[coronatiger]

Thoughts on July 13th

We filled the small water barrel with water from the lake before going to the next quest site. Kine managed not to break her leg again.

There’s a portcullis here as well, but it’s raised into the ceiling, so we had no problem gaining entry. However, we found footprints in the dust, and Kine says they are both entering and leaving, so we can’t be sure if there is someone here waiting to ambush us.

There are statues of elves and arrow slits in two levels along the walls, and Kine noticed a taut piece of string stretched between one of the arrow slits and a small peg stuck somehow into the portcullis. Standing on my shoulders, Lady Karita studied the contraption, and discovered that if we were to dislodge the peg by pulling on the string, the portcullis would slam shut. She disarmed the trap by carefully cutting the string.

As the string is made from organic material, we found it likely that it was placed there by the same people that had left their footprints. We figured that it can’t have been that many days since they were here, and that they trapped the place, either to delay us until they find what they are looking for, or to prevent us from finding (or leaving with) some treasure they want to be left alone.

Because they may be behind us, I don’t want to leave Olivia alone here, so we stayed together while the other three went inside to find a safer place to make camp. They came back a short while later, and we moved everything to this courtyard, in what seems to be another fortress. The others told us they had found the other end of the string, a tripwire that now lay slack on the floor.

We started exploring some of the rooms adjacent to the courtyard before saying good night. Of course, we looked into all the rooms to ascertain that nobody was waiting in ambush.

Since I want to be on high alert during our watch, I’m going to get any distracting urges out of my system before sleeping. What’s taking you so long, Olivia? Ah, there you are…


Thoughts on July 14th

Miraculously, I managed to stay focused during the watch, but as soon as the others woke up, I had to take Olivia aside for a quick snack before breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning exploring the rooms near the courtyard, without finding much.

As we got a little deeper into the area, we found a passage with a large pile of rocks and scrap metal protruding from between them. Some of the metal looked rather sharp and pointy, so Lady Karita and Magnar climbed carefully over the pile. Kine followed, slipped, and skewered herself on one of the metal shards.

Several inches of metal stuck out of the back of her limp figure as she gushed blood onto the rocks below. I yelled for Olivia, who came running with her first aid kit at the ready while I looked to see how I could lift Kine off the spike as gently as possible. Magnar is considerably stronger than me, but I don’t trust him to remain as sure-footed as me on the unsteady, and by now slippery, rocks. Anyway, Kine is scrawny enough that even Lady Karita could have lifted her.

I took careful hold of the still body and lifted, carrying her down to Olivia, who stood ready with a healing salve. While Olivia applied bandages to Kine’s wounds, I got out another healing salve which I smeared on the poor kitten. Magnar tossed me a healing potion, and I told Olivia to administer it to Kine if she thought it was necessary.

To make matters worse, someone had stained some of the spikes with belladonna, probably Kine’s one as well, although it was impossible for Lady Karita to see under all the blood. She told us we needed to keep a close watch on Kine for the next few hours. Under Olivia’s care, Kine woke up after nearly an hour had passed. I told her what had happened, and she drank a healing potion, and after a short while, Kine declared that she felt well enough to proceed.

Our marching order while exploring is with Lady Karita and Magnar in the front and Kine and me in the back. The hallways down here are more than wide enough even to drive Kine’s wagon through, so walking side by side is no problem. Lady Karita searches for traps and Magnar is armed and armored, ready for whatever we might run into. Usually, Lady Karita finds the traps, but not this time. Suddenly a pile of scrap metal fell down upon the two in front. Lady Karita was completely taken by surprise, and didn’t manage to dodge out of the way, but Magnar held his shield above her and blocked all the sharp and possibly poisoned metal pieces from striking her. The weight of all the fallen metal pinned both of them to the ground, and Lady Karita’s lantern went out.

I asked if they were all right, and they both answered that they were, so I told them not to move while I dug them out. As Kine moved to help, I sharply told her to stay back and hold the lantern while I worked. I did not want her to risk cutting herself again. I had gloves, and was uninjured and so far, not poisoned.

It took me quite a while to remove all the metal, but at last Lady Karita and Magnar could stand up again. There were several shards stuck in Magnar’s armor, but he claimed none of them had penetrated completely. As they are rivals for status, Magnar quite enjoyed having Lady Karita wash the poison off the back of his armor in thanks for saving her. I don’t think he knows about her hidden cloth armor, but if she’d been struck by the same force that hit him, she might very well have died.

We got a little further, and while we’re almost certain we’ve seen all the rooms and hallways of this place, we didn’t find anything noteworthy before returning to camp.


Thoughts on July 15th

Since Lady Karita slept late this morning and Kine didn’t want to go anywhere without her, I did some practice while she and Magnar played around with the chain weapon we found earlier. Their noise woke Lady Karita who complained about it, of course. For once, it wasn’t Olivia and me who disturbed her sleep.

By the time Lady Karita was ready to go on exploring, Kine and Magnar had gotten so engaged with the chain weapon that they stayed in the camp when Lady Karita, Olivia and I went to search. There was no immediate danger of combat, so it was all right for Olivia to come along. We found a few gold coins, but nothing truly valuable. That indicates that those who were here recently had found most of the valuables before leaving. I had favored the theory that they had trapped this place to prevent us from finding the treasures here, but I was clearly wrong.

Back at the camp, we considered the possibility of the chain being chaotic, and therefore something that would be confiscated at the check point. We discussed whether we should try to smuggle it through, and how we might be able to do it, since it seems like a powerful weapon that can be useful later. If it truly is chaotic, I wonder if it’s safe to keep it.

As we had explored this site as thoroughly as can be expected, I suggested we go to the last quest location before making camp for the night, but Lady Karita opined that it would be better if we have the time to make safe an area before camping, so we should wait until morning to leave. We’re not really pressed for time, so I didn’t mind relaxing in camp for a while, even though I foresaw that some of the “relaxation” would be a little exhausting.