Part 7. The Story of the Adventures of Roi; a pleasant yet introverted, middle-aged Dwarf who is not intrepid but who has to overcome his fears to begin an unwanted life as an Adventurer.

They ventured into the bowels of the cave where it soon became clear that the rock had been carved into, forming more and more elegant corridors. These corridors were also more numerous with frequent junctions and dead ends. Daerren led them to a crossroads and then said; "this is the furthest I've explored, from here on in we go with instinct and try not to get lost, here use these rocks to track our path so as not to go in circles". 

They trudged on, weapons ready, nerves alert, following Daerren's lamplight and trying not to jump when it cast eerie, elongated shadows across the walls. Roi also led at the front, sensing a destiny in this journey and keen to not be left behind. After several twists and turns Rio ordered for the band to halt and put his fingers to his lips, gesturing silence. He had heard a metallic tinkling and scraping, that sounded suspiciouslly like jingling coins, but could also possibly be a ball and chains. Ahead of him was a closed wooden door and he crept up to it on tip-toes, straining his neck forward to try and hear more. It was definitely the sound of fallen coins and a second sound which sounded like a muffled laugh....

Roi chanced it and quietly tried the door's handle, it wasn't locked. He gathered his mace in his hand and quickly threw the door open, ready to charge..... but there was no need, he was greeted to the sight of a tubby dwarf gathering as much loot as he could into his bags. This Dwarf looked up with a smile; "If you want to use your weapon, Tharthran next door could do with some help, I'm busy!" And with that he went back to examining the loot in the chests in front of him, carefully choosing what he thought most valuable and easiest to carry out.

Roi hesitated, unsure what to do. Daerren barged past him, axe raised ready to confront what was in the next room. Roi followed and could sense his comrades right behind him, following suit.

They quickly stopped their charge as a few meters inside the room was a ledge and a seething mass of putrid water, about knee deep. There was also a large, fearsome troll wielding a tree branch slowly walking across the mire away from them. In the moment they had paused a waif like, ginger bearded, Dwarf charged from behind the door across the room from them, axe aloft, yelling as he closed the gap between himself and the troll. Before the troll could react the Dwarf had leapt from his ledge, through the air and embdded his axe in the troll's skull. The troll flailed wildly trying to remove the axe and the dwarf on the other end of it, seemingly not willing to let go just yet. The stalemate was brief as a crossbow bolt whislted from behind Roi's shoulder and smashed into the troll's nose, knocking him down and allowing the frenzied dwarf to finish the job with a few well placed hacks. He turned to the troupe, "Thanks for the help with the crossbow, but I had him. My name's Tharthran and I think you adventurers should see what's through that next room there....

Part 6. The Story of the Adventures of Roi; a pleasant yet introverted, middle-aged Dwarf who is not intrepid but who has to overcome his fears to begin an unwanted life as an Adventurer.

They soon left the cobbled town behind and ventured to the outskirts where the terrain became barren and dark; twisted trees their growth stunted, heavy grey rocks casting shadows all around them. Sue Boyle did not say much but tracked at a good pace, Roi and his followers striving to keep up over the rubble strewn ground. They were eventually escorted to the entrance of a recessed cave, a faint glow from inside illuminating the skulls on spikes that marked the cave's entrance. "Lamb Stew" whispered the female dwarf into the darkness. "Ale" replied a deep voice from within. Slowly a Dwarf emerged from the dark, lantern in hand, surveying the group of adventurers and addressing his friend. "I've stayed on guard here as you said, they're still in there somewhere, but evil abounds, i can sense it." 

Sue introduced Daerren to the group and explained how they had been scouting out this location for a few weeks, watching a stream of ne'er-do-wells going in and out. "This seems like the perfect opportunity to find out more about them", shouted Kharmur, "prepare your weapons" echoed Roi.

Part 5. The Story of the Adventures of Roi; a pleasant yet introverted, middle-aged Dwarf who is not intrepid but who has to overcome his fears to begin an unwanted life as an Adventurer.

They all ran for the exit of the Spotted Dog looking for their fleeing adversaries, but they didn't have the legs to catch them. They were greeted by a local nightwarden, a fellow Dwarf by the name of Sue Boyle. "Looking for a Chef and a Cultist by any chance?", her tone was friendly and amused. "Holden here my trusted hound will follow their trail, lets go." The girl had a talent for being straight to the point.

This figure is of course the one given to attendees at the recent BOYL meet at the Foundry in Newark. A weekend of old school games and gamers. I could only attend on the Saturday and watched a whole load of different games being played, in an amazing spirit. And some incredible models and scenery on display too. I got to play the Terror of the Lichemeister scenario and thoroughly enjoyed my day. The miniature was sculpted by Jon Pickford and seems to fit in quite well with my current project:

Part 4. The Story of the Adventures of Roi; a pleasant yet introverted, middle-aged Dwarf who is not intrepid but who has to overcome his fears to begin an unwanted life as an Adventurer.

