"Keeping your nose clean, I hope?"
”S’far as everyone thinks,” Trinia says with a grin.
"I be wonderin' if'n yer ghost be knowin' our ghost. Did ya get a name 'fore she be possessin' ya? I would be likin' ta be gettin' a look at tha place where ya be meetin' her. “
"Did she tell you anything of her name, her tribe?"
”No,” replies Trinia, biting her lip. ”I knew I’d get something wrong. I ain’t yet a seasoned adventurer like you. Yet! But, I didn’t learn her name, only what she wanted. I bet she’d be glad to see me again. We can visit th’ gorge if ya like! Vesper can come this time, too!”
”Not fer me,” Vesper shakes her head. ”Nearly losin’ me head ‘n fightin’ ogres was ‘nough adventure for two lifetimes! Plus, I like th’ horses.”
In our last fight, there be this bad creature tha' could be changin' her face an' be readin' yer mind. I think she be readin' mine and be findin' outta 'bout tha two o' ya an' where ya be. I think I be puttin' ya in danger."
”Really?” Trinia asks hopefully. ”Real danger! Just like the old days, right? The creature sounds like a tough one, but I’m not afraid of anything, especially with you lot around.”
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By far the least hospitable landscape in Varisia, the Cinderlands have been written off as worthless by most of the region’s residents—fit only for the crazed Shoanti barbarians displaced over the centuries by immigration from Cheliax. Yet such views are shortsighted, for within the Cinderlands’ borders lurks a surprising display of life and geologic diversity.
In addition to a host of dangerous monsters and wildlife, the environs themselves are perilous. Food and water can be difficult to secure in this region. Other significant threats include cinder cones and emberstorms. Cinder cones are hills of volcanic fragments built up around volcanic vents. During the eruptions of these magma fountains, earthquakes shake the land and the small volcanoes vent incredible amounts of ash, cinders, and explosive projectiles through their flanks and summit craters. The majority of the material expelled by cinder cones consists of massive quantities of miniscule ash particles, which is dispersed across the Cinderlands by the constant winds. The largest cinder cones can eject buckler-sized globs of half-cooled molten rock and trapped volcanic gases with enormous force, potentially shooting them great distances. Cooling as they fly through the air, these natural bombs solidify into elongated tear-shaped rocks, making them aerodynamic enough to travel up to a mile. The impact of one of these bombs causes it to shatter explosively.
An emberstorm, on the other hand, can form in the aftermath of a particularly large wildfire. Because the generated heat is so great, the surrounding oxygen burns swiftly, creating inward-facing wind currents. Once this occurs, a perpetual cycle of oxygen, ash, and embers feeds the fire and intensifies its heat, giving it its own renewable source of fuel. The winds produced by this phenomenon can reach hurricane-force gales that cause an emberstorm to grow to devastating sizes. With a good wind behind it, the storm can travel hundreds of miles, appearing from afar like a black blizzard that flickers with fire. An emberstorm consists of two parts: the edge and the heart. Within the edge, the ash-choked winds howl. In the heart, they rage.
Although the Cinderlands are arid, they nevertheless host a wide range of hardy flora and fauna. Ember poppies, galroot bushes, flask and lotra trees, and scrubs dot the landscape. Venemous snakes, ankhegs, and chimeras roam the desert, while bands of orcs, and even giants, stake their territorial claims. Perhaps the most intriguing residents of the Cinderlands, however, are the Shoanti.
Three Shoanti tribes inhabit the Cinderlands, each with their own traditions and unique lifestyles. The Lyrune-Quah (Clan of the Moon) are nomadic worshipers of Desna. The Sklar-Quah (Clan of the Sun) are the largest and most war-like of the tribes. The Sklar-Quah endure dangerous trials before they become warriors. The Skoan-Quah (Clan of the Skull) dwell in the easternmost region of the Cinderlands. Many of their shamans, including Thousand Bones, have worked with Korvosa to try and build peace between their peoples. As a result, the Skoan-Quah have been increasingly shunned by the other Shoanti. Yet since the Skoan-Quah are known to have the closest connection to the land of the dead and guard Shoanti anceestors from evil spirits, the other clans have grudgingly refrained from truly ostracizing the tribe.
"Zon-Kuthon... wasn't that strange girl a follower? The one who was so enthusiastic about Salvator Scream's paintings?"
”Which girl do you mean?” asks Neolandus.
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"At Salvator's... house. There was a girl wearing Zon-Kuthon's symbol. She was looking for the painter as well. A little odd, but she helped us. Laori was her name, I think." Yaziyah frowns as she recalls the events of the past few days and reviews the new information from Neolandus and Vencarlo. "She might be involved in this, somehow."
