The journey south from Limerock lasted three days, enough time for our party - the half-elven priest Thorail, the high elven warlock Elwood, the dwarven crusader Aragul, and myself, along with our five Limerockian refugees - to agree upon a path through Haagenbaum and south into the human nation of Althea. Unfortunately, our planning was for naught...Upon arriving at Haagenbaum, we realized that things were not going to be as easy as we had assumed. The northern gate had been buried beneath a landslide of heavy rock and stone, leaving us little hope of continue along the road, which continued beneath the rubble and into the city. We would have turned back then, had Gurgie, one of the dwarven refugees, not stumbled across the ravine.
The jaggen crevasse was six feet wide and twice as long, and led down into darkness. The sound of rushing water betrayed the presence of an underground river of some type, though my eyes were not keen enough to pierce the shadows below. The others were far more up to the task, however, and informed myself and the three human refugees that there was indeed a river some ten feet below. A river which seemed to run directly into the city ahead.
After only a few minutes of discussion, we agreed that we would have to risk the river; Thorail was in desperate need of arrows, having expended so many in our earlier battles, while the others were anxious to find a way through Haagenbaum. Aragul instructed the refugees to remain on the surface with our cart while Thorail tied a rope around the cart and lowered in down into the river. After removing their armor and tying it to their backs, Aragul and Thorail descended downward, followed by Elwood and myself. We soon found ourselves engulfed in darkness and icy water.
With no light sources to guide our way, we were forced to rely upon Aragul's darkvision to lead us forwards. Due to a strange quirk of dwarven physiology, they possess the ability to see clearly in absolute darkness, though the exact reasons escape me. Those readers who wish a more in-depth study of dwarven anatomy are advised to look towards the notes of my colleague, Lucius VanEiton. Though his name is surrounded with various dark and sorrid rumors, he was a valuable ally against our demonic enemies, and one of the finest minds I have ever encountered. But, I digress...
Aragul led us onwards through the ice water, until Elwood and Thorail both called out; their sharp elven eyes had picked out traces of light up ahead. Continuing forward, we found that the tunnel had collapsed ahead. This was both fortunate and unfortunate, for while our path ahead was not blocked, the collapse had also breeched the wall of a nearby room, granting us access to the dwarven complex.
For the sake of clarity, I have enclosed a rough map of the structure, or at least those parts we were able to explore before we made our frantic retreat. I hope the reader will excuse my rather poor cartography skills.
Once we had pulled ourselves out of the river, Elwood and I wrang out our wet clothing while Aragul and Thorail changed into their armor. The half-elf lit a lantern that he had brought with him, allowing us to better discern our surroundings. It seemed to be a guard outpost of some sort, though Aragul mentioned later that such things were common in the lower levels of Dwarven cities.Overhead, the sounds of battle could be heard; either the demons had begun their assault of Haagenbaum after their attack upon Groznia, or the battle yet raged on. Somehow, I suspected it was the latter of the two. Once we had changed, we rechecked our supplies, and prepared to search the complex.
Two paths were set before us; one led to the right, while another led up a short flight of stairs ahead of us. The architecture seemed to suggest that another path had once existed to our left, but that way had been sealed by a cave-in, likely the same one that collapsed the gates above us. We decided to split up, with Thorail and myself taking the rightmost passage while Aragul and Elwood took the stairs.
Our split was brief, however. Thorail and I progressed forward only a short distance before out path was blocked by a portcullis. After ascertaining that it was indeed locked into place, we returned to the others. They had also encountered a portcullis, though set on the right-hand wall; it was clear that it led to the same area as the one Thorail and I had discovered.
Deciding to return after exploring the other doorway, we continued along the open path to find outselves in an incredibly large room. The floor and ceilings had been recently damaged by some kind of seismic activity, and much of the western floor had fallen into a deep ravine. Similar crevasses dotted the room, each one exhaling clouds of foul smelling gas and glowing with a sinister red light.
Ahead of us, a mound of dwarven bodies rested in a strewn heap surrounding one of these pits. They numbered a dozen or more, and as we watched a limp body fell from a rift in the ceiling above and into the pit. These bodies were those which had not fallen entirely into the glowing pit.
The sounds of our feet against the stone, or perhaps the light from Thorail's lantern, alerted the denizens of the room, which pulled their snouts out from the mound of carrion to glare at us with black, soulless eyes. At first, I could not place the creatures, until one of us - Elwood, I believe - muttered the word 'rat.'
Indeed there were rats, of some type; the sheer difference in size between these creatures, which stood nearly two feet tall at the shoulder and almost twice as long, was so different than a normal rat that my mind simply could not place them.
