Episode 2: The Thieves' Grotto
It's not long after the heroes set off on their journey that their beloved hometown begins to shrink slowly into the distance. However, our Heroes remain strong, and with heavy hearts – filled with the memories of their home and the ones they love – they drudge onwards. After all. . . a long journey lies ahead of them. They venture past the iron mines, waving their goodbyes to the miners they had shared their home with for so long. Then they journey past the thorny grove – the location of their first successful venture into the world of adventuring. It isn't until the bright, warm sun positions itself high in the sky that they arrive at their first obstacle.
Illias Upon the Sea is a peculiar capital, merely for the fact that is completely inaccessible from the rest of the island. At least, that would be the case had the Merchant's Grotto not been constructed to amend this issue. A man-made cave-like tunnel leading down to the rest of the island, its main use is to allow traveling merchants access to the other island towns. However, since it's construction, it has earned a rather. . .sinister reputation. Our heroes find themselves standing in front of the cave entrance, lush green trees and shrubbery surrounding it on the outside. They can see a light glowing from the other side of the cave – possibly the exit leading to the rest of the island.
"So, this is the Merchant's Grotto, is it?" Locke asks.
"It sure is, but it's a bit overrated if you ask me," Lil replies.
"A bit overrated?" Locke blurts. "It's nothing but a tunnel with some trees around it. Judging by the name, you'd think it was some kind of tavern!"
"You would think that!" Lil responds with a glare. "Anyway, let's go; we may as well get it over with."
As our heroes begin to venture through the grotto, they hear a mysterious shuffling and the breaking of branches; however, they ignore it, believing it to be have been merely their imaginations. Nevertheless, as they reach the half way point between the entrance and exit of the grotto, they notice a mysterious shadow emerging from their left, and before they can even blink, a shadow rushes past them and runs back from whence our Heroes came.
"What was that?" Locke cries, startled.
When the dust clears, they realize their belt pouches feel somewhat lighter – for they have been mugged of their money.
"Hey, Lil," Locke begins. "Does your pouch feel lighter, or is it just me?"
"Yes, now that you mention it – hey! I think that was a thief! Where's my money gone?"
"Mine is gone too!" Locke whines as he peers down in his pouch to see his money has indeed disappeared.
"Which way did he go?" Lil asks, anxiously. "Did you see him?"
"No!" Locke whines further, "He or she kicked up so much dust, I didn't see them."
Our heroes stand startled when they suddenly hear a rustling in the tunnel mouth behind them.
"Did you hear that?" Locke asks.
"It sounded like it was behind us; let's go look.”
Locke and Lilanei immediately turn around and make all haste back towards the tunnel mouth in hopes of finding the perpetrator. They reach the mouth of the tunnel when they see a brief shadow in the corner of the tunnel mouth, which then quickly disappears.
"Look at that!" Locke cries. "I just saw a shadow, and that bush there just moved. I'm gonna investigate."
Locke observes the bush and upon closer observation, he realizes there is a secret door within the foliage, leading down into a thin tunnel.
"What's that?" asks Lil.
"It looks like a door. And I bet it leads down a shaft. And I also bet my entire pouch worth of money, that's where our thief went!"
"Then let's follow him!"
Our heroes climb down the ladder to find they are in a circular cave-like room, lit by touches lining the walls. Clearly man-made, the crudely dug room branches off into three separate tunnels. The right tunnel is brightly lit and quiet, while the left is the same although a touch flickers in the distance. The north tunnel is dimly lit and a low growl echoes quietly from the distance.
"Well, I'm stuck," Locke bluntly states. "We've got three choices, and the third doesn't sound too friendly. I bet our friend – and I use that termly very loosely – is down that tunnel there." He finishes, pointing to the north tunnel.
Lil flinches. "Are you sure that's a bright idea?"
Locke turns his head to look Lil in the eyes with a grin, "No. But then again, when am I ever full of bright ideas? He's gotta be down there; he knows we'd come after him, so he's probably got some kind of guard dog down there. We'll beat his pet, and then we'll beat him too!"
Our heroes begin to walk cautiously down the north tunnel – cautiously because not only is it dimly lit, but our Heroes sense that a possible hostile could be located down the tunnel. They approach slowly and as they reach the end of the hall, they realize the room is empty; however, at the end of the room is a hallway, blocked by a rather large Guard Drake. Fortunately, he does not immediately notice the pair upon their entrance as he is grooming himself in the dim light of the room.
"Looks like the Guard Dog is a bit busy," Locke whispers to Lil. "Lil, can you see anything else?"
"Well, besides our friend here, it looks like it's a dead end. What do you think, should we take it on?"
"Heh," Locke chuckles. "It might be sitting on a pile of gold! Let's send this pet to obedience school."
