The Caves of MALECHAI

Present: Bear [Ian], Debbie [Steven], Gillard [Kevin], Myrtle [Andrew], Oliver [Jeff], Ouzo [Darryl], Scuttle [Darryl], and Tu [Shane]. Only Dexter [Jamie] was flopping about in a "marmalade" state. The NPC Dwarf fighter Tankard was guiding us through the Oble hills and is included in the party this week. 

The charging Orc's of five minutes ago

"Well that was easy" boasted Tu, flicking Orc blood off his sword.
"Is it over?" asked Debbie, dazedly looking around at the Orc bodies scattered across the ground, their blood already washing away down the hillside in the persistent heavy rain.

It was only mid-morning and the ambush party of twelve Orc's that we had spotted had been dispatched. 

"Got to choose your battleground!" grinned Tankard, "Now, let's get going"

After a quick scout around the bushes where the Orcs had been lying in wait for us and finding nothing of interest, we continued on deeper into the hills and found ourselves a shallow concavity in the side of a rocky cliff to shelter for the night. The rain was still falling and visibility was minimal. Which turned out to be a really good thing!

During the second watch of Myrtle, Oliver, and Scuttle, a loud guttural screeching was heard out in the night. The sleeping party members were quietly awakened, and the magic Telescope was extracted from the Bag of Holding and setup at the mouth of our "shelter". The sound of wolves howling joined the screeching noises as we nervously donned armour and drew weapons.

"I smell Orc" whispered Tankard.
"I see Orcs" whispered Myrtle, as she peered through the Telescope. "And wolves, and probably goblins. They look like they are searching for something"

We watched about 20-30 mixed creatures for about twenty minutes until they moved off downhill, in the direction we had come from earlier. Thank heavens for the heavy rain!

They never came back, or at least, we never saw them on their return. Morning arrived with no more incidents occurring. But it only got a little lighter. Dark clouds were massed all along the ranges and the rain was falling even heavier than it had been overnight. After a cold and damp breakfast, we started off again towards the higher ground somewhere out there in front of us.

"Pretty sure I saw some lights up there last time I passed" mentioned Tankard. "Strange coloured beams of light stabbing upwards, about a mile from the actual Hymer Saddle"

Just after midday we found ourselves a good dry and defensible location where we set up a basecamp. After establishing ourselves there and having a quick lunch, we moved off to reconnoitre the area ahead. We were pretty close to Hymer Saddle and Tankard thought we should be in the immediate area of those lights he had previously observed.

A dense murder of crows approached

As we were dragging ourselves through the dense bush and up a steep ridge, Myrtle fortuitously spotted a Murder of Crows through the bush. Everyone ducked to the ground and attempted to hide amongst the wet undergrowth. They were sweeping along the top of the ridge, obviously on some form of patrol, but dropped down the other side of the ridge before they came too close to our location. 

"Phew" noted Ouzo, "Way too many to shoot down!"
"Now we follow them" instructed Tankard.

At the top of the ridge Myrtle and Tu cautiously raised their heads over the highpoint and peered between the bushes down the other side. The rest of us waited just below them.

"Telescope please" requested Myrtle.

The trusty magic Telescope revealed a large rock cliff face on the other side of a shallow and bush filled valley. A narrow ravine cut its way through the cliff face, and it could be seen that at the end of the ravine there was a large open area. And it appeared there was indeed a cave entrance there. 

"A cave" exclaimed Oliver, "Just like in my dream"

But, two large stone statues stood to either side of the ravine, about half way along its length. They faced outwards, towards us, and their arms were outstretched, palm forward.
[I'm sure you get the picture] 

The guardian statues

"S'tat u bro? chuckled Bear quietly.

Also, we could see that the ravens appeared to nest in there. Hundreds of them perched along the ravine and in the cliffs and the bush that we could see on the far side of the ravine. They were continuously launching from perches, flapping around above the cave entrance. 

We slipped back down from the ridge, stowed the Telescope, and retreated back to our basecamp. Once back there we fed the horses, fed ourselves, and settled down for the night and some heavy planning.

"Impossible to use the ravine without those "statues" sounding an alarm"
"We could circle round and climb down the cliffs"
"I can't climb down there"
"What about those climbing potions?"
"Or the Spider Climb spell"
"But the Crows"
"How about that Wall of Fog spell?"
"Or the Invisibility dust"

And on and on until ...

"My knife is vibrating" squealed Oliver, "Although, not like undead ... but just ... vibrating"
"And both your arms have turned black again!" accused Scuttle.
"And my Sword is glowing blue" exclaimed Tu.

