Chapter 20: Scouting Spike Island Part 1

Written by Skarth Diem to Dronaet Klingstone

We arrived at the headland just as the sun was setting. I performed my sunset ritual while the sailors bustled around me, dropping anchor and furling sails and doing the other things that sailors do. We anchored in a little cove behind the headland, so that the ship would be hidden from the island. Then once the sun was set, we boarded the small boat. Our old friends, Keth and Tymm, rowed us quietly around the headland and over to the island that sat in the middle of the mouth of the river. Because so much of it had been sunk, there was essentially just a single spike left, pointing up into the darkening sky. The stone causeway that joined the island to the land was flooded at this point and was just under the water, leaving a long line of turbulence that fluoresced in the soft twilight.

We noticed that, while the headland seemed to have a healthy population of seabirds, there were none circling near the island itself.

We silently approached the island. Riellian used magic to help the boat and all those inside it to move more quietly and hopefully not be noticed by any Sahaugin in the area. The entrance was at the shoreline of the island. It was a small landing paved with stone, that then dipped down, under the water, to connect to the sunken causeway. Before the island had been sunk, the entrance had been a lookout, high above sea level, but now the waves lapped at the pavement outside the doors.

We landed and carefully got out of the boat. Keth and Tymm made silent gestures to wish us luck and then turned the boat around and started quietly rowing back around the headland and back to the ship.

There were a large set of double doors in the entranceway. They were featureless and looked newly made. There was a small aperture that would probably allow someone inside to lift a flap and look out. The doors were made of stone and seemed to have bronze runners along the base allowing them to slide open. Riellian pulled a thin blade out of her pack and carefully slid it up between the two doors, discovering that there was some sort of bar on the door to hold it closed.

At that point, she heard footsteps, and someone started to remove the bar. We all crowded back around the corner and perched on the rocks, out of sight of the doorway and tried to stay still. Riellianís spell was still in effect so we hoped that it would help us avoid being noticed. The bar was removed from the door and the door slid open, rumbling along the brass runners. A Sahuagin leaned out and looked around, then he sniffed the air. It stayed in the doorway for a moment, but then stepped back inside and pushed the door closed. We listened but didnít hear the sound of the bar being put back into the door.

We waited for a moment and then returned to the door. We couldnít hear any sounds through the door so we decided we may as well take the risk. So we just pushed the doors open and rushed through. Inside, was a cavern some 20 feet deep and 60 feet wide. The doorway opened into the middle of the longer wall. To our left was some sort of staging area and to our shock, we saw several Sahuagin all getting to their feet and grabbing their weapons. To our right, a large gong stood against the wall, and a Sahuagin was in the process of picking up a mallet. He clearly intended to strike the gong which would alert the whole island to our presence.

A finely dressed Sahuagin was ready as we stepped into the room. It charged forward and immediately started attacking Kelshann. Wrack dodged past the Sahaugin leader and with a few running steps, charged into the Sahuagin holding the mallet, pushing him away from the gong. Then Wrack swung his longsword around and skewered the Sahuagin through the heart, killing it instantly.

Jenny stepped forward and prepared to cast some sort of spell. But then she looked around the confined space and stopped, clearly worried that her spell would affect us as badly as it would the Sahaugin. Kelshann had transformed into the angry biting dragon-kind that she becomes when attacked. She smashed her mace into the leader, leaving it stunned and with blood dripping from a huge gash in its arm.

I was at the back of the crowd, but I could see what was happening. I sang a piece of the Great Song that called on the wild plants to grow. A large section of the stone floor of the cavern seemed to suddenly sprout thorny plants as my power called them forth. The thorny plants reached up, twining and curling around each other. Then they settled into place, and from the base up, the colour changed to match the colour of the stone floor. This colour change swept up through each of the stems and out along the branches until they seemed to merge into the floor and disappear. The tangle of plants would make it difficult for the Sahuagin to cross the floor and the sharp thorns would bite at their feet and legs for every step they took.

Then I realised that Iíd made a mistake, because I hadnít warned my colleagues that I was doing this. I was concerned that they would run in and be injured by the thorns. At the same time, I couldnít call out to warn them, because the Sahuagin would hear the same warning.

One of the Sahuagin had seen its friend fall to Wrackís sword and was running for the gong. My spell slowed it and tore at its feet, leaving them bleeding. Wrack waited for it by the gong and struck it down as soon as the Sahuagin came within reach.

The remaining Sahuagin to our left had also come out and now they joined their captain in the fight at the door. My thorns helped to delay their arrival and tore at their legs, leaving blood trickling from the cuts and slashes inflicted by the thorns. Kelshann scored another hit against the Sahuagin leader and then Riellian cut it down with her scimitars.

The fight was over shortly after that. Once the Sahuagin were all dead, I pulled the power back into myself, and the layer of thorny plants shrivelled up and turned to dust.

After a very brief whispered discussion, we took the weapons from the dead Sahuagin and dropped them onto the beginning of the causeway. There they would be under the water and out of sight, at least until the next low tide.

The exit to the room was through an alcove opposite the big double doors. At the far end of the alcove, a portcullis blocked our way into the remainder of the caverns. In the alcove, Riellian spotted a weighted net concealed in the roof that could be triggered to fall and trap anyone entering the alcove. She disabled the triggering mechanism, and we stepped forward to look through the portcullis.

To our left, we could just make out a capstan mechanism that we assumed was connected to the portcullis. At the capstan, there were two dead Sahuagin, their feet and bodies cut and torn by my thorns. Without realising it, the area of my spell had extended out through the opening into this section of the cavern and the two Sahuagin had fought their way through the thorns, by the look of it even crawling through them, before reaching the mechanism that probably raised and lowered the portcullis. There they had fallen and there they lay.

