grodog wrote:Yes, that's the main entrance into the Iounic Caverns
Allan.
Well if that's the case, here is what I have written up (cross-posted from Dragonsfoot):
Icarus the Rogue moved silently down the corridor towards the portcullis that his new comrades had found earlier in their explorations of this new dungeon level. He was the newest member of this seasoned group of adventurers that stylized themselves as the Company of the Calzone. The Company had recruited him after their previous thief had succumbed to food poisoning at a seedy establishment known as Vincent’s. As far as Icarus was concerned it served him right. After all, Icarus had grown up on the streets of Greyhawk and even the lowliest street urchins and beggars knew that Vincent hadn’t cleaned his kitchen in years.
He still didn’t know what to make of this motley bunch he had fallen in with. They were definitely older and more experienced but they still seemed a little strange. For example, they kept referring to him as a thief, while Icarus styled himself as more of a rogue. In Icarus’ world, thieves, were passé – an anachronism from a long ago age. Icarus was more than a thief. After all, didn’t he possess great weapons finesse, couldn’t he tumble like a gymnast and bluff or diplomatically find his way through most situations? Icarus told his new companions this but they just stared at him strangely – there was something different about this group of adventurers. It was hard to put a finger on but they were definitely Old School.
Scolding himself for letting his mind wander, Icarus re-focused himself on the task at hand. He knew that it would take just one small mistake and his life would be forfeit. It was hard to check for traps and other surprises while moving silently but Icarus was more than up to the task. As he crept closer, the portcullis slowly came into view at the edge of the light cast by his magic blade. This was going to be tough, the bars were as thick as his wrist and the whole thing looked like it weighed a ton. As he drew closer, he carefully looked for any kind of mechanism to operate the portcullis, but there was nothing – at least on this side. Finally he could go no further as the massive grate was directly in front of him. It spanned the corridor and disappeared into slots in both the ceiling and floor. Through the gloom on the other side of the barrier, he could just make out a wall curving away to the left and right. The portcullis seemed to open onto a broad curving corridor that continued in each direction beyond the meager light cast by his sword. Icarus let his eyes slowly rove over the far walls and floor for signs of anything that could provide a hint as to how to operate the portcullis. Finding nothing, he steeled himself and slowly passed his hand and arm between the vertical bars being careful not to touch the grate it itself. After all, hadn’t Fid, one of the party’s cleric warned him just a few minutes before to “be careful, it always explodes”. Alas, his efforts to feel for anything on first the left and then the right walls beyond the barrier came for naught. Icarus was truly stumped and turning to face the way he had come, he beckoned the rest of the party forward.
Sixty feet to the north the rest of the Company of the Calzone squinted to the south where they could barely make out the thief in the nimbus shed by his glowing sword. “It looks like he is waving us forward”, said Cadriel the Fighter while behind him Fid, the Cleric of Pholtus harrumphed, “Well I’m not getting any closer to the thing until it is open. Things like this always explode”. Cadriel sighed. For once his wished this party could work together like a finely tuned machine but knowing the stubbornness exhibited by those of the Blinding Light, he simply motioned for the rest of the party to form up behind him as they proceeded down the corridor to where the thief awaited them. Left alone in the oval entry chamber, Fid watched his companions depart by the light shone by the enchanted platinum piece he held in his hand. Minions, meat puppets, red shirts - not a single member of the one true faith among them. Nonetheless, they would serve Pholtus’ purpose knowing or unknowingly. Pholtus had sent Fid visions of this new dungeon level. Somewhere down here lurked an impenetrable darkness and Fid’s mission, as with all of the faithful, was to bring the light of Pholtus to wherever darkness reigned. Now, where had he heard the term “red shirt” before?
Cadriel led the party to where Icarus awaited before the closed portcullis. After a quick discussion wherein Icarus told his companions of his failed efforts to open the gate, Cadriel stepped to the fore to show the young thief how things were done in the old days. First, Cadriel touched his gauntleted hand to one of the vertical bars while 60 feet to the north, Fid braced himself for the inevitable explosion that never came. Encouraged, Cadriel placed his other hand on another vertical bar and braced himself as he strove to bend the bars apart. Despite his best effort, the massive shafts held. As Cadriel’s shoulders slumped in defeat, a deep voice rang out, “Wait, let me assist”.
