(written by Phil, player of Gan ad-Din, concerning the semi-recent expedition under-Cothon, and earning Gan 100 xp per level)
The Chronicles of Gan
Bearer of All Things!
Chapter 1 – Into the
Underbelly
Presently, my benefactor, Bartholomew
Pettibone, of the House Pettibone, remains busy and focused on
learning a certain ancient language, and the machinations of our
recent finding. As he continues his studies, there has been little
else for me to do. Noting my restlessness, he suggested that I might
return with Sesel to Cothon, help procure supplies, and take some
time for much needed relaxation. After gathering the items that
Bartholomew had requested, I made the decision to take some time on
my own to join new friends in a, hopefully, lucrative venture.
We decided to enter and explore the
seedy, grimy underbelly of the main city – Sesel gained us our
entrance, then set us loose.
Old, wise Grandmother (Zelma) carried
our lantern. I and my new companions, Nazm (and his hireling, Salah –
a beggar from the streets above), and Lars Fangripper (with his
hireling, Abu – another beggar from our fair streets of Cothon)
made our way west from what once must have been a central market
place, but now lay buried deep under the streets of Cothon. A
labyrinth of dank, musty catacombs, shrouded in darkness, radiated in
many directions from that central hub.
It smelled bad as we continued deeper
into these ancient catacombs. The aroma of death was faint, but
pervasive, and clouded the still air throughout. The Underbelly is an
odd place. It is a maze of greater and lesser worked thoroughfares
and corridors, leading to 'nodes' and 'districts'. Smaller, more
natural appearing tunnels branch off at random, leading to who knows
what. Interestingly, there are 'residents' to be found down here,
randomly dispersed, attempting to eke out a meager living in this
dangerous community. Everything is hidden in shadows, and all is wet
and muddy, with scum-encrusted puddles everywhere. It is the storm
season, after all, and water was leaching and dripping down from the
city above. It is unnerving quiet down here.
At intervals there are old structures
in various states of decay; sometimes these block the passages,
sometimes they are set apart. They appear to be mostly basement, or
sub-basement chambers, long forgotten and lost to the main city
above. Perhaps it is possible to attain passage between the city
above, and some of these lost basement chambers. My benefactor may be
interested in this information – he seems to be interested in,
shall we say, covert avenues and subterfuge.
We soon stumbled upon a larger chamber
with numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition within.
Some with arrows in them. It appeared that a fight must have occurred
here. We investigated closer.
Many of the bodies had similar markings
upon them – a pair of crossed scimitars – perhaps indicating they
were of a certain brotherhood or organization. I will report this to
my benefactor, and to Sesel as well, it might be of interest to them.
For the most part, we found only a jumbled mess of dead, decaying
bodies, generally in two groups (enemies?). However, from a separate
pile of bodies, deeper inside this chamber, a nest of 6-legged
creatures (five of them at least) – beaked and with three eyes –
watched us warily. They did not approach us, and we wisely decided to
retreat and leave them to their meal of decayed corpses.
On we traveled, through passages old
and ruined. The musty, dank smell overwhelmed us throughout. The
faint sounds of what might be a party (carousing) came drifting to
our ears – perhaps people ahead? Not far down the avenue we
traveled, a rudimentary blockage came into the view in the light of
our lantern light. It appeared to be a palisade wall, crudely and
hastily erected. Ages of smoke stained the ceiling here, and along
with the sounds of carousing came a faint glow that could be seen
flickering from beyond the blockage.
After hooding our lantern and allowing
our eyes to adjust to the dim light, we approached the crude wall and
initiated a parlay with the ones beyond. The rag-tag group of fellows
who we chatted with seemed less than friendly – and especially
untrustworthy. In fact, after introducing ourselves, they attempted
to belittle and dismiss us by making disparaging comments about our
appearance. How rude. The only item of note to be gleaned was that
they awaited the return of their leader, Ferat, who had left them
here many days previous. They were unwilling to invite us to their
fire and to share food, wine, and stories. Cowards, perhaps. We soon
ended our parlay – they were not entirely welcoming nor hostile –
and we retreated back up the tunnels to explore further.
In a side tunnel we encountered two
very large crustacean-creatures. As we surveyed their lair we spotted
odd clumps of what appeared to be melted metals, accompanied by some
oozy glop. I pitched a copper coin into the ooze, and it was slowly
devoured. Not good – as I was basically wearing a full set of
metallic armor! We immediately surmised that some material must be
present here, or used by the creatures, to melt metals. I noted
slight movement in one of the pools and, quite reflexively, let loose
a bolt of energy from my staff, enveloping one creature and blasting
off a large chunk of its carapace! The battle was on!
