During Chapter 18: "Into The Inquisitor's Hold" by Richard M. Darling

The party rested up for a few days in Cragdale, after escaping from the underground crevasse they had been chasing that fire priest through.  Eventually they got their energy back, and decided to press on to the southwest toward Flimgrin, the gnomish village, home to their friend Ref. 

The next day, Bran, Fessick, Grumle, and Immilarn arrived within sight of the village, when close to a dozen arrows landed at their feet.  The group stopped and heard a voice cry out from above.  "Stop right there!  Don't come any closer!  What do you want here?!  And be quick with your answer or we will fill you full of arrows before you can blink!" 

Bran dismounted from his heavy warhorse and started to reply, but Fessick interrupted and said "Fessick need food."  Then he picked up Grumle and held the dwarf in front of him and said "Grumle need food too." 

An eerie silence followed, only to be broken by the sound of laughter. The source of the laughter emerged from behind a tree.  It was Ref, the dagger weilding gnome, and friend to the group.  He walked up to the group and shook Grumble's hand.  "So, how are you guys?What have you been doing?Where is the rest of the group?What brings you to Flimgrin?It's a good thing you guys came, we were attacked by goblins and hobgoblins and we need to go and rescue some of my kin and some elves and so, how are you guys, hmm, hmm, hmm?" 

Another eerie silence followed.  Seeing it was safe, gnomes and elves emerged from their hiding spots.  Over a score of sentries became visible to the group.  It was a good thing Fessick didn't react differently or they would've been filled with arrows. 

Ref led his friends into the village.  It was populated by elves and half-elves aboveground, most of whom were refugees from villages that were destroyed by monsters.  The gnomes lived underground in their warrens.  The group was taken to the aboveground community lodge, where they met with the two leaders of Flimgrin, Meirliss Clunnerath(elven male) and Gleevin Bellebtorn(gnomish male).  They were also fed and told what the situation was. 

Earlier that morning, a mixed band of hobgoblins and goblins attacked the village.  Defenders met the goblinoids and held them.  Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the village, another group of monsters rushed in and grabbed whoever was near and fled with their captives.  Only after the goblinoids were repulsed, did the village learn of this second attack.  Trackers were immediately sent out to locate the trail, but were unsuccessful.  It was believed that magic was used to aid the goblinoids in their escape. 

Just then, a human boy of about sixteen years, entered the lodge, claiming he had important news for the village.  His name was Mirtunn and he and his father, Brell, both friends of the village, had seen a warband of goblinoids and their captives heading southwest a couple of hours ago.  He was told to come here and tell the village of what they saw, while the father followed the warband, leaving a trail to be followed. 

The group volunteered to go with Mirtunn.  Ref went with them as well.  The rest of the village was to remain alert for other possible attacks. 

The party finds the trail Brell left behind and an hour later, the group is ambushed by some ogres.  It was a quick but fierce battle, but the group prevailed and continued following Brell's trail.  Two more hours and the group arrived on the top of a ridge.  The trail ended here  Out from the bushes emerged a middle-aged man wearing studded leathers and carrying a long sword.  This was Brell. 

After a brief greeting, Brell explained what happened.  He followed the trail and almost lost it once or twice, the goblinoids must have had a tracker of their own, who tried covering their trail.  But Brell was successful and managed to find out where they'd gone.  He pointed over the ridge, to a small dark opening on the side of a small mound, about fourty feet down. 

"They took them in there."  Brell said. "Then about a dozen goblins came out and headed southwest, but this was a couple of hours ago.  Since then, there's been no activity. "

The group began discussing a plan of attack, when someone pointed out some movement to the southwest. 

"Goblins!  They're coming back. " said Mirtunn.

"We can't let them back in their hole.  We don't know how many are already in there." stated Grumle.

"Right!  We should ambush 'em out here." said Ref, eager to get some goblin ears.

