Episode 20 – The Assault on Officer Waldo

The cautious party decides to explore the kitchen and see if this will be a suitable area to hole up for a while. They find two people hiding behind the counter – a man and a woman. These two are frightened cooks, who have witnessed a number of disturbing things over the past day. They heard the fearful voice that boomed throughout the compound after the giant worm creature was slain. The heard the clash of fighting on several occasions, including some particularly fierce and nearby clashes the previous night. They fear the hobgoblin guards that they saw coming and going, and they fear the large bloody man who barged through theIr kitchen in the company of a wounded goblin just after the fight concluded. The two of them are fearful. They have worked in the kitchen here for a few months after living on the road previously. They say that they came to work for the wizard against the advice of Moose Maynard, but they wanted steady work rather than the wayward lives they had been living. They indicate that the way out is through the adjacent store room. A trembling sensation and a rumble interrupts their conversation.

Cycek, standing near the door to the store room notices a weird visual anomaly in the corner of the next room. It seems to be a “blurry” spot, roughly 2-feet in diameter. The effect is almost like looking through a smudged lens or a distorted piece of glass. They approach the anomaly to investigate, and out of pure curiosity consider tying someone to a tether of some kind, and letting them touch the “blur.” Before they can execute this plan, Sartan tries to smack it with his Gooey Grabber. When it makes contact with the “blur,” it gets flung aside as if hitting a spinning object. Before long the blurriness begins to clarify until it is no longer visible.

The rumbling and mysterious “blur” give the party some concerns about the stability of the compound. The cooks want to join them for protection, but the party declines this invitation, explaining that they still have dangerous work ahead of them, and recommends that they go their own way. Naturally, the cooks can only accept this, and bid farewell to the team.

They decide that they still need to rest and recover from some wounds, but this is not the place. They return to the saferoom and lock the doors. An hour later, they emerge and decide to continue investigating. They are curious about the voices and clanging they heard earlier, and Coriander is eager for clues as to Wendella’s whereabouts.

They unlock the gate in the “lobby” and descend the stairs. Sunlight is softly illuminating the center of the room. They see that some of the wires have been cut and removed, making movement in at least part of the room easier to manage. And there is a tarp tied down over the opening in the center of the floor. Bodies of slain goblins, hobgoblins, and ghouls have been piled up along one wall.

Next they go back into Ekso’s quarters. Here too they discover that some kind of clean up has happened. The disgusting remains of the worm creatures seems to have removed at least in part. And iron bars have been roughly bolted over the opening to the spiral staircase. Coriander moves into the adjacent library and begins searching through the books, hoping to hit upon something that may reveal the nature of the broken staff that triggered the explosions and apparently Wendella’s disappearance. She is frustrated that there is so much material, and so much of it in languages she cannot read. Irrationally, she wants to stay here and research, but it is obvious that they are not alone here. Furthermore, Sartan asserts, this place seems unstable as another rumble is felt. They decide to each take a couple of books and leave.

They retrace their steps out through the kitchen, stopping to replenish their food supplies, and head into a rough cave-like passageway that seems to slowly ascend. There is no sign of the cooks they had met earlier. They pass another passageway that branches to the left and which seems to angle back down. Up ahead they begin to discern what appears to be natural light. The passageway ahead seems to open into the outdoors, but there is also a rough, narrow flight of stairs along the right-hand wall of the cave. Sartan heads up the stairs, followed by Cycek, and Davros, walking single-file up the narrow steps. At the top, they are met by a man clad in the attire of the Shadowfurst Town Guard. He is in a small room with a window at his back, which looks out over the outside. The man is nervous and defensive. He brandishes a spear in his right hand and holds aloft a metal sphere in his left, demanding, “Who are you!? Where do you think you’re going!? Back off! Get out of here!” Sartan, Cycek, and Davros are all rather taken aback by this and decide to assert themselves. They ask who he is, and he replies that he is “Officer Waldo” and that they had better leave. He tells them the way out is just down the stairs. The party is very suspicious of him and keep up the pressure, arguing with him and insisting that they be allowed up the stairs. Davros pulls out his bow and the guard reacts, lobbing the metal sphere over Sartan and Cycek. It bounces off the stairs and explodes in Davros’ chest, blasting him back off the stairs and flat on his back.

In the fracas, Sartan pulls out his fidget spinner and the guard promptly falls for its hypnotic power. Davos, in a fury, barges up the stairs and exacts a violent revenge on the helpless guard – kicking him in the crotch, snapping his knee, and breaking his jaw, and finally urinating on him to add insult to injury. They leave him bleeding and unconscious while they investigate his small lookout perch. Peering out the window they see a rocky, scrubby landscape, bluffs, blue sky, and a trail down below. They do not see any movement.

Heading down the stairs and out into the open air, they determine that they are likely along the same trail they had followed to arrive here the previous day. Coriander is horrified by Davros’ treatment of the guard and wants to strike out on her own. Sartan, asserting that they will have a better chance of finding Wendella if they stick together, convinces her to stay. They find a hiding spot amid the rocks and hunker down to rest.