Chapter #33

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*****
*  The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright
*  1992 by Thomas Miller...copying and distribution of these stories
*  is permissible only under the condition that no part of them will
*  be used or sold for profit.  In that case, I hope you enjoy them.
*    The dungeons and non-player characters contained herein are from
*  TSR's module, A3, and are copyright 1980 by TSR, Inc.  Specific
*  text and maps from them have been avoided, and I encourage anyone
*  who enjoys reading about them to buy and play the whole "A" series.
*****

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THE PARTY:

Alindyar, 6th level drow elf mage (N)
Belphanior, 5th/4rd/5th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN)
Ged, 5th/5th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG)
Halbarad, 6th level human ranger (NG)
Mongo Thunderhead, 6th level dwarf fighter (CG)
Peldor, 7th level human thief (N)
Peyote, 5th/6th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N)
Rob, 6th level human priest of Trithereon (LG)
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Date:   4/21/570 C.Y.
Time:   late morning
Place:  the city of Suderham, hidden in the Drachengrab Mountains
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                     XXXIII.  A Fitting End



  The party was trying to get its act together when Belphanior
came stumbling from the last encounter area...

Belphanior:  <gasp>  Poison...  (falls to his knees)
Rob:  Hey?!  What's wrong with HIM?!
Ged:  Poison?
Peldor:  Must have been those dog's collars, since he's got one
  in his hand and he's gasping.
Halbarad:  Are you priests capable of stopping poisons?
Ged:  Nah.  Not that he deserves it anyway.
Rob:  Oh come now.  He's sometimes helpful.
Ged:  Occasionally, yes.  But he kills too many people.  And I
  don't have any poison antidotes, anyway.
Peldor:  Gem-studded dog collars.  Can't believe I missed those.
Belphanior:  (staggers up to the others)  I will...live.
Ged:  How's that?
Belphanior:  Don't know.  But the poison has weakened me.  Could
  use some healing magic...
Peyote:  Okay, okay.  Stop begging, man.  (heals the elf)
Belphanior:  Ahh...must have been old poison or something.  Well,
  in any case, be careful when handling these collars, err, this
  one collar here.  (holds it aloft)  It's got poison on all the
  spikes.
Alindyar:  I will be sure to remember that.
Mongo:  (visibly bored)  Enough about poison and dogs!  Let's go!
  (kicks down the door ahead)
Halbarad:  Hmm.  (they are looking into a rectangular passage
  with a door to either side)
Peyote:  Which way?
Ged:  Let's go right.
Peyote:  Way!  Right.  Right way.
Rob:  Huh?
Belphanior:  (listening at a door)  I don't hear anything.
Mongo:  Okay then.  (opens the door, revealing another rectangular
  passage, with two doors to the left and a dead-end to the south)
Halbarad:  Shall we take the near door, or the far?
Peyote:  Far.  Out.
Ged:  It doesn't really matter, does it?  Let's open the far door.
Peldor:  (checking the south end for secret doors, finding none)
Mongo:  (opens the far door, and sees a short corridor veering
  off to the left)
Belphanior:  What's that ahead, at the turn?
Alindyar:  Observe.  The floor, and ceiling, and walls as well,
  are metallic.
Mongo:  Not stone.  But why?
Peyote:  Who knows?
Halbarad:  It could be a trap.
Ged:  Could be.  Why don't we let Peldor check it out?
Peldor:  That's me, always doing the dirty work.
Alindyar:  Who can read those strange sigils on the metal wall?
Belphanior:  (squinting)  That whole section looks like a door.
Peldor:  Hey, I can read that!  It says, "DANGER.  NO ENTRY."
Belphanior:  Hmm.  A warning on the door.
Ged:  I think somebody is trying to tell us something.
Alindyar:  Touch it not.
Peldor:  Bah.  Doors like this were meant for thieves to open.
  (checking for traps)  Eventually.
Mongo:  (moving northward)  Hey!  I think this door here (points
  to his left) is the "near door" from the last hallway.
Rob:  Ah.
Mongo:  But this door here is new.  Hurry up and stop playing
  back there.  I smell monsters.  So does my hammer.
Peldor:  (finds a thin coppery wire going into the wall at chest
  level)  Now, what's THIS?
Ged:  Let me see that.  Hmm.
Halbarad:  Check the wall there.
Alindyar:  Do not touch the wall.
Belphanior:  (thinks about having Rob volunteer to touch the wall,
  but decides to give him a break)
Rob:  (thinking about touching the wall anyway)
Mongo:  (to the north, eyeing that door and fingering his hammer
  anxiously)  Grr...hurry up, guys!
Halbarad:  (halfway between the metallic door/area and the dwarf)
Peldor:  (pries open a hidden wall compartment, revealing a glass
  bottle covered with foil.  The lid has a copper rod within it,
  which is connected to the copper wire.  There is a second rod
  attached to the outside, with another wire going into the wall.)
Alindyar:  Arcane.
Ged:  This is a battery.  Oops.
DM:  (to Ged)  FRP characters don't know about batteries.
Peldor:  Maybe it's a bomb.
DM:  Watch it, buster.
Ged:  Let's leave it alone, before someone - or all of us - get
  fried.
DM:  GOOD idea.
Mongo:  Okay, all right, fuck this!  (kicks open the door he has
  been examining)  I'll make some action!