They came up with a hasty plan.  Bran had placed a small rock with a silence spell on it in front of the entrance, so no sound would pass through it.  Then they attacked.  After a barrage of arrows, daggers, and a boulder, half the goblins were dead.  Some of the goblins were stunned and didn't know what to do, while others tried to flee.  The group charged in and finished them off.  The group quickly looked back to the hole, just in case a horde of goblins emerged to attack, but nothing came out.  Meanwhile, Ref was checking for any loot the goblins might have, when one of them jumped up and thrust his spear towards Ref's chest.  A couple of dagger thrusts later and the goblin fell back to the ground, his life's blood pouring all over the forest floor.  The group surrounded the hole, when they noticed it was only five feet wide and six feet high, too big for Fessick to fit.  Fessick decided to wait outside with Brell and Mirtunn.  They also noticed that it wasn't a natural opening.  It seemed to worked stone, with faces carved into it.  The faces were locked in images of pain, anger, and sorrow. 

"This seems like a really bad idea." said Immilarn, looking worried.

"Stay here if you like, but I'm getting my kin!" Ref said, heading into the entrance.

Grumle followed in cautiously, eager to do some more goblin hunting.  Immilarn followed, but in the shape of a halfling.  This was an ability of a magical short sword he had aquired nearly a week ago.  Bran was the last one in.  The three diminutive adventurers, Ref, Grumle and Immilarn(in halfling form) needed no light source, due to infravision.  But Bran, being human and having no such abilities, required light to see.  When he entered however, his magical light bracelet seemed to dim so much that he could barely see his fingers in front of his face, so he lit a torch instead. 

Ref and Grumle searched ahead, with the silence stone, while Immilarn and Bran waited in the first room.  For some unknown reason, Ref seemed to give Immilarn the I-don't -like-you eye many times, so Immilarn decided to stay away from him.  After searching through a couple of rooms, it was decided that this place was once a soldier's barracks, maybe for troops of a long-gone warlord or baron.  And there was still no sign of any creatures that might live here. 

The gnome and dwarf went further in.  They searched a couple more rooms, still finding nothing.  They came to a door and began searching for traps, but didn't find any.  They opened it and heard what sounded like small bells ringing.  Obviously the silence spell on the rock had expired.  And they had just tripped some early warning alarm system.  Figuring that they were discovered anyway, they quickly moved through the door, thinking to quickly overcome any enemies beyond.  Instead, they found the passage T-ed left and right, then both turned back south, to a door each.  Ref went to the door on the right, opened it and passed through, runnning up to the door beyond it.  Little did he know that the door he just passed through, locked behind him.  He heard some noise from above and looked up to see a small wooden box, attatched to the ceiling, open, dumping four hungry stirges on to the gnome.  They attacked and Ref dispatched them quickly, but not before being wounded by one of them.  He tried to open the next door, but found no way to open it.  So he headed back to the first door, only to find it locked. 

At the same time Ref was battling the stirges, Bran and Immilarn had gone to the door on the left.  Immilarn peeked around the corner and saw a thick wooden door with a face portal about five feet up.  About that time, the slide plate on the portal opened, revealing an hobgoblin face with a bright blue nose.  It looked about and moved back from the portal, then a crossbow bolt came shooting through nearly hitting Immilarn in the face.  Bran rushed the door and placed his shield over the portal and began hacking at it.  The hobgoblin could be heard yelling, but what it was saying was unknown. 

Grumle was hacking at the door Ref was stuck behind, but wasn't getting anywhere.  Ref picked the lock and opened the door, then he and Grumle headed to the other door.  The two then followed a loud banging noise to find Bran and Immilarn.   Bran found that hacking at the door would take forever to get through it, so he used a magic token to burst the door down, crushing the hobgoblin who was behind it.  They rushed over the fallen door, and the hobgoblin pinned beneath it, and found yet another door.  Grumle cast a stone shape spell and opened a hole in the wall next to the door, taking the excess stone and shaping it into a statue of himself.  The group found a hole in the ground, leading down ten feet to a ledge.  Next to the ledge was another hole leading down another ten feet.  The group tied some ropes to Grumle's statue and repelled down the holes. 

