Anthology 1: The Adventures of Gimbrin and Legarran

During the night Grombrin returns from his fruitless search for swamp ores. He returns to Suvulaan in the tavern to ask her for more directions. After a short while he sees Arran emerge from the staircase and waves him over to join the table. Arran reluctantly agrees to Suvulaan’s presence, but soon starts talking to Grombrin about an idea for a crown he wants to create. Grombrin responds enthusiastically saying that he is also thinking of creating a crown/helmet for himself. So after a bit of discussing they set up a plan to gather some of the stuff they need: iron, copper and a jeweller’s kit.

Once outside they ask a passing fisherman if he knows a general store in Namos. He responds that there is one lizardfolk to the southeast of town, called Shatter-eye, who owns a general store that might sell some ores. Before the two go to visit Shatter-eye, they decide to visit the old lady first to try and get the jeweller’s kit. They find her lightly sleeping behind her counter and they wake her by knocking on the door outside. She indeed has a jeweller’s kit that she is willing to part with. Grombrin buys it off of her for some gold and they wish her a good night whilst parting again.

The party continues their journey to the so called Shatter-eye. They find his shop fairly easily, thanks to the direction of the fisherman they asked earlier. The shop is covered in a thick layer of dust, indicating there hasn’t really been business lately. The ground is covered in fishnets and the cabinets are filled with pickaxes, torches and other mining stuff. Shatter-eye welcomes them in and asks what they’re doing here. Grombrin explains the situation. The lizardfolk mentions an old mine near the north of Namos, but it hasn’t been used in ages. They might find some ores there. After getting some equipment from him, the two head off towards the mine.

The mine entrance is hidden underneath a bright blue rock. After searching for a bit Arran realizes that they both can’t see colour in the dark so he makes his rapier spark some green flames to quickly illuminate the area. They immediately see the bright blue colour between the other normal coloured rocks. Grombrin tries to push the rock, but instead triggers the opening mechanism. As a reflex Arran grabs his beard to prevent him from plummeting to his death. The two start their descent into the mines.

Once inside they find remnants of an old campfire still lit by an eternal flame and a nasty hairy bowl next to it. Time and bacteria have made the bowl their new home. Before descending to the second level they check out the first level. They find two undead lizardfolk skeletons still trying to mine rocks at the end of the tunnel. The first skeleton is quickly engulfed in the green flames that sprouted from Arran's rapier and the second gets engulfed in Grombrin’s red flames. After looting the remnants they decide to descend to the second level.

Once arrived on the second level they find a note saying something stalks these tunnels and is attracted to light and magic. As a precaution they both douse their flames and cancel their active magic. Only by being able to see in the dark they continue exploring this floor. They quickly meet the end of the tunnel and conclude that the lizardfolk stopped here with the excavation, possibly because of the thing. They decide to lure it out by lighting a magical torch to see what it is.

Once they lit the torch Grombrin hears a faint ticking sound. He waves Arran over to his side to ask if he hears this as well. They both hear the slow ticking. Tick, Tick, Tick. Suddenly the ticking sounds like it hit metal, possibly from the metal bars across from their only escape out of this mine. They see a long stick being used like a blind man has his walking guide. They run around the other corner of the mine to hide from whatever came out that hole behind the bars. The thing continues tapping towards the light until it pauses. It hurls its massive hammer down on the light and in this split second the two are able to see what the thing is. It has slender arms and legs, but is massive in size. A mouth where its stomach is supposed to be and carrying a massive sledgehammer it uses as a walking guide. The two are absolutely terrified, never having seen such a thing in their life before.

This thing is standing between them and their escape. Suddenly the two get flooded with images of death and blood in their minds and they decide they have to leave. Grombrin steps out of hiding and engulfs the thing in a wall of fire, they both hope that will stop it for a while. After a few seconds they see the thing emerging from the fire on its way to Grombrin. Arran looks at Grombrin and yells run followed by him being surrounded by some silvery mist and disappearing from the location. Grombrin tries to dash past the monster, but the monster lashes out in the last second and hits Grombrin from behind. Arran comes back to help Grombrin escape. He says to take his hand, Grombrin immediately does and shortly afterwards is encased in complete darkness. Arran guides him out of the darkness and they both make a sprint towards the ladder out of this mine.

Arran moves a lot quicker than the heavy dwarf so he sticks with Grombrin to try and save him. The monster emerges from the darkness as well, following the two. Grombrin touches Arran with some healing powers and makes a run towards the ladder; he makes it and start climbing upwards. Arran, feeling a bit more energized because of Grombrin, duplicates himself to try and avoid getting hit. Sadly, for him this only works once, the creature quickly sees through his illusion and smashes Arran with his warhammer. Immediately after hitting Arran a spectral fist emerges from his shield and knocks the monster back to the end of the tunnel. This allows Arran to sprint after Grombrin and start climbing.

Halfway through the climb they hear the monster let out a shriek and smash the bottom of the stairs, locking itself in and locking others out from entering those mines ever again. The two look at each other and without saying a word, they push the rock back over the entrance, row back towards the tavern, swear to never speak of this again, order three beers each and sit down. After a few sips they see the rest emerge from their rooms.