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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: a cave somewhere within the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXIX. Into the Underdark The party has just opened a portal leading to the Underdark, home of all who dwell beneath the world's surface. The 20' high, 10' wide double doors swung inward, revealing inky blackness... Rob: Whoa. (casts Continual Light upon a torch stub and holds the bright object aloft) Belphanior: Good move, Rob. We _still_ can't see a damned thing in there. Mongo: (hefts his hammer) So, we go in charging, right? Lyra: Not so hasty, dwarf. If you knew what lay beyond, you might have second thoughts. Alindyar: This darkness seems not to be of the type which retreats before light sources... Ged: Yea, you're right. It's like...well, like a _wall_ there. Belphanior: No matter. (pushes Rob into the dark area ahead, and the priest is swallowed up) Hmm. Oh, what the hell. (draws Blackrazor and steps into the darkness after Rob, vanishing in the same way) Peldor: (pokes a dagger blade into, then out of, the darkness, without apparent effect) Hmm. Mongo: Bah. (strolls into the darkness) Ged: Enough of this. Let's go for it, by Boccob's glowing eyes. Alindyar: Truly, 'tis now or never. (the rest of the party follows the dwarf) A darkness more total than any of them had ever experienced now surrounded them. Though all nine of the party had entered in close formation, not a single footstep could be heard, not even the most hushed whisper was audible. Each of the adventurers seemed to walk through the darkness all by himself (or herself). After ten long seconds, the inky darkness abruptly lifted, and the group then found itself in a cavern. The ceiling was some fifteen feet in height, and the chamber spanned about forty feet in diameter, with six rough-hewn exits spaced equidistantly about its perimeter. Mongo: What the fuck?!? This doesn't _look_ like the Underdark! Alindyar: Hmm. It must be an adjunct area then. Rob: Hey, what's that?! (points to a puddle in the center of the room's stony floor; a bleached skeleton lies half-buried within this puddle) Ged: Wha-? (casts Detect Evil upon himself) Hey, Belphanior! Undead? Belphanior: Huh? Oh. (casts Detect Undead upon himself) Nope. Nada. Ged: Not evil either. Peldor: (pokes the skeleton, which is limed-over but has nothing of interest) Bah. Peldor will steal only from the _living_! Belphanior: Well, if one of these passages will lead us to the Underworld...(picks a random exit and heads for it) Come on, guys. Ged: No, I say we take _this_ exit. (points at another tunnel leading out) Belphanior: Fine. (goes) Peldor: Well...(follows the elf) Ged: Hmph. (heads down his own passage) Come on, Arnold. Arnold: Okay. (follows Ged) Mongo: Wait up! (follows Ged as well) You might need help. Arnold: No. I, Ah-nold, can hamdle any prodlems. Mongo: Yeah, right, I hear you, pal. Rillen: (follows Belphanior for reasons that only he may know) Rob: (follows Rillen) others: (all follow Belphanior) Belphanior: (looks back, amused) Well. nearby... Rillen: What is that smell ahead? Belphanior: Holy shit! Undead! (dashes into a small chamber, hacking at a skeletal warrior who leads two others of his kind) Die! Peldor: (hot on the trail, he engages a second skeleton) Aha! Peldor joins the fray! Rillen: (hears swordplay and sprints into the room, bashing the third undead warrior with his staff) More bones? Belphanior: Looks that way. (nicks his opponent in the arm bone, as the skeleton misses him with a swift sword thrust) Whoa! Peldor: (misses his opponent) Rillen: (crushes his skeleton's ribcage with a mighty blow, sending shards of bone everywhere) Simply smashing. Rob: (arrives, and begins to turn undead) By the power of the Redeemer, I command you guys, err, undead, back! Go back to hell! Or, even better, dissolve! skeletal warriors: (all three crumble into dust when faced with Rob's magical powers) Rillen: Well, they really bit the dust. Rob: (pleased) Yes, they did, didn't they? Belphanior: Good job, priest. Peldor: (examining the room) No loot. Belphanior: Their swords don't seem special or magical, either. Alindyar: (arrives) What has transpired? Peldor: Not much. We just got rid of three skeletons. Lyra: You must be proud of yourselves. What a grand feat of skill and power. Belphanior: Whatever. Let's get to another of the tunnels. Peldor: (realizes that the battle was actually not a glorious one) Oh, well. (follows the elf as he heads back toward the main chamber) meanwhile... Ged: (he and Arnold enter a tunnel which winds around; a niche to one side, in the stone of the wall, holds a conical opening) What is this? Arnold: Cone! Ged: Yea. Brilliant. (he looks into the hole or cone - it is ringed with many sharp teeth at its opening, and the point of the cone is about three feet in) Looks dangerous. Mongo: (arrives) What is this you've found? A cone-mouth?! Ged: Looks like it. (carefully pokes an iron spike into the opening, producing no response at all) Hmm. Mongo: Break the teeth! (bashes the stone "teeth" with his hammer, smashing a few) Ged: Well- YAA! (whips his hand back as the mouth-like opening slams shut, slicing half of the iron spike off, to fall to the floor) Arnold: Aaaaaa. Mongo: Shit! Ged: It's a good thing I didn't put my hand in there. Arnold: Yah. You wouldn't haave dhat hand anymore... Mongo: Oh, well...