Stackman's Adventures (Chapter fifteen)

[bsftcs]

From One Underground Maze to Another

Being the fifteenth chapter of Stackman’s adventures

In which a cunning rodent gets his just deserts and in which the valkyrie charms a somewhat dim-witted boogre.

The party teleported back to the trolley chamber, and from there they walked back to the Stout King. They gave him the dragon ore and he began to craft the armour. They then walked out to the intersection just outside the throne room and returned to find that the dragon armour had been crafted. (The location of the trigger that makes the king complete his hammering is revealed by WillowIX in her first reply to Wutang). They repeated this procedure with the other piece of dragon ore. (It is possible to pickpocket or purchase the ore from Freyedies in order to get more armour. There are also more dragon plates available as explained on Page eight of the Best Tips (point 10 of the experiments on killing the Stout King)). Since they did not need the dragon armour (they already had more than enough enchanted armour) they left the king without it.

They ascended the shafts, gave their writ to Signeur Pastollio, and left the mines. The morning sun was rising, and they had not slept for quite a while. They used the call of home spell to return to Ishad N’ha, where they lodged at the inn. Later that day they visited the armoury to receive their reward for having completed the ”invite Stouts” quest. They then undertook the ”kill Doshi Gin” quest and thus ended the second of three quests given by the warrior guild of Ishad N’ha. They visited Lord Barrenhawk who commended them for having killed the wolf beast. They then undertook the ”kill Brahmar” quest, and thus ended the first of three quests given by the governor of Ishad N’ha.

Staying at the inn overnight the bard regaled the rest of the party with his tunes, while the barbarian spent the time examining Rethpian’s bauble stick further, asking the warlock a number of questions concerning magical energy. The assassin was somewhere in the shadows that the spandrel beams cast on the roof... probably.

The next day they marched quickly back to Scanthril’s hideout. They reached the place just before nightfall. Scanthril – who was not very friendly towards Stouts – was somewhat derisive towards Grundel and his fate once he heard what had become of him. Then ensued a peculiar demonstration of Scanthril’s judgment of evidence: ”Raskalion is dead, isn’t he – I can see it in your eyes”. A proof that would not be deemed sufficient in any Continental European justice system, and neither – I think – in any Common Law system. Nevertheless the assasin was given his dagger, and thus ended both the first and the second out of three quests given by NPCs in the Wilderness of Ishad N’ha. Knowing Scanthril would no longer be needed, the warlock fried him and his men with a firestorm spell to get the extra experience points.

Resting by the burned-down house for the night, the party marched on in the morning. They soon made their way to the North Lake. In the lake there was a small island on which a treasure chest was hidden behind a bush. There were two other accessible parts of the banks of the lake apart from the the one from which they had just come. The westernmost had nothing of interest to show except for a treasure chest.

On the North Bank there was a burrow in the hill, just as Scanthril had told them. They paused for a moment to have lunch. Then they went down. This was the entrance to the Boogre Caves. (In an excellent topic Radek has explained how to enter the caves without getting boogreized). Flipping the lever, the door closed behind them, and the boogre Pris’kiel’a stepped forward behind a barred window. Flipping a lever she opened a trap door sending the party into a cave below.

Here stood the boogre hag, S’Keser Da. With a potent spell she turned the party into boogres. Having just enraged five excellent spellcastets it was her luck that spellcasting was disabled inside the cage. Then she left, and a Boogre Guard stepped in to guard the cave. After a short while the valkyrie called him over to have a talk with him. He confirmed every seemingly prejudicial utterance concerning his kind: He was daft beyond compare. In no time the valkyrie had persuaded him to open the door. They were free of the cage, but they were still trapped inside the caves. And they were still boogreized.

NPCs encountered:

The Boogre Guard reacts to following words:

Boogre, Pit, Grunaxe, S’Keser Da, Plun’drs, Tinkers, Malgrim, Vargul, Boogres, Eye, Bug.

Each of these words will trigger his asking the question that will eventually let the party or solo character out.