The Journal of Brother Solomon

Part 30

In which we search an (almost) deserted Broo lair…

Moonday, Truthweek, Earthseason, 614 TA – mid-morning

During a short discussion, it’s suggested that Rufus and I should isolate, because we were both injured fighting the Broo. My ‘wound’ hardly deserves the name, it’s just a bruise taken through my vambrace, but Rufus was nearly disembowelled and might be incubating an infection. We’ve seen no hint of disease among the locals, here or in Hillsgreen Crossing, but Broo are infamous for spreading disease (among many, many other things) so Rufus elects to isolate until a Healer can give him the all-clear. It’s only sensible.

George wants to go after Harvey’s ‘mistress’ and suggests we get Timmy to show us the way, since we know where he lives and he’s visited the Broo lair recently. But I think we should have little trouble tracking three dozen Broo in daylight.

But before we go, I want to raise the issue of the Troll, who has volunteered to take Rufus’ place – I ask her how, in the Lord’s name, she comes to be wandering in the heart of the Moonguard Hegemony?

Victoria claims she was with a Troll caravan operating under a trading licence from Moonguard, which, if true, shows how insane our Lunar government can be. While she was detached the caravan was slaughtered by lunar bandits, which sounds highly likely to me.

She says the idea behind the caravan was to encourage peaceful trade and thereby avoid possible hostilities. (I find this incredible.) But Victoria fears the bandit attack could easily be used as an excuse by the Duma for an attack.

Ah-ah! Now we come to it – I suspect the Trolls intended the caravan to be a casus belli (odd phrase, I wonder where it comes from?) – now that I can believe, it sounds just the sort of thing the Duma would come up with.

However, if we track down and kill the bandits, avenging slain Trolls, Victoria says that may hopefully prevent reprisals.

But, as George says, “we have more immediate concerns” and our first priority is to apprehend the ‘mistress’.

We decide to rest until lunch so we can recover some Power. During this time, Victoria sells a crossbow to John Chard and a new langetted battleaxe to Bitey, both at a knockdown price. I thought merchants, Troll or otherwise, sought to turn a profit on their transactions but either profit isn’t Victoria’s concern or she picked up these weapons for next to nothing…

With a light lunch inside and more food for this evening, since we’ll be camping in the wild, the villagers wave us off. I think our stock has risen remarkably in Borke’s Drift over the last few hours. Victoria is taking her pack-beetle, which unfortunately spooks mine and Ariella’s horses badly, so we’re all on foot, leaving our mounts at the inn.

George and Ariella have no troubling following the trail of the Broo horde. I spot a few odd hoof-prints but I couldn’t follow the trail without their help. For the moment it’s dry but Ariella says it will rain this evening.

We’re headed up into hills – the terrain reminds me of the country northwest of Hillsgreen Crossing, when we were hunting Finlay, over a year ago. It takes five or six hours and dusk is falling when the trail leads into a gully. George and Ariella point out that the Broo, who had adopted no real formation during their march, had been in double file in the gully. The lie of the land forces us to do the same – George seems happy to take the front rank, with Victoria. (Is she trying too hard to ‘get in’ with us?) Ariella and I are next with Bitey and Warwick bringing up the rear.

But, just a few steps inside, it occurs to just about all of us that this is an invidious position in which to be ambushed – I can just imagine Trolls appearing above and raining rocks on our heads. So Ariella sends her Stormcrow, Haley, to view things from aloft. Thankfully, she reports no ambushers, but she does spy a thin wisp of smoke rising from a small break in the ferns, not far from the gully.

So we leave the gully the way we came in and search for this smoke. It doesn’t take long and proves to be a vent from a cave somewhere below – this, surely, must be the Broo cave! The vent is just large enough to allow the smaller members of our team but I’m not sure I could get in there, even if I stripped my armour. And, of course, anyone who crawled down would almost certainly land in the fire at the bottom.

Victoria demonstrates her Trollish senses, what she calls ‘Darksense’ – she leans over and makes a series of clicking noises with her mandibles, turning her head from side to side. She reports the shaft goes down a few yards down and then turns. While she’s doing this I think I hear the sound of running water, faintly below.

We go back to and through the gully. On the far side, we emerge by a large stone and it’s clear that it’s blocking a cave. The tracks indicate this must be the Broo lair. Ariella leaves Haley free to keep watch above us – if any threat approaches she can warn Ariella.

Warwick and I examine the rock more closely – superficially, it looks natural, but I’m familiar with Dwarven masonry from back home and Warwick and I agree it’s been shaped deliberately but made to look natural.

