DAY 265 (Feast of the Moon)(December) cont ...
Having defeated the strange statue creature, Veddic, Billi, Arahel and Durz then proceeded to loot the chests and gathered together a good quantity of coins and gemstones.
After such an exhausting fight they yet again settled down to recover for the rest of the day.
To pass the time Billi told stories of his mercenary days to entertain people. Durz did likewise but his tales mainly consisted of hitting people over the head and so fell a little flat.
Their chatting drew the interest of a denizen of the dungeon however who opened the door to the east and tried to make conversation. It was a dwarf like creature with a sinister look, but who was being friendly enough. Durz made to go after him, but the dwarf just closed and locked the door and tried again later.
After some talk they learned his name was Zallater and he was the mason of the dungeon. He asked, 'How are you finding it so far? I'm sorry I had no budget to install any traps. The client ran out of money.'
'Who was the client?' asked Veddic, 'Was it Freddorick?'
He meant the cleric they had went to see in Hommlet in the summer when they had killed the two Bullettes.
Zallater would not be drawn on that subject though.
(Also, just to add some additional info dear reader. There was hardly any knowledge of anything at all in these brave companions. They were not scholars. However, I deduce from the description that Zallater was a half-fiend durzagon, the offspring of a deep dwarf and a devil, the same kin as Cavefoot, who was now working as an agent of the Thunderstaff family.)
Zallater said he had a pack of cards and offered to pass the time in a small game of skill with them and they agreed. He pulled up a chest to the table and sat down.
Money went back and forth as they played for a couple of hours. Then there was another knock at the door and a gargoyle poked its head in and asked if it could join in too.
Zallater looked at them and said, 'It's up to you, but gargoyles are cheating bastards.'
The gargoyle joined the game and won a few handfuls of gold from Durz. Durz began to think that the gargoyle might well be a cheating bastard and began to snarl.
Zallater took the hint and dragged off the gargoyle. Before he went though Veddic had the clever idea of bribing the durzagon 300 gold to escort them out the rest of the way.
The wily dungeon-maker agreed to take them through the 'maze' when they were ready but he would not enter the room at the end where the 'bad thing' was.
He said, 'When you are ready just come through this door and knock on the one to the right. That's my room. I'll take you from there.'
They spent the remainder of the day resting and talking about alcohol, which was the one subject on which Billi and Durz were experts.
DAY 265 (1st Nightal)(December)
At eight in the morning they set off and Zallater led them through a tight set of twisting corridors to the door where the 'bad thing' was. Veddic tried to pay in silver, but when Zallater saw the two big bags he said, 'Come on now, gold if you please' and Veddic grudgingly handed over gold instead.
The corridor they found themselves in terminated in another strong looking door. While heading for it, kitchen scraps and barbeque sauce fell on them from above, through small grills in the ceiling. They could also hear the noises of talking and laughter, the chinking of glasses and plates. In short, the sounds of a tavern.
The door was unlocked and when opened revealed a medium sized chamber full of rubbish and slime.
Durz crossed over to poke a suspicious looking pile and it rose up and attacked him, a large mass of ooze easily fifteen feet across.
It was none other than an infamous Black Pudding and it was eager to feast on them. Billi shot a well placed arrow at it, but this only made it split in half. Both halves then attacked them.
Durz found his weapons and armour being destroyed by the strong acid that formed part of its attack until Veddic cleverly cast Resist Elements on them all which made them immune to the acid.
Dwerry attacked with magic missiles from the back and Arahel turned into a troll. Her claws split the pudding even further, into four new parts, so she closed her fists and started punching it. Durz saw this as a good method and put down his weapons and also began to punch the creature.
Despite it doing damage to them, all the Puddings were finished off by magic missiles and punches, Durz and Arahel almost seeming to enjoy the experience.
There was a door in the other side of the room that opened onto some stairs that lead up to a trap door. They opened the trap door and found themselves in the common room of a tavern.
It had a dozen or so patrons in it and the usual complement of barmen and serving wenches.
The owner of the tavern, a well dressed young gentleman called Karhad, was astounded to see theme arrive in such a fashion but was happy to feed them and arrange for them to have a bath (in order to wash off all the rubbish and sauce).
While Billi was the first to go up to get cleaned up, Veddic was rather skeptical about the whole set up and questioned Karhad.
He told them, 'I've only owned this place three months. I purchased the lease from an agent back in Melvaunt. We get trade from merchants travelling between Melvaunt and Glister. I had no idea there was a dungeon below here or who Zallater is or anything!'
Karhad also introduced his wife, a lady of great beauty called Erin Ja.
Arahel, although just a youngster, also picked up on the unease of Veddic and Durz and went to talk to a family at a table at the other end of the common room.
'Can we help you, little green person?' asked the only adult male in the group.
Arahel got a tale that seemed to back up the one told by Karhad.
'I am a merchant, this is my wife and children,' said the man, gesturing to the woman and the two young adults with him, 'I trade up and down all of this road. I like to stay here because they do good venison, you should try it.'
Billi too, was uneasy. As he went upstairs to where his bath was being prepared he looked out of the window at the snow covered moor and thought,
'This place is in the middle of nowhere! How can it still be in business?'
Despite his reservations he could not resist the hot bath and stripped off to his birthday suit and jumped it. He soaked for a bit, then Erin Ja entered with some towels.
At first Billi was shocked by her arrival, but then she cast a Charm spell on him and he became putty in her hands. She stripped naked, stepped into the bath then made passionate love to the lucky gnome.
Veddic, back in the common room, was getting worried about Billi when he had still not returned after an hour so he and Durz went up to check on him.
He entered the upstairs room and to his utter amazement saw an empty bath, an open window and in the distance Erin Ja now in her true form of an Erinyes (a more powerful type of Succubus) flying away with a naked gnome held lovingly in her arms!
'Come back with our gnome!' he bellowed out the window across the snowfields, but it was no use, Billi was still under her spell.
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