Tess stares thoughtfully at the pendant Xavian holds, her eyes lingering as she tries to place where she's seen that symbology before.
Why, it's Baphomet. Consort to Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters herself... This is an unholy icon. Why was it among crusaders?
The girl glances quickly at Karthak, whose words about 'valiant crusaders' ring in her ears. Perhaps... Perhaps it is better he doesn't know... And yet, ignorance only strengthens our opposition.
"This... This is a pendant of an evil god." Her voice is overloud, too bright as she tries to play it off as a silly, unimportant issue. "That's Baphomet, the Lord of Minotaurs. Perhaps these fallen men were part bull?" She laughs uneasily.
Xaivan takes the pendant back out of his pouch and looks at it again. Doesn't matter, should still be worth something. That's all I care about. Even if I just sell the gems and toss the rest.
Anevia spits when the name of Baphomet is spoken. "No crusader would willingly carry such a tainted icon... Good riddance then!"
The elf chuckles at the words of the young budding witch, "Unlikely my dear. I've supposed for some time that the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth had infiltrated many mercenary companies, but if these two men are cultists then it is imperative we bring them to the surface with us! Finally proof that the crusade has been infiltrated!" Even with only half of hos face visible under the bandages Aravashnial gets a nearly crazed look on his face.
Anevia spits when the name of Baphomet is spoken. "No crusader would willingly carry such a tainted icon... Good riddance then!"
Well, its a good thing I'm not a crusader! However, if it bothers you guys that much, Xaivan will pry out the gems from the pendant and leave it with the corpse he found it on. There. If you want to destroy the evil thing, be my guest.
Ce-Eshna giggles at Xaivan's antics, some colour returning ot her cheaks. "I think she meant these weren't real crusaders."
I suppose not, or they were infiltrators as the crazy one there said. Xaivan looks over toward Aravashnial, rolling his eyes as he does. Anyway, let's get going. Nothing more to see here.
She drinks in the elf's words thoughtfully, with no hint of disbelief. "Perhaps we can send people back to get them when we return to the surface, Sir Aravashnial? I'm only certain they will burden us should we attempt to carry them along now."
As the others leave, Tess lingers near the corpses a moment longer, and- when she thinks no one is looking- quickly snatches up the now gem-less pendant.
The tunnel winds north for about 1,100 feet (about 15 minutes of travel) before reaching a circular, 20 -foot-diameter cavern. Four mongrelmen stand guard here before a large stone door. the guards greet their mongrel companions warmly. While they eye you with suspicion, Lann's word is good enough to let them all enter the chamber beyond the
door. Beyond the stone door lies the settlement of Neathholm.
A small, dark lake ripples in the center of this two-hundred foot-wide cavern, the walls and ceiling a glow with thick sheets of luminescent fungi. In the center of the lake, over two dozen low stone buildings cluster on a rocky on e-hundred -foot-wide Island. Lights glow in the windows of the buildings, giving the settlement an almost welcoming look. Rafts made of mismatched planks of timber bob along the length of a crooked pier at the lake's closest shore.
Your three new friends escort you to the largest building atop the island's low central peak-this is the home of Chief Sull, a bloated and unpleasant-looking but mild-mannered mongrel with one clouded white eye.
Chief Sull listens to Lann's report and thanks you all. ”It has been a long time since we have met Uplanders who are as kind and understanding as you. We are in your debt for rescuing a member of our tribe. Please feel welcomed on our small city. Rest knowing you are safe from the dangers that constantly traverse these dark passages. Forgive me though I must ask. How did you Uplanders come to find yourselves so deep beneath the earth?”
Jokum stares around uneasily as the group moves through Neathholm. So many of these strange beast-men...it's hard not to think of them as monstrous, though they seem to have made a working settlement here. He's barely able to keep his gorge back while interacting with Chief Sull, but he manages it. Bowing, he steps forward and says, "Good Chief, we were all in the city of Kenabres, in the overworld, when it was attacked by a powerful demon king from the Worldwound. The ground split open beneath us and, though the dragon known as Terendelev slowed our fall and saved us, we were stranded down here two days ago...or that is our best estimate, anyway. If you know of any ways back to the surface world, we would be glad to rest and then step forth. We would not wish to stretch your supplies thin."
Once he realizes the two crusaders were followers of a foul demon lord the inquisitor of Torag emits a single animalistic growl, then Karthak says nothing anymore refusing to talk and gripping his axe with enough strength to make his knunkles get white. It's clear his humor has taken a turn on the wrong side. He pratically fumes and follows the rest of the group like a dark shadow, but they can almost feel hsi anger beating at their backs. When the group reaches the mongrelmen's enclave he keeps to himself, examining their hosts carefully.
