top of page

Chapter 58 - Mind Your Step


“This place is trashed!” Scomatch exclaimed. “Let’s go somewhere else. What about Renwick’s brother? That might be fun.”

“No, no, no. No more distractions. We are going to explore this ruined castle,” Guo Gan said, mustering the group towards the hatch and out of the Space Ghost.

Exiting the spelljammer onto the remains of the castle courtyard, it was primarily flat, as if someone was taking care of it. Four thick, round towers stood firm, but the tops were crushed. However, doorways were located at the base of each. These were connected by large, massive walls made of stone, similar to the asteroid. Holes were blasted periodically throughout. In the center, the central keep lay in ruin. Its rubble was twenty to thirty feet high. There were no identifying marks. Everything was dusty and made of rock. No wood was present.

“Oi, anyone be still alive in there?” Kildo shouted to the rubble. There was no response.

Guo Gan moved towards the northwest tower. Opening the doorway and looking up, the area was full of rubble. However, a set of stairs descended and was relatively clear of debris.

Kildo cast the cantrip, Light. The point of Kai’s sentient trident Wave, lit up. The paladin led the group into the darkness. About twenty feet down, they arrived on a landing. Following, the hallway seemed to be leading towards the center of the keep. The walls and floor, carved from the asteroid’s living stone, were smooth as if someone spent considerable time leveling it out, possibly by magic. From Kai’s light, a stone door loomed in the distance.

Kai and Guo Gan listened for any signs of occupants, but shook their heads.

“Bah, this be dwarven work,” Kildo said as he pressed his ear to the stone. After a few moments, he didn’t hear anything either. “Nope, nothing be behind that door. Dwarven guarantee.” Checking for a rung or something to open it, there was nothing. “Woit?”

Kai stepped up and pushed a stone panel right next to the door. Stone ground on stone as it opened. Inside was a large square room with a similar door on the far side with another panel. There were also two creatures.

The first was a monstrous hell hound with a powerful physique covered in short, coal-black fur. Its’ eyes burned like hot coals and fangs the color of ash.

The second was the size of a small pony with four insect-like legs and a squat, humped body. It was a rust monster. Its hide was thick, lumpy, yellowish tan on the belly and rust-red on the back. Its tail ended in what looked like a double-ended paddle. Two long antennae came out of its head, one under each eye.

Flipping over the hell hound, Guo Gas bashed the creature twice with each end of his sentient quarterstaff, Qiekamis.

Wave came thrusting in as two of its prongs struck the gigantic hound.

Barking wildly, the creature opened its mouth as flames spewed across Kai, Scomatch, and Kildo. The dwarven cleric was too slow to raise his shield as his beard was singed.

The rust monster scampered across the floor at incredible speed as its mouth bit into Kai’s shin.

“Ouch!” Kai exclaimed and kicked the thing in the face. However, the plate around his shin turned a sickening rust color and began to flake off. The effect raced up his leg as the metal crumbled off. The rust monster scooped a chunk into its maw.

A loud ringing blasted the hell hound and rust monster as Scomatch cast, Shatter.

Kildo followed up by casting, Toll the Dead. Dolorous bells filled the air around the hell hound. The creature howled as blood erupted from its eyes and ears. Its form collapsed dead.

Like a spear, Guo Gan thrust Qiekamis straight into the rust monster’s face. The creature squealed as blood and ichor exploded outward, ending it. “Too much iron in your diet.”

Throwing anything metal off his person, the rust monster’s corrosive saliva continued to eat away at his plate armor. In moments, it was rusted and now useless for protection. Tossing the breastplate to the ground, it crumpled under its own weight.

Seeing the paladin effectively defenseless, Kildo reached into his hat of holding and pulled out his old chainmail shirt. Bringing it over to the triton, he said, “Here lad. It’ll be getting over yer head just fine, but might be a little short on ya.”

Nodding in thanks, Kai put it over his head. True to form, it hung slightly off his shoulders and reached just to his belly button. Not a perfect fit, but better than nothing.

Guo Gan continued towards the southern door when there was a resounding click as he stepped on a stone tile. Two additional creatures materialized in the room. The first was an oversized, giant lizard with scaley green skin. Its tongue flickered, tasting the air and the party members. The second was a gigantic, spotted hyena large enough for a person to ride, if they dared. It yipped and giggled at the party.

“Get that smile off your face,” Guo Gan snapped as Qiekamis smashed the hyena’s head. Dazed, it stumbled around.

Kai thrusted with Wave. All three trident prongs sunk into the side of the giant lizard. The creature attempted to snap its powerful jaws at the paladin, but found only open air.

Flames encompassed the room as Scomatch cast a fireball. Sculpting the spell around the party, the hyena’s fur was completely singed. The giant lizard took the full brunt of the blast. Every scale was burnt black. Its body seized up and fell over. The smell of charcoal lizard meat filled the air.

