A View From Below Part 1 - The Witches Tower

 

The crew: Bear [Ian], Dexter [Jamie], Gillard [Kevin], Myrtle [Andrew], Oliver [Jeff], Ouzo [Darryl], Scuttle [Chris], Tu [Shane], with Debbie [Steven] succumbing to the Marmalade.

“I’m bored again” thought Scuttle.

The MagicTelescope 

The party were clustered around the magic telescope which was mounted on its tripod near the edge of the forest. Myrtle had her face pressed to the eyepiece, peering out at the palisade surrounding the witch’s mountain retreat. The stupid tripod was set at a fixed height and Gillard and I were subsequently unable to use it. Stupid big people!

They were all talking about the challenges of attacking past a guarded palisade, or sneaking through a magic garden, or taking on four or five witches’ at once. Boring. We should just do it.
Talk ,talk, talk.

I looked around and stared deeper into the forest. Somewhere in there was the nesting place of those skeletal flying creatures. No doubt they had dragged creatures into their nest to feed. There was certainly nothing else alive in here, no animals, no birds, not even insects. Maybe there were dead humans in their nest? Maybe there was discarded treasure, money, magic stuff?

The Dark Forest

I was just about to silently sidle off deeper into the forest for a quick look around when Dexter whispered, “Let’s go” and led the party off through the forest and around the edge of the lake.

Like normal, I had to scurry to keep up as they strode off through the tress. They either wanted me to scout out ahead or left me to “guard” the rear. So noisy too! Bear was chiming like a clock at midnight and Debbie kept walking through shrubs and banging into trees.

They noisily crashed through the forest and around the lake until we all arrived at a spot on the far side from the witch’s retreat, hidden from it by the island that jutted up out of the middle of the lake. I have no idea why the scouting wyvern things have not heard us. Perhaps they are sleeping or something while they are down on the ground. Why would you choose such unperceptive guard creatures? The witches must be pretty stupid if you ask me. I hope we get into their retreat today, I bet they have lots of cool stuff in there!

Apparently, the plan is for Bear and Myrtle to swim the one hundred and fifty yards across to the island and explore it. They were expecting to find some form of MALECHAI alter in the middle of the island, and perhaps some teleport or other magical relocation device that would allow us to easily sneak into the retreat without going past the guards on the palisade. Gillard reckons they are trying to avoid a “good ole fight”, although she is itching for one.

The flying wyvern things were still doing their random patrol thing and flying about the crater every now and then, and then taking their rest breaks at random intervals. Maybe if I just crept back while they were in the air, I could get into their nests …

Myrtle Prepares for the Swim

Dexter got the useless magic Telescope out from the Bag of Holding and set it up to observe the island and the progress of Bear and Myrtle. Who knew that Myrtle could swim aye? For a half-elf she looks pretty hot in her underthings! I took a nice long perv when she and Bear were undressing for their swim. Mmmm

The life of the party thief. Hurry up and wait. Now, what are the others doing?

Ouzo is scouting around and gathering up fallen logs and big branches, he said something about a raft. I sure hope they do not want me to get onto a raft, or get into the water, and go across the lake. Hopefully, Myrtle and Bear will be back soon, and we can get on with planning the break-in. That gate through the palisade looked like it had a simple latch-lifter bar lock, piece of cake. Those guards would never even hear us if Ouzo and I opened it up! And when Myrtle comes out of the water all wet… I am definitely going to be here for that! Mmmm

Poor Oliver is just sitting on a rock, holding that black dagger of his, and staring at it with that vacant wistful expression on his face. Probably thinking about running the blade gently along some witch’s naked skin and parting it like a piece of fruit. He is a weird one that Oliver.

Gillard is muttering about her swords. She keeps getting out her sharpening stone and oiling it up but seems continually amazed that her magic armour-piercing short sword is never blunt. Duh, it is magic after all! But she does enjoy getting that perfect hone on her old short sword, like now. The scriiish of the stone along the blade is quite loud though!

And speaking of loud, that Debbie is tuning her flute again. I swear, she sometime has no idea when to keep quiet. I hope those wyvern things do not hear all the racket we are making!

