Aug 22, 2024 5:02 am
As the party prepares to resume their journey, Digger really, really wants to be Eozindra's guide, but the other tieflings remind him how noisy he is, and he subsides begrudgingly. They have a hurried conversation, and finally Tandua is selected as the most stealthy of them. The little tube-mouthed halfling leads the way further into the tunnels on silent feet, peering ahead by the light of a guttering oil lamp he holds in one tiny fist.
Tandua draws upon his infernal heritage as naturally as breathing, dimming the flame to the tiniest flicker (inadvertently echoing what Eozindra had done with Adran's glowing coin), just barely enough to see by. The darkness of the glittering red walls closes in around you. "Sometimes we have to sneak back to the surface to get food," Tandua whispers with his high, tin-whistle voice to drive back the looming silence, gesturing to the burial niches. "When we first came here, we thought there might be treasures - things we could sell - in with the bones in these holes. There were...but the bones don't like it when their stuff is taken." He is quiet again for a few steps, remembering. "...so we stopped looking."
There are a few times when the route that Tandua takes you varies from what Eozindra sees as the more direct way on Tykus' map. "No." Tandua twitches his proboscis. "This way is safer."
But eventually their path curves back around to where the "X" is marked on Tykus' map, and the red brick gives way to grey bricks that seem leached of all color. It is at about that time that Tandua stops and listens intently, tense and quivering. After half a minute of silence, he relaxes a little. "That passage," the little guy points, "is where the oldest part of the tunnels are. It's also where the Lord Mayor's Men come and go. You'll find your Abbey there, but I can't go any further. I'm not a hero like all of you. I need to go back now. May Tilthar and Mirrah bless you, and Ellendaed guide your hands." He begins to turn away, then gives a start and adds in his whistling little voice: "Oh! And Lunea light your path, too!" He bows and then retreats.
The party proceeds further down this new tunnel, which narrows and, after a few minutes, ends in a brick wall.
What do you do?
Tandua draws upon his infernal heritage as naturally as breathing, dimming the flame to the tiniest flicker (inadvertently echoing what Eozindra had done with Adran's glowing coin), just barely enough to see by. The darkness of the glittering red walls closes in around you. "Sometimes we have to sneak back to the surface to get food," Tandua whispers with his high, tin-whistle voice to drive back the looming silence, gesturing to the burial niches. "When we first came here, we thought there might be treasures - things we could sell - in with the bones in these holes. There were...but the bones don't like it when their stuff is taken." He is quiet again for a few steps, remembering. "...so we stopped looking."
There are a few times when the route that Tandua takes you varies from what Eozindra sees as the more direct way on Tykus' map. "No." Tandua twitches his proboscis. "This way is safer."
But eventually their path curves back around to where the "X" is marked on Tykus' map, and the red brick gives way to grey bricks that seem leached of all color. It is at about that time that Tandua stops and listens intently, tense and quivering. After half a minute of silence, he relaxes a little. "That passage," the little guy points, "is where the oldest part of the tunnels are. It's also where the Lord Mayor's Men come and go. You'll find your Abbey there, but I can't go any further. I'm not a hero like all of you. I need to go back now. May Tilthar and Mirrah bless you, and Ellendaed guide your hands." He begins to turn away, then gives a start and adds in his whistling little voice: "Oh! And Lunea light your path, too!" He bows and then retreats.
The party proceeds further down this new tunnel, which narrows and, after a few minutes, ends in a brick wall.
What do you do?
