Recollections of Fen Sen the Archmagus 7
We were puttering with the locked iron door when we heard the clinking of armor from down a nearby corridor. Believing an Old Guard force was approaching we readied ourselves and were both relieved and disappointed that it was only another adventuring group, or duo better said. A strange duo to be sure, a thickset Dwarven warrior named Talen and a thin lithe Elven warrioress named Terabithia. Both were clad in plate mail and while the dwarf bore a measly hand axe, she lugged a massive two handed blade similar in size to Galathos’ flamberge only without the curves.
We invited them to join us and we spent some time speaking, also verifying that this Elf was not the same as the Elf from that forlorn party where all the males were impaled in the entrance chamber. During that time it became increasingly apparent that the Old Man was having difficulty keeping his eyes away from the fair lass. Not that I blame him, for she was quite fair but being an Elf she was also quite likely to be older than one’s grandmother! The Old Man must have also realized this for he soon excused himself saying he was returning to the city to obtain more paint.
After Galathos and I failed to pick the lock, Talen opened the door by the simple expedient of running into it and battering it down. Within we discovered two mostly rotten wood chests with a skeleton lying between. The skeleton was covered in a yellow mold with some of it splattered upon the chests.
We didn’t chance the mold and elected to burn it away thus beginning what was then a most annoying time and today brings a silly grin to my face. Galathos threw two vials of oil and I one, none of us coming close to the skeleton. What a comedy of errors. Eventually Talen lobs an unlit vial upon the skeleton.
With a lit torch tied to the ranseur Galathos managed to burn away the mold without damaging the chests. In one there was a ball of string, a cane shaped piece of copper wire, and an ornate leather scroll case. Within the scroll case was an aged parchment bearing witness to holy prayers. As the Old Man was now on his way to the city, I just rolled the parchment back into the scroll tube and put it into my backpack for him. Galathos took the string, clearly thinking about how to use it in a trap. The cane shaped copper wire, we left there.
In the other chest we discovered a golden necklace, a small glass vial with a gray liquid within and a huge amount of coin, mostly silver.
The coin we sacked and spread amongst Karhle and Harolde, the necklace went into my pack, as did the potion after Talen gave us a fair indication to its nature. While I wanted to study it using the library once we’d collected enough items of the arcane for the 100 gold coin fee to be worth it, Talen just took a sip. He turned grey and more than a little transparent making me believe it was a potion of gaseous form.
The next door was marked with a large X marked in white chalk. With those large ears, Terabithia listened at the door reporting the creaking of bones beyond. We prepare ourselves and then force the door open, revealing six skeletons armed with rusty weapons.
With Talen holding the doorway, the other two warriors were clear to use their two handed weapons, and it was predictably a slaughter. The skeletons never stood a chance. Within a minute they were just piles of shattered and burnt bone. I made sure to kick the skulls around to verify there weren’t any ingestible arcane before we moved on.
To keep the Old Guard from attacking our rear, we secured all but one of the doors in the Three Stair chamber with ropes and spikes as necessary. Through that last door we ventured south along a long corridor discovering yet another diagonal corridor and a curtain blocking our path.
Talen torn down the curtain and beyond we discovered a massive 70x50 chamber being used by the kobolds as a residence. There were old divans and other battered furniture strew about, three kegs, a large brazier and a large bone pit. This room held a fair bit of treasure, Terabithia found a coin purse with 18 silvers and Talen discovered thirteen eggs within the bone pit totaling 121 gold and 8 silvers.
It was the next chamber that proved to have the best treasure of the day, eight bolts of silk of which we could only take five. Those five netted us 150 gold.
With everyone weighed down with coin, silk bolts, kobold armor and weapons, and kobold eggs, it was time to return to the city. Galanthos’ clerics were very pleased with my 20 gold donation on the way out.
We returned to the city and quickly sold our winnings, all but the potion and scroll giving us each 135 gold coins and 51 to the Old Man. Yes we overpaid him but he had proven his worth thus his petty foibles were of no real consequence.
We spent Growfest in the city and then returned to the castle with newly refreshed and stocked. Both Karhle and Harolde had elected to serve me again, and I had also purchase a mule with saddlebags to help haul out the increasingly larger items of value we were encountering. Galathos had also gotten himself a man, Wilhelm, to serve as a porter and lantern bearer. I inquired why we needed three bearers and his response was priceless, he wanted someone who would obey him.
The Clerics of Galanthor graciously accepted my five gold coins and were happy to care for my mule in their stables. They also believed their portable bridge could handle a small wagon, as I told them I would be purchasing one just as soon as our earnings permitted such. With the potential of even larger donations they told me if the bridge couldn’t take the load, they would reinforce it to do so and make another bridge.
We descended into the castle and returned to the Three Stair Chamber without incident. All our precautions remained in place; clearly the Old Guard had been defeated or was laying low for a better opportunity to strike at us.
We returned to the larder and recovered the last three bolts of silk, and spread them amongst the porters before moving on discovering yet another locked door that Galathos and I cannot pick. His acid and the dilemma was solved.
The 40x40 chamber beyond was an Old Guard armory within which we discovered dozens of kobold sized weapons of various types. Curiously there were no other crossbows. We also discovered 10 of those brass gorgets, 5 suits of “hobbit” chain, a suit of damaged Dwarven plate mail, and a jug of blue dye. The gorgets went into my pack and the rest was marked for our return to the surface.
We moved on and proceeded up the diagonal corridor discovering yet another locked door. This one Galathos picked with ease. The large 50x40 chamber beyond was an Old Guard barracks. We spent quite a while searching the straw pallets, the footlockers, the barrels, and the iron chest discovering another incredible haul: 1000 silver coins, 250 gold coins, and a nice teak box.
With all that weight, we decided Galathos would lead everyone but Talen and I to the surface with our haul that it could be stored with my mule. They looked almost ludicrous under all that silk, armor, coin, and stone jug.
I made sure to divest myself of the gorgets and split them between my porters already heavy packs. I tipped them both ten coppers thanking them for their continued service then gave Karhle the last of my coins, seven silvers and twenty coppers, with instructions to give them to the Clerics of Galanthor by way of thanks for permitting us to store our haul in their stable.
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