Dexter is keeping an eye on the swimmers and Tu is grumbling about the whole attack multiple witch situation. Like Ouzo says, get them while they are sleeping and Boom, all over!

I wonder if I could see through the telescope if I was standing on a stump. Maybe Myrtle is doing that backstroke thing with her chest flopping up out of the water, Mmmm.

Actually, I reckon that with Dexter glued to the telescope like that he would never even notice if I practiced my pick pockets skills. Yeah, I will just borrow his coin purse for a little bit. And return it of course! Turned out I “borrowed” Dexter’s, and Debbie’s, and Tu’s, and Gillard’s. They didn’t even notice. It is always good to keep the fingers nimble!

It seemed like ages before Dexter finally announced that Bear and Myrtle were on the way back. Everyone rushed down to the lake edge to make sure they were okay and help them out of the cold water. Myrtle was looking just fine to me. Mmmm.

MALECHAI

And there was an alter to MALECHAI over there on the island, right in the middle, on the high point, as predicted. I wonder if the alter would be as magical as that other one that I blew up? Maybe I should actually go over there on that raft thing that Ouzo has put together after all. But that would mean getting wet. No, it is too cold, that would just be a nightmare. Maybe I will leave this alter alone. Although, it could have gemstones in it, since it is outdoors and all.

Oh, they found a cave on the island as well, with a tunnel leading down. Crap, we are all going to have to swim across to the island, in the frigging water! Maybe if I were behind Myrtle that would not be so bad? But, so cold. Darn it. No choice. At least everyone else has to as well. Brrrr

We waited for the flying creatures to take a break, then all piled into the water. Our equipment was stacked on the raft, and we set off. Gillard and I were floating well before the others, they were only waist deep. Bear was the last to have his feet loose traction, and then we were all kicking to drive the raft towards the island. There was quite a lot of gear just sitting there, in easy reach. Sigh.

The Cave in the Rocks

By the time we arrived on the island it was about two hours before dark. Everyone dressed and we hurried around to the supposed cave before the flying things were airborne again. At the end of the island, the end away from the stone pinnacle, was a smaller outcropping of stone, and on the inland side of this was a small opening that led in and down. Pretty much straight down actually. It looked like a drop of around twenty yards into the gloom, with some poorly formed steps to help with the climb. Just wide enough for one Bear sized person, although Gillard and I could easily head down together, side by side. It looked like a simple set of steps to me, but Bear insisted that a rope be secured at the top so he could lower himself in.

Gillard did not wait for me and shot down the steps first. Bear followed, with Myrtle behind him. I jumped onto the steps behind Myrtle, and Dexter and Tu were behind me. Dexter said something about skeletal dog prints, big ones, just before Gillard squealed about glowing red eyes.

I saw Gillard leap off the bottom steps into a larger cavernous space, just as a huge skeletal dog with glowing red eyes leapt at her. Luckily, it missed and crashed into the steps just as Bear was stepping down onto the flat ground. The dog appeared momentarily stunned so Gillard and Bear both took a swing as Myrtle slid down the last few steps on her ass. As I dexterously stepped off the side of the steps into the darkness, Gillard took a mighty knock from the dog and fell unconscious. Myrtle would take care of her I assumed.

As the battle raged, I slipped around in the darkness and cautiously moved behind the melee. As soon as I was ready and had an opportunity, I launched myself onto the creatures back and thrust my dagger into the back of its head. Well, I say head, but in reality is was just a bony skull. But I thrust my dagger in there anyway. It scraped past a bit of bony spinal column but did not seem to do much damage, so I sprang off its back and just charged at its legs. It was quite large! Larger than those other dogs we killed previously, so I could not easily get to its body. I just hacked at its legs. Got to help right.

As I stepped back to take another swing Bear, Myrtle, and Tu thumped it and it finally collapsed down into a pile of bones. Nice.

Cellar, Dexter’s cat, gave a little hiss and streaked off across the cavern and disappeared down a second set of steps. There was nothing of interest here in this small cavern, so I quickly followed Cellar to see where she had gone. These stairs were better formed than those we just came down and looked like they dropped down another twenty yards or so to a hand carved tunnel.

