Editing Chapter 27 - The Front Door

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Seeing the elemental arise, and guessing correctly that it was holding the invisible Aldur in its grasp, Trykaar and Neela pushed their boat forward into the pool. A blow from the elemental lifted the boat out of the water, causing the two adventurers to leap to safety, Trykaar ending up back in the tunnel while Neela fell into the pool. With two intruders floundering in the pool, the elemental re-formed into a whirpool that succeeded in sucking both Aldur and Neela into its grasp, battering them against the pool's bottom as they rotated in its powerful currents. Aldur managed to work his way to the edge and back into the tunnel, but Neela was forced to use her wiles, letting herself sink to the bottom of the pool and using a mighty jump to push off the bottom and leap clear of the elemental's grasp. At this, the elemental returned to his humanoid form and a more conventional attack, battering away with mighty fists.
 
Seeing the elemental arise, and guessing correctly that it was holding the invisible Aldur in its grasp, Trykaar and Neela pushed their boat forward into the pool. A blow from the elemental lifted the boat out of the water, causing the two adventurers to leap to safety, Trykaar ending up back in the tunnel while Neela fell into the pool. With two intruders floundering in the pool, the elemental re-formed into a whirpool that succeeded in sucking both Aldur and Neela into its grasp, battering them against the pool's bottom as they rotated in its powerful currents. Aldur managed to work his way to the edge and back into the tunnel, but Neela was forced to use her wiles, letting herself sink to the bottom of the pool and using a mighty jump to push off the bottom and leap clear of the elemental's grasp. At this, the elemental returned to his humanoid form and a more conventional attack, battering away with mighty fists.
 
   
 
   
By this time, the other inhabitants of the room were alerted. While the humans did not move from their arcane labours, the elven guards and one of the two elves in the seating area moved to intercept the party. The remaining elf, apparently unarmed, began to retreat to safety while summoning a pair of water mephits to further antagonize the intruders who were battling the elemental. A second water elemental, smaller than the first, emerged from the waters on the other side of the pool and advanced into the fray.
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By this time, the other inhabitants of the room were alerted. While the humans did not move from their arcan labours, the elven guards and one of the two elves in the seating area moved to intercept the party. The remaining elf, apparently unarmed, began to retreat to safety while summoning a pair of water mephits to antagonize them.
  
The party's gnomes allies lent their assistance by firing missiles and Nesmir lobbed alchemical potions into the fray, but the brunt of the assault was born by the party. Aldur was quickly singled out by the elf who had been seated. He approached with two swords drawn, challenging Aldur and demanding that he order his minions to surrender. The wily Aldur, always wary of melee combat, made motions of surrender but then quickly fastened his belt and disappeared, not to be seen again in the course of the battle. Meanwhile the mephits had belched forth stinking clouds of gas that obscured vision and threatened to immobilize thise caught within. Trykaar approached one of the humans, who made no move to protect himself or evade a mighty blow from Trykar that mortally wounded him and caused a wave of energy to be released from the mysterious figure in the centre of the room, knocking several of the combatants to their knees. In the midst of the battle, the Tarminastir gnomes escaped out one of the doors next to the pool.
 
 
With each human killed, a wave of energy was released, but the magical power in the room was visibly diminished and the trembling of the tree increased. When the last of the humans was killed, a final wave of energy caused the tree to pitch sideways, tilting the entire chamber and leaving it in darkness. The entrance tunnel sunk below water level as the pool shifted, drowning Nesmir's three compatriats, and the opposite water channel was now dry, angled steeply upwards. In addition, a mighty cracking announced that the tree was splitting, and a crevace opened through the room. From the ceiling, carved wooden sculptures were jostled loose from their mountings and fell down out of the darkness and onto combatants below.
 
 
In the faint light of sunrods lit by the party, Neela spotted a small figure laying on the tilting stone platform. Despite her wounds, she lept up to investigate. She could now see it was a small human boychild. Before she could approach any closer, a mephit swooped at her, but she fended it off with a flurry of blows and it disappeared into the darkness, leaving her with the boy. He was unconscious but alive, and she scooped him up into her arms.
 
 
With the last of their opponents slain or driven off, the remaining party members finally noticed that Aldur was nowhere to be found. They searched the location where Trykaar had last spotted arcane energies being launched at their opponents, but the area was now partially submerged by the shifted pool. He did find some of Aldur's belongings and took those of value, but there was no sign of the elf. Wary of the elves who would surely arrive soon to investigate, the party made their way to the upper walkway and looked down one of the hallways. In the distance, lights indicated the approach of more potential enemies. Making their way around the room, harassed by a pair of mephits sent in by the approaching elves, they found that another hallway showed signs of activity and the two remaining ones had been blocked off by the breaking tree. Meanwhile, a loud cracking and rumbling continued all around them, and with a final great lurch and cracking, the trunk of the tree was sundered and falling away, and starlight could be spied through the opening that replaced the highest point of the ceiling.
 
