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Danton’s inability to open the stone ‘dragon’ door provoked an immediate discussion of what the party should do next.

“With your trouble unlocking this door,” said Telemachos, “this path seems closed to us. Unless I am missing something, mayhap we should go through the wooden door.”

“Agreed,” said Danton, “Without an incantation to unbind it, I fear we cannot pass through this portal. Still, we should keep our eyes peeled for a key to fit the keyhole. Mayhap, it will also be made of stone.”

“Good, let’s go, said Telemachos, matching word to action and marching back towards the tower.

“Hold! Hold!” said Mauser firmly. “A bit of patience my friends. While we may not be able to get through this door right now, we might as well try to learn a bit more about it first. Wait a moment while I call on Boccob to assist us.”

While Telemachos stalked to the far doorway and stood there impatiently with his hands on his hips, Mauser closed his eyes and ran his hands over the stone door, speaking in low tones all the while (Cast Detect Magic).

“There is indeed magic here,” said Mauser absently after a minute or so. “Some sort of magic seals the portal and prevents Danton from opening it. The magic is on both the door and the walls surrounding it. I sense (Spellcraft 18+3=21) that it is some sort of Abjuration effect. We are unlikely to be able to pass this portal without the associated key, which is no doubt magical as well.”

“Hmm,” mused Danton, “in that case I must pronounce the door unopenable by a craftsman's means, and I think that its stony nature maketh it impregnable against physical force -- including the strong arms of good Nanoc here.”

“Oh, come on now Danton!” laughed Nanoc. “I might be able to move that there door. It’s just a bunch o’ rock like them boulders I was movin’ bout town.”

Without waiting for encouragement or discouragement, Nanoc put his shoulder against the door, braced his feet on the floor, and shoved the stone with all his might (Strength 4+5 =9). The half-orc grunted and struggled for several moments, but without any visible effect on the door.

Standing up straight again, Nanoc turned towards Telemachos, who still stood impatiently in the far doorway. “Come on, Tel, you’re a soldier so you gotta have some strength--help me push here!”

“Gentlemen,” said Mauser, “might I suggest that our friend Danton here give the door a careful listen before we try any more shoving? If there are more rats, or worse, beyond the door, might it not be useful to know that before we go tumbling through and into their midst?”

“Good point,” agreed Danton. “Should have thought of it myself. Stand aside a moment, Nanoc.”

Motioning the others to keep silent, Danton placed his ear against the cold stone (Listen: 9+3=12). If there was anything to be heard beyond the door, the stone was too thick for it to pass through—Danton heard nothing.

“So, now me Telemachos smash?” said the Furyondian soldier, having approached the door again while Danton was occupied with his ear against it. Looking at Nanoc and rolling his eyes, Telemachos added. “Huh, my hairy friend? We smash now?”

Nanoc’s eyes narrowed for a moment and his expression darkened. But then the half-orc rolled his own eyes and shook his head. “Just try ta make yerself useful, eh?”

With Nanoc providing the bulk of the force (Strength 13+5=18) and Telemachos assisting as best he could (Strength 20+4=24; success—Telemachos’ aid provides Nanoc a +2 “cooperation bonus”, giving Nanoc a total roll of 20), Mauser and Danton could see dust falling from the door and hear stone grinding on stone. The door may even have moved some infinitesimal fraction of an inch, but it did not open, and Nanoc and Telemachos both collapsed to the ground to catch their breath after straining themselves to the limit.

“Guess we’re going to have to find that key after all,” muttered Mauser. “What say we get some rest before we go off looking for it? I’d also like to ask Boccob to help me read unknown languages in case we find any more runes like those up above the ravine.”

“Ah, now we ain’t gonna camp just so we can gets a spell,” bellowed Nanoc, climbing to his feet once again. “Though I think I remember when they was tellin’ me some stories that ol’ Twillian had a spell well he could just knock on a door like that and it’d open…at the time that did not seem very important to me, never really paid much attention when they was talkin’ bout a part he did anyway. You ain’t gotta spell like that do ya? Well anyhow I says if we can get through the wood door let’s git a movin’! Danton can ya check and make sure it ain’t got no stingers on it?”

“I must agree,” said Telemachos. “Sleep here? With rats, skeletons, and goblins, and the gods know what else, scurrying about? I think we should forge ahead and slay these vile creatures before they set upon us.”

“Indeed,” concluded Danton. “Let us move on. Tis still no later than mid-day and my lantern fuel will not last forever.”

