Seu woke up in the dark, dankness of his cell. His wrists were still bound tightly to the slab he lay on, and his body ached from his many hurts. He felt weak, and weary from torture. He felt he had been trapped there at least a year, though it was merely a day or two since his capture. His stomach was cramped with hunger and his mouth was parched from thirst. He was in a bad way. He thought over the events of his strange dream (but was it a dream?) and muttered a prayer with lips that split and bled.
In the darkness, Seu thought for a moment he saw a tiny feather floating down to the floor.
The door opened.
Hisston slid into the room. His cruel mouth was set into a smirk, and in his hand he held a large, stained meat cleaver. His eyes held a promise of the pain to come.
"Hello paladin. I trusst you sslept terribly?" The snakeman stood over the slab and toyed with the mean looking blade. Seu did not dignify him with an answer.
"There iss ssomething i've alwayss wondered about your giftss paladin," Hisston continued, "- you lay your handss upon the wounded and they are healed, thiss I have sseen - but, how will you use thiss power if... you have no handss?"
Hisston raised his cleaver high in the air, theatrically, willing the knight to cry out, to show his fear. Seu stared straight ahead, his face serene, his faith in the lady unwavering. Hisston snarled, denied the pleasure of seeing the paladin quaver. "You WILL break paladin, you WILL!"
The cleaver hung poised to make it's cut, when a whitish blur flew at the snakeman and latched onto his throat. With a horrified shriek Hisston clutched at a small, catlike creature with madly flapping wings before he toppled with a crash to the floor, out of Seu's line of sight. There was a great rolling and thrashing as Hisston's snake tail flailed about, toppling a stool and sending small table covered in torture instruments flying. Then there was nothing but a hideous wet gurgling sound, accompanied by a tearing, growling noise that sent a chill up the paladin's spine.
What in the name of the lady had just happened?!
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Bufo couldn't take it any longer. He was sick and tired of this tunnel, sick and tired of darkness, sick and tired of the aching, aching hunger he was feeling (he hadn't eaten in at
least half an hour). The only thing that stood between him and the sweet sweet freedom of the temple beyond was one wizened gnome. The walls were closing in on him. He couldn't breathe!
"Right Eggy, i'm coming through!" Bufo put his head down and did his best impression of the crawling version of a charge. His head butted into the gnome's derriere and shoved the startled creature out, out, out of the stinky damp kobold hole! Freeeeeedooooooom!
The two little adventurers fell out of the tunnel with soft plopping sound. The kobolds who had been their guides had vanished completely to wherever it is that kobolds go. It was quiet - too quiet.
They were in a room - someone's quarters, clearly. According to the map it was Hisston's. The furniture was nice, if worn. Shreds of tapestry hung from ceiling to floor, which was strewn with rubble and debris. The cunningly wrought kobold tunnel entrance came out under a large desk and was all but invisible unless you knew just how to look at it from just the right angle. If Eggbert didn't know better he'd have said it was practically an illusion.
To the left the back wall of the chamber had a large wardrobe. In front of the desk, partially blocking their view, was an odd squishy-looking sack that sat where a chair would normally be. There was also a decent sized bed, some shelves of books and knick-knacks, and a large chest to the right of the desk. On the rightmost wall from their viewpoint, there was a door that led to the rest of the temple. There were lit torches in several sconces on the wall and the air felt hot and humid, as it had in the rest of the temple.
According to the map the secret room containing Seu was somewhere behind the wardrobe...
"Well," said Bufo, "that could have turned out worse."
Then they heard the scream.
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Bari, Robin, Rambulge, Duke, and a small force of kobold bully-boys decked in a ridiculous mish-mash of armour and carrying an unlikely assortment of weapons were cautiously picking their way through the tunnel towards the Misstress' throne room. The koboldi moved with utter stealth, their padded feet barely disturbing a speck of dust. Robin moved with similar stealth, his soft boots a whisper on the rocks. Rambulge stubbed his toes repeatedly and dropped a fart so nasty it made even the dog-men wince. Bari scraped and sweated his way along, his armoured arms collecting more scratches and dents as he progressed. The Cleric of Luuurve was still pondering the conversation he'd had just now with the golden stave he was carrying.
Stave: Beeble beeble beeble
Bari: Yo, what's up?
Stave: BeepBeepBeep. Hello? Freddie?
Bari: It's Bari, man, try to remember.
Stave: Bari! Hi! Listen man, sorry about before, kinda busy here and all, god stuff you know?
Bari: Yeah baby, I could tell, run off your feet.
Stave: Haha! Yeah! Well, anyway, I've concentrated all my powers into helping you in your journey. I don't have a body anymore and I'm sorta floating in nothingness but if you call me, I can hear, and I can help. Just tell me what you need and I'll do my best to help out, okay?
Bari: Sure, great!
Stave: But, ahh, Johnny, listen - I probably only have enough juice to help out once, or maybe twice - maybe a few times, but, y'know, don't push me too far. I'm having a little trouble holding onto... me. Use me wisely okay?
Bari: Okay brother, I gotcha...
- Spoiler: QUEST NOTE
Bari's stave can now cast prayers up to level 3, three times a day. Level 1 prayers pose no risk to Pieter, but level 2 prayers have a 20% (cumulative) chance to knock him out for a day and level 3 prayers have a 30% (cumulative) chance to knock him out for a day.
Bari was snapped out of his reverie when one of the kobolds held up a paw and hissed a warning. The tunnel seemed to be getting lighter ahead. It was also getting bigger.
"Stop. We use juice now," yipped the kobold softly. The other creatures fumbled about in their pouches until they produced several stone phials. The leader uncorked one and began splashing a small amount into his paw and rubbing it all over his fur. The stench was utterly appalling, like mashed bug guts mixed with vomit. The koboldi offered the phials to the adventurers, nodding and yipping nervously.
"Juice. You use. Keepsafe from the theraphosa..."
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Seu strained and struggled, but try as he might he couldn't see where Hisston was lying, or what had attacked him. The sounds had ceased, save for a horrible, laboured bubbling sound.
Suddenly, with a fluttering leap and a sudden weight upon his chest, the creature was on him. It stood about a foot high and resembled a large cat, save for it's owl-like face, delicate hooved hind legs, and it's beautiful tawny wings. Seu had heard of such creatures in the legendary tales his father had told him - it was a tiny hippogryph! But what was it doing here?
You brought me here... Seu gasped. The voice had appeared in his mind, just like that! Had the creature just spoken to him with it's mind?
Yes. There it was again!
You freed me from my frozen prison in that world between worlds. I have waited for you a long time sir knight. By the grace of the lady, I shall become your chosen mount...