  Suddenly, a huge crossbow bolt zipped out of the darkness and
hit the dwarf in the chest!

Mongo:  Oof!  (just sees a large, shadowy figure flee)  Hey!  Hey
  you!  Get back here!  (throws his hammer into the darkness)
Halbarad:  What?!  Are you hurt?
Rob:  (runs forth)  Hurt?
Mongo:  Damn!  (catches the hammer)  Missed him!
Halbarad:  Are you injured?  Are you ill?
Rob:  Yes, are you?
Mongo:  Missed that fucker!  Huh?  No, I'm okay.  The damned bolt
  bounced off my armor, see?  (holds up the broken quarrel)
Halbarad:  What a relief.
Rob:  What good armor.
Ged:  (to the south; they have abandoned the idea of tinkering
  further with the door and bottle)  Let's go.  Mongo has found
  another way.
Peldor:  (wondering if he could procure the bottle for later use)
Belphanior:  (to Mongo)  Hey, let's move onward.
Mongo:  Yeah!
Ged:  (to Peldor)  Leave that bottle alone, fool.
Peldor:  Oh, alright.
Mongo:  (leading the way northward)  The tunnel goes left...and so
  do I!
Peyote:  Way to tell us, guy.
Halbarad:  There is a larger chamber ahead...
Mongo:  Good.  If that means I can smash whoever shot at me...

  They entered a higher-topped room.  Pots of coals were hanging
from the walls, and these lit the room with a dull red glow.  Some
very detailed carvings decorated the walls.  A large, hairy figure
stood in one corner over a pile of bones and meat.  The thing had
a pair of large, curved horns on its head.  It pointed a giant
crossbow at the adventurers...

Alindyar:  'Tis a minotaur.
Mongo:  That's him!  That's the one who shot me!
Peldor:  Hey, he shot me too!
Ged:  Well, that goes to show that he was half-smart.
Mongo:  He's gonna be half-DEAD!  (throws his hammer with mighty
  force)  Take that, bull-shit head!  Hey!  A _20_!!
minotaur:  (fires his weapon simultaneously)
Mongo:  (hit with the bolt, though it doesn't puncture his armor)
  OUCH!  That's gonna make a nice bruise!
minotaur:  (hit square in the head with the hammer)  Rargh!
Mongo:  Ha!  I bet that hurts!  (catches his hammer)  Heh heh!
minotaur:  (tosses the crossbow aside and hefts a large battleaxe)
Halbarad:  Nice axe.  (charges the monster, beating Mongo, who is
  just to slow to charge any but the shortest distances)
Mongo:  Hey!
Belphanior:  (looks to the north, where several doors are visible)
Peldor:  (looking at the fat sack on the minotaur's belt)
Rob:  (looking at the ceiling)
Ged:  (casting a spell)  Boccob comes to assist us...

