"Um... now wut?" asks Pirknok, studying the room and its alcoves curiously.
"This place could still be dangerous to the locals, let's keep looking around."
There are no exits from this room save the way the party came in.
The skeletal fiendish figure trapped within the magic circle look up weakly.
”Please… free… me…”
"What is all this?" Ventus asked, crouching next to the wasted figure.
"I don't think I like this place. At all."
Despite his fearsome features, the wasted creature is utterly pathetic in the way it look at Ventus. "Please... free me from this prison. I'll give you anything."
Noting that the group seems to be utterly confused, the figure takes a painful deep breath.
"This room is the engine that powers the dam's mechanics."
"Um... how duz it werk? We need ta let sum water out, ya see," explains Pirknok, eying the creature dubiously.
”I will tell you how to operate the engine… After you release me…” it wheezes.
"What are you going to do after that?" Jessamy asks.
Isn't this a devil or a demon? I don't think we can just let it out.
Pirknok turns to Kaplan and Jess. "Nak mik virimah vakur..." he observes practically.
"Find someplace safe to recover my strength", the shriveled creature answers.
"Arn't you evil or sumthin?" asks the dwarf, turning back to the imprisoned creature.
"We all have our flaws", the fiend rasps.
Other than trying to end its own suffering, the monster-thing seems to have no ulterior motives.
"Bizim seçenekler sınırlıdır. Ben bunu hiç sevmiyorum," says Kaplan gruffly.
Cautious of the otherworldly being, Kaplan looks around the area. "How do we let you out?"
There’s a certain kind of subdued malice in the creature’s eyes but it appears to be truly desperate.
”You must destroy the stones forming the circle that bind me”, it explains.
Kaplan is noticeably reticent, looking to the rest of the group for their input.
Pirknok shrugs and moves toward the portcullis control. "Nak mik virimah mavir."
Turning back to the creature inside, he frowns. "You promise yer not gonna try ta kill anybody er anything if we let ya out, right? Yer jus' gonna go back ta yer own um... plane?"
"Release me and I swear on the nine Hells, to share with you the workings of the engine and return to where I came from. I will not harm or threaten any of you. I lack the strength to even if I wanted to", it wheezes.
The young dwarf nods and proceeds to free the pathetic creature.
"Careful with the stones, they are unnatural."
Jessamy sighs, looking unhappy.
Heroes don't free devils, do they?
She pulls her swords and holds them in a ready position in case it should in fact attack.
"Wait! Who trapped you here?"
Pirknok cranks the winch raising the portcullis and then, over the course of a few minutes, smashes the rune-etched stones forming a border around the emaciated fiend. With a crack of thunder, one of the stones finally gives. The others spark in protest but their magic bleeds away as well seconds later.
The great devil slowly climbs to its hooved feet, giving Pirknok a nod of gratitude. The subdued glimmer of malice Kaplan noticed earlier shines a little brighter.
”The mortal mage calling himself Krune trapped myself and my consort here to power this structure. When the water level outside would grow high enough, the engine would trigger and drain the two of us to power the mechanisms in these walls and open the floodgates. The engine was clever but flawed. With our magic suppressed by these binding circles, my consort and I were unable to replenish our strength and across the centuries our strength waned. My consort reached her limit thirty years ago. That ash is all that remains of her.”
Pirknok frowns deeply. "That... that's not right, evin fer... fer sumwun like you. When wuz this? Who wuz Krune? An'... how do we power it ta open the gate?"
”A long time ago. Hundreds of years as you mortals measure the passage of time”, it explains.
”I felt the gate’s magics tugging at what remains of my strength but it didn’t drain me as it used to. I believe both circles have to be occupied in order for it to work properly. Any two of you should be enough. The strain is painful but unlikely to be fatal for your mortal forms.”
"Um... but ar we gunna be stuck in there? An' wut ar you gunna do now? This Krune mage guy must be long ded by now..."
”The circles were built to bind my consort and myself but you can destroy the other one as you destroyed mine if it brings you peace of mind.”
”Krune was mortal but also a powerful mage. Mortal magic users have a tendency to fight against the inevitability of your kind.”
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Pirknok shudders. They're messing with things they don't understand... they should leave well enough alone!
With a final nod at the creature and something almost like respect in his tone, he continues, "Yer gonna go back ta yer plane now, right? Ah never thought ah'd be talkin' peaceful to... one uv yer kind, but ah hope... ah hope you fin' sum peace an' rest now. Nobuddy deserves that kinda treatment."
Jessamy just shakes her head.
This is weird.
"I guess I can go in one of the circles," she says unhappily. "I hope it doesn't hurt too much."
”And I never thought I would find salvation in a group of mortals…”
The skeletal fiend reaches up and grasps one of the great curved horns jutting powerfully from its skull-like head. It wrenches and twists and, with a wet snap, the bony protrusion breaks free. The fiend offers it to the party. ”A token of my gratitude.”
The tattooed dwarf blinks a few times, then steps forward and accepts the gift with a grave nod of acknowledgment. "We'll ruhmember you."
And I'll think on this experience, and whether any creature deserves such treatment, regardless of their race or species...
The skeletal creature nods and flexes its tattered wings as it prepares to depart.
”Good luck mortals. I hope we never meet again.”
In a flash of hellfire, the great fiend vanishes from sight leaving the room filled with the scent of brimstone.
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The moment both circles are occupied, the ancient Azlanti magic triggers and the entire room flares to life as dozens of sigils, previously unseen, shine and literally move, scrolling across the walls as if the structure itself was alive.
