Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Twenty-Nine

Scorpions in the Night
Sunday, May 13th, 988 AD

During first watch, seven more scorpions start crawling towards our room. Edward's Glyph kills the first one, Jean-Claude Lightning Bolts another four and Ivan and Dorn kill the last two. Another twelve show up near the end of the same watch and Jean-Claude just Lightning Bolts them all dead. The rest of the night passes uneventfully.

Red-Green Girls, Giant Ambush, and Another Crazy Elf
Monday, May 14th, 988 AD

We heal up in the morning and attempt another rest cycle, but two hours into it, a Fireball explodes in our room. Jean-Claude goes out to check it out and sees two 12-foot skeletons with a ball of fire where their hearts should be. He Cone of Colds them and kills one, but the other one sends another Fireball screaming down the corridor. Jean-Claude, assuming his Fire Cloak will protect him, jumps in the way of the blast and saves everyone in the room. Unfortunately, his cloak malfunctions or something because he's fricassied. Ivan and Wong rush out and finish the last skeleton off. Back in the room, we take stock and find that Shara and Moishe both have also been toasted. Everyone is mostly well off. We rest again.

Near the end of our third watch, which is near the end of our rest cycle, two more 12-foot tall skeletons show up and attempt to Fireball the room. Ivan, sans a protective Fire Cloak because Jean-Claude just does not know how to share, jumps in front of that Fireball and takes full damage. Edward, quickly remembering what his chosen profession is, gets up and turns the two skeletons with the power of his God. We heal up and head out.

At the section where the steps lead down and the dungeon becomes slightly water-logged, a green-haired girl wearing a red dress was sticking out of the steps. Ivan, who was at the head of the party, seemed slightly unnerved by the girl, who introduced herself as Zaraka Kadnika.

Zaraka: Who are you guys, and why are you here?
Nicolae: We're a band of adventurers, exploring the mountain.
Zaraka: Oooh, you're cute. <giggle> Do you want to play with us?
Ogre-Rey: Uhh... "us"?
Zaraka: Yeah, me and my sisters. Do you want to meet them?

Before anyone could answer, she disappeared through the steps and four other girls with the same color hair and dresses showed up along with Zaraka. They were introduced as Uksaka, Yuksaka, Valderanaka, and Nedaka Kadnika, and they all hovered over Nicolae. Anna reflexivley grabbed one of his arms, just in case. [Author's Note: All of the following attributions of speech to the red-green sisters is pure speculation as they looked exactly alike.]

Nedaka: Oooh, he is cute!
Zaraka: Told you.
Uksaka: You should totally come play with us.
Nicolae: Play with you where?
Yuksaka: Oh, we live in Cywoh.
Jean-Claude: Cywoh, where's that?
Ogre-Rey: Is it in the Rus?
Valderanaka: The what? No, it's down below, silly.
Nedaka: You should totally come play with us!
Nicolae: Unfortunately, I can't play. I have to help my friends find a guy in this dungeon.
Yuksaka: Oh, poo. That's no fun at all!
Nicolae: I could finish faster if you guys helped us. We think he's on the other side of the mountain.
Uksaka: Oh no, we can't go over there.
Valderanaka: There's hot rocks that we can't pass.
Zaraka: Hey, do you guys know Orm?
Thalia: How do you know Orm? He said he never came in the mountain.
Nedaka: Oh no, we met him outside.
Yuksaka: Along with those swarthy fellows.
Uksaka: He wouldn't play with us, either.
Yuksaka: No, he wouldn't. But he wasn't as cute as this guy.

All the girls giggle. The party all gives sidelong glances at Nicolae, who sighs.

to be continued...

My God, We Need to Rest Badly
Tuesday, May 15th, 988 AD

After resting, we stone shape the entrance to our little hidey-hole and make it look like an unbroken part of the wall from the outside as best we can. We leave four mouse-sized holes at the bottom so that we don't run out of air and so that Nicolae can go out and scout if need be. We try to rest again.

End Chapter Twenty-Nine