags in the corner. |
| Dreylin | [Heads
towards the corner] |
| DM | No more noises come from
it. All you can see are a pile of bags. |
| Leanna | I suppose we'd
better shift the bags. |
| Dreylin | While making
certain not to be bitten by feisty rodents, of course. |
| DM | You move the bags aside
and find a reasonably sized opening.
Dreylin can easily walk into it while the rest of you have to stoop. It leads
away into darkness. |
| Leanna | [Examines the
passage, to see whether it looks like it was designed into the cellar, whether
it's finished or rough, and so on] |
| DM | Definitely not. It looks
like it's been tunneled in from the outside. |
| Dreylin | [Grimaces] I guess I'll lead, if someone'll follow me
with a lantern. |
| DM | You wander down the
passage. Over time you notice an increasingly appalling smell. You reach a
fork in the tunnel. Left or right? |
| Leanna | [Tries to
discern whether the smell's coming from one direction in particular, and if
it's of anything recognisable] |
| DM | It's coming from the
right hand passage. Decomposing vegetables maybe? |
| Dreylin | Let's not
follow the smell. |
| DM | You take the left hand
fork.
It runs straight for a while and then splits again. Left or right? |
| Leanna | Let's go left
again. |
| DM | You go left. After 30 or
40 feet the tunnel comes to an abrupt dead end. |
| Leanna | [Quickly checks
around for doors and the like] |
| DM | You all look around.
Shianara finds an unusual crevice in the rock and with some wiggling manages
to get his hand stuck in it. With a little help he extricates it. On close
inspection it turns out to be an usual crevice. |
| Leanna | Back and go right
at the previous junction? |
| DM | The tunnel widens a bit
and then breaks into a T-junction. |
| Leanna | Left again?
|
| DM | You follow the passage
left and find that it widens enough to stand.
After a short way it opens out into a room approximately 40 feet square.
It is dusty and contains only some old boxes. A ladder stands against one
wall and extends up to a trapdoor. |
| Dreylin | Shall we take a
peek? |
| Leanna | [Looks around
to see if this looks like this is another cellar like the one we came in
by] |
| DM | Looks like it. |
| Leanna | This may not be
what we're looking for. We should investigate the other passages before trying
that trapdoor... So straight back out and along the other branch of the
junction? |
| Narond | Go on then
Dreylin have a quick peek if you want, but I am more interested in checking
out the other tunnels to find out what is behind these tunnels in the first
place. |
| Dreylin | If we are
assuming that this isn't our destination, I think that we should try to
discover approximately where we are for reference, and to see what sort of
places these 'Orcs' want to get into... |
| Leanna | Whilst I take
your point, I don't really want to get in trouble for breaking into someone's
house just for the sake of seeing where we are - after all, if we find these
'orcs' first we can 'ask' them nicely! And if they don't tell us, we can come
back here afterwards and solve the mystery after the event. |
| DM | As your eyes adjust you
see that there is another roughly hewn exit from the other side of the cellar.
|
| Dreylin | Shall we carry
on this way then? |
| DM | You pass the cellar and
into the passage beyond. The passage becomes smaller again and takes a sharp
left and then a right some distance later. As you approach the second turn you
see light shining round it. You can also hear the sound of tools scraping
earth and rock. |
| Dreylin | [Whispers] If the ceiling doesn't rise around this
corner, it looks like I'm the only one of us who'll be able to fight
effectively... I suggest those of you with ranged weapons get ready to
threaten to use them. |
| Leanna | Agreed.
[Locates her shortbow] |
| DM | Dreylin creeps around
the corner.
Dreylin creeps back round the corner. |
| Narond | I presume from
the lack of screaming and shouting, that there was nothing and no-one there
then?... What did you find? |
| Dreylin | [Whispers] There's a cavern just around the corner -
looks like you guys'll be able to stand up. There's three humans working on
the far wall. They've got daggers, but I reckon if we stay on this side and
threaten them with bows we can hope they'll surrender without a fight...
|
| Leanna | So let's walk in
quietly and announce our presence? |
| Dreylin | OK, follow
me... |
| DM | The passage widens into
a reasonably large earthen cavern. The floor is muddy and the walls and
ceiling are held up by planks and beams of wood. Muddy water drips in from
above and gathers in a pool. At the far end of the passage, three large men
work with shovels at the wall. They appear to be digging more of the tunnel
and loading the earth onto several large wheelbarrows.