Both creatures emerged from their rest,
and each spewed a vile metal-dissolving liquid – at me – but
missed! I, knowing that these things must surely melt metal, and me
wearing plate armor, quickly retreated and took up a more defensive
position. As a group we fell back into the tunnel, hoping to force
them to come at us singly. They came forward, undeterred. Lars was
attacked, giant claws snicking and snapping in rapid succession!
Before our eyes he was ripped to shreds, falling limp to the ground,
his blood and gore littering the passage floor! Using an oil-flask
bomb, Nazm loosed an attack upon the foul thing – and I enveloped
it in yet another energy bolt. The first beast was defeated! Abu and
Wise Grandmother pulled Lars away from the melee, and administered a
healing balm from his pack.
Lars was returned to health, thanks to
the quick application of the potion by Abu. As we continued to
retreat, the second beast pressed on. Nazm tossed a net and entangled
the thing, slowing its advance, and briefly thwarting its attacks. I
doused it with a bolt of cold energy, and again a large chunk of
carapace was washed away! Lars, having been returned to vigor, and
infuriated, rushed to the creature and began slashing, smashing, and
hacking with his sword. His attacks, though feeble (due to his recent
drubbing), did succeed in chopping off pieces of the beast! It spit
again, and a glob of its wasting goop fell upon me – directly to
the chest – causing certain weakening damage to my armor! Salah
knocked a chip off of the thing with a tossed stone. The creature was
visibly wavering, and it seemed that the battle might end in our
favor.
Suddenly, and completely out of
character, Wise Grandmother ran forward shrieking insanely! She began
wildly smacking the creature with her gnarled, twisted cane. It was
astonishing and comical to watch – the shriveled old, toothless
hag, no taller than my waist, her arms the appearance of old dried
twigs, was flailing wildly at the creature. Her gnarled cane clicked
and clacked off the beast in a rapid tattoo, but with no effect
whatsoever.
The massive crab turned its attention
to Wise Grandmother, and she was quickly sliced and diced by the
beast's enormous claws. Certainly she could not survive such abuse!
Without doubt, we feared she must perish from this onslaught, but NO!
Old Wise Grandmother, wobbly and absolutely delirious, maintained her
composure and continued to rap against the shell of the giant crab
rapidly (but ineffectually). I let loose another blast from my staff,
timing it to hit at the same time Wise Grandmother hit it –
success! And the creature exploded! I congratulated Wise Grandmother
on her most excellent and wondrous skills in dispatching the foul
beast! We composed ourselves, then searched for treasure! Several
loose gems were found in the pool – one especially beautiful ruby –
ah, my beloved Istrid would swoon at the sight of it! We also
collected flasks of the creatures' metal eating spittle; Ravna, the
alchemist, might find this a useful liquid to exploit.
As we departed this place of crabs,
another of their ilk appeared and attacked. Using the inert body of
one of the defeated beasts, the passage was blocked by Lars, and we
retreated, post-haste!
Battered and bruised, we immediately
returned to the relatively fresh air of Cothon, above. I provided
Wise Grandmother with a pouch of 50 gold coins, and thanked her
profusely for her assistance. I instructed her to go home, and to
rest. From there I sought out the Kantor and purchased two flasks of
healing liquor, and then sought out and asked my old friend Musa, the
Hook (also a beggar from the streets of Cothon), if he would like to
join us on an adventure. He readily accepted!
Nazm dismissed Salah, and also hired
someone anew. Amusingly, he first approached Old Zelma; she had
already changed her attire, and with her new-found wealth was
carousing in a more upper-class establishment. Her attire and bearing
had changed so much in that short time that Nazm didn't recognize
her! However, she politely, and wisely declined his offer. Nazm ended
up hiring a free Renyu, by name of al Rabb. I like Renyu, they are
intelligent and wise. Lars also dismissed his bondsman, and hired a
grim, dour-looking fellow named Stark (I am not entirely convinced
that Stark is trustworthy).
After resting, and with renewed
provisions and fresh companions, we returned to the Underbelly and
began exploring to the north.
We came upon a massive structure –
part of the tunnel, but not – that seemed made of old, ancient
stone, yet appearing recent in construction. Perhaps un-aged,
somehow. There was an obvious, open entrance into it, and so, we
decided to investigate. Rabb went forth to test the airs with his
Renyu senses. Nothing seemed odd, and we approached the opening,
where passages disappeared into darkness to the left and to the
right. Written crudely on the wall at the entrance was a singular
word – DEATH. Curious. A warning? It appeared to be written in
blood; a large amount of blood. Curiouser. Inside we could see that
thick streaks of blood lay smeared down the hall, in either
direction, as if mutilated bodies had been dragged away. Too
curiouser, by far! We departed, to seek more benign adventures.
