Adventurers
There was much discussion amongst the party whether it would be better to rest a night to give Koko a chance to do some praying or to return immediately to assault the monastery before the underground denizens had a chance to regroup. In the end caution won out, and the first rays of light found the party cleric, still forced to carry his cursed mace lest his hand be rooted to the ground, praying over the accumulated wounds of various party members and hirelings. As he did so, the others enquired more of the rescued dwarf, Greth Ironhand, as to what they might find beneath. The former prisoner alerted them to the presence of more hair-less ones whose mere touch could send full grown men keeling over.
Returning to the monastery, the party once more descended the stairs but this time found the way at the bottom blocked by a hastily constructed wooden door and frame. They sent their largest members, Rarder and his retainer Chortlested, ahead to break down the door, which they did with little effort. The force dislodged several stone slates positioned above the door, however, and while Rarder was on the ball enough to leap back at the first instance of feeling something was wrong, Chortlested couldn’t avoid being clipped across the shoulder. Sticking him back in the rear ranks, Rarder and Mandras led the way through the doorway.
Something dripped.
Once again, Rarder’s instincts kicked and he leapt back, while the comrade at his side reacted too slowly. Mandras, just barely growing back a stubble to replace his fire-singed beard and locks, was struck by tumbling goo, and it immediately started eating through his armour. Another dollop of slime struck the floor where Rarder had been. Noting the greenish tinge to the substance, the party ushered the struggling dwarf back into the sunlight where they lit torches and tried burning it away, while others flung burning oil flasks upon the ground mass in the doorway.
No sooner had the slime on the floor been dealt with than Rarder heard the sounds of barked orders echoing down the corridors, and a troop of hairy ones came into view. They immediately formed ranks and loosed a volley of arrows at the adventurers. Their magical armours and shields held, but the party were forced to split their attention between holding off the assailants and helping Mandras.
The dwarf writhed in pain as flames were applied across his torso but, with his skin turning into a distinctly green shade, the party continued with their emergency decontamination. Koko stood by, prayer over Mandras and applying the Staff of Healing in a desperate attempt to keep him from succumbing to the burns.
Just as the doughty dwarf dropped to his knees, his comrades succeeded in burning off the last of the slime, leaving Mandras once again lacking any hair and his skin stained all over with green blotches. Rarder and Hats sent the last hairy one fleeing into the dark, and the party decided they ought to beat a hasty retreat for Mandras’ sake – if nothing else, he needed a new set of armour.
They interrogated one hairy prisoner, trying to find out something more of what lay beneath the monastery, but all they got were hissed threats that the followers of Erkrou would be back to seek revenge for their fallen comrades.