The Curse of the Witch-King Chapter 5

[Lord Skybolt]

The party warily withdraws from the cavern-lair and retraces its steps through the dungeon.

But as you come near the the opening of the burrow, Kerillith recoils from the weak daylight in the tunnel mouth.

"I'll wait down here. "


Back up in the gray, drizzly day, you find Lara and her hired man waiting anxiously.


Upon catching sight of her father, the young woman rushes to embrace him.
Your explanations about Klokulf and the Thing, the need for a cow, meet with quick nods and fast action.
The hired man hurries off to bring back a plump brown bovine.

The farmhand says, "You might have trouble getting her to go below ground. That hole is no barn."

Lara looks pityingly on the animal, but hugs her father all the harder and turns her eyes away.

Alain looks at the daughter and says:"We are going to need your help in getting the cow down there as we are no cow handlers ."

[kintire]

Kat carefully assess her cow-driving skills, and turns to look hopefully at her companions

"I'm a bit of a city girl, I'm afraid. Cow herding is new to me..."

She eyes the tunnel a little dubiously.

"Also do we need a quick planning session? I assume we are not leaving that thing down there?"

[ewancummins]

Lara says she will help but she insists on first putting her father in his bed. The older man, seemingly enfeebled by something that must have happened down below, protests at first but soon gives in to logic.

Then the young woman and the farmhand, with some help from Fala, make ready to lead the roped cow behind the party, back down into the dungeon....

[kintire]

Kat takes a deep breath and glances at Alain and Fala

"So, what's the plan? wait till it is munching on the cow and has released Klokulf and gak it? Or are we just buying it off?"

She peers into the darkness, including the odd elf in the question, if she is still there

[ewancummins]

Kat takes a deep breath and glances at Alain and Fala

"So, what's the plan? wait till it is munching on the cow and has released Klokulf and gak it? Or are we just buying it off?"

She peers into the darkness, including the odd elf in the question, if she is still there

PAST THE ENTRY TUNNEL

Kerillith emerges from the murk, big eyes shining.
''Attack while it eats? Such treachery you suggest."
Mockery tinges her voice. Or is it a mixture of amusement and admiration? Her delicate elfin features remain expressionless, an unreadable mask.

[ewancummins]

HERDING THE COW
though the dungeon proves difficult, especially moving the balky bovine down those stairs. Several time the animal nearly flattens Fala.

As you get closer to the Stinkscales' lair, the cow moos piteously and casts its head about, as if it knows what's coming.

In the large cavern, you can all feel eyes watching you in the gloom and sniff musk on the stale air, although the foul cave-dwellers remain well-hidden.

The sunrod still glows brightly at the far end of the cavern.

Coming closer, feet and hooves echoing in the low-ceilinged space, you see the Thing in the crack clutching Klokulf tightly in one of its serpentine arms. It whispers to the priest in a strange rumbling language.

[ewancummins]

FEEDING THE BEAST...

Lara and Karll fear to get close to the edge, so it's up to Fala and her party to lead the cow to its doom.

Seeing the meal come close, the creature releases Klokulf.

But then the cow suddenly jerks hard on the rope, almost tripping Fala as it staggers away in a break for freedom!


A wordless noise like rocks cascading into a mud pit erupts from the Thing's maw as it begins extruding multiple pseudopods...

[ewancummins]

Kerillith, hiding behind a stalagmite, shouts, ''Burn it!"


She pours a bottle of black, sticky stuff on her short sword's blade.

[ewancummins]

FALA roars with animal fury and then leaps into the crack, drawing her blades in midair.
Alain hurls fiery orbs at the monster, nearly torching Klokulf with a bad miss.

Sticky pseudopods lash out in a wide arc, grabbing everyone in the party except Katrin and the two farmfolk.
The cow thunders across the cave floor, running for its life!
Seconds later, the Thing drags Klokulf into its maw--and gets a mouthful of sharp points, which have suddenly sprouted from the Banite.

Javelins fly from the shadows, tearing through Alain's cloak but not drawing blood. Then the toad-faced humanoids rush in, surrounding and isolating the adventurers, hacking with flint axes.

Screams and chaos, the clash of stone on steel, the flash of flames...

When the acrid smoke and the foul musk dissipates, the Thing in the Crack lies dead, pierced by Katrin's rapier, hacked by Fala's crooked sword-knives, and roasted by Alain's magical flames.
A dozen stinkscales lie sprawled across the cavern floor all the way to the door into the masonry hallway, dead or badly hurt.
Kerillith dispatches an injured foe with a savage thrust of her poison-smeared sword.
Fala, who has somehow bounded clear across the large cavern in a few seconds, beheads a scaly corpse at her feet. The gnome's teeth grind audibly and she slobbers like a rabid animal.


Lara and Karll come out from hiding places behind rocks and look about, faces pale.

Lara speaks first "'Where's Klokulf?"


The priest, looking horrible with gory spikes standing out from his body, walks slowly out of the shadows. He is moving carefully, but seems not badly hurt.


From somewhere in the darkness, back the way the party had travelled to reach this lair, the echo of a lost cow, mooing mournfully....

[kintire]

Kat carefully cleans off the glittering blad eof her rapier, anxious that no scrap of the creature or its minions should remain on the blade, and examining it for damage. Satisfied, the restores the blade to its scabbard and stretches. She displays only a casual interest in the treasure, giving a glance at Klokulf, but returning to watching the exits as she sees he is walking. With her usual wariness, she is making sure nothing else in this maze of burrows has heard the fight and decided to come looking...

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

Klokulf puts his face in his hand, and gives an exhausted shake of his head. Meeting Kat's gaze, he remarks, "When we get back to Zhentil Keep, I don't want to trouble Alwina with the details of my proximity to that creature."

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain on seeing what everyone else seems to be fine goes in search of possible treasure, but is not too hopefully considering what they fought down here . He tells Fala to keep 2 of them alive for now for questioning .

Fala nods at the suggestion, then pulls out some rope to bind the 2 that are barely still alive . After binding them and stepping away from the feral gleam in her eyes dims . She seems to just sit down for short rest after that . Keeping wary eye on the bond trogs .

[ewancummins]

Alain and Kerillith discover a complete suit of plate armor arranged disassembled in a niche, the helmet placed on a rocky knob. Behind the armor, two fat cylinders that resemble incense sticks. A lacquered hardwood wand and a scroll covered in weird writing rest in a crack at the back of the armor's niche.

They also discover several small caches of gold nuggets, coins of various denominations and metals.

[kintire]

Kat gives a slight nod, looking slightly amused.

"My lips are sealed. I suspect Alwina will be getting our tale with more than a little editing before we are finished!"

She looks at him closely

"Are you alright? you look.... drained. There was something add about that thing... I wonder what it was, and where it came from? I hope it wasn't out of the stair..."

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

"I am very tired," replies Klokulf. "The creature's touch has sapped my strength. As for the stair . . . I feel that may have to wait."