Finn cautiously stepped over the hole in the floor made by the green goo. With a quick look around, he didn't see any other traps near them. He wondered who'd set the trap, and more importantly, how it had almost ruined his glorious looks. It would be hard to look awesome being heroic if he was horribly disfigured.
The group cautiously made their way into the stair well and began to ascend to the next level. With every creak of a wooden step, the group was weary of another trap. They took their time rounding the stair well. When they reached the next landing, they're noses were met by a stale fragrance. The landing looked as if someone had turned it into a storage room. There were stacks upon stacks of boxes and other detritus piled high. Snaking its way through everything was a narrow path that zigzagged its way from the steps they were on, over to a door on the opposite side of the landing and then around to some more stairs going up to the next level.
The party made their way over to the door and Finn opened it more slowly this time. Relieved that there was no trap set here, he moved through the doors threshold and onto a rampart which made up the outer battlement of the fort. The fresh sea air was a welcomed relief from the stagnant air they had all just been breathing. Finned motioned for the group to start moving along the rampart and fan out to see if they could spot anything. As they made their way cautiously along the battlement, Finn spied a small grotto down below. It had a small beach and there was a path leading from the shore up a small hill to a door at the back of the fort. There was also what looked like a capsized rowboat on the shores edge opposite where they were now. There was no obvious way down from the rampart without going back inside, and it was about a 60ft drop to the waters below where the waves crashed against some jagged rocks.
As the group surveyed the grotto below, Gealyn was struck with an idea which he promptly shared with the group.
"If Erme enters her lantern, I can attach it to my belt and with Finn's help, climb down a rope and hop over to the shore. This way we can covertly get down to the beach and check out that boat."
Finn and Erme nodded and then they proceeded to enact Gealyn's plan. Gealyn handed Finn one end of the bundle of rope he was carrying, while Erme pulled out her lantern and proceeded to recite the incantation to enter it. With a flash she was inside and then Gealyn picked up the lantern and affixed it carefully to his equipment belt. Being very cautious, Gealyn began climbing over the rampart. He tried to find a foot hold to begin repelling down the fort's outer wall but it was proving to be trickier than he'd thought. The outer wall was very wet form the waves crashing against it and it was almost sheer drop straight down and it was also rather smooth. Gealyn placed his foot where he thought there would be some purchase, but then he immediately slipped and started to fall.
Luckily for Gealyn, Finn had been paying very close attention to his comrade's movements. No sooner had Gealyn started to fall, Finn's hand launched out and grabbed the scruff of Gealyn's collar, keeping him steady long enough to re-find his footing. Gealyn scrambled to place his feet against the wall and find some proper foot holds. With his feet more secure, he began the very slow decent to the grotto. After descending around 50ft, Gealyn had reached the end of his rope. Taking a moment to survey the rest of the way down, he surmised that he only about 10ft left to go. So Gealyn began to swing from left to right, with a small swing to begin but then growing to a wide swing as he moved back and forth like a pendulum along the wall. Once he felt he had as much momentum as he could gather, he made a final swing to the right where he let go and jumped down to the beach of the grotto.
Gealyn did a little flip in the air before making a 3-point landing on the beach below. Flicking his hair back, he took a quick glance to make sure all was calm, and then stood up and pulled the lantern off his belt and held it up to his face. With a quick tap tap to the side of the lantern, he signaled to Erme that it was ok to exit and join him on the beach.
With another flash, Erme was instantly standing beside Gealyn and reached out to take her lantern back. Securing it with her gear, the two made their way across the little beach in the grotto over to a capsized rowboat on its far end. As they approached, Erme took a good look at the boat. She spotted a few gaping holes along it's hull but the boat itself looked like it had been in fairly good condition. It was definitely not sea worthy anymore however. It had likely been a small boat the hermits might have used if they went out fishing, or had an emergency.
Gealyn spied a rope tied to the bow of the rowboat leading out into the water. He gave a quick tap on Erme's shoulder and pointed to the line. The two quickly made their way to the end of the boat and grabbed the rope in their hands. On a count of three from Gealyn, they began to haul the rope out from the water and towards the shore. After a few minuets of pulling, something on the other end began to emerge from the waters depths. It looked like a net, and there was something inside. The two hurried to pull it out quicker and get a closer look as it might reveal something about what happened here.
