Episode 2: The Thieves' Grotto (3 of 5)

On that note, our Heroes make their way down the ladder into the unknown below. Having completed the climb down, they soon find themselves in a large rectangular room which comprises of two doors lining the western wall, two lining the eastern wall, and two lining the northern wall. The room is brightly lit by torches that hang from around the room. Four pillars tower over the centre of the room. Unfortunately for our Heroes, two Kobold Skirmishers as well as two human lackeys also stand in the centre of the room. The group spot our Heroes immediately upon entering the room and, without hesitation, attack.

The bald human lackey is the first to strike as he stumbles to the right of the room and begins his charge towards Lil and Locke; meanwhile the armoured lackey moves forward slightly, staring down his quarry. Finally, the two Kobold Skirmishers charge directly at our Heroes, the first Kobold – wearing a loin cloth – taking his spear and with a swing, attempts a strike at Locke; however, Locke clearly sees the swing and ducks it. The second Kobold, decked in armour, takes a respective swing at Lilanei with his own spear, but likewise, Lil avoids the strike by stepping back.

Holding her position, Lil raises her hands into the air, preparing to launch her Thunderwave attack, but the loin clothed Kobold easily evades the energy whipping from the floor by springing into the air, landing on the floor as the spell dissipates. The bald headed man takes this time to rush for his nearest target, in this case Locke, and with a mighty swing aims for Locke's legs with his heavy club – but once again the antagonist's' movements are too slow for Locke, who dodges the attack by rolling with the club's swing to avoid a hit.

The armour clad Kobold then takes its spear, and once again attempts to plunge the blade into Lil, this time towards her chest. The blade of the spear strikes Lil in the chest; however due to the angle the Kobold lunged, the spear simply grazes her skin. The human in armour then runs past the southeastern pillar, rushing to Lil's side with his club which he uses in an attempt to deliver a blow; it connects and makes contact with her ribs, knocking the wind out of her. The loin cloth clad Kobold quickly refastens his own spear to his back, opting instead to leap directly at Locke as he brandishes his claws in an attack, but Locke takes the opportunity to unsheathe his sickle; then, as the Kobold flies closer to Locke with his feet and claws pointing out at him, our Hero slashes the sickle in an uppercut like motion, slashing at the Kobold's chest which deflects his attempted attack and causes him to crash to the stone floor.

Lilanei once again focuses her energy and concentrates, this time as she cups her hands together, and with her focused state a ball of silver energy forms between her palms. The ball pulsates with energy and grows until it is the size of both of her hands, which Lil then hurls at the armoured Kobold. The ball collides with the Kobold's chest plate and explodes, the force of the energy explosion causing the Kobold to fall on its tail as smoke billows from its chest plate. Unfortunately for its fellow Kobold, as the orb explodes, sharp fragments of energy deflect off its ally's chest plate, all of which fly into and slash the loin clothed Kobold, forcing it to draw blood.

The bald headed lackey notices his Kobold master in peril and so lets the end of his club smash against the stone floor, cracking the immediate area around it. He then steps forward with his left foot while swinging his fist in an attempted punch at Locke's face. The blow connects with Locke's jaw, and with a mighty “Crack!” Locke stumbles in a stunned daze. The armour clad Kobold follows as he takes his spear and with a mighty thrust attempts to once again strike Lil. The pointed tip of the spear thrusts forward and catches Lil in the side of her shoulder, once again cutting her clothing and grazing the skin.

The armoured lackey follows his fellow human and opts to use his fists as well as he attempts to deliver a heavy punch at Lil, the strike ultimately catching her in her grazed shoulder. The punch splits the skin of her shoulder further, after which blood begins to flow from the wound much to Lilanei's dismay. Locke turns his attention to the bald man after seeing the his acquaintance strike Lil. Keeping his sickle in hand, Locke's thirst for vengeance is evident as he kicks out at the lackey's shin with his right boot, the kick forcing the lackey's leg to buckle under him before Locke then takes his sickle and slashes it at his chest. The jagged edge of the blade slashes across his chest as planned, but the blade strikes deeper than Locke had accounted for, severing the arteries under the skin. Blood spurts out of the lackey's wounds, covering Locke in blood before the lackey falls backwards onto the floor, now dead.

Lilanei grasps her shoulder and rushes past Locke, taking cover behind the fresh corpse of the bald headed evildoer. She kneels down in the corner with her back against the wall and attempts to thrust her palms out in front of her; however her battered condition forces her to slightly lose her balance so that she is propped up against the stone wall; as this happens, energy forms in her palms and shoots off from her hands, the attempted Magic Missile attack completely off-shooting its target as it collides with the ceiling instead, causing a rumble followed by a short rainfall of small boulders.

"Watch the 'sharpshooting' there, Lil. Any closer and you might actually hit somebody!" Locke cries after he quickly dives out of the way of five boulders that threatened to hit him in the head.

