M.A.G.U.S. - Exploring the Melford cave (2)

Burial at the Shrine

The adventurers took the remains to the Shrine, where the priestess disposed of them unceremoniously. After more arguments about rewards and payment for healing, the beefed-up crew started again towards the cave.

Rats?!

The party forged their way methodically, exploring the chambers one by one. The first room which contained more than rocks and natural wildlife had a rotten desk in it. A few forwards however yielded a nasty surprise: giant rats the size of dogs crawled forward from the darkness!

The surprised adventurers suffered some wounds (with the barbarian taking the brunt of it), but they managed to kill off the hungry rats. The thief looked around the table, but found nothing. So the barbarian smashed it to pieces with his hammer. The table disintegrated, and the silver coins stuck to its underside flew around like pieces of shrapnel. The barbarian took it to the face, like a man.

The corridor left was a dead end, but had three barrels at the far end. The knight stepped forward boldly, and triggered an arrow trap. The projectiles bounced off his armor harmlessly. The barrels contained brackish water. The thief took the risk of searching around in the water, finding a bronze brooch.

To the right, the room was covered in guano. The knight stepped in, covered himself with his shield and waved a torch around, driving out the bats hanging on the ceiling. The party moved on. Fortunately, they had bandaged their wounds, and were at no risk of infection.

Soon, they were progressing through carved tunnels.

They entered another chamber, stinking of rotting remains. A horde of hungry giant rats burst forth from the dark, but the adventurers were ready this time.

It proved to be another dead end. However, the adventurers encountered a gruesome sight. Nine giant rats were grown together by the end of their tails! In the presence of the Rat King, the party received a telepathic message promising their swift demise. The adventurers charged in - and won.

The rats were bound together by a large tumor. Of course, they split it open, finding a stone inscribed with runes. Sadly, noone knew Rune Magic, nor was the language familiar to any of them.

Undead

The next dead end must have been a former prison. Behind the rusty cell doors were only skeletons and rotting cots. Naturally, the adventurers wanted to take a closer look and triggered a trap which animated the three former prisoners. The skeletons were dispatched with no further injury suffered.

Finally, humans

The last turn confronted the party with another trap, but they noticed it when entering the chamber. A string was set at knee level, right before some abnormal floor coverings. Like any good adventuring crew, they possessed a 6-foot pole, which was used to strike the string. This merely caused some noise in a chamber far ahead, but also uncovered the pit trap in front.

The adventurers moved on, and found their opponents ready and waiting in the next chamber. The well-armed soldiers seemed to have been drinking and playing dice before noticing the noise.

Armatio opened the battle with a light spell, blinding the soldiers and forcing them in defensive positions. Taking advantage, the adventurers stuck together, and focused on one soldier at a time. The assassin failed to do much - he took his time, trying to get behind the soldiers, but by the time he managed to circle around, the battle was over. Armatio and Biznard were heavily wounded. To make matters worse, the barbarian was consumed by his battle rage and couldn't stop swinging. Without any opponents, he turned on his comrades, and knocked out the knight.

We stopped here, with the adventurers applying bandages and sizing up their loot - the rather banged up arms and armor of the defeated soldiers.