They reached the second level of this long abandoned hold and found a pair of ten foot ladder's on the ground.  They put them back in the holes and began searching the second level.  To the right were more barracks, to the left was a long hall.  They went to the left and came to a T-intersection.  To the left were more doors, so they went right, to the end of the hall, bypassing more doors and another hallway and entered the last door in the hall.  It turned out to be a smithy/fletcher shop.  They searched about and found a concealed door behind a black tapestry.  They hacked through the door and began a bloddy battle with the hobgoblins and goblins who lived here. 

After many moments and many dead creatures, the group came face to face with the hobgoblin shaman.  He was dressed in ceremonial robes the color of blood and wore a headpiece of bones and feathers.  As Bran, Grumle and Immilarn fought the hobgoblin shaman, Ref was beset by what had to be a goblin shaman, weilding a battle axe, the symbol of Maglubiyet, the goblin god.  Ref eventually dropped him, but not before the goblin got in some good hits of his own.  Ref drank some healing potions and followed the sounds of battle. 

Meanwhile, back in what turned out to be the temple to Maglubiyet, the hobgoblin shaman made his final stand.  The shaman had conjured four black writhing tentacles, which appeared out of a sacrificial pit, to attack the heroes.  Bran and Immilarn attacked the tentacles, while Grumle, who was weaponless because he had dropped his weapon twice and never picked it up, punched, kicked and bit at the shaman.  Immilarn was then grabbed by one the tentacles and pulled into the pit.  He stabbed at it and it went limp, dropping him down into the darkness below.  Bran finished off the other tentacles and tried to get into melee with the shaman, but there wasn't any room.  About that time, Ref had arrived and hurled some daggers at the shaman, killing him.  The shaman's body also fell into the pit, to join Immilarn's body below. 

Somehow, Immilarn had survived the fall, only to find himself in a room with bones scattered all about.  He quickly looked around for any monsters, but found none.  He did find a room with a statue near the doorway pointing to an alcove on the back wall.  For some unknown reason, he didn't check for any traps and just began walking to the alcove.  It was probably a side-effect from being polymorphed into a halfling, they weren't known for being cautious creatures.  In the alcove, he could see two bowls, one of brass and one of wood, and two white candles, both unlit.  As he got within five feet of the alcove, a stone slab dropped in front of the doorway, trapping him in the room.  Then the pointing finger of the statue began glowing with a blue-white nimbus which released a lightning bolt directly at Immilarn.  He narrowly avoided the brunt of the bolt, and dived to the floor.  The lightning bolt rebounded all around the room, preventing Immilarn from standing up, so he crawled to the blocked doorway and began hollering for help. 

Back up top, the group rigged some climbing ropes and climbed down the pit, in search of Immilarn.  They found the shaman's lifeless, dagger-riddled body, but no Immilarn.  It was a good chance he wasn't dead, so they began looking around.  They heard someone screaming for help from behind a stone wall, and it sounded like Immilarn.  Grumle cast another stone shape spell and Immilarn crawled out, severely wounded.  Bran and Grumle began administering some major healing when the group heard sounds of pain and agony coming from the southern passage.  Ref snuck off, moving stealtily down the hall, in search of the screams. 

Ref came into a room that turned to the left.  At the far end of the room was thick wooden door with firelight eminating from underneath it.  Ref looked around the room for any hidden enemies and noticed some small writings on the wall.  It was too small to read from this distance, so he moved closer, only to fall victim to a trap.  The floor tilted towards the wall, and Ref went sliding in.  He went down a small chute and was ejected into a room filled with mud.  Something started to rise from the mud.

After Immilarn was all healed up, the group went after Ref.  They came to the room that they saw Ref enter, but no sign of him.  The screams of pain sounded from just beyond the door.  Bran and Grumle charged for the door, when the floor dropped out from under them.  Grumle managed to keep his footing and avoid falling in, but Bran was not so lucky.  Down the chute he went, landing face first in the mud, the lit torch landing next to him. 

"Nice of you to join us." said a voice off to the side.

Bran wiped the mud from his eyes to see Ref there, daggers in hand.  "Us?" Bran asked.  Ref nodded to his left and Bran looked that way to see ten mud creatures moving toward them hurling mud as they approached.  Ref activated a power of a magical ring he had and began moving with lightning speed.  He and Bran slaughtered the mudmen and managed to climb back up the chute.  With help from Immilarn and Grumle, they made it out of the trap.

