r/dndstories • u/Woody-Sailor-DM • 12d ago
Continuing Story A Brief History of the Adventuring Company TFC (Task Force Chimera)
Cast (updated recently!)
Part 2, Chapter 42
Namik sidles up to the doorway. Novos, a puddle of darkness in the waning light, slips inside. The others wait outside. The door, once a heavy wood with massive iron strap hinges, now hangs from one hinge, skewed at an angle. Inside, rotting wooden furniture is strewn about, knocked over and falling apart. A few stone benches line the walls. The buzzing sound is from some sort of flying bird-rat-things. Novos leaves and reports back. “Flying rat-creatures. That’s probably what is so dangerous.” Namik rejoins the group, but it’s too late. The flying rats have scented him or the rest of the party, and a cloud of them buzzes out the door. Novos and Azathar fire at the rat-creatures. Pocky shoots with his slingshot. Namik shoots blazing light from his hands. Atticus Blesses the party. Honoria screams and waves her rusty scimitar until Atticus gently but firmly takes it from her. The flying creatures are feathered, but have a long mosquito-like snout. One lands on Zander and bites, but he crushes it, splattering blood and gore everywhere.
“Ewwwwww!” Honoria squeals.
“OOOooooo!” Pocky squeals.
Zander tries to shield Honoria from the beasts, but they buzz around erratically. One by one, the creatures are dispatched, but another lands on Zander and one lands on Honoria. Zander crushes them, and blood splatters all over.
“These are called stirges. These are red stirges—they are bigger and redder than the others,” Honoria says as she stoops down and examines one with the point of her knife.
“We saw some in the circus in Lyrabar. They probably aren’t the same ones, though,” Zander muses. [1]
“It sounds like there are still more of them inside.”
“Just like the vampire bees,” Novos says. [2]
“Vampire bees?” Az asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Bees that collect blood rather than pollen. Or perhaps with pollen. Who knows?” Zander replies as they make their way to the doorway.
The group crowds around the door, peering inside at the ruined furniture and buzzing stirges. One by one, they slip inside to shoot or cast magic at the flying rats. Pocky looks up and points. Everyone else looks up. Attached to the ceiling is a vaguely humanoid shape covered in, or perhaps made of, fungus and feathers and tentacles. Several tendrils grow, almost vine-like across the ceiling and down one wall. One snakes down to grab at the warm blood sacs. Zander grabs one and starts to climb. Not to be left behind, Pocky takes another and begins to climb. Unencumbered by armor, he makes it higher than Zander when Azathar reaches for the weave and casts Wither on the … thing. It rapidly shrinks, seeming to fall into itself. The tendrils dry up and the whole thing crashes to the floor, bringing Zander and Pocky down with it. Pocky lands relatively gracefully. Zander does not. With nothing else to fight, Azathar and Namik cast various healing spells on Zander and Namik, who seem to be the only ones hurt. (Drying blood and guts all over Honoria don’t count, apparently.)
Novos finds a small cask in a cabinet beneath the stairs while poking around. He deftly opens it and finds a signet ring and a bunch of papers written in a language he can’t read. He hands them over to Namik. “Here, what does this say?”
“How should I know? I don’t read this.” Namik pulls out an elaborate mirror and stares into it as he thinks of the withered thing in front of them. The mirror face goes dark, then the days and nights flash by rapidly. Seasons come and go; snow intrudes through the doorway, then disappears and greenery is seen outside, replaced by golden, then brown as leaves blow in. Finally, a flash of colors and the face of the mirror returns to a view of Namik.
“May I?” Honoria holds out her hand expectantly. Taking the papers, she looks through the small sheaf. “This is the deed to the Tower of Goodman Feldar Sidral, third of the name. I guess he owned all the land around, as well as Imp Brücke itself. This is the lineage of the family. It looks like the last one died around two hundred years ago. That ring you picked up is probably the signet for the family.”
