"If I had access to a laboratory I am certain I could synthesize a replacement for the elemental blood." Xanos said, scribbling calculations and formula notes on the golem plans. "Haruk, does your summoned imp have a maximum range from you that it is unable to travel past?"
"I do not believe so, but it is only on our plane for an hour. However, I have the accuser devil scouting for us right now, so I must wait a day before I can summon an imp."
Albrέkt pays little heed to the discussion between Haruk and Xanos on the merits of the golem or the resources it would require to be reanimated.
Instead he eyes the plaques, wiping the dust and mildew from their surface in an attempt to discern what once hung above them...
Curiosity gets the better Molasbar, and he joins Albreckt in examining the plaques. He uses his presdigitation spell to help clean the plaques, and a detect magic spell on them, in case magic obscures some of the true messages upon them.
"We will discuss it tomorrow then. An hour should be sufficient for what I have in mind." Xanos said to Haruk.
The tall wizard started moving on to the next set of rooms.
The twelve plaques are as follows:
#1 “Laedrissia the Beautiful who believed she need not honor her promises to us.”
#2 “Markhan the Golden, the draconic protector of Lossewyn. He slept then and now he sleeps forever.”
#3 “Kallister Feign, an illusionist too clever to keep his head.”
#4 “Lazarus M. Who mourns for you now?”
#5 “King Croc, 23 feet snout to tail, delicious on a spit”
#6 “Iris of Ghastenhall, dead from a broken heart and a poison dagger.”
#7 “The Great Serpent of Korokunga, slain for its venom”
#8 “Lord Jurys Hallifax called the Just hid in his castle and hope we had forgotten. We hadn’t.”
#9 “Snorri Five-Axe died on a sixth.”
#10 “The ears of Lord Kelerrian. If only he had sense enough to listen.”
#11 “Chief Gorgun Sakkathet, invincible in battle, careless in choosing his cup bearer.”
#12 “Ergun Nigma, The third scion left in the House of the House Hyrhul, second greatest swordsman in the land, the first to die.”
In their survey, Albrekt and Molasbar find that “Iris of Ghastenhall” actually has a small silver ring mounted beneath the name. The same color as the plaque, the ring would have been easy to miss, if not for the closer examination. It's an unimpressive piece of jewelry, clearly intended for a very small finger, but has a tiny inscription ‘IoG’ beside an ornate rose engraved on it.
"Iris of Ghastenhall. Hmm."
"If we do end up setting this place up as a base or just staying a while, I'll have to take some time and go through this place carefully. I'd hate to miss something like this ring, or the book down that tiny hole downstairs. Who knows what else is around here that might help us out."
1-20: empty guard room
1-22: This chamber contains a forge in an almost functional state. There are bellows, a forge-fire and an anvil here all in fine shape. There is a bin for storing coal here as well,but over the years the coal has gotten wet from leakage through small cracks in the wall. It would take very little to make this room functional again.
1-23: This chamber contains a cage made of stout iron bars that run from floor to ceiling. A hole in the ceiling leads to a chute that rising up into darkness above. In the southern wall are set three heavy iron rings.These are perfect places to hang manacles to hold prisoners.
1-24: empty guard room
1-25: Once the pride of the priesthood of the Pale Horse-man, this torture chamber is now in sore need of repair. Wrecked by the Victor’s men, the chamber has remained a tangled pile of neglected metal and splintered wood for decades. Still, it could be repaired.
1-26: A stout iron door with a small barred window controls entry to this plain stone cell.The door once had a fine lock but that was smashed when the door was kicked in. Inside the room are metal rings set in the wall that could secure manacles enough to restrain either fourteen medium size prisoners or ten medium sized prisoners and one large sized prisoner.
Haruk takes mental notes of all the useful rooms they've passed through so far, keeping a running tally of what each one was used for. "Ya know, the more we explore this place, the more I like the idea of turning this into a permanent base of operations for us. There is plenty of space for all of us to pursue our own studies and experiments, and that's without including whatever might be on the upper floor."
Molasbar considers the ring and its ties to a far away city. "Perhaps a mystery for another day." He drops the ring into the his magical haversack for later consideration.
"We may have to stay here for a while. If we don't find what we are looking for during this basic exploration, it could take me days, perhaps even a week, to carefully examine each and every room for clues. As for a long term base for our exploits, it does seem remote and defensible. I was hoping for something with more fine dining and other pleasures, but that may have to wait until after our final victory over the Mitrans."
He glances around as he considers the spaces on this floor. "I think we've seen most of the rooms this floor has to offer. Maybe just a couple left around the main hall."
Albrέkt ducks his head into the "prison cell" with a satisfactory nod at its chain rings;
"Wunderbar. Ein larder..."
The vampyr stands with his fellow Knot, mulling their new surroundings with a jagged smile;
"I vunder if zhis place hast ein krypta? Zhen it vud be komplete! Ja?"
"A crypt? What for? We don't bury any dead." He gestures at Xanos and says "They just get added to the legion."
Albrέkt eyes Molasbar with a hard look, mulling the half orc's words before issuing a wheezing laugh more akin to a death rattle;
"Heheh. I need mein schönheitsschlaf of korse!"
"The cages will be useful to contain uncontrolled undead. " he looked up at the trapdoors in the ceiling . "Anyone falling for the traps above will not enjoy the experience."