Tess cannot seem to open her eyes wide enough, and her head pivots so rapidly on her neck that it almost seems to be mounted on a swivel. She describes what she sees under her breath in Elven for Aravashnial, clarifying any details he queries her for. Her inkpen glides over the paper of her journal with a mind of its own, her eyes too preoccupied to glance down at the mundane page.
Before meeting the chief, she replaces her journal into her bag and attempts to smooth her wrinkled, torn dress. Sorua shakes dirt and dust from his bushy tail, and the girl gathers him into her arms as they enter.
She curtsies when they enter the presence of Chief Sull, one hand at her skirt, the other carrying an inquisitive fox kit. She nods along with Jokum's description of the events, but can't keep from blurting out "Your village is so lovely! Thanks... Um, thanks for letting us stay here a while." Tess ducks her head in embarrassment at the outburst as her cheeks flame red and violet.
Once Sull learns the source of the tremors that shook the tunnels and caused so much damage, he grows quite concerned. He and his kind, Sull explains, may be outcasts and freaks in the eyes of uplanders, but their ancestors helped drive back the demons in the First Crusade. He wants the demons defeated as much as anyone who lives above, and asks if you're willing to bring this message to the surface-that the mongrels will stand with the inhabitants of Kenabres to defend the city.
Jokum bows stiffly, again. "We cannot guarantee what reception your words will have--but we will deliver your honorable message. We would be grateful of the chance to rest, but once we have tended our wounded and are back on our feet, we will move back toward the surface as soon as possible."
|
"With all due respect." Pollux says, stepping forward after Jokum speaks. "The most honorable message you could send will not be a show of sympathy, which unfortunately will be all your words amount to, but a show of solidarity. A show of strength. Send men with us to the surface. Let those resolved enough to pursue a better tomorrow, one were Man and Mongrelman fight hand in hand, emerge with us to take on what is left of the abyssal horde."
Sull looks down at Pollux, "Do you think they would simply welcome the sight of us if they truly are besieged bu demonic hordes? Rather I think they would attack us on sight, believing that we are in league with the dark host. No my friends, it would be beyond foolishness for us to rush head long up to the surface. We need time to ready our forces and prepare for the trek, that should give you the time you need to reach the surface and deliver our message."
Chief Sull goes on to inform you that the nearest route to the surface lies to the south, but this exit is guarded by a tribe of mongrels who do not have the same opinions as those of Neathholm. In fact, this smaller tribe, a group he contemptuously calls "the traitors," have consorted for some time with cultists. Chief Sull has ignored them, but that time has passed. If you agree to destroy the traitors as you make your way back to the surface to bring word of the mongrel's pledge to aid the crusade,
Chief Sull promises you aid in the form of a small stash of potions (six potions of cure light wounds and three potions of lesser restoration). His own soldiers, alas, he cannot spare-he needs them to fan out deeper into the tunnels to gather the other mongrel tribes to Neathholm. Once they receive word that the crusaders above will welcome the crusaders below, the mongrels will be ready to rise up and help take back Kenabres.
MARKETPLACE
Base Value 200gp; Purchase Limit 1,000gp; Spellcasting 2nd
Minor Items +1 arrows (8), + 1 buckler, ring of protection +1, earth elemental gem
Xaivan will see if anyone here can tell him about the bat-like idol thingy he picked up some time ago and if it is worth anything. Same for the gems he just picked out of the pendant.
Ce-Eshna keeps looking around in awe at everyone and everything around her. So strange but they go one and they make themselves a life... This is amazing, I don't know I'd have had the courage to do this without the wind and the sun... She can't help but feeling much better, the impending trip back to the surface, regardless of opposition and these brave souls around her picking up her faltering spirit.
Jokum enters the marketplaces of the mongrels only cautiously, and sticks to his quarters as much as possible. These "people" put him on edge. Just get through it. Through the town, through the "traitors," through the tunnel, and back to the real people. He will, however, spend a little while before retiring looking through the markets for weapons effective against demons.
A soon as Xaivan shows the copper brooch depicting a bat perched on a mushroom to a merchant the man's eyes grow wide, all six of them. He grows pale and asks where it was found! "That brooch belongs to one of the chief's sons! You best let him know of it before you leave the settlement."
Xaivan will find Jokum or Pollux, whoever he runs across first, and tell them about what the merchant had said concerning the brooch. We found this thing quite a ways from this place. I don't recall seeing anyone like these people back there. Maybe we oughta let them know.
