Chapter 3: Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Report

General Summary

Our Hero's: Agni the monk; "Big" the mage, Gar the Berserker, Jack the Orc Killer, who is a Ranger.  The fighter Mage Jhaan, had wondered off and the Party was waiting.  Gar the Berserker had seen one of the Ant people and rushed out over the holding cells and falling in.  Our Hero's had found a control room for the Jail cells. This room is large and high ceilinged. Two pillars, 5’ diameter, reach twenty feet from ceiling to floor, in the middle of the room. A grid of 10’ square trap doors form the floor of the entire room. They are hanging open, forming a grid of 6” wide beams between them. Fifteen feet below may be seen empty slave pits. These are 10’ square and are separated from each other by iron bars that reach up to the trap doors. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"  says Big. and flips a switch which brings the floor up releasing Gar and two of the slaves.   "Jeez seems like i have been there for 3 weeks!"  Gar yells as he rushes to the platform where the party stands. "Shall we move on?" Agni ask in his deep dwarfish voice. They moved south down the steps and around the corner. This chamber is set about 5’ higher than the level of the floor of the slave pens. The ceiling is 10’ high. Mounted along the length of the ceiling are a series of pistons and springs that operate the opening and closing of the trapdoors in the main slave chamber. Presently maintaining these are five slaves and an insect man. This surprises the group...but not the insect man, who swings his long sword and broad sword straight at Gar, who being surprised stands with his sword down and saying "OH!...Shiiiiit!" as the long sword slams into his left shoulder, sparks fly from his armor.  The second attack misses his head by inches. The rest of the party gets there bearings and makes short work of the Aspis, freeing the slaves. Meanwhile "Big" studying the controls once more flips a switch at the whole room begins to move.  He smiles, as the slave move away from the cells where they were trapped.  The Party looks up as small dumb waiters lower from the ceiling, this makes the slaves very nervous and they start to panic and search for a way out.  Out of the dumb elevators pops ...three humans and five orcs. Big looks up..."oh shit!" he whispers and flips the switch another way.  this removes the dumb waiters and puts the bars back in place. This broad, long room is filled with two rows of cages, whose bars reach from floor to ceiling. Each has a door with a heavy locking mechanism in it. On the floor of the cells are straw and wooden bowls. Each cell holds a man or a woman, although each could hold more. Strolling down the central corridor between the cages are three humans and five orcs.   The head Slaver who is wearing robes, he will be know as the Human in robes from now till the end of the story.  The other human looks like a fat merchant with gold chains and expense clothes and his body guard, a amazon women in chainmail carrying a huge battle Axe.  The orc guards carry spears and look some what confused when the robe man yells "GET THEM!"  two immediately rush forward and die with arrows sticking out of their faces. Jack comely moves to the edge of the stair to get a better shot on the orcs below.  the Amazon fighter had been separated from her boss, she grits her teeth and moves toward him again.  Agni rushes forward leaps to the bars and climbs to the top which is about 10' in the air, he tip toes across the small bars at a full run and yells out his battle cry as he jumps from the top of the bars toward the amazon woman in the perfect flying kick form. The thunder clap as his foot smashes a small hole from the stone wall and lands on his feet like a cat in a combat crouch.  Gar kills an orc guard and steps over the body to get to the next one.  The robe human figure disappears.  The merchant  raises his hands and screams to the Amazon "SAVE ME YOU STUPID BITCH!"  Jack drops the orc in front of Gar.  Big runs and jumps down the steps rushing toward the fat merchant, who has stopped screaming and stares at the large muscled mage rushing down on him.  "Big" hits something invisible in the hall but do to momentum continues on to the merchant.  The merchant wets himself...Big stubbled but regained his footing and grab the fat fear soaked slave merchant, who begins to scream in terror.  "Where is the DUKE!" yells Big as he draw back to slap the merchant.  "shut up!" he swings and misses. The merchant passes out.  Jack shoots through the bars at the Orc that was moving toward big and the merchant, it passes in one ear and out the other. Gar charges the amazon women, she brings her axe down on his shoulder which sprays blood from the floor to the ceiling. Agni springs on the Amazon women like a rabid spider monkey and puts her in a choke hold, she drops her axe and falls to the floor.  Gar proceeds to strip off her armor and throw her axe into a cell.  She starts to revive and both Agni and Gar smash her unconscious again. The last orc falls to the floor and everything goes silent. The merchant is dead. The amazon fighter is unconscious and the party looks at the poor slaves who cower in the corner of the room. "any of you see a dwarf?" ask Gar All three look at Agni..."not that dwarf, the duke of earl!" "the princes brother..." says Big one of the slaves who is  covered in dung....human dung....speaks up "ahh...i have" "where is he?"  ask Gar "ahhh..not sure specifically at this moment because i have been in there..." he points at the cell. "but, i think they took him to the Master Slaver."   "where is he?" ask Gar pointing his bastard sword at the shit covered man. He steps back a bit and replies after a long drawn out release of flatulence's "The dwarf or the master slaver?"   Gar gags a little.  "FUCK YOU! I will never talk, you shut your shit hole slave!"  shouts the amazon fighter at the poor shit stained slave.  