minotaur:  (meets Halbarad's advance, and chops at him with its
  axe)  Rargh!
Halbarad:  (grazed)  Yagh!  (swipes at the thing, but misses)
Ged:  (fires a ray from his palm, at the monster)  Take that!
minotaur:  (struck by the ray, it shrivels somewhat)  Argh!
Ged:  Boccob withers the evil ones!  Back, fell beast!
Mongo:  Good.  But now it's MY turn.  Again.  (launches his
  hammer at the thing)
minotaur:  (bats at the hammer, keeping it from hitting him)
Mongo:  Fuck!!
Ged:  But look.  The thing is weaker now, obviously because
  of my mighty magicks.
Belphanior:  (in the larger area to the north, he opens the
  northeastern door and wanders into a new passage)
Peldor:  Hey!  Where are you going without me?!  (follows the
  elf)  Wait up!
Mongo:  (catches his hammer)  Damn it!
Ged:  Hit it again, Mongo!
Alindyar:  (strolls toward the minotaur)  Away from here, foul
  one!  (blasts the beast with a color spray)
minotaur:  (blinks as it is assaulted by the swirling rainbow
  of colors)
Halbarad:  (stabs the monster with his dagger)  Aha!  A hit!
Alindyar:  But look!  The creature ignores the spell!
minotaur:  (sure enough, it is lumbering toward the party)
Mongo:  Well, it won't ignore ME!  (hurls his weapon again)
minotaur:  (hit in the chest by the hammer)  Urgh!  (dies)
Ged:  Yeah!  Good shot.
Mongo:  Thanks.  That's what that bastard gets for ambushing
  me...and Peldor is avenged too.
Ged:  Hey, where is that varmint, anyway?
Peyote:  The thief and the elf went up thataway, for reasons
  unbeknownst to me.
Halbarad:  Well, let us follow them.
Ged:  I hate to be a Peldor, but get the monster's stuff.
Mongo:  (collects a pouch)  Hey, platinum!
Peyote:  Cool!
Halbarad:  Get the axe, and the crossbow too.
Ged:  Just in case.
Rob:  That's an awfully big crossbow.

meanwhile...

Belphanior:  Wha...!?  (barely dodges a whizzing bolt from
  the darkness)
Peldor:  Hey, watch it with the traps!  Be careful, for crying
  out loud.  (lights a torch)  Ah, now _I_ can see too.
Belphanior:  Okay, okay.  Look, that was a plate trigger.  Nice
  trap, but they didn't set it up to aim right.
Peldor:  Still, let's not take any chances.  Ha!  Listen to me,
  I'm starting to sound like Halbarad.
Belphanior:  Boy, I'd like to stab that fucker in the back.
Peldor:  Well, we might need them for now.  Wait a while - maybe
  a few months.  Then we'll get them if you want.
Belphanior:  Yeah, but they _irritate_ me.
Peldor:  They're not such bad folks.  You just have to not let
  them see some things.  (opens a door after checking it for
  traps)  Besides, we can trust them.
Belphanior:  More doors...what a maze.  (listens at the next
  door)  Nothing behind this one either.  Nothing we can hear,
  anyway.
Peldor:  Open it.  (they do - beyond is a small L-shaped room)
Belphanior:  Look.  A treasure stash!
Peldor:  Electrum?!  These were poor monsters!
Belphanior:  Okay, let's take about half the electrum.  We really
  should leave some for the others - they're doing such a good
  job fighting and all.
Peldor:  Gems!  Three of them!
Belphanior:  Hey, a pouch.  Wonder if it's magical?  Oh well, I'll
  take it just in case.  YOU wouldn't understand magic, after all.
Peldor:  Fine, but I get the gems.
Belphanior:  Deal.  Magic is so much more interesting anyway.
Peldor:  Listen, here they come.  Let's vamoose!

soon...

