[coronatiger]

Thoughts on June 14th (continued)

Waiting for Va’lyndra to come around, Leopold washed the doorkeeper skull, who launched a litany of curses at Ilzo. Va’lyndra woke after about a quarter of an hour, and I asked her if “her gang” could be interested in buying the skull, but Leopold said he didn’t want to part with it. “His gang” would also be interested.

After some discussion, we decided to bring the skull inside with us. The skull had finished its tirade, but it was clearly still mad at Ilzo, and I can’t blame it. He had used it for a toilet, after all. In the crypt, steps led deep below-grounds, to a locked stone door. Ilzo brought out his pickaxe again, and Leopold tried to persuade the skull to help us, arguing that it must not want Ilzo to destroy the entire temple. The skull remained silent, but glowered at Ilzo while he broke through the door.

Behind the door was a large chamber with several doors. A flock of orc ghosts wandered around at random. In the middle of the room was a mound of stone and dirt, and a hole in the roof let in daylight. There was also some metal junk here and there, and we spotted the occasional coin.

The ghosts were talking, but in Orcish, so I didn’t understand them. Leopold thought they sounded disturbed. Ilzo entered the room, and two of the ghosts slid over and touched him. He crumpled to the ground. Va’lyndra reached inside with her hooked staff and pulled him and Surkalpi out. I brought out my first aid kit, but Ilzo had no more wounds than he had entered with. He should wake up soon.

I noticed that the ghosts remained inside the large chamber. They didn’t pass through doors or walls to get to other parts of the temple. Inspired by the hole in the roof, I suggested that we dig our way down to those other rooms from outside, thus bypassing the ghosts. Va’lyndra was skeptical to the idea, afraid that penetrating the ceiling could destabilize the entire building, but Leopold thought it might be doable. Va’lyndra cast a few spells to see if she was able to affect the ghosts, but her spell repertoire mostly consists of water spells, and nothing she did could touch the apparitions. Va’lyndra and I dragged Ilzo outside.

Leopold walked around above the temple, studying the ground. Va’lyndra sat down resting against the crypt, and I practiced acrobatics, somersaulting from tombstone to tombstone. It wasn’t very respectful of me, but considering that we were already planning to rob the temple, I didn’t feel I’d incur any additional divine wrath. And as Ilzo hadn’t been struck by lightning for his transgressions, I thought I should be safe. I made sure the doorkeeper skull didn’t see me, though.

When Ilzo woke up, he and I started digging where Leopold pointed. The soil was very loose, so we had to dig out a cone-shaped hole, to prevent it from collapsing over us. Once in a while, Leopold lifted away a huge chunk of dirt with his magic, but we still were only about half done when it was time to return to Olivia.

We set up camp a little farther from the road to the temple, where boogeymen might be patrolling. There was a lake about half a kilometer away, and Olivia and I went there to bathe. Ilzo might settle for a burst from Va’lyndra’s water jet, but I wanted to wash properly with soap. And to cavort with Olivia where the others wouldn’t bother us.


Thoughts on June 15th

Ilzo, Va’lyndra, Leopold and I walked up towards the temple to continue our excavation, but we spotted five boogeymen standing by the ruined watchtower. One of them pointed at us, and Ilzo bellowed “Charge!”

One of the boogeymen dashed off towards their city to the north, and I ran to cut him off. At two hundred meters, I stopped and drew an arrow. I took careful aim and released. The arrow took the boogeyman in the back, and he stumbled. My next two shots missed, but my fourth arrow struck its mark, and the boogeyman went down again. A few more shots made sure he’d never get up.

I was about to turn around and run back to the tower, but I spotted a boogeyman coming down the road from the north. I hid among the trees, and saw that it was in fact five of them, jogging in my direction. I took aim again, but they noticed me and hid behind trees of their own. An arm was visible and got an arrow.

One boogeyman tried to get away to the north while the others fired in my direction. I shot him in the back, and down he went. The return arrows whizzed past me, but none came near enough to worry me. The boogeymen decided to send another runner, and he got an arrow in the back as well. Realizing that their tactic wasn’t working, the rest of them legged it. I ran after them and shot one more before the remaining two split up. I managed to graze one of them with an arrow, but by then the last one had gotten away, so I thought it would be best to return to the others and report.

The ruined watchtower was devoid of life; four decapitated boogeymen showed that Ilzo had been there. I found my friends in the camp. Ilzo was chugging healing potions while Va’lyndra bandaged his wounds. Leaving them to it, Olivia, Leopold and I packed up camp and prepared to leave.

Va’lyndra and Leopold cooperated to hide our tracks, not an easy feat with ten horses. We suspected that boogeyman trackers would manage to follow us anyway. Those smarter than me reasoned that the boogeymen would come after us in force until we left their territory, and then a smaller party would continue to track us to make sure we went away. I thought the boogeymen would have scouts out in front, like we do when we travel through wilderness, and suggested that Va’lyndra and I could lag behind the others and ambush the scouts. Without trackers, their main force would have difficulty following. Va’lyndra and Leopold didn’t agree with me. They were of the opinion that we shouldn’t do anything but running and hiding, and argued that this way, most of the boogeymen would turn back after a day or two, but if we provoked them, they might decide not to go home without our heads.

Leopold continued talking to the skull throughout the day, and informed the rest of us that it wanted revenge over Ilzo. It thought dismemberment seemed appropriate. Va’lyndra discovered that only divine magic remained in the skull. The ordinary magic had vanished, possibly when Ilzo unattached the skull from the temple door.


Thoughts on June 16th

We continued westwards, and Va’lyndra made sure we didn’t leave unnecessary tracks for the boogeymen to follow, directing us to ride in streams and over rocky patches whenever possible.

Towards evening, we began to think that we must have left the boogeymen behind, or at least the main contingent of them, and we decided to make camp for a few days so we could forage and restock our food supplies. Olivia insisted that we needed to find a place that we could camouflage well and defend easily, and I relayed this to the others. Olivia is too shy to stand up for her opinions to anyone but me, unless Ilzo has made her too upset to remember, but that is just as likely to break her down in tears. I like Ilzo, but I wish he’d be more considerate towards Olivia, who is so sensitive.