As the net came on shore, Gealyn and Erme gasped in horror at what they saw. The net was full of the mutilated corps of the hermits from the fort. They didn't get much more time to process this new information when Finn called down to them from the rampart above;
"Something's coming out of the water! Prepare yourselves!"
Gealyn and Erme glanced out into the ocean to see three creatures begin to emerge from beneath the waves. The first thing to emerge were purple shells with black dotted eyes peering back at them. Then came the writhing tentacles from where one would expect a mouth to be. Finally, a large set of pincer claws and supporting feet could be seen above the water. Their lobster like forms and questing feeder tendrils made them recognizable to the group right away, these were Chuuls. There were three of them altogether and Gealyn surmised that they must have been feeding on the corps that they had just pulled out of the water.
Erme drew her bow right away and let an arrow loose, but the shot just bounced off the Chuuls' armored hide. She then uncoupled a net from her belt and tossed it onto the creature. The Chuul flailed about as it tried to escape the net. Gealyn summoned his psionic daggers and threw them at another Chuul, but they too just thumped off the Chuuls' exoskeleton.
Up on the battlement, Finn had a clear view of what was transpiring below. He called over to Plague;
"We have to get down there and help them out!"
Finn briefly considered grabbing Plague and tossing him out into the water to join the fight. Not wanting to touch Plague's disgusting form however, he simply motioned for them to descend and join the fray. Tying the rope around one of the stone parapet's along the rampart, Finn leapt over the edge and began to swing down, doing so as marvelously as he could. He quickly dropped down the rope to it's end before pushing off the wall and leaping out into the water below. With a loud splash, Finn landed in the water and quickly came back up onto his feet. The water was about chest deep where he stood and it made swinging his great sword difficult. He managed two swings which both missed as the Chuul maneuvered in it's native environment before the creature grasp his arm in one of it's feeder tendrils. Finn tried to rip it off but that only gave the Chuul the opportunity to wrap another tendril around his neck. Finn struggled to keep away form the creatures maw as it began to pull him closer.
Plague scrambled up onto the parapet and got his first view of the battle. He could see Finn below struggling against his adversary, while another creature had just sliced it's way out from under Erme's net and struck her with one of it's claws. Meanwhile, Gealyn was being forced back up a path leading down from the back of the fort by the third Chuul. Sensing this was his moment to shine, Plague held his staff above his head and began to wave it about, chanting in his native tongue. As he reached the crescendo of his chant, a large swarm of locusts began to swirl above him. The other party members were too busy with their struggles to notice this swarm of insects now spinning over Plague's head.
With a final gesture of his stick at a central area between two of the Chuuls down below, the swarm darted away and dove down to the waters surface. Finn and Erme only noticed Plague was in the fight at all when their Chuul opponents begin to be swarmed by the locusts. Within a matter of moments, the two Chuul were buried under the swarm. The locusts began to bite at anything they could, from eyes, to tendrils. The Chuul began to be overwhelmed from the swarm and it left an opening for Erme and Finn to regroup and attack their targets.
Finn swung first and clipped a clawed arm off his opponent. Then, with a stylish twirl he lopped off what approximated a head for the Chuul. Erme meanwhile was able to get some distance and let loose some more shots, this time finding the exposed and vulnerable areas on her foe. With two of the Chuul dispatched, Finn and Erme began to race off and help Gealyn, who was now bloodied and cornered against the fort's wall.
Plague, still up on the rampart began to cheer for his companions and do a little happy dance. However, in his jubilation, he tripped on the rope that Finn had tied around the parapet and began to fall. Thinking quickly, Plague was able to thrust his stick out and push off from the wall. This sent him out further towards the water below. Curling up into a ball, he landed in the water narrowly missing the jagged rocks with a splash and began to swim towards the shore.
Gealyn brought his psionic daggers up to try and block another attack from his Chuul opponent, only to have them swatted away and for the creature's tendrils to wrap around his neck and arms. It began to pull him towards it's maw and then there was a sickening crunch. Gealyn saw Finn's great sword emerge from the creatures head and out of it's maw, stopping inches from his face. The Chuul spasmed and feel to the ground in a heap. Removing the tentacles and putting his hands on his thighs, Gealyn bent over and began to catch his breath as Finn came over and patted him on the back.
"You see my friend, that's how it's done!" Finn boasted in a bombastic voice.