She turns her gaze towards the unseen horizon again. "It looks like we will need to travel into the Cinderlands and speak with my people. I have to warn you, it is not a hospitable place. There is a reason why my family decided to come live in Korvosa - as unfriendly as that city is to our kind, the Cinderlands are far, far more inimical." She gestures beyond the walls to the green pastures and the gentle hills. "Here nature is nurturing, tame. There, it is a primal place of scorched earth and winds that will strip the flesh from your bones. Volcanoes and firestorms and a sky that rains death. To say nothing of the hostile creatures that roam those lands." She sighs deeply, struggling to find her words for a moment. "And... even though I call myself Shoanti... the tribes out there-" She clears her throat, shakes her head. "They are as harsh as the land. The Skoan-Quah are likely to be the least hostile, but if we go to them we risk angering the other tribes. Still, if we can find Thousand Bones he will be willing to help."
”S’far as everyone thinks,”
"Sure, sure. If nobody catches you, nothing happens, right?", he chuckles sarcastically.
"Laori Vaus. We met her rummaging through Scream's house, though that place was a mess even before she went there.", Garvid nods at Yazi's memory of the Kuthite. "She was a few raisins short of a cookie, sure, but didn't really strike me as the city-conquering sort. That said, if your god tells you to do something, most people would follow it through.", he pauses. Most. "We could do with sending them a message."
The tale of the Cinderlands' harsh climate puts a frown on Garvid's face. "Great. Everything else has tried to strip the damn flesh off our bones, let the weather join in the fun, too." Sighing deeply, he leans backwards, locking his eyes with Yazi's. "After the Arkonas, I'll take harsh and direct every day. Not to piss on your plans,", he says grimly, reaching for his back to grab his earthbreaker and thud it into the dust. "but why exactly would the tribes be rushing to help us? They don't like us Korvosans, and the city being in a state its in only means they can come closer, take the land and what they want with little retribution." He scoffs cynically. "The Queen's plot is probably the best thing to happen to them in decades."
”No,” replies Trinia, biting her lip. ”I knew I’d get something wrong. I ain’t yet a seasoned adventurer like you. Yet! But, I didn’t learn her name, only what she wanted. I bet she’d be glad to see me again. We can visit th’ gorge if ya like!
Li looks from Trinia to Yazi and back again, "If'n Yazi be thinkin' it be a good idea then I be game ta be goin'. Mebbe this Shoanti spirit be like Zellara an' be knowin' stuff ta be helpin' us."
”Really?” Trinia asks hopefully. ”Real danger! Just like the old days, right? The creature sounds like a tough one, but I’m not afraid of anything, especially with you lot around.”
The rogue tries to look serious, not wanting to encourage Trinia, but there is a hint of a twinkle in her eyes. "When ain't there be danger? It ain't be somethin' ta be askin' or wishin' fer. An' bein' 'fraid keeps ya alive 'cause it be keepin' ya careful."
"Laori Vaus. We met her rummaging through Scream's house, though that place was a mess even before she went there.", Garvid nods at Yazi's memory of the Kuthite. "She was a few raisins short of a cookie, sure, but didn't really strike me as the city-conquering sort. That said, if your god tells you to do something, most people would follow it through.", he pauses. Most. "We could do with sending them a message."
Li nods at Neolandus, "She be tha one who be findin' a piece o' yer uniform at Salvator's."
Li's frown matches Garvid's as Yazi recounts what they are to expect in the Cinderlands. "Anyone be good in tha wilderness? I be knowin' I ain't. What or who's ta keep us from gettin' horribly lost?"
"The Queen's plot is probably the best thing to happen to them in decades."
Yaziyah shakes her head. "They would be fools to think that the Queen will stop with Korvosa. And if she did unearth the thing under the castle that generations of my people guarded and tried to keep away, then I hope they will help us to recover it - or destroy it."
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She throws herself on Mouse’s cot. ”So, where are ya going now? I still have the adventuring bug! I wanna go, too!”
"Tell ya the truth...I wish I knew where we was goin'," Mouse responds to Trinia's eager question. "We don't know much o' nothin' 'bout where we go from here, or 'bout really anythin'." But she can't help a half-smile. "Don' take much t' be an adventure f'r me, though - this's the firs' time I ever been outta the city walls. Different, but I can't say 's in a bad way - this's the firs' time I ever seen a horse as didn't look miserable, an' bein' somewhere wha' doesn't smell like fish an' salt's a welcome change. I even saw a deer when we was comin' in!" She mentions the wild creature with the same tone of wonder she'd have used for vampires and ghosts, until only a short time ago. After all, it was just as mythical a creature for the slum-dweller.