Dusting his hands, Scomatch sauntered into the room. A monstrous shiny black spider, the size of a large dog appeared next to the mage with long legs and covered with bristling wirelike hair. Its pincers snapped into the halfling’s bear foot. It tried to inject its poison, but his hide was too thick over a lifetime of walking barefoot.

“What the f…? Get off!”

Kildo cast, Toll the Dead at the hyena. Dolorous bells rang, but the dog shook them off.

A voice then spoke. “I’m not dead yet.”

“Woit?! Did that devil dog just talk?” Kildo asked. Before the dwarf could do anything else, Guo Gan twirled his quarterstaff above his head.

“…but, but why?”

Qiekamis came bashing down, cracking the hyena’s skull. The creature fell limp to the ground.

“There be something off about these creatures,” Kildo said as the monk strode past the cleric ignoring him. The elf then smashed his quarterstaff into the head of the giant spider, stunning it.

Shaking free of the spider’s bite, an orb appeared in Scomatch’s hands. Thick dark clouds formed within. He smashed the orb into the spider. A bolt of white-hot lighting struck its abdomen. It exploded in ichor and gore.

Raising his hand to stop the group, Kildo said, “Mind yer step. No one be moving. This floor be having pressure plates. I need to be marking where-”

Kai stepped towards Kildo, there was an audible click. A giant snake appeared over twenty feet long. It immediately began to constrict around the paladin’s leg. The triton thrust with Wave and all three prongs sunk into the snake’s body.

Kildo again casted, Toll the Dead. Dolorous bells rang around the snake’s head. However, the creature turned and hissed at the dwarf, shaking its head no.

Its attention diverted, Guo Gan swung Qiekamis like a bat. It smashed right behind the snake’s head. Its neck made a sickening snap. The monk then helped Kai unravel the snake’s body from around him, helping him up.

“Mind yer step lads!” Kildo shouted. The dwarf pulled out a thick piece of chalk from his hat of holding and marked the various locations where the party stepped and summoned a creature. “Be going around these point, or we be here all day.”

Pressing a stone panel next to the southern door, it opened. The party avoided where Kildo had marked the places where a member stepped and a creature appeared. Hastily leaving the room, the stone path worked its way around until an even larger room than the one they left loomed ahead. Lighted, it had sixteen massive, tall, and hulking humanoids. They resembled hairy, feral goblins standing seven feet tall. They were bugbears and took their name from their noses and fur, similar to those of bears. Their claws were not long and sharp enough to be used as weapons, so each was armed with a variety of spiked morning stars. Their patchwork of armor was sparse and second-rate. Their fur was yellow to reddish brown. Their eyes were a gambit of bestial yellow, but glassed over. Staring at nothing, they were completely stiff, as if frozen over. They didn’t move a muscle as the party approached the doorway.

A stone coffin was at the room’s far end, some ninety feet away. Off to the west, about halfway, was another corridor leading out.

“Do we be having a way to cross that floor without touching it? Ye be knowing it be activating them bugbears,” Kildo said, pointing with his war hammer.

Kai turned on his heels toward Scomatch and asked, “Do we?”

“Uh…”

“Stand back,” Guo Gan said and stepped back several yards. Breathing in deeply, he began running. His gait became faster as the monk seamlessly began running along the wall and into the room. At the slightest of angles, the elf ran the entire room’s circumference along the wall. Starting to lose his balance as he approached the far stone coffin, the monk leaped at the last second and landed hard on the casket.

Rising, Guo Gan gave a thumbs up.

Low growls came from four of the bugbears. They began to stir.

“They’re waking up!” Kai yelled from across the room to Guo Gan. The paladin attempted to gain their attention as the four bugbears focused on the monk. “Hey! Are you bears or bugs? Oh, it’s just a bunch of ugly goblins! Oh wait, they are too tall. A bunch of ugly hobgoblins!”

The bugbears turned at the insults.

“Oi! Ye be so ugly that I be thinking of casting darkness, so I don’t need to be looking at ya!” Kildo yelled and nudged the paladin for approval.

Hopping up and down in excitement at the ‘zing’ fest, Scomatch called out. “My turn! Hey, you never need to worry about mind flayers! You’d just give them indigestion!”

As the party insulted the bugbears, Guo Gan attempted to open the coffin, but his weight, awkward angle, and stone’s mass prevented him. Seeing the creatures distracted, he leaped and began running westwards along the wall towards the other corridor out of the room. He landed in the archway. Another four bugbears started waking up.

A mote of fire formed in Scomatch’s hands. Winding up, the fire bolt arched across the room and struck the stone coffin. A blasted scorch mark was now on its side, but otherwise, the cantrip had no other effect.