Victoria and Ariella roll the stone aside with surprising ease; they’re easily the strongest of us. It reveals a cave sloping down into darkness…

Ariella, seeing through Haley’s eyes, believes the vent is a hundred feet away. Victoria, clicking those mandibles again, thinks the cave goes eighty feet before turning right.

George and Warwick light torches. In their light, Ariella spies a lintel over the cave entrance. She points out ghost figures, the indecipherable scratches of a long-lost inscription. She thinks this was an archway and I can only agree – this cave had a purpose before the Broo found it.

By flickering torchlight, in we go! Half way to that turning we come upon a passage to the left. George and Victoria look in and find a rough-cut room, about ten by thirty feet, littered with axes and shields – some or all are damaged to greater or lesser degree. They rejoin us and we continue…

…we follow the turn to the right. Aside from the clink of our armour, there’s hardly any noise, so we all hear a sharp ‘click’ as one of us triggers something! We all jump to one side of the passage or the other as a dull rumble comes from above our heads and I raise my shield as a shower of rocks rains down from an opening above, high on the left wall.

A small boulder bounces off my vambrace and most of the others are saved by their armour but, unluckily, George gets a nasty bash on his arm, which falls limp. Unable, for the moment, to wield his quarterstaff, George swaps places with Ariella while he heals his arm, which takes several minutes because we have only limited Healing.

Of course, the rocks have made the next few yards somewhat hazardous in the dim torchlight but we warily scramble to the clearer section. We pass another passage to the right containing barrels and chests – Victoria thinks it’s a pantry.

The main passage, still sloping shallowly downward, turns left. At this point Warwick warns us to beware of the floor, which seems slippery.

Then the passage opens into a larger cave, which I must call the crossroads from the four passages exiting each side, one of which we emerge from. In the middle is a smoking camp fire, which must be the source of the smoke from the vent, the nether end of which must be somewhere overhead – but the ceiling is out of sight in darkness, higher than the passageway.

Warwick, George and Ariella, all with more experience of camping in the wild than a cloistered monk, reckon the fire was put out hours ago. From the tracks, Broo have been in and out all four passages, including ours (which is no surprise).

Victoria does her clicking thing up the passage straight ahead. She says there are two narrow passages to the left while the main passage veers right. Ariella hears running water down the left passage while Warwick hears an irregular drip and what he describes as ‘chittering’ up the right – and I do mean up, for the first time it slopes upward. The left passage seems level but that ahead still goes down.

George’s arm is back to full health and he leads us up the right passage, toward the dripping water. We’re very wary – we all draw weapons and I bring Strength to mind…

…suddenly, Ariella and I notice the Broo tracks stop at a certain point and we shout out to the others. Victoria feels the passage opens up just ahead but apparently the Broo didn’t venture beyond this line and for the moment we decide to do the same and back up.

Next we try the straight ahead passage from the crossroads. Reaching the first left hand opening, we’re overwhelmed by a hideous stench – it smells like a latrine…

…a Broo latrine!

Hastily we move on to the second side passage. Victoria’s clicking senses it opens into a largish chamber. She says she can sense a web inside, just a small one on the left, on the floor near the wall. From the tracks we think several (human) bodies were dragged in not too long ago.

We enter warily. Victoria throws a lit torch on to the web, which bursts into flame – no spiders emerge and it quickly burns out. As we join her, we see there’s more webs on the walls and a little on the floor but the room is dominated by three mounds, looking somewhat like large anthills but with holes on top. The floor slopes slightly downward towards them at the far end. Bitey thinks the mounds cover bodies. Then he observes, as with the crossroads, that he can’t see the ceiling. Victoria makes that clicking noise again and she says she can sense a moderately large spider on the wall above our heads!

George urges us to return to the main passage and none of us need much persuasion. It veers right and Vicky senses it opens into a very large chamber. She and George spot a triangular hole in the floor to the left and there’s some rocks to the right. A stone chair – a crude throne – is near the far wall.

We file in past the crevice. Victoria senses it’s a natural fissure and she thinks there’s a motionless body at the bottom, fifty or sixty feet deep.

The crude throne is just that – doubtless this is where the ‘mistress’ sits when holding court among her Broo. Behind the rocks we find a sleeping mat (which looks a little rough to be her augustness’ place of sleep) and a locked chest.

Leaving all this for the moment, we return to the crossroads and take the left passage, toward the sound of running water. After ten yards the passage forks: the running water is to the right, we go left but it doesn’t go far before Victoria turns and shouts out, warning that we’re being attacked from the rear. Warwick and Bitey turn and we all go quiet, listening for assailants – but there’s nothing…

But some of the others hear someone whimpering from ahead, followed by a soft ‘shush!’ Resuming our progress, we pick our way over loose rocks. (Another trap triggered by someone else?) The passage turns right into a long chamber festooned with bedspreads, hammocks and sleeping mats.

