src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/QuestforGlory_wht_bkg.jpg"
style="width: 223px; height: 170px;" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5">Quest
Journal #3

Sewer Rescue

style="font-style: italic;">By Ralsu

Shayalyn met me outside the Leaky Dinghy at dawn
of our
second day inside Stormreach. She looked refreshed and almost happy to
see me.

“Shall we head out?” she inquired. Neither of us
had
mentioned traveling together after collecting href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=61">The
Miller's Debt for Berrigan Enge; it was a silent pact between two
people who had endured much together in a very short time.

We made our way to Aspirant's Corner, where I went
into an
armory called “Hammer and Chain.” Shayalyn visited with the locals out
on the
street.

The shop sweltered from the fires of the forge and
bustled
with people. The merchants were too busy to approach me, so I looked
around,
listening to the conversations of the customers. I knew I'd eventually
have to
gain enough trust to be allowed entrance into the Stormreach library.
Until
then, I would have to investigate gossip, rumors, and old wives' tales.

A gruff, balding dwarf with shaggy brown beard was
talking
to a giant of a man over near a display of shields. The dwarf talked
about a
woman kidnapped by kobolds and the grieving husband who offered a
reward for
her rescue.

The account of the kidnapped woman struck me as
odd. Kobolds
sometimes killed because of their savagery, but they seldom kidnapped
without
hoping to gain an advantage. The fact that they'd kidnapped a woman of
low
station told me that they weren't holding out for a ransom.

We'd spent weeks discussing necromantic magic in
the Church
of the Silver Flame, part of the indoctrination of a new generation of
fanatics
bent on purging Eberron of evil. Perhaps the kobolds acted for someone
more
cunning—someone looking for a body with which to practice his macabre
conjuring. The disappearance of a commoner would certainly attract
little
attention from the guards.

I rehearsed my story for Edrun. I was the disciple
of the
Church, who'd heard of his tragedy through gossip that Brother Augustus
of the
Wavecrest Inn had reported. The lie included enough names from the
local area
to sell it, and Edrun would be more trusting with a member of the
Church.
Sadly, too many people were trusting of the Silver Flame.

I would talk to the man before meeting up with
Shaylayn.
Then I would need to convince her to follow me into the sewers another
time.
Her healing magic would be needed if I encountered the kobolds.

Shayalyn waited for me just outside the Hammer and
Chain. Damn!

“Ralsu! I'm glad I found you,” she spurted. “I met
a
man—Edrun Faern. His wife, Arissa, has been kidnapped by kobolds, and I
think
we should help him.”

I contained a laugh and merely bowed. “As you
wish.”

*****

I was first into the sewer this time. I took
inventory of
our surroundings as Shayalyn descended the rope. I heard no rushing
water. In
fact, the floor beneath my feet was dry.

“Always the sewers for us,” the cleric said as she
dropped
from the rope. She rubbed her reddened hands on her hips and drew her
mace from
its loop on her belt.

“Actually, I think this tunnel has been cut off
from the
rest of the sewer system,” I explained.

Shayalyn had already moved ahead of me to smash a
rotting
barrel. She bent down to scoop up some coins. “You wanna get that one?”
She
gestured to a second barrel situated in an alcove opposite her.

She moved forward and covered her face. “The
stench is
disgusting,” she rasped.

I had to move forward to get the full effect, and
I
instantly regretted the move. A pipe to our left issued a wafting
breeze of rancid
vegetables and excrement. Water no longer flowed through the pipes, but
air
certainly did!

“It's no accident the kobolds entered this sewer,”
the
cleric muttered rhetorically.

We rounded a corner to our right and saw href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/captors.jpg"> alt="kobold captors"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/captors.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 228px;" align="left">a
human
woman being
roughly handled by a pair of kobolds of on the far side of iron bars. I
charged
ahead, but one kobold closed and locked the iron gate while the other
ushered
the woman ahead though a shallow pool of muck. I rattled the door
futilely.

Shayalyn howled in pain from behind me. I wheeled
around to
see her squaring off against a kobold. Another was scampering out of
one of the
inoperable waterways. I focused my magic and began telling the second
kobold
about the room it was entering. I described a carnival, narrating the
whole
scene—clowns, freaks, and patrons—and the kobold froze in amazement. It
was
seeing the images I rendered.

Shayalyn had dispatched her kobold by this time
and hefted
her mace in the direction of my hypnotized victim. It, too, was down
before
long. One kobold corpse had a key fixed about a large metallic hoop on
its
belt. The key opened the iron gate.

The sludge beyond was so thick with refuse that we
had to
concentrate to prevent losing our boots in muck. We trudged to a solid
metal
door. Without hesitation, I turned the nearby valve and the door lifted
up
enough for us to pass through.

The new room was a slender rectangle with two
ledges
overlooking a pit with several drains below. A metal drawbridge
connected the
two ledges, and Shayalyn spotted the woman with her captors on the far
side.
One kobold was turning a valve to raise the drawbridge as the other
hauled the
woman down a corridor.

My companion soon found a ladder and started down.
I heard a
hissing noise and saw a flash of metal fly glance off of her backpack.
The
impact startled her and she fell from the ladder. I jumped from the
ledge after
her, twisting my ankle.

I looked up to see a pair of kobolds href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/kobolds.jpg"> alt="kobold attack"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/kobolds.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 147px;" align="right">converging on
Shayalyn
with their backs to me. I hobbled over and began hacking at the nearest
foe.
The distraction allowed the woman to gain her feet, and she immediately
went
after the second kobold. In a few moments, both kobolds lay dead at our
feet.
The cleric's eyes flickered silent gratitude.

