Continued from A Watery Grave
It requires roughly ten more minutes of travel, occasionally peering at the map, crossing several bridges, slurping through puddles and slime, before the Begggar's Street Bravos turn east under, Gring reckons, the Street of Shadows. Another minute or so and the Bravos finally arrive at their destination. During that time they encounter neither man nor beast, though they do hear an occasional shout, an occasional clash of steel, and an occastional bone-chilling roar.
Borann peers into a tunnel of carved from bedrock that twists and bucks toward the South-West. As the Grint stoops down to investigate, he realizes that many more tunnels immediately shoot off to the left or right. Failure to follow the directions as outlined on the map could well lead to disaster. So Grint takes great care to direct the group with precision.
Grint's attention to detail is rewarded by entrance into a widening chamber (F). Debris, including a ragged tunic, a pair of torn breeches, and a 2 ft. long crowbar dot the intersection. Additional debris includes pottery shards, rotting straw, and dried animal feces. Upon examining these items, and recovering any that the Bravos deem valuable, Grint examines the three possible exits and directs the party to the tunnel branching to the right.
A stooped thirty-foot walk, avoiding yet another off-shoot to the right, brings party into another chamber that is little more than a crossroads (E). None the less, there appears to be a sign of habitation: a reed pallet is draped across the rocky floor, and the embers of a cooking fire still glow. There are absolutely no signs of life, however, and Grint grows almost giddy with excitement at the sigh tof a masonry-enforced passageway branching directly west. Perfectly square, ten foot wide and ten foot high, it appears the work of skilled craftsmen, and Grint is certain it is a sign that the group is close to their goal.
After about thirty fieet the square passage elbows left, and the group arrives at another chamber (D). As Rook's torch penetrates the darkness, the chamber's floor seems suddenly to move and the party catches a glimpse of 8 dog-sized rats -- much like the ones they recently exterminated -- bolt off in random directions down branching tunnels to the left and the right. Further investigation reveals that the rats were cannibals, feasting on the dead bodies of their own kind. More intriguing, the dead creatures are cooked quite crisp. As the Bravos turn over this interesting mystery on their minds, they hear a sudden "whush!!!" from the corridor to the south, quite like the sound of a powerful bellows fanning a flame. A moment after the sound comes the screams of several giant rats, and then silence. That southern corridor is, incidentally, the one that the map directs the Bravos to continue their travels through.
It requires roughly ten more minutes of travel, occasionally peering at the map, crossing several bridges, slurping through puddles and slime, before the Begggar's Street Bravos turn east under, Gring reckons, the Street of Shadows. Another minute or so and the Bravos finally arrive at their destination. During that time they encounter neither man nor beast, though they do hear an occasional shout, an occasional clash of steel, and an occastional bone-chilling roar.
Borann peers into a tunnel of carved from bedrock that twists and bucks toward the South-West. As the Grint stoops down to investigate, he realizes that many more tunnels immediately shoot off to the left or right. Failure to follow the directions as outlined on the map could well lead to disaster. So Grint takes great care to direct the group with precision.
Grint's attention to detail is rewarded by entrance into a widening chamber (F). Debris, including a ragged tunic, a pair of torn breeches, and a 2 ft. long crowbar dot the intersection. Additional debris includes pottery shards, rotting straw, and dried animal feces. Upon examining these items, and recovering any that the Bravos deem valuable, Grint examines the three possible exits and directs the party to the tunnel branching to the right.
A stooped thirty-foot walk, avoiding yet another off-shoot to the right, brings party into another chamber that is little more than a crossroads (E). None the less, there appears to be a sign of habitation: a reed pallet is draped across the rocky floor, and the embers of a cooking fire still glow. There are absolutely no signs of life, however, and Grint grows almost giddy with excitement at the sigh tof a masonry-enforced passageway branching directly west. Perfectly square, ten foot wide and ten foot high, it appears the work of skilled craftsmen, and Grint is certain it is a sign that the group is close to their goal.
After about thirty fieet the square passage elbows left, and the group arrives at another chamber (D). As Rook's torch penetrates the darkness, the chamber's floor seems suddenly to move and the party catches a glimpse of 8 dog-sized rats -- much like the ones they recently exterminated -- bolt off in random directions down branching tunnels to the left and the right. Further investigation reveals that the rats were cannibals, feasting on the dead bodies of their own kind. More intriguing, the dead creatures are cooked quite crisp. As the Bravos turn over this interesting mystery on their minds, they hear a sudden "whush!!!" from the corridor to the south, quite like the sound of a powerful bellows fanning a flame. A moment after the sound comes the screams of several giant rats, and then silence. That southern corridor is, incidentally, the one that the map directs the Bravos to continue their travels through.