You make enough noise that one of them looks round. He stares at you for a
moment, during which his companions notice you too.
All of them look deeply surprised. The man who turned first speaks,
tentatively. |
| Man | Can we help you?
|
| Leanna | [With a trace
of irony, her voice rising slightly as she finishes] Er, perhaps you
can... My companions and I were just passing through when we happened to hear
the sound of digging, and being curious types we just wondered what in the
name of Asterius was going on? |
| Man | [Relaxes a
little] Oh I see. We're digging sewers. You don't think Darokin City stays
so clean by judicious washing do you?
[Pauses a moment and eyes your array of weapons] So, how exactly are
you 'passing through' Darokin's sewer system? |
| Leanna | [Smiles and
lowers her bow slightly] Well, we're in search of orcs. Had a report of
some mysterious noises coming from a cellar and came to investigate. I wasn't
aware that sewers usually ran through private persons' cellars though, we've
passed through a couple already? |
| Man | Orcs? [Laughs a
little] There's not much chance of them this far from the border. And yes
we're aware of the cellar problem. That's part of why the authorities have
ordered this new building phase. The old systems have broken through in a
number of places. It's a nightmare during the wet season, I can tell you.
|
| Leanna | I'm sure. How
fascinating... [Smiles again]
So where are these new sewers going to and from? I hope they're not letting
you three do the entire network on your own! |
| Man | [Smiles] No,
we're only contractors. We're supposed to do...
[Pulls a piece of paper from a pocket and consults it] ...10 feet of
this tunnel today. Now you mention it I'm not sure where it goes.
[Pauses for a moment, then gestures to your weapons] Don't get me
wrong, but are you going to put those down? |
| Leanna | Sorry, sorry.
[Lowers her bow fully] Well, I suppose that we really ought to be on
our way. Sorry to have disturbed you. |
| Man | No problem. Let us
know if you find any Orcs!
[Laughs a bit and turns back to the wall, hefting his shovel as he
goes] |
| Dreylin | Wait a minute,
Leanna! [Turns back to the 'contractors'] So who is it you're working
for then? |
| DM | The leader turns back
from the wall. |
| Man | If you're really
interested, we work for the Streets and Sewers Department of the Council of
Darokin City. They sign the authorisations and plan the routes. [Waves his
piece of paper at you] |
| Narond | [Grabs the
piece of paper for a quick look]
All seems quite satisfactory. |
| DM | The man takes the paper
back and turns back to his work. |
| Leanna | [Out of
earshot] Well they seemed innocent enough... Although I can't help
wondering whether they're really being employed by the authorities...
Shall we go back and check the other forks now? And does anyone think it
would be worth splitting up and leaving some of us to check out where these
guys go when they clock off? |
| Narond | They certainly
seemed innocent enough, and if they were not being paid by the authorities
then they had a damn good forgery of the documentation, cos it looked pretty
good to me. |
| DM | Your only way from here
is to go back the way you came. |
| Leanna | Shall we just go
back and explore the forks we avoided previously? |
| Dreylin | Sounds like a
good plan. |
| DM | You wander back through
the cellar (the second one, not the one you entered through) and on into the
narrow passage again. Eventually you reach the last fork. (You originally came
from your right.) |
| Dreylin | Left then?
|
| DM | You wander down the left
fork.
After a while you notice a turn off to your left. The tunnel also continues
straight on. |
| Dreylin | Shall we
investigate this branch? |
| Leanna | Fine by me.
|
| DM | You take the left branch
and find yourself wandering along a tunnel that is darker and more unpleasant
than before. It curves gently leftwards for a fair way. After a while you turn
a corner and see light ahead of you.
A group of creatures seem to be excavating a tunnel. There are about 10 of
them. They are approximately Dreylin's size and resemble cross-breeds of a hin
and a spaniel. A large group of them is struggling with a beam of wood which
they seem to be trying to wedge in place between floor and ceiling. You notice
that several of these beams have already been placed.
Several of them see you. They let go of the beam which falls sideways and
hits another one. They scurry to the next beam and try to brace it. The
ceiling bulges ominously and dirt starts to fall. One of them turns to you.
|
| Creature | [In guttural
Darokinian] Well help us, or we'll all be killed. |
| Leanna | [Mutters]
Let's try and keep a couple of people back...
