I can't believe it. There's something this group can agree on. This city is not a great place for us to be and we need to leave as soon as possible. Even better, I think we found a way. Now lets see if we can put personal vendettas aside to make our escape.
All the locals seem to think there's no way out of here. I get the feeling a lot of people don't really like it here either. Well, with all the Aesia nutters around, I can't say I blame them. Islan and Elana are just getting weaker. We need to get them outside the city so Elana can fix'em up. When New Guy and Will got back from their meeting, they were saying something about the clerics wanting to care for our plagued friends. Ull. Combine that with the nervousness Will was showing when they were summoned. . .yeah. Doesn't add up to a happy situation. New Guy even seemed a little wierded out by the talk, and he doesn't usually show much emotion, unless he's trying to get people around to his way of thinking that is.
So they return and it's blah, blah, blah. Dither, dither. Wonk, wonk, wonk. I'm bored! We're finally in a town, however stinky it is. I need some tools to jimmy traps and I hate waiting. Finally, I took it upon myself to break into the conversation and ask Will to take me out. So then EVERYONE realizes they'd like to go out as well. I don't even get my bloody tools. We go to a tavern instead. Though a trip to a real bar was a tantalizing though. As a side note, I don't know how MacLeane got so good at make-up, not sure I want to know, but he turned me into a pretty passable straight human. So Will orders a round of whiskeys and ale. Now, I don't mean to criticize, but we gotta get the goblins down here. These Selladorians brew some real weak drink. And Will would never last a full night at a bar in Ten-tenauril. He was slurring a little after his first shot!
So we're checking out the nightlife. This joint is pretty tame by any standards. A good place for a pint and some quiet conversation. Not exactly my level of excitement though. I enjoy jumping on barrels to kick my skirts up. If I wore skirts that is. New Guy notices Serianna, Will's uppity woman, sitting at a table with this grizzly-looking guy and some other guy. New Guy is all "We should go say hi!" and strolls over. Well, he can have her. I exchange words with the narrow-assed chick again, I'm lible to thump her. That leaves Anwar and I lounging by the bar. We get into a conversaion about my passability as a human and she's giving me pointers. As we talk, I'm idly checking out everything, when I notice this man. At first, I thought he was just giving Anwar and I the old once-over. After looking a little longer I noticed odd things about him. He was totally hooded. Ok, I can go with it. He didn't have any food or drink on his table. Hmmm. He was totally staring at me the entire time. I know I'm gorgeous and all (snicker), but AHHHHH! I decided it was time to leave. So Anwar and I went to sit with New Guy and the grizzly-man. Tell him we're ready to go. We still have an errand to run, you know, the whole reason we went out. But Will had run off with his lady, probably to grovel a little since she looked so pissed, so we were out a guide. While we were waiting for his return, grizzly-man told us a story. Wierd thing was it was an old elven tale, one I had heard many times sitting around a campfire while wondering if hopefully tomorrow we would eat. And grizzly-man didn't tell it right. While I was trying to correct the details, I made sure to keep sneaking glances at the wierd guy. Yup. Still staring. I pointed him out to New Guy, just to be safe and make sure I'm not going bonkers. Then New Guy wigs out. I ask him if he's ok and he just yells about not being able to hear over the screaming. What was that we were told about not drawing attention? Oh yeah. Don't do it.
Next thing I know, Nyran, I mean New Guy, is on his feet and looking like he was going to blast something in the air. Huh? Why wasn't he looking at the guy sitting? That was the problem. Then he stops and looks around half confused, half expectant like the roof'll fall on us or something. Uh-huh. Now's the time to make out retreat.
So we retrace our steps back to MacLeane's house. Upon our return, it was shown that Islan should never be without a babysitter. Apparently, Threnody came into his room and was trying to hurt him and get his crystal. But I have it on MacLeane's word that Islan was just trying to get nasty with her. Ewwww. Honestly, I thought he had better taste than that. Of course, he would be pretty hard up here. Most Selladorians would probably try to run him through if he ever condescended to bestow his favor on a lass. Oh wait. I think Threnody's already done that.
Then we discovered we'd been followed. Anwar caught grizzly-man from the bar snooping around. Lucky. I'd have been more inclined to just slit his throat. MacLeane was displaying a half-eaten piece of parchment to Anwar. Then MacLeane said there was a tunnel under the bar. He had been too chicken to look, but we were free to check it out. We couldn't take Islan or Elana because they were too sick, but what to do with Islan? We couldn't leave him unguarded with that crystal. So New Guy took it. Not exactly my first choice, but hey. I think New Guy may be allergic to it or something. Immediately after he put it on, his eyes glazed over and then he grabbed his head. Ha ha. Amature.
And into the tunnel we go. Since I'm the toughest, I went first. Crawling on my belly, sword out just in case. Thank god for sunrods. A torch would not have been a good option. Eventually, the crawl space opened up and we kept moving. The further we went, the more vines and roots we saw. Along with more and more animal bones. It was wierd though. The skeletons were lizard like, but there were little teeth marks all over. It was still hard to see so we started tossing our glowsticks ahead. One of mine rolled right next to a bigger skeleton. I walked up to it. Oooo. Glowy armor. I just had to try it on. I felt a little bad, but he's dead. I doubt he cares. Searching his pack I found a little pocket change. Guy had a really nice longsword too, but Anwar snatched it up. Longswords aren't really my thing anyway. I was told the armor was mithryl. Nice. And since no one else seemed to want it, all mine. Then I found the other half of the parchment. Sweet.
Meanwhile, New Guy decided he wanted to make friends with the local wildlife. This baby lizard comes hopping up and chatters at him. The idiot got this goofy grin on his face and was all "Aww, you're so cute," and tries to pet the thing. Another one hops up and starts squeaking to the other. It's really dark ahead, I mean, I can see pretty well in the dark, but it was too thick, so I tossed my sunrod ahead. Oh my god! There must have been hundreds, no thousands of the little buggers! All hissing and spitting. I drew my weapons and started slicing into them. Grizzly tried to sit back but they got him anyway. Then he decided to tell a story. Ironically, it was a FrostFang story. I really miss him. If he were here he would have just stepped on the little beasties. The creatures poured over us in a wave. Little claws and teeth digging in wherever they could. Soon, I was bleeding freely from all the wounds. New Guy dropped a jar of MacLeane's fire on them, but it wasn't an instant kill so the next time the horde moved, it was in a wave of teeth, claws, and fire. Great. Well, they weren't really that tough and were killed easily enough. Slightly wound one and the others would fall on it and tear it to pieces before you even got your shot.
After the fight, we continued along the tunnel. Soon, we were seeing light and we crawled out into the middle of the jungle. Ha! There is a way out afterall. Now we just need to get our sick companions and get them out of civilization, so to speak. All we gotta do is dodge the humans and those clerics. It should be a piece of cake. |
