Adventurers
- Dulo Chaec (Magic User 2)
- Koko (Cleric 5)
- Konrad Claver (Cleric 1)
- Mandras (Dwarf 2)
Making their way back to the ledge from which they first explored the underground river, and having encountered the bedraggled figure of Konrad who’d somehow managed to follow them down the chute and through the labyrinth, the party set up watches and hoped for enough sleep for their casters to recover their spells. Unfortunately the were interrupted within the first hour, the watch spying torchlight approaching. Bleary-eyed, the party shuffled into the open space where they might leap upon any intruder from both sides, and through the passageway stepped several wild-haired, wild-eyed human figures. Seemingly unphased by the sight of so many other humans, the figures gesticulated wildly and communicated in a series of short, loud sounds.
Though the meanings were unclear, the party refrained from attacking since there was no immediate hostility. The figures seemed to be beckoning for them to follow so, led by the trusting tower of a unwise cleric in Konrad, the adventurers did so. The wild-haired folk led them back through some familiar passages, pausing only to leap savagely upon a pair of ogres lumbering the other way. The party charged in after them, Koko magically stilling one so they could be taken out piecemeal.
Seemingly undeterred by the loss of one of their own, the wild hairs dragged both ogre corpses behind them until they come to a room with a crude throne of stones upon which sat a strangely familiar man with a large physique and a large voice. He barked out a demand that all peons kneel before him, King Derywinki III of the Lower Realms. The party did so.
Turned out he was the same gentleman that the party had released from a Caves of Chaos prison many months ago.
With the adventurers’ due obedience, and their shared history, the conversation with Derywinki, who seemed positively lucid compared to the other wild hairs, was convivial, especially once the ‘hosts’ started carving up the ogre carcases for a roast. The party encouraged Derywinki into joining with them to clear out the ratfolk downriver, a proposal to which the king boisterously agreed. With a few hours’ rest in the wild hair ‘kingdom’ to recover spells, the group set of with the king and his 14 remaining subjects back to the river. A couple of the adventurers who joined in the ogre meat feast felt distinctly queasy and less up for a scrap, but the majority evidently felt martially more capable thanks to whatever toxins were no coursing through their systems.
Swatting aside a hairless one on the way to the river and seeing no ratfolk atop the previously-guarded ledge, the new alliance braced its members for a looming battle.