[Goes to help them] |
| Dreylin | [Moves to
help] |
| Narond | [Remains
back] |
| Berillia | [Moves
forward to help out, motioning to Shianara and Habib to stay put] |
| DM | Dreylin, Leanna and
Berillia rush forward to help. As they get near the pole the creatures holding
it make a run for it.
The pole collapses taking a fair amount of the ceiling with it. The three who
were near it are thrown to the ground by the ensuing fall of rubble, along
with a number of the small creatures.
Those creatures (which you decide match the description of kobolds) still
standing make a dash for the exit. |
| Leanna | Idiots. [Grabs
the nearest kobold and tries to drag him to relative safety] |
| Dreylin | [Scrambles
towards the nearest Kobold and attempts to capture it] |
| Narond | [Remains in the
tunnel, making sure none of them can leave the area] |
| Berillia | [Looks very
annoyed and attempts to block their exit] |
| Shianara | [Keeps hold
of the one nearby, and tries to pick out a leader] |
| DM | The standing Kobolds
scatter and a few head for the exit, which is now blocked by Habib, Shianara
and Narond. All three of them make a grab for the nearest of the little
creatures and stop them leaving. The kobolds swing away from the exit in
panic.
Leanna and Dreylin both manage to extricate themselves from the rubble before
the nearest kobolds do. Dreylin grabs the near one and holds tightly onto it,
despite its complaining. Leanna drags hers away from the rubble but keeps a
tight hold.
Berillia, who took the worst of the rockfall, seems to be unable to extrcate
her legs. |
| Dreylin | Right you
little pest, what did you do that for!? [Shakes his captive a
bit] |
| Kobold | I was scared.
You're not supposed to be down here and the roof was falling in and the hooded
blokes get really mean if we get things wrong and so Woggle over there
whispers 'let go' so we do. Two rats with one rock and all that. |
| DM | He shakes a bit and
tries to nip your hand (although not in a really aggressive way). |
| Dreylin | Aha, Hooded
Blokes(tm)! That's interesting. Tell you what, we'll promise to let you go and
not to hurt you if you tell us everything you know about these Hooded Blokes
of yours... Deal? |
| Leanna | [Shakes her
kobold a bit to demonstrate her annoyance with it and then loosens her grip a
little, repeating Dreylin's offer]
My comrades down there will stop you escaping if you do anything stupid, but
as my friend said, we have no great desire to hurt you. I do, however, want to
help my friend there, so I'm going to let you go. But I'd really appreciate it
if you gave me a hand with moving these rocks.
[Shakes it a bit more, but not as much as before, then lets go and goes to
help Berillia] |
| DM | Dreylin and his kobold
keep talking while a panicked kobold runs past them. It launches itself at
Habib but fails to get past him.
Leanna starts helping Berillia and is joined by the sheepish looking kobold
she had hold of. After a moment they free her legs and help her up. |
| Berillia | Ow. Ow ow.
[Examines her bruises and glares at the kobolds] |
| DM | The other kobolds run
around in panic. One escapes between Shianara's legs and hares off down the
passageway. |
| Berillia | Stand still
NOW. Or lose your third dimension. [Grabs her hammer] You do NOT get to
drop ceilings on me! |
| DM | Berillia swings her
hammer in a menacing manner and the few remaining kobolds freeze. A couple
escape down the corridor but the rest just stand and look petrified. Leanna
drags hers towards the rest of you while Dreylin's seems to come reasonably
quietly.
The ceiling of the cavern groans ominously. |
| Dreylin | [Secures a
firm grip on his 'friend'] I suggest a little more haste may be in order.
[Sets off towards the safety of a non-threatening-to-collapse part of the
corridor] |
| Berillia | [Follows
quickly] |
| DM | You run out of the room
dragging various kobolds with you. Those that you're not holding on to scurry
after you and hare off down the passageway.
Dreylin's kobold whimpers a little. |
| Leanna | Before we were so
rudely interrupted by the roof, I believe we were asking our friends here who
they were working for? [Looks pointedly at her pet kobold] |
| Dreylin | Calm down, just
tell us what we want to know and you're free to go. |
| Kobold | Well these hooded
blokes told Woggle that we could build a nest under the city and they would
give us gold and money and beadwork and stuff. So Woggle says like OK that
sounds easy and the hooded blokes say we have to dig tunnels between various
locations as well as the tunnels to our nest. Well we're like tunnellers
anyway so Woggle thinks that's like being paid for what we do already so
Woggle says yeah that sounds fine. So here we are tunnelling and watching out
for strangers cos the hooded blokes don't like other people and then...
well... then it was now. Can I go now?