After the group was together again, they made their way around the floor trap and burst through the wooden door.  What they found was a grisly sight to behold.  The room was filled with implements of torture.  A rack with a gnome strapped to it, an iron maiden, an elf strapped into a spiked iron chair with thumb screws, a pair of gnomes trapped in a giant bird cage, hanging over a lit fire pit, and more. 

Also in the room was a creature that appeared to be a zombie.  Nearly half its flesh was rotted away, exposing tendons and yellowing bones.  It wore a black hood as well as tattered pants and shoes, but no shirt or gloves.  Its hands were blackened as if charred, and its thick, yellow fingernails poked menacingly from its fingers.  He looked at the group and they knew fear, for Grumble and Immilarn ran away screaming in terror.  Bran and Ref shook the magically induced fear off and charged in to fight him.  The creature pulled a whip from his belt and swung it at Bran, missing him.  Ref outflanked the creature and attacked from the side.  The creature looked at Ref and he felt his joints begin to tighten with paralysis, but he shook it off, knowing if he didn't, he and his kin would die.  Bran slashed at the creature, nearly cutting him in half, while Ref drove home hit after hit.  They killed him and began freeing the prisoners. 

They freed all the captives and led them to the surface.  Those who had been tortured seemed to be incoherent and combative when the group tried to help them.  They made camp and set up a watch for the night.  Immilarn switched back to his human self and had to shave the tops of his feet, another side-effect from changing into a halfling.

"Back Down We Go" by Richard M. Darling

The next morning, as the sun started rising, those on last watch heard some noise in the nearby bushes.  Then several gnomes and elves entered the camp, villagers from Flimgrin.  Many of the Ix-Nilbo Clan, Ref's kin, were there as well.  Several clerics were also there and healed up the wounded.  The villagers took the former captives and headed back to Flimgrin.  Ref, Grumle, Bran, and Immilarn decided to go back into the ruins and look for treasure.  Fessick left for Rel Mord by himself and the two rangers would continue to wait outside the ruins and guard the camp. 

The group headed in and began searching all the rooms on the second level.  They found hidden compartments under the hobgoblin's and goblin's fire pits.  Inside, were two sacks of gold, a sack of silver pieces, a well made scimitar, some gems and a wizard's scroll.  Bran drew the scimitar, inspecting its quality and saw that its edge held a sight glow.  It felt well balanced and light.  They hauled out all the treasure and left it with the rangers topside. 

Then they headed down some stairs down to the third level, where they had found the captives they night before.  The group found a door they didn't open before and opened it.  as the door became perpendicular to the wall, it got stuck.  Then they heard a grinding noise from down the passage they had just exposed and from around the corner emerged a huge troll, then a second troll appeared behind the first.  The creatures lumbered forward, only to reveal that it wasn't two creatures, but a two-headed creature.   A two-headed troll, rumored to be a cross between a troll and an ettin, and a very dangerous monster. 

It ran through the doorway and slashed at Bran and Grumle.  It's two heads both trying to bite Bran's head off.  Grumle swung his pick axe, while Ref threw daggers and Immilarn fired his short bow at it.  Bran swung his long sword, only to find the scimitar in his hand.  It felt unbalanced and heavy, not like before.  It must be cursed, he thought.  He threw the scimitar to the ground and pulled his battle axe.  He swung again, only to find the scimitar again.  Definitely cursed.  The creature fell moments later, with little help from Bran.  They lit on fire and thick, putrid smoke began to fill the room as the troll burned.  Ref ran down the hall from where the troll had come only to find a straw filled room and two half-eaten corpses.  They looked like recent kills, but no one had passed them during the night, unless there was another way into the ruins.  Ref searched them and found only a pouch with a couple of old coins in it.  Across from the troll room was another stone slab(similar to the one that Immilarn had become trapped behind). 

