Tunnel
Vision
17/3/10,122 - Athalau
Agreeing it's been a long day & that whatever happens outside they need to rest they decide to delay departure until the morning. Sat in the half-light provided by the tower above the four scour the plunder collected from the abandoned city. Practicalities must dictate, the plethora of trinkets gathered is more than can be carried through the precarious & danger laden tunnels, Tharla, knowing of Molin's need for silver, sets to discarding the bulkier & least valuable clutter from the pile. A number of the larger copper platters are lashed together to form a rudimentary sledge on which the chosen goods to be taken are stacked.
With Erimmes & Magda secured in their jars the four spend a chilly but restful night, disturbed only briefly by an icefall across the city during the earlier hours.
Rested & recovered they make ready to leave, Illyra, to late remembers that her power matrix remains depleted following its use the previous day to identify the sorcerous antiquities looted from the museum.
With Kilite leading the party they collect their chattels & move towards the ice wall surrounding the city, deciding to search for an easier route out they enter a tunnel at near ground level. Illyra, pushed by the others in the party, has produced a war dog from within her pouch of summoning, however the poor animal is suffering, four legs on sheet ice fare far worse than two. Quickly the tunnel begins to descend steeply, realising that its falling gradient will not allow them to return should it prove a dead end & that it will take them below the level of the steppes beyond, they back track to their original entry point.
Gathering together the various lengths of chain recovered & the strangely shaped blades from the museum to use as climbing aids they set to to climb to the threshold of the tunnel by which they entered the Athalau. Approaching the ice beds Illyra watches as the conjured beast slowly turns to dust, its resurrected life fading as the power of the spell expires, never before has she seen the end result of the pouches conjuration.
The climb does not prove easy, many times one or more of the party loose their footing & tumble to the base of the slope, eventually however more by luck than skill they drag themselves over the edge & into the tunnel proper. Warily they peer into the darkness of the passage; their assent was not quiet however there is no sign of any worm.
Kilite & Tharla, holding forth staff & sword in a blaze of light, lead the way assisted by Erimmes, hoping they can remember the way they entered. Progress is slow, they constantly have to adjust their packs & fabricated sledge, which bulge abandoned wealth from the city. Anticipating trouble the party are not surprised when a worm, three feet across & twenty feet long hurtles along the tunnel towards them. Kilite, calling forth the power of the staff sends out a mighty blast of fire, Illyra draws on her own power & uses the her ring to send yet more streaming fire toward the worm. Ichor drips from the roasted worms body yet it's thrashing threatens to smear one or more of the friends against the tunnel walls. Eventually it is over, blades & bodies are smothered in congealing & fetid slime from the worms butchered remains, however having taken only superficial wounds they pause only to draw breath & wipe the sickening ichor from their faces, before moving on.
Nearly at their goal their luck changes for the worse, glancing back along the last tunnel, a mass of worms, twelve or more, stampede at an alarming speed towards them. Breaking into a jog they run for the last corner, several times Kilite & Molin, hampered by the cumbersome sled dragging behind, slide to a crashing halt but manage to come up running. Finally however Molin lies sprawled in a litter of silver scattered across the tunnel floor, looking up before he is overwhelmed by the stinking slithering mass he glimpses Kilite throw the last of the staffs fire into the corpulent mass of writhing flesh, despite inflicting massive wounds, it does not deter the onrushing worms.
Standing at the tunnel threshold Tharla desperately watches as Kilite rounds the last corner & skids to a halt before he follows Illyra down the rope left from their initial incursion into the tunnels. Horrified Tharla leans out on the rope as the worms round the corner; there is no sign of Molin. Looking up into the clear sky Tharla calls upon the power of her sorcerous blade & watches in fascination as pure light skewers down from the skies before blasting into the writhing mass. The blast is enormous, worms scream as their putrid flesh boils, others, hurt beyond endurance flail around until turning & fleeing back along the tunnel. Not all however have been cremated or deterred; several remain & speed toward Tharla's silhouetted form. Once more she calls down the power of the Sun & once again the onrushing maggots boil in their own skins, two unable to halt their rush spiral out of the tunnel entrance only to splatter onto the ice fifty feet below.
Lying battered, bruised & crushed on the tunnel floor Molin is amazed to find himself alive, unsure why he does not currently reside in the belly of a worm he knows it can only be a matter of seconds before the worms reappear. Scrambling through the scattered silver ware he crawls into a small side tunnel only just in time as a worm brushes past his feet.
Thankful for small mercy's Molin cradles his broken wrist; winces as the edges of his shattered collarbone grate & counts just how many ribs are fractured.
Maybe trying to climb to the surface of the glacier wasn't such a dumb idea after all.