Karthak spends most of his time in the mongrelmen settlement on his own, the realization the crusade itself had been infiltrated by the forces of the deomons having hit him hard. Despite his sudden withdrawal the dwarf keeps training regularly and recovering more detrmined than ever to find and hunt down every one of the traitors. At the same time he examines the mongrelmen trying to decide how they could fit in the war against the demon hordes. On one hand the inquisitor knew the crusade to be in dire need of fresh troops, on the other hand he also knew the mutants were not likely to receive a peaceful welcome from the crusaders, as too many were prone to judge those they didn't know by their looks.
When Xaivan explains what he discovered about the brooch to Jokum, the big man frowns uneasily. Should I alert the others to this? ...No, they have plenty on their minds. Let us see what the chief has to say for himself. With the halfling in tow, Jokum proceeds to the Chief's dwelling.
"Honored chief," he begins, with a formal bow, "we made a discovery in the tunnels of this underworld that, we have been led to understand, may interest you. While wandering, we came upon this brooch, and we're told that it belongs to your son." Passing the brooch over, Jokum watches the mongrelman's reaction carefully.
Chief Sull, his one good eye gets a bit misty; handles the small trinket, "Yes, it belonged to my son Gebin. He left Neathholm some weeks ago after an argument..." Chief Sull clearly doesn't expect his son to return.
Left for where? Xaivan blurts out. I mean, maybe if we knew where he was going we could return it to him when we saw him? The halfling seems to wince to himself after speaking on the subject.
Sull seems to come out of his dipression for a moment. "I would like to keep this trinket. To remember him by..."
Xaivan seems a bit puzzled by Sull's attitude. What makes you think you need to "remember" him? Nobody said he was dead. The halfling looks at Jokum as if to say, What's up with this guy anyway?
Karthak shakes his head at Xavian:"Of course we understand, chief. The trinket wasn't ours anyway and we have all reason to believe you, so please keep it as a memento of your son. If by chance he yet lives... keep it as a charm of good fortune"
The girl takes a short nap in the quarters the chief has provided, and then explores the little settlement, attempting to remember every detail of this underground world, searching for a location where she might find a moment to herself later. She does poke around the marketplace for a little while.
She buys a scroll box, a new outfit, a grappling arrow fitted as a crossbow bolt, a couple of burlap sacks, two whistles, and a silent whistle.
After supper, the girl retreats to the small alcove she found in the cave tunnel not far from the settlement, carrying her travelling pack. I won't be gone long, she thinks to herself, glancing around to make sure she's not followed. I just... need some privacy for this.
Tess is startled when she notices you following her, and tells you she's only going to be gone a minute. "I'm fine, you'll be able to hear me yell if I need you!" she giggles. "I just need a minute to gather my thoughts- no offense to you, but.... I'm not used to not having some time to myself." She waits for you to head back about your business, then continues on.
The little room appears to have been scooped out of the rock- perhaps softer stone was worn away to create this crevice; perhaps the shaking of the ground has created the little rift. It's almost too short for Tess to stand up in, but it's wide and deep enough for her to sit and build a little fire with some of her torn cloth. She gazes into the flames for a time, Sorua perched in her lap.
Since the little fox had arrived in her life, Tess had met a man in her dreams. He was always half-shadowed and rarely appeared to her, but his voice was calm and sweet, reassuring her that her magic was not innately evil, that her witchcraft could be a force for good. I'm sure he's just a projection of my subconscious, she'd reasoned at first, here to help me accept a part of myself that my community has deemed wicked and wrong. But the dream she'd just had...
The girl bites her lip and shifts a little on the floor to reach her backpack. From it she pulls the scroll they'd found on the fallen crusaders- using a spell, she'd been able to identify it as a scroll that caused fear in others. Of course, scrolls could only be used once... but that wasn't what the man had whispered to her in her afternoon slumber.
Tess swallows nervously. Sorua had moved to the other side of the fire, and his eyes bored into her without blinking. Slowly, the girl begins to murmur strange words under her breath -- words in a language she didn't understand, despite her studies -- but she doesn't worry, because the man had told her what to say. Her fingers begin to tear the scroll carefully, collecting the tiny shreds in a light, fluffy pile on the cave floor.
As the pile grows, the fire seems to glow in different colors, throwing Sorua's shadow on the wall in an eerie light. Had the girl looked to her familiar, she might have been alarmed by the fiendish grin he seemed to take on, teeth glinting in the firelight like pale daggers -- but the girl is consumed with her chanting, her eyes glazed over and voice monotonous.
With a sudden flash, the pile of shredded paper bursts into flame on its own (later, Tess would infer that a stray spark from her campfire must have leaped into the flammable pile). Her voice grows louder as the flames licked higher into the air, and then begins to decrescendo as it falls away. Her whispers cease with the last glowing ember, and she feels as though she's waking from a deep sleep.