Something was definitely up! With deft use of Tu's magic Sword [This was the magic Long Sword that glowed blue in the presence of undead creatures, or evil creatures] we determined that there was an aura of evil emanating from Cellar, Dexter's cat, that we had picked up from the basement of Ingrid Barnett in Penstoke. Suspecting some form of MALECHAI witch linkage, probably spying on us for ages, Scuttle took Cellar outside the camp for a walk while the rest of us held a brief council.

An aura of evil emanated from Cellar

"Kill it"
"But there might be some form of connection to Dexter"
"Kill it"
"The witches probably know all our plans now anyway"
"Kill it"
"We could capture it in a sack"
"Kill it"

Just then Cellar came flying back into the cave. Literally flying, well literally thrown in by Scuttle who immediately followed.

"The bloody cat attacked me" Scuttle yelled angrily.

Oliver, thinking quickly, let off a Magic Missile II spell, which zipped across the space and hit Cellar in the head. But the missile seemed to fizzz, no burn, no yelp, no apparent damage.

"That's impossible!" stammered Oliver.

Tu leapt for Cellar, taking a nasty scratch on the arm, but missed. The scratch almost immediately turned a nasty dark infected red colour, which started to spread upwards towards his elbow. Ouzo managed to slip a sack over Cellar and tie it shut. Cellar certainly didn't like that and hissed and growled from inside the sack. 

Ouzo tied the sack up from the roof of the cave, Myrtle gave Tu a Neutralise Poison potion which seemed to do the trick, and the arguments started up again.

"Kill it"
"But there might be some form of connection to Dexter"
"The bloody thing poisoned me"
"We could use it to pass disinformation"
"The bloody thing attacked me too"

Blood dripped from the sack

Ouzo thrust his sword through the sack, a number of times, until the hissing and writhing stopped. Blood dripped from the bottom of the sack in a steady stream.

"Oh, look at Dexter" exclaimed Myrtle, and rushed over to him.

Dexter had slumped to the ground just as Cellar had been killed, his marmalade now stained with blood. Myrtle immediately applied a Cure potion. Dexter was still breathing, but totally unconscious. Closer investigation revealed blood was leaking from the corners of his eyes, which had rolled back up into his head.

"Blinded" stated Myrtle, "There was some form of link to the cat after all"

The rest of the night passed without event. Dexter remained unconscious, Myrtle examining his eyes for hours. Oliver studied his spell book and muttered and grumbled about why his Magic Missile II spell hadn't seemed to work. Debbie quietly tuned her flute. Bear sharpened his axe. Scuttle played with the dead cat.

In the morning Scuttle was sent off to scout the cliffs around the cave entrance and see if the ravens were still there, and if they went off for regular patrols at all.

"Don't be too long" instructed Myrtle as he slipped off into the undergrowth.

He came back just as it turned dark! All damn day. But we hadn't been too too anxious.
Except for Myrtle, who had spent most off the afternoon pacing back and forward just outside the cave and regularly peering off through the bush, and muttering.

Scuttle reported that the ravens all flew off just after light, and were gone all day, returning just before dark.

"There was nothing there" Scuttle claimed, "I could have been down that cliff and into the cave in a heartbeat. But I just observed, as you asked"

Without the ravens present during the day, our climbing-in plan was going to work just fine, we figured. The night passed uneventfully, and the next morning we cautiously made our way through the bush, around the ravine location, to the top of the cliffs overlooking the open clearing and the cave. No ravens, the plan was looking good so far.

Potions of Climbing for the fighters, Bear, Gillard, Tankard, and Tu, and they headed off down the cliff face like it was a walk in the park.

Spider Climb spells for the non-climbers, Debbie, Myrtle, and Oliver, and they all scuttled over the edge and actually ran down the cliff face on all fours.

Ouzo looses his grip on the cliff face

Ouzo and Scuttle bought up the rear, like the professional climbers they are. And around half way down, they both slipped on the greasy bit (they claimed) and tumbled off the side of the cliff. If it wasn't for Oliver being so alert, they may have plunged to their deaths. But he saw their predicament as it occurred, and managed to cast two Feather Fall spells that dropped them both gently to the ground beside us.

"Wow" puffed Scuttle, "Can I do that again?"

But we just slipped into the dark cavemouth beside us and headed into the darkness. 

The cave immediately opened up into a natural chamber with two round openings ahead of us. Beside each opening stood a smaller version of the statues we had seen back out in the ravine. But these ones had their eyes open, and they were definitely tracking us as we moved towards them.

Oliver pulled out his cursed Boline dagger, which was once again humming with suppressed power, and was as black as a hole in the night sky.

Boldly stating "They are with me" Oliver held up the cursed Boline dagger and led the party through the right hand opening.

"Oh crap" muttered Scuttle, "Do we want to be with him?