[Grins hopefully] |
| Dreylin | [Glances at
the rest of the group] I think that we might want to pay these hooded
blokes a visit... and we might want you to lead us there. |
| Leanna | [Nods] At
the very least, we'd like to know where the tunnels they want you to build are
or are intended to be, and when and where you'll next be meeting your
employers. I guess you think they might think that you're crossing them, so if
you don't want to come yourselves I think we'll understand. |
| Narond | Indeed we should,
these guys may be of interest, it would also be useful to know the locations
of the other tunnels that have been, or will be created.
[Grins at Leanna] |
| Leanna | [Grins
back] |
| Berillia | [Sighs
theatrically] |
| Kobold | I don't know much
about the tunnels. They link up various houses in the city. There aren't that
many at the moment and we've only been digging for a month or two. Obviously I
want to help you but I think meeting the hooded blokes might be the end of me
and Woggle and all the rest. [Whines a bit]
I can't lead you to the blokes cos I don't know where they live. They come
here to see us not the other way if you follow me. If you stay long enough
they might come, we occasionally see them digging tunnels themselves.
|
| Leanna | What do you plan
to do now? Are you going to stay on at your nest or are you afraid the hooded
blokes will be angry with you? If you're thinking of leaving, can you tell us
where your nest is so we can wait for the blokes there? |
| Kobold | Well, Woggle's
the doge and he's run off. But if I were doge then I'd say we leave the city
pronty and go back to the hills. Less beadwork but less danger that's what I
say. I can draw you a map to the nest if you promise to let me go. |
| DM | His eyebrows wobble a
bit. |
| Leanna | That sounds like
an amicable agreement to me. If you could mark any tunnels you've dug on
behalf of these gentlemen on the map as well, we'd be most grateful. |
| Kobold | Any parchment?
[Takes parchment offered by Leanna]
He draws a rough map with a piece of charcoal. The nest appears to be down a
long tunnel attached to the one you're in. After passing through another room
the route gets a little complicated but it seems clear enough. |
| Dreylin | And whereabouts
were the hooded dudes digging? |
| Kobold | [Draws a few
extra bits on the parchment] We saw them digging here. |
| DM | He seems to be pointing
to the far side of the cellar you came in. It looks like there is another
tunnel leading off it. |
| Leanna | Do you know where
this tunnel was intended to lead? |
| Kobold | They don't tell
us that kind of thing. Just dig here. |
| Leanna | Thank you very
much for your assistance. I would heartily recommend that you leave the city
as soon as possible as the next group of men you encounter may not be so
forgiving as we have been on this occasion.
[Lets them go] |
| Dreylin | Well I think we
ought to investigate where these blokes have been digging and try and find out
what they might be up to before we confront them... |
| Narond | A good idea, we
should approach with caution, potentially sending someone quiet ahead of us as
we approach the digging location to scout ahead. |
| Leanna | I can happily
sneak if no one else wants to? |
| Dreylin | Yeah, you could
sneak... but without a lamp you wouldn't be able to see much, and lamps aren't
really conducive to surprise, are they? |
| Leanna | True, although I
have a hooded lamp for just such a purpose and I would assume in any case that
they'll be working in a lit area. |
| Dreylin | That does rely
really on them needing light, and on you seeing theirs before they see yours.
Why don't I go, since I can see in the dark much better than you... |
| Leanna | If you like.
|
| DM | Dreylin wanders off down
the tunnels. |
| Shianara | [Considers
comparing the kobold's map to his map of the city] |
| DM | You can't at this
moment. Dreylin has it with him!
Dreylin has been gone for about 15 minutes now. |
| Leanna | Should we try and
find Dreylin, or just wait here? I expect he's managed to get himself nearly
killed by now. |
| Narond | Well based on
past experience... he probably has, but we haven't heard any screams as yet,
perhaps we should proceed, slowly and with caution, though I believe he has
the map... |
| DM | The remainder of the
party make their way down the tunnel that Dreylin went down.
After a few minutes they meet Dreylin coming the other way. |
| Narond | Hi Dreylin, find
out anything useful? Did you see anyone at all? |
| Dreylin | Yeah, and I
think that now would be an excellent time to go to the Authorities!