"It must be another room behind that stone." Ref said as Bran came to the intersection.  Bran had cast a remove curse spell on him self and flung the scimitar to the ground.  Grumle was busy saying prayers for the long-dead bodies in the other room, while Immilarn kept watch.  Ref managed to get his fingers under the door and heaved with all his might, but it wouldn't budge.  Then he and Bran tried, but it didn't want to open.  The group decided to go down a different passage.  Ref led the way, moving quietly, when he came around the corner and saw a pile of something in the middle of the room beyond the corner.  He approached cautiously, then began moving around the room, following the walls.  Halfway around the room, Ref stepped on a pressure plate and a stone slab dropped in front of the doorway, blocking any escape.  The sound of water came from the pile in the center of the room, and it started moving.  As water flowed into the room from the floor grate in the center, Ref saw that the pile was a trio of bodies that had fallen to the trap Ref just sprung.  Ref waded over to the dorway, drew his daggers, and waited for help.  He wasn't worried about drowning, his magical ring allowed him to breathe underwater.  He was worried about if anything lived in the water. 

Bran, Grumle and Immialrn just came around the corner when they heard the sound of water from beyond the stone slab, and no sign of the gnome, again.  "He tripped another trap?!" said Immilarn. "Ya know, guys, traps are my specialty. Why isn't anybody waiting for me to check for them, before entering the room?"

"Shut up." Bran and Grumle said in unison.

Grumle cast a stone shape in the center of the door and Ref climbed out, a little wet, but none the worse for wear.  The water continued to rise until it began pouring out the hole in the stone door.  Bran poked his head into the hole with a torch and looked about.  The walls were decorated with tapestries depicting a fire theme.  A red dragon spewing fire directly at the looker, a demon wading through fire, and a wizard standing on a mountain ledge overlooking a world of fire.  The tapestries were all water damaged.  The group headed back to the room where they battle the two-headed troll just minutes before. 

The group felt they needed to get into the room across from the troll room.  They opened the wooden door and waited.  They heard grinding stone and....nothing.  The troll room opened again.  They waited for about ten minutes and the wooden door closed by itself.  Ref had a plan.  He opened it just enough so he could squeeze by and headed down the passage.  When he was in position, he yelled for Bran to open the door.  Bran did so and the door locked in the open position once more.  The grinding stone was heard and the other stone slab went up.  Ref smiled with glee, until he saw the creatures come through the opening.  They were shaped like bears, but were covered in feathers and had the heads and beaks of owls.  Owlbears, two of them.  He turned and ran back down the passage, shouting warnings to his companions. 

The owlbears charged after the fleeing gnome.  The first one managed to get by the priests, knocking Grumle to the ground as it went by and attacked the gnome.  The second owlbear swiped at Grumle with one of its paws, but threw itself off balance and rolled on the ground, right toward Bran.  Bran just managed to avoid being crushed and swung his long sword at it, missing.  Immilarn jumped in to attack the one on the ground.  It managed to stand up and attack Bran, scoring minor hits.  Then Grumle and Bran dealt it death. 

Meanwhile Ref was in bad shape, but so was the owlbear, both suffering from many wounds.  Then it managed to score a hit and pull Ref in close and began squeezing, while the beak thrust down on to him.  Ref continued to stab, but it wouldn't let go.  Then Ref's body went limp, his daggers falling to the ground.  The owlbear's beak came down on the gnome one last time before Immilarn thrust his short sword into it, killing it.  The creature's body fell forward, pinning the gnome's body beneath it.

Grumle and Bran rushed over to save their friend, but it was too late, Ref was gone.  The beak had done the killing blow and there was nothing they could do.  The group laid their friend's body near the steps going up.  Each said their farewell and it was decided to continue searching(much to the disbelief of the DM). 

The group went to the room of bones and opened the wooden door on the eastern wall.  Beyond that, was another wooden door.  Immilarn checked for traps and found none.  They opened it and looked past it, to see six hobgoblin statues, each weilding various weapons.  A sudden fear came over the dwarf and he used his magical weapon to detect evil.  His hunch was right, he sensed evil from two of the statues.  He relayed his findings to Bran and Immilarn and the two statues leapt from their pedestals and attacked.  One on Bran, their other on Grumle.  Bran and Grumle concentrated their attacks on one of the monsters, while Immilarn moved around and attacked from the side.  The first creature shattered as the last hit killed it, causing the second to reassess the situation and begin backing up to a third door.  Grumle and Bran moved in.  Bran swung, missing and the creature jumped over the dwarf, rebounded off the wall and ran out the two open doors, towards the room of bones.  The group gave pursuit, only to see it leap up to the ceiling and into the well shaft that Immilarn had fallen down the day before.  The creature was gone.