 
At this point, they remembered the doors next to the pool, and they returned to the center of the chamber. The doors were locked securely, but this was no impediment to the mighty Jrak. One swing of his maul shattered the door and they entered the shadowy room beyond. Like the chamber they had left, this room was now tilted precariously, the former furniture piled up against the wall at the low end of the room. A single door was located on the opposite wall. They quickly sorted through the debris, Jrak discovering a thick tome inscribed in some strange arcane language and a doorway under the debris that opened on a stairway descending deeper into the tree. Due to the tilt of the staircase, it was obvious it would be a difficult climb with no certainty of return.
 
 
Deciding the stairway was too risky, they tried the other door but found it locked. Once again, Jrak was able to easily open it revealed a corridor beyond. It ran a short distance before a split in the tree had offset it to the right, leaving a narrow space that Jrak could just barely squeeze through. A short distance beyond, they entered another room, this one featuring four beds, each with a matching chest, and some other furniture. Opening the chests, they discovered them to be filled with coins and other valuables, more than they could ever carry. Neela refused to take any for herself, fearing that the wealth might taint her troubled soul, but the others quickly scooped up as much as they could carry before continuing onwards.
 
 
A door on the far wall of the room once again proved little impediment to a determined Jrak, and they fled down the corridor beyond. After a short distance, the wood of the tree gave way to a stone-walled corridor, indicating that they were under the city beyond. A short distance later, Neela felt a stone shift slightly under her foot and the floor of the corridor behind her disappeared, sending Jrak tumbling down forty feet into a dark pit and setting off an alarm in the distance. Fortunately, both Jrak and Nesmir had ropes. Unfortunately, the gnome's was sentient and needed a little convincing, but they were eventually able to run a rope for Jrak to climb up.
 
 
Proceeding onwards with slightly more caution, they entered what appeared to be a large storeroom. Spreading out for a quick search, they found a mixture of mundane and arcane items, and took the opportunity to swipe some that might prove useful. But wary of pursuit and the distant alarm, they soon pushed on through the jumble of shelves to find a doorway on the opposite wall.
 
 
The new corridor they found themselves in ran for a few hundred feet before they found themselves at a four-way intersection. Taking a moment to re-orientate themselves, they decided that they should head towards the lakeshore side of the city and attempt to escape to the waiting boat. As the shore was to their left, they took that corridor and soon found themselves at a sturdy wooden door. Neela put her ear to it and could hear sibilant voices beyond that sounded like the lizardmen they had encountered before. Choosing a frontal assault, Jrak smashed the door and Neela and Trykaar assaulted the three surprised lizardmen. These were significantly smaller than the hulking beasts that had guarded the tree, but made up for it as skilled fighters, though not skilled enough to overcome the party.
 
 
With the lizardmen dispatched, the party found themselves in a small guardroom. A second door opened onto a fog-enshrouded boardwalk on the lakeshore. No other guards were in sight, so the four survivors slipped across the boardwalk and beach, and into the lake, where they parallelled the shore until they found a boat. They quietly untied it from its mooring and slipped off into the fog.
 
 
When they finally emerged into the clear air of the lake, they saw a spectacular sight. Though it was still night, the faint moonlight revealed the shattered stump of the tree emerging from the fog behind them, and the massive trunk and crown toppled into the lake, the long branches stills stretching higher than any of the other trees of the city. A small flotilla of elven boats were in the water around the tree. Patroclus' boat could be seen a considerable distance in the opposite direction, anchored close to the fog banks. The party nosed their boat back into the fog and slowly made their way to the waiting boat, cautiously staying within the edge of the bank.
 
 
A visibly relieved dwarf quickly hauled the four survivors up onto the deck and hurried them down into the hold before they could be spotted. He explained that the elves had already come to investigate the boat, and that the only way he had been able to assuage their suspicions had been by giving them ample supplies to help them with rescuing any elves trapped in the toppled tree. He explained that he would need to wait until dawn before leaving, so as not to raise suspicions.
 
 
As the sun peaked over the eastern horizon, spreading a glow through the ever-present fog, Patroclus pulled in his anchor and prepared to make way. But just as the great wheels began to churn the water, a voice was heard calling from the water below. The incredulous crew looked over the railings to see Aldur, reported dead by the other party members, was very much alive and splashing in the water below, waving and yelling in an attempt to get their attention. A line was thrown and the soaked elf was hauled on board.
 
  
 
To be continued as DM's time permits...
 
To be continued as DM's time permits...
  
 
Return to [[Telkarion Campaign - Story to Date]]
 
Return to [[Telkarion Campaign - Story to Date]]

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