Erme rolled her eyes as she then turned to the sound of wet thuds from Plague as he walked up the path to meet them. Finn continued past Gealyn and examined the door that his companion had only just recently had his back against. The Chuul that Gealyn had been fighting had made a few holes in the wooden door. One was large enough for him to stick his hand through. Finn whispered to his sword, whom he had named Veronica, to apologize for what he was about to do as he started taking a few swings with her at the door. After pushing a few broken pieces out of the way, Finn was able to widen the hole large enough that, with a little pushing, they could probably get Plague through. He also noted that this door was also barricaded similar to the other doors of the fort.
Looking back at the group, Finn proposed his plan;
"This door is barricaded like the others. But thanks to our Chuul friend here," he gestured to the dead Chuul on the ground, "and my sweet Veronica, I have crafted an entry large enough for Plague here to climb through and open it up from the inside for us."
Plague was very excited that he was going to be very helpful for the second time today! Rubbing his hands together and grinning from end to end, he strut right up to the door and yelled out;
"My body is ready!"
Finn nodded his head over at Gealyn and Erme to lift up Plague and push him through. After all, Finn wasn't going to touch Plague if he didn't have to. Gealyn and Erme came up behind Plague, and each grabbed a shoulder and a leg. Pulling him up, they pushed him head first into the hole on the door and then tried to wiggle him back and forth until his shoulders passed through the threshold of the door and he tumbled to the floor inside.
Standing up and brushing himself off, Plague got to his feet and began to examine the door. It indeed had wooden planks nailed across it like the other doors in the fort. Before he could begin to think about how he was going to remove the planks however, a loud clanking noise came from in front of him as Gealyn dropped his pick axe through the hole in the door. Plague proceeded to pick up the tool and began prying the planks from the door.
"If you need us, we'll be over here tending to our wounds." Gealyn said.
About an hour later, Plague called out through the hole in the door;
"Doors ready! You come in now!"
Finn pushed the door open and the group strolled in. Taking their first good look around, Erme noticed that not only were there wooden planks on the ground from the door they had just entered, but all the other doors in what appeared to be the kitchen they were now all standing in. A door to their right was left wide open and she could see the main court room they had been in earlier.
"So, you removed the planks from all the doors?" inquired Erme.
"Yes! Yes! Being helpful!" squealed Plague excitedly "Think I found barracks past blood room!"
Erme nodded and began to move around the kitchen towards the other open door. Plague then held up a ripped piece of paper in his hand.
"Found this back there!" Plague said while gesturing to a door on the left at the back of the room.
Gealyn took the paper and examined it. It looked like the corner of a map, but it didn't have enough of the map that he could identify where it was showing. There was a word written on the corner: Tammeraut.
Gealyn looked up at Plague and then over at the door he was indicating.
"Guys, this is a piece of a map, possibly for where the wreak of the Tammeraut is located" Gealyn said holding up the paper in his hand. He began to move to the door and pushed it open. The room on the other side was a simple store room. A few stacked crates with supplies, some barrels and what looked like a large wooden bin. There was also a small fireplace against the far wall from the door. Calling back to Plague as he walked into the room, Gealyn asked;
"Where in here did you find this?"
Plague ran over and pointed to the bin.
"Here! Paper was here!" he rasped.
Gealyn knelt down beside the bin. It was only about thigh high to him but it came up to Plague's eye level. There were a few old potatoes at the bottom of the bin. The bin had a metal interior and a wooden exterior, but something about the outer shell didn't sit right with him. The wood used to make the outer section of the bin had what looked like old and new planks of wood, but it didn't look right for some general repair of an old bin. The slats of wood looked like they could be moved, as if they were a puzzle. Trying a few pieces to see if they moved, they indeed did, and Gealyn set about rearranging the planks. After a few moments, there was an small clicking noise and then a cranking and grinding noise coming from the fireplace. It sounded as though gears were moving and then suddenly with a stone grinding on stone noise, the fireplace began to slide across the floor. Gealyn called out to Finn and Erme to come see what was happening.
As the two came jogging into the room, they saw the final movement of the fireplace as it came to rest revealing a small closet sized space behind where it had previously been. It was a empty and non-descript save for a hole in the ground. As the group drew closer, they could make out a ladder leading down from the hole. Perhaps what they were seeking lay at the bottom of the ladder.
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