Belphanior:  So THERE you are!  (he and Peldor have snuck around a
  looping passage after closing the door to the loot chamber, so
  they appear to have come from another direction)
Ged:  What have you found here?
Belphanior:  Err..just a lot of traps.  Let's go north.
Peldor:  What did that minotaur have?
Peyote:  Just some platinum.
Peldor:  Good.  At least it wasn't something puny.  Like electrum.
Rob:  Puny.
Mongo:  How about this door to the north?
Peldor:  Hey, let me check that for you...

  They went on to find a small L-shaped room with a couple hundred
electrum coins inside, and some small gems too (Peldor got rid of
a few of his cheapest baubles from previous adventures).  This
area of the maze had another trap plate, which they avoided, and
a dead-end.  The party went back westward, into another section
of the minotaur's maze - Peldor's keen trap-checking abilities
saved the party from a couple more crossbow bolt traps.  There
were more loops and dead-ends this way...finally they chose a
new door, which led over seventy feet to a slightly larger room.

Mongo:  (entering the room, with Halbarad)  Hey, this room's all
  emptyyyyyy...(the two lead adventurers fall via a tilting slab
  of stone, falling about 3' onto a soft, squishy mass)
Halbarad:  What is this?
Mongo:  What the fuck...AGH!  IT BURNS!
Halbarad:  AGH!
Rob:  (almost yells just for the hell of it)
Alindyar:  The mass below appears as a gelatinous cube.
Ged:  You're right!  Quick, help them!
Peyote:  But how?
Belphanior:  (casting a spell)
Halbarad:  (paralyzed from the goo's enzymes)  ...
Mongo:  (not paralyzed, bashing the slop beneath him)  Die, slop
  monster!
Ged:  (casting a spell)
Rob:  (begins chanting)
Peldor:  (backs up, in preparation for jumping the pit)
Belphanior:  (launches a sphere of flame into the pit, maneuvering
  it around Mongo and the unmoving Halbarad)
gelatin:  (badly burned)
Ged:  (launches three magical missiles into the mass)  Take
  this sign of Boccob's might!
gelatin:  (now has three deep furrows dug into it)
Alindyar:  (uses his wand to blast three more missiles into the
  thing)  Good idea, Ged.
Ged:  Thanks.  Hold on, Mongo!  We'll get you out of there!
Mongo:  Hurry it up!  This shitheap is eating us alive!
Peldor:  (dashes forth and leaps over the pit, but falls barely
  short, catching the far edge but slamming into the wall)  Oof!
Peyote:  (waving his sword about uselessly)  Way to go, dude!
Belphanior:  (making his sphere roll about, melting swaths of
  gelatin wherever it goes)

Peyote:  (reaches down and hacks the gel, slicing a deep rent
  in it)  Yeah!  ...I think.
Belphanior:  (trying to burn a hole around the two adventurers
  stuck in the gel)
Halbarad:  (silently moans as he is burned further by the gel)
Mongo:  (loudly yells as he is burned further)  YARGH!
Alindyar:  (blasts the mass three more times, and it convulses
  and then melts all at once)
Mongo:  Hey, that did it!  The stuff doesn't burn anymore!
Peldor:  What's that I see under all that melted goo?
Mongo:  Why, it looks like treasure!  Too bad you're not down
  here to get your grubby hands on it!
Ged:  Second that.
Belphanior:  (climbing down into the pit now)
Peldor:  (peering over the edge)  Well, get it anyway!  We'll
  split it up later!

  Since Peldor was looking over the edge, toward the others,
he never saw the second gelatinous cube come silently around
the corner behind him...