Immediately, our Heroes go on the offense to surprise the creature. Locke takes his crossbow and loads it with an arrow, aiming it at the Drake's large head – the only part of the target he can clearly see in the dim light. Locke squeezes the trigger of his crossbow and with a quiet “Twang!” the arrow flies towards the Drake. The arrow plunges into its snout, alerting the Drake immediately of our Heroes' presence. The creature screeches in pain and surprise as Locke and Lil look on. Lilanei then sidesteps so she is standing fifteen feet adjacent from the towering Drake, preparing to fire her Magic Missile spell. The bolt of light flies towards the Drake, who cranes its neck to its left, and misses, instead colliding with the stone wall behind it, which causes rubble to fall to the ground.
The Drake shakes the arrow from its snout and sets its eyes on its first target – in this case Lil – so that it is face to face with her. It launches its head forwards, opening its mouth before clamping its jaws quickly shut to take a snap at Lil. It succeeds as its jaw locks on to Lil's right shoulder before the Drake pulls away to prepare another strike. Locke steps to the side so that he faces the Drake's left, where he pulls out his sickle, and due to his close proximity to the Drake, attempts a quick swipe of the creature's scaled torso. The sickle succeeds in hitting its intended target, slicing some scales off its body.
Still reeling from the bite to her shoulder, Lil steps to her left, setting her sights on the Drake's small right arm when she unsheathes her dagger. Lil attempts to thrust her blade at the Drake, however the pain in her shoulder surges causing Lil to drop her arm in pain before she can hit a successful strike. Ignoring the clumsy woman, the Drake turns its attention to Locke where it repeats its strategy from before, trying to bite its victim in the shoulder; however, the intended target ducks quickly out of the way. He then swipes his sickle upwards towards the Drake's chin, but the Drake steps back allowing the sickle to harmlessly pass it by. Seeing her opportunity, Lil decides to attempt her Magic Missile attack once more as a silver orb of magic power forms in her hands. She throws her hands forward and the orb turns to a stream of silver energy which flies through the air and hits the Drake in the lower back near the shaft of its tail. The Drake roars loudly as its health begins to deteriorate.
Clearly in pain, the Drake launches a bite attack at Locke once more, only for Locke to anticipate the bite, which is slowed due to the Drake's ill health. With the guile of a gymnast, Locke leaps upwards and grabs hold of a large rock which hangs from the cave ceiling. With the Drake missing its bite, Locke drops down back to the cave floor, attempting to deliver a fatal blow with his sickle by plunging into the top of the Drake's head – but the monster swats Locke away with its short arm. Meanwhile, Lil clutches her dagger tightly, moving in to try another strike at the Drake. She slashes at the Drake's tail, which waves quickly back and forth in excitement due to the fight, causing her dagger to simply slice through the air. In an irritated rage, the Drake spins its tail around, attempting to strike Lil in the face with a sweeping motion, which connects, the impact of which sends Lil to the floor, blood pouring from her mouth.
"Hang in there, Lil!" Locke cries as he takes his crossbow and prepares to attack once more. Due to the Drake's clean sweep, Locke has a perfect view of the Drake's backside, which he targets and fires an arrow towards. The arrow strikes the Drake's lower back, near where it was wounded earlier and sinks into the its scales. Lilanei slowly makes it to her feet, wiping away the blood from the corner of her mouth and with no hesitation she retreats a few feet where she quickly chugs down one of her potions of healing to rejuvenate herself.
The Drake turns around angrily to its opponents and seeing only Locke targets the young man as it springs towards him, snapping its jaws tightly – a cracking sound echoing throughout the cave. The Drake's teeth collide with Locke's clothing, which it easily pierces, and its teeth sink into Locke's chest. The young man clutches his chest in pain and stumbles backwards towards Lil's location. He drops down to his knee beside her, dropping his Sickle before he grabs his respective bottle of potion.
He takes the top off with a pop, looking to Lil, and before he gulps his potion down, he sighs, "This is one mean Lizard. . .”
Lil, quite annoyed at being beaten by the reptile, quickly thrusts her hand forwards, with her finger pointing at the Drake, when she begins a chant. As her chant continues, the Drake's body begins to tense as it feels a highly painful sensation within itself. In a split second, the Drake snaps its head back and lets out a loud screech just as its body combusts into flames, which illuminate the cave. Blood dripping, the Drake leaves it' head hanging in the air when it lets off another shriek of rage. It then charges towards its adversaries when it swings its tail to its right, the tail sweeping towards Locke. Nevertheless, with Locke still on his knees, he drops down to his belly, allowing the sweeping tail to fly over his head, the gust causing his long hair to flop over his dusty face. Locke grabs his sickle and uncalculatingly swipes the sickle upwards, but his rash move simply misses. Lil then decides to side step to her right and runs forwards so she is behind the Drake. She pumps her fist into the air before a loud crackle of energy begins to lash upwards from the ground, striking the Drake in a whip-like motion.