----------
But even seeing vampires and ghosts didn't make the news of a sadistic, megalomaniac Queen empowered by the spirit of an evil dragon worshipping an even more evil god much easier to bear. At Neolandus' story, Mouse can't help letting out an audible gasp, though she restrains her surprised response to let him finish. News of the Cinderlands' harshness, however, she takes strangely in stride. "Well, it don' soun' fun," she finally adds in, "but least bad weather an' hard land's honest. It ain't hidin' behind a pretty face or plottin' in th' shadows 'gainst us in particular - tha's a sight frien'lier than Korvosa for us righ' now. An' we gotta learn as much as we can 'bout these...Midnight Teeth, y' said? Only way we got any chance o' tryin' to do anythin' 'bout it." The reserved confidence in her voice is a far cry from the girl who cowered beneath a gangster's thumb or ran and hid from hags' spells - it's not pride or foolhardiness, but conviction.
A pessimistic frown appears on Garvid's face at Yazi's answer. "The everyday person doesn't think that far ahead. I'd bet if Korvosa heard that the Cinderlands were having the same problem, they'd just shrug and go along their lives." He sighs. "I'd love for the Shoanti to prove me wrong.", he adds, before turning to Mouse and Li, the two other urbanites. "Can't say I'm too much use in the wilderness. That's birdbrains' territory. I can navigate and read a town alright, but this is just... too same-y."
...an' bein' somewhere wha' doesn't smell like fish an' salt's a welcome change...
Snapping his fingers at Mouse, Garvid replies, "That's why it smells wrong, you're right!" Listening to the rest of the woman's point, he nods. "Yeah. I suppose, finding out more about the Queen and whatever's under the castle would do. Knowing's half the battle, right." He crosses his arms, glancing around the table. "So where's the nearest Shoanti town?"
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Neolandus nods his head, expecting the question. ”Unfortunately, the Shoanti have long distrusted Korvosa, and many of them will doubtless view you as enemies, or at least with suspicion. I therefore agree with Yaziyah: begin with the Skoan-Quah, the Tribe of the Skull. This tribe has been the most open to talks of peace with Korvosa. Especially Thousand Bones. One of the last things I tried before the Arkonas got hold of me was to arrange a midnight meeting with him, but by that time the shaman had abandoned Korvosa and returned to the Cinderlands, to a place known as the Kallow Mounds. I believe the best course of action now is for you to travel to his tribe, find him, and learn from him any information about what Midnight’s Teeth actually were—and see if the Shoanti know how to fight against a power that grants Queen Ileosa the ability to survive a mortal wound.”
Vencarlo speaks up from his position by the wall. ”The easiest way to navigate the towering cliffs that separate Varisia from the Cinderlands is to pass through the anarchic city of Kaer Maga, the City of Strangers. This would be a convenient place to resupply and prepare, especially with Korvosa under martial law.”
”And to answer Garvid’s question,” continues Neolandus, ”the Kallow Mounds lay in the heart of Skoan-Quah territory, about fifty miles east of Kaer Maga.”
"Anyone be good in tha wilderness? I be knowin' I ain't. What or who's ta keep us from gettin' horribly lost?"
Trinia perks up. ”Oh! I’m great in the wilderness! I can tend th’ campfire, ‘n tell stories, ‘n I I’m not afraid of anything! I’d be a great help t’ya, I would! Can I go? Please?”
That evening, you have the skin-crawling sensation that you are being watched, as though someone were scrying upon you.
That night, you have the dream again. You find yourself running, barefoot, across the white sand beach overlooking Sandpoint Harbor. The morning sun shines down upon the Varisian waters, casting that azure blue ablaze. Even this early in the day, local fishermen are returning from their morning routes, their nets overfull with silvern, shimmering fish. Seagulls caw and swoop low overhead as they search the sands and surf for a catch of their own..
Your chest heaves with each breath and you realize you are tired, that you’d like nothing more than to stop and take in the beauty of the harbor, but just now the reason that you are running dawns on you.
Someone is chasing you.
Heavy boots thud across the sand. Hoarse and heavy breathing, haggard, rises and falls just behind you. And you know that if you stop or slow, that if the person pursuing you were to catch up to you… You quicken your pace, running farther from the town and out onto the deserted beach, where the crash of waves would surely muffle any call for aid...
You jolt awake from the nightmare, dripping with a cold sweat. You have the skin-crawling sensation that you are being watched, as though someone were scrying upon you.
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Trinia perks up. ”Oh! I’m great in the wilderness! I can tend th’ campfire, ‘n tell stories, ‘n I I’m not afraid of anything! I’d be a great help t’ya, I would! Can I go? Please?”
Li grins at her friend, "You be enthusiastic, I be givin' ya that. An' tha thought o' spendin' time together be nice." She grows serious, "But it be dangerous where we be goin' an' what we be gettin' mix'd up in be even more dangerous. I be feelin' better if'n I be knowin' ya be safe here...but If'n ya be comin' ya gotta be promisin' ta hide an' take cover if'n there be trouble."
