C1 Session 2

In which Murfy and Arturim find a new ally
 
  After the exhausting endeavor of opening the [[Giant Stone Door]], Threevan decided to depart as he deemed the quest too difficult for his likes, and he left the camp that evening. Murfy and Arturim continued on into the depths of the catacombs. Wandering through the vast and empty halls, there seems to be nothing here. Hallway after hallway, corner after corner, endless, barren, catacombs. Until suddenly, a large hole, the width of the hallway, and approximately ten feet deep. From inside the hole, a deep-toned grumbly voice erupts. “Hello? Is anyone there? I'm a bit stuck.” 
  Standing in the middle of the hole is a half-giant man, about 7 feet tall, and decently bulky. Arturim leans over the edge to make eye contact with him. “Have you tried jumping?” The man looks puzzled for a second before jumping up and grabbing the ledge of the hole with both of his hands and pulling himself out. After standing up and turning to face Arturim and Murfy, he says “Well, I suppose I didn’t think of that, thanks for the help,” in a relieved tone. “You’re plenty welcome,” Arturim replies. “Now, would you care to introduce yourself?” he said. “Oh, of course. I go by [[Raiden]],” he said. “I was captured by some random people and brought here. I escaped after a bit when they weren’t in the room, and I just ran until I fell into this hole right here.” “Well do you know the way back?” Murfy chimed in. “Oh yes, follow me,” Raiden said as he began walking down the hall.
  Arturim and Murfy followed Raiden down the twisting halls and around every corner, and as they kept walking Arturim couldn’t help but be baffled by how well Raiden was navigating through the halls for a man who didn’t think to jump out of a small hole to escape. “Maybe he’s smarter than we think,” Arturim thought to himself. As he thought this, all three of them walked into a room completely empty except for a monk in a somewhat tattered outfit, with a red nose. He was holding a lantern, seemingly looking around for something. Suddenly, the monk spotted all of them, and appeared to be very startled by their presence. “Quick!” Raiden yelled, as he sprinted up and hit the monk with his Greataxe. Having just been hit, the monk had no time to react as Arturim quickly rushed up and palm struck him in the face, bloodying his face. The monk fell to the ground, and after only two attacks he looked sufficiently injured. Just as Murfy was about to shoot a crossbow bolt at him, *poof*, he vanished. “Who was that?” Murfy asked as they exited the room and continued down the halls. “One of my captors. Chances are he’s gone to inform his boss that more people are here, so we should hurry,” Raiden said, as he increased to a faster walking pace.
  They walked through the halls, encountering the occasional wooden door, at which point they would check for any traps before opening each door. Eventually, they reached a door which had muffled voices coming from behind it. After checking and disabling a well hidden trap outside the door, Raiden attempted to slowly and sneakily open the door. Unfortunately, he failed and stumbled loudly into the room, where Murfy and Arturim could now see two monks, as well as a red-brown skinned Hobgoblin with a blue nose to contrast that of the monks, slightly taller than the monks but about a foot shorter than Raiden and Arturim. He wore a yellow cloak, with long black hair tied into a ponytail and a belt full of various tools and a couple books. He looked exhausted, like he’d been stuck down there for weeks, searching for something unknown to Arturim, Murfy and Raiden.
  Murfy walked slowly up to the two monks, and kneeled. They put handcuffs on him. Arturim walked up to the monk which he recognized as the one he had nearly killed just earlier. He attempted to shake his hand, but was quickly turned around and handcuffed without resistance. Raiden, however, had no intention of surrendering, as he walked up to the monks and began to swing his greataxe, but before he could even let the axe drop, the monk swept his legs out, pinned him down, and attempted to handcuff him. Raiden continued to resist, writhing and wriggling in place, so the other monk rolled him over while holding his hands and feet together, and threw the handcuffs at his hands, which seemed to attach and tighten magically. The monks then sat all three of them up to face the hobgoblin, as he held out his hand and it started to glow a bright yellow, before a small ball of lightning appeared in his hand, which he then threw at Murfy, Arturim and Raiden, knocking them unconscious. 
