A couple of weeks after the events at Tor Varden, Aethelwyrd strode into Rangers headquarters.
"Aethelwyrd, I have new mission for you. The information you brought back from Tor Varden showed that there is a fissure opened up into the depths of the earth. Go and find out what that is about."
"So, we're to go into the Shadow Deep itself?"
"Yes. Pick your team and get going. And, hey, be careful out there. We need to know what is going on and how we can strike back."
Aethelwyrd left her captain's office with all the information he had on the fissure and went to collect her warband.
...
"And I tell you that Bergsveinn is not coming with you!"
Brigid was in fine form yelling at Aethelwyrd.
"Just look what happened to him last time he accompanied you! My poor, little boy!"
After a while of being shouted at, Aethelwyrd gave up and went in search of the others.
...
"I hear you are recruiting for a dangerous mission. I am Incunabulum the Thrice-Blessed, conjuror to the Rangers of Alladore. You will not regret taking me with you."
The tall, lean man with the dark hair that was greying at the temples in a distinguished fashion certainly carried himself like a conjuror and looked competent enough. Aethelwyrd wondered briefly why anyone like that would seek to join her crew of misfits. Ah well, she could not afford to be fussy.
"Great. We look forward to having you aboard. Grab your gear and be ready to leave at noon. Fill up on supplies. We don't know how long we shall be gone or even if we can forage once we have descended into the Shadow below."
...
Early the following day, the Thrappled Lemmings had reached the fissure. Stairs descended into the depths below. They were clearly not a natural formation, so this must be one point of egress from the Shadow Deep to the world above.
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| The road represents the stairs. The top of the picture is the top of the stairs and should be imagined to be at about a 60 degree angle slanting down towards the bottom of the picture. The pig is a treasure marker. It amuses me to use livestock as treasure markers. |
"Form up and go carefully. We don't know what we shall face. Everyone ready? Ok, follow me down and keep your eyes open."
They began the difficult descent of the stairs. Ahead they could see giant flies emerging from nest holes in the ground. The flies buzzed angrily towards them as Aelfwyn tried to shoot one but missed. Incunabulum chanted a few brief words. There was an electric sizzling noise and one of the flies exploded in mid-air. Suddenly, a waft of noxious fumes passed up the stairs from below. Ash stood there choking on the fumes for a while.
Onund and Kalfr surrounded the second fly and swatted it hard with bladed weapons. Aelfwyn's second shot was better and the third fly died too. He grabbed some torches from his backpack and headed towards the nearest fly hole. As he did so, another giant fly emerged from the hole he was heading for. Onund rushed to aid him and the fly was soon dead too. The others continued down the stairs. As they did so, they heard a faint rumbling. Large rocks started falling in a cascade from above. Fortunately, they dodged them and were able to continue.
Aelfwyn dropped a burning torch down a fly hole to close it. Incunabulum raced nimbly across the broken, rocky ground towards another fly hole while Ash raced to catch up but fell. He tumbled hard past Aethelwyrd before he could stop and pick himself up.
Bruised and bloody, he stated for all to hear, "I meant to do that!"
Ignoring Ash, Aethelwyrd pointed at something she had seen, "Hey, what's that over there?"
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| A dead Lorenthan soldier lies near the stairs |
She went to investigate what turned out to be the corpse of a Lorenthan soldier carrying a single dose of Fireheart Green and a love letter. She pocketed both. Kalfr had also spotted a possibility for treasure and was off like a shot to see what it was. He grabbed it without checking and put it in his backpack to peruse later.
Aelfwyn cursed as he tripped while rushing to catch up.
"That hurt!"
Another fly appeared from the remaining fly hole. Aelfwyn quickly killed it. Kalfr raced forward to try to close it off but fell over and tumbled to the bottom of the stairs, ending up in dank, stinking water. He spluttered to the surface and tried to catch his breath. Ash raced down the stairs to him and helped him onto dry land again. By now, Incunabulum had closed up another fly hole by virtue of dropping a large, burning torch down it. While rushing to catch up, he managed to fall over his own feet and ended up sopping wet, just like Kalfr.
As Onund approached the last fly hole, another giant fly emerged. It buzzed angrily towards Onund, who crushed it without even pausing as he moved to the hole and dropped a lit torch down it to close it off.
With the holes closed off, the Lemmings were able to get to the base of the stairs where they dressed their wounds and checked their loot. Kalfr had found a magical two-handed axe. While the others cooed over their loot, Aethelwyrd made notes in her notebook, recording the journey and mapping they route they had taken. As she did so, she looked around to see where they must go next. The stairs had ended in a swamp. It looked like they would have to swim at least part way now. She had never liked swimming.
It was a bit of rush to get all the warband off the table by the end of the scenario, but it helped that some of them failed their Climb rolls and actually fell to the bottom faster than they could have run. I think we pretty much scored all the points for this scenario without losing anyone. I was a bit lucky with the random events as only Ash suffered from them, and the giant flies were more a nuisance than a real threat. The time pressure to get off the table and score points kept things interesting.
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