It was Red Mond the Green, the party's ranger and a named man from the wilds of the far north. How he came by the moniker “Red” was lost in time. Some said he bathed in the blood of his enemies. Others attributed it to the square cut mane of coppery hue that once hung shaggy to his broad shoulders. However, if it was the latter, the intervening years and the challenges of raising four daughters had taken its toll. Gone were the fiery locks of his youth with the exception of a few stray hairs. As to the “Green”, it was rare for a named man to carry two such honors. Red Mond had earned this second affectation due to the green leathers that he preferred to attire himself in. Tight green leathers that is. For it is said that Red Mond the Green was nearly as strong as an Ogre and Icarus believed it as he admired the ranger’s sculpted frame. In the sagas, Milius the bard had once described Red Mond the Green as packed with muscles like rocks with skin of polished leather, veins of blued cables, knuckles heavy and rounded. His back was like the back of a tiger, broad and rippling beneath the tight leathers, gnarled with power. While many a lesser man may have let himself go as the years passed, the ranger’s shoulders still tapered to a narrow waste. His legs were like tree trunks as they rose to his supple buttocks covered in the green leather like a second skin.
Once again, scolding himself for letting his mind wander, Icarus moved to the back rank to make way for Red Mond’s efforts while Fid realizing that that if the portcullis was going to explode, it would have done so by now moved down the corridor in order to provide leadership from the middle ranks once the great gate was open.
Red Mond the Green seized a bar in each of his great paws and set himself to the task. The muscles on his back formed ridges as he strove against the ancient steel shafts, until finally with a fatalistic grunt, he withdrew in defeat, muscles quivering in exhaustion. The bars had held even against his great strength. As the Company of the Calzone began to despair of ever breaching this portal, a soft feminine voice was heard from the last rank, “Can I try”?
It was Brianna, the half-breed elf, the only non-human in the party and one that Fid was definitely keeping an eye on. After all, did not the orthodox wing of the Church of Pholtus claim that demi-humans were really just demons in disguise? While Fid’s views on this issue of doctrine were still evolving, his experience thus far with Brianna had raised his suspicions. When she first joined the party she was Brian the Druid – a male half-breed. Now, she had somehow transformed herself into Brianna – a female half-breed, and claimed to be not only to be a master of the blade but also an adept of both the arcane and the divine. As to what deity she worshipped, he knew not, but it would not surprise Fid at all if it was some foul demon lord from the Abyss. Yes, Fid would keep an eye on this one. The Grand Inquisitor was due to arrive in Greyhawk within the month and surely he would be able to determine whether this “Brianna” was truly a creature of chaos. After all, Fid only needed to document three observations of possible demonic influence to formally denounce her. A shudder passed through Fid at the thought. Not even the Lord Mayor of Greyhawk himself knew of the Grand Inquisitor’s impending arrival. After all, no one expects the Pholtan Inquisition.
Brianna slipped ahead through the ranks to take Red Mond the Green’s place in front of the portcullis as the mighty Ranger leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath from his recent exertions. The half-breed drew a lacy handkerchief from under her breastplate and wiped Red Mond’s sweat from the bars. Then she casually grasped one of the vertical bars in each hand and immediately bent them apart. The rest of the company looked on in stunned silence while Fid jotted down some notes in his journal. Not only had this Brianna exhibited shape-shifting powers but now she had exhibited great strength. One more incident and he would have all he needed to denounce her. Fid would definitely be watching this one closely.
To be continued.....
named Elishandra. The others by marching order front-left to rear rank were Carl (Ftr7, KIA), Kanrak (Dw Ftr), Avot (1/2E Ftr), Elsihandra, Kane (Ranger), Stubby (1/2 Thief), Lumpy (1/2 Ftr-Th), Lynfalas (MU, Dex), Knar II (MU), Pardu (Cleric of course), Hendrix (Bard)
