2 Yarthmont - Delving deeper

Faced with the prospect of returning to the surface or delving deeper in the hope of finding better help, Broneslav chooses to venture deeper into the pyramid. He returned to the stairs he had found earlier in his explorations, reasoning that the man who escaped might be waiting below the trapdoor in the room he had found.

The stairs down ended in a door. Broneslav paused and listened before opening it. Beyond lay a corridor which he followed around a corner. The wall on his left at this point looked slightly odd to him (hard spot check succeeded), and there were scuff marks on the floor that made it look as though people had been walking through the wall. Broneslav tested the wall and eventually found a stone that pushed in. A section of the wall then swung inwards and he could see into a storage room packed with barrels and crates.

Broneslav's eye was drawn to four large beetles that were gnawing at the wood of several of the barrels. There was obviously something in the barrels that the beetles wanted, so maybe there was something for Broneslav in there too. He stepped forward, sword drawn. As he did so, the beetles turned to face this threat. Broneslav leapt towards the beetles. His sword flashed like lightning as he cleaved two beetles in quick succession, and kicked a third into the wall. The injured beetle and its one remaining mate raised their hind ends and noxious oil sprayed towards Broneslav. Our hero was too fast though. He stepped aside, whirling past the spatter of oil to impale the the uninjured beetle on his sword. As he did so, the injured beetle expressed its displeasure by covering Broneslav in a caustic oil (1 DAM plus -2 penalty on all actions until the burns are healed). He responded in kind by stamping on its head. As the beetle twitched its last on the floor, Broneslav poured the contents of his waterskin over his burns in a bid to dilute the caustic oil, and bandaged his now blistered skin (Healed 1 DAM).

With this done, he had time to take stock of his surroundings and to investigate. The crates and barrels were full of wine and dried food. Broneslav replaced the fresh food in his pack with dried rations and refilled his waterskin with wine. With this done, he had a choice. He could return to the corridor and follow it further along, or he could leave the room via the only door which lay opposite the secret door he had entered by.