Lost City of Lull 2: Borin’s
Baby as told by Glaurung the Golden Sune's blessings on you all! We finished our previous tale with our party of heroes
standing before the gates of Lull, watching a stone block slowly sinking and
threatening to prevent our ingress. Disgusted with our misadventures to this point, Orax declined
to continue, choosing to head back to Hope.
Thus we were down to five, myself (Glaurung the Golden), Larry
Hornblower, Burglekutt, Gigi and Borin. Not wishing to be barred from the ancient city we quicky
sprang into action by dragging large rocks into the entrance way to ensure we
would have at least a crawl space under the great stone block. This precaution concluded, we inched our way
in, sending Burglekutt and his keen eye for traps first. Scanning ahead he noticed a raised section of stone some 20
paces inside and not possessing any way around it, he pressed forward. No sooner had he done so than a series of portcullises
started to drop! In a confused flurry we
all tried to act at once. Thanks to Sune’s
grace I’m much more nimble than the average dwarf (or dragon for that matter)
and I was able to spring forward and clear the descending portcullis. My companions were slower off the mark,
however, and worse, a series of small hatches opened and eight furry spiders
swarmed in to attack! In the chaos that followed, Borin and Gig nearly succumbed to
numerous venomous spider bites before they squeezed under the rapidly descending
portcullis. Pausing to cast a few
healing spells we surveyd our surrounds, realising we were in an enormous courtyard
which was dominated to two large iron towers.
Rightly suspecting further kobold trickery we made our way Southward
where we had spied a ramp ascending out of the courtyard. Alas there were kobolds reading and waiting and we were
pelted with arrows as we charged for the ramp, which was being rapidly drawn
upwards. Again I was fleet of foot and
was able to jump aboard the ramp just as it was ascending out of reach. I dropped a rope down to my companions and
soon we were all atop a walkway that circled the courtyard. Of more interest was a passage leading South,
an ingress into the city proper. As we had again taken significant hurts we took a short break
in order for Borin to cast a healing chant that did much to restore our
confidence. From there we proceeded to explore a series of doors opening
off a long corridor. Those opening to
the North contained nothing of interest, just the trash of ages. The door to the East, however, opened into what
was once a magnificent stable. We surprised
a lone kobold but I was in no mood for any more trickery and promptly shot him
dead with my crossbow. Here we might have had some peace and quiet except that good
Burglekutt again chose to indulge his scatological fascinations. A latrine pit from above had disgorged a
truly eye watering amount of refuse and our good Gnome sent his magical mage’s
hand to rummage in among the muck. This
excited the attention of a great slimy beast with horrid tentacles and a
ravening maw. A desperate battle ensued where Burglekutt paid a painful
price for his curiosity, though his magic saved him from death. I stood before the beast, as did Borin and
between us we held it at bay while our companions deployed various spells to
help bring it down. We immediately put
Larry to work and he was able to harvest a truly impressive list of items from
the beast. Having expended a good deal of our strength we rested for an
hour, trying to restore some lost vitality.
Fortunately nothing disturbed our rest.
In this time we found that the latrine pit also lead to a hole in the floor
of the stable that allowed a path outside.
If we should leave this dangerous city, at least we will have another
way to return without having to run the gauntlet of kobold ambushes. Restored we retraced our steps and searched a series of doors
leading South. He we discovered a large
mess hall with the sounds of a kobold baby bawling its eyes out. Clearly kobolds have much to learn when it
comes to modern parenting! Most of us would have been happy to end the noise in the most
practical way possible, but the hideous snivelling wretch awoke a dormant but
powerful paternal streak in Borin, who immediately swaddled the brat and stowed
it carefully in his backpack! I wonder
if he would have behaved this bizarrely if he were still inhabited the body of
a Dwarf instead of a Goliath… In any case we found a passage leading East with a sign
saying ‘Gnome’s Quarters’. Larry
volunteered to turn invisible and then explore the way ahead. It was an excellent idea, with only one tiny
flaw. Larry couldn’t see in the dark and
carrying a light would give away his position!
As he had already cast the spell and was loath to waste it, we decided
to compromise by having him use a small candle as his lone light source. He snuck forward and successfully scouted the way ahead, reporting
back the presence of a large barracks filled with kobolds. We hatched a complicated
plan involving a distraction from one direction while the rest of us attacked
from another, which all hinged on using the blood of the trash monster, which
granted a limited from of telepathy. We sprung out trap and successfully killed a large number of kobolds,
thanks in large part to Larry’s excellent scouting and a most puissant spell
cast by Gigi. Alas, a couple of the
buggers escaped us, no doubt to raise a general alarm.
Here I will end this chapter, with the party low on resources
but in good health and high spirits. May
Sune shine her beatific countenance on you all!