After about twenty yards a round opening in the right wall of the tunnel appeared. A small room, carved from the rock by hand and lined with brick. The sheen of rippling water reflected across the entire floor to the door on the other side.

"Nope" noted Bear, and led us straight on till we encountered a crossroads in the passage.
"Which way now" Bear asked.

There were no tracks on the ground, no noises from either direction, and no drafts. And although Oliver's cursed dagger was still thrumming with contained power, Oliver wasn't feeling any pressure to turn either way. But he did put the dagger on the ground and give it a spin. It came to rest pointing into the wall. Ouzo wanted to search for secret doors in the wall, but Bear just turned right and continued on.

The tunnels led off into the distance

After quite a march we arrived at another crossroads, and this time there were faint sounds from the left. We went that way, and after some distance arrived in a man-made room, carved into the rock, that housed ten barred cells. All the cells were occupied, but only eight were occupied by the living. Their low moaning echoed around the room, a mix of emaciated humanoid creates huddled in the far corner of the cells. There was also a further exit on the far side of the room, which likely led back to near our starting location in this cave system.

"Larder?" queried Scuttle, peering in at a naked human female in one of the cells.

 Just then a booming sound echoed down the passage we had just arrived along, and then we detected voices speaking, and footsteps. Heading our way.

"Orcish" whispered Tankard, "Hide, and get ready to fight"

Tu figures that a rush down the unexplored passage would eventually bring him up behind whoever is approaching, so he and Oliver quietly bolt ahead, to get around behind.

Scuttle scampers straight up the wall and secures himself in the darkness above the passage opening.

Ouzo tries to follow, but slips off the wall and drops. Fortunately, he executed a mid-air cat-like twisty spin and landed lightly on his feet. So he slipped a short distance up the passage after Tu, and froze in the darkness. The non-fighters followed Ouzo into the gloom. Myrtle readied a Silence spell.

The fighters and Debbie crouched down on either side of the tunnel, and waited for the Orcs to arrive.

First into the room was a human women in long black robes. She was yelling and berating the three Orcs that followed her into the room. And they were all totally surprised by the Silence that descended over them, and by the swords that swung silently at them out of the darkness of their "larder". Suckers.

Bear swings a mighty blow into the witch's torso, but only inflicts two damage. Debbie, Gillard, and Tankard engage the Orcs. The witch was quick on her feet and managed to leap back into the tunnel and flee. The three Orcs block our access to the tunnel and fought bravely to allow their mistress to escape. Luckily Scuttle managed to evade the Orc's in the confusion and raced off after the witch, his little short legs pumping furiously to try and keep up.

Despite the overpowering odds and our initial surprise attacks, the Orc battle became quite drawn out. Debbie was quickly cut down by a mighty double strike [The Orc roiled a critical hit followed by a twelve on the critical table, two extra damage, knocked onto back, attacker gets a free hack at +4] and fell back, unconscious and bleeding.

Tankard proved the hero of the hour, his strikes eventually felling each of the three Orcs, although Gillard and Ouzo bothclaimed the respective kills.

Meanwhile back down the tunnel complex, Oliver had outpaced Tu and was barrelling along at his maximum pace, Tu puffing and panting behind him. The tunnels did indeed connect and they were soon racing down the third and final leg of the triangular loop when Oliver spotted a darkly clad figure running towards them. It was Ingrid Barnett of Penstoke, MALECHAI coven member, and right then, enemy number one!

A witch appears from the darkness

Without even a pause for thought, Oliver charged right into her and attempted to grapple her to the ground. He wasn't able to get a good grip though, but did prevent her from casting any spells. Tu followed right behind and swung his sword at her. There was a magical flash and Tu's three points of damage were somehow absorbed. The witch drew an evil looking dagger from her robes and Tu and the witch went at it.

Oliver tried to assist, but somehow only managed to get in Tu's way and distract him from the fight.

"Back off you clod" yelled Tu, narrowly dodging a slash from the witch's dagger. The blade was glistening with a sickly green substance which Tu wanted no part of. The skirmish went on for a minute with Tu and Ingrid trading blows, until Scuttle arrived and surprised the witch with a Backstab to the butt cheek, whereupon she stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Not wasting any time Scuttle fell on her and with a flurry of hacks and a spray of blood, separated her head from her body.

Scuttle stripped the body of all items, a necklace with MALECHAI's symbol, a glittering bracelet, a ring, the glistening dagger, and her flowing black cloak. Picking up the decapitated head, Scuttle started back down the tunnel towards the others.

"You bring the body" he yelled back to Tu.