Accepting the consensus, Mauser shrugged, and the group gathered up its equipment and returned back down the hallway and into the tower where the dead goblins lay.

“Something is amiss in this tower,” said Danton, looking at the four goblin bodies scattered about on the floor of the tower and at the fifth one still pinned to the wall by a spear. “Why were five goblins left dead in the front entrance to this citadel—dead and lying in the same place that they fell? The gods know how uncivilized goblins are, and I thinketh no different. But, gads! Can it really be that they are so uncouth and vile that they would not bury or burn their dead, even at the cost of angering the gods? And if the gods’ wrath doth not move them to action, then surely the awful stench would command some effort!”

“Nay, those corpses maketh me think that something is really amiss in this citadel. We must be on alert. The goblins may well not be the real problem. I had said it before, and I say it again. My money remains on the Frog Man and his blasted apples. He’s tied into this mess in some way, or I’ll eat my hat.”

“Perhaps they have killed each other,” said Telemachos disinterestedly. “Goblins are a rather detestable lot and are likely to stab each other in the back as they are to kill an innocent. ‘There is no honor among thieves,’ I have heard say.”

Telemachos paused and looked at Danton. “No offense intended, my honorable friend.”

“None taken,” replied the Velunese, “for I am no thief.”

“Perhaps the people we seek,” continued Telemachos, “a huntsman, a paladin, a wizard and whatnot have already been through here unleashing their death and destruction. Maybe there’s more to those kids that we were told. Either way, it seems as if they laid waste to several foes.”

“Yes, but perhaps we might examine this one more closely,” said Mauser, approaching the goblin that remained skewered to the stone wall. As best Mauser could tell (healing: 12+5=17), the goblin had been killed at the same time as the others, at least several weeks previously. “Nanoc, my friend, please remove that spear and see if you or Telemachos can identify who might have made it.”

“Sure,” said the half-orc, “it ain’t movin’ boulders, but it might be a little work out just the same.”

However, much to Nanoc’s disappointment, the spear came out of the wall rather easily (Strength: 19+5=24), causing the body of the goblin to slide to the ground. Nanoc and Telemachos both examined the spear quickly, noting the sharp, well-made tip and the long, smooth handle.

“No goblin made this spear,” said Telemachos quickly, “nor did one wield it. It would be way too long and heavy for one of the little buggers.”

“But there is more!” whispered Mauser. “Look here, on the wall! There are runes that were previously hidden by the goblin’s body!”

Indeed, where the goblin corpse had been, now were visible a dozen deep set and impressively carved symbols.

Unfortunately, whatever language the runes were in, no one in the party could read them.

“When I have had a chance to rest and pray for Boccob’s power to help me read unknown languages, we must return here and to the top of the crevasse,” said Mauser. “There may be crucial information written right here that we will need.”

“Ugh,” grunted Telemachos, dropping the spear onto the stone floor. “Let’s just get on with this already. We’re getting nowhere just standing around talking all the time.”

Without waiting for the others, the soldier stalked across the tower to the only wooden door that the party had yet to examine, and began kicking at it (strength: 9+4=13). The repeated kicking made a huge amount of noise, but had no visible effect on the door.

“Cease that pointless violence, you fool!” hissed Danton. “Do you wish to announce our presence to the entire citadel?”

Telemachos stopped kicking the door and turned to see three angry faces staring at him.

“Do not do that again!” whispered Mauser.

“Not too bright, Tel, not too bright,” muttered Nanoc.

Danton said nothing more, but his silent glare spoke volumes. Telemachos stepped aside and Danton crouched and listened at the door (Listen: 11+3=14).

“Nothing,” he whispered. “Mayhap fortune is with us.”

The Velunese proceeded to scan the door for any sign of traps (search: 9+6=15) and, finding nothing, he turned the knob on the portal. The knob turned easily and the door swung silently inward.

Casting Telemachos one more dirty look, Danton lifted his lantern and gazed through the doorway. Beyond it was a long, narrow hallway no more than fifteen feet wide, that ran as far as the light from his lantern could pierce. It appeared that some sixty feet away the hallway ended in a door. On the north side of the hallway, some forty feet away, was another closed wooden door. Directly opposite the wooden door on the south wall was another stone door with some kind of carving on it.

Motioning with his fingers, Danton signaled for Nanoc to go first, followed by himself, Mauser and Telemachos.