I could not hear anything down there, so checking that the others were following, I descended the stairs and started along the tunnel. It felt like it was heading in the direction of the witch’s retreat.

A back door! Excellent.

From behind I head Dexter noting that there were a lot of tracks coming and going along here. From ahead Cellar came bounding back, past me, and leapt up into Dexter’s arms with a loud purr. Weird.

I led the way along the tunnel. It was definitely under the lake; water was dripping down the walls and off the ceiling, it smelt and felt damp and even I could see the tracks on the floor. Smallish boot prints. Women! Witches I assume.

The Flagstone Floor

After some minutes, the tunnel started to head upwards. A corner. I cautiously peeped around the left turn. Steps heading up. Still no noise from ahead, so I started up. At the top of the steps the passage entered an actual cellar. The room was about ten yards square, worn flagstone paving on the floor, and unlit torches mounted in scones around the walls, with an opening on the far side.
But nothing else, boring.

About halfway across the room, I felt the flagstone below me settle downwards slightly. Not good. Looking back, I motioned Ouzo to come and have a look. He peered at the flagstone, gave it a little push, and confirmed that there was indeed a trap there. If my weight, little that it is, was lifted from the floor, the sprung loaded flagstone would lift back into place and trigger some form of remote alarm. I do not know how I missed the damn thing.

Bear quickly strode forward and stood on the flagstone, depressing it even further, and shooed me forward towards the other side of the room. No worries that his extreme weight would be less than mine! I suspect he even has trouble seeing the flagstones since his head is so high up there. Oh, he has a lot of hairs in his nose! I wonder if you could Pick Pocket those little beauties? I would have to cut them loose before pulling though. Should be simple enough when he is lying down. Maybe later tonight if we get a rest. Dang, I hope we do get a rest, that stupid swimming took it out of me, and this cautious sneaking is not exactly restful.

Oh, what is that? Stairs, leading even further up, with a closed door at the top. I had better check for traps as I go this time. I crawled up the stairs, testing each one as I went. Nothing.

Tu had raced back down the passage to find a big rock that would weigh as much as me. From that entrance cave at the top of the slippery slope probably, there were a bunch of big rocks back there. Ha, 40 kg, good luck carrying that back down those steep steps and along that long tunnel you dainty twat.

But as I was listening at the door (nothing) I could hear him grunting with effort as he dropped a huge bolder on the flagstone. Gosh, he could at least be quiet. What if there is a silent guard witch standing just on the other side of this door, and she heard that. I’ll be the first one killed, dead! But I guess if no one has heard Bear clanking around trying to stand still on the flagstone in his armour, they aren’t going to hear that racket anyway.

Well, I can’t find any traps on this door, but it is locked. Looks like a pretty standard tunrkey job. I’ll get Ouzo to unlock this one since there is nothing for me to stand on and bracing off the door frame might be a bit exhausting. Wouldn’t want to slip and snap my lock pick off in the lock again. At least Ouzo doesn’t have that trouble. I beckon Ouzo up and he looms over me towards the lock.

Snick … the door swings silently open a crack.

Ouzo peers in through the crack above the lock while I peer in from below.

Phew! No guard witch to be seen.

Torches Flicker in Scones

Another squarish room, lit torches flickering in scones around the walls, and an old metal spiral stair leading upward from the far side. I was just pushing the door open further to creep in when Ouzo laid his hand on my shoulder and shut the door firmly. Not now being the implication.

The rest of the party were settled down in the flagstone room, away from the row of trapped flagstones that ran right across the middle of the floor and were making themselves comfortable. The 40 kg rock was settled nicely on the flagstone that I had triggered, holding it down and preventing the alarm from sounding.

Waiting till just before midnight apparently. Seems that they thought witches would be sleeping at night unless they were heading down through these tunnels to the MALECHAI alter for some kind of midnight ritual ceremony. We are going to advance at 23:20. Oliver will use his wizardly device to alert us just before its time to move out. So, nothing to do right now ,and rather than get all restless like, I’ll just settle down as well and catch forty winks. Unless I go for those nostril hairs of Bear …

At 23:20 exactly we are all up and ready to sneak into the witch’s lair. Ouzo is just in front of me at the top of the stairs to unlock the door again, and I’m poised below him to silently slip into the room past his legs and take the first cautious steps up the spiral stair.

