Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 6

Things are getting very spooky here. In addition to my experience with the manacles, Oren has been hearing voices, and we have all sensed some icy presence moving through the dungeon. Perhaps the spirits of those killed here linger on, or perhaps we have woken something from a long sleep? We found some fragments of a book, which seemed to be a record of research carried out here many years ago. There was also a room full of skeletons from many creatures, several of which we could not identify. What terrible experiments went on here? Who built this place, and for what purpose? Some evil wizard or cult? We have many questions, but few answers.

We encountered some more traps. I was able to detect some of them in time, but all the traps here appear to be magical in nature, and these are notoriously hard to disarm. Although I set them off, I was able to evade the damage from most of them. I seem to be getting better at this, I must be learning from my mistakes. We found one trapped door in the North West of the dungeon that was especially nasty. When trying to disarm it I heard a voice saying "You are not worthy" and then a great ball of blame shot down the corridor, we barely avoided being toasted! Perhaps when we have learnt more about this place we will not be found lacking anymore? Maybe there is some great treasure behind this door, or possibly a way out of this maze?

When the others are not looking I have been practicing a few acrobatic tricks that my old friend Malfoso showed me when we were in the guild together. I could never see the point of them before, but now I think they might be useful in avoiding enemies in battle, I just hope I don't have to test these techniques out too soon! I have also been thinking that it might be useful to know a few magic spells. I found a pretty gold bracelet on a dead orc (more about these later) and I thought I might wear it as an armlet, but Isaak suggested that he test it for evil magicks first. It would be handy to be able to this myself, and I have always had an interest in the magical arts. Maybe I'll ask Isaak to teach me a few simple cantrips, it can't be that hard if he can do it, and you never know when such things might come in useful.

We went back into the room with the dead orcs and the large (living) rats. We gave the rats a wide birth before, but this time Isaak decided he would shoot one with his crossbow. I think the creatures were upsetting Ratto, the scabby old rat that Isaak carries around in his pocket. (He spends far to much time stroking him when he thinks no one is watching...) Anyway, we all waded in and took a few more of them out, before the rest ran off. (I got one right between the eyes, it never had a chance!) We searched the orc bodies, and the surrounding rooms, and we found some nice loot. We also found that the orcs had been killed by those flying octopus things we encountered before. They had all been strangled, not a nice way to go, but then what is? In a store room nearby we discovered a survivor. His name is Torag and we persuaded Curbag not to kill him, and Quercus agreed to let him tag along with us, if he converted to Pelor. I suspect that the orc's commitment to his new religion is not genuine, but stranger things have happened...

We questioned Torag and found out that he had been part of a large party brought here by Longtail, the very person we are looking for! Apparently Longtail is human, but has the power to turn into a rat. He brought with him a group made up of orcs, kobolds and troglodytes (whatever they are). Presumably the orcs we met in the first room, and the kobolds who gave us a good drubbing, were part of Longtail's entourage too. We haven't met any Trogs yet, but we found an area of the dungeon that was ripe with their musky stench (it made me gag at first, but I think I could put up with it now). We have given that section a miss for now, and gone back to explore some more of the eastern parts of the complex. I think we should find out more about this place before we confront the Trogs. Torag tells us that Longtail's group was attacked by a horde of the octopus things a few days after they arrived, apparently the came out of nowhere. Let's hope there are no more of them lurking around for us.