Kildo shored up his defenses next to Kai to hold the choke point in the southern corridor. He held his shield before him attempting to protect the halfling. However, Scomatch kept getting around the dwarf to yell more insults at the bugbears.

“You are so ugly, I’ve never seen any goblinoid that would look even better from an acid splash across the face!” Scomatch bellowed pointing at a particularly ugly and scarred bugbear.

Snarling in rage at the taunting, a series of javelins launched from the bugbears. Guo Gan stepped to the left and right, dodging each of the missiles. As Scomatch was about to hurl another insult, four javelins arched over Kildo’s head and at the diminutive mage.

“Eep!”

The halfling was peppered with three of the projectiles.

Turning, healing energy washed from Kildo’s hands into Scomatch, which a portion helped heal the cleric’s prior burns from the hell hound. The cure light wounds spell stopped Scomatch’s bleeding, but the halfling was still hurt. “Ye be knowing, ye need to be getting some protection spells-”

“Baby spells!” Scomatch interrupted, waving off the criticism. A bright streak flashed from the mage, igniting the room in flames as his fireball spell detonated. Five of the bugbears squealed in pain as the blaze engulfed them. The other eight unmoving creatures didn’t take any damage as some protective field prevented the fire from harming them.

In the western corridor, Guo Gan moved into the room to engage the active bugbears. Slaying one of the creatures with powerful bashes from Qiekamis, another went around him and into the passageway the monk just came from. Slamming his hand on a panel, the remaining eight bugbears stirred from their suspended animation sleep.

Pulling javelins, they began to hurl them at Guo Gan. The monk stepped one way and then jumped to another, curving snake-like and diving into a roll and back onto his feet. He dodged all of their spears.

“Bugbears! Come out to play! Bugbears come out to play-ayy!” Kai chanted as he ‘clanked’ three empty vile flasks on his fingers rhythmically.

One of the goblinoids snarled in anger and charged at the paladin. There was no thought of defense, but pure rage. It would never learn from its mistake, as it impaled itself on Wave trying to get at its opponent. It died as it lived…stupidly.

More javelins sailed at Scomatch. The nimble halfling dodged as best as he could, but there were too many as one struck.

Unable to protect Scomatch directly, Kildo ran into a group of three bugbears to draw their line of fire away from the halfling. Swiping with his war hammer, the bugbear stepped out of the way. However, it was a ploy. The creature became off-balance for a moment and that was all he needed. The dwarf barreled forward and smashed his shield into its kneecaps. The bugbear fell hard to the ground.

Taking advantage of the downed creature, Kai charged, striking wildly with Wave. The trident ‘pinged’ as it struck the stone ground, missing. The bugbear tried to roll away from the paladin, but Kai followed and stabbed it with one of the weapon’s prongs.

Toward the western section of the room, Guo Gan swung Qiekamis in wide arching circles. It kept the bugbears at bay, but he didn’t score any hits.

“Why aren’t these things dead yet!” Scomatch lamented, kicking at several of the javelins thrown at him, most with his blood on them. Another streak of fire arched into the room. The halfling’s fireball turned the space into a crematorium. The remaining bugbears reeled as the fire burned them where they stood. However, seeing the flames being sculpted around the party, one of the bugbears, a female, moved in and hugged Guo Gan. It provided enough protection to keep him from being cooked alive.

The wood elf and the female bugbear stared at each other, almost longingly, as the flames died. She smiled at her own cleverness. Dolorous bells rang as Kildo cast, Toll the Dead. The creatures seized up as the necrotic damage finished off the last of them. Guo Gan reached out as the bugbear fell.

Scomatch began to move across the room, going around the bodies of the charred bugbears towards the stone coffin and its extremely heavy lid. Stopping before it, he called out, “Do I have to do everything?”

The rest of the party circled the coffin. The stone was thick and extremely heavy. The group couldn’t lift it, but had to push it off. It crashed with a resounding and substantial, echoing ‘thud’.

Going to his tippy-toes, Scomatch looked in and a broad smile of greed spread across the halfling’s face.

Kildo peered in. There were thousands of silver pieces with even more copper spread within. However, four beautifully cut gems resting on top would be worth more than all the coins. Under the gems was a flat piece of metal with a circle at one end. Its use unknown. However, the rest of the party was pleased with the haul. Treasure at long last!


Bugbear Coffin Treasure Room

· 4 gems worth 500 gp each

· 2,000 sp

· 6,000 cp

Party Split:

· 2,000 gp / 5 = 400 gp

· 2,000 sp / 5 = 400 sp

· 6,000 cp / 5 = 1,200 cp

Comments


RECENT POSTS:
SEARCH BY TAGS:
No tags yet.
bottom of page