Back in the cell room, Myrtle had Cured Debbie and was checking the various people locked in the cells. Not to free them, but just to make sure they wouldn't die while we cleared out the rest of the underground complex. Bear and Tu opened up one of the cells, with a dead occupant, and tossed in the Orc bodies, and the decapitated body of Ingrid. Scuttle threw in the head and slammed the door closed.

We decide that it might be safer for Ouzo to use one of the last Invisibility potions and head out to explore and map the rest of the complex. Surely someone will come looking for Ingrid or the Orcs when they fail to return, so time was of the essence. 

About thirty minutes later Ouzo returns and provides us with a rough map, marked up with a few notes.

Kitchen with 8-12 Orcs, Empty sleeping chamber - 3 empty beds only, Torture room with smelly pit, watery room, Pentagram passages, Centre area with no doors.

Suddenly we hear a slam, like a door closing heavily, from somewhere down the passage ahead and near the centre of the complex.

"Secret doors" nods Ouzo sagely.
"Um" whispers Oliver, "Can anyone else hear that chanting?"
"Keep an eye on Oliver" instructs Tu, "I'm sure he tried to attack me earlier"
"In fact, why not tie me with a rope so I can't take off suddenly" suggests Oliver.

Scuttle does exactly that, and secures a rope around Oliver's waist and takes a firm grip on the end.

We all move cautiously towards the centre of the map, and begin searching the "inside" wall of the passage for secret doors. We spread out a bit, with the fighters at each end of the search area and examine the walls.

Suddenly Ouzo yells and leaps to the side as a dark figure appears right behind him and swings a Short Sword at his back. 

"Beware" yells Ouzo as two other figures appear behind Tu and Gillard. Tu is caught off guard by a huge man wielding an axe, which bites into his back for one point of inflicted damage. Gillard is also caught off guard as another big guy swings a Long Sword overhand into her shoulder for one point of inflicted damage.

A mighty battle erupts, the three no longer invisible fighters against our fighters. Weapons flash, swing and smash and the passage is filled with grunts, curses, and the clangs of combat.

Oliver casts a Detect Invisible to check there is no one else waiting silently nearby to pounce, but sees nothing out of the ordinary. As Oliver peers each way down the passage, he spots an irregularity in the rock of the passage wall, walks over to it, and with two quick thumps on the rough protrusions, springs open a hidden door. He whips his vibrating dagger through the rope around his waist, and slips through the door towards the intriguing chanting drifting from just ahead.

Back at the battle, Tu lets off an inopportune fart and is distracted for a round [8 on the fumble table, Belch and fart, loose next rounds attack], Gillard is struck unconscious, and Bear knocks one of the fighters to the ground. Debbie hasn't even noticed there is a battle going on and continues to search the wall for secret doors.

Just to make matters worse, a loud klaxon starts to sound, its piercing screech echoing up and down the passages. 

Tankard gets in a decent blow with his axe!

But Tankard gets in a decent solid blow with his Great Axe and drops another of the attackers. Only one left now, the one with four points of armour absorption! The one that smacks Tu across the head with his weapon, dropping Tu to the ground and turning towards Bear with a nasty grin.

Scuttle has noticed Oliver's rope going slack, and spun around to see Oliver disappearing through the door. He yells to the others and gives Ouzo a shove towards the hidden passage.

"I'm too slow, get after the traitor" he shouts.

Ouzo draws an arrow from his quiver and steps into the secret passage. Oliver's back is just fading into the darkness ahead, so Ouzo looses the arrow which thumps into Oliver's back. There was a magical flash and Ouzo's three points of damage were somehow absorbed by Oliver's robe. [Oliver always maintains an Armour spell on his person at all times. Now that he has achieved level three and has the Armour II spell in his book, he uses that. This spell provides eight points of damage absorption before dissipating and needing to be re-cast. So three points gone from eight available] 

Oliver slips into a room at the end of the passage, and Ouzo can see an unknown female in black MALECHAI robes standing in front of a stone alter. Her hands are raised to the air and a low guttural chanting is issuing from her mouth. Across the alter slumps the emaciated and withered body of Odette Pearson - the inn owner and witch. Also standing at the alter was Hayley Price, the wizard from Penstoke whose husband we had turned over to the REAL Temple at Toluene.

Oliver strolled up towards the alter, and Ouzo skids to a halt before wantonly charging into the room.

Meanwhile, back at the battle in the passage, Myrtle has Healed Gillard and Tu, and Bear, Gillard, Tankard, and Tu are alternating attacks against the big guy. Gillard gets in some serious hits with her armour piercing blade. It will only be a matter of time before our hero's cut him down and take the battle.

But, Orc shouting can be heard from off down the passage, and the thumping of heavy feet are approaching! Time is not on our side it seems.

The dead body waits on the alter