Going Underground

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 6: The Dead Warrens, part I

When we arrived at Castle Volshyenek, the Guard were unusually nervous and agitated. When asked what was wrong, one of them told us that during the riots, a Shoanti barbarian living in the city had been murdered by a gang of thugs. This barbarian was no ordinary barbarian, but the grandson of the Shoanti Ambassador called Thousand Bones.

I feel I need to explain the situation between the Chelaxians and the Shoanti before we continue. The Shoanti are a race of people who dwelled in the area that Korvosa is now built. As the Chelaxians expanded their empire, they drove away the local Shoanti tribesmen and built Korvosa, with the royal palace built right on top of one of their ancient monuments. Since that time, relations between the Shoanti and the city have been very strained. The Shoanti are just itching for a fight, and any excuse, such as the mob killing of one of their kind, would be enough to start a war, which would be devastating to both sides.

And so, when we arrived at the Field Marshall's office, we were introduced to Thousand Bones. The man was quite old, and very thin, and we could sense that he was barely controlling his anger. Thousand Bones told us that his grandson, Gaekhen, had not only been killed, but his body had been sold to a nefarious necromancer named Rolth. To ease diplomatic tensions, it had been decided that we were to find and retrieve Gaekhen's body and return it to Thousand Bones, before the rest of the Shoanti heard of if and declared war.

We had been told that the body was located somewhere in the Gray District - Korvosa's cemetary. The Guard had arrested the man who had sold the body, and he had confessed as to the exact place that he was told to deliver it. It was an area known as The Dead Warrens.

Arriving at the area, we discovered a partially collapsed mausoleum. Inside we found a secret door that opened up onto a set of stairs that lead down into the darkness. We also noticed some peculiar tracks in the mud. Upon closer inspection, it was Reg who recognised them. Derro tracks. I had heard rumours and stories of the Derro living in Korvosa - small, blue, dwarf-like beings reputed to steal away children in the night - but assumed they were only stories to frighten children.

We descended the stairs into a domed room. Two pits were on either side of the room, filled with bones. Suddenly, there was an ominous rattling sound, and six skeletons rose from one of the pits. And from the other rose a large skeleton that seemed to be of a bear. With a call to Iomedae for strength, Reg charged in to combat against the large skeleton, his blade blazing with divine light. There was a swift movement from under Veyron's robes, and the small lizard-like creature emerged, leaping at the other skeletons, it's huge claws on it's back legs slashing at the animated bones. (I have since come to discover that Veyron's lizard is some sort of dinosaur!)

Soon the skeletons were destroyed. A hush fell over the tomb once again. Adam discovered a hidden passage in one of the pits. Th passage was only a few feet high, and just as narrow. Carefully, Sabelle squeezed her way down the passage, which emerged into a small, natural cave. She gasped as she came face to face with a Derro, who was using small bat-like creatures to remove the blood from the body of a vagrant. The Derro wasted no time in hurling the buzzing creatures at Sabelle, and two of them latched onto her, sucking her blood. The cry from Sabelle brought the rest of the group running to help her. The Derro, now realising that it was seriously outnumbered, fled down a nearby corridor.

We gave chase, and ended up in a cave which was mostly a large mud pit. Piled in the centre was a revolting mound of body parts. Eating it's way through the mound was a hideous, foul-smelling creature with three tentacles writhing from it's bloated body. It was an Otyugh, one of the foul creatures that lived in the Korvosan sewers. But with arrow, blade and spell, the beast was dealt with. It made a disguting bellowing sound as it died, and the stench that it exuded was overpowering.

We then made a horrible discovery. In the pile of body parts was a pair of legs with distinctive Shoanti tattoos. Gaekhen's body had been cut up! Our task had just become harder, for now we had to search for all of the parts of his body.

We discovered another secret tunnel from this cave, that lead into another cave, this one a living area for four small creatures - probably Derro.

The fleeing Derro had eluded us, probably fleeing out of the dungeon.

We took a passage that opened up into an old corridor, that looked older than the previous rooms we had seen. It was here we had one of our deadlier encounters...