Kharmur walked away slowly, deciding to head to the Spotted Dog Inn for a drink and hopefully some information on Roi's whereabouts. He'd only walked a few paces when he heard the patter of footsteps and panting of breath behind him; Kharmur instinctively knew that this was Barri, the would be thief. He was right. "Oi, I need a drink too, heading for the Inn?" came the gruff voice of Barri. Kharmur, turned slowly and replied with a a nod and an "Aye". "I could do with some company and some help if truth be told". They walked together towards the Inn, Kharmur explaining the kidnapping of Roi to Barri with the occasional interjection, question and exclamation. Barri was in, he wanted some Adventure. Kharmur inwardly sighed, adventure at their age, look where it has got Roi.

The Spotted Dog was not as bustling as usual:

Kharmur placed his blunderbuss over his shoulder (it is often deemed quite aggressive to walk in with it shouldered and aimed) and took in the clientele. There seemed to be more bar staff than clients, a couple of Nobles talking loudly and waving their hands around, a mysterious man in blue in the corner and a couple of drunk dwarfs at the bar. Barri was already talking to the one who appreared to be in some sort of military uniform. The other dwarf was leaning on his axe asleep, snoring obviously drunk. Kharmur approached the Dwarfs and Barri introduced him to Lorri and Radi.

Lorri had recently deserted from a neighbouring militia's crossbow unit and had sought sanctuary here with his brother Radi (the sleeping drunken dwarf). Barri retold the tale of Roi's disappearance to the attentive Lorri who stroked his beard intermittently during the monologue. He asked a few questions about Roi's appearance and looked thoughtful. At the end of the tale he said: "Hmm. A fellow by that very description was seem by me earlier today. It looked as if he was being frogmarched in here by some thugs, but when I saw him I couldn't be sure if he was with them or not. I'll ask the bar man."

The barman initially looked non-plussed yet a little unsettled by the questions. He became more and more agitated by the persistence of Lorri's questioning. Eventually he said; "Look, I haven't worked here long and I need this job, but there's been some dodgy activity going on. I think the boss is running some sort of smuggling den, there's a door in the corner there that's always locked and used by a few characters who never drink here. They look shifty. In fact this is the sort of time they can be seen coming and going especially when it's not very busy".

Lorri ordered a round of drinks and they found a table to sit at, trying not to look too hard at the aforementioned door. Radi was propped up on a chair, mumbling in his sleep. They all nursed their beers and shared a few tales of adventuring between them. An hour or so later the mysterious man in the corner made his move towards the door having checked that no-one was watching him. For a split second he fumbled for his key in his pocket and this gave the three dwarfs enough time to make their move. Barri surprisingly was first, followed by Kharmur and Lorri and they pushed aside the man and bundled inside the room. Radi, now awake from his snooze, knocked the man out with one punch to the head and wandered in as they all regained their footing. They were greeted by three men in a small room; a cook, a cultist and a tall robed figure. 

 They all faced each other weighing up their options before "Hello" said Radi who then charged in with his axe aloft. The Cultist squealed, the robed man looked agog and it was only the Cook who looked in any way ready to defend himself. He walked toward the running dwarf with his cleavers shielding his chest. A clash of steel rang around the small room which sparked the others into action. The cultist tried to create as much distance between himself and the dwarfs and as he did so he revealed Roi bound and gagged in the corner. Kharmur ran towards him as a grappling hook and quiver were launched over his shoulder pinning the robed guy to the wall. The duelling pair in the middle of the room danced in a clockwise direction, occasionally striking the other's defence tentatively. But the Cook was looking to escape and had turned his foe around so the he, in his white chefs garb was now closest to the door. He backed through it at the same time as the cultist made a dash for it too. The door was slammed and locked, leaving all the dwarfs with the robed man, who sounded as if he was whimpering. Radi rummaged through some of the chests, filling his pockets with coins. Kharmur untied his bound friend Roi and embraced him. Lorri grabbed the front of the robe of the mumbling man and told him to quit his jibbering. He didn't so Lorri thrust a dagger to the man's neck. "Stop your whining, tell us why you took our brethren and I'll spare your life". The man's whimpering became higher in pitch as the dagger point was pressed firmly closer to his neck. "Tell us now or it's......." And then like that he was gone, just his robe left pinned to the wall by Lorri's quiver (the grappling hook has of course missed by some distance). "Sneaky magic" grumbled Barri.