Snick … and off I go.

The Spiral Stair

The torches are still burning, still no guard witch, so I slip across the room and cautiously onto the spiral stair. When I say cautiously, I mean that I have scanned each paving stone before moving onto it, and each tread before transferring any of my slight weight onto it. I give a double push so hopefully the heavier party members like Bear the hairy do not trigger something that I may miss. Ouzo is double checking right behind me so we will be fine, no worries.

There is no sound from above and the air is still. Well, maybe not totally still. There is a slight cold draught dropping down the stair shaft from above. No one else would notice, but I can sense the chill. I guess it’s a Halfling thing and reminds me of the stories old Gramps used to tell us as children. Chilly draughts in caves and dungeons, and what might cause them. But better not get distracted I suppose. Back to checking the treads.

I silently and slowly raise my head above the level of the next floor and look around. The spiral stair continues on up for another few levels into the darkness above, but this level is essentially a square room with one closed door.  Each of the four walls has an animal trophy head mounted above the door height. Maybe I can pinch one of those? Four heads, all looking at me. Eeeek. I silently and slowly lower my head below the level of the floor and push Ouzo back down, retreating back to the flagstone room to report.

This time we will wait till after the midnight hour before pressing deeper into their stronghold. If there is no movement around midnight, we will know that no evil rituals will be occurring tonight and as Ouzo has repeatedly stated, we can just slaughter them one by one in their beds. Simple.

Oliver let us know at 00:15 and Ouzo and I were through the door and up the spiral staircase again. In the trophy room I drifted across the floor and slid a door wedge under the door to prevent anyone coming into the room behind us as we moved on up.

Trophy Head Stares at Me

I took the lead again and we repeated our cautious climb to the second level. The eyes in the trophy heads seemed to follow our every step, but there was no other response from the house, and certainly no noise from above.

At the second level the stair led into what was obviously a lounge room. Bookcases covered the walls, except for one closed door that led off in the same direction as the door below. Small tables and comfortable armchairs were scatted around the room, and an assortment of books and scrolls were scatted on the tables.

Oh, what’s that? A sexy pair of spectacles on the table. They would look good on me. As I reached out, just to test them out, Ouzo clipped me on the back of the head and pointed upwards at the spiral stair. Sigh, maybe later …

I took the lead again and we repeated our cautious climb to the third level. But some of the steps were not so rigid and as I transferred my weight onto the fourth one above the floor, it must have tipped. I was quite surprised and jerked back, clipping Ouzo on the head behind me. He nearly toppled back off the stair and grabbed me by the hair to catch his balance. As he yanked on my hair, my foot slipped forward on the loose tread and cracked into the one in front with a muffled thunk.

As Ouzo and I were staring daggers at each other, him looking down at me from the step below and me looking up at him, he noticed a flickering light from above. There was a scraping noise as of a drawer sliding open, and then some footsteps. We both leapt silently down of the stair and disappeared into the darkness of the lounge. Both safely tucked into the shadows behind the armchairs. [Successful Hide in Shadows rolls were made]

Which was a good thing as a beam of light splashed down from above and probed around the room. A dog’s yapping also sounded from above. Not good. I hate dogs, their smell is so much better than humans and other preparations were required to bypass them. Preparations which we had not made. Although thinking about it, we had seen the witches out in the gardens with a dog. Why hadn’t we though to bring a dog bait. Stupid, stupid.

Fortunately, nobody, witch or dog, came down the stairs and eventually the light went out, the dog stopped yapping, and we heard the sliding sound of a drawer closing. What had she got out of the drawer? The light? Some magical weapon? A wand? I’m definitely checking all the drawers up there!

We wait there, crouched behind the furniture, silent and motionless for about twenty minutes before creeping back down to report to the others. Before we left, Ouzo slipped another door wedge below the door leading out of the lounge, and  I manage to grab the spectacles. No one would notice. In fact, who even knew they were there?

