Mina, Jym, and Aletha were still above in the Beggar-King's chambers. Mina discovered a hidden trap-door in the floor in the corner of the room. Jym and Aletha made her open it, just in case it was trapped. Beneath the door was a ladder leading to a rocky ledge. They descended into the chill of the cavern. The ledge overlooked an underground river that ran swiftly far below. Suspended high above them, an iron cage pitched drunkenly from side-to-side with Regnor and Vismund inside. Through the mist the party could see that the cage was being pulled slowly towards a series of slave pens raising to a platform, cast red in the flickering light of braziers. A huge desert ape, shackled to an equally enormous windlass, was feverishly working the crank.
A hobgoblin slaver stood nearby cracking a whip over the ape's head menacingly, and he watched as the iron cage was wheeled in. He caught sight of Jym, Mina, and Aletha approaching along the rocky ledge, placed a warhorn to his lips and blew a single long low note of warning. A pair of similar hobgoblins appeared, carrying short bows, and began firing on the intruders. Aletha, Regnor, and Vismund fired back as Jym and Mina closed the distance.
At this point the cage was directly over one of the open slave pens. The hobgoblin with the whip and horn ran to a lever on the wall and pulled it, releasing the floor of the cage. Vismund and Regnor were unceremoniously dropped into the pens among the other slaves. Next the slaver removed a pin from the ape's shackles and then the three hobgoblins quickly retreated down a connecting passageway. The ape, seeing that it was now freed of the hated windlass and it's tormentors had disappeared, leaped in ferocious anger towards the party. He landed in front of Jym and Mina, roared and pounded his chest, and with an almost casual backhand, slammed Mina off the ledge and into the slave pits below. Jym lashed out with shield and scimitar, but was pounded into unconsciousness on the stony ground by the desert ape's strong fists.
Regnor, Vismund, and Mina recovered enough from their falls to launch a barrage of missiles at the beast on the ledge above them. Aletha hurled fey magic at the creature, blinding it to her presence and blasting it in turn. Before long the creature fell under their concentrated attacks. Mina was able to pick the locks on their cage and Vismund made it to the aid of Jym before he passed into death.
Among the other captured they met two miserable human beggars covered in weeping sores, an aging dwarven tinker name Crox, Baroness Lady Constance and her two ladies in waiting, and an ancient and sickly sage named Lorilass and his lovely half-elf apprentice Neveril. The beggars seeing a chance for escape quickly ran off. Crox thanked the party for the rescue and offered to help carry the sage, who could not move under his own power, back to civilization. The party let all the captives go, and would only have come calling to claim their rewards back on the surface after they had dealt with the Beggar-King and these slavers.
At this point the party had earned enough experience to level up. Regnor traded spinning sweep for the passing attack encounter exploit, gained the dragon frenzy feat, and learned the unstoppable utility exploit. Vismund gained the dwarven weapon training feat, and gained the arcane springboard utility spell. Aletha gained the ethereal stride utility power, and used her feat to become an arcane initiate which granted her access to the wizard spell scorching burst as an encounter power. Jym and Mina have not yet trained in new abilities.
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