The armoured Kobold attempts to dodge one of the many falling boulders as well and instead falls on it' tail. Without hesitation, the armoured human now rushes at Locke's back, holding his club with both hands in an attempt to slam the club into Locke's skull. When he is within striking distance, the man swings his arms forward, allowing the end of the club to slam into the crown of Locke's head, which it does with a sickening crunch.

The loin clothed Kobold, having been knocked on the head with a small boulder, roars in frustration and points its finger at Locke before he unhooks his spear from his back, howling, "I'll turn you into a meaty skewer, flesh bag!" The Kobold then cries as he lunges forward and plunges the spear into the side of Locke's lower torso, immediately drawing blood from the heavy wound.

"And I'll turn you into a pair of new boots for my mother, Scales!" Locke weakly grunts as he is on his knees from the blow. Quickly, Locke takes his sickle and jabs the tip of it straight into the Kobold's naval, in an attempt to plunge the blade deep into the Kobold's intestines, but the Kobold stumbles back from the pain of Locke's strike meaning the sickle instead slides out of the Kobold's wound. Make no mistake, however, as the Kobold is now within an inch of its life.

Still slinking in the corner, Lilanei pants in pain as a deep red aura begins to glow around her body. The aura reaches a peak and the unsuspecting armoured Kobold suddenly bursts into furious red flames. The Kobold's armour begins to melt under the intense heat of the flames it is doused in, causing the armour to become molten metal which results in the Kobold's scales beginning to blister before bursting and covering the Kobold in blood. Despite being heavily wounded, the armoured Kobold rushes around the southwestern pillar as it charges at Lil in an adrenaline fueled rage due to its heavy wounds.

Meanwhile, the armoured human raises his foot and thrusts it forward, attempting to strike Locke in the ribs. Locke sees the attempted kick and raises his knee, deflecting the kick, but at the same time thrusts his elbow down onto the humans foot, sandwiching the foot between his knee and elbow before shoving the armoured human backward. Covering the open wound in its belly, the cloth clad Kobold hisses at Locke and bares its sharp claws at our hero before he charges towards him, but Locke simply deflects his attempted charge by shoving an elbow into its chest. The Kobold stumbles back as Locke grips his sickle tightly and thrusts the sickle deep into the Kobold's head. The Kobold lets out a slight hiss before dropping to its knees, where Locke thrusts his knee upwards, smacking the Kobold in the lower jaw and forcing it to land backwards.

Noticing the enraged Kobold charging for her, Lil weakly jumps to her feet and takes into a run, rushes to the armoured lackey's rear left. Lil then unsheathes her dagger and thrusts forward int the armoured lackey, but the blood loss is evident when Lil feels a dizzying sensation sweep over her body before she stumbles and lands on one knee. The armoured kobold watches its quarry flee and so turns to its nearest target, Locke, rushing to his left side before he angrily slashes his claws at his face; however, Locke sees the Kobold rush towards him and at the last moment evades the slash.

"What is it with every enemy and their attempted attacks at my face?" Locke cries. "I know I'm handsome, but this is just too much!"

Through her gritted teeth, Lil grins and says, "I dunno; I think it's an improvement."

Locke ignores the comment, too busy trying to defend himself from his attackers. The armoured human turns immediately to Lil, who is on her knees, and with an evil chuckle he thrusts his palm upon Lil's forehead and exerts some pressure through his arm, pushing Lil backwards by the forehead.

Grinning evilly, he bellows in a slimy voice, "I'll enjoy tearing you apart, wench."

Seeing and hearing the armoured human, Locke grips his sickle and reaches out to the lackey's leather hood which he grips and rips off, giving the human no protection to his skull, before Locke then simply jars the sickle into the back of the human's head. The human's eyes roll into the back of his head and blood flushes out of his mouth before he falls face first into the stone floor beside Lil.

"Who's the wench now?" Locke asks, immediately spitting on the human's bloody skull.

Lil crawls to her knees before she looks at the mucus mixed in with the human's blood, which slides off the corpse's head, to which she grimaces and cries, "Do you really have to do that, every time?"

"Hey, he called my wench a wench!" Locke cries in response. "I'm not standing for that!"

Too tired to respond to Locke's comment, Lil removes one of the potions from her bag and takes a huge swig of it – the potion immediately revitalizing Lil while also swiftly healing her wounds. While Locke's back is turned, the remaining Kobold ignores his instincts to run and attempts to take another hit at Locke with his spear. The tip of the spear swings in the air and slashes Locke in the back, forcing him to his knees.

"How touching, but I'm tired of this ssssentiment!" The Kobold hisses and spits.

