The tunnel beyond the lightning snake’s lair twists and turns for a great distance; it takes you about 10 minutes to traverse it before you can detect a faint natural light up ahead, and the air becomes notably cleaner, smelling vaguely of grass.
After another 5 minutes of travel, the tunnel you have been traversing opens into a large cave, roughly 50 ft. wide and 60 ft. long, and you can see a forest beyond the wide cave’s mouth at the opposite end. The roots of a large tree block the middle of this entrance, as if the tree had grown into a hillside that has since eroded away. Below the tree is a large pond; a path around the water begins to one side beneath a curtain of moss hanging from the tree. The cave itself is piled high in places along the side walls with rows of neatly stacked crates and boxes.
Standing at the base of the tree is a rough-looking man. He is bald and has a prominent scar running down his face. He is wearing filthy leather armor and wields a nasty kukri. You recognize this man as Hallod, the town bully.
As you enter the cave, Hallod hops up on a berm formed by the tree roots, aims his crossbow at you, and taunts you by saying,
“I wondered when Bort’s lackeys would arrive. Let’s do this!”
He downs a vial of liquid and snarls as he fires his crossbow in your direction. The bolt flies true and strikes Meggir in the arm for a significant amount of damage.
As the group moves forward to engage Hallod, the ranger spots a rope about a foot off the ground. The rather obvious trip line stretches from wall to wall between the rows of barrels and crates.
"Avoid the rope."
The ranger says gruffly, then fires an arrow at Hallod. The arrow is off target and whistles through the large opening at the other end of the cave into the forest beyond.
A rough battle against Hallod ensues, with your party taking a few wounds in the process. Swords clash, arrows fly, and Hallod uses a lot of dirty tricks to trip with his kukri or bull-rush opponents into the crates. But ultimately, you are victorious against the brute! When the battle is over and the dust settles, all that can be heard is the exhausted panting of your party members and the birds chirping in the forest beyond.
Hallod lies bloodied and unconscious at your feet.
Searching his body, you find a heavy crossbow and 10 bolts, a
+1 kukri, leather armor, a
lesser healing potion, a lesser juggernaut mutagen, and an iron key. Folded up in Hallod’s pocket is a note written on a scrap of parchment.
The Note► Show Spoiler
Hallod,
The final shipment of corpse blood is due in just over a week, and it is the last thing I need from that greedy bastard, Bort.
I’ve enclosed a parting gift for him that should ensure he never tells anyone of our dealings. Be sure that he gets it, my darling. Drop off the reagents as soon as they arrive. My work is almost done. You will find your usual reward in the stump.
V.
Searching the cave...
The rope trip-wire turns out to be a nasty spear-launcher trap. An old heavy crossbow is loaded with a javelin with a jagged and rusty iron tip.
It turns out that the crates here are not all empty. They contain 50 gp worth of alchemical reagents that can be used in Crafting alchemical items. You also find a
runestone containing the
shadow rune, and 2 everburning torches.
You soon realize the key found on Hallod could be the key needed to open the strongbox found earlier in Hallod's living area under a cot.
The chest is made from stout wood, banded
in iron, and closed with a simple lock.
You carefully turn the key in the lock.
It opens easily.
Inside the chest is a batch of 14 receipts that you later discover match the logs from Bort’s ledgers, as well as a scrap of parchment that lists each transaction along with a value slightly higher than that listed on the corresponding receipt from Bort. The chest contains some of the gold that Hallod has skimmed from these transactions over the years (the reason for the difference in values). Although Hallod has spent much of the difference, the chest still contains 21 gp and 37 sp.
Finally, on the back of the transaction list is a crude map. It depicts a cave helpfully labeled “HIDEOUT,” next to a shape that might be a pond; from there, a winding path passes through a strange V-shaped chamber before ending at what appears to be a clearing with a tree stump labeled “DROP POINT.”
After a good rest and much needed healing, your party leaves Hallod's hideout and make your way back to Etran's Folly.
To be continued...