Tom Liberman

Another Night at the Sleeping Lion

My friends and I decided to meet at the Sleeping Lion to discuss our various options for continuing the adventures of the past few weeks. We had to choose between helping Jekserah, helping Argeise figure out what nefarious activity the merchant was engaged upon, look into that strange map of the Sulphur Springs, or investigate the bandits’ ominous utterance of The Gloom. While deep in discussion on the matter a brawl broke out, to no one’s surprise, over some racial slur or another. It was interesting watching Ohohoho’s eager eyes scan the room looking to pick up some ill-gotten gains in the chaos while Person and Yee leapt to their feet and tried to quell the disturbance. Eventually the two succeeded in their peacemaking efforts and the owner of the establishment gave us a friendly nod of her head. It is clear our standing in town has improved.

After the bruhaha we came to the conclusion that we must investigate this so-called Gloom. We agreed to head up Still River on the morrow.

The Road to the Crypt

We left first thing in the morning and Ohohoho didn’t look more than half drunk from the festivities last night while Yee looked her solid and usual self. I was feeling some dread regarding the strange crypt but I steeled my quaking nerves and off we went. On the second day of travel we ran across a strange little fellow squatting in the woods attending to, as they say, nature’s call. Ohohoho wanted to steal his pack and be off but cooler heads prevailed and we gave him some suitable material to clean himself up and off we went.

The Crypt

We found the crypt after searching around in the foothills of the Copperneck Mountains for a long day and, with a swig of fortifying spirits, headed inside. We immediately encountered a group of bandits and more of the unlife creatures. We dispatched them readily enough but the chamber beyond was overflowing with cultists.

Luckily the mighty Yee was able to dispatch most of them with a single sweeping attack for a moment later the survivors summoned more of the bone beasts. While Ohohoho, Person, and Yee and my faithful rats were finishing off these cultists I headed through another door and was immediately confronted with massive Earth Elementals. Realizing abject self-preservation was better than death, I retreated with a call for Yee.

The big Inox dashed into the chamber with Ohohoho right behind. I followed up and we were able to dispatch the monstrous things relatively quickly and our scoundrel tried to open the chest therein but set off a nasty trap. I surmised at the moment the experience might make him more cautious in the future. More about that in a moment.

In the meantime Person opened up another door and found more Elemental creatures, these of an Airy nature and cultists. We all dashed across the chamber and laid into them with mighty blows. It was a matter of moments before they were all dead.

While this was going on, Ohohoho opened another chest without a thought, this time finding a ring he chose to keep for himself.

Now, if you don’t mind a brief interlude, I’d like to briefly discuss the behavior of Ohohoho. His love for treasure leads him forward into dangerous situations but he is often rewarded for these actions; however, sometimes he is punished. The punishment does not seem to deter the behavior. I have been thinking about this. Perhaps the best way to describe the phenomenon is by way of Positive and Negative Reinforcement. That is, sometimes bad things happen but usually good arises from his result. How much negative reinforcement is necessary to overcome regular reward? It is an interesting question from a point of view in regards to the mind. Interesting indeed. I think I might be able to experiment on this further. Young Ohohoho while handy with the blade, is rather thick brained and will prove a useful patient I suppose.

In any case, in the aftermath of events we found scribbling on the walls of the crypt indicating two more locations the bandits might be using to summon these elemental creatures and the unlife. Ah, more to do! This is the life for me. The dissertation I publish, should I survive, will most certainly catapult me into elite academic circles.