"So far it's just the terror of its presence," says the giant dwarf. "But it'll get worse as soon as it gets bored with that."
Dain recognizes the famous Brothers of the Heart when he sees them. However, it takes him a moment to realize what Velika is singing, and another to realize what verse comes next. He tries to catch her attention. "Mmmm...nnnh-uhhhh," he articulates sagely while shaking his head back and forth. He catches her eye and jerks his head in the direction of the "brothers" while Magill helps by pulling at her pants leg.
While they are waiting, Tilver explain Lady Hillercahun's position. "She's a Paladin of Lothian and one of the Twelve Commanders of Ptolus, who advise the Commisar. She founded the Knights of the Pale and was an early founder of the Delver's Guild. She's a delver herself and made quite a fortune."
As the brothers burst in, Tilver stands and looks excited. "Prince Ironheart and Brig Stoneheart!" He listens to their description of the demon. "On Dweomer Street? There's any number of dangerous magic items that could be triggered during an attack. But surely the arcanists that live there would attack the demon. I mean, they wouldn't want it to destroy their homes!"
"Could we help? I don't know about going up against this demon, but we've taken down a Rhodintor recently."
At Dain's gesticulations, Magill's tugging and Tilver's words, Velika stops singing so quickly she bites her tongue, embarrassed that she didn't recognize the pair. She begins to speak her agreement with Tilver's offer of help but winces in pain and only nods eagerly instead.
"Who are you?" asks Brig, clearly impatient for Dierna to arrive.
Prince Ironheart regards you solemnly.
"Us? We're delvers. I'm Tilver Arnholm, and these are my friends, Velika, Dain, Silas, and Holys. We recently began exploring Pythonesse House, and we came to discuss what we've found there. Among other things, a Rhodintor, which we killed in a furious battle."
Tilver steps closer to the men. "It's an honor to meet you two. If we can help with the trouble on Dweomer Street, just let us know what we can do."
The oversized dwarf quells his impatience long enough to focus on you. "It's good to meet you. I wish it were under other circumstances. Or, maybe not. Lothian works in mysterious ways. I don't mean to make any assumptions about your prowess, because I have no idea what a Rhodintor is, but do you think you can handle some crowd control? Dierna can catch up to us and maybe the Prince and I can hold this thing's attention while you get the civilians out of the way?"
"Ummm..." starts the metal-covered man in an expression of doubt.
"No, it's alright," says Brig Stoneheart, reassuring his companion. "I've got a feeling about these five."
Tilver smiles. "Rhodintor. Goat-demon thing, but nevermind that. Sure, we can help control the crowds." He looks back at the others sure that they wouldn't pass up a chance to work with a couple of famed heroes.
Velika swirls her cape and offers them a small bow. "We'd be happy to help," she agrees with Tilver.
Dain nods while Magill peers out from between his legs. "Of course we'd be...ummm...happy to help...ah...protect people."
Silas nods in agreement and waits for them to lead the way.
Brig Stoneheart and Prince Stoneheart hustle out the door, their big weapons in hand, startling the passersby. “Let the road be cleared!” bellows Stoneheart. ”Make way!” Just behind the famous duo, Silas, Dain, Velika, Holys and Tilver pile out of the gate and jog along behind, with Velika struggling to keep pace with the long strides of the Brothers of the Heart.
As the group hustles along Emperor’s Road, they begin to see signs of trouble ahead. Low clouds hover over the buildings near Vock Row, and eerie multi-hued lightning flashes between the clouds. Before long the sound of screams can be heard amidst the rolling crashes of thunder. As the team rounds the bend onto Vock Row, they see a nightmare shape of shadow and flame perched atop The Games House, a well-known arcane sports venue. The demon is difficult to see clearly amid the shades and gloom that surround it, but the brief glimpses are terrifying as its gaze is filled with the sheer ugliness of sin and the raw might of unfiltered fury.
A dozen bodies lay in the street, unmoving, their faces rigid with terror. Elsewhere on the street, faces peered out of windows or hid in horror and revulsion. All along the street, doors flew open and slammed shut, windows raised and lowered, their glass shattered. Stones shook and cracked and the weathervane on the spire of West Town Mixtures crashed to the ground.
Brig and the “Prince” peered up to see the huge demon and its mocking expression. ”Oh boy,” said the dwarf with a sigh.
”We’re going to need back up,” Prince Ironheart agreed.
Turning to your team, Brig waved at the street. ”Get those people out of the street and try not to look up at...”