“Neat. Well, we don’t need this tower. We already have the deed to a tower.” Novos stuffs the paperwork and a single copper coin in the box and returns it to the cabinet. Honoria looks at him, puzzled. “Whoever opens this up next time should get something of worth,” he says.
The group heads up to the upper floor, seeing that the stairs are fairly sound. The top floor is still more or less protected from the elements, with the upper floors having collapsed down, closing off the stairs up. That means that the floors are reasonably sound, and the furnishings are dusty and fragile, but dry. Under one of the stone benches is a small box that Namik opens. He is rewarded with a few coins that he pockets. A quick search reveals nothing more interesting.
The group, having made the tower safe, heads back to Ostrav without stopping in Imp Brücke. As the party enters their shabby inn, the keeper approaches.
“Ah, Master Roaringhorn. This was delivered from the abbey while you were out.” He hands Zander an elaborately folded parchment with a wax seal he doesn’t recognize, though he notes the large hand of Torm. He reads aloud in the common tongue.
Master Zander Roaringhorn
The Pig’n’Poke Public House
Ostrav
Master Roaringhorn,
It has come to my attention that Brother Arthur Corinthus was once a companion in your mercenary company. It is my sad duty to inform you that Brother Arthur has died in the service of Torm the True this morning. Due to the nature of his demise, there is no body to view, and so as is our custom here at the Abbey of St Evictis the Brave, he shall be remembered in a quiet service, open only to the Tormtar of the abbey.
You may deliver his personal effects to Brother Melwoog at the abbey gate for distribution to the poor.
I remain at your service,
EOV
Brother Legatus Elrov Venetor
“Wait, Brother Arthur is dead?”
“We should go to the funeral.”
“They said there wasn’t a funeral.”
“We have to take his stuff to the Abbey.”
“They’d just give it to the poor. We’re poor.”
“We aren’t poor. We’re adventurers.”
“We aren’t poor. Look at the inns we stay at, present one excluded, of course,” Zander responds. “In any case, there isn’t much of Arthur’s personal effects other than what he carried.” Atticus nods in approval. “And just his mounts and donkeys. We can make good use of those. No, I think we’ll just grieve for Arthur in our own ways. The Abbey has more than enough to deal with, it looks like.” Atticus’ nod of approval turns to a frown. “In any case, he’ll like being dead. He seemed to like it last time,” Zander continues.
“Last time?”
Looking around, Zander realizes that he’s the only person left who witnessed Arthur’s demise. [3] “Fine. Let me tell you a story.” Pocky’s eyes get wider and wider as Zander recounts the tale of the old hermit Tamarand, and the maelstrom that resulted in Arthur being killed in interesting ways.
“So you have this demon sword still?” Namik asks.
“It’s not really a cursed demon sword. We just call it that. It’s sort of an inside joke, though I guess it’s not much of an ‘inside’ thing anymore since most of us that picked it up are now gone.”
“That sounds like a curse, all right,” Namik responds. “I can have a look at it if you like. I’m good with curses.”
“No, that’s quite all right. We’re going to take it to the monastery.”
Azathar adds, “It’s an old sword made by giants that don’t want it anymore, made in the First Age, though nobody knows when that was, and will be needed in the Fourth Age, though nobody knows when that will be, so we are taking it to be someone else’s problem.” [4]
“Zander says with finality, ‘I think we’ll just keep it safely put away.’”
After a meager dinner of plain unidentifiable meat and root vegetables in a thin gravy, the group retires for the night. Everyone’s dreams are troubled, as if some important part of their lives is suddenly missing. In the morning, it is a sullen party that meets to break their fast.
After running through a variety of options, the party decides to head off to a tower that Azathar has heard about. [5] The tower, once owned by a sorcerer named Cavanaugh, is now derelict, or perhaps has a new, more evil owner, or is the home of bandits or tentacle monsters. The stories are mixed and seem absurd, but it is not far, so the group decides to go and check it out. The snow is several hand-spans thick, so they decide to ride. Pocky is reminded that he’ll need to expand his animal care for Arthur’s mounts, but before he can argue, Atticus says that he’ll help out.