We decided we should keep an accounting of the Sahaugin weíd killed so that we could include that in our report back to the Council. In this encounter, we killed the captain, 2 larger warriors, and 6 lesser warriors. There were also the 2 near the capstan who Iíd inadvertently killed with my thorns. We could only hope that no other Sahuagin had seen what was happening and run off to raise the alarm.

Once weíd caught our breath after the fight, Wrack and Kelshann worked together to lift the portcullis using sheer strength so that we could all slide through into the next room. This was a bare room with a stone bench along the south wall. From the description the lizardfolk had given us, these caverns had been natural rock caves. But what we could see now were carefully carved rooms with sharp corners and smooth walls. The stone surface was finished but unadorned.

We shifted the two bodies away from the capstan and then used it to raise the portcullis so that it was out of the way. We decided to move the two bodies into the first chamber so that they would be out of the way and not immediately obvious to any other Sahuagin who came by. While that was happening, I decided to slide the outer doors closed so that we wouldnít be surprised by more Sahuagin coming in from outside. The doors turned out to be heavier than I thought, and I struggled to even shift the door. Then Wrack came over and between the two of us, we were able to close them and return the bar to its place.

An unfortunate consequence of closing the doors was that it was now quite dark inside the caverns. Some of my colleagues could see in the dark but Jenny and Kelshann and I were quite blind. I drew my scimitar which immediately started glowing with moonlight. That allowed us to see, but it was also risky as it would expose us if a Sahuagin should see the light when there shouldnít be such a light.

We moved through the southwest entrance which led us to a new chamber that seemed to be an armoury. Two parallel rows of metal racks were lined with weapons. Jenny suggested that if we counted the number of weapons that would give an idea of troop numbers. It took us a little time to count but fortunately, we were not disturbed while we were doing that. We counted 60 spears, 30 tridents, 20 war hammers and 10 glaves. There were also two coffers containing somewhere between 60 and 80 daggers in neatly made scabbards. It seemed clear to me that the more decorative weapons would be used by higher-ranking warriors. I had seen when I was training with the militia that it took considerable training to use those big two-handed weapons effectively. Therefore, it was reasonable to assume that this room contained weapons for something like 60 basic fighters who would use spears, and another 60 more advanced warriors.

We continued through an archway to the south and discovered a large room that appeared to be designed as a barracks. It seemed to be still under construction. There were dozens of stone-working tools stacked neatly in a pile against the north wall. The southern half of the barracks was divided into three small chambers that we speculated that they could be chambers for officers or something like that. The chambers held nothing of consequence.

To the east was an archway that opened onto a long corridor running north and south. An archway across the corridor and slightly to the north looked interesting. Riellian went ahead to explore while we hung back in the barracks and waited, trying not to attract attention. Riellian came back and reported that the walls and floor of the room were covered in dark green tiles. There were a series of stone coffers on the north wall that were all empty. One of the coffers was glowing with a strange blue light. It seemed to be some form of magic, but we had no idea what it was.

When Riellian started moving south along the corridor, she realised that the end of the corridor opened into a room that contained several Sahuagin. She quickly retreated, hoping she hadnít been noticed. She is very good at moving quietly, so we were hopeful that she hadnít attracted any attention. She wasnít sure how many were in the room as she hadnít gotten close enough, but it was more than two.

Based on the rough map of the caves that the lizardfolk had drawn for us, we decided that they were in a room that had several exits. If we attempted to attack them, we had no idea if any others were close enough to aid them if they called for help. Also, we might have found it hard to stop one of them from slipping away down a corridor and running off to raise the alarm.

Given that they didnít appear to know about our presence, we decided to move to the west side of the complex and explore that section. If that group of Sahuagin were the only others on this level, doing this might allow us to come around behind them. Then we could get between them and the way down to the next level, assuming that the lizardfolkís map was still accurate.

To the west of the barracks room was another north-south corridor. Branching off this and slightly to the north of the barracks was another room. This one was finished with dark blue tiles. It had a table in the centre and a bench and an empty coffer. It looked like a room that might be used for setting strategy or something like that.

We moved south along this north-south corridor, strung out in a line with Riellian scouting well ahead, followed by Wrack, and then the rest of us. The corridor kinked and bent in a couple of places but mostly continued to the south. We were trying to move through this area as quietly as we could so as not to attract attention. For the most part, we thought we were being successful. The area seemed quiet and still. The soft light of my scimitar lit the way for Jenny, Kelshann and myself. Up ahead of us, Wrack and Riellian were able to see in the dark so they were staying ahead where they could hopefully stop us if we encountered more Sahaugin before the light of my scimitar gave us away.

Jenny had lit a lantern and then covered it. In this way, the lantern could be used to produce a more controlled light than my scimitar. The idea was for me to sheath my scimitar and just use the lantern if we needed to.

As we moved as silently as we could down this corridor, I heard a sudden clang behind us. I froze and glanced behind me to see that one of the shutters had fallen off the lantern Jenny was carrying. Jenny quickly picked up the fallen shutter and fixed it back to the lantern. Weíd all stopped moving when the shutter fell and now we listened carefully for any reaction to the noise. After a moment of straining our ears to hear any sounds, we decided that we were okay and we started moving again.

Up ahead of me, I saw Riellian stop beside a door. Most of the rooms had used a simple archway to enter so a door was unusual. I watched from a distance as Riellian quietly slid the door open on its runners. She told me later that there was a noticeable chill in the air coming from this room as she opened the door. She stepped inside and looked around, then stepped outside again looking pale in the dim light. She slid the door closed and then gestured us forward.