Day 4 of Sunsebb CY 576
Sit down, sit down, my dearies, and let old Vilma tell you what the wind whispered to her from the Barrowmaze on that cold Sunsebb afternoon. Our scrappy lot of wanderers — Dwerom, Niki the elf, Arnd, Gnorcia, Chiki the gnome, Armatzi, and Kyro found themselves deep in the muck and ancient stone.
They’ve been poking around things best left alone, I’d say, like that vial of blue liquid and a runic tablet they snatched up before a shrouded horror lunged at them from the dark. They spent quite some time scrubbing their boots of a peculiar-smelling muck in a room full of mossy, broken statues. Eventually, they climbed a staircase into a room where a statue of the god Nerull had been defaced, its face scratched out and covered in crude, incomprehensible sigils.
They even popped their heads out into the Barrow Marsh, discovering a new entrance, where the tall grass dies in the winter chill. Kyro thought the whole marsh looked like a "Scooby-Doo ghost" from above — whatever in the world that is! But the entry room the came from wasn't empty; five ravenous zombies followed them up from the depths, their eyes full of "ravenous glee" as they smelled blood. Armatzi’s gauntlet glowed with holy light to sear them, while Arnd threw his hammer. Armatzi was also using his new mace - I believe he calls it Margaret now—to crack their skulls.
But the real trouble, the delicious trouble, came later when they found a staircase of polished black basalt leading to a door: the Crypt of Mahle Royc. Above the door, the ancient words said: "Knock and pull to enter". There was some discussion, and Gnorcia examined the door carefully, and detected that there was a trap, and that it had something to with the number of knocks on the door. After much discussion, they knocked once, then pulled the ring, and — BOOM—the ceiling birthed a giant stone ball that came crashing down!
Oh, the chaos! They ran like mice, dancing and Armatzi was chanting as the boulder thundered behind them. Most escaped with their skins, but three - Arnd, Armatzi, and Dwerom - were crushed (not fatally) but their packs? Disaster! Five flasks of oil shattered, a precious healing potion was lost to the stone, and a bone case holding a scroll of "Animate Dead" was crushed into shards. But the saddest part—and let Vilma weep for this—were the six dead carp. Poor little fishies, their bowl was crushed on the stairs. A funeral in a crypt seems fitting, don't you think?
In the end, though, the brave (and very oily) souls found their prize inside a sarcophagus: the remains of a human clad in magical black plate mail. It’s a strange, light thing—weighs only 3 pounds and lets a man run as fast as if he were wearing common clothes.
They’re safe for now, resting their bruised bones, but the maze still has that faint, echoing cackle waiting for them in the dark. Keep your torches lit, travelers, and try not to get flattened by any more garden decor!
No comments:
Post a Comment