-------------
Li falls asleep easily enough on the cot assigned to her. Sometime during the night she begins to toss and turn to the point where she appears to be in some sort of distress. She whimpers indistinguishable words as her movements get more desperate. Her hair is slicked against her forehead with sweat.
Li runs, barefoot, across the white sand beach overlooking Sandpoint Harbor. The morning sun shines down upon the Varisian waters, casting that azure blue ablaze. Even this early in the day, local fishermen are returning from their morning routes, their nets overfull with silvern, shimmering fish. Seagulls caw and swoop low overhead as they search the sands and surf for a catch of their own.
Her chest heaves with each breath and she realizes she's tired, that she’d like nothing more than to stop and take in the beauty of the harbor, but just now the reason that she is running dawns on her.
Someone is chasing her.
Heavy boots thud across the sand. Hoarse and heavy breathing, haggard, rises and falls just behind her. And she knows that if she stops or slows, that if the person pursuing her were to catch up… She quickens her pace, running farther from the town and out onto the deserted beach, where the crash of waves would surely muffle any call for aid...
Just as she swears she can feel someone's hand grab her shoulder, she jolts awake and sits bolt upright. She feels out of breath and her heart is hammering in her chest. It takes her a moment to realize she's not in Sandpoint and she feels somewhat disoriented as it takes her more than a few moments to realize where she was. She draws her knees up to her chest and hugs them to herself. She then buries her head between her arms. "It be jus' a dream, jus' a nightmare," she mumurs quietly to herself as she rocks back and forth.
Trinia's smile is infectious, and Mouse can't help but share in her enthusiasm, though it's tempered more than a little bit with her own nervousness. "Li's righ' - it ain't so much like the stories as I thought. 'S dangerous, way dangerous, an' ain't so much glory an' fame in it as the stories say neither. Y'd be safer back 'ere, but if y' promise t' stick close an' listen t' what we're sayin'...some extra comp'ny migh' be nice."
”Yipee!” Trinia does a cartwheel, kicking Vencarlo in the head. ”I’m so sorry!” She gasps, but nearly falls over laughing at herself. ”I’ll do better on the road, I promise!”
___________________________
When it comes time for you to leave, Vesper, Vencarlo, and Neolandus see you off, wishing you luck and praying for your safety. Jasan provides you with a few weeks’ worth of trail rations and enough light warhorses for you all (including a few pack horses if you need them) for the ride.
The journey north passes relatively quickly.
You arrive at the bottom of the great cataracts that come pouring down the Storval Rise, a thousand-foot-tall cliff face that slices Varisia nearly in half and separates the fertile lowlands from the rough and craggy Storval Plateau. A smaller, less traveled road breaks away and trails northeast along the bottom of the Rise. A weathered sign reads “Halflight Path - 3mi”.
The trail soon terminates in an open field nestled up against the cliff face. Several corrals, hitching posts, and other amenities stand in a rough circle, and a small group of traveling merchants sit queued up in a line at the clearing’s edge. In the center of the clearing, a huge set of bronze double doors stands embedded in the rock face, the portals embossed with strange runes. The runes are in no known language, and anyone who stares for more than a moment at the door discovers that the apparently simple construction plays tricks on the eyes— the gate’s edges subtly twist and warp, so that while all the edges seem straight and simple, anyone attempting to follow one with her eyes or fingers finds herself somehow at a different one, the outer edge becoming the inner one without seeming to twist, and so on.
Standing next to the door is a small knot of authoritative-looking figures carrying weapons and wearing light armor. All are dressed in brown and gray uniforms with a sigil on the right breast—a golden arch against a midnight blue background. They nod politely and motion you toward the other travelers waiting in line.
After a few minutes of waiting, one of the men breaks from the group and approaches. Looking about 30 years old, with a thick brown beard and hard but handsome features, the man smiles. ”I’m Abra Lopati, a member o’ the Duskwardens.” He shakes your hands. ”Well!” he says jovially, ”You’s a bunch who look what you can pull ya weight! To tha front o’ the line with ya!” He then waves over several more people waiting in line. ”This here’s Bolgar Grumm and his two sons, Tuggus and Marl. Merchants, they are.” Bolgar has an enormous belly that hangs over his belt, and his sons appear strapping but dull-looking.
As the merchant family hauls its cart of trade goods over, Abra leans in and whispers. ”Each of ye’s t’pay two gold to use the Halflight Path. Now, that’s the bare minimum allowable, I assure ya.” In fact, the merchant with his cart is charged significantly more. Abra continues with the rules. ”Alright! Once we pass through the Twisted Door, they’s to be no talkin’ unless absolutely necessary, and ya must gimme absolute silence when I signals for’t.” Bolgar, stinging from the fee, looks inclined to object. Abra plows on. ”While the Duskwardens attempt to keep the path safe, there are still things in the Undercity what we don’t want to risk meetin’. It’s the reason we operate in small groups, ‘tis, to maintain a certain level of stealth, as well as to make it easier to fight in cramped quarters. If necessary.” He looks significantly your way.