Locke says nothing and instead he grips his Sickle; on his heels, he spins around, allowing the sickle to slash at the Kobold's charred shins. The now revitalized Lil rushes to the Kobold's left side, taking a sideways strike at the Kobold's throat with her dagger; however the Kobold notices Lil's movements and catches her wrist in his clawed hand before then shoving her aside.

"Stay back, woman; your time will come!"

Nonetheless, knowing he is now flanked by both Lil and Locke, the cowardly Kobold suddenly loses his nerve and decides to try and cut-and-run as he rushes between Lil and Locke and retreats to the back of the room. Locke uses this time to take a step back before he grabs his crossbow and loads it. He concentrates and aims the arrow which is wound in the crossbow's string at the Kobold's upper back.

"Not so fast, scales!" Locke cries as he presses the trigger on his crossbow, which sends the arrow flying across the room where it lands and jabs into the Kobold's charred right shoulder blade. Not willing to let the Kobold to get away, Lil then rushes in front of Locke where she thrusts her dagger forward, pointing the tip at the Kobold's back as a silver ball of energy begins to form at the dagger's tip. The energy sparks and crackles before it shoots off the tip of the blade into a bolt of energy which in a flash flies across the room and catches its target in the same area Locke shot his arrow at. The bolt splits the arrow in twain and collides with the Kobold's back, carrying on through the skin into the back and out of the Kobold's chest. The Kobold's eyes go blank and it drops face first to the stone floor, dead, dust rising up from the area around its corpse.

Locke holsters his crossbow and wipes some dirt and sweat from his brow. He looks down at the loin clothed Kobold in front of Lil before he walks up to the dead body and grips it by the ankles.

"You know, Lil, I think I really am going to fashion some footwear out of this slimy creature,” Locke states, taking his sickle, and with a quick slash, slicing the feet off the Kobold's legs.

Shocked, Lil turns away quickly, crying, "You're such a freak!" She gags before adding, "Disgusting!"

As blood drips from the bones jutting out of the feet, Locke stuffs them into his bag, replying, "It might be disgusting, Lil, but I'm a man of my word. That walking coin pouch tried to kill us, so now it pays the price. Besides, mother's birthday is coming up.”

Lil rolls her eyes, "How very sweet of you. . . Anyway, I'm starving; we haven't eaten all day. Let's take a rest."

"Good idea," Locke replies as he scampers across the room and drags the charred remains of the armoured Kobold back to Lil's position. With his bloody sickle in hand, Locke kneels down in front of the Kobold, looks up at Lil, and with a grin, asks, "So, are you a leg or breast kind of woman?"

Lil gags once again and walks towards the eastern wall before she sits against the stone, "I think I'll stick to my trail rations, thank you very much."

"Suit yourself," Locke replies as he cuts the left arm away from the Kobold's body. "But it just means all the more bread I save."

Tongue protruding between her lips in a display of disgust, Lilanei forces herself to look away at the frightening display, as our Heroes takes their well deserved rest. After eating their fill, they prepare to set off on their evildoer's trail once more.

Lil stands and stretches, her arms making a windmill like motion above her head as she glances towards Locke and asks, "Where to now?"


"I'm not sure," Locke replies, as he stands –his eyes scanning the room. "There are an awful lot of doors here."

"Well," Lil begins. "Then choose one."

Locke looks at the doors and then peers down at the carcasses before the duo, "Well, before that, let me ask you this. Who do you think these no-hopers were, and why were they here? I thought this was meant to be Merchant's Grove. It's more like a hoodlum's hideaway!"

Lil rubs her chin in thought for a few moments before responding, "Well, maybe after the Grotto was built, it attracted scum such as these and they built their own hideaway underground."

"But why?" Locke asks.

"Well. . . Don't you think merchants have a lot of money?"

"Ah," Locke replies before Lilanei interjects sarcastically.

"Yes, it's beginning to sink in now, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Locke answers. "What do you think? Is this simply a bunch of crooks out for themselves, or something more? Like, is there a ring leader to this, like Glorak The Big?"

Lil nods, "Well, if anyone's behind this, it must be those two we heard so much about. What were their names again―“

"Hm, wasn't it Morocco and Adobo?" Locke asks, straining to remember.

Lil snaps, "No stupid!" After a brief moment, she then points her finger in the air in realization. "It's Maroco and Madoco!"

"Ah yes," Locke says, nodding his head. "You don't suppose the baby we left sleeping downstairs was one of them, do you?"

Lil frowns, "No. I think they'd be better protected than that. Maybe they're behind one of these doors."

"Let's find out," Locke says, before moving down the room as he scrutinizes each door, deciding to try and open the left door the eastern wall.

"Wait!" Lil hisses. "Shouldn't we be more careful?"

"True," Locke answers, before he presses his ear against the door. "We'll use the method tried and true. Listening!" Locke listens intently; however he does not hear a thing. "Hm, I don't hear anything, Lil. Should we go in?"