As Aragul prepared to charge the three beasts, the closest rat turned and lunged at Elwood, who had moved to the side to allow himself a better shot. As it attacked, its mouth opened normally, and then another mouth opened inside that, though horizontally. Clearly these were no ordinary rats.
(Author's Note: We later learned that these creatures were indeed normal rats, or rather, they had been such at one time. The scholar Remmy Eastwood has proposed that extraplanar creatures 'infect' the surrounding area with their very essence, thus causing the local flaura and fauna to twist and mutate, oftentimes independant of the extraplanar being's knowledge. At the time of this writing, however, his theory remains just that - a theory. Still, my own experiences would certainly support such a hypothesis.)
A quick but brutal battle followed, with Aragul dispatching one of the creatures while Elwood and Thorail defeated the second and third. The arrival of a fourth creature from the right (it scurried up from the collapsed area) caused a moment of panic, but it, too, was quickly slain by Aragul.
Unfortunately, the creatures were host to thousands of tiny, crayfish-like parasites which splattered against the warriors as they slashed and beat the rats to death. Immediately after the battle we smashed what creatures we could before pushing the remains of the rats and the parasitic creatures into the nearest pit. We then took a quick trip back to the river to wash the ichor from our bodies; with unknown parasites and mutated rats, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Returning once more to the large room, we turned our attentions to the dwarven bodies; both Aragul and Thorail said some brief prayers for their souls before searching their bodies. We were low on supplies, and Aragul assured us that they would have wanted their deaths to do some good. The dwarf relieved one of his fallen brethren of a high quality battle axe, while Elwood removed a strange, pearl-tipped wand from a robed woman who had been burnt beyond recognition. Thorail, meanwhile, cursed at the lack of arrows among the bodies as he removed some golden ringlets from another dwarf's beard.
The grisly task behind us, we took a moment to consider our options. Looking towards the collapsed section of the room, we agreed that nobody wished to hop across glowing chasms to reach the far side. This left only the barred areas we had passed earlier.
Returning to the closest set of portcullises, Aragul turned turned his might towards pulling the portcullis upwards as the rest of us braced it with heavy stones from the previous room. Once we had lifted it as far as it was able to go (only a few inches), Thorail stripped out of his armor and slid underneath the bottom, barely managing to squeeze through. Once on the other side, he turned his attention towards the second portcullis. The winch was around the corner and to the right, and with some rope and a bit of clever maneuvering he was able to ease the gate open.
Once through, Thorail gave us some bad news: The controls for the first portcullis were damaged by the cave-in, but he believed himself able to reach the controls for the portcullis he and I had encountered earlier. Leaving him within the room, we hurried to the other gates, arriving just as Thorail cranked them upwards. Evidently the portcullis room we had left him in overlooked the one we had just entered; once inside, it was a simple matter for him to lower himself to the ground and unwinch the gates.
The next room was a well-stocked guard post; I armed myself with a light crossbow after the others insisted upon it, and all of us stocked up on bolts. Thorail once again commented (rather colorfully) on the lack of arrows among the supplies. He helped himself to a battle axe, however, and Elwood found two jars which had contained a faintly glowing paste. I quickly deciphered the dwarven runes on their surface; the jars contained healing salve, evidently of a magical variety. Seeming pleased with his discovery, Elwood stowed the jars while Aragul said a quick prayer over the body of a dwarf Thorail had discovered in his portcullis room. Once the dwarf's soul had been put to rest, we continued onward.
The next room took my breath away; the floor had caved in completely, leaving nothing more than a rough, rubble-strewn surface some ten feet below us. More shocking, however, was the giant chasm that had been torn into the earth; a similar rift had been torn in the room's ceiling, and though I could not see much of anything above us, the sounds of battle which floated downwards only hinted at the epic battle which was raging above us.
Another surprise fell past us after we had lowered ourselves into the room and began to cross to the other side. A deep voice speaking some unknown language thundered overhead, followed by a sudden shout of surprise. Two armored, flailing figures fell past us from above; they were visible for only a moment, but Aragul and I were both able to make out the face of Van Kegthumper, High Priest of Nyrgund, as he fell past us. Our shocked expressions were not lost upon our companions; after looking over the edge of the pit and reluctantly deciding that nothing could be done, we turned away.
The far side of the room held two exits, though both were ten feet overhead. The first, to our right, seemed to have connected to this room before its collapse, while the second led into a hallway whose wall had collapsed along with larger room. We decided upon the latter of the two options, and had soon boosted ourselves up into the hall. Ornamental swords and shields had tumbled from the wall, and rubble plastered the floor. It did not take long to explore the small area; one way seemed to lead upwards into the city proper, while the other led through a partially collapsed hallway on the same level.