(continues along the passage and emerges into the original room; this exit was thus actually a loop, leading to another of the "exits") Hey! (runs into Belphanior and company, who are back in the main room now) Ged: Hmm. We've eliminated two of the exits so far. Peldor: Plus the one _we_ took. Mongo: Let's go that way. (the party now goes down another tunnel) Peldor: (takes a fifth tunnel by himself, now invisible) Belphanior: What's that odd smell? Did you fart, Rob? Rob: Who, me? Mongo: Hold up that torch, Rob. (they enter a portion of tunnel which is only three feet high, and three feet wide) Belphanior: Geez, I have to crumple myself up just to get through here! Mongo: Nah. (easily moves through the narrow passage and into a room) Whoa! Hold it! Ged: What? What is it? Mongo: Gas! The cramped tunnel led into a room which had a layer of green gas floating in most of its upper portion. Only the lowest three feet or so had normal air. The gas seemed to have collected in the top of the room over time, and the gas-to-air border was clearly defined right at the three-foot level. Belphanior: Cripes! Rob, put that torch out! (crouches low, careful to avoid the gas) Mongo: No need. If it was explosive, it would've already gone off. And we'd all be toast right now... Ged: (pokes the gas above himself, with his morningstar) Hmm, it doesn't react much. And it's not inherently evil...(jokingly) Maybe one of us should breathe it to see what it is. Arnold: Yah! Okay, boss. (mistakenly thinks that Ged ordered him to stand up, and does so - only his thighs down are visible now) <koff koff> Ged: No! I was kidding! Arnold: (falls to the floor, underneath the gaseous layer, coughing; his skin has taken on a greenish tone now) Mongo: Holy shit! He's GREEN! Rillen: Green as a pear. Ged: (gasping in horror) Agh! Boccob! Belphanior: Heh heh. Arnold: (blinks) Huh? (looks at his now- green hands) Whaaaaaaaaaat?!? Whad's happened to me?!? I'm _green_!!! Ged: Argh. I guess it's _my_ fault. How do you feel? Arnold: I feel fine. Bud I'm _green_! Just then, a piercing scream broke out, from some nearby room. Belphanior: Hey, where's Peldor?!? They all squirmed through the narrow way and made it back to the main room, then ran down another of the exit passages, in the direction from whence the loud shriek was coming from. They entered a larger, cavernous chamber, in which Peldor stood before some monster, his hands over his ears. The thing was seven feet tall, and covered in brown skin. Its beady eyes glowed red, and it held a white club of wood in one long, clawed arm. Its mouth was open as it continued to scream at the party. thing: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Arnold: Argh! (covers his ears, then his eyes) I am blind! I can'd see! Belphanior: This just isn't his day. First his mentor, the noble Ged, commands him to breathe the terrible green gas, which then renders him _green_, and now, this... Ged: Shut up. Mongo: (ignores the screaming, having made his save, and hurls his hammer at the noisy abomination) Shut the hell up! thing: (hit by the weapon, falls down and stops screaming for the moment) Eeeee... Rillen: (leaps forth and confronts the being) What _are_ you? Ged: (with his previously cast spell, sees an aura) It's evil! Very evil! Mongo: (catches his hammer) Alindyar: Indeed. That creature is one of the minor devils, in fact. Rillen: Oh. (bats the beastie with his staff, wounding it) devil: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ged: (pointing his wand) Axui. devil: (explodes in flames) Eeeeeeeeee! Rillen: (leaps back from the flaming devil) Peldor: Gee, if that wand won't shut him up, I don't know what will. (heads for the chest resting nearby) Belphanior: (trying to distract the rest of the party, but he is too late - they have spotted Peldor) ... Mongo: (follows Peldor) What'cha doing? Ged: (casts Cure Blindness on Arnold) Arnold: (opens his eyes, blinking wildly) Aaa. Mudch bedder now. (looks at his green arms) But I'm still _green_! Ged: Okay, okay. We'll have