Just then, the demon slammed into the street just yards away, the cobbles breaking and rolling aside under the impact of its talons. That’s when it looked directly at all of you.
]
Dain and Holys felt the evil of the demon’s gaze like an oily hand reaching into their minds and stroking the memories of their worst impulses. The two gritted their teeth and resisted and the moment passed. Not so for their companions.
Silas felt the sin of Wrath rise up in his heart. Furiously, a host of half-imagined grievances against Dain came to his mind. With a snarl, Silas turned and attacked Dain with all his might, slashing at his friend and cutting the oracle badly across the shoulder.
Tilver felt the sin of Gluttony overtake him and he tried to seize Velika’s pack. Halflings always have the best food! As the little bard struggled against Tilver for control of the pact she suddenly noticed how masterful, how handsome and how hot he was. With a flush, the sin of Lust consumed her and she just had to have his hands on her. The two fell to the ground in a confused melee of groping for foodstuffs and shirt buttons, kisses and desperate lunges for crumbs of cheese.
Seeing the ruin of his team, Holys stuck to the plan and began dragging stricken townspeople into the nearby buildings while the Brothers of the Heart chased the demon that declined to give battle and merely flew up to a nearby rooftop, laughing heartily. As the Brothers of the Heart swallowed potions and rose up to meet the demon, it reached up into the sky and seemed to tear more demons out of the air. Smaller copies of itself they seemed, not so tall and terrible, but daunting to look upon and armed with wicked scythes and bladed whips.
Moments later the team came to their senses. Silas let his blade clatter to the ground and assured Dain he was alright. Tilver sheepishly dropped the pack he had his head stuck halfway into while Velika turned a bright crimson and let go of the belt she had ripped from Tilver’s pants.
”Don’t be embarrassed,” said a new voice. Turning around, the team saw a stern and queenly woman in full plate armor. ”They feed as much on your shame as on the terror. They work to weaken your resolve first, for they are less than they seem, using the suggestion of sin to magnify their own seeming. I almost cried when I first encountered one.” Dain recognized this as Dierna Hillerchaun, leader of the Knights of the Pale.
”Come!” she said. ”Let’s be at them before they do any more damage.”
Side by side with the famous paladin the team fought several of the flying terrors, their black wings and shadowy forms, striking them from the sky with sword and axe, spell and pistol. Dierna looks momentarily startled when Velika first lets loose with Alakabam!, but smiles at the deadly result and gives the gnome a nod of warrior’s approval.
Before the battle was over, Dierna said ”You are valiant and do not need my aid here. I am not so certain that Brig and Prince are okay. I go to help them. Good hunting!” Her boots sprouted wings and she leapt into the sky.
Not long after, as Holys defended a trio of citizens with gouts of fire, Tilver, Silas, Velika and Dain slew the last of the Sineater demons and put out two fires. The battle in the sky seemed to have ended, so they trudged back towards the Bladechapel dirty, injured and seemingly forgotten.
But at the manor’s gate Brig Stoneheart stood leaning against the lintel. The giant dwarf grinned as you came up the walk. ”I heard you did alright down there, once you got your pants back on.”
”Come on. Bravery like that deserves a beer, and Dierna’s table isn’t half bad for a human. Have a drink with us and we’ll see about getting you patched up...and whatever it was you came for.”
Later, after some very good ale and the prayers of Dierna and Brig, you feel full and fine.
”So, Pythoness House,” says Dierna, now dressed in a simple white shift, her dark hair bound back in a long ponytail. She seemed every bit as queenly as before, but less stern. ”I hadn’t thought of it in a long while. What is your interest in that accursed place?”
Tilver sits back with a full belly. He could still remember the insatiable hunger, but he was full for now. Still, he reached for another gulp of ale. He avoids making eye contact with Velika. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he answers the Commander. "We were exploring it, looking for...a key. But there's a ghost in there. Maybe more than one. Plus a demon, though we killed that. A rhodintor. I thought your Knights cleared the place out."
"There's a spirit in there of a knight named Taunell. But then something else more sinister sounding. Something that talk about feeding and chaos." Tilver shivers.
Velika grimaces a bit, hoping the Dierna does not consider Tilver's words an accusation.
"Certainly the Knights of the Pale did the city a great service in eradicating the presence of the Crimson Coil at Pythoness House. But it does seem that there are some lingering evils in that place and we would be grateful for any insights you could offer us."
