Stonehell Delve 3

On the evening of 2/1 the following brave adventurers ventured into Stonehell once again in search of a mystical talisman.

Drak the Hood
-Menwyn
Nick the Pike
-Kaldue - Spearman
-Boarface - Swordman & Groom with Aslan and Thistle (wardogs)
-Sacco - Torchbearer
Dirk
Lemmkainen the Elf
Nolan Bracegirdle the Hobbit

Her fingers dug down into his shoulders, kneading Nick’s flesh. “So what happened?”

Nick sighed, feeling the stress begin to ease out. “It’s all Drak’s fault. That curse he’s suffering from... After restocking and gearing up we all got together and headed off. Just outside there was something rustling the trees. We avoided whatever it was and entered Stonehell itself. We again retraced our steps, this time bumping into a whole squad of orcs. They wanted to know if we’d defiled Rocky.”

“Who’s Rocky?”

“According to the orcs it’s an oracular giant stone head, and I guess they worship it or something. I wanted to check it out but Drak started laughing and didn’t, or couldn’t stop until I started heading toward the Quiet Halls.”

“What about the orcs?”

“Oh, they told us where the head was, generally, but then moved on when we told them it wasn’t us. After that we kept on, killed some more fire beetles. I managed to get some of that glowing crap on my armor. Sacco’s cleaning it now. He’s a good lad. I really need to think of something for him to grow into.”

“Once we were in the Quiet Halls the group wanted to check out one of the side passages we’d skipped last time. We came to a pair of bronze doors on opposite sides of the hall. They were conveniently designed with lattices so we could see inside. Unfortunately on one side were a bunch of smiling skeletons who were all way too happy to see us, and on the other a wraith thing made up of bones and fabric scraps. I’ve never seen anything like that before. We held the doors as best we could, even hammering in some spikes. It wasn’t easy... the skeletons kept pushing bits of themselves out. We squirted in some oil on the skeletons, and set it on fire, but then the wraith got out. Everyone just took off... The halfling even outran the elf. Granted the Lemmin was in plate armor, but even still... The wraith caught him, and beat him up before some of the guys grabbed him and we all ran for the great doors, slamming them shut behind us.”

“Gods...” she breathed. “That sounds terrifying!”

“You know what? It was. I don’t know that I’ll head back that way without a little divine assistance. Maybe that’s what I can suggest to Sacco? He’d look good in a priests cassock.”

“What happened then?” she asked, her knuckles pressing down into the small of Nick’s back.

“In between bouts of Drak’s laughing, we tried a different side passage, took down a room full of wildmen, and while we were picking through their scraps we heard a bunch of orcs coming our way. Lemmin said they were chanting “kill the defilers” or something like that. Knowing we only had moments we tossed the wildmen bodies in the hall, pulled the door closed, and built as much of a baracade in the doorway as possible. Everyone with bows lined up at the back of the room, while the rest of us waited. There was some confusion as to why the bodies were in the hall, but the orcs were out for blood, and they threw open the door, and ended up with a face full of arrows, spears, and my pike. I think it was the same group we’d encountered before, plus one that was a little bigger, maybe a chief or something.”

“The fight was dirty and quick, and The first 2 dropped right away, including the big guy. Lemmin took an arrow from one of the orcs in the throat, and dropped. 2 more orcs fell, and then Kaldue overextend himself, and fell over the barricade. Boarface hopped right over the barricade and started hacking at orc standing over Kaldue. He didn’t connect, but he kept the creature from smashing poor Kaldue’s head in.”

“The 2 orc archers decided that now wasn’t a good time to hang about, and took off. We finished off the last orc, and then grabbed Lemmin and headed back to town.”

“So no treasure this time?” her hands stopped massaging Nick’s back.

“Not as much as I’d been hoping for, but the excursion managed to pay for itself with a little left over. Enough that I can rent this townhouse, instead of staying at the inn!”