After their adventures in Renneton,
Wolfgang and Gerrilynn rejoined Vulpio, the elves, and the caves below the
moathouse. Among the oddities retrieved
from the mold caves, was a peculiar chime which, when struck caused previous
locked doors or hidden doors to reveal themselves and open. It proved to be equally effective on
portcullises.
Opening the portcullis gave Wolfgang,
Gerrilynn, and Vulpio access to several new strange rooms. They rescued Johnny, who the prisoner of a
fearsome-looking ogre. They encountered
and destroyed a dozen zombies. And they
found a trapdoor leading up to the moathouse garrisoned by Burne’s men. This encounter could have been a disaster if
Gerrilynn had not responded quickly to gently but firmly transfix the
soldiers. The party disappeared back
down the trapdoor and prayed that the experience would serve to further
discourage dungeon exploration by the Burne and the people of Hommelet.
Reviewing her map, Gerrilynn determined
that they should return to the crypt that they had discovered earlier. It was an expansive place, with rows and rows
of vaults, many of them smashed open.
And there were ghouls. After destroying
the ghouls, Wolfbang noticed a trail of gold that led into a small hole in the
wall, so small that it could be accessed only be crawling. Smelling a rat, Wolfbang remembered what his
friends had told him about their beautiful home deeper in the dungeon. And so they crawled into the hole. . .
Gerrilynn could not make a map, but after
crawling in circles for what felt like hours, the party came to a nearly
vertical tunnel, slanting both up and down.
Based on everything they had heard, down seemed the right way to
go. The tunnel was long and seemed to
get even narrower. Torches were too
dangerous, but Wolfgang still carried his magical light stone. After another hour of crawling, they heard
sounds—squeaking sounds. And suddenly
there were rats everywhere—scratching, nipping, squealing, but clearly running
from something else. The party let them
pass by and waited for what was coming next—a greasy, stinking badger. Wolfgang stunned it with a flash of light and
then said a few words to soothe and distract it. The badger told Wolfgang of the fantastic
meal that he had just missed, but after persistent but gentle questioning
answered that yes the tunnel widened further ahead and yes he would lead the
way and yes he would like a treat that was even better than rats once Wolfgang
had a chance to get it out of his sack.
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At last the human emerged from the twisting
rodent warren into a large natural cavern.
A little exploration suggested that they had discovered an entire
network of caverns, but they were most intrigued by the well-finished corridor
that led about fifty feet to a twelve-sided room with a dodecahedronal-domed
ceiling. There were letters on the
ceiling- elvish, but backwards. And in
the middle of the room there was a stone pedestal, over eight-feet high so that
no one could see the top of it. But they
found a way up and found a large basin.
When water filled the basin, the water reflected the letters on the
ceiling. (Wolfgang thought that maybehe’d been there before.) This was the
magic pool that the elves (and Burne) were looking for.
Although logic suggested that there was a
human-sized passage between these caverns and the dungeons of the moathouse,
the leaders of the party felt they would prefer to go back the way they came
and crawl through the dark, twisting rodent-infested tunnels.
That’s what they did. The elves were grateful and entertained them
for weeks or months. When Wolfbang and
Gerrilyn returned to the surface world, they found that the leaves had turned.
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