Abra hands everyone a small crystal on a thong. ”These is half light charms. The crystals glow as bright as torches but with no smoke ‘n mess, and in case of emergencies or if ya get separated, ye can use it to call for help.” Once everyone is wearing one, he nods.
”Now, any questions? Gooooood!” He swings open the great bronze gates of the Twisted Door, and steps inside.
Kaer Maga.
Long has the name stirred Lord Talfryn's imagination, resulting in a surreal amalgam of fact and fancy, a nightmarish city teeming with mystery and violence, alive with energy and improbable alliances. He's read no less than twelve travelogues of those who have journeyed within its walls, and though some of them are clearly as fanciful as his own imagination, the wizard is clearly excited and nervous both as they finally draw close.
Dismounting, he pats the neck of his steed as he cranes his neck back, trying to spot the fabled city high above them. Then he contents himself with examining the gate, focusing with fierce intensity as he traces its mysterious contours, and seeks to divine its secrets.
When Abra presents himself, Lord Talfryn gives him a curt nod, and gripping the lapels of his long coat he studies the man, listening intently to his directions.
"My dear Duskwarden," he says, voice stertorous and grave. "It was my understanding that the Halflight Path was bricked off from all other tunnels, and thus an isolated means of ascending safely to the city? How is that the way thus remains perilous, if it has been so assiduously treated?"
Yaziyah had her doubts about Trinia joining them in their journey into the Cinderlands, but the girls seemed so excited about the prospect that she doesn't have the heart to say no. "Alright, if you are to come with us, you need to stick close and follow our instructions. And perhaps Li can give you a few tips and pointers on the way."
The journey towards Kaer Maga is miserable for the Shoanti woman, unused as she is to riding horses. Her beast seemed docile enough at first, but later it picks up on its rider's inexperience and starts testing the limits - stopping abruptly to munch on some grass by the road's edge, or suddenly going much faster than Yaziyah is comfortable with. The shaman manages to bring the beast under control soon enough, but for the rest of the journey she watches it with distrust.
She is pleased when the clearing comes into view and they can finally dismount. It was clear that the imposing doors led into the cliff itself, so a subterranean journey was ahead of them. As the Duskwalker gives his spiel, she tips the man three gold on top of the "minimum allowable", then asks. "What happens to the horses?"
"It was my understanding that the Halflight Path was bricked off from all other tunnels, and thus an isolated means of ascending safely to the city? How is that the way thus remains perilous, if it has been so assiduously treated?"
"An astute question. Because bricks don't stop everythin' from gettin' through."
"What happens to the horses?"
Abra points to the nearby corrals with a serviceable stables. "Yer horses'll be waitin' for ye when ye return. Part of the fee t'use the Path."
"Bigger bricks might be called for, then," mutters Lord Talfryn, but he makes no further complaint.
Mouse had heard rumors and stories of Kaer Maga - the city's precarious cliffside resting place, the chaotic panoply of races and creeds simmering in its streets, and the perilous Halflight Path tunnel. May be th' fas' way t' get up, she worries to herself, fingering the small charm hanging from its cord around her neck, but I'm seriously thinkin' 'bout th' safe way 'stead. But time was of the essence, Mouse knew - climbing the Storval Rise could take ages, and their errand brooked no unnecessary delay. Besides, whatever was in this tunnel couldn't be worse than vampires. I 'ope.
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Not being able to find it in himself to refuse to Trinia, the guardsman adds to Yazi's notes. "Just don't stop thinking with your own head." Seeing Li somewhat more sullen than usual, he purses his lips. "How you doing, kid?", he asks, as a smile flickers on his face for a moment. It might just cheer her up.
Nodding appreciatively as Yazi tips the Duskwardens, Garvid grunts approvingly at the man. Nice to see someone cares about safety here. Then again, we don't have deadly undergrounds in Korvosa. He furrows his brows. Except the ones with the wererats. Or the daemons. Or whatever ancient mystical dreadfulness is under the Castle. Maybe we oughta get our own Duskwardens.
"No questions from me. If I see something I shouldn't see, I'll whisper to you. You tell me if you want me to go get it or start running.", he replies with a curt tone. I'd love to know just what's down here, but I'd imagine he doesn't want to scare the merchants. He leans on his halberd, and starts staring at the Twisted Door suspiciously, as if he doesn't particularly like it.
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Li's nightmare weighs heavily on her mind. She could dismiss it if it had happened only once, like she had before, but this was the second time she had had the same dream. Was it a reflection of something real or was her subconscious worried about something she didn't want to face? Ugh, I be way too tir'd ta be thinkin' 'bout such things now.
Garvid's voice snaps her back to the present. She gives him a weak smile, "I be fine."