“I jus’ hope yer trap-detectin’ abilities are improvin’” muttered Nanoc under his breath. The half-orc hefted his axe and stalked slowly and, considering his bulk, fairly quietly, down the hallway.

When the group had traversed two thirds of the hall and stood between the two doors on either side, Danton turned his lantern towards each in turn. The wooden door seemed unremarkable, but the stone door on the south wall showed a dragon-like fish swimming in an aquatic setting. When Danton turned the lantern towards the stone door to get a better look, he also notice something out of his peripheral vision (spot: 8+2=10) that had not been obvious when the party first entered the hallway: there were slivers of light coming out from under the door at the far end of the hallway, the first light source (other than their own) that the party had seen since entering the citadel.

Again motioning with his fingers, Danton signaled the group to check the wooden door on the north wall first, then the stone door, and to save the door at the far end of the wall with light coming out from under it for last.

Danton detected and heard nothing (Listen: 6+3=9; Search: 11+6=17) on or beyond the wooden door on the north wall, and the portal opened easily. Beyond it was a ruined, empty chamber some twenty feet by twenty feet that held nothing more than rocky debris in its corners. Danton silently closed the door, and the group turned to the stone portal across from it.

Once again, Danton neither saw nor heard anything unusual about the door (Listen: 18+3=21, Search 15+6=21). However, when he tried to open the door, it refused to budge, and was clearly locked. Motioning for the others to remain silent and keep watch, the Velunese set down his lantern, removed his tools, and set to work on the lock (open locks: 8+5=13). His initial efforts proved fruitless, but Danton was nothing if not patient and methodical in his work. It took several minutes, during which time Mauser and Nanoc had to repeatedly glare at Telemachos when he began scuffing his feet on the stone floor and making noise, but eventually Danton managed to activate the lock’s mechanism with a satisfying, and not too loud, click (open locks: “take twenty: 20+5=25).

When Nanoc pushed the stone door inward, the dust of ages swirled through the air and Danton’s lantern revealed a very small chamber no more than ten feet square. The walls were hewn from stone and the room was empty, save for an upright keg fashioned of rusted iron that stood in the center of the room. Similarly rusted pipes lead from the keg into the floor.

With the others remaining clustered in the hallway, Danton approached the keg, placed his ear against it, and tapped on it lightly with the hilt of a dagger. When he did so, he could hear (Listen: 8+3=11) some kind of liquid sloshing about inside.

“’Twould appear to be some kind of water cistern,” whispered the Velunese. “While we might refill our canteens here at some point if the water remains pure, I see little else to accomplish here for now—let us move on.”

With only the wooden door at the end of the hallway remaining and with light emerging from behind it, the party approached the portal as quietly as it could (move silently: Nanoc: 1+4=5, Danton: 5+5=10, Mauser: 12+3=15, Telemachos: 15). Although Nanoc was doing his best, the half-orc’s heavy footfalls, which earlier had not seemed so loud, now, with potential foes nearby, appeared to Danton to echo through the entire citadel.

Reaching the doorway, Danton looked and listened for any unpleasant surprises once again (Listen: 5+3=8, Search: 2+6=8), but discerned nothing. Holding his breath, he turned the handle on the door and pushed it inward.

The chamber beyond the doorway was the largest the party had yet seen in the citadel, with the possible exception of the tower. It ran from east to west in a roughly rectangular shape. It was nearly forty feet in width at its eastern end, but narrowed slightly towards the west. The room was at least sixty feet long. It was brightly lit, with torches scattered in sconces along the walls and a large fire pit in the center of the room, where the remnants of what must have been a large bonfire still burned.

Crudely executed symbols and glyphs, scribed in bright green dye, decorated the large and irregularly shaped chamber, which was crumbling in several areas. No one in the party could read the symbols. A metallic cage in the center of the southern wall contained a gaping hole and stood empty. A small wooden bench draped with green cloth stood before the cage, and upon it stood several objects. A bedroll lay near the wooden bench, from which the sound of whimpering was plainly audible.

There were at least five other exits from the large room, including a hallway on the far side of the chamber and four closed wooden doors, two located on both sides of the southwest corner, one on the west wall near the northwest corner, and one more on the east wall near the northeast corner.

As the party members approached the bedroll from which the whimpering sounds came, they were able to get a better look at the objects on the bench in front of the wrecked cage. These included a small vial of some green liquid, a paintbrush, and four small jade figurines of dragons.