We were still a bit shaken over the death of Van, I think. It was decided that the upper route would have to wait until all our other options were exhausted; none of use were eager to join the raging battle overhead. In a similar vein, we were not eager to squeeze our way through a tight, crumbling hallway while other options existed. We backed out into the collapsed room and turned to the other path.
The room revealed to us after pulling ourselves up was relatively undamaged, compared to the rest of the complex. Large barrels filled one corner of the room while another stairway in the back led upwards. Thorail was just about to say something when a deep, alien voice spoke from the room above us. None of us could understand it or the small, squeeky voice which answered it, but it was obvious something important was being discussed. Cursing my ignorance of this strange tongue, we quietly inspected the barrels and were pleased to find that they contained salted meats. The others rolled a barrel out to the collapsed room and carefully lowered it down to Thorail while I took charge of the lantern.
That was about the time everything went bad.
A small creature flapped downwards from the large hole in the ceiling behind us. It could only have been about a foot tall, with a wingspan twice as wide. The creature's body was thin and frail, though its long tail ended in a sharp stinger akin to what one would find on a scorpion. As it saw us, the demon let out a screaching cry in that same alien tongue, and then dove towards Aragul.
From that point on, there was little that we could do other than flee towards the exit. The creature's movements were supernaturally quick, and none of us could strike it. Its tail lashed out again and again, stabbing into our bodies and injecting us with its poison. Looking back, I would hazard to guess that its body produces a very powerful neurotoxin that works very quickly to paralyze its prey. Though it took only a minute, by the time we had fought our way back the entrance, those of us who had been stung were sluggish and loosing all feeling in our limbs.
Aragul did what he could to buy us time to escape, but the creature seemed to catch onto his plan very quickly - this was no mindless demon intent only upon death. I am told that it flipped about and flew back up the hole from which it had come, all the while shrieking and gibbering its warning.
We had just begun to prepare to enter the river when three of the tiny winged creatures (I know whether they were new adversaries, or whether our original aggressor was among them, for they all looked alike) attacked us from the other flank. Aragul, Thorail, and Elwood did their best to hold the creatures back as they shouted at me to make my escape. Such nobility and sacrifice!
And though I fled, I was determined not to let their tale of valor end so early. I hurried back up the underground river, fighting against the current as I swam with a strength I did not know I possessed. Once I had reached the rope, I shouted upwards towards the others. We were under attack! Hurry!
The three humans we had rescued (Brent, Patrick, and Eliza) were soon sliding down the rope and hurrying off into the darkness, heedless of the danger. Meanwhile, the two dwarves we had rescued (Grunthor and Maddox) stayed behind and began to prepare for an immediate departure.
Brent and Patrick encountered Thorail halfway through the tunnel, and there was only a moment of confusion before they threw their arms around his numb and nearly paralyzed body and helped him to the rope. He was still able to cling tightly to the rope, and the two dwarves quickly pulled him upwards and helped him onto the cart.
While Thorail made his escape, Eliza and myself pushed forward, soon reaching the collapsed wall that led into Haagenbaum's inner areas. In the light of Thorail's fallen lantern, we could see Aragul standing toe-to-toe with two of the creatures on the stairwell, beating them backwards even as he shouted at Elwood to escape. The High Elf was just as stubborn as the dwarf, however, and stood his ground as he tossed globes of searing light towards the tiny demons.
I called out to them that we had returned to cover their escape as Eliza armed herself and the returning Brent and Patrick with the heavy crossbows we had looted from the dwarven complex. As Elwood and Aragul made their (reluctant) retreat, a barrage of bolts lanced towards the winged creatures, causing them to retreat in obvious annoyance.
Deciding not to press out luck, I snatched up the fallen lantern as we hurried into the river. Those minutes seemed to stretch into hours as I struggled through the icy water, the lantern held high to keep its fire dry. Just when I had begun to despair, a joyous shout came from ahead of me; we had reached the rope!
A minute longer and we were all above ground once more, tossing our things into the ready cart. Despite the numerous welts that dotted his body, Aragul once again took charge of the cart, pulling it forward as the others walked briskly behind and beside it, offering what assistance they could.
I know not why the winged creatures did not pursue us further; perhaps they had an aversion to daylight? Or were they content that we had left the city, and cared not for our actions beyond its walls? Or was there another reason I could not even begin to fathom?
Truly, I cannot say. I know only that we turned our backs on Haagenbaum that day, and retraced our steps towards Limerock.