Garvid barely touches Li's pouch before she notices. She moves subtly to block his attempt while moving to take his. But her half-hearted effort is easily noticed. She jokes feebly, "Ya be hard'r ta fool th'n Pietro."
---------------------
Seeing the sign indicating that the Halflight Path and entrance to Kaer Maga was getting close lightens Li's mood. The sooner they arrived, the sooner she'd gain feeling back into her butt. The journey ahead on the path would definitely be an interesting one if the stories were to be believed.
She listens intently to Abra's instructions and nods. As he hands over an amulet, she gives him the required fee along with an extra couple gold pieces. She slips the amulet over her head and readies her crossbow, making sure it's within easy reach.
Turning to Trinia she says, "Ya be stayin' close an' quiet-like, 'kay?"
Abra pockets the extra coins with a wink, leading you inside.
Beyond the Twisted Door, the Half light Path is a roughly 15-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall tunnel that winds up through the cliff at a steep but manageable slope. The tunnel begins as a natural-looking cave, with minimal work done to widen it, but as it climbs, it passes through numerous distinct regions—places where the tunnel has been painted with crude pictographs or decorated with elaborately carved pillars and frescoes, or where it becomes a mirror-smooth tube or a square-walled path filled with right angles, like a labyrinth in which every wrong turn has been blocked off. Sometimes it emerges briefly onto narrow ledges along the cliff face, and at one point the tunnel even opens up into a larger chamber where both walls are carved with elaborate porticos and balconies, its many doors and archways all carefully locked and barred or bricked up completely.
Abra explains that maintaining the barricades that separate the Half light Path from the rest of the passages below Kaer Maga is one of the Duskwardens’ chief jobs.
Passage through the Half light Path takes two hours, with the limiting factor being Bolgar Grumm and his hand cart, which takes up most of the tunnel and is pulled by his two sons. All three Grumms are noticeably nervous in the tunnel, and flinch at every distant roar or shriek that filters through the walls.
The tunnel becomes long and straight, maintaining its fifteen-foot diameter. On the right wall, elaborate carvings depicting a falling star wreaking havoc on a humanoid populace flank an enormous archway carved with twining vines that almost obscure leering skulls. The space inside the arch has been crudely bricked up, with many of the bricks broken or sticking out at right angles.
Abra pauses to look at the poor brickwork on the barricade and mutters, “That isn’t right.”
At that precise moment, the unmortared brickwork explodes outward as a trio of slithering horrors come barreling through! The worm-like monsters have a hideous face of eyes and hooked jaws. They wield wands and swords in their twin tentacle tails. A strange vibration fills the chamber, reverberating deep within your skull.
Trinia, Abra, and the Grumms begin babbling incoherently.
__________________________
Garvid:
Kynes:
Li:
Mouse:
Talfryn:
Trinia: confused!
Yazi:
The half light charms' light sways as they move, throwing strange shadows on the walls, floor and ceiling of the tunnel. As the three creatures burst through the weakened barrier, Yaziyah could swear that dozens of smaller worms are racing towards the group, slithering up her body and the bodies of her companions. Alarmed by the noise, Slinky climbs out of his pocket - but it's not Slinky, it's one of the worms.
"Ah! Get off me!" Yaziyah shouts as she attempts to known the weasel off with the end of her staff, barely missing Slinky's head, who chitters furiously at her.
Li's eyes widen at the appearance of the horrific creatures, "They be seugathis. They be doin' stuff ta yer mind."
No sooner had the words left Li's mouth than her speech dissolves into incoherent babble.
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As the madness descends upon the party, Garvid's eye flare with it. All semblance of constraint from the man disappears as he roars, sprinting forwards. "Get out of my heaad!" The beast, not expecting the reaction, does little as the blade burrows to the shaft into its softened belly carapace. With a vicious twist, the guardsman yanks out the halberd with a furious heave, unknowable viscera trailed around the weapon's blade. "I'll end every last one of you! Go back to the ground! Back, or it's the last thing you'll do!"
Lord Talfryn lets out a cry of shock and horror as he stares at Yazi with a complete lack of recognition; he reels back as if she were a horror spat forth from the depths, and points his hand at her.
"Begone, foul wretch, for we of the surface world will not tolerate your loathsome presence amongst our righteous number!"
And two bolts of flame fly forth from his fingertips at Yazi.
Mouse exclaims in surprise as the monsters burst through the wall. "Watch out for lip - topple, dress, cultivate! Mutter manner, filter journal..." Her hands, tensed and ready for a fight fall loose to her sides as a look of bewilderment crosses her features. "Glory slave observer!"
Yazi and Slinky begin a deadly game of cat and mouse through her pockets.
Li and Mouse begin babbling in unison with the others.
Garvid charges the front-runner , skewering it and releasing a torrent of dark, foul-smelling effluvium.
