subplotkudzu | Emirikol, Part II, scene 6

Seeing that the trap was a manually trigged way to bring the ceiling down on the chamber Melas hurled himself back the way he came, sending himself and Cybele into a tangle of limbs in the passage. "Ha! Missed!" he yelled, and the answering bark of the dog people along the passage gave Hiram and Deitrich a target as the dust cleared. Lord Von Eisenwald's years of training in maintaining his footing let him all but dance across the now uneven floor, reaching their two dog men assailants far faster than the creatures had expected, quickly dispatching one. Hiram's arrival seconds after that let the pair double-team the chaos beast, making short work of it.

Melas had tried to recover and charge in to assist but the rubble proved more of an impediment to his unbalanced limbs, so he and Cybele more cautiously worked their way across the room to join their companions. The passage continued, as predicted, to a balcony that overlooked the road to Emirikol, and all of them lamented the loss of the army garrison at this obviously strategic point. This overlook ad a second passage that worked back into the cliff, and this our heroes took.

The passage was steep with many steps, but with less evidence of the effluvia flow down the gutters. This is revealed to be in part because of a second, parallel passage leading out to the cliff and in part because the large chamber deeper in, which must have once been the soldier's dining area, is again cluttered with detritus, some of which had blocked the flow of water, creating a stagnant pool on in part of the floor. The difference between the chaos beasts and the acts of civilized men were on stark display in the room - the rank pool and slimy rubble on the floor countered by the carvings on the ceiling. The soldiers, obviously having had some time on their hands, had gone to work on the ceiling with hammer and chisel, creating arches, buttresses, carved patterns and gargoyles in the living rock.

Beautiful as it might have been in the light, in the shadows of their lantern the shapes were more than mildly ominous, and the nobles were equally concerned that the pool might be home of some future threat. With Deitrich keeping his eyes turned to upward Cybele and Hiram inched forward to explore the pool and the passage beyond it with weapons at the ready. A tossed rock created a sucking sound as the stone passed through the thick water, but no immediate threat.

Meanwhile, Melas said he would examine the other exit, which led back to the vulture's nesting room. With everyone so concerned with other potential threats, Melas sudden disappearance went unnoticed . . . until the screaming began!

Melas, his eyes trained towards the passage rather than the floor was caught unawares when the debris fell out from underneath him, another cunning dog-man trap! The drop was of an indeterminate distance, but rather than a hard rock surface he was caught by a springy net before being pelted by rubble his passage had unbalanced. Glancing under him from his supine position he was grateful for being caught rather than hitting the spikes below, but that feeling was short lived eight glittering points of light detached themselves from the wall and approached him, envenomed mandibles clattering in arachnid hunger.

To be continued.