Testing the Hills pt 3
Smyth and Morkd turned a bend in the corridor and discovered a door set into the left wall, the rogue began inspecting it while his companion kept a spell in his mind to deal with anything that might come for them from further up or from their previous path. He turned to his friend and snorted.
“Boggs man, can’t you search out faster? My arm is itching like crazy from the potions healing affects and I need to get it out of this cast if you want any sort of real defense.”
Smyth casually glanced back and grinned “Oh I’ve been done for a few minutes now, but this is hand carved mahogany and I just couldn’t help and appreciate the craftsmanship Nib’s carpenters have.”
Morkd looked as if he was going to throttle his friend and barreled past him into the room.
It couldn’t have been more than a ten foot by ten foot room but it was filled all along the walls with chests and barrels making it look that much smaller and that much more defensible when the rogue shut and locked the door behind them.
The half-orc mage tore the bandages off his arm and flexed it a little, the surging blue energy of healing magic still glowing on the cuts that were knitting themselves together like a thatch work roof he turned and glanced at each of the various containers, and then seeing a pile of grain sacks he crumpled into them with a sigh of relief.
“Well, we can rest up here then yeah?” He asked as he watched Smyth rig some rope and caltrops under and around the door as a makeshift defense/alarm.
Smyth admired his handiwork and then spun on his heels to look at his recuperating companion, he cocked his head and flashed a half-grin.
“Yeah, light willing, there shouldn’t be a problem keeping ourselves defended here, do you have anything in that brain of yours for alerting us to any dangers?”
The Half-orc nodded and held out his hands for a moment, he spoke out the language of the ancient texts and let the magic flow out from his body releasing in a bit of an anti-climatic shimmer.
Smyth looked at him and raised his eyebrow, Morkd just snorted and gave him a look that said ‘I’d like to see you do this.’
The rogue sat down next to his friend and threw his hands over his knees breathing out a sigh of relief and exhaustion. He looked up and realized that the store room was lit differently than the other corridors. He tapped Morkd on the elbow and pointed at the crystal.
“What is that? Some sort of light spell?”
Morkd looked up at where his friend was pointing to and studied it for a moment, then his eyes got a little wide with recollection. He jumped from the makeshift grain bed and pulled a wand out letting its arcane energies alight the tip and prepared for release.
“No, that’s a spell…But it’s not a light spell, it’s a variant on the alarm. One that keeps a creature in stasis until trespassers enter and don’t give the proper command word!”
Smyth performed a flip and was at his feet with a dagger in hand, he quickly scanned the room, but nothing stirred, no secret trap doors opened and no sounds could be heard. He turned to Morkd and cocked his head questioningly.
“Well?” He said, “Is it going to attack? What’s going on?”
Morkd lowered his wand slightly, but kept it ready, he turned around and did the same check that the rogue had just performed and came to the same conclusions. He breathed a sigh of relief and lowered the wand further, deactivating it.
“No, I don’t think they’ve prepped the creature yet, must have just put the spell up before assigning us. We’re-”
The light changed color and hummed once. “Safe…” Morkd suddenly frowned and brought his wand out again.
A trap door opened up and a creature that seemed to shimmer in and out of focus began crawling out, it’s eight legs raising it to the same height as the two adventurers and as Smyth hurled a dagger at the giant ethereal spider he grumbled. “I really hate that bogging gnome.”
