---
Karn's trident bites into the demon in retaliation!
Brelar reloads and fires but misses this time.
With another three swings Argust takes out yet another demon!
---
The babau near Karn continues to stab at him!
Argust will move to attack the final enemy!
for
Brelar again reloads and fires his cold iron bolt!
Attack:
Damage:
The trident once again stabs the demon!
Argust marches over and slices into the demon!
Brelar then fires a crossbow bolt but misses.
---
The demon steps away from Argust and stabs again!
Brelar fires again, but misses.
Attack:
Damage:
The demon steps away from Argust and stabs again!
[dice=longspear]1d20 + 12
[dice=damage]1d8 + 7[dice=longspear]1d20 + 7
[dice=damage]1d8 + 7
Argust looks to end this fight so that the party can recover their fallen friend!
for
for
for
Karn's trident once again bites through the demon's skin as Karn channels.
Brelar misses again.
Argust then dices the babau to pieces!
Where is Bert? We must find him! Argust yells, looking to Brelar and Karn. We cannot fail him!
Brelar looks at the dead demons, "Yes, hurry! Back to where we were!"
The party hurriedly rushes back to where the demons sprang from the wall. You find Bert's body, nearly torn to shreds, lying on the ground amidst a pool of blood. Grabbing the halfling, the party rushes back through the maze that is the Lady's Light and heads back into the wilderness of the Mushfens.
With only a little time to spare, the party arrives in Magnimar towing Bert's body, which after several days has begun to reek and attract flies. You head to the nearest temple-a temple of Desna-where several priests are on duty. After working out a payment, they agree to perform the service and take Bert's body to the back to begin the ritual.
It seems like hours but is truly only moments before Bert, looking bedraggled but certainly alive, comes stumbling out of the back towards the rest of the crew.
As the rest of the party vanishes from sight, Bert's last thought before the demons close with him is of the mission: They got away with the Shards! I think I'm making history...didn't know it would hurt so much....
The red haze clears from his vision, revealing the ceiling of the temple room. I must be alive...if I were dead, it wouldn't hurt any more. He gingerly climbs to his feet. "Hey, thanks. I guess they brought me back...where are they, anyway?"
He's led out to the party, whom he greets with his usual grin (maybe a little worn around the edges, though). "Next time, let someone else do the dying, OK? No, I lie--that was the way to do it. How long was I out? Did you get the demons? How about the rest of what we were looking for?"
Bert! He's alive! Thank all the gods! Argust rushes toward the halfling and nearly kills him again as he picks him up joyfully. Placing the halfling back down, the dwarf bows his head and drops to his knees. Forgive me for failing to protect you. I have already lost one friend and I had swore not to lose another. Instead we had to bring you here. Tears are visible on Argust's face as his voice begins to quiver, his words now in a stammer. I will not break my oath again!
Brelar puts his hand on Argust's shoulder, "No my friend, it is not your fault. It was mine." Turning to the halfling, "I am sorry my friend. I am glad we can agree the math was correct, but that doesn't make the answer hurt any less. I honor your sacrifice, and be honored if you would still call me a friend. Argust was able to cut through the demons after applying an oil of bless weapon fairly quickly."
Brelar sighs, obviously frustrated with himself. "Given what we've learned and enountered in the Lady's Light it would probably be wise to spend the week, resting, shopping, and making additional preparations. My fire magic was fairly ineffective against far too many foes. I can spend some time crafting new alchemical items and learning new magics."
Bert claps the dwarf on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, any of you. You came back for me, and that's what counted. Next time, don't let those things surround you. And I think you and Karn need better armor. He was the one I worried about--they almost killed him outright before we could even react. That darkness really caught us by surprise, too."
The halfling turns more serious. "We'll have to make some plans and re-equip before we go back, but we should still hurry even though I think we got the Gray Maidens cleared out. There's still the last servant to worry about, though, and who knows what else?"
Argust attempts to pull himself together once Bert consoles him. It all happened so fast. I couldn't move fast enough. I'll try. Next time, leave me to die. That shoulda been me dying in there.
Once he gathers himself the dwarf will ask Brelar to go with him in order to find two more Oils of Align Weapon. Seemed to come in handy.
After a short respite in Magnimar and with all the party back to normal, you head back through the Mushfens to the Lady's Light and return to the chamber where you were ambushed by demons.
The walls, floor, and ceiling of this room are rough and unfinished, as if the construction of the chamber had simply ended the step before these surfaces were smoothed and polished. A single pillar supports the ceiling twenty feet above. The wall to the east depicts a detailed carving of a stone pyramid looming over a coastline. The lower half of the carving seems to depict a cutaway view of the ground below the pyramid, indicating several levels of chambers and caverns. Blood appears to be flowing down these channels into a chamber deep below the pyramid in which an enormous nude woman reclines, her back arched as though in the throes of sexual ecstasy as the blood runs down into her open mouth.
Entering the chamber, Bert glances at the now-long-dried puddles of blood around the doorway and shudders slightly. The sight of the carving, though, seems to lift his spirits, and he turns away from where he died without a backward glance.
"Korvosa, again! I wonder what's down there...." He pulls out some paper and draws a quick sketch of the cutaway view. "Might be useful someday!"
Brelar nods his head, "Signs point to Korvosa. Nothing good is probably waiting there for us."
Korvosa? I've been in and around there in me past but I don't know much about it. We gotta go there?