"Well... well come on, then, Sorua, let's see if it worked." Maybe I just wasted a perfectly good scroll, she thinks faintly, taking the innocuous-looking fox into her arms. With shaking fingers, she picks up the ashes from the floor and begins to rub them into his snout and tail.
Suddenly she feels the kit jerk and squirm, and in her mind there was a flash of insight: Sorua had learned the spell, and could teach it to her now! Her relief was palpable, and she cuddled the grimy kit, not caring that the ashes painted her cheeks and hands. It worked!!
She sits a moment more, relishing the feeling of satisfaction that rolls through them both, and then begins to gather up her belongings. This is incredible, she thinks, stomping out her fire. That man... he must be real, and he's teaching me.
The girl walks with the fox at her heels, quite distracted by her thoughts. Who could he be?
Tess returns to the settlement with hands and face smeared with ash, having been gone a little more than an hour, and heads to the washroom of their living quarters to get ready for bed.
Seeing that the situation of the brooch is all but taken care of Xaivan decides that it is time to do some shopping, discovering that the choices are not the greatest.
Xaivan will purchase the morningstar (-16 gp)and sell his mace (+6 gp). He'll buy the weapon blanches and use them on the arrows he still has. (-50 gp total).
He'll settle for this for now.
In thanks for the brooch's return, he gives you his own +1 morningstar, asking only that they use the weapon to split at least one traitor's skull before they reach the surface.
Oh wait, how about some or
Seeing that blunt arrows are unavailable he'll buy 40 of the regular ones for 2 gp.
Karthak watches the others and recovers his strength, but as he does he seems to grow restless, clearly wishing to proced to the surface.
Jokum lays a gentle hand on the chief's shoulder. "We cannot be sure that your son is dead, as you seem to believe. We simply found the brooch--there is no knowing where he might be." If the chief doesn't want to talk, though, he doesn't press further.
Ce-Eshna pockets her gold... seeing nothing she needs in their market at this time.
In the morning, Chief Sull escorts you to one of the several doors that mark exits from the cavern in which Neathholm is located-the route beyond this door leads directly to the traitors' den, and past that, to the surface. He wishes you all luck in your journey, gives you the potions he promised, and tells them he eagerly awaits word of whether the crusaders wish them to join the battle above.
Lann steps forward to accompany you, While it is not too far to the traitors' lair I offer my services as an envoy and guide. You of course are always welcome to return here to Neathholm if we need to retreat, rest, and recover before making additional assaults on the traitors."
From the hamlet of Neathholm, the tunnel winds mostly in a southeast direction for about 2,000 feet (16 minutes of travel). The tunnel narrows down at this point to a 5-foot-wide passageway, the walls carved with picks and chisels.
In a hushed voice Lann speaks trying to prevent his voice from carrying farther down the tunnell. "We're very close now to the entrance to the traitors' den. The entrance lies just around that bend there, I'll wait here with the injured and let you clear out the worst of them. I'm sure we can pick off..." At this he eyes Anevia and Hargus "any of them that manage to get past you."
Jokum twitches his shoulders a bit irritably under the new chain shirt he wears. He prefers the feel of leather or hide, the sense that it came from something that he killed, but he knows from walking around in town that the shirt leaves him more free to move and explore. Still, when Lann stops them, he pauses too.
"They dwell so close to your home?" he asks quietly, surprised. "'Tis strange...I would have thought more conflict would arise." He frowns and peers forward.
"Xaivan, perhaps you would do us the favor of scouting ahead?"
Ce-Eshna takes up the rear, bow at the ready watching for anything trying to sneak up on us, while keeping one ear cocked for trouble at the front.
Xaivan was thinking the same thing. Yeah, it only took us 15 minutes to get here. What are you not telling us?
At the suggestion of Jokum, the halfling nods and moves forward to scout the area ahead (unless something is said that might change this action).
Once in position, Xaivan will take a look.
Still wearing a scowl the dwarf grumbles:"I don't know but we'll see for ourselves if these traitors are as nefarious as our hosts described them. If they are... woe unto them! I won't let servants of the Abyss go unpunished!"
Ahead:
Barricades made of heaped loose rocks and wooden boards bisect this cavern. Beyond the barricades, a wooden screen covers the lower half of a tunnel mouth. Two mongrelmen maintain a watch here, keeping an eye out for troublemakers from Neathholm.
Xaivan will move back to the party and report what he has seen. So, what's the plan?
Karthak looks pensive:"We must make certain these creatures reek of evil. If so we smite them. But how to do that without risking to be discovered?"