Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Rumble in Jakalla Action Report

Two weeks ago, a nasty earthquake shook the Clan of the Broken Reed clan house in Jakalla. After pulling several clan cousins from the rubble and a deep crack in the sword practice yard, screams of terror came from inside. Our clanpersons found a hard-working kitchen servant being accosted by a big hairy ape-thing with red faceted eyes. No one knew what it was, but that didn't stop the warriors from attacking it. The serving girl ran. The creature died in a pool of blood.

Another scream from the basement attracted their attention, and they rushed down the stairs. Another of these foul beasts had backed a young man in a corner. They fought it and killed it, though two warriors were injured. Through the door the brute had obvious entered the area, the group found a crack that broke through the wall and divided the floor in twain. Looking into the crack, they saw that it stretched down into the darkness beneath the clan house. No one knew if more of these animals lurked below.

After resting and getting healed, a party of six warriors and mages, along with a suitable number of torchbearers, started down the crevasse in the earth. They fought two more of the things, but one clan-cousin met a bad end from a club to the head. The rest killed the ape-thing and retreated with their cousin's body back to the clan-house.

... (fast forward two weeks) ...

The group is in the Clan of the Broken Reed clan house, getting over the death of their clan-cousin at the hands and clubs of the strange beasts from underground. Funerary rites have been performed and the period of mourning is over.
Guards were posted at the opening in the basement as a work crew builds a heavy barred door over the opening and fixes the large crack in the floor and opposite wall. During construction, two more of these creatures were seen and put down before they could do any damage.

The fallen warrior was replaced by two more, plus another wizard, before the bar was thrown back and the new protection opened. The group filed down into the darkness. At the bottom, instead of the cave many were expecting, they found a room with a flat floor and dressed stone walls. Through the only door they found another room, this one with two exits. One door appeared to be blocked from the other side, perhaps from the earthquake. The other door lead to a long hallway that opened out into a wide corridor with many choices of where to go: two doors and two corridors. Far down the corridor, they found a ceiling cave-in from the earthquake. They did the safe thing, checked both small hallways down far enough to see nothing interesting. Then checked the nearest door, which seemed to be a dead end hallway that went around in circles. The other door opened on a passage where a dozen yards down, a wall had collapsed in the quake and revealed a rubble-strewn hall.

They investigated.

It appears to be a shrine to some petty king from the Time of No Kings. Murals of his life story, a winged statue with his face on it, and mosaics of his five gorgeous wives in erotic poses. Apparently, he couldn't die without them.

The group is trying to figure out how to proceed, because they appear to be at a dead end.

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