Dierna listens quietly, sipping her tea as Tilver and Velika speak.
"That was an eventful time and we had a somewhat different philosophy then." she says.
"We thought we were being thorough. We left nothing alive in that accursed house. We trapped the Crimson Coil leaders and slew them all, or so we hoped. It is so hard to tell with chaos cults. They twist and split and change and reform."
"I can't say we gave much thought to whether any spirits resided there. Certainly we encountered none. But a demon? I don't know. Perhaps it came to roost there later? Or perhaps it was wily and did not wish to make a stand before a team of trained and righteous warriors. But we found no sign of this...rhodintor." she says the name with distaste.
"There are so many layers to the evil hidden in this city. When you scour it clean you find only more vileness hiding in the shadows, preying on the weak. What do you know of the rhodintor? They are terrible warriors and I tell you truly that I am amazed by your survival. I think you must be marked by Lothian... or other powers," she concedes politely, "for greatness."
"The rhodintor are sometimes called earth-bound demons, though in fact they are not demons at all. But the distinction is purely academic. They are every bit as devious,conniving, and brutal as actual demons. They were created, sages say, at the dawn of time to serve an ancient evil. They are found nowhere on Praemal but here in Ptolus and we have heard more of them in the last year than in the previous decade. Something is awakening them. They sense something coming. We don't know what."
"As for Pythoness House, if I had not seen you handle yourselves well today I might have ordered you to stay out of that place. But now my heart tells me that there is something more than chance at work. Rather than bar you, I give you a commission in the name of Ptolus and the Bladechapel to thoroughly cleanse the evil from Pythoness House."
"I heard the bit about the key for which you are searching. So be it. I am not so far from my own Delver days that I have forgotten how self-interest can go hand-in-hand with higher motives. The proper owners of Pythoness House are probably long dead and what lies within belongs either to the city or to the Knights. Either way, I bequeath to you whatever you find in that place saving only relics of evil that cannot be cleansed. Those you will bring to me or to some authority capable of destroying them."
"Now, your spirit. Taunell, you called him? Or were there two spirits, the knight and the sinister one? I might put a name to the second spirit. Segginal Fesbom. He was a powerful mage in the service of the Crimson Coil. He was as cold and ruthless and fanatical as any demon. He went missing just before we raided Pythoness House, but we found that damned odd statue of him tucked away in a corner of the house. I can see by your faces that you've seen it."
"I knew in my heart that he was still there, somewhere. Somewhere we never found. I never considered that he had become some sort of guardian spirit, but it could be so."
At the name Segginal, Velika's eyes widen slightly. She glances briefly at her companions, wishing she could discuss what she was about to reveal, but feeling driven by the memory of her fear.
"If you know of this mage, Segginal, then perhaps you would be able to handle a problem we encountered at Pythoness house. We came across a book, no doubt penned by this evil servant of Chaos. The book contains stories of incredible evil and great power. It should be destroyed but that task is currently beyond our ability. Perhaps if we brought it to you?"
She pauses to wait for a reply and then feels compelled to add, "But please heed my warning and do not attempt to read the tome. I barely survived the attempt."
She glances again at her companions, hoping they won't object.
Holys is nodding sagely.
Silas shrugs as he thinks the knights are as likely to be able to destroy it as anyone else they can give it to.
Dierna looks at Velika for awhile, her gaze intense but not unkindly. "That's a wise warning, Velika. You are wiser and more cautious than many gnomes I have known, whatever their intellect or bravery. That is well, for I fear you are only beginning your acquaintance with the powers of Chaos. Caution will serve you best."
"I will take this book. I may not be able to destroy it, but I think I know someone who can."
"As for the spirit you call Taunell, all that I can tell you is that most such spirits are constrained to remain in the place of their death by some unfinished business or perhaps some rite left unsaid. Only by accomplishing what they feel is unfinished can you release their spirits from the mortal world."
"That statue on the first floor is of Segginal Fesbom? Is it possible he still lives?" Tilver glances at Velika for a moment. "We did find some sort of slot in the statue. We're not sure what it does."
The ex-gladiator shivers. "Chaos cults...who in their right mind would try to unmake the world?"
For the most part, Dain tries to avoid drawing much attention to himself, but he and Magill do share a giggle at the description of Velika as 'cautious'.
"Um? Really? That obese statue is an actual...mmm...person? I thought it was just part of the grotesquely themed decor."
"Each to their own, Dain. Some of the decor was not all that bad."