I followed the path the Kobold set out for us until I reached this cellar
here, [Indicates his route on the map] where I saw two guys burying
something which looked like it might have been a body.
They finished, moved some barrels over the spot and the went away from us
through this passageway. [Again indicates the route on the map] I
followed them to this corridor which wasn't marked, and led eventually to
another cellar where they climbed through the ceiling.
If there's a body involved, we need to get the local law involved ASAP so
they don't think it's down to us... |
| Narond | Do you only think
it might be a body or are you sure, because telling the local law enforcement,
and paying the required daros to get a reasonable response when there isn't a
body would be useless. We should probably go and find out what/who it is, and
perhaps leave a number of people should the suspicious persons return and move
it. |
| Leanna | Well if Dreylin
is reasonably certain it was a body we do have the employment of kobolds issue
to back us up, and it might be better for us not to risk alerting the blokes
to our knowledge of their obviously fiendish plans (by risking them coming
back while we dig up the body). |
| Narond | Ah yes, those
kobolds who we told to get out of town and not come back... I am sure they
will come back and give evidence if required. [Looks unconvinced]
I still think we should gather more information before we report anything to
the authorities, we can have someone watching the cellar they used while the
remainder of us check out the body. At the very least we need a number of
people to remain hidden watching the location should they return. |
| Leanna | There will be at
least one kobold body in amongst the pile of rubble, however.
Besides, it's reasonable to assume that there is a collapsed house somewhere
up on the surface, and they might be interested to hear why that happened.
|
| Narond | A fair point,
though they would probably have to send sewer workers to investigate...
|
| Leanna | To be honest I'm
not too bothered either way, but I think we probably could go to the
authorities if that was the general consensus.
While we're debating this, why don't we follow Shianara's suggestion of
comparing his map of the city with the kobolds' map of the tunnels and see if
we can work out what they're doing - that might swing the going to the
authorities argument - if we could see they were trying to blow up the mayor's
residence or something. |
| DM | You compare the maps.
It becomes pretty obvious that the scales don't match. |
| Leanna | Oh well. So if we
want to get any mileage out of this idea we'll need to go back up to the
surface and find the collapsed house on both maps. |
| Dreylin | Oh for goodness
sake! [Throws up his arms in exasperation] You don't think the whole
thing with unknown blokes digging tunnels under the city is enough to get the
authorities interested - that only a body would be enough to get them
involved!?!?!?
Anyway, I choose to believe that if we went to a guardhouse and told them
about this, they wouldn't really be likely to charge us before they did
something about it!
I'm a law-abiding Hin, and I do not want to be discovered digging up a body
in someone else's cellar. You can feel free to go and dig it up - and I agree
that the room should be watched - but I'm going to the authorities with or
without you. |
| Leanna | So Dreylin,
you're convinced it was a body. I see no reason to doubt you, and I don't have
any great desire to dig up the hole and risk tipping our hand viz a viz the
blokes knowing we know about them. On the other hand, since the authorities
have absolutely no knowledge of the body at present, I don't see that there is
necessarily any great urgency in alerting them straight away if we can do some
more investigating to strengthen our case in the meantime. After all, we have
a perfectly good (if slightly bizarre) reason for being down here in the first
place, and reliable witnesses to back our story up - no not the kobolds, the
old lady and our landlord who introduced us to her in the first place.
[Grins]
Not to mention a halfway competent lawyer who won't demand huge legal fees
from you in case of dire emergency. (That would be me by the way).
So as I say, I don't have any strong opinion. I don't think the body can be
linked convincingly to us; I think we have enough evidence to get the
authorities involved; but I don't know if we have enough hard evidence to get
them involved in a meaningful (or useful) way. |
| Dreylin | My Uncle once
told me a story about when he and my Mother were growing up. He was a bit of a
tearaway as a youth - still is really, I suppose - anyway, as the elder
sibling my Mother felt some responsibility for him. One day she discovered him
under the stairs with a handful of cookies he'd just liberated from Nana's
baking, so being all responsible confiscated them and went to put them back in
the jar. As she was doing so, Nana caught her and punished her despite her
protestations that it was Uncle Dreylin who was really to blame and that she
was just returning them.
