AtD #43: There and Then, Again

The battle was quickly over. Although Thonn was surrounded and stabbed almost to death by the kobolds, the remaining tribal members could not stand before the party’s might. In a few moments, they were all slain, and Thonn’s near-fatal wounds were (again) healed.

The party searched the kobold lair and found little of interest—except the cover of a spellbook. All the book’s pages had been ripped out, but the cover—crafted from two graven bronze plates was yet intact. A map decorated each cover. One showed the environs around Vongyth while the other provided an overview of the lost dwarven hold. Saeldur was ecstatic—his quest was complete—and he claimed the plates for himself.

With this treasure recovered, the party returned to their lair to rest.

Refreshed, the next day, they set out to clear the rest of the kobolds’ lair. This they did swiftly, encountered no other living (or unliving) creatures. Great excitement gripped the party’s ranks when they discovered a chasm plunging deep into the earth. Perhaps a way out lay that way. Exploring the chasm, however, proved fruitless—there was no way out that way.

With the possibilities of the kobolds’ lair exhausted, the party returned upriver to explore the rest of the labyrinth into which they had tumbled some days ago. Swiftly they explored several passages they had not yet dared. Most were empty and unremarkable. One, however, was pierced by a chasm plunging 50 feet into the hill’s bowels.

Thonn immediately decided to investigate the chasm. This proved a mistake. After he had climbed about 15-foot down, he noticed what appeared to be a small niche in the rock. Something dwelled within. The thing was some kind of black, semi-liquescent ooze or slime. As it emerged, Saeldur shot it twice. Worryingly, the ranger’s arrows disintegrated on contact with the ooze—melted away by a powerful acid covering its body.

The slime lashed out, injuring Thonn. As the half-orc desperately scrambled away, it pummelled him again. Near-death (again), Thonn—his armour melting away—reached the top of the rope as the creature’s powerful acid ate into his battered body…