"So is there anything else you wish to discuss?" asks Dierna.
"Perhaps banishing this Segginal will put Taunell to rest? It sounds like we need to investigate the statue again. I don't know that we have any more questions at this time."
After a nice meal with some nice people, you walk the three blocks up the street to Pythoness House, drearier and more forbidding in the wake of that warmth and kindness. The gate stands open and sere leaves rustle hopelessly in the thin, cold wind.
As you enter the courtyard you hear a distant sigh. "Ahhhhh..."
You make your way to the odd corner wherein stands the forbidding statue of Segginal Fesbom.
Velika pulls the two halves the spiral contrivance out of her bag. "Is everyone ready?"
If the answer is yes, Velika steps forward, swirls her cloak and begins to bring the two halves of the key together.
Then she pauses, "Maybe you should all step back?"
After a few more seconds, she swirls her cloak again, raises her arms in the air and brings the two halves of the key together. Then she commands, "Reveal your secrets to us!" as she puts the key in the impression recently revealed in the statue.
The slot is not in evidence, vanished as if it never was.
Confused, Dain looks closely at the grotesque statue. "The...ummm...keyhole was right here, wasn't it?" He pokes at the statue's large belly.
"Lady...mmm...Dierna said this statue is...ummmm...Segginal the mage. And she thinks the creepy voice is too...I think. So maybe the voice is...ahhh...connected to the statue and the keyhole? Silas noticed that the force wall appeares at the front gate whenever the voice says <imitating creepy voice>'Come to me'. Maybe when the voice says one of the other things, the keyhole appears? The 'Chaos is key' thing, maybe? Or..." he pokes the belly again and giggles, ...'I must feed'?
While Dain does not find the slot they had previously seen, his search is not in vain. He finds scratch marks on the floor indicating that the entire pedestal on which Segginal's statue rests can be moved to the north.
It does not respond to attempts to move it.
"Perhaps the slot is magical and only appears at certain times."
"If that's true, then we just need to wait. Or we could go talk to the ghost again. Maybe we can learn more about him."
Holys ponders. "What time of day did we see the slot?"
Velika chuckles. "Talk to the ghost? Is that what we did? Sure! And let's say I asked him to to look after Alakabam while I ran to use the outhouse."
"The ghost didn't give us a chance to talk last time. Maybe it will be more charitable since we killed the demon. But if it just sits in the same spot it might not even know. Still its worth trying."
Silas turns and begins walking up to where the ghost is. Before opening the door to the walkway he cast Shield on himself in case the talk goes...poorly.
"I was going to say the we should wait for the voice to...ahh...speak again, but," Dain looks down the hall at Silas ascending the spiral stairs, "we should probably go after him. I don't think the...ummm...rhodintor...had anything to do with the ghost, so its probably going to attack Silas." He picks up his spear and begins to head after Silas. "The only thing that I think has changed since last time we...heh...'talked' to the ghost is that we learned his name. Maybe that will help get its attention."
"Maybe using his name and invoking the name of Lothian will help us talk with him. I get the feeling he's battling chaos in his own way. Perhaps he can tell us more about the other voice if he knows we're no threat."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Velika shrugs and follows along.
You stand outside the entrance to the gate house, where you previously met the ghost that you presume to be Taunell.
Silas opens the door and walks out holding his hands out to the side to appear less threatening.
The door is on the second floor and from there you must climb a ladder to ascend through the gatehouse's tower to the Third Floor, where you previously met the ghost.
The tall and misty specter looms tall in the gloom of the gatehouse gallery, surrounded by cobwebs and murder holes. His holy symbol gleams dully and his sword glints in the dark. "I warned you not to return," says the ghostly voice. "Now you will pay the ultimate price." It raises its sword and advances on you.
Dain steps forward and speaks up. Addressing the spirit, his voice seems more steady and confidant than it normally does. Magill takes up a position in front of Dain and bristles at the ghost.
"Taunell - devoted of Lothian - hold and parley with us! We are not your enemies. Your spirit is trapped in this place by your desire to avenge the wrong done to the Kollotis family. Let us help you accomplish your goal so that you can go to a well earned rest."
Tilver holds up his hands. "Taunell! We come with the blessing of the Knights of the Pale. We are here to root out this chaos and destroy it. We have already killed the goat-demon. We can show you his corpse."
"Taunell, Please do not fight us. We have fought against the demons that inhabit this place and must conserve our strength to counter the chaotic threats that still lurk."