The final danger neutralized, Steve! crosses to his partner and shakes her back to consciousness. As she sits up the now familiar voice of The Wizard echoes in both Steve! and Gladiola's heads, "Well done. Your skills have improved. I believe you are ready for the next challenge. But first, as a reward I will answer one question."
Gladiola and Steve! exchange glances before Gladiola speaks, "What is this prophecy..."
"Not that question, choose another."
"Who are..."
"No that one either."
"Where should..."
"Ha na na na, shush. You don't seem to be able to ask a simple question so I will just give you the answer. It is eleven pineapples. Eleven pineapples. Wait, is that right...let me check just a second...no that is correct, eleven pineapples. Now enjoy the new powers I have bestowed upon you for battling the toughest of foes. Continue to be excellent."
The dining hall begins to fill will the stench of death. Not too vile yet were it not for the beheaded troll. Suddenly, there are voices heard coming from the hallway. Gladiola looks around the room at the carnage. Scorched bodies of soldiers, foaming poisoned bogling corpses, buckets of blood and great gaps in the floor from emerging trolls and vines. This would not be easily explainable. Steve! and her rush to the corner, out of sight of the main door. Gladiola's back starts to feel warm as it presses against a tapestry. She notices that the bagged gem stolen from the soldier corpse has also begun to glow. Steve! pulls back the tapestry to reveal a glowing green line forming what looks like a door way in the stone. Where the knob would be, there is a writing similar to the runes on the gem.
What will you do?
Still shaking the cobwebs from her fuzzy brain Gladiola grabs the gem from the pouch about her neck and places it where the knob should be, matching words to words. As she hopes, the door-shape falls back into the wall, and then slides to the left, revealing a low-ceilinged tunnel running even further down into the bowels of the dungeon. Though the light is dim and they cannot see the other end, this still looks to be the better option to the impending rush of enemy soldiers. First Gladiola and then Steve! slip through the door and as if by their command the hole closes back up behind them. They can just barely hear the sounds of voices through the rock as the room behind them fills with cries of alarm and vows of bloody revenge!
Once in the passageway the two sit down against the damp wall and take a moment. "Do you still have the sunrune?" she asks her fellow adventurer, and Steve! produces light from his pocket. The glow shows them only that the passageway turns tightly 10 feet from their position, and that the walls and ceiling are coated in dripping moss and other damp growth. After a few more moments collecting themselves Steve! stands (hunched over slightly) and gestures down the path with a "shall we?" motion. The two head deeper into danger.
The tunnel goes on and on, turning often. At first they try to keep track of where they might be in relation to the banquet room, but finally they concede they are totally lost, with only the options of following to the end or returning from whence they came to see if the banquet room could be abandoned. They continue forward. AT last, after what seems over an hour, they hear very faint sounds coming from one of the walls. They feel around with their hands but no door is found. Gladiola pulls the gem from its pouch again and runs it, in the palm of her hand, along the wall. The form of a door begins to outline in green, growing more vibrant as her hand approaches. When the gem is touching the door edge it glows a vibrant green in the blackness and the "knob" is once again visible. Though the sounds give no clear indicator of what lies beyond, they are wearing of this moleish existence and seek LIGHT. And so they place the gem in its space and the door slides back to them...
The enter what looks like a dank and dimly lit laboratory. Bubbling flasks and glowing gems are scattered about the various tables and shelves.
"Close the door you idiots!" a voice booms from the back and them descends into murmurs, "damn fools always meddling in my affairs. Why can't they just leave me to my research. If you want the power to control all, it's going to require absolute and...UNINTERRUPTED...concentration."
