Tilia’s Field Notes: Beneath the Elven Ruins

Nearly immediately, without consulting anyone, and before we could discuss a strategy for exploring the space, Travis abruptly announced that he’d decided to retrieve some of the silvery liquid from the surface to pour into the mechanism. Val chased after him and I was grateful that Val took a turn accompanying him, for his safety as much as to prevent her from charging mindlessly into some new danger. But they would be gone awhile, leaving a much smaller group behind to explore and face whatever lay ahead. Because of course, in that time, nothing problematic could occur, right?

A hundred feet or so beneath the mysterious cave, we entered a room with an odd mechanical forge-like structure with five rainbow-hued sections, each with a symbol etched into its surface. None among us could read the symbols; they looked like some ancient precursor to elven script. Each section of the strange structure contained a bit of clear liquid and a bowl in the center had some pipes leading away from it. But we didn’t get enough opportunity to examine the structure to understand what it might do before the others began wandering off.

Almost predictably, both Agenar and Wynlynn split off down separate corridors without sharing their intentions or consulting anyone else. I’ve come to expect this from the handsome but feckless cleric, but was surprised that Wynlynn made such an ill-considered move. She has generally seemed so reasonable to date.

Let me pause to say that this behavior is baffling to me. Nearly every time someone wanders off, they end up embattled, and it takes 5 or 6 others to save them from their ineptitude. In the process, someone else is all always injured, someone usually ends up near death, and yet they all seem to overlook the fact that we’re very lucky to be surviving these harebrained escapades. How is it that no one else has observed this trend? It’s rather distressing.

But I digress. While Wynlynn went down an orange-lit tunnel and Agenar strolled away down a green passageway, I stayed put. It seemed the best option for staying ready to aid them, which would inevitably be necessary. So I waited for someone to call out for help, though with growing irritation.

A few minutes later, Wynlynn returned with an odd expression on her face, avoiding eye contact with any of us. Before we could say a thing, commotion arose from the green tunnel. The others started off down the tunnel and soon there was a clash with several skeletons. One of them – Bob – was quite polite and apologetic about dutifully guarding something in the room, which of course, Agenar had tried to obtain for no apparent reason. I tried to assist by casting a bonfire beneath Bob, more than once, but he kept dodging the flames. Agenar was mortally wounded — again — but I cast a spell to revive him with the last bit of spellcasting effort I could muster.

After some effort, we disassembled the skeletons, and then Wynlynn advanced further into the green chamber. I couldn’t see what was happening within, but in a few moments, the skeletons suddenly started to reassemble. Wynlynn darted out of the room, dragging the weakened Agenar with her, and we slammed the door to the passageway shut to keep the skeletons contained.

Then, again without warning, Wynlynn scurried into another room, this one glowing yellow. Weird and suspicious behavior for her, so I attempted to stop her with an entanglement spell, but she shimmied out of the way and kept going, reaching a pool of yellow liquid and collecting some in a vial.

As soon as Wynlynn touched the surface of the yellow liquid, a half dozen undead monsters with long tongues emerged from around the room. They surrounded her in seconds, using their clawed hands to pierce her armor, and soon she was lying unconscious on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Pantaghion cast a healing spell and her eyelids fluttered open. He’d valiantly engaged the monsters that he didn’t provoke, but there were too many of them to make it possible for him to retrieve Wynlynn, and it looked like the nasty long-tongued things were about to rend her into shreds.

Then Teal stepped up and conjured a spectacular tidal wave. With impressive precision, the waves washed Wynlynn to Pantaghion’s feet, while knocking over some of the monsters and slowing the others. Pantaghion picked Wynlynn up and turned to run, but couldn’t move fast enough to escape. So I picked them both up and pulled them out of the room as the undead abominations closed in, slamming the door behind them and bracing myself against the walls to hold it shut. For once, being oversized came in handy! And for a moment, I didn’t feel like a clumsy oaf, but a strong guardian of my adopted tribe.

Teal cast another spell that briefly stopped the monsters from beating against the door, so just as Val and Travis returned from their seemingly pointless jaunt, we fled the room and climbed the staircase back to the peaceful luminescent cavern above. Of the handful who had stayed in the depths, I alone had managed to remain completely unharmed, but only because I stayed back from the fray and cast ranged spells until my abilities were depleted.

We can only hope that the undead creatures won’t give chase, as the winding staircase below the fountain remains open.