The decision is made to cautiously advance the whole party to the trophy room, and then Ouzo and I can lead Myrtle up through the lounge towards the next level. Myrtle was now powerful enough to cast the Silence spell, and she figured that would shut up any yapping dog, or any witches that might be tempted to cast a spell. Bear would stand ready to rush up in that event. He didn’t need to make any noises while swinging his sword! Death would fall in the silence life a candle being snuffed out.

We crept forward onto the staircase up. I managed to avoid the loose tread that had caught me out before, but then stumbled on the very next one. Maybe there was a magic Trip spell or something? That must be it, bloody sneaky witches.

Anyway, there was a quiet metallic screesh as my dagger scraped across the metal baluster and the dog up there began to yapp loudly again.

Myrtle immediately cast her Silence spell, and we all silently leapt down off the stair into the lounge. The rest of the party waiting below rushed up, in silence, and Cellar the cat shot up the stair to the level above. As the ten second duration of Myrtle’s silence spell was about to expire, Myrtle cast another Silence up the stair. Bear rushed up the stairs, his chain mail and heavy armoured boots blissfully making no sound on the metal stair, magical long sword clutched in his hand. He was closely followed by Dexter, Tu with his heavy cross bow already loaded, Gillard clutching her magical short sword, then Myrtle, and finally Oliver.

Bear Confronts the Witch

Ouzo and I wait at the bottom of the stairs as the fighters disappear. It looked like they continued on up to the next level again, although Dexter had rushed off to the side at the level immediately above us. The silence lasted another ten seconds, but we definitely felt the vibrations of heavy thumping on the stairs, and then some heavy thumping onto the floor two levels above.

Once it quietened down, so to speak, and noises returned once the second silence spell expired, I headed up, Ouzo right behind me. Up on the third level, definitely a study space, we saw Dexter tending to Cellar. Cellar had some nasty burns on her side, and Dexter was just tipping one of the last healing potions into her little mouth. He looked very upset.

The room has a large fireplace (unlit), a large desk covered with papers, a hard backed wooden chair adjacent to the desk, but little else.

We left Dexter to tend to his cat and headed on up the next level.

A bedroom. Bear and Gillard are slumped unconscious at the top of the stairs, Myrtle tending them. Tu is crouched down on the far side of the room, running his sword across the throat of a woman in a nightgown. She had a heavy crossbow bolt protruding from between her breasts. A little chihuahua was lying dead on the rug beside her, a huge gash from Tu’s sword almost severing its lower half. Large windows on each side of the room looked out into the darkness and I quickly drew the heavy black curtains across to make sure none of the guards out on the palisade spotted our lights up here in the tower.

Ouzo slipped up the ladder mounted on the far wall, opened the locked trapdoor, and peered around the top of the tower. He reckoned it was just an observation platform. But he did say that we were definitely in the tower attached to the end of the witch’s retreat.

The dead witch was Ophelia.

We searched the bedroom and the study and took everything of interest down to the lounge. Oliver cast a Detect Magic, and he pointed at the amulet that we found up in the bedroom. Then he pointed straight at me. I had slipped the spectacles on to see how they felt, pretty nice, and it seems they are actually magical. I wonder what they do. I wonder if they will be useful.  Maybe they allow me to see through things? I quickly spin around and take a perv at Myrtle. Bother, nope.

A Flare of Light from the Island

Ouzo was lingering up in the study room above. I wondered if he had managed to pick up something else that he didn’t want to be identified by Oliver’s spell, but I hadn’t seen anything. I’ll check his gear later, he’ll never notice. Or maybe he was trying to check out the layout of the rest of the retreat through the windows?

In any event he let out a quiet squeal, poked his head down the stairwell, and whispered hurriedly.

“A huge flash of light just flared up on the island”

 

 

 

 

 End of Part One - Read more in Part two - The Witches Retreat

"The undead creatures were finally dispatched. I had performed a mighty backstab that felled the last one just before it wiped the party out. But do they thank me? No.

We were crowded around the top of the stairs in the kitchen that led down into darkness below. A foul spell was wafting up on the unnaturally chilled air that was rising from the depths. What the hell could be down there? And were were the other witches? .... "