Peldor:  Wha...?!  (he is pushed down into the pit, as this
  new cube falls on top of Halbarad, Mongo, Belphanior, and
  him)  Blbb!
Mongo:  Glbb!
Belphanior:  Fclbb!
Peyote:  Oh shit!
Ged:  Boccob, we need you now, if ever!  (casts another spell)
Rob:  (finally stops chanting and casts a spiritual hammer)
Peyote:  (lays into this new cube, slashing a deep cut in it)
Alindyar:  (would love to cast his fireball, but thinks better
  of it)
Ged:  (blasts the thing with a burning hands spell)  Take that!
gelatin:  (a large piece of it is melted away, exposing Mongo's
  helmet)
Ged:  Agh!  More power!  Blast it!  Kill it!
Rob:  (slams the gel with his magical hammer of energy, making
  a weird splattering noise)  Eh?
Alindyar:  (fires three magical missiles at it, and it melts
  as did the first)  Whew.  This fine wand has proven quite
  valuable recently.
Ged:  Are they okay?

  Eventually, the gel-covered ones were pulled out.  Halbarad
and Peldor were paralyzed, and all four were injured from the
goo's caustic secretions.  Ged and Rob used more healing magic
to help the wounded, and then they all had to wait about one
quarter of an hour for the paralysis to fade.  The treasure
from beneath the goo consisted of some gold coins, a longsword,
a suit of human-sized chain mail armor, and a rose-colored
crystalline gem.  Mongo stashed all of these in his sack, and
the party ate lunch before continuing (they also checked the
next section of passage to make sure that no more gelatinous
cubes were forthcoming...).
  The passage led into a huge cavern, about a hundred and a
half feet in diameter.  The ceiling was high and covered with
stalactites.  Rob winced.  The place was illuminated by some
strange glowing fungi, but most of it consisted of a large,
swampy lake.  This water had some dead fish with leeches, and
also various scum floating around.  A shore was visible, ahead
and slightly to the right side.  A narrow row of rubbery turf-
like material formed a pathway of sorts to the far shore.  Odd
shrubbery dotted this path.  The explorers could see some kind
of opening in the cavern wall by the far shore.

Belphanior:  I see leeches.  I don't like leeches.  Let's go
  along the path.
Rob:  Sounds good to me.  Even I wouldn't try to swim in that
  lake.
Mongo:  (eyeing the lake)  I don't like this.  Who knows what
  has died in that lake?
Ged:  Not me.
Alindyar:  (readying a spell)
Halbarad:  The path it is, then.  (they advance, he and Mongo
  leading the way)
Mongo:  This stuff underfoot is getting worse...
Halbarad:  What's THAT?!
heap of rotting vegetation:  (rises and lumbers toward them)
Mongo:  What in the FUCK?  (throws his hammer at the thing)
heap:  (hit by the weapon, but doesn't seem to notice)
Alindyar:  Move aside, so that I can bespell it!
Mongo:  Sure thing.
Belphanior:  (steps to the side)  Go for it.
Mongo:  (catches his hammer)  Yeah!
Halbarad:  What is your plan?
Alindyar:  (casts a web onto the thing)  That...
heap:  (swats at the strands of webbing covering it)
Halbarad:  Aha!  The thing is pinned.
heap:  (pulls at the web, un-anchoring it since the wet,
  moist ground won't hold the web)
Ged:  Uh-oh.
Peyote:  (casts an entangle spell on it)  Whoa!  That should
  work!
heap:  (slowed somewhat by the spell)
Ged:  We need a better plan here...
Rob:  (lights a torch)
Peyote:  Yeah!  Burn it.
Ged:  (preparing a spell)
Halbarad:  (trying to get a good angle to attack, but the web
  is complicating things)
Rob:  (throws the flaming torch at the thing, igniting both it
  and the web)
Peyote:  Way to go!
Peldor:  (feeling useless)  I can't even get around it.
Belphanior:  (casts a spell)  This'll help.  (fires a magical
  arrow from his fingertip)
heap:  (hit by the spell and splashed with acid)  ssss...
Ged:  Here's some more, muck-thing!  (strides forth and shoots
  fans of flame from his hands, burning the monster more)
Peyote:  Major overkill.
heap:  (staggers into the lake)
Ged:  Um...
Mongo:  It better not come back out of that lake!
Halbarad:  (readying his axe)
Rob:  (looking about nervously)
heap:  (shambles out of the dark lake toward the party)