In the dim light of our flickering torches, we see two humans cowering at the back. Victoria asks them, in her trollishly accented Lunatic, when they last saw any Broo but Ariella moves forward and, in much more sympathetic tones, introduces herself and tells them we’re here to rescue them. They are Martha and her brother, Levi – they look to be in their late teens or early twenties but both are obviously pregnant. They say they’re from Borke’s Drift. They’ve not seen the mistress but they’ve heard the Broo talking about her.

How strange that no one in the village mentioned anyone was missing…?

And they’re not tied up, with not a single Broo to prevent them leaving…

Victoria escorts them out of the cave complex while the rest of us search the room – there’s nothing of value or interest… except for several bars erected around the sides. We’re all scratching our heads, do Broo practice ballet?

But then Warwick suggests that they’re used for bending rape victims over. I shudder and we leave.

Victoria rejoins us and we go down the right fork towards the water, passing another fissure to our left as the passage widens into a moderately large room. The flowing water is at the far end of the chamber, ten or fifteen yards ahead. Bitey investigates – he reports no Broo tracks and he thinks the water might be dangerous to swim in – well if it’s dangerous for a Beaver born to water, it’s probably lethal for the rest of us.

There’s a side passage to the left but the Broo tracks seem to avoid it. We go down the side passage, which looks entirely artificial and well crafted, unlike the rest of the complex. It opens into a small octagonal chamber, empty save for an imposing stone door in the far wall. Over the door is a lintel, similar to that over the front entrance, except this one is intact, including the inscription!

It’s in Sandscript and Necropolitan and reads, “Blessed are those who come in the name of the Lord – at the last hour, the dead will rise!”

The door opens inward and bears three runes: the first I am very familiar with – Death; the second is sort of the opposite – Undeath; the last looks sort of like Dark but not quite. The others mutter about Chaos but this stinks of Wraithe to me.

Above the stone doorknob is a small incised panel which George detects as magical. After a brief chat, the consensus is that this must be a relic of the Singidun Empire and we would be very wise to leave it well alone.

So we make our way back to the crossroads and return to the right-hand passage. Close to the line where the Broo tracks end, Ariella finds a tripwire. She follows it to find it would bring down a small levy built into the far wall, beyond which we can hear that continual drip of water. Victoria effortlessly cuts the tripwire but, if Ariella hadn’t spotted it, we might all have been swept away by a flood as the levy broke – and we’ve no idea how much water there might be…

There’s nothing else here so we return to the throne room. On the way, George casts a casual Detect Magic at the entrance to the spider cave and reports there’s something beneath one of the mounds – which means we’ll have to deal with the spiders at some point.

In the throne room we investigate the chest. Victoria thinks it’s trapped and, after a brief search, finds a needle that pops out on the unwary. It’s got something liquid on it; from the way it seems to move of its own accord, she thinks it’s Chaos Slime!

None of us have lockpicks – because none of us are thieves – but Victoria effortlessly picks the lock! (There’s Trolls for you.) Inside we find three things…

The first is a doll – just the one, but it must be a work of art because we all recognise it as Henry Masterson;

Second is a purse (well, more of a money-bag, really) containing five Wheels, eighteen Moons, 121 shillings and seventy pennies – and five gems, which George, seasoned Mercer, values at 100s, 130s and 320s;

Lastly, there’s a note, written in a fine, clear Lunatic on very expensive note paper, which I recognise from Fotheringay Hall…

“Mistress,

The items that you requested be returned should find their way to you along with this note. Assuming that your squad has accomplished its goals, it will be pleasing to see the back of those who have disrupted your plans in this region. I am sure they will discover Timmy soon, and that will surely lead them to Borke’s Drift.

Of course, I know not the pertinent details of your interest in this affair, but I do understand the importance of family, whether deceased or still with us! Sadly, Henry has also departed this world. In my assessment, his usefulness was coming to an end anyway, but the way it has been wrapped up is most satisfactory and should deflect interest to where we want it to be. However, I think it prudent that I should leave this area in case of further discoveries, using Rupert if necessary. I know my talents can be used elsewhere. I should possibly give Sir F a visit, though I will default to your wise judgement in this, as in all things.

I remain your humble and willing servant,

H”

‘H’ is Harvey, of course. This was obviously written before his final interview, which he was so prepared for. What I find most chilling is the reference to ‘items that you requested’. I wonder if he could have taken any hair while we were in the Hall? But then the Broo who escaped from Hillsgreen Crossing had our blood on their axes (certainly, the one who brained me had some of mine).

I’m surprised there’s only Henry’s doll – but George muses that, with Henry dead, his doll is now useless and it was left behind when Harvey’s ‘mistress’ took the rest.