A gnarled and very stained robed man emerges from behind a large bookcase. He has glasses and a unkempt gray beard. "What do you want now? Oh look at this, your bleeding all over the place. This is not a hospital you know." He disappears once more behind the bookcase only to emerge a minute later with a purple flask. Grabbing Gladiola by the shoulder, he pours some of its contents over her wounds. The putrid smelling liquid flows into her wounds and they begin to reform into her original condition. "Ever seen a troll get cut? Amazing creatures, but smell horrible. Not an easy task to get a hold of their juices. Now that should keep you from further messing of my quarters. Just because you've imprisoned me and forced me to do your bidding doesn't mean I should have to live with your fluids everywhere. I suppose you've come looking for the results from the tests on the folks from the prophecy is that it? I've not finished with the new crystals if that's what your here for." Picking up some scrolls from one of the tables he hands them to Steve! "Now was there anything else?"
Steve! takes the scrolls with a swagger. "Well, it's about damned time, old man!" he blusters, sliding the scrolls back behind him to Gladiola. Following his lead, she begins to open them, scanning for any information that is recognizable while Steve! continues to provide distraction. He stands as large as he can, preparing to make a big show of the delay in the reports, but abruptly the old man turns his back on them both and returns to his work, his back so hunched that his head hovers only inches over the crystal on which he currently focuses. Momentarily they realize that they need not be too sneaky, so absorbed is the old man with his work, and they slide back to the other side of the room and spread the first of the scrolls out over a bare table. Gladiola places the green gem at the top of the sheet to keep it flat.
Before them is a list of scientific lines and grids, much of it stating conclusions that are lost to them both. But here and there they find information they understand. The second scroll that they open is titled "Female, possibly dragonborne". On the list they identify three points of information: that she is older than she appears; that she is not new to this fortress and that she has had some level of surgical treatments in the past. On the report that summarizes Steve!'s information they learn that he is related to another being held in the fortress; that he may not be originally from this reality and that he is very allergic to cats. (seriously, no joke. Super-allergic.) Their past a blank slate as they are, these bits of information provide at least an inkling of who they are and where they come from.
"Dang. I like cats." Steve! states sadly. Gladiola pats him on the back supportively.
As they roll up the scrolls and prepare to slide out the lab doorway Gladiola reaches for her green gem to find it gone. Looking to her side she's surprised to find the ancient scientist standing right beside her, so stealthy had been his approach! He holds the gem in his hand and peers at it through a telescopic eyepiece strapped to his head. "Where did you get this?" he asks, turning it over and over under the gaze, "You administrative types aren't supposed to carry these stones. These stones are for upper echelon military. Where did you get this?" he asks again, giving them the first good look-over since they emerged from the tunnel.
"How dare you question us!" blusters Steve!, grabbing the gem back from him. "Get back to your work, old man! You're behind enough as it is!" To his amazement the professor snaps the gem back from his hand with dramatic speed and, with his other hand, jams a syringe into Steve!'s shoulder. The world around him disappears with a 'Pop!' and Steve! crashes to the floor out cold. So fast has the tide turned that Gladiola is left flat-footed. The old man has zipped from his previous spot around to the other side of the table and begins to grab up the scrolls. She manages to clutch back the two summarizing their information, cram them behind her chest plate, grab-up Steve!'s limp form and throw it over her shoulder, booking for the door just ahead of the cries of alarm of the scientist.
"Wait, stop, where are you going!" The old man reaches for a yellow gem sitting in a wooden holder and smashes it on the floor. The green outline of the door the adventurers entered disappears. Gladiola slams on the stone wall, but there is no sign of the door. As she turns, the old man is already upon her. The chill of a steel needle pierces her arm as she feels her legs collapse from beneath her. They awaken to find themselves in some sort of pit. The walls are smooth and vertical. Steve! notices two iron doors on either side of the chamber. They are cagelike with torches on either side of them. Just as they recollect themselves and shake the cobwebs from their foggy skulls, there is a great creaking and moaning as the doors raise. The adventurers run to the center of the pit. Out from one door comes a huge ogre clad in leather with a large club. From the other emerges a large insect like creature. It has giant pincers and many legs. Both rush at the center of the chamber.
No comments:
Post a Comment