Talfryn unleashes bolts of fiery destruction against his perceived enemy!
Kynes’s eyes narrow. Abruptly, he turns and lashes Trinia violently with his bladed scarves!
The seugathi snaps at Garvid with “teeth” that drip poison while it lashes at him with a tail wielding a shortsword.
Another conjures a bank of thin mist that blankets the tunnel, weakening your mental resolve.
The seugathi in the back screeches and chitters at Garvid.
Trinia gasps in pain, leaping back. She begins to hum, her voice reverberating through the chamber in counterpoint to the strange vibration of the seugathis. She casts a spell, and you can feel your heart begin to race.
__________________________
Garvid:
Kynes:
Li:
Mouse:
Talfryn:
Trinia: 48 NL; mind fog (-10 Will saves)
Yazi:
Roaring, Garvid glances down at the beasts devouring him, eyes open in fear, before his bestial grimace turns bloodier. "I don't need two hands to deal with you!", he snaps at the seugathi's sword clangs uselessly onto the man's armour. "Just! Need to focus!", he exhales, stabbing his own side with his blade. "And then..."
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Talfryn freezes, aghast, and stares at Yazi in shock.
"But you were but a moment ago my foe, a most terrible fiend, and are now rendered Yazi, one whom I've come to trust and know so well, but how, how does my mind play these tricks on me, leading me down duplicitous pathways where right becomes wrong and I, even I, who value my mind as my personal bastion, am so besieged that I would turn my hand against you, would strike you down, calling forth fire with which to burn my allies, under, no doubt, considerable duress, duress which only now am I becoming aware of, a perfidious influence that warps my ability to reason, that grinds down the very strength of my will, so that I could commit such an act, and in committing it, render myself perhaps vulnerable to other such horrors, leading me to conclude that I must gird the underpinnings of my mind if I am to resist further blandishments, yes, I must focus, focus now, bring forth my true inner strength and resist falling prey to delusion or distraction, and in so doing..."
"Knit dare, pudding...ugh!" Mouse lashes out through the fog, swinging at a vague sinuous shape slithering through the mists. But it isn't there, and all she gains for her troubles is a shoulder badly wrenched from the momentum of her swing.
Yaziyah growls at both Lord Talfryn's attack and his subsequent babbling. "Not now, your lordship, one of them damn worms got on me! I can feel it slithering around in my clothes! Argh!"
Your friends are corrupted, growing a multitude of eyes and hideous, hooked jaws. They must be destroyed before the infestation spreads.
Talfryn lets out a sudden scream of shock and horror, points a trembling hand at Yazi, and summons forth a yawning pit beneath hers and everyone else's feet.
"Bubbles!" Mouse screams as the floor drops out from beneath her; she tries to dive for safety, but where is safety in this miasma? She gains purchase with one hand for just a moment, but the pain in her shoulder is too great, and she slips away and falls into the chasm.
Feeling surrounded by threats, Li flicks her wrist to release a dagger. She stabs at Talfryn as he rambles, "Shut it! Just be shuttin' it. I can't be thinkin' wit' all tha talkin'."
Sensing the ground begin to fall away under her feet, Li throws herself gracefully to the side to remain on firmer ground.
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It is not that Kynes has been absent. He'd stumbled along with the rest. Through muddy fields, hasty encampments, whispered meetings at twilight, in a haven for Blackbirds. But blackness hung over every intention, every motivation, every willful glance. Another step. He was of the Lamp, but the Lamp was distant.
Again, waking from a fugue of half written dreams. Again striding at dawn. Early mists clinging after a sparing rain. A crunch comes from beneath his boot. Pausing, he lifts his sole, finding the fractured remains of a shell, and a glistening trail of slime of what had been, in all probability, a slimy meaningless life. Another step. Another step. Kynes bites his tongue and tastes salt.
Kynes was aware of his descent, yet identification offered no remedy. He only had his tame stubbornness. A tame refusal to end. Kynes smiles to himself mirthlessly. A naïve counselor would diagnose from which dreadful event laid this black cloud upon him: The fall of Korvosan society. His fierce exchanges with demonic powers. But the truth was embarrassingly mundane, and thus enigmatic… A bit of bloodshot cheese, too dried. His lacings about the waxed parchment had become loose. A cheese now as unpalatable as Old Korvosa. Surely it had been growing of its own accord secretly under his skin, in his cerebrum, setting a trap. All that had been needed was bait for the trigger. Another step. Kynes bites his tongue and tastes salt. The only way out was to gnaw through the bone, or End.
---
Kynes steps forward as an amulet is thrust into his palm. He pockets the article with neither comment nor interest. The Twisted Door. The Black Star. The Black City. All as garland upon his dark mania. He trods forward. Gnaw through the bone, or End. Kynes. Gnaw through the bone, or End. Over and over. Echoing in head. A mantra.
