Tunnel Rats…

Having dispatched the warrior ants that attacked the party gathered up and made to track the line of ants heading away in to the darkness shrouding the open center of the chamber. Some 250 yards or so in they came to a hole in the floor where the ants crawled effortlessly down in to a swarm of more ants tending to what looked to be an egg chamber. This quick trip revealed the chamber they were in was at least that far across and there was more to it than they could see. Not wanting to venture aimlessly across the dark expanse they circled around and followed the line of ants back to the wall where they found them. From there they decided to explore the area hugging the wall hoping to reveal the extent of the cavern.

Staying about 20 or 25 feet from the wall as the followed its contour and making reasonable headway Jack spotted something odd in front of the group. An odd, thin string or cable like line lay in front of them. They approached to investigate and Jack carefully kept his distance. Grogg, however, had no such caution. He picked up a rock, stepped up and used it to smash the string. The cord like string snapped back, flipping up, grabbing Grogg, wrapping itself around his head. With one tug it pulled Grogg towards the wall, tightening its grip on his neck. Seeing his brother dragged away Blarg reached out and grabbed him around the waist trying to stop him.

Jack tried to cut the sinewy cord with his sword but the cord, being so thin, was difficult to strike and he missed. Grogg tried to do the same with his Military Pick but dropped the weapon while attempting it as well. With no weapon now available to his hands Grogg reached for the cord wrapped around his neck in an attempt to pull it away only to find his hands now securely stuck, leaving him awkwardly posed and unable to effectively use any leverage.

A new thought occurred to a few in the party as Jack and Kenny now started looking up the wall where the cord led away. Ben brought out his Continual Light coin and tried to shine it up to the area above but the source of the cord was still out of sight. While Charles and Rispin positioned themselves to watch the area around them as look outs Jack took another swing at the cord and this time hit it square on but rather than cutting it, his sword stuck fast. Now without his weapon Jack grabbed for Grogg’s chest to help hold him down as the cord pulled him slowly towards the wall. Tugging down on Grogg, trying to keep him from being pulled up the wall, it became clear his efforts were choking Grogg, who was now a few feet off the ground. Brother Blarg made the most of his position holding on to his brother and cast a Cure Light in an effort to keep him alive.

With Ben’s light for assistance Kenny finally thought he spotted something along the wall out of the light and fired his bow at it. Aiming was difficult and a few shots skittered off the rock face. Then, at the suggestion of one of the party, Ben tossed his coin up the wall hoping to illuminate whatever was up there but out of reach of the radius of the Light effect on the coin. He tossed it up and was lucky enough to have it come to rest on a small ledge revealing the 8 legged Cave Fisher wedged in to a crevasse in the wall.

With their new knowledge and ability to see the creature the party moved quickly to remedy their situation. Charles ignited a torch hoping to burn the tongue-like cord and those with missile weapons readied them to fire at the revealed target. Kenny Makeit fired off a Spiritual Whip and Ollie struck home with a well placed arrow, both wounding the creature deeply. Charles maneuvered the torch to burn the tongue and while it did seem to affect the tongue flesh it had no effect on the sticky substance covering it.

One more tug up by the creature mixed with the efforts to hold Grogg down once again caused choking damage to the dwarf which was quickly healed by his brother yet again. The tension was finally released when Ollie took one last shot and scored a perfect shot, killing the Cave Fisher. Grogg dropped the few feet down to the ground and was quickly healed one last time by Blarg. With him on the ground and the emergency done they worked to unbind the dwarf from the tongue. They started using water which had no effect. Next they tried oil but not on Grogg. Instead they tried to free Jack’s sword, just in case. Little by little the sword came free. With this solvent confirmed they used it on the neck and hands of Grogg and were able to free him. Now unencumbered, Grogg scaled the wall to retrieve Ben’s coin and investigate the hiding place of the creature where he found a number of gold and platinum coins.

He returned to the ground level and the party continued along the outer walls after a brief 30 minute or so recuperation period. Their exploration revealed the cavern was a healthy 600 to 800 yards across and at least 45 to 50 feet in height. Circling back to entrance of the chamber they left this and moved to the one adjacent. This one was far more uneven and had numerous rock outcroppings and protrusions. As they entered this chamber a new odor struck them. Similar to the pheromone style one they had smelled before but not the same. Using their infravision they scanned around and Rispin spotted a number of ants moving up and down the side wall ahead. They moved up quickly and found a number of cracks in the wall, not large enough for them to slip through but open enough to reveal the egg chamber within. Bru was able to confirm they were easily 40 or 50 feet below the level of the previous chamber so this was most likely the same chamber they had seen through the hole in the floor. Ants were busily moving in and out of the cracks but not being aggressive towards them.

They pressed on and came to a rock wall outcropping that forced them towards the center of the chamber. As they worked around it they were struck by yet another smell. This one more geologic than creature created. Once again they fell back to using their infravision to scout and it quickly revealed a significant heat source that appeared to move and bloom in front of them. They moved closer and the ground began to warm and the stone floor slowly transitioned from the rock they expected to a slate like surface. The source of the heat generation became apparent as they spotted a significant hole in the floor where the heat emanated up through.

Not wanting to deal with this type of natural element they backtracked and moved past and around the rock outcrop to find the chamber circled not around but back behind the other chamber. Further ahead they found more wall cracks and ants scurrying in and out and were presented with a stronger waft of the more pheromone style scent. Only this time they spotted a number of warrior ants and one rather larger ant they presumed may be the queen they were looking for.

Top of page

Previous Session Notes

Next Session Notes

Back to the History Index

Back to the Dungeon

This page and its contents are presented solely for the purpose of the RPG game events conducted by a private group. Any references to people or places is explicitly within the context of these RPG games and has no connection to any other similarly named source.