Thursday, March 11, 2010

Into the Dark, again

Sobbing, Dimzad hacked away the wooden stakes to free the body of his goat. Gruffydd quickly explained to Guthix and Nemon, that the trap hadn't been there the last time they entered. Someone was prepared for visitors. Down the long steps, the pits were still there, along with the iron spikes that were driven in to attach ropes to cross them. But someone had loosed the spikes to give way when weight was applied. Gruffydd pounded them in again, the echoes drifting into the dark below.
The pits were crossed quickly, without mishap, until it was time for Guthix. Whether overconfident, or just lost in thought, the young magician lost footing a plunged into the second pit, But, instead of plummeting to his death, he found himself falling into a crude net, strung not ten feet from the top.
"Hey!" he yelled, "get me outta here!"
It was dwarves that hauled him up. The net was made from white fibers. Hair, maybe?"
"Look in here!", Miss Adventure said. It was the chamber where they had battled the orcs. The torchlight revealed the bodies were gone, but dried trails of black blood lead away into the depths of the tomb.
The bodies must have been dragged away. The trail lead into the burial chamber of the king, then to the former lair of crab spiders. The body that had been there was gone too. The gory trail stopped at the closed door to the hallway where they had fought the giant albino ape.
The door was unlocked. The hallway beyond was quiet. It had a intersection at the end, where the carcass of the ape was gone, too. The hallway also had two doors. They knew the one on the south side was full of refuse and bones. The door on the north side had held a guard station, with a lever inside that had alerted the creatures below.

"We got lucky last time", Gruffydd whispered to the others. "I bet there's a guard this time.
Gildrid was elected to investigate. He slid along the north side of the passage till he was right next to door. His elven ears picked up harsh, rasping breathing on the other side of the door. Someone, or thing, was watching through the eyeslit in the door. Gildrid took a deep breath, readied his blade, and made ready to thrust it through the eye slit.
He lunged,... and missed.

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