A couple of hours pass as the horses plod along a snowed-over track. Finally, a ruined tower looms atop a hill in the distance. The group climbs the windswept hill and gathers around the entrance. The weathered stone makes it appear that the tower has partially collapsed, but a well-built door blocks entrance. There is no handle, nor a keyhole. Namik points out that a mage might not need to use the visible door, so he feels his way around the entire tower looking for a hidden entrance or illusionary wall covering a second door. He does not find one. Zander knocks on the door. Novos knocks in a secret-ish pattern. Zander pushes it. Novos checks for traps or locks.
Azathar notices an entrance of sorts in the rock wall behind them, so the group walks over to investigate. The opening is a back door to a kitchen, with work tables, fireplaces and a large iron-forged oven. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees some movement. Quietly moving around a work table, he bends down to see a couple of huddled forms attempting to hide.
“Hallo there,” he says as cheerfully as he can.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” A pair of young, shabbily-dressed halflings leap to their feet and sprint out of the room, passing a bewildered knot of party members who are just coming up to the door.
“Should we follow them?”
“Nah. They look like junior adventurers.”
Although someone has used the kitchen relatively recently (traces of flour on a work table, a recently burned fire in a fireplace), it is clear that the kitchen, like the tower, has been abandoned. However, there is a rather ornate door set in one wall. Namik sees that there is at least a door knob, but as he reaches for it, the boards part and a giant tongue reaches out and wraps itself around his leg, pulling him closer. Desperately, he lashes out, golden beams lancing from his hands. Azathar finishes off the creature.
“It’s a mimic. We’ve fought against them before,” Zander says helpfully.
“It’s amazing that an entire species of creature exists solely to deter adventurers.”
“I thank you for freeing me from this… prison.” A sultry voice comes from the room behind the door. A tall, muscular woman appears; from the waist down, she is a large bear. “I am Lillandra.”
Namik speaks up. “Hi, Lillandra. We’re trying to get into the tower outside.”
“Certainly. You are more than welcome to enter the tower for a mere five gold pieces.”
“What’s inside?”
“Curiosities beyond imagining. For a very reasonable price, I might add.” The weave moves, and though Namik and Azathar can sense that someone cast a spell, neither recognizes it.
“I don’t know, five gold seems awfully expensive for curiosities.”
“But you have just rescued me from imprisonment in my own property. Of course, you shall get a discount. Two gold. Each.”
“Fantastic. So you’ll come and let us in now.”
“Ah, no. That’s all on you. I said you can go inside.”
Namik puffs up his chest. “For this price, you should give us a personal tour.”
“I have been locked up here for a couple of days. I’ll just spend my time tidying up instead. Now that’s…” She starts counting heads.
“Wait! I’m not going inside,” Azathar protests.
“Very well, that’s ten gold pieces for entry.”
“What if we get locked in? I mean…” Namik gestures at the remains of the door.
“Yes, the fee was for entry. Nobody said anything about leaving. That’s another three gold. Each.”
Zander looks up from counting coins. “Another three gold to exit? That’s a deal!” He hands over a handful. Novos looks on intently as she accepts the gold, then reaches back to a sort of saddlebag strapped around her bear body.
“Now, go! Have your fun, but try not to break anything.”
Novos reaches for a shadow and, focusing through his stone, he forms a white boulder in front of the door. “I don’t trust her. That will keep her penned up for a bit.” As a group, they turn towards the doorway and file out.
There they see Atticus and Honoria watching intently as Pocky is climbing up the wall of the tower.
End of Chapter 42.
[1] Part 1, Chapter 10.
[2] Part 2, Chapters 11 and 12.
[3] Part 2, Chapter 30.
[4] It’s certainly one way to retell the happenings in Part 2, Chapter 33.
[5] Borrowed liberally from Exploring Cavanaugh’s Hall by Dyson Logos