to work on that one, I admit. Peldor: (opens the chest, after discerning no traps) Whoa! There was another trap, though, and this one nailed the thief. Several darts shot from the wall, and one hit Peldor, who then crumpled in agony, poisoned. Ged: Hold on! (casts Neutralize Poison upon Peldor, saving his life) There. Peldor: Argh. Damned darts. I owe you one, elf. Ged: Not me. You owe _Boccob_. Remember that. Boccob! Peldor: Hmm. Alindyar: (reaches into the open chest and pulls out some treasure) Interesting. Inside the chest were a tube of green paste, a small sack of marbles, a folded blanket, a wine bottle, some copper coins, a huge pearl, a foot-high egg of metal, and a lot of tattered wrapping material. The party examined all of this treasure after they were back in the main chamber. Alindyar: What is this? (tries to lift the metallic ovule, but can't) Mongo: Allow me. (easily lifts the egg and sets it onto the floor, where it promptly rolls onto its side) There. Peldor: (begins poking the egg with a dagger) How does it open? Hey, Mongo, use that chime of yours. Mongo: Chime? Oh, well, okay. (rings his chime) Suddenly, the metallic egg sprouted a pair of skinny arms, and a pair of skinny legs, and then began running around. Mongo made a grab for it, but couldn't catch it in time. Mongo: Cripes! egg: (trips and falls into the puddle) Peldor: (silently uses his ring of telekinesis to push the egg-thing into the sixth passage, the one that the party hasn't explored yet) Well, would you look at that? He ran into that tunnel! C'mon, let's chase him! Rillen: (already on the move, he and Peldor run through the exit, followed by the rest of the party, except for Mongo and Alindyar who are still loading the treasure into the dwarf's portable hole) Mongo: Hey! Aw, damn. Come on, let's get this stuff loaded! Alindyar: Right. The last passage led into a small cavern which contained a pedestal at its center. This roughly mushroom-shaped thing was no higher than a foot from the ground. The egg had run into a corner and was now apparently trying to climb the wall. Rillen: (he and Arnold examine the pedestal for clues as to its purpose) Why would someone make a statue of a _mushroom_ ?? Peldor: (watches the egg, sword raised) Ged: Hmm. Try lifting this pedestal. Rillen: Sure. (he and Arnold do so, and the stone lifts slightly, and then a deep rumbling is heard) Uh-oh. Rob: Look! (points at a section of wall that just slid aside, revealing a chute which descends, spiraling, into darkness) Lyra: (touches the chute) Look here. (holds up a finger, covered with some black tar- like substance) Grease. Belphanior: Maybe it was a trap of some kind. Peldor: Maybe it still is. (innocently telekineses the metallic egg-thing away from the cavern wall, and toward the greased chute) Hey, look at him go! He's headed right for that chute...! Mongo: (he and Alindyar arrive) What in the hell's going on here?!? egg-thing: (pushed into the chute, it slides down silently, and disappears from sight) Peldor: What a neat little toy! The party decided to descend the chute as well, after sending Belphanior down on the end of a rope. The elf ran out of rope before the chute ended, but he reported a floor in view at the edge of his vision. Deeming the chute safe, Belphanior of course volunteered to go first, and leaped into the descending tunnel, quickly vanishing into the depths. About seven seconds later, he yelled from below, though his voice sounded distant. He seemed to be telling the party to hurry, so they descended with all due haste. Rillen was the first to land on the floor of the huge tunnel. Belphanior stood nearby and looked around, taking in the view with awe. The party was now in a huge tunnel, some one hundred feet in radius, and hemispherical in cross-section. The enormous shaft led to the left and right as far as anyone was able to see. Its walls and ceiling were shiny and black, appearing as a series of segmented spines. The stone of the huge passageway looked like it had been polished and divided to the extent that it almost appeared to be...alive. A thin mist floated everywhere, not thick enough to block vision, but just enough to make the whole place seem eerie. Whatever was in either direction, and distant, was shrouded in the fog. The climate here was a bit chilly, and the air smelled old and dry, unlike any other smell that any of the adventurers had experienced in any dungeon. The sounds of the party made distant echoes as they were swallowed up by the gigantic mist-filled tunnel. Alindyar: ...Welcome, my friends, to the Underdark! next time : the first casualty ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : ... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++