Both Pirknok and Jessamy feel their strength ebb away, slowly after first, as the dam draws on their life-force to power the dam’s mechanics. Massive gears within the walls can be heard grinding to life, opening the floodgates and relieving the pressure that threatens to smash Skull’s Crossing to splinters.
The pull grows stronger as more and more machinery whirs to life and what started as a gentle tug becomes a painful wrenching and then an agonizing tearing. Both heroes feel their life’s essence being literally ripped from their bodies as Krune’s ancient power ravages – rapes - its way through them. Any attempt to scream is silenced as the magic steals even the air from their lungs.
Eventually the pain gives way for gentle death and in that moment, both see images from their lives, past and present. Pirknok sees his Shoanti family, a hard life but not an unhappy one. A familiar ursine shape looms over him as a child. How long has death been following him?
Jessamy is seen as a child. A dirty servant-girl in a dirty frock. Her parents, hard-working honest folk, want the world for their daughter but it’s beyond their means. Despite the circumstances, sunlight has a tendency to settle on the happy little girl. Coincidence or something more?
Eventually both sets of visions fade and the pit fiends (for that’s what they truly are) are seen, bound by Karzoug when Skull’s Crossing – a tribute to his hubris - is ready for them. They were a prince and princess of Hell but before Karzoug’s power, they’re merely toys. Across generations they watch helplessly as each other wither and die. If such creatures could love, that is what they shared, but in the end all that remains of the consort is lifeless red dust... Karzoug laughs and as he does the scenery changes. Some of the scenes are too familiar. Is this the present?
After an eternity, but what was only a few seconds, the magic’s pull ends and Jessamy and Pirknok are free to stumble away.
"Oh, gods," Jessamy cries, sitting down and weeping, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Aroden's corpse," Ventus breathes at the display. He stoops and tentatively reaches out a hand to help Jessamy up. If he had known it was going to be that bad he would have offered to take her place in the circle.
"C'mon kiddo, let's get out of here."
Jessamy sniffs one more time, wiping an arm across her eyes and nose as she reaches up to take Ventus' hand.
"I don't think I feel so good," she says. "Are we done here?"
The creaking sound of the structure straining under the imbalanced weight of water is almost entirely gone now, replaced by the roar of water pouring through the nearby floodgates. A moment later the mechanisms grind to a halt and the room grows dim once again.
"Yes, I think we should leave this cursed place," Kaplan says, his stoic face not betraying his concerns or fears.
Pirknok stumbles out of the circle as the pull recedes, his expression vacant, his eyes unfocused. Leaning against the wall nearby, he stares unseeing at the stones as he slides silently to the ground.
They loved... foul, evil creatures... or so I had thought. Yet they loved, I know it! How can it be? How??
Can demons be anything but evil? Can Chelaxians? Those who would steal our land from us and fill it with their foul-smelling cities, destroying the creatures who share it with us, leaving us with nothing to call our own — can they love?
I was filled with hate, but I have learned to control it... somewhat... should I have been destroyed before? But there must be limits. Surely giants can't be redeemed... we hate them! I hate them! There's no possible way that they could understand love, or ever deserve it.
Did those ogres love? They just seemed stupid, but all ogres are stupid... yet they didn't attack us. I've spoken with trolls today without either attempting to kill the other! I'm so tired...
Was that Jess I saw? The magic was so... horrible... not the pain, the pain I could bear... but the magic, filling me... how does anyone bear it by choice?
The dwarf lets out a long breath, and looks up at the others, his gaze resting on each in turn. With a nod, he slowly gets to his feet, his shoulders slumping wearily. "I'm ready."
Returning to the floor above the party finds Grazuul and his tribe enjoying the fruits of their labor, happily supping on ogre flesh.
”You’re alive? You’re tougher than you look”, the scaly troll grunts in surprise. ”You leavin’ now?”
Pirknok nods. "There's wun more thing," he begins.
Slowly, tiredly, he explains in simple terms the working of the mechanism, and the fact that the town below needs the dam protected and maintained in order to live in safety. He suggests that perhaps the trolls and the townspeople could come to an agreement, with the townspeople providing the trolls with food in exchange for the protection and dam maintenance that the trolls could provide.
If Grazuul seems amenable, the dwarf offers to suggest this arrangement to the mayor upon the group's return.
Grazuul rumbles in thought over Pirknok's suggestion. He pauses to pick bits of ogre gristle from between his massive tusks.
"Okay. Tell 'em we'll watch this dam for 'em. We're sorta doin' that already. I can't promise we'll use that soul-suckin' magic though."
The tired Shoanti gives a nod of acknowledgment. "I'll tell 'um. Wun uv them will prolly want ta come talk to ya... I don't blame ya fer not wantin' ta use that... magic."
It's nearing nightfall when the party reaches the bottom of the mountain and the edge of Turtleback Ferry. With the additional water pouring down from Skull's Crossing the river is swollen to nearly twice it's size but in a controlled manner compared to the disaster this earlier that morning. Cleanup efforts are still underway when the party arrives, the dead and missing still being accounted for.
Despite the late hour and his advanced age, the town's elderly mayor personally oversees the efforts.
"Welcome back Heroes. I see you did it. Turtleback Ferry owes you a debt it can never repay."
"Our friends could use some powerful healing," Kaplan says, gesturing at Pirknok and Jessamy. "That'd be payment enough."
Though he should have seen it before, the mayor sucks in a breath at the sight of the lasting injury the pair have suffered - far worse than any physical wound.
"Erastil protect us... I'll pray for each of you on the morrow."
"What horrors did you face? Did the trolls do this?"
Kaplan explains about the ogres, the trolls and the infernal engine. He also tells of the arrangement that was proposed.
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