Thorvald was so pleased at hearing from his sister that he packed up the Thrappled Lemmings with a massive hamper of food, which they promptly ate. Sir Thiebault was now fully healed and spent time training and limbering up. His sparring partner, Fulrad, was not overly impressed by the bruises he received as a result of this, but he learned to keep his guard up better, so it was not in vain (+1 XP each).
Having marched for what felt like an age to reach Utstein Marknad, the Lemmings decided to do less walking for a while. They had good intelligence of a delve on the site of Gamla Utstein, on the outskirts of Utstein Marknad, so they decided to combine their objective of less walking with their objective of more gold and headed off there. With any luck, they could fill their backpacks with gold and be back in time for a mug of mead at The Battered Broo by nightfall.
With the delve so close to the settlement, it was only a short walk before the Thrappled Lemmings were standing in the ruins of the Ancients. The remains of the town comprised just low walls and mounds where there had been houses. Little else remained. It had either been mined for reuse or had rotted. From above ground, there were numerous routes to the city below. They picked one of these at random. Knowing so little about what lay below, there was little point in trying to guess which entrance would be best. They picked the first one that looked like it would not fall on their heads and went down the stairs to the ruined city below.
As they advanced into the underground, ominous chittering echoed around the walls, barely deadened by the mosses and lichens that softened the harsh stone.
"Bugs," muttered Wido, "Why did it have to be bugs?"
"Oh shuttup!" barked Sir Thiebault, "Fulrad, scout ahead and let us know what's what!"
Fulrad moved off silently into the stairwell and quickly came to a crossroads.
"C'mon, Lemmings. Looks as safe as these things ever are."
He noted that there was a hidden passage off to one side that seemed to lead off into the distance. Perhaps there were other catacombs nearby that were linked to this one (Unexplored location added to map).
Fulrad advanced towards the nearest chamber and quickly found the corpse of a former adventurer. Looking more closely, he realised that the unfortunate soul had left behind edible rations in their backpack (2 Rations found).
"Shame to waste them," he muttered as he put them in his backpack.
As the Lemmings advanced further into the crypts, the hideous chittering grew louder. It was clear that the bugs knew they were there and were coming for them. Onesipe and Wido took up positions to defend a narrow passage with Lysanthir and Fulrad moving to support them. Sir Thiebault and Drogo had already disappeared off on their own in search of treasure.
Onesipe's first shot killed a giant scorpion. Fulrad moved up and shot between Wido and Onesipe. Another giant scorpion died. Wido charged up the passage to attack the remaining scorpion and suddenly realised that there were more behind it. Distracted, he let the scorpion gain the advantage, but quickly counterattacked and then skewered the scorpion. Lysanthir raced up the passage to support him.
As Drogo entered a different chamber, a block of stone from the ceiling swung down and pinned him in place.
"It's a trap!" he yelled to Sir Thiebault.
The chittering of outraged scorpions grew louder again.
Sir Thiebault moved up to the stone block and quickly discerned how it was hinged. He released Drogo and helped him up.
More hideous chitinous horrors raced down the passage towards Wido. He rapidly counterattacked and skewered the first of the monstrosities before stepping forward and slaying the next one. The unspeakable chittering grew less. Some of the scorpions must have fled on hearing the crunch of chitinous corpses being trampled under Wido's feet and well they did as he made short work of the last one in the narrow passage.
Freed of the trap, Drogo was able to investigate what had attracted him to this chamber in the first place. A small box of valuable artworks (6 Marks) had been laid around the bier of the person buried here.
Wido slew the last of the scorpions in front of him, wielding his war spear with deadly aplomb. The Lemmings advanced further into the crypts. The place was almost silent now but for a tiny bit of chittering in the distance. Then Wido tripped an alarm. The chittering noises increased again. More scorpions were coming.
Hearing a chitinous monster heading in his direction, Lysanthir cast a wall of flame across the corridor in front of him. The advancing scorpion balked at the flames and Onesipe took aim. He shot true and the scorpion died. Meanwhile, two more scorpions, attracted by the noise from the trap Wido had set off, had Wido in their sites. They scuttled menacingly forward. He scuttled towards them. The first one died before it could even raise a pincer. The second one followed suit in short order. There was no more chittering.
The Thrappled Lemmings gathered in a large crypt and then set out to methodically explore the rest of the crypt. They had learned their lesson and two more alarm traps were avoided, but Drogo got pinned again trying to grab the treasure. After the others had freed him, they grabbed a sack of silver bars (5 Marks) from the crypt and a fine helmet from another corpse of someone that had dared to invade this realm of giant scorpions.
"Right, lads," announced Sir Thiebault, "Time to go home."
Returning to town, they settled in to The Battered Broo and began to regale the locals with tales of their derring do. In return, a visiting merchant told them that cowherds looking for their lost cows had spotted an old ruined Castle of the Ancients near the swamps to the west of Haitabu. The cowherds had not dared venture in, but they said it looked like the kind of place where treasure might be had.
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