Mongo:  For crying out loud!
Halbarad:  (steps up and slashes the thing with his axe)
heap:  (wounded slightly, bats the ranger with a slimy appendage)
Halbarad:  Whoulf!  (knocked back a good ten feet)  The monster
  is strong!
Mongo:  (hurls his hammer at close range)  Keep back!
heap:  (hit, but doesn't relent)
Ged:  Boccob!
Rob:  Aie!  (backs up, even though he is in the back of the party)
Peldor:  (runs past the place where the monster was before it
  dunked itself)
heap:  (doesn't notice Peldor, rather swats Mongo with its "arm")
Mongo:  Argh!  (wounded)  Damned muck-thing!  (catches his hammer)
Peyote:  This is definitely a desperate situation!  (digging for
  his wand)
Ged:  Oh, no!
Alindyar:  (sends a phantasmal force at the thing)
heap:  (ignores the illusion)
Alindyar:  Eep.
Halbarad:  (stabs at the foe with his dagger, but can't penetrate
  very far)  Why will it not falter?!?
Mongo:  'Cause it's too stupid!  (since the thing is upon him, he
  can't throw his hammer)  Take this, muck-o!  (deals the monster
  a mighty blow)
heap:  (flailing at the dwarf)
Mongo:  Agh!  Help me, guys!
Belphanior:  (slashes at the thing, scoring a fairly deep blow)
Ged:  Be blind, by Boccob!  (casts a blindness spell on the muck
  monster)
heap:  (obviously unaffected)
Ged:  Cripes...
Rob:  (praying)

Belphanior:  (stabs the thing again, but not as hard)  Eh?
heap:  (pounds the elf)
Belphanior:  Agh!
Halbarad:  (chops and stabs it again)
heap:  (bats the ranger, hitting with great force)
Halbarad:  Ouch!
heap:  (looking around, but too late - Peldor is in position
  behind it now)
Peldor:  (backstabs the thing, very successfully)  Die, swamp
  beast!
heap:  (falls, finally)
Peyote:  No fair!  I didn't get to use the wand yet!
Peldor:  Ha!  Peldor saves the day!  As always!
Ged:  Shut up.  We're too tired for this tirade.
Peyote:  (heals Belphanior and Halbarad)
Rob:  (heals Halbarad)
Ged:  (heals Mongo)
Mongo:  Thanks, I'm hurting here.
Halbarad:  Let us rest, bind wounds-
Peldor:  Treasure!  Look what I've found!  (holds aloft a potion)
Ged:  Amazing.
Peldor:  But that's not all!  (holds up a sword and some gauntlets)
Halbarad:  Good job.
Mongo:  I'll take those.
Peldor:  What, I can't wear the gauntlets?
Ged:  Not right now.  We have further to go before worrying about
  that.
Peldor:  Oh, all right.  But I deserve them for killing that thing.

  Soon, they reached the far shore...