The cart stops. Brick explodes. His darkness envelops upon himself, and all that he saw smoldered red. Stupid small-minded s~*&heads. F@@+ you. Kynes looks around, furious. It was Trinia. That b!*++. That f@!!ing b*!**. Why was she looking at me? Kynes let his scarf snake down in a coil blunted iron and woven knots. F!~~ you. He twists his arm up savagely, causing the coil to weave through the air violently before striking Trinia’s face.
With an undignified squawk, Yaziyah tumbles into the pit that suddenly apparates under her feet, one sinewy arm snaking out at the last moment to grasp Talfryn by the ankle and arrest her fall.
Your allies mean to flee, leaving you as food for the worms as they retreat to safety. But if you're going down, they're coming with you.
Depressive mania into untempered rage...this doesn't fit my history... The whispered voice of reason quickly succumbs to flaming ember of his despair. Kynes looks around.
A knife flicks past Kynes. Throwing knives at us Li?! Time for you to sit the f#&@ down
Garvid jabs himself with his own blade, while Mouse wrenches her shoulder punching imaginary foes. Yazi continues to beat at her own robes with her staff as Slinky wildly dashes away from the blows. Talfryn summons a yawning pit of acid from which Li and Yazi find escape, but Mouse plummets into the burning sludge. Whirling on the wizard, Li stabs with an overhead thrust of her dagger. Kynes sends his bladed scarves whirling at her.
The lead seugathi, in its death throes, attempts to cast a spell at Garvid. In so doing, Garvid cleaves with his blade, severing the creatures many-eyed head from its body.
Panicked, the next focuses its unnerving gaze on Garvid, chittering and vibrating its mandibles.
Innumerable hairs, long and dark, sprout from your face. Beneath each emerges a pale, pearlescent egg. Pulsating painfully, each explodes outward as a hundred seugathi larvae wriggle free.
The last brandishes its tail, which holds a wand. A series of three magic missiles erupt from it and slam into Garvid.
Trinia bounds around Kynes to the northern edge of Talfryn’s acid pit. She produces a rope from her bag and lowers it down below for Mouse. ”Grab hold! Climb up!” she yells.
__________________________
Garvid:
Kynes: mind fog (-10 Will saves)
Li:
Mouse:
Talfryn:
Trinia: 48 NL; mind fog (-10 Will saves)
Yazi:
There's little place in Garvid's mind for the illusion to take place, as his sheer anger pushes through the spell. Shaking his head to cast the horrid image aside, Garvid inhales deeply from the air, filled with acid and blood. "You're not the scary thing in the dark anymore.", he snarls, as he takes a step forwards into the pool of seugathi blood, the steel tip piercing the beast's tough carapace as it's backed into the tunnel's wall, with no escape. "Should've stayed home today."
Kynes feels dazed, knowing something was wrong, but unable to overcome it.
Protect the hive! Even from yourself!
Gnaw through the bone or End. Or end. Or end. Or End. Or endsshshshsh Sh!!!
Strangely, as Mouse's circumstances grow ever more chaotic, her mind suddenly clears. 'S somethin' 'bout those things, sets y' goin' crazy... But there was nothing for it but to wander back into the fray - and hope that this time it would go at least a little better. Grimacing as she swims forward through the burning acid, she reaches for the rope and begins to haul herself upward, trying to ignore the pain of the rough hemp fibers against her raw skin.
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Chaos wreaks havoc all around Li. She can no longer tell family from foe. No one is as they seemed moments before. When Kynes attacks her she is flooded with the same feelings that had overwhelmed her in her dream. It is then that she realizes that her dream hadn't been a nightmare at all but rather a warning. A warning against the danger of this very moment. Danger that can only be escaped by running. She needed to run and not stop for if she does, they will hurt her more than they already have.
Without a second thought, Li turns and runs back in the direction they just came from. If she can just get to the horses, she'd be safe.
As the guardsman steps forward to enact his punishment onto the seugathi, he stops, giving himself a brutal punch to the face. "Out of my head!", he roars.
Shrugging off the mists of confusion and madness, Talfryn is tempted for a moment to simply gape at the chaos he has caused, the damage he has dealt his friends - and then locks that all down with iron focus to wrest the greatest advantage from this moment of clarity.
With a flick of his will he dismisses the acid pit, bringing Mouse rushing back up to the corridor.
Sometimes, especially in moments of duress, it's best to keep it simple.
So Talfryn uses one of his newer spells, and with it formulates a classic, a spell that has been cleaning dungeons out since the very first wizard stumbled down a ruined stairwell.
A bead of red light flies past his allies, past Garvid, past the two monsters - to detonate with a terrible roar beyond them, the rear-most edge of the roiling flames flowing over the seugathi.
They've stolen the eggs--they musn't get away!