"I don't know. Let me have a look," Lil announces before she preses her own ear against the door; but, she also hears nothing. Satisfied, Locke reaches for the door handle, grips it and opens the door, a loud creak echoing throughout the room and the passage in front of them. As Locke gets to the doorway, he immediately sees three sacks sitting against the wall across from him. Nevertheless, he also notices a human lackey sitting with her back turned against him as she tinkers at the table. Locke looks back behind to Lil and points with his thumb towards the female's location, letting Lil know in sign language she's there.

Lil frowns and points to her dagger with an inquiring look on her face. Locke smiles and points his thumb up in the air in approval as he grabs his crossbow and loads it with an arrow. He steps quietly into the room facing the female's back, aiming the crossbow at her head. The woman is suddenly alerted by Locke's footsteps against the stone floor before she turns; nevertheless, she is too late as she is ambushed. She reaches behind her, trying to grip her club, but Locke immediately squeezes the trigger of his crossbow and an arrow shoots from the Crossbow and lands in the center of the female's head, killing her instantly as her body slinks back and rests against the table.

"Well, I was hoping to ask some questions," Locke begins as he steps into the room. "But I suppose killing another hostile is just as well."

Lil raises her eyebrows, "That's even if she was hostile," tapping her foot.

"Hey, it could've been a question of me or her. I'm not planning on leaving this life yet." Locke states.

"Whatever," Lil responds. "I wonder what she was doing."

"Let's look," Locke answers, walking over to the table. Locke looks over the table and finds nothing meaningful, except for thirty gold pieces. "Cha-ching!" Locke says with a wide eyed smile. "She won't be needing this." He quickly pockets the money. "But for all I know, it could be mine anyway."

This draws a slight chuckle from Lil, "Maybe."

Turning his attention to the sacks in the room, Locke wanders over and looks down at them. He kicks the left hand sack with his boot to determine if it is loaded with a booby trap, to which the sack limps to the side as it is empty. Locke does the same process with the next sack, which also limps; however as he kicks it, he hears a slightly jingling, before he quickly snatches the sack up in his hands. Upon opening it, Locke finds ten gold pieces in the sack while Lil opens the final sack to find that it is empty.

"Well, that's my money and then some," Locke replies as he empties the sack of its contents and pockets the gold to which Lil frowns.

"You mean you're keeping it all?" Lil asks in surprise.

"Huh?" Locke asks. "Oh, don't worry, I'll just take back what was stolen from me. You can have some."

Lil shakes her head and says "Yeah, okay," as she begins to walk out of the room with Locke hot on her heels.

Locke looks to his right towards the north wall and spies the door there. He quickly walks over to the door, and without hesitation, Locke attempts to open it, the door easily swinging open. Lil and Locke enter the room which is lit by only one torch, but as the room is small it is enough to illuminate the room well enough for both of our Heroes to see inside. The room is bare except for one treasure chest which sits against the wall. Locke rubs his hands together and strolls into the room, making his way to the treasure chest. Again, he kicks the treasure chest in an attempt to see if it's booby trapped. The chest does not immediately respond, but after a moment, due to his kick, the lid opens slightly. For a brief second all is silent, however two large yellow eyes soon appear staring out of open crack; before Locke can respond, he is attacked by a giant rat.

"Oh, you dirty rat!" Locke cries as he taken by surprise. The rat tries to dive at Locke with a bite, but Locke simply steps to the side as the rat lands on the floor on all fours and turns, ready to attack again. The rat is not phased by its failed attack as it dives at Locke's ankles, launching another bite attack at him. The rat wraps its jaws around Locke's right ankle and bites down hard to which Locke yells in pain before he wildly begins to shake his leg in the air.

"Get it off!” Locke howls as he tries to kick the rat off with his free foot, but to his dismay, the rat has its teeth deeply set into Locke's ankle.

"Stay still!" Lil screams as she runs to his side, brandishing her dagger.

"No! Not my leg!" Locke screams.

"Shut up!" Lil snaps as she stabs downwards with her dagger into the rat's upper back, killing it instantly as it flies off Locke's ankle, letting out a final squeak of pain.

"Damned vermin," Locke snorts.

"It serves you right for jumping into another situation without thinking, you buffoon!" Lilanei retorts. "And anyway," she grins as she glances at Locke with mischievous eyes, "I didn't realize you were afraid of rats."

Locke laughs as he replies, "I'm afraid of no furry little creatures! I just had a darn time trying to get it off. I didn't need your help."

"Uh-huh," Lil says mockingly as her grin grows wider.

"Wow," Locke replies. "This is amazing."

"What is?"

"I'm actually making you smile!" Locke replies in a mock triumph. "And they said it couldn't be done."

Lil's grin instantly turns into a frown as she flicks him across the nose, "Let's go."

Locke follows Lil out of the room with a slight limp and the two return to the main chamber once more.