The group moved on.  Passing the remaining statues, the group came to another room, this one had some light eminating from it.  In the center of the room was a vertical cylinder of light, and in the center of it, standing on a two and a half foot pedestal, was a creature out of the darkest nightmares.  It was gargoylish in appearance, standing some seven feet tall, its head only inches from the ceiling.  It was gaunt with tightly corded muscles.  Its skin looked leathery in texture and it had great claws on its hands and feet.  Its eyes gleamed a steel grey and its mouth was lined with sharp fangs.  On the pedestal, was some sort of writing, that the group decided to ignore.  They suspected that if they entered the room, it would animate and attack, so they prepared themselves with protection spells. 

Grumle shot a magical crossbow bolt at it.  As soon as the bolt entered the light field, it stopped in mid air.  Then Bran summoned a footman of Heironious and ordered it to approach and touch the field of light.  It did so and flash.... in the place of the creature, the footman now occupied the pedestal, and where the footman had just been, stood the creature.  Bran attacked and missed, but the creature didn't, ripping a gaping hole in his plate mail and rending the flesh beneath it.  Then darkness sprang up where the hall met the room.  Everyone went still, and listened, relying on sound instead of sight.  Bran heard something near him, so he swung his long sword, but only hit air.  Grumle ran through the darkness and out the other side.  No sign of the creature. He took out one of his magical light crossbow bolts and ran back into the darkness.  The darkness seemed to melt away where the light touched it. 

Immilarn had snuck into the room, following the wall, when something lashed out at him, from behind.  Luckily it missed and Immilarn took off further into the room and as far as he could from whatever just attacked him.  Bran heard somthing and ran into the darkness and out of the room.  As soon as he emerged from the darkness, he found the creature, claws flailing at him.  Bran yelled for help and the others came running.  Grumle joined in on the attack and they finally dropped the creature.  Its body began melting and the group went back into the room to search for treasure.  Now, Immilarn saw the writing and figured out what it said.  There was no treasure in the room. 

The writing on the pedestal read  "NABASSU, FLEDGELING"

The group healed their wounds and continued on.  They found one more stone slab blocking an entrance to another room.  Grumle stone shaped a hole into it and they peered through.  In the center of the room were two skeletal corpes, both female, one human, and one elf.  On the back wall was a wooden chest.  Grumle climbed through the hole and looked around.  In each corner was an alcove, just a foot off the ground.  Something was in each of them, but what couldn't be determined using infravision.  Bran handed him the torch and he closed to within five feet.  Hands.., each alcove held severed hands.  Then the hands sprang into action, scuttling toward the dwarf.  Nearly a score of them, and of all types.  Half went for the dwarf while the others went for the two peering through the hole in the slab.  Grumle cast a sanctuary spell and all but one of the hands ignored him, moving to attack the thief and Bran.  Bran had some protection from wearing metal armor, but the thief, who wore only leather, was really getting hurt.  Moments later, Immilarn dropped unconscious to the floor.  Grumle quickly cast some healing to cure the serious wounds the thief had sustained.  Immilarn stood right back up and helped the two priests finish off the crawling claws. 

They opened the chest only to find it was empty.  Immilarn, being pissed off, picked the chest up and smashed it upon the ground.  They looted the corpses and headed back to get Ref's body and left for the surface.  They made it out and found the ranger's waiting for them.  They travelled back to Flimgrin in silence, with Ref's body. 

The villagers rushed out to greet the heroes, only to find one of their own had died.  Many gnomes from the Ix-Nilbo clan appeared and took Ref's body from Bran, Grumle, and Immilarn.  They carried it across the village on their shoulders, the way the respected dead are carried.  The trio were led to the community lodge where they relayed the story of Ref's courage and bravery to the villagers. 

Later that night, the village held a funeral for the fallen Ix-Nilbo.  There was much silence. 

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