hem! - Part 2 - ivemother

Returning to the chamber they proceeded up the northern exit. The passage here was much wider than the others they had passed along were. Again Jodotha took the lead. He had not gone far down the passage before he was surprised by a large insectoid warrior. It attacked the rogue driving him backward towards the others. Fighting as he retreated, Jodotha was able to inflict a few minor wounds on the creature keeping his attention focused. As he stepped backwards out of the corridor, Jodotha was joined by Colloran and Darkhawk who dispatched the creature with ease.
"There is quite a bit of noise coming from the end of the corridor." Reported Jodotha, "And the end is partially blocked with web like strands."
"How long is the passage?" asked Trimus thoughtfully.
"Fifteen paces or so." Replied the rogue. "Why?"
"You'll see." Smiled Trimus as he drew the wand of cold from his pack. As he peered around the corner of the passage he could make out more insectoid creatures and some mutated humans coming down the passage.
"There are villagers in this group Ako." He said, an unasked question hung in the air.
"Go ahead Trimus." Replied the cleric sadly. "There is nothing we can do for them, my spells and staff are spent."
Trimus needed no second bidding. He pointed the wand down the corridor and uttered the word of command. Again a cone of icy blue air shot down the corridor, creating icicles and frost patterns upon the walls, floor and ceiling as well as killing all bar one of the creatures in the corridor. As the survivor staggered along, joints stiff from cold, Jodotha dispatched it with a crossbow bolt.

With Trimus and Jodotha at the head of the party they moved along the passage. At the end they found the web like strands that Jodotha had reported. Beyond the strands lay a room, some forty foot in diameter. Inside was a huge slug like insectoid, larger than any they had seen before. Clustered round the rear of the creature were four normal insectoid creatures. Three villagers and two larger insectoid creatures also tended the creature. Jodotha levelled his crossbow and fired an enchanted bolt at what he assumed was the queen. Just as he fired one of the larger creatures noticed him and dived into the path of the bolt.
"Get in the way of this." Muttered Trimus calling up another ice storm from his staff. Once the air had cleared, two of the insectoid creatures lay dead upon the cave floor; the others looked badly damaged. He had carefully targeted his spell so that the villagers were spared.
The queen of the insectoid hive started to chitter loudly and a foul smelling brown cloud billowed from its rear end obscuring the companions' view somewhat. The remaining insectoid creatures and the mutated villagers slipped into the passage and started to attack Jodotha who had to retreat badly wounded. Trimus drew his cone of cold and fired it as he joined Jodotha in retreat. Two of the villagers and three of the insectoid creatures died. Steadying himself Jodotha hit the last of the big insectoid creatures with two crossbow bolts allowing Colloran to step in and finish it off. Ako stunned the last of the villagers, which just left the queen. "Leave this to me." Said Trimus and he stepped forward. Looking into the faceted eyes of the creature one last time Trimus struck his staff on the floor and another ice storm pummelled the creature into a sticky, wet pulp.

"We should destroy this place." Said Colloran. "Burn it down."
"I have no more spells to do that." Admitted Trimus, looking and sounding weary.
"Let us see if there are more villagers to rescue." Counselled Ako, "Then return to the village to rest and perhaps learn new spells."
"A sensible suggestion." Agreed Colloran.
Trimus did what he could for Jodotha's wounds after which they helped the others search the room. Jodotha unearthed a potion of polymorphing and a scroll containing a pair of clerical spells that Ako added to his pack. They continued to search those rooms that they had not previously visited in their headlong rush to the top of the mound. In one they found a handful of gems and golden coins which Jodotha added to their growing store of riches. In another they found an opening that overlooked the forest. They stood there for a while savouring the fresh air after the sickly stench of the insect like creatures and each other's sweat.

They entered another room and their hearts dropped when they saw another group of the insect warriors. Taking a deep breath and drawing weapons notched from the heavy fighting they lined up to do battle again. Jodotha tried to leap over the advancing line of creatures but instead landed atop one of them and they ended up in a heap upon the floor. Trimus launched one of his last remaining magic missile spells striking each of the three creatures with a bolt of magical energy. Jodotha killed the one he had landed on with a skilful slash of his dagger while Ako and Darkhawk finished of the other two. A search of the room revealed a few gold coins, a piece of topaz and a piece of amber.

The next and final chamber revealed three more of the insect warriors. Jodotha, limping after his encounter in the previous room was struck first by a magic missile from the largest of the creatures followed by a vicious bite from one of the others. Severely weakened by these attacks the rogue dropped into a crouch and fired a crossbow bolt. The bolt bit home burst out of the creature's back spraying the wall behind with green fluid. Colloran's shield, which the paladin had charged up with energy before entering the room, took a blow from one of the creatures. The shield discharged and killed the creature instantly, though the corpse twitched and smoked on the floor for several moments after. Darkhawk and Colloran then turned their attention to the final creature. Larger and stronger than many of the others it fought well, inflicting massive damage on the two heroes. The creature then grabbed Darkhawk and used him as a club swinging the armoured knight into the paladin sending both crashing to the floor in a heap. Ako, having crept up behind the creature surprised it and brought his mace down upon the beast's head killing it. Trimus used the last of his bandages and salves to do what he could for the wounded while Ako searched the room, returning with a chunk of amethyst and forty gold coins.

The bruised and battered heroes escorted the villagers back to their village to join the others they had cured earlier. They could tell that there was no way they could survive without help, they were too simple to do more than the simplest tasks.
"We will have to take them back to Akasoli," said Colloran. "They will not survive alone here."
"Perhaps there will be friends and relations among the refugees that can look after them and allow them to return." Added Ako.
"Anyway, we still have to destroy the mound. There may be eggs that we didn't find that could hatch and spawn a new generation of evil." Continued Colloran. "Give me a night of rest and I can oblige." Trimus gave a determined grin as he looked around the room. "I saw some barrels of oil in the village when we were looking around earlier. That and a few fireball spells should do for the mound."

They slept overnight then returned to the mound. After they had retrieved the bodies of any that were still recognisable as humans Darkhawk and Colloran spilled oil on the floor of the each of the chambers leaving the still half full barrels in the queen's chamber. Instructing the others to stand well back Trimus muttered an incantation and a small ball of bright blue flame flew into the entrance of the mound. A muffled roar and a gout of flame burst from the entrance and cracks started to spread like a spider's web across the mound.
"One more for luck." Muttered Trimus and he cast another fireball into the mound. This time the roar was louder and the cracks widened as the mound started to collapse in on itself.

The heroes turned their backs on the burning mound and escorted the villagers back to Akasoli. As they did Trimus mused upon what they had found, in particular the crown and the ring. Both were far too ornate to have come from the village. Who had worn them? Who had stolen them only to leave them lying in a bare cave in this remote region? He decided that when they returned to Akasoli he would spend some time in the library and with the sages of the town finding out what he could about those items.

Back to my home page.
Back to the story's contents page
The Next Chapter

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page