Shayalyn headed for a ladder that led up to the
second
ledge, but I noticed a dead-end tunnel with a chest on the lower level.
I
opened the chest's lid and heard a clicking sound.

“Ralsu! Get out of that tunnel!” Shayalyn shrieked.

By the time I emerged back into the chasm beneath
the
ledges, four giant brown spiders, each hissing and spitting venom,
surrounded
Shayalyn. I had to move fast. I limped up to the closest spider and
began
slashing it with my rapier until it turned on me.

Then I ran as best I could.

I staggered in a semicircle away from Shayalyn and
back
parallel to her on the opposite side of a floor drain. I made my way to
the
ladder she'd used earlier. Safely atop the first ledge, I began
encouraging my
companion to seek higher ground.

“Shay! Head for a ladder!” I urged, but she was
trapped
between the three spiders still on her. I sheathed my rapier and
loosened my
bow, thinking to draw the spiders' attention with a few arrows. I crept
as
close to the edge of the ledge as I dared and readied an arrow.

Suddenly, a glob of venom splashed in my face—I'd
forgotten
about the fourth spider awaiting me at the base of the ladder! The
arrow flew
from my hands and I fell backwards, writhing in agony and trying to ply
the
stinging goop from my eyes.

href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/spider.jpg"> alt="spider concept art"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/spider.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 300px; height: 140px;">

“Gone,” she said softly. I saw welts along her
face and neck
from the spider toxin. She pressed a hand to her face and muttered an
incantation. Soon, her face was normal. I looked over the ledge to see
four
giant spider carcasses with several arrows protruding from their
bulbous
abdomens. Yellow ichor oozed from their wounds.

Once we reached the second ledge, I turned the
valve to
lower the drawbridge. If we needed a hasty egress, I wanted that bridge
in
place. Then I followed Shayalyn down a narrow corridor that ended at
another
metal door.

After using the valve that opened the door, I
dropped down
into the stagnant waters below and was greeted by three kobolds. I
started
casting a spell, and soon two kobolds were enthralled by my magic. We
made
short work of them and continued though the slush.

We ascended a ladder into a new chamber. An empty
chamber.

“I don't like this,” Shayalyn complained.

We moved a few paces forward and then stopped
short. I
gestured to a series of square holes in the floor. The cleric nodded
and
stepped forward, careful to keep her body clear of the area around the
holes.
Instantly, a row of spikes href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/spike_trap.jpg"> alt="spike trap"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/spike_trap.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 134px;" align="left">emerged from each of
the holes in the
flooring.

“No problem,” I shrugged as I squeezed between two
spikes
and moved ahead of Shay. As I extended my right foot forward, the
cleric
grabbed my ponytail and yanked back so hard that I fell to ground.

“Hey! The hair!” I protested. Just then, a pair of
blades
the size of a grown halfling swept out from opposite sides of the room
and
sliced through the air where my ankle would have been.

“Get up, dammit!” she ordered, heaving on my
leather
cuirass. As I wobbled to my feet, the spikes shot out of the floor
again and
receded. The blades chopped through the air ahead a second time.

“We'll have to time it carefully,” she admonished.
After the
next cycle of spikes, she ran through the hall and jumped just in time
to avoid
the sweeping blades. I followed two cycles later and we proceeded down
another
narrow passage.

As we approached a ladder, we heard the fugative
kobolds
completing a deal to sell the Lady Faern. We didn't take time to see
who the
third party was; instead we starting climbing the ladder.

Shaylayn reached the top first and was greeted by
mammoth
humanoid with gray hide and yellow skin wielding a club that could have
passed
for a tree trunk. “Hobgoblin! Hurry!” she wailed as the hobgoblin laid
into
her.

I sprang up from the ladder and started chanting,
hoping to
hypnotize the beast. It spun around and swung its huge club at me.
Though I got
my shield up just in time to deflect the brunt of the blow, the force
still
knocked me to the floor.

From my prone position, I saw him swing his club
in a
backhand arc at Shay. She and her shield held steady, and she delivered
a
vicious blow to his neck with her mace. The hobgoblin dropped to the
ground
unconscious and I rose and ran through its neck with my rapier. The
cleric
looked away in disgust.

Shayalyn rushed over to untie Arissa Faern while I
examined
a nearby chest. “Are you seriously thinking of opening that?” she
demanded.

“It was the hobgoblin's payment for me,” Arissa
clarified.
“Beware: a hobgoblin cleric went down the far corridor before you got
he href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/Gloves_reward.jpg"> alt="gloves of sustenance"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Site-Graphics/Gloves_reward.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 125px;" align="right">re.”

Once we were sure that Arissa was unharmed, we
informed her
of the floor traps and bade her head back to the surface while we
sought the
second hobgoblin. We found him soon enough, and he concentrated his
foul magic
on Shayalyn until the two of us could overpower him. Then we returned
to see
Edrun Faern back in Aspirant's Corner.

The sun was high in the sky as we reached street
level once
again. Shayalyn visited the appreciative Edrun, who rewarded us each
with a
piece of his family's legacy. To me he gave a pair of gloves that
glowed with
arcane energy. He claimed they would help mend my wounds during my
sleep.

Back at the Leaky Dinghy, Shay and I were hailed
as true
warriors and treated to some fine drink. I had followed another dead
end; there
was no powerful wizard or necromancer behind the kidnappings. Thus, I
was no
closer to finding the lore I sought. At the very least, we were
becoming famous
for our exploits. If I could convince Shayalyn to stick with me, we'd
find what
I wanted in Stormreach. One way or another.