Danton motioned for the other members of the party to join him in silently surrounding the figure in the bedroll. When the group drew close, Mauser flashed Danton a silent one-word signal:

Kobold!

Each of the four party members had heard of such creatures, short reptilian humanoids with scaly dark-hued skin, small horns, and long rat-like tails. They had the reputation of being cowardly and sadistic, but no one in the group had ever actually seen one before. The particular specimen in the bedroll seemed particularly pathetic, curled up in a ball and, to all appearances, weeping.

Danton made a grabbing motion towards Nanoc, and the half-orc nodded assent. Nanoc secured his axe on his back, and then, in the blink of an eye, reached down, scooped up the oblivious kobold, and held him fast in one arm while clamping his other hand over the kobold’s mouth.

The kobold came to full alertness instantly, thrashing and kicking and swirling his tail about, but was effectively pinned by Nanoc’s overwhelming size and strength.

“Calm, my small friend, calm,” whispered Danton. “We mean you no harm. We only needed to ensure your silence. Can you understand me?” (Diplomacy: 1+6=7)

Meepo the Kobold

Although using a half-orc barbarian to pin one’s interlocutor was not exactly standard Velunese diplomatic practice when opening delicate negotiations, Danton’s words somehow nevertheless soothed the agitated humanoid. It ceased thrashing and, when Nanoc loosened his grip on its head slightly, nodded at Danton.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” spoke Mauser quietly.

“Keep it quiet, bud—no loud screams,” said Nanoc firmly before uncovering the kobold’s mouth.

“Meepo living here!” squeaked the small humanoid. “This he home!”

“Who else is here with you?” asked Danton.

“Meepo don’t know, but leader does. Meepo take you to meet leader, Yusdrayl, if you make nice. Grant you safe passage, if you promise not hurt Meepo.”

Suddenly the kobold seemed to think of something, as its entire expression brightened and it flashed a toothy smile.

“May be if you promise rescue dragon, leader make nice to you, answer your questions!”

All four of the party members looked askance at one another.

Dragon?—flashed Mauser’s fingers.

“What dragon?” asked Danton.

“The clan’s dragon,” squeaked the kobold. “We’ve lost our dragon. Wretched goblins stole Calcryx, our dragon!”

The kobold lifted its right hand and pointed at the wrecked cage in the nearby wall.

“Meepo Keeper of Dragons, but no Calcryx, no dragons to keep! We go see Yusdrayl now, you rescue dragon!”

Mauser’s fingers flashed again—This just gets weirder and weirder.

______________________________________________________________

Notes for turn 5:

Please send postings by the end of Friday, April 7. If you have questions, let me know.

Items gained this turn: none

Undivided Loot: 23 silver, 4 gold

Items used/lost this turn: none

Current Status of the Party:

Nanoc

AC: 17
Hit points: 8/14
New XP: 15
XP total: 215
XP needed: 1,000

Equipment: great axe, short bow, short sword, studded leather armor, 40 arrows, quiver, backpack, waterskin, 12 days trail rations, bedroll, sack, flint & steel, bearskin, tent, 50’ rope

Gold: 2

Mauser

AC: 18
Hit points: 14/14
New XP: 15
XP total: 215
XP needed: 1,000

Spells Available:

0 Level (3):Light, Create Water
1^st Level (3*- one of these three spells must be a domain spell): Summon Monster I (X2)

Equipment: quarterstaff, heavy mace, light crossbow, scalemail, 40 crossbow bolts, small wooden shield, backpack, pouch belt, 50’ silk rope, 5 torches, waterskin, flint & steel, 2 holy water flasks, peasant outfit, bedroll, entertainer’s outfit, cleric’s vestment, healer’s kit, 10 days rations

Gold: 0

Danton

AC: 15
Hit points: 5/8
New XP: 15
XP total: 215
XP needed: 1,000

Equipment: rapier, dagger, light crossbow, studded leather armor, quiver with 15 bolts, bedroll, backpack, flint & steel, thieves picks, waterskin, 14 days trail rations, hooded lantern, 3 flasks of oil

Gold: 9

Telemachos

AC: 16
Hit points: 8/12
New XP: 15
XP total: 215
XP needed: 1,000

Equipment: Longsword, short sword, 2 daggers, long bow, quiver and 40 arrows, scalemail, large wooden shield, backpack, large sack, flint and steel, 15 days rations, waterskin, bedroll, tent

Gold: 12