Mongo:  Hey, what are those?
Halbarad:  A pair of huge serpents!
Rob:  Aie!
Ged:  Crap.  We're worn down enough as it is.
Peyote:  (pointing his wand, obviously kept in hand in case of a
  further foe)  Not to fear, dudes!
Ged:  Nooooo!!
Peyote:  (fires the wand at the snakes)
snake:  (one of them turns to stone)
other snake:  (regarding its late companion curiously)
Peyote:  See?  See?!
Mongo:  Whatever.  (throws his hammer, hitting the remaining snake)
snake:  (staggers)
Peyote:  Don't charge it!  I want to use the wand again!
Ged:  No!  You'll stop getting lucky sometime.  (casts a spell)
Belphanior:  (runs toward the monster)  Come, Halbarad!  I now
  challenge you to help me kill this monster!
Halbarad:  Hold that wand, Peyote!  I must help the elf!  (he
  charges as well)
Belphanior:  (slashes the snake, wounding it)
Halbarad:  (chops and stabs the snake, wounding it worse)
Mongo:  (fires his hammer at the snake, wounding it even more)
Rob:  Hey, 1-2-3 !!
Ged:  (casts magic missiles, bombarding the snake and slaying
  it)  Hah!  Boccob's power flows!
Peldor:  Like piss...
Alindyar:  Still, the monster is vanquished.
Peyote:  My wand will be sheathed for now, then.
Ged:  Forever, hopefully.  Keep that thing out of our battles.
Mongo:  Look, there's a long corridor behind the snakes!
Halbarad:  Take it, then.  (they all do)
Ged:  Lots of lamps here.
Belphanior:  It dead-ends.  Why is that?
Peldor:  Let me check for traps on the floor.  (does so, getting
  ahead of the party)  No traps.  Hmm.  Maybe a door here?
Ged:  Seems sensible.
Peldor:  Aha!  There IS a door here. (opens the concealed door)
  Uh-oh. (draws his sword)
Halbarad:  (looking beyond)  Prepare for battle, friends.

  Beyond was a huge room, well-lit by many torches.  There were
nine large chairs set in a semicircle, facing the door they had
just come through.  Five of these had occupants - well-dressed
men, some in armor, some with weapons, but all very dangerous-
looking.  A spiral staircase went upward in one corner of the
room.  Some of the men pointed at the party.

Mongo:  Get them!  (charges)
men:  (laughing)
Halbarad:  Why can we not hear them?
man on center throne:  (he has an eyepatch; makes a signal to
  someone)
Peldor:  Whoa!  (moves forward as a wall of stone slams down
  right behind him)  What gives?!
Ged:  I don't like this.
Peldor:  Me neither.
Mongo:  (runs forward, but bounces off of an invisible wall)
  Oof!  Who put THAT there?!?
Ged:  Foul magic!
Alindyar:  Mayhap I can dispel it.  (starts spellcasting)
Peyote:  Uh, we're out of time, guys.

  A tiny panel popped open in the ceiling, just long enough for
a flask to be hurled into the midst of the party.  Belphanior
tried to catch it, but failed.  The vial shattered, and thick
green gas billowed over the adventurers!

Rob:  <cough>  (falls unconscious)
Alindyar:  (his spell interrupted, he slips away as well)
Halbarad:  Kaff!  Break through!  (tries to get around the
  invisible barrier, but there IS no way around it, and he
  falls too)
Peyote:  Bogus...(drops)
Ged:  Boccob damn it!  (faces the five men)  To hell with you!
  To hell with you all!  I'll...I'll...I...(falls to the floor)
Peldor:  <cough cough>  (grasping his luckstone and trying to
  hold his breath; it doesn't help.  He falls too.)
Belphanior:  Someone will die for this...(drops unconscious)
Mongo:  Shit!  Damn!  Fuck!  (pounds repeatedly at the magical
  wall with his hammer)  You fuckin' cowards!  I'll mash you
  into pulp when I get through this wall!  You're dead meat!
  DEAD!!  D....shit...(finally succumbs to the gas)

  The sound of silence follows...

Man with eyepatch:  (to some lackeys who have suddenly appeared)
  You know what to do with them...
lackeys:  (begin dragging the unconscious adventurers away)
Big priest:  So these are the pests who have caused us so much
  trouble.
Man with patch:  Not to worry, Mordrammo.  They shan't bother us
  again.  Ever again.  (to lackeys)  Strip their possessions and
  throw them in the dungeons!  Ha ha!  I've always wanted to say
  that!!
others:  (laughing)





next time:  Is this the end?  The Adventurers face their greatest
  challenge yet, as they are locked in the dungeons without any
  weapons, items, or spells!

ANONYMOUS FTP SITE: tybalt.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers)
***********************************************************************
NOTES:  I played the tournament version since I like this part the
best...no items of any kind.  Only wits and non-weapon proficiencies
to rely on.  Heh heh.
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