  All of them eventually wake up to find themselves in a medium sized metal cage, stripped of their gear. The bars of the cage spanned all of the walls and the ceiling. The floor was a solid metal plate, with some wheat spread around. “Who are you, and why are you here,” the hobgoblin man asked in a stern tone. “We are part of the dawn blades, an organization in [[Onye Aloura]],” Murfy chimed in. “We’ve come here to find out why this crypt of yours is so cold.” The hobgoblin looked slightly confused. “Have you come for him?” he asked. “Who exactly is he?” Raiden asked. “Good, you are just as dumb as I thought,” the hobgoblin said confidently. “Now, who are these, dawn blades you speak of? I am intrigued.” 
  After a brief description of the Dawn Blades and their motives as an organization from Arturim, the hobgoblin introduced himself properly to the adventurers. “I am [[Yishtar The Blue]], my monk comrades are Anleon and Yrezor. I am here in search of the snake that lies here, it was the companion to a legendary warrior whose tomb I wish to find.” “Then we will help you in your search, and it may help us fi-” “You trespass on my land, stand amongst my men, and then offer to help,” Yishtar interrupted, his voice now holding a strong anger and irritation. “I would’ve had you killed had my comrades not been against it. If you are truly here to help then Anleon and Yrezor will disturb you no longer, but I would prefer you leave as your help is not needed here.” Yishtar began turning around and walking towards one of the doors before pivoting his head slightly to the side. “What is the saying? Oh, don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” he said. He then exited the room, leaving Murfy, Arturim and Raiden to escape from their cage. They putzed around for the next hour or so, looking for any way out of the steel bars that confined them. In a frustrated flurry, Raiden swung his leg across the ground, sweeping away a large portion of the hay which was scattered across the floor, revealing a 3 foot by 3 foot square hole in the floor of the cage. “You couldn’t get frustrated any sooner?” Arturim scoffed. “Yeah whatever, let’s just figure out how to get this hole not facing the ground,” Raiden replied. “Stand at the back of the cage, I think I can just lift this thing up,” he said. Murfy and Arturim stood back as Raiden’s muscles flexed and he slowly lifted the cage onto its side. The small square opening was now facing a much better way for them to make their escape.
  “Alright then, who’s first,” Raiden said. “I’ll go,” Murfy said before slowly climbing his way through the small gap to the other side with relative ease. Arturim stepped up next, grabbing the bars above the opening, lifting himself off the ground and swinging his entire body through the gap at once without any part of his body touching the edges of the hole. “Pfff, show off,” Raiden murmured under his breath. Now came the challenging part: Fitting a seven foot tall half-giant through a three by three gap. “Pull harder you weaklings!” Raiden screamed out as his body mass slowly slid through the silver cage. “It’s not easy to move your big-boned body, just so you know,” Murfy exclaimed. Finally, after a few more minutes of pulling and tugging and yelling, Raiden’s body made it through the gap, and he fell not-so-gracefully onto the floor below.“Well then, let’s get going, we’ll have to find our stuff,” Arturim said.
  They entered a hallway from the right side of the room, and began walking. The walls of this hallway were far from ordinary. They were painted, with scenes of war and peace, each scene telling only a fragment of a story. It was clear from the characters painted in the scenes that this was a detailed history of the hobgoblin people, described through artistic expression. The paintings depicted the hobgoblin people finding their culture and farming in the fields peacefully, as well as discovering their wonderful culture of battle. Every time they went to battle, they entered filled with happiness and pride, and exited the same. They always welcomed new folk into their society, observed them and showed them their potential for greatness in battle. However one day, these people brought an uprising against the hobgoblins, slaughtering them with their own weapons, killing their families, and destroying them from within. To combat this, the hobgoblins began using battle magic against their foes, and to their surprise were met with equally powerful magics. Amongst the combatants, a mighty warrior donned glowing green and white armor, wielding a magical ring on one hand, and his other weapon in the other. This warrior exhibited his slaughter of the enemy, and proclaimed that he would refuse to retreat, no matter what. He believed that dying in the heat of the battle was much more honorable than dying after the war was already over. The warrior lived up to his wishes, and was slain during battle. A short time after the hobgoblins had retreated, they returned to the battlefield to gather the bodies of their allies to bury. They retrieved the body of the warrior and brought him to an area near lake Syron to build a crypt wherein the body of the great warrior would lie in eternal slumber with his weapons at his side.