Ch. 1 - The Keep on the Borderlands

Kraagor looks back at the others who had opted to take it slow. If the dwarf had smelled before, he stunk now.

Father Petronius accepts the mapping implements from Delfarious. "Yes, I do agree with Dalvarious, we should move slowly as to avoid slipping down in all this guano. This should give us plenty of time to circle and map this large room and note the many tunnels which leads to it."

Ezra slows down along with the others and provides light for Father Petronius.

Picking himself up from the slippery guano, Kraagor continues to scout ahead of the well-lit party. He quickly disappears from the rest of the party's view. First Kraagor, and then the party, bumps into heavy corpses littering the floor of this chamber—pig-faced orcs and snarling gnolls. The bodies are slashed and broken as if a great melee took place here.

After roughly an hour of fanning out over the huge room, the party fully maps out this place. They stand in a 200' square room with frescoes wrapping around the walls. Bats do indeed cover the entire ceiling, and guano the entire floor. Anything that could be called furniture has probably long since rotted away.

In the middle of the north wall, a crumbling set of stone doors are flung wide (the threshold is about 30' wide), but it is too dark to see what lies beyond. In the middle of the east and west walls are similar passages (but without doors) that are each 40' wide. Both are also too dark to see into.

Also at the end of this hour, Ezra's torch begins to gutter as the flame eats the last of its fuel.
Finally, for context, the stairs down to this first room were 60' wide and extend 240' in a straight line from the southern wall of the entry hall.

Farem follows his companions at their pace, holding light for the others if need be.

Unhappy with the amount of guano on his boots, Delfarious examines the humanoid corpses. How long have the things been dead, then man muses silently to himself. Are they rotting? Covered in bat shit like the floor? Is there a way to tell who one the battle?

Checking one of the dead creatures for coins and other valuables, the bald man motions with his head to the other bodies, instructing his fellows to loot them.

Farem nods at Delfarious, and cautiously starts searching the nearest corpses.

With his torch gone Ezra joins the looting efforts, careful so he won't slip and fall.

There are about a dozen orc bodies and a dozen gnoll ones. Looting them, the party finds axes, clubs, and spears among the orcs and halberds, greatswords, and longbows among the gnolls. All the armor is dented and torn beyond repair (and none of it is sized for a demihuman anyway).

The orcs have six days of trail rations among them, cured meat and other hard stuff. Surprisingly, among some of the gnoll bodies are kobolds, their canine snouts flecked with blood. Each kobold, dressed in ragged leather armor and with a crude spear, has 20 cp on its person.

"Pile the best of weapons, there!" Delfarious says as he pockets the coins for division later. "We can retrieve them on our way out if we do not find superior troves below, deeper within the bowels of this place!"

When the group is ready to move on, He gestures to one of the dark passages leading out of the huge chamber. "Shall we start there?!"

After doing as instructed, Farem nods at Delfarious, ready to explore further.

Kraagor takes the lead once again, much to the chagrin of those with a nose.

If it still interests Delfarious, the corpses are only a few days old, but it's impossible to tell who won. Everyone is pretty equally hacked up.

---

The party slowly and carefully moves out of the great hall and begins along the east passage. The colorful frescoes end at the threshold (even the guano peters away). From there on, it's just bare stone walls carved out of the living rock itself. The hall continues east past the range of the lantern.

Darlene keeps a close watch at the rear of the party to be certain that nothing comes up behind them.

Farem keeps silent, breathing steadily while watching Kraagor intently.

"Careful now, plague bearers be waiting for us. Rats. Big ones, four of them. Best scare them away lest we all end up looking as decrepit as that Eltrezar fellow."