Furious' Eighth Letter to Oak

Furious' Eighth Letter to Oak

\*Furious sponsors an Orphanage in Darromar where he spent a number of years as an Orphan himself. Oak is a youngster at the Orphanage that he has a close relationship with. He has not talked about this with the group.\*

[8]

Dear Oak,

We are back from that haunted, infested mansion... I am sad to report that some of our party did not make it. Such are the vagaries of fate and bothering large creatures sleeping in chimneys. I feel tired, forlorn... and lonely.

The adventure continued well enough after the events described in my last missive. We finished examining the great hall where we fought the last group of skeletons... finding some treasure and encountering a swarm of nasty creatures that we were able to dispatch. We then took refuge in a small bedroom to the north. Again we were attached by some insects... again they were put down... then a zombie girl appeared under the bed and a very corpulent monstrosity came calling for her... they did not seem to like each other overmuch, or us for that matter... a fight ensued and again we were victorious and finally able to take a brief rest.

Thus refreshed, we reentered the great hall and pulled the hidden lever that Elphim and Hogo had found near that ridiculously oversized halberd. We were transported "below" to a narrow passageway where Hogo could barely move and all save the halfings felt oppressively cramped. We fought some rats, oiled up Hogo and found our way out through a hole in the ceiling.

We made our way to what turned out to be the second floor. Here we had some good battles with some wraiths and some nasty oozes. The wraiths took our strength and the oozes were very destructive to Borin and Plank's armor... but they were dispatched and more treasure was found. Another door led to a hallway full of werewolves... many werewolves... Feeling depleted and likely outmatched we decided on strategic retreat (out the window in the adjoining room). Never let pride come between you and a werewolf's bite, Oak.

We should've rested then... but decided to push on for one last room... following the hints of the spectral butler and the smell of fresh bread we entered a kitchen off the halfway that led from the southwest corner of the great hall.

It was here that we found noises, rustling but no immediate threat... but our curiosity got the better of us... perhaps our judgement was exhausted. I shall make no excuses... hindsight 20/20 and all that. The vicious acid spewing insect that emerged from the chimney there was too much for our weakened party... out of spells and low on health... valiant Borin found himself on the front line and Hogo made a large target for the creature. Elphim fell as well, having been close to the wood she wished to set alight to burn the creature. Perhaps as a child she burned ants with a magnifying glass... but this was no ant.

We could have all died... running was the smart thing but I am certainly not proud of it. I tried to give Hogo a fighting chance to survive but I could not move him... in retrospect I should've tried to move Borin but my strength had been quite sapped by the wraiths upstairs and I fear I could not lift or drag his bulk... now he is dead. The hol(e)y man is dead, the sweet half-oni is dead... the curious Elphim is dead. We will mourn them all and learn from our mistakes.

Remember that there is no benefit to bugging large arthropods, and study hard, young man.

Sincerely,

Furious