DAY 306 (8th Hammer)(January)
At four in the morning, while Fenrir was on watch, there was a knock at the door. He quickly woke the others then went to listen.
He heard a loud whisper, 'Help me!'
Shrugging, he opened the door and before him stood a naked woman, her hair bedraggled and her skin dirty.
She rushed forward to try and hug him, but he lifted off the ground on his magic bat wings.
Hugging herself instead she said, 'You are very scary! I now consider you to be my friend!'
She had an odd way of talking, as if she did not know the common tongue very well.
'Who are you?' asked Fenrir.
'I'm Hilda. Hilda the, err... lady.'
Veddic, who was now about half awake, cast Dispel Magic on her, but it did nothing.
Fenrir landed and talked to her some more.
She whispered in his ear, 'Have you ever considered killing and eating your friends?'
She then turned into a dire tiger and attacked Veddic. She nearly killed him too, with all her claws and teeth, but Fenrir managed to talk her out of finishing him off.
Instead she turned to attack the annoying Willo-wisp that was attacking her. This gave Veddic enough time to get back on his feet and hit her with a Flame Strike spell.
It also hit Arahel (the willo-wisp) but she managed to avoid some of the damage and survive.
The phasm (for that was what it was) died and since it was already outside the room, they simply shut the door and went back to sleep.
In the morning Veddic animated the two skeletons he had collected the previous day. They were ettercaps so capable of attacking people, but not of drawing a bow. When not in use, he put them inside his bag of holding.
They continued navigating their way through the dungeon and came to a room with a dried up channel in it and some desiccated meat. The next room beyond that contained three basilisks. Arahel rushed into the middle of them to administer electric shocks and came dangerously close to being turned to stone.
It did distract them long enough for Veddic and Fenrir to kill all three of them though.
The next corridor lead to outside the dungeon.
They stood at the exit of the dungeon and surveyed a wide panorama of waste and decay. They were at the base of a tall finger of rock, one of many in the landscape, each of them jutting out of a black watered swamp. Thin mist and clouds of flies hung over the pestilential water untroubled by any wind. The air was hot and sticky, as if heralding a storm, and indeed, in the distance, across the wet flat lands they saw a thunderstorm although it is too far to hear the crack of lighting as it struck the ground.
There was no sun, moon or stars visible, just black clouds overhead. There was a perpetual gloomy twilight, nothing more.
Where they were was about thirty feet above the landscape, on a slope that went down into the swamp. To their north there seemed to be nothing but endless swamp with the fingers of rock being the only feature to break up the view. To the south they saw feint lights of what might have been a settlement.
They decided to head towards the lights, with the two skeletons taking the lead.
After a while they saw a figure, dressed in full plate armour caked in mud and dried blood, emerging from a cluster of rocks in the swamp.
He watched them from a distance, his hands leaning on a two handed sword that was planted into the ground.
When the figure saw the skeletons it took a few steps back and raised its sword.
To begin with they decided to ignore the armoured figure, but after a while it began to dawn on Fenrir that they had no real instructions to do anything out here, wherever it was, and no idea where they were going.
He went over to talk to the figure who was initially wary, but in the end took off his helmet to reveal a young and handsome face.
He introduced himself as Barrington, a paladin of Tyr.
He said:
''
I've been here for months now. My friends, all of them, they were killed by Junbara, the dragon that hunts this region. I was knocked out and fell down a hole. When I woke up I saw that I was the only survivor. I buried them where they fell and tried to make my way back here. The dungeon had been repopulated though, its a great place for monsters to live apparently, compared to the swamp I suppose. I tried to get my way out but got turned back by a black pudding. I tried again, but a swarm of darkmantles got me. I've been waiting and hoping something might change. Now that you are here, well I assume you cleared your way through the warren of corridors in the spire?
Tell me the way and I can get out of here! Don't go north, there is nothing for a hundred miles. And that city to the south is full of undead, don't go their either. Whatever you are here to do, I'd advise you to do it quickly before Junbara finds you. He has a way of sniffing out magical items and he has great interest in them.
''
Fenrir and the others said they would accompany young Barry out.
At about ten in the morning they went back through the portal and returned to 'Spectre Island'.
They exited the portal, then the ruins, stepping into the winter sunlight. To their surprise there is a nice little cottage sitting just to the right. Cavu opens the door to the cottage and beckoned them inside.
'Come inside, have some tea!'
The cottage only had one room but it was reasonably well furnished with four bunk beds, a table with eight chairs, a writing desk and fireplace that was keeping the interior nice and warm. At the table they saw Nebulus the Rascal.
''
We were just going over our plans. Things have changed a little, after the... ahem... situation with Cormaeril. It's not all bad news though. Gerty has decided to bring Nebulus on board to add some strategy to our efforts in Westgate.'
Nebulus stood up and said, 'Oh yes, happy to be part of the team! And since I'm setting up shop here for a while, I may as well let you know my true identity...
''
Nebulus removed his hat and his formed changed to that of a teifling gentleman, his large horns curling around the back of his head. It was Random Hessertreeb, the fellow that Sylvia had told the adventures of when I (Rollo) had been with her in the Plane of Shadow.
They talked for a while, then Cavu left. He teleported away with Thjodhild, a wizard that apparently worked for him.
Among other things Random said:
''
The most important thing is to get you situated in Westgate again. Something big is happening, and no, I can't tell you, because.. and I'm looking at you here Fenrir, you have a tendency to blab whenever captured. So, need to know basis at the moment. I don't know much anyway. Well, Westgate is the most important, but not urgent right now. I'll leave it up to you. If you want to get back into Westgate I can put out feelers, see how to get you back in. We have near unlimited resources for that. Or you can explore the Plane of Shadow,
I have more information on that when you are ready. Finally, you can help me out with one or two things, and practice your stealth skills to boot!
''
It looked like they had a new boss.
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