Episode 1: A Helping Hand

Rhodrick dashes across the room and sinks his twin blades deep into the creature's chest. It lets out a gurgle as it sinks to the ground.

Almost simultaneously, Haesh slams into the creature previously hit by Parallel's arrow. The warhammer strikes the fletching like a nail and drives the tip out through the creature's back. It falls backward, arms and legs splayed out.

The two remaining creatures in the left passageway all let out a low moan. It sounds like a dull vibration from inside the chest, and it echoes along the cavern walls. They then turn and scurry over and around the rocks, disappearing and descending further into the cave.

After the moaning subsides, the group of creatures in the right passageway advance, stepping over their companion sleeping on the ground. They move southward towards Jandral and Golwen, sniffing and turning their heads from side to side. Their mouths are slightly open as if tasting the air, revealing jagged and sharp teeth. Large sticks of wood are held in their grimy hands, and rock or bone has been lashed to them to create a haphazardly-spiked club. The two fey-blooded individuals can see that where the eyes should be on these humanoids' heads are instead closed and sunken lids.

As the group nears Jandral, Golwen, and Parallel, their heads suddenly whip fast in their direction in intense focus. They lift their clubs with a guttural roar and amble quickly across the floor.

From behind and further back in the right passageway, four more of these creatures lumber into the dim light.

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Parallel slips out of the shadows and slides his blades deep into the creature before it can even react. There is the barest of breath from the creature's lips before it sinks to the ground.

Parallel has heard mention of sightless beings that lurk in the dark. A degenerate race that were once human worshipers and servants of the illithid, centuries of perversion and mutation underground has created what is now known as grimlocks. Blind, but with heightened senses to compensate, grimlocks have no difficulty finding prey and victims to feed upon.

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One of the creatures turns to face Rhodrick as the warrior closes in. It raises its club high for a crushing blow, when Rhodrick's thin blades skewer through its shoulder and heart. It stands motionless with mouth agape, before Rhodrick releases his rapiers from the creature's body and it slumps to the ground.

Jandral realizes that these creatures are grimlocks, and while they look like the underground stone and can easily blend in, they are humanoids that eat, sleep, and bleed. The fiery bolt smacks the nearest grimlock in the shoulder, singing hair off the chest and head while cauterizing a dark pit into the flesh. The grimlock reels, but remains on its feet.

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Golwen's fiery attack shoots across the cavern, lighting up the darkness. The bolt streaks across and explodes against the wall, snuffing out the flame.

However, in a brief bit of illumination, a streak of singed and burnt hair crests Parallel's head, carving a straight furrow in his once-pristine coiffure. The acrid smell seems to make both the grimlock and the rest of you scrunch your nose.

The wounded grimlock touches the burnt area on its chest, then turns its head towards Haesh at the warrior's approach. Before it can lift its club in defense, Haesh swats it aside. The hammer crushes the grimlock's face and it falls with a wet thud.

The other four grimlocks lumber towards you, low rumblings coming from their throats. They sniff the air, heads turning left and right, but they stride in a straight line. As they draw closer, they appear to zero in on your presence, and charge.

One grimlock nears Haesh, lifting its club and swinging down for his head. Haesh easily steps back to avoid the blow.

The last one, however, stops at the magically-induced unconscious body of the grimlock affected by Golwen's spell. With a swift kick and a grunt, it wakes the sleeping grimlock up.Map

The grimlock furthest from the party has just finished waking its sleeping ally, when it is suddenly struck by fiery blast that leaves a singed welt.

The one before Parallel brings back its club for another smash, when two blades bite into its abdomen. It howls in pain, then seems to focus its attention on the halfling.

Rhodrick didn't expect the other grimlock to charge so quickly, and his rapiers aren't quite ready to meet the attack. His target ducks under the lunge and swats aside the low thrust with its club, closing in.Map