"Maybe, but not yet--still a few places we haven't been to here."
"I believe there is a staircase we can follow back there." Brelar points back toward the chamber where we fought the Grey Maidens. "Or we can go back to the bath area and explore further."
Bert directs everyone back to the torture chamber where the Gray Maidens were camping. A spiral staircase leads up and soon the party emerges into a much larger circular chamber.
This is a grand chamber of polished marble with a wide pillar rising from the center. The curving flight of stairs you just ascended winds around this pillar. A starburst pattern in brilliant shades of orange surrounded by flowing script decorates the floor, while the domed ceiling twenty feet above evokes the opalescent interior of a rare seashell. Eight alcoves line the walls-standing in seven are regal statues of imperious figures carved from basalt.
A beautiful red-haired woman with a look of fury twisting her expression.
A handsome, haughty man with arms crossed contemptuously.
A stern-looking man offering the gift of a golden rose with his left hand.
A beautiful, voluptuous woman, in the act of sensuously opening her robe.
A plump and homely woman, face twisted in resentment as she looks upon the voluptuous woman's alcove with jealousy.
A short man with a hooked nose and beady eyes, his shoulders slumped as if in fatigue.
An obese man with diseased, leprous flesh, who hungrily gnaws at a huge haunch of meat.
Furthermore, there is writing in the floor in Thassilonian, which is difficult to read due to the florid nature of the carvings.
Brelar studies each in turn carefully.
"These, of course, are the famed Runelords. Seven in all." Pointing to M1d, "Sorshen, Runelord of Lust." Studying theThassilonian writing, "First deign to embrace the Lady and the Lie. Given this narcissistic monument to Sorshen, I'd say the 'Lady' is her. But the 'Lie?'"
Argust looks at all of the statues as Brelar does but without all the understanding. What is the lie, Brelar? Don't they all lie?
"Maybe the empty place? The lie would be that there's another one who should be there...or something like that. None of the others are associated specifically with dishonesty."
Brelar points at the statue of Karzough, Runelord of Greed, raising an eyebrow. "Beware Runelords bearing gifts."
Why? Argust asks innocently. Does he lie?
"Do you suppose that the Runelord of greed would bring you a present, or take a present from you?" Brelar asks his dwarven guard.
"Good thought! Let's try that--first hug the Sorshen statue, then the Karzoug statue. Can't help but think there might be more to this, though...."
The restored halfling runs over to embrace Sorshen. The empty alcove slowly fills with mist. After embracing Karzoug the alcove's mist glows golden.
"Hmm...looks dangerous. But hey, you only live o--OK, poor choice of words." The halfling gulps and steps into the mist, shield up.
I'm going with you! The now-paranoid dwarf insists and steps into the mist with the halfling.
As the party steps through the golden mist, everything dissolves around them only to reform later. Argust and Brelar are coincidentally in the same room but Karn and Bert are in separate rooms; all rooms are identical, however.
The seven stone walls of this heptagonal chamber are polished to a reflective sheen. A red metal door sits in one wall-the only other feature in the room is a five-foot-side mosaic of a coiled serpent slightly offset from the room's center in the floor.
After only a few seconds, all of the doors open and the company walks out into a central room that is likewise empty of furnishings. The floor of its two wings are decorated with circular snake mosaics twice the size of those in the smaller rooms. A 3-foot-tall post capped by a horizontally aligned wheel protrudes from the center of each mosaic. Turning the wheels seems to rotate the mosaics clockwise.
Just as the party is taking in this central chamber, the fourth door opens and a woman dressed in the familiar garb of the Gray Maidens steps out, although she is clearly a high-ranking officer. "Who are you? Sorshen's latest pawns? Her newest playthings? Let me welcome you to this cursed place with all you deserve!"
She begins to reach for her sword, curious how you will respond.
Brelar! Look! Another one! How'd she get here? Argust will also draw his weapon in response.
Bert sets a hand on his new pistol but doesn't draw it. "Wait, Argust. We're not Sorshen's anythings. And what do you mean by cursed?"
The woman lowers her sword and speaks.
"I am Oriana, one of the first to answer when Queen Ileosa put out the call among her favored guards to set up a new martial group to protect Castle Korvosa. Under Queen Ileosa's rule, we were promised a stronger Korvosa. I sore this scar she gave me as a badge of pride. But when Queen Ileosa was defeated, I had only days to escape the city with my most loyal followers. I thought I could retake my home town by plundering the magic and secrets here."
"I was taken in by a new Mistress, the Runelord Sorshen. I followed her devoutly for weeks but questioned her command to seek out and kill the half-orc witch Maroux. The death sentence was too much. My Mistress struck me in her fury and banished me to this room. Soon after I realized I had been duped. When Sorshen revisits me it will be either to murder me or reestablish her control over me."
"So what are you to do? What is your purpose?"
Bert's jaw drops. "Sorshen is here?! The Runelord herself? We have to get out of this place and warn th--our patrons." Then he regains some control of himself. "Wait a minute. We met Maroux ourselves; why would someone with the power of a Runelord need anyone else to kill the witch? Something isn't right, here."
|
"Myself and a few companions, whom I have seemed to become separated from are searching for information regarding some obscure, ancient....items or relics. We mean no harm and would be willing to aid you in escaping, if you desire." Karn says as he looks around the room for some way to return to his party.