Further down the passage we were
following we began to feel odd and tingly all over – cold and
chilling. Darkness began to press in upon us, literally. Our lantern
seemed to become weaker and gave off only a wan light. We could
distantly see a faint glow ahead of us, perhaps some torch-lit cells,
but could not tell. We halted and shuttered our lantern, allowing
Rabb and myself to use our enhanced senses to see what might lie
ahead.
Immediately, Lars and Musa were grasped
from out of the dark by freezing cold hands! Musa quickly and fully
unshuttered our lamp, and the shadowy hands retreated into the
darkness. We hastily departed back the way we had come, escaping an
evil that certainly lay further within. However, in that brief moment
of absolute darkness, I had observed that at the end of that passage
lay a series of cells (appearing as jail cells) – some with
crumpled, decayed bodies inside. I believe it was wise not to tamper
further. Musa, having heard tales of ghosts and haunted shades,
refused to return.
At length we arrived at an actual,
active tavern, complete with signpost outside – a cat, sitting,
licking a raised paw. Inside were patrons, seeming to be enjoying the
fare and entertainment, and a very odd looking barkeep; his eyes were
red – too red. He also had other features that seemed out of place,
and abnormal for a human – but that I cannot rightly recall enough
to describe.
We entered, guardedly, and were warmly
greeted by this red-eyed fellow. We inquired about, and were told
that this was the 'Lonely Cat' – the best tavern in all of
Underbelly! He boasted of a local brew, and we accepted his
hospitality. While Nazm and Lars made small-talk with the odd
barkeep, and as we were being served, I took in our surroundings and
noted that the patrons, clustered in small groups and all heavily
armed, seemed almost oblivious to us – not even taking notice of
each other. And then I realized that there actually was no
entertainment. No bard, no dancers, no minstrel – and it seemed
oddly quiet, subdued, for a tavern. But the local beer was good –
refreshing even. After two pints, and feeling curiously emboldened,
we thanked the fine fellow and departed. I must report, that he was
not over-boastful concerning his beer. I even purchased a quantity to
carry with me for later; it was invigorating and relaxing. However, I
fear that three tankards may have laid me low, into a deep, restful
slumber – an easy mark for thugs and ne'er-do-wells. Anyway, we
made a pleasant departure, thankful for his hospitality, and followed
his directions and tip to what might be an interesting place for
further exploration.
Not far away, another break in the
quarried wall revealed an ancient basement room beyond. Of course, we
investigated. The breach had definitely been made from without to
within. It appeared the wall had been fired at from the outside –
with an intense energy – char marks on the outside were readily
visible. But not on the inside. And most of the rubble lay within the
room. Inside, and as we searched through the mess, Musa stumbled upon
a mechanism that opened a concealed door to an even deeper
sub-basement room below. The stench of death and decay that wafted up
was intense and overwhelming. In our lantern light we saw a couple of
corpses and various items of furniture – all in various states of
decay. Using a rope provided and secured by Nazm, I climbed down to
investigate. While scouting the room, I called for Lars to join me. I
asked if he might use his hunter/tracker skills to determine what
might have been the cause of these peoples' death. Within the room
there appeared to be little of value, and Lars believed that the
people had simply perished naturally (perhaps from starvation and
lack of water). However, while searching, we did uncover the remains
of a rotted chest that contained a king's ransom! Among other items,
we found a diamond the size of a fist – ah, Istrid my love, that
one diamond would shine and sparkle and illuminate your features like
a goddess!
However, as Lars and I marveled at this
magnificent stone, rats began emerging (in overwhelming numbers) from
various small tunnels bored into the walls. Yes, rats. Many, many
rats. Too many rats! In our haste to search the room for valuables,
we missed the obvious signs of rat hordes! Lars mashed one, but then
realizing it was a lost cause, began climbing our rope to safety.
While giving voice and alarm to our compatriots above, I splashed
flaming oil upon the advancing front of gnashing fur! Lars, though
nipped and bitten in several locations, continued his escape up the
rope. I tossed more oil on the flames, setting several more rats
afire, and giving Lars time to retreat unhindered. The rats swarmed
me, but the armor I wore was virtually impenetrable to their teeth
and claws. After brushing many dozens from my body, I was able to
climb to safety after Lars. Finding all calm above, we collected our
wits and our baubles, and decided to leave. We headed directly back
to Cothon, exhausted and shaken to our core – but with stories
grand and glorious, and wealth of great store!
