Syler Entry 5
Splug went his way up and out of Shadowfell Keep, good riddance I say. I swear, Morthos is one soft sonuvabitch letting two goblins wander about on their own. Whatever, so long as the haul for this job keeps on as good as it’s been. So I asked the others what they wanted to do first, free the kobolds or clear out the rest of the goblins. Morthos and Tolis-Va wanted to clear the goblins, Ethol and I were indifferent and Balasar was, as always, clueless. He walked right to the door Splug had told us the kobolds were behind and opened it. The scaled fool is lucky it wasn’t trapped. The ugly critters inside were afraid of us, and really I couldn’t blame them, we are some badass mofos after all. Balasar and Morthos chatted them up a bit in whatever the hell language they were speaking when finally Morthos spun on his heel and walked away from them, leaving the door wide open. I looked at Ethol and shrugged.
We approached the next door in the hallway, and I gestured for everyone to be silent while I pressed my ear to it, listening for whatever was on the other side. I could hear several goblins speaking in their foul tongue and the telltale sound of cards being shuffled. Goblins playing cards, what is our world coming to? I told the others what I heard and knowing most of the party couldn’t sneak worth a damn, suggested we open the doors and draw the goblins to us. Morthos got on the opposite side of the door from me while Balasar, Ethol and Tolis-Va took their positions, readied with ranged weapons. After a three count Morthos and I opened the doors. A goblin popped his head ‘round the corner and was greeted with an arrow from our elven ranger. A bell sounded and we knew we’d shortly have company. A goblin came out from behind a tapestry and was struck down. The rest stayed where they were. Balasar and Morthos went down the hallway after them and the goblins engaged. I fired a few bolts down the way and scored some hits, but no kills. Then I saw more goblins coming from our flank. I shouted out to Ethol and ran into the hallway, closing one of the double doors behind me. The fey took a hit and ran into the hallway screaming like fey do. The fat goblin shot at me, but I dodged his feeble attempt. Ethol did his magic thing and a fireball moved about the room, dividing the goblins up. The rest of us moved in and kicked the remaining goblins’ ugly asses. The fat one tried to get away, but Tolis-Va took him down hard. That, Morthos, is how you deal with goblins.
After the fight, I could see the goblins didn’t have much on them, so I went behind the tapestry to see what I could find. I entered a room that must have been the leader’s, and looked for anything that sparkled or gleamed. Bingo, a large, locked chest. I pulled out my tools and worked my magic, opening the chest and gazing in wonder at what was held inside. Score!!! An axe and a LOT of coins! I must admit, the thought did cross my mind to stuff my pockets with coins before drawing the others’ attention to it, but it was too much for me to carry by myself, so I called for the others as loud as I could. Couldn’t use the axe myself, so when Morthos walked in I tossed it to him. Then I started counting out the shares. Once that was done I told ‘em I was gonna map the areas of the keep we’d cleared. I was given confused looks from the others, so I had to remind them about Cranewing in Fallcrest, who was willing to pay good money for a map of this ruin. With that said I went to work and collected the bolts from the fallen goblins in the torture chamber as well.
When I’d mapped out the areas we had cleared, we decided to move past another set of doors. The place was pitch black, so Ethol mumbled something and made a stone shine bright. Morthos tossed the stone ahead of us and we could see a room with three halls out. Balasar decided to go left and spotted someone standing in the next room. Tolis-Va used his sharp eyes and described a figure with tattered clothing. What were these guys waiting for? Fuck it, I went in and dodged a clumsy arm that reached out for me. Then I drove my short sword into the gut of whoever it was in front of me. Morthos cracked a sunrod, which damn near blinded me, and we saw some dead motherfuckers walking around like somebody forgot to tell them they’d already fallen. Lucky for them I was around to clue them in. The fighting was brief as most of these dead heads just needed a gentle push to bring them down. One of the two tougher looking ones was brought down by Ethol in one shot. Then the other one grabbed onto Balasar. I ran behind it and tried to strike it without hitting any dragon scales. My first hit didn’t land, so I tried harder. I caught the zombie square in the spine, causing it to lose its grip on Balasar and return to hell. Now we’re even for that whole rat thing big guy. Not long after, more of the clueless dead stumbled our way. We quickly dispatched them and decided dead guys walking means we’re close to Orcus’ rift of doom. So we did what any sensible people would do, we went back upstairs.
Tolis-Va and I moved into a natural cavern with stones jutting from the floor and roof like a giant maw. I let Balasar and Morthos move in and that’s when the overgrown rats attacked. The other guys seemed to be doing fine on their own so I kept my position, hidden in the stairwell. I killed one of the vermin as it tried to run by, but that got the attention of all the others. They came after me and I moved up the stairs to keep some advantage over them. The others moved in and we cleared them out pretty quick. Then, some kind of ooze came out and attacked us. What kind of crazy place is this? You’d think something like an ooze would eat giant rats as quickly as it would eat us. It hit Tolis-Va and Balasar pretty hard, and their armor smoked and fizzed like it was burning. I tried to move into an advantageous position and got a decent hit in, but the ooze was still… oozing around. Then, it split in two. Usually when that happens to whatever it is we’re fighting the combat’s over, not the case with this thing. One of the oozes attacked our fey friend and he disappeared and reappeared behind it. Perfect! I took advantage of the flank and destroyed one of the oozes. The others felled the second one and we were done. I quickly walked about the place, mapping as I went and came upon a set of bronze doors with a bunch of fungus growing on it. Scratched into the fungus were the words, “Stay Out. Really.” Yeah, like that’s ever worked before. But before we can move on, we need to rest.