DAY 416 (23rd Tarsakh)(April) cont ...
The fact that the City of the Pools was built on ancient foundations was very apparent to me as we delved down into the dungeons underneath the temple of Laogzed. The stairs went down easily three hundred feet until opening out into a cave.
Here we met a slyth father and son who operated a lift that went down even further.
They were not threatening and when Fenrir gave them 1000 gold (!) they very helpfully took us down to the lower levels - another six hundred feet if I am any judge.
The slyth took us along some caverns, about half a mile of them. to an ancient dark-elf mansion that was now used as the temple prison. There were no guards here as there was no means of escape, or so the slyth said, so they were just left to get on with it until required again.
As we walked around, Fenrir asked about the sacred beasts and the priests. The only useful bit of information we got was that;
'...there are factions within the priests of Laogzed. The main two were the priests of the temple, who were a bit more civilised and political, and the priests of the Beasts, who lived outside of the city and were more wild. They were the ones that would have raised the crusading army against Westgate...'
The last thing the slyth told us was; 'I don't feed them, there is enough scraps of food down here for them to live off, just about anyway. Oh, seek out the old priest Hudkah if you are in need of more information. He is very wise.'
We entered the mansion. There were prisoners at the entrance, of all sorts of race, who begged us for food. We found Hudkah, a dark-elf, and chatted to him for a bit. He hinted that he knew another way out of the prison using the 'long dark ways' which was suicide for anyone other than the bravest and strongest, but still represented a way out. This seemed a much better option that fighting our way out.
Next we found Lord Trant, barricaded in an upstairs room with the three others of his hunting party. Trant was truly an arrogant turd and it took us a while to winkle him out, using a combination of force and offered food.
He, Codswapper and the two dwarves were dirty and wretchedly thin.
Fenrir opened his magical provisions box and fed them, then gave the rest to the beggars downstairs.
Hudkah showed is the secret door and off we went. With the help of the dwarves, who were from
Boatmurdered and new the area we found the Long Dark Ways, ancient dark elf highways that sat deep in the lower parts of the Middledark. It took the helpful dwarves just five hours to find somewhere they recognised and in ten hours we were at their fortress - the dwarven stronghold of Boatmurdered itself.
Oh, we met four greater earth elementals on the way, but Veddic had cast Wind Walk on us and we just whisked right past them.
About a hundred dwarves lived in Boatmurdered and we were well looked after, fed and given good rooms. It looked like we had made it after all!
Well, I'm turning in now, my love, hopefully I will see you soon and I can just hand this letter to you in person,
Your Rol.
DAY 417 (24th Tarsakh)(April)
Well, this is me back in Westgate now. Once we left Boatmurdered, Veddic cast a 'Wind Walk' spell or somesuch. It's a good spell - much like Gaseous Form and great for moving a group of people quickly over or past any obstacle.
Travelling in this way we got back in not much more than an hour. Firstly Fenrir wanted to go see the Croamarkh, but Trant Junior decided to go straight to his own house instead. Codswapper stayed with us an we found the Croamarkh in the Market Tower, after first going to his house.
The city council were in session though so Fenrir sent up a note. An hour later we were admitted and Fenrir charmed his way into the Croamarkh's heart - although the old geezer thought that Fenrir's name was Fodoren!
'Now, I heard some people saying that my son was in some way responsible for the attack on the city. That he killed their sacred beasts or whatever and that it was retaliation for that. So tell me, Fodoren, did you find any evidence of this?'
'No...' lied Fenrir, knowing full well that was exactly what had happened.
'Of course not!' agreed the old man. 'It's because all trogs are evil and must die!'
'Yes...' nodded Fenrir.
When we went to see Trepplemar though, Fenrir told the true story.
'It doesn't surprise me,' she said, 'as that whole family are a bunch of turds.'
She paid some expenses and we all went back to Fenrir's house.
After that Codswapper went his own way and we went back to the island, where my wife was, and filled Random in on the situation.
We sold all our loot and made a fair bit of gold out of the whole thing.
I was hoping that I'd get the evening with Lavinia, but it sounds like Fenrir is taking her to another ball. He really needs to find his own bird!
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