Journal of Miyara Kyosuke (7)
The room below, and the passage that leads out of
it, was flooded with wet mud. At my suggestion, Pireseri (the
short elf) looked for a way to drain it, but there was not. There
was wood only for a raft for Miyara, but she declined and chose to wade
with the rest of us. Pireseri would not walk in the liquid up to
his chest, and insisted that he would only ride on Mongo's shoulders.
The rope was anchored and hidden, and we all
descended. Gorudurumu left his pack, with all his non-combat
gear, hidden amongst the refuse of the goblins' room.
We formed up single file to explore the
passages. I lead, of course, since I could see. Mongo, with
Pireseri on his shoulders, followed next to use the little elf's
strange sight. The mud impeded our progress -- those shortest
were slowest, Goru of course limiting our pace, while it seems that
Pireseri was perhaps right to insist on being carried like a baby.
After a short while, the passage turned south.
Soon after this, another branched off to the left while we continued on
to an open room. The large room was unfinished, with one exit to
the east.
It soon became apparent that there were worms all
over the room in the mud. They moved slowly, and attached to the
feet of Miyara and -- mostly -- Goru. The largest were about a
foot long and about a 1/4" in diameter, resembling muddy strings.
They reminded me of leeches in their shape and behavior. Miyara
stabbed the ones attached to her with an arrow, whereupon they
dissolved instantly into mud. Goru copied her with his dagger.
We chose to leave this room as soon as we could,
proceeding through the east exit. Pireseri failed in his
clairvoyance, shouting in surprise as a wooden portcullis sprung from
the wall and struck me as I stepped through. I realized I was
falling back into the large room, and remember nothing from then.
As I fell unconscious, I was glad it was me who had been struck and not
Miyara...
I recovered consciousness to find Rawena tending me
with her healing magics. Others were hurt too, as if from
combat. Ashu was worst, and Rawena divided her efforts between
us. Jeison soon finished hacking through the wooden gate trap and
returned Ashu's axe to him. We all waited while Rawena finished
her task of restoring us all.
This time Pireseri climbed onto Jeison's shoulders,
and led the way to look for traps. I was concerned about this, as
not only should I be leading in the dark but the little elf didn't see
the last one, but it is what Miyara wanted too so I took second.
We proceeded down the passage, which soon opened out
into a 20' x 30' finished room with high 18' ceilings. Inset into
an alcove the south wall was a small stage, 15' wide by 10' deep.
We all were delighted at the prospect of getting out of the foul mud,
as the stage rose 4' above the top of the liquid. There were two
closed doors in the north wall, while on the stage an opening lead west
and a doorway east. On the stage were several ceremonial chairs,
built as if for someone of the White Fairy's size.
As we waded towards the dais, Pireseri pointed out
benches and chairs under the mud, also built for the Fairy's stature,
and these fell apart readily as the barbarians inevitably bumped
clumsily into them.
We climbed onto the dais and began to dry out and
check for worms. The mud is sticky, smells of disease, and is
hard to get out of clothing. Goru threw a tantrum, raging and
moaning as he showed us his damaged boots -- anything metal directly in
the water had gone. Miyara's katana and wakizashi were of course
safe, being housed in scabbards of fine workmanship rather than crude
barbarian craft.
The walls of the stage were decorated with find deep
blue cloth, but it was rotted and fell apart as Jeison touched it to
check for anything hidden. The opening to the west revealed
stairs leading gently upwards, but Miyara was still seeking Shishei
Godanji's dragon statue, and so that was not our path. Behind the
door there were stairs heading gently down, and thankfully there was no
mud to descend into.
Before we left, however, Mongo dropped back into the
mud to carry Pireseri to look through the other doors in the large
room. The one near the center of the north wall opened onto a
finished passageway going north; about 10' down was a passage leading
to stairs headed west up out of the mud. The eastern door in the
wall of the large room was also to a finished passage, in this case
going briefly north and then curving back to the east.
We rested on the dais before continuing into the
depths of this stronghold.