Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Fight at the Door

The orcs came screaming from the darkness. They had obviously heard the crash of the steps. Mellion was frozen. He took two steps back from the doorway. They were almost on him.
Behind him came a great shout. "Outta the way pointy ears!" It was Dimzad. He and Gruffydd had flown down the steps, made the leap across the pit, and dashed past Mellion to form a shield wall in the doorway.
The orcs impacted with the strength of a charging bull. The dwarves could smell their rancid breath. The one opposite Gruffydd was crushing his shield with blows from his great axe. Rather than fight him, he began to push forward. Gwynfor was right behind him, ready to strike at another opponent. The orc fighting Dimzad dodged an ax swing, and slid a rusty blade beneath their shields. The blade struck home, and bit hard into Dimzad's side. He gave ground and the orc came tumbling down on top of him.
Gildrid saw what was happening and leapt from the steps down to help. He thrust down with the bandit's spear,... and missed horribly. The spear slammed into the ground, snapped and sent Gildrid flying into the grounded orc, sandwiching the creature between elf and dwarf. The three became a mass of flailing arms and weapons.
Gruffydd had pushed his orc into the chamber, and Gwynfor stepped in fill the gap and take on another orc. Gruffydd dodged a blow over his shield, but the ax clipped the top of his head, dripping blood into his eyes. He swung wildly and struck the orc square in the chin. It made a whiney noise and fell to the ground dead.
Gwynfor's barking hound snapped at his opponent, and distracted him enough for Gwynfor to cleave the orc in two. On the ground, Dimzad turned his battle axe around stabbed the top spike into the orc's side that was crushing him. It belched out a last breath, along with some black blood and died.
The final orc fell to the combined blows of thr rest of the party. After the fight, and the orc was dragged off of Dimzad, the bodies yielded little treasure. Nobody wanted the rusty weapons or filthy armor.
The took stock of their surroundings. The chamber was large, at least 50 by 50 feet, with passages  on each wall. It was dusty with misuse, other than the direction the orcs came from, the east. In the center was a fountain. It no longer worked. The water in the basin was brackish, and the statue had been decapitated. The ceiling was vaulted and ornate, quite the opposite of the rest of the chamber.
After a brief discussion the party decided to check on the passage where the orcs had emerged from.

The passage was short and cut from the same smooth stone as the rest of the tomb. The chamber it lead to was rectangular. The smell hit the party first. It reeked of orc.
The walls had once been covered with frescoes, but they were faded, and in some places burnt by the campfires built in there. The floor was covered by discarded rags and gear, bones from meals, and in some places excrement. Only Miss Adventure was willing to dig through the mess, and was rewarded by a few gold coins and a good sized gem.
After finding nothing more of value, the party went to the chamber opposite.
This passge was indentical to the one across the way, but much dustier. Dimzad took the lead, studying the stonework around him. The chamber he entered had collapsed at the far end, and when he entered more crumbled. A large chunk of masonry fell from the ceiling and whacked him silly. Gwynfor grabbed him, and pulled him to safety before the chamber completely collapsed.
After Dimzad's wound was staunched by Alabazium, the party headed south to the remaining passged. Again, it was the same as the rest. It opened into the tomb proper. A large stone sarcophagus dominated the room. It had been opened. Gwynfor and Miss Adventure seemed to be the only ones willing to investigate. The lid had been shoved open a crack. Inside was a mummified skeleton. It had been ravaged by search, and was now a mess. Miss Adventure climbed in, with Gwynfor searching, too. They found, tucked in a fold of clothing, a massive clear gem. Miss Adventure gave a squeal of delight. While everyone was distracted by the gem's brilliance, Gwynfor snatched the dead king's head, and tucked it in his bag.
After the brief celebration over the first real treasure, everyone noticed a slab a rock that had been wedged in a doorway against the south wall. The slab covered the opening except for a small crack at the top which had stuffed full of rags.
The rags were removed, and Miss Adventure volunteered to crawl up and view what lay beyond.
"it's a chamber with two doors." she said back to the group. "Hand me a torch, and I'll throw in."
The torch popped and sputtered when it hit the center of the room. Immediately it was apparent their was a body in the center. She climbed down, and after a heated discussion, it was decided to move the rock. "I'm going to take a rear guard, in case someone shows up behind us," Gwynfor said. He and his dog trotted off.
They heaved, and they pushed, and the combined strength of the dwarves finally moved the stone.
Inside was indeed a body. It was orcish. It's skin was pulled tight against it's body, almost mummified. "Ewwww", Gildrid said. A loud thump sounded behind him. He turned and saw two forms, with too many legs.

5 comments:

  1. And excellent beginning. Very fundimental to the basics of fantasy RPG but nicely exicuted. Your description, art and map paint a lovely picture together.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. BTW, I love your artistic style and wonder if you ever do character art or group pics for other gamers?

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  4. I could. For one of dedicated listeners.

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  5. LOL. email me at emu2020-at-comcast-dot-net.

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