The whole party stares at the battered and bloodied women, who is completely naked and has blood streaming from many places on her body.  They notice an arrow sticking out of her back and the entire party looks at Jack, who only shrugs. "I will never tell you what you want to know... you will have to ki<gurgle, spit blood>" Gar pulls his bastard sword from her chest and looks at the rest of the party. "what? you heard her she wasn't going to tell us anything. besides she was going to die from her wounds...cant waste healing on the likes of these evil pieces of shit." he wipes the blood from the sword. Big ask the slave directions, the slave remembers that the master came from one of the north halls. The part looked at their crude map ...'ahhh...this long hall with a door'  Big points to the map.  they all move out of the room toward the north hall.  it is only about twenty feet from where they started.  Weird. A staircase goes down about 10’ and ends in a small landing with a door facing the stairs. The steps are made of flagstones set in mortar. The flagstones are loose. The door has no visible handle, Big pushes pass Gar, cracking his knuckles. "i got this..." "oh I see knock spell!" says Agni "when did you get that..."  suddenly Big pushes his fingers into the cracks around the door and begins to pull..."well shit, I could have done that."  said Gar. With GOD like strength the mage tares the door from its place and opening it completely. As the door is pushed aside Gar moves forward down the stairs. This chamber is circular with a moat of sewage surrounding a bare platform in the center. Around the outer wall of the room is a narrow 3’ ledge connected to the center of the chamber by three arched stone bridges. On this ledge stand ten orcs. From the west side of the room a staircase descends into the center of the platform. Opposite the stairs to the east, is an alcove containing a table, chairs, and many crates and boxes. There is a man sitting at the table with five giant weasels around him. A ladder at the back of the alcove leads to an opening high in the wall. The entire area is torch lit. Gar runs down the platform, Jack and Big hang back.  "where is Agni?" ask Jack.  "he said he had to go check on something..." replied Big.  "I don't like the looks of this place...looks like a trap" said Jack.  "yep...good thing Gar is down there drawing everyone's attention, things go bad we can just step back through the door."   "you know i cant do that..." Jack said as he knocks a arrow in his bow and begins to move forward. "Yea your right, we cant leave Gar down there..." said Big. Jack takes aim at the Orc to the left.  "Gar?? oh yea..." Suddenly the whole stair well rotates into the air causing the pair of hero's to slide down to the platform where Gar stood. "damn i wasnt sure you two were coming..."  Gar said gripping his sword with both hand and lets out a battle cry as he rushes straight toward the man at the table. The twang of crossbow reported through out the chamber.  Magic missle whistled into the air to their targets. Two Orcs fall into the sewer but are dead before they hit the murky water.  Suddenly the high pitched roar of a GIANT weasel fill the chamber. Four the these foul beast charge forward, one stays back and blocks the man in the chair. Gar meets the first weasel on the bridge and two titans smash into one another in a fury of fur and blade. One of the weasel runs and jumps to the other side, only to miss and slide down the wall to the sewer. Another jumps across landing to the left of the bridge.  The last one moves to the bridge behind the lead one.  Missle fire increase in all directions, orcs fall to their death, Weasel attack Gar ripping and tearing at his flesh. Gar hits and misses and attacks again...over and over. Jack has dropped nearly all of the Orcs only taking light damage for the lite crossbow bolts. Missiles bounce off of Big as if he was bullet proof, Stone skins really works.   Suddenly there is a flash of magic and the whistle of magic missiles, Big looks up to see the robed human standing on the top of the trapped stairs. The robed man is a caster.  A Weasel moves in to attack Jack, but jack turns the creature with his woodland skills. he holds the creature in his gaze. Gar is bleeding from at least 10 wounds, and jumps back to take a healing potion. This move surprises the Weasels and both miss their attack of opportunity. The give Gar the chance to drink a potion. Big shoots a flaming arrow at the wall climbing mage and it is a direct hit.  The mage burst into flames and falls off the wall to his death at the feet of Big and Jack.  Jack barely notice with his concentration on the weasel.  He has befriend the Weasel and has it attack the other weasels. Now the real fight begins....it is at this moment the the fireball goes off.   within range then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame. Each creature in a 20-foot radius Sphere centered on that point and a hissing static, to sizzling, to popping sounds like wood burning, but this is the sound of searing flesh and burning armor. it is over as soon as it started and when the dust clears and the hero's pick themselves from the floor. The see that Gar does not stand up...Big rushes forward to his fallen companion.  Jack tends to the three weasels, who have befriended them. "Gar not breathing...." shouts Big and he pours a healing potion down his throat.  Gar coughs and opens one eye, his face is charred for the fireball blast. "did we win?" Gar said through a cracked voice. "yep..now drink!" said Big as he pours another healing potion down Gar's throat. Later that day after the group had healed and they searched the room for any signs of the Slave master. Jack found some tracks leading to the ladder leading up. They followed the tracks down a cave to a small set of stair that leads up to a small trap door...They hear chanting on the other side... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrE1EFE5MqI   STAY TUNED NEXT WEEK FOR THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE: "Follow the yellow brick road?"