[Looks at Leanna and Narond] I'm not saying that we wouldn't be able to
talk our way out of it, though a batty old Lady with 'Orcs' in her basement
can't be the most credible witness! It's just that if, for example, the owner
of the cellar decided to move his barrels and discovered the body, he's likely
to go to the law. They know we've been down here, from the old Lady and the
sewer workers we encountered earlier and so suspicion will naturally fall on
us. Once that's happened, they're far less likely to believe in a pack of
Kobolds working for group of hooded blokes than they are if we talk to them
now.
Ultimately, a crime has been committed here, and it's not our responsibility
to investigate it... or to put it in a way which might carry more weight with
you both, there's no guaranteed financial gain from continuing without further
authority... |
| Narond | However you are
assuming that a crime has been committed. These gentlemen may or may not have
killed the person, could it be the body of an animal, kobolds, or something
else, unless you have an idea as to the type of body deposited, it could be
anything. There are too many unknowns here. Indeed you yourself mention the
prospect of someone coming down to the cellar, there is no guarantee that
anyone will, there is no guarantee that it is owned by anyone...
However, since you are insistent to go and tell the authorities I suggest you
do so, and go with all bar a couple of other members of the party, the
remainder will stay here to watch the cellar should the blokes return, and
will await your return with news or persons of authority. Since without a
group staying here it would be too easy to lose any trail. It also would be
useful to find out where they exited from the sewers that they took leads to,
we should at least make a note of it on one of our maps for comparison with
actual maps of the sewer system, so the house can be approached from above
ground as well. |
| Dreylin | [Pauses for a
moment, cocks his head to one side and mutters to himself for a little
while]
[Focuses on Narond again] In answer to your lengthy speech, [Counts
off on his fingers]
One; you don't think that digging unauthorised tunnels into people's cellars
might count as a crime!?
Two; the fact that there was fresh meat and barrels in the cellar kind-of
suggests that someone might own it.
Three; how are we likely to lose the trail, the sewers aren't going to move
while we're away - though I am forced to agree with you that someone should
stay and watch.
and Four; I did mark the cellar where they climbed out on the map,
[Obtains the map and points at the newly-marked cellar] see, just
here... |
| Narond | Lengthy speech?
You know you really should pay attention as to how long your stories go on for
sometimes... [Looks pointedly at Dreylin]
You are still assuming the people were doing something wrong, they may have
been given authorisation by the owners of the cellars, apart from the old
ladies, not that I actually think that has happened, I was merely pointing out
the assumptions in your conclusions. There was fresh meat in the cellar...
well now you didn't mention that, or I didn't catch you say that.
[Looks where Dreylin has pointed] Oh, so you have, well perhaps we
should split up and leave a couple of people here while the remainder head
above ground... |
| Dreylin | [Sighs]
Marvellous. First you tell me I talk too much, then you criticise me for not
telling you absolutely everything... make your mind up! I suppose you'll also
want to know that the men were dressed in nondescript clothing, and they used
a ladder to climb out of the cellar? |
| Narond | There is a
difference between talking and saying something. |
| Dreylin | Anyway, since
you seem to have decided that I'm allowed to go and talk to the Authorities,
how do you suggest we split the party... Oh no, let me guess - you and Leanna
stay here and the rest of us go back to the surface... |
| Narond | I haven't decided
you are allowed to go, you had already decided that for yourself, I was
attempting to get on with it. I care not who remains and who goes back to the
surface to be honest. |
| Leanna | I will happily
stay if needed, but by preference I'd like to go back outside and see what's
happening out there. |
| Berillia | I'll go back
as well. |
| Leanna | Might I suggest
that we mark a few rough measurements of the tunnels on the underground map as
we go to make comparisons easier?
Dreylin, I forgot to ask - do you think you would recognise those men again?
I know you said they were fairly nondescript, but just wondered whether you
could pick them out yourself even if there wasn't enough of interest to
describe them to anyone else? |
| Dreylin | I very much
doubt it - the light was low, and I didn't want to get too close for risk of
being spotted. |
| Leanna | OK. |
| DM | You wander to the cellar
where the 'body' was buried. Shianara, Habib and Narond elect to stay there
and keep watch. The rest of you head off to get the authorities. |
| Dreylin | How about we go
out the way we came in... |
| Leanna | Sounds like the
best plan to me - much as I'd love to explore the house the blokes went up
through it sounds a bit too risky. This way we can also reassure the old lady
that the kobolds have been dealt with.
Shall we? |
| Previous section
Next section |
![[Mystara Campaign Journal]](./mystara.gif)