Now more intense due to its anger, the Drake spins around to face Locke, and as a result, swings its tail at Lil's face. The tail smacks Lil in the side of her right arm, the impact of which causes Lil to slam against the stone wall of the cave. Locke in the mean time attempts another strike with his sickle, this one more planned than the last, but the Drake's speed has increased due to its heightened fear and urgency. Locke's attempted strike therefore simply misses. Lil slowly and dizzily stands from the ground and launches to the Drake's right side before she quickly unsheathes her dagger once more in an attempt to thrust the blade down into the Drake's body; nonetheless, in the Drake's panic, it easily evades her blade. The Drake now turns its attention to Lil where it once again successfully bites her, this time in the left thigh – the bite immediately drawing blood which trickles through her clothing.
Locke sheathes his sickle and withdraws his crossbow. Jumping into the air, Locke aims the crossbow and fires the arrow, the string of the bow pushing the arrow away which flings towards the Drake's head. The Drake simply opens its mouth in response and catches the tip of the arrow between its teeth before it spits the arrow to the floor. During the action, Lil retreats towards a corner of the cave, where she takes the opportunity to take a drink from her last bottle of potion.
The Drake looks to Locke, its large snout breathing heavily down upon Locke's head, and without hesitation, it lifts its short arm and swipes its razor-sharp claws at Locke's face, which he easily evades by taking a step backwards. He then retrieves his sickle once more and immediately thrusts his arm up in an uppercut like motion, forcing the weapon into the Drake's chin. It roars in agony as blood rains down from its wound. Lil then moves across from one side of the cave to the other, still trying to recover from the Drake's last attack.
She screams, "I'm gonna kill you for making me fight this thing, Locke!"
"Oh, come on," Locke grunts as he heaves and pulls the sickle out of the Drake. "Where' your spunk? We're adventurers after all!"
"Tell that to the Drake!" Lil cries, as the creature swipes its claws and attempts another strike at Locke's face. Locke turns his attention to the Drake just in time, allowing the claws to shred down his cheeks.
"Argh! My beautiful face!" Locke cries before his eyes turn into a steely glare of determination towards the Drake. Locke takes his sickle, dips to the right and swings his arm which allows his weapon to stab the Drake in the left side of its jaw.
Finally having regained her composure, Lil stands and sheathes her dagger before she reaches into her bag and retrieves her magical Orb. Holding it between her palms, the orb begins to pulsate with a magical light which intensifies with each second as the orb becomes surrounded with a magical glow. The glow shoots from the orb and appears as a beam of white light which crashes into the Drake's forehead, exploding on contact and engulfing its head in white energy. The Drake screeches once more, but before the white energy dissipates, the screech slowly dies down and the beast drops to its left side in front of Locke's boots; the beast had been slain and just as our Heroes begin to feel a sense of relief, they hear what appears to be footsteps which emanate from the north. Thanks to her sensitive sight, Lil sees a very drunk human stumbling down the hall towards them.
"Oy, what is it, m'Drake?" The human slurs. "S'not feedin' time yet!"
The man stops in his tracks and with a belch looks down in shock to his Drake lying dead on the ground. In a drunken swagger, the drunkard rushes at Locke, brandishing his club which he swings wildly in anger. Locke is taken by surprise as the club rains down on the crown of his head, causing a sickening crack of wood meeting skull.
"Argh!" Locke cries. "Relax, sir, this Drake is better off dead, and so will you be!"
Locke clutches his sickle tightly and tries to make a stab at the drunkard, but using his intoxication to his advantage, the drunk simply leans to the side, propping himself up with his club due to dizziness.
"Great, another drunkard for me to deal with," Lil grumbles.
She then rushes to the man's side as she reaches for her dagger and thrusts it forwards, the blade sinking into his throat, slicing the arteries and airways and causing the drunk to crash dead on the cold, stone ground.
"Have your last drink on me," Locke callously announces as he spits on the drunkard's face. "Who was that man?"
Ignoring his question, Lil scrunches her nose while she looks down at the dead man, "Why must you always spit on the corpses?"
"Well, they insult me by trying to rearrange my good features, so I spit on them!" Locke answers, before spitting once again. Lil sighs.
"Anyway,” she begins, “now that's over with, where shall we go next?"
Locke surveys the land and announces, "We took the dark and spooky route; let's go with something warm and friendly. We'll head east. . .but first, I think we should remember this man for who he is. A drunk!"
With that, Locke takes a swig of his water before mockingly stumbling around the drunken corpse. Using the giant Drake as cover, our Heroes take the opportunity to indulge in a short break before continuing.
"Now you've wasted our time dancing around a corpse," Lil announces, "let's head eastward!"
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