Hogar’s Journal (Translated from Giant)
Year 781 of the founding of the City
30th Day of Garmensis – Part II
Silverkin Manor – The Basement
Steep wooden stairs
descended into a dank and dark basement. Condensation flecked bricks swam
across my vision. I came to realise that I had struck my head when
Silverkin threw me across the room upstairs.
Last into the basement, as I looked into the dimly lit room I saw two
skeleton retiarii armed with trident and net facing off against
Eligos. Quickly she was engulfed by their nets but before they could
press the attack Rodney pushed them back with a thunderous energy wave.
Suddenly from the shadows pale vampire spawn emerged and closed in
on us. Freshly turned they hungered for their first meal.
Stumbling from the last step into the basement I noticed some barrels to my
left from where I could get a better vantage point. I staggered over to
the barrels and leapt atop them only to find myself face to face with a vampire
spawn. Without room to use my bow I took a swing at him with my sword but
failed to connect. Over my shoulder I
heard a mighty crash as Minron charged at the retiarii closely followed by
Glenn. I couldn’t see clearly but their attack didn’t seem to go well and
before long Minron was being driven back under a flurry of trident thrusts.
Gradually I became aware of a skittering scratching sound coming from
underneath the barrel I stood upon. The others told me later that this
sound had been present throughout the encounter but I had been too groggy to
notice. As the vampire pressed an attack on me he disturbed the
barrels and hundreds, perhaps thousands of rats swarmed into the room engulfing
me instantly. The next several moments
were even more of blur than those previously as innumerable pairs of tiny fangs
sunk into my flesh. I struck out at the vampire who had disturbed the
rodents and thought I heard a body crumple to the floor as I staggered away
blindly.
The passage of time was marked only by agony. Agony which reached
its crescendo with an orange flash as flames seared my skin. Rodney had dealt with the rats by engaging
both them and me in a column of flame. I dropped to one knee as the
roasted carcasses of rats dropped from my body to the ground. Fury engulfed me as I rose to my feet,
finally with the space to use my bow. There were no longer any young
vampires standing and only one of the retiarii still menaced with trident and
net. My companions had been doing their jobs well. I sent an arrow
clattering amongst the ribcage of the remaining skeleton and narrowly missed
with another. This distraction was enough for Glenn to step in and reduce
him to a pile of bones with a crashing blow from his ugrosh.
A yelp from Diefenbaker drew my attention to a new enemy in the
room. The tall and graceful figure of a female eladrin withdrew the blade
of a magical dagger from Dief’s flank. As she turned her hooded face to
mine I could see that the pale complexion so characteristic of the high elves
had taken on a grey tint, the pallor of the undead.
Suddenly Vicrael teleported alongside me. He seemed to think
having been swarmed by rats and roasted alive by Rodney that I was in
a fit state to lend my life-force to a spell he wanted to use to
poison the vampiric eladrin. I told him that if he laid a finger on
me if would be the last thing he did. The senile old duffer went ahead
and attacked with poison anyway. It was no surprise when the vampire was
largely unaffected.
Summoning all of my concentration I sent a shaft through the creature’s
left eye. Amazingly she remained standing. Immediately sensing the
danger this powerful being posed Minron rushed in. He impaled her on his sword and the high elf
screamed in pain, the three vicious attacks in succession having some
effect on her. After an initial hesitation Eligos transformed into
the fearsome ram and charged home. The vampire staggered but still
refused to go down. Glenn stepped into the fray and clove his axe into
her torso where it stuck with a sickening squelch. The diabolical
creature screamed again but still would not fall. Undeterred the stout
dwarf placed his foot on her midriff and hauled the blade free. Putting
all of his not inconsiderable strength behind one final blow the axe head sunk
into her shoulder and penetrated deep into her chest. The vampire threw
back her head and unleashed a deafening death cry. Her body suddenly
evaporated around Glenn’s axe and coalesced into a ghostly form floating above
our heads. An eerie silence descended as it became apparent that there
were no more enemies in the room.
The ghost of the vampire was drawn, as though a plug had been pulled
somewhere, through a door on the far side of the room into a second
chamber. As one we all turned to follow.
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