Ludi Blog

65. Invisible Stalker?

Searching the accountant and his office, the party discovered a bag of coins and a scroll of three clerical spells amongst the vast number of accounting documents. They took the accountants ruby ring, his greatsword, and the chain shirt that he had worn below his tattered black suit.

They also found a secret door in the left hand wall. Beyond, they discovered a strange room containing the huge, wooden cogs and gears that controlled some sort of elevator. Beyond the machinery was an open stone shaft, which looked as if something might travel vertically through it.

Also here in the machinery room were three large, wooden, floor mounted levers.

Pafflouous, determined to master the function of the machinery, spent several minutes trying various lever combinations, some of which caused the machinery to move, causing loud rumbling sounds from deep down the shaft that reverberated about the castle.

Eventually, he mastered the machines operation, and a stone platform rose up from deep below. It stopped in this room, filling the void in the floor - and the party began to debate the merits of using this mysterious elevator to continue their exploration of the castle.

However, what neither Pafflouous nor any other member of the group realised was that something had travelled up upon the elevator - and they were not alone in the machine room.

Some great and invisible beast, a denizen of some dark dungeon or catacomb far below, attracted by the noise, had stepped upon the platform and travelled up with it.

Pafflouous was grabbed by gigantic claws and lifted six feet off the floor. His terrified scream alerted the others. The wizard's blood was splashed upon some invisible creature before him.

Bovrain, who had been examining the operation of the machine, realised at once what was happening, and swung his Axe, Kalkrag, at the invisible monster, scoring a hit and causing a visible wound. The beast immediately dropped the wizard and turned his attention to the dwarf. Pafflouous, almost killed by the beasts attack, crawled clear, and Cweno and Isaiah leaped into the room to join the fray.

The battle raged for quite some time, the beast wounding all those who stood against it and knocking Cweno off his feet, rending the gladiators flesh despite his mighty armour.  Everyone had great difficulty hitting the creature due to its apparently natural invisibility (and considerable bad luck and friendly fire) until Pafflouous, who had been healed by Jacob, flung a vial of ink at the beast, which burst all over it - revealing the outline of a huge, wiry, long limbed humanoid with great claws and teeth and a long protruding nose... it was no less than some sort of invisible troll! Hugh took his chance and fired a snap shot through the doorway with the Giver.

"A Troll" said Isaiah, suddenly afraid.  "Why did it have to be a Troll...?" Visions of his previous encounter with one of these beasts flashed through his mind, and he faltered.

But now, able to see the monster, Cweno and Bovrain renewed their attack, and gave heart to the ranger. Together, the three cut the troll down to size before it managed to kill (and/or eat) any members of the party.

Quickly, Pafflouous summoned fire from his fingertips and set the troll alight. He reset the levers, and lowered the stone platform, sending the burning body back into the depths whence it came.

Using the last of his power to heal those that the troll had wounded, Jacob suggested resting. But the party decided to press on a little longer.

They found a staircase that wound down from this level down to a landing, and continued down further still. They stepped off at the landing, and found themselves back in the entrance hall on the ground floor. This time, they crossed the hall and took the previously unexplored double doors.

Here, the party found a huge dining room, dominated by a great table set with fine linens, china, and silver cutlery. Crystal chandeliers sang overhead, tinkling in the wind blowing through this draughty room.

Upon the table, the party saw that eight crystal goblets had been filled with a deep red liquid, that Pafflouous soon found out to be blood. At the back of the huge room, below four high stained glass windows, stood a gigantic pipe organ - and next to it a secret door was discovered.

Cweno pushed the door open and immediately discovered....