I wonder who she can be? Klute does not produce shamans but Uriah is Klute’s nephew and he certainly does. To me it sounds like the ‘mistress’ must be a joint priestess of both. You hear such horror stories about Uriah – their shaman-priests can move from body to body…

Is it possible that the ‘mistress’ is the same individual that betrayed Sir Reginald – his fiancé, Fatima Witt? If so, she must be a thousand years old – more than most vampires! I cannot imagine the amount of runemagic she must have accumulated over the centuries. It makes me shiver!

But our bird seems to have flown…

…unless she was one of those two we ‘rescued’!!!

I find myself hoping a Selenite has afflicted me with paranoia – the alternative is worse!

Next we move on to the body in the fissure. Victoria, eager to make herself indispensable, volunteers to climb down while Ariella and Warwick hold her lifeline (which is very trusting of her, in my opinion, since Warwick can hardly be regarded as her bosom friend).

But she climbs down easily and finds the body is dead, which is no surprise, and slightly mummified (ditto). She shouts up that it’s human, in leather armour. She reports the body has already been looted but, half hidden beneath it, is an iron longspear. She climbs back up with it on her back, which is brave of her, knowing how allergic all Trolls are to iron.

We check the pantry – mostly foodstuffs and to most of that you’d turn your nose up. But Victoria finds a single crate of silk, which she is sure came from her caravan! This is intriguing – obviously there must be a link between the bandits and the ‘mistress’.

So it looks like Victoria’s stated aims and ours may yet be linked… unless the Troll is part of the mistress’ schemes.

We’ve put it off for as long as possible but we still have the spider cave to deal with. Victoria thinks it’s too high up for her sling or any hand-thrown weapon. We’re a little light on long-range missiles but Ariella could shoot the spider, if only she could see it. I ask Warwick, our Selenite, if he has any Light spells but he shakes his head.

Victoria decides to Disrupt the creature, hoping to provoke an attack, bringing it within sword-reach. She casts the spell and there’s a sudden burst of chittering and scurrying sounds from above. She says it scuttled across the ceiling but then she lost it. From the noise, it seems clear there’s more than one of them.

Gingerly, we enter the chamber in single file: George leading, followed by Victoria, me (keep your friends close and your enemies closer), Ariella, Bitey and Warwick. Weapons drawn, we cast our spells – I go for Strength and Parry to enhance the shield held over my head.

We can all hear the creatures scuttling about – Victoria is now sure there’s three of them. George wedges his torch in a wall to free both hands for his quarterstaff.

As the spiders descend, I cast Bladesharp on my sword as Victoria lets fly with her sling – I have to compliment her shooting as she hits one of the creatures in the head. It hits the floor ahead of the others, rolls on its back and curls its legs in, as spiders do, then its legs go limp. I hope it’s dead.

The other two come down on lines of silk. George slings the one above him but he can’t emulate Victoria’s shot and it lands on him, baring him to the ground. Another drops on Ariella, behind me, hurting her arm.

Even from the ground, George holds his own, parrying his spider’s foreleg. It bites him but he hits it hard in the cephalothorax and at the same time Victoria mashes it with her mace – it rolls over, dead!

Meanwhile, the other spider hangs on to Ariella’s shield, trying to bite its way through it. I hit it in the cephalothorax and she runs it through with her spear and then Bitey delivers a blow with his axe – and it too is dead!

All in all, that went about as well as it could. Sheathing our weapons, we turn to the three mounds. George knows which one detected as magical. He looks down and finds the hole goes down, through the floor in to some chamber below – and whatever thing he detected is somewhere down there. George cheerfully volunteers and drops down on a rope. He’s a brave man!

He shouts up that the webbing gets thicker as he goes down – it feels like a cocoon and I wonder if those spiders we killed have left any eggs and smaller progeny?

At the bottom, George finds bones – lots of bones. He casts his Detect Magic again, wipes away a strand of web and finds an iron dagger. That’s the only thing of interest and he’s very happy to climb back out.

The dagger is interesting. That it’s iron wouldn’t trip a Detect Magic, so it must be an artefact of some kind – a matrix or similar… Or it could be cursed! That might explain why it was thrown down the mound by the Broo.

Victoria wonders if there might be non-magical things of interest down the other mounds. George’s Detect Gems finds nothing and none of us feel like dropping down to root for mere cash.

Lastly, we check the latrine – it is indeed a Broo latrine – anything of value down there can stay there.

Right! Outside it must now be completely dark and Haley hasn’t reported anything approaching. I really don’t feel like camping in a Broo lair that was once a Wraithe den. We could make camp in the gully, or we could hike back through the night in the rain…