A Hunting We Will Go

My companions:

• Greentop Minor - goblin ranger of Mylikki
• Tanya Adelsa - fighter
• Wilmot - gnomish fighter
• Eldarreth
• Catchpole - half-elven bard
• Tobias Fletcher - human mage

ORD ARTUR PURDOILE was interviewing at the Elk's Roost for hired help to accompany him on a hunting trip. 500gp each for six days' work sounded like a doddle so I went along. Eldarreth reckoned he was the son of a noble merchant house in Procampur. The man was dressed in pink andblue robes, and interviewed us each individually, asking some odd questions, like how we'd make an omelette - wanting to hear us say 'break eggs!' Anyway, the seven of us got hired and were told to meet back at the Elk's Roost at dawn the next day. He'd provide us with mounts.

I don't think any of us were very impressed with him, and we did talk a bit about the possibility of winding him up. We noticed him in the Elk's Roost later in the day trying to chat up Gillian. He was rather drunk - he came up to Eldarreth and said "Pointy-ears, you snubbed my honour - I challenge you to a duel!" Eldarreth went outside with him and his retinue. When we followed a minute later it was to see Perdoile laid out flat on the floor - Eldarreth said he'd fallen over without any help from him! The guy got carried up to his room.

We met up again as planned the next dawn, and amazingly Perdoile didn't seem to have a hangover. Apart from us he had four retainers along, a manservant and a chef called Chambly. We set out on mountain ponies towards Giant Valley. Perdoile told us he didn't want any magical weapons used against the animals. After a while we had to leave the ponies because the terrain got too rough, to the extent we were having to use ropes every so often. Perdoile thought he'd found the tracks of a lion with a bad paw and Greentop concurred. When we got to the base of a cliff we set camp and had a bit of a feast - his cook was really good. Tonight Arthur wasn't drinking.

After a peaceful night we woke to the smells of bacon cooking. Perdoile told us we were hunting bears and cats today, reminding us that using magic against them was bad sport. However he wanted to ambush animals in caves! As we set off down a trail Greentop noticed 10-12 sets of booted tracks, strange because this was supposed to be an uninhabited area. We went round in circles for a bit, then 2 Dire Bears found us. We all started shooting them, but they went for Perdoile and took him down. Now we let the magic rip, Eldarreth casting fireball and Tobias Cone of Colding them while we continued to shoot. Perdoile got up and attacked again, shouting at us not to spoil the carcasses!

Both bears ended up predictably dead, and the retainers set to skinning them. Perdoile swigged a healing potion. Our attention turned to the cave nearby, but it was empty. However we were then attacked by a panther from above, which hurt Catchpole badly. It was soon dispatched, and we cooked the meat and rested for a while.

Later on in the day we started out up the cliff again, having to use ropes up to another ledge where there was another cave. Greentop snuck in to scout, but after a few minutes he hadn't come back. Here we had a bit of an argument. Me, Eldarreth and Tanya all wanted to go straight after him as we thought he might be in trouble. Wilmot said he was worried because he wasn't very powerful, but in my opinion Catchpole and Tobias were being just plain cowardly because they wouldn't come in with us.

So Tanya, Eldarreth and I went in by ourselves. The next thing I knew was that I was getting hit by several darts from different directions, and as I collapsed I saw Eldarreth and Tanya going down too. Through my torpor I was aware of some sensations, of being moved, bound, gagged and stuck with pins. I woke up stripped of everything except my normal clothes. I couldn't see either. I worked myself round the space I found myself in - a square room, with no apparent doors or windows - so I wasn't blind- and the others were there too, including Tobias, Catchpole and Wilmot, but not Perdoile or his retinue.

HAD BEEN the first to wake, but gradually the others did too. Wilmot put up a Dancing Lights so we could see each other. The men each had a tenday's beard growth, and we weren't completely starving - from our smells it seemed likely we'd been fed mushrooms at intervals. The room did indeed seem to be solid stone on all sides. We rested and took stock for a while. Suddenly the whole room burst into light for a second before returning to pitch black. Wilmot put up another Dancing Lights, which revealed a pot filled with murky brown (magical) food and 7 bowls. We ate.

Eldarreth disappeared...after some time he reappeared as Catchpole disappeared. Eldarreth had a few new holes in him. He said we were in a drow city. He'd been questioned about what he was doing and had refused to answer, so was magic missiled. Catchpole reappeared and Tobias disappeared. When he returned the rest of us were transported into some sort of hall, 'glued' to chairs. There were 5 drow females in here, with one clearly superior to the rest. She asked what we'd been doing - we told the truth. They said they'd read our minds so they knew this was so, but now they were going to have some fun with us. The rest of our party reappeared. The drow in charge told Eldarreth she was going to turn him into a crippled Drider. She killed a few human slaves in front of us, seemingly just for show, then produced Eldarreth's spellbook, thumbed through it and made it disappear again.

The drow explained she was going to let us live for one more hour. She would give us each a dagger and release us somewhere with a light stone to help us. Then after an hour her soldiers would be sent after us - using all our kit. We were teleported to a cavern 40' across with 8 exits. We started running, with Wilmot sensing which passages led upwards. We found a passage effectively a level up which Greentop and Tanya climbed to. They found an old coil of rope there, a piece of chicken bone, the remains of a fire and a piece of glass. We all went up and took the rope.

Then we came into a small cavern. Something was moving near one exit, some sort of underdark cow! Wilmot advised that a different exit led upwards. After a while we came to a cliff and had to backtrack. After a downwards incline the new passage started going up steeply. There was some debate about how long we'd been going - anything from 30 minutes to 55. We came into another cavern which housed the remains of a building. There were pieces of wood good to use as clubs, also some iron pins, a rusty handaxe, a light pick and a buckler, all of which we took.

We continued on past more cow-like creatures and lots of edible mushrooms, following the path of a stream, heading up all the time. Eventually we came to a place with a bridge. Greentop reckoned our time was nearly up. Eldarreth created some sort of temporary divine focus using his own blood, then took some of the rope we'd found to use in a snare spell on the bridge.

We waited...soon enough we heard a noise behind us and everything went black as arrows started whistling past us. Some of us fell over, the rest of us went into melee with the drow. Catchpole got killed by one of their spells. Suddenly there was a sudden bright searing light, which revealed 4 drow still standing, and Lord Perdoile standing there with some of his men, ready to fight and cast spells. The remaining drow were quickly defeated, and Perdoile told us to "take your stuff and run."

All in all it could have been worse. I lost a fair bit of stuff - my masterwork composite longbow, bracelet of thievery, forest walker's breastplate and diamond of magic, but I was alive and in one piece. We got out okay, and not only were we paid, but Lord Perdoile turned up trumps, replacing our mundane kit and even paying for Catchpole to be raised.

1374DR   (Dudley Bug Ball 2002)

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