2-1:
The entryway to the second level is accessible via a small winding stairway that hugs the side of the Horn. This small stairway rises almost two hundred feet and is covered in places with thick ropy vines. The aperture opens onto a forty foot long entryway that should be a death trap. Between the arrow slits (six on the right, six on the left), the pit trap and the half-wall at the corridor’s end, this should be a true defensive hard point of the Horn. Now, it is anything but. No one mans this defensive hallway.
A once concealed pit trap is open and obvious, a twenty foot wide chasm with a wooden plank put across it. The pit trap falls in room 1-23 below.
2-2:
Guard room.
2-3:
Guard room.
2-4:
Empty room with the remnants of a pyre in the middle.
2-5:
Capture pen like you found in 1-23.
2-6:
Empty barracks.
2-7:
Room full of smashed statues.
2-8:
Large private quarters with an impressive oak four-poster bed.
2-9:
Room full of ash and rubble. A mural shows two Greater Ceustodaemon being summoned from the nether planes and bound using plates of iron.
2-10:
Empty barracks.
2-11:
This chamber has a human skeleton nailed to the western wall by a spear with a broken haft. Written above the impaled skeleton is the phrase: “The Master of Acolytes, stealer of children. Let all who would turn to darkness see his fate and return to the light.”
2-12:
This room was ransacked like everything else on this level. But in this case, the ransacking including smashing murals. There is now a sizeable hole in the western wall. Through this hole has come the agressive greenery of the Caer Bryr and now vines and creepers
fill this chamber. The hole is clogged with foliage but still could allow someone of medium size to cut through and enter here.
2-13/14/15:
Ransacked Alcolyte chambers
2-16:
Courtyard with a fountain and a candelabra shedding magical light.
2-17:
Ransacked priest quarters.
2-18:
Mitran shrine. The demon could not enter the room.
2-19:
Alcolyte chamber with a headless statue in the center.
2-20:
Temple similar to that you found on level one. There is also a throne in it. The walls are decorated with elaborate murals.
2-21: Long hallway decorated with detailed murals.
After he gets the inundation of images regarding the upstairs, Haruk will relay the layout to his allies. "We have my devil for a few more minutes, if anybody has any questions."
"Did it encounter anything living other than the plants coming through that hole?"
"There will be another level. We have not yet found a temple to the Horsemen. There will be one, somewhere." Xanos said.
He looked at the accuser devil for a moment, thinking. "Did the throne you saw have anything written on it?"
Albrέkt pulls the broken spear free of the skeleton, tossing the damaged weapon with disdain before nodding toward the bones;
"Zhis vun vas important Ja? Perhapsch ve schud add him to Der Auferstehen ?"
"Perhaps. I think speaking with the spirit first would be advisable before deciding what to do with the corpse. Rose can pray for that ability at a later time."
When we go up to the second level, Molasbar will investigate a couple of things.
In 2-4, can he tell anything about who or what was burned in the pyre?
In 2-7, can he tell what the statues were depicting? Were they so detailed that they may have been live beings turned to stone?
In 2-20 and 2-21, do the murals depict any sort of story or history?
"Is there another level above that one?" Sariana asks.
If there is, it didn't see a way to get to it.
"Did it encounter anything living other than the plants coming through that hole?"
Not that it saw. (Mind you that the demon did its scouting invisibly, so it's not like it would have drawn anything out.)
He looked at the accuser devil for a moment, thinking. "Did the throne you saw have anything written on it?"
Perhaps. It didn't really scour everything to that level of detail.
When we go up to the second level, Molasbar will investigate a couple of things.
In 2-4, can he tell anything about who or what was burned in the pyre?
In 2-7, can he tell what the statues were depicting? Were they so detailed that they may have been live beings turned to stone?
In 2-20 and 2-21, do the murals depict any sort of story or history?
"Maybe what we're looking for is in the Mitran shrine, that my devil was unable to enter?" Haruk offers, surprised the rest of the group hadn't thought of that.
"Possible. The Mitrans are the sorts who would use a holy site to cover up something they did not approve of." Xanos said thoughtfully. "I suspect there is more to this than a mitran shrine though. It would be too simple, and it does not make sense given the architecture of this place."
"I can certainly lead the way into the shrine. Whenever all are ready."
You take the roundabout path and make your way to the second level. As soon as you step inside, you notice that everything seems brighter and the air feels cleaner on this floor than the one below you.
Albrέkt halts as they enter the new level, baulking at an unseen force.
The vampyr grimaces as his sword lowers as if suddenly heavy;
"Zhere izt und taint here... It izt everyvhere... Do you nicht feel itz biting vieght?"
"Let's be on guard for other nasty surprises the Mitrans might have left here."
With his blade out, Molasbar will go into the room first. He'll scan the room with a simple detect magic cantrip, and then carefully look for clues (and traps).
The room is decidedly boring, holding little more than a plain wooden table where many candles have burned down to nubs. On one wall there is the drawn image of the sun. An inscription has been carved below that reading “Mitra lucet omnibus, Mitra omnia regit”
everything.”
This is definitely the source of purity. This simple shrine must desecrated to drive Mitra's presence from this place.
Xanos could feel the suppression of his power and sense of autonomy. It rankled him. He'd been forced to exist inside illusions and falsehoods for months now. He'd become used to it. Comfortable even, but now he was struck by the oppression. Even here, in a bastion of daemonic might that he had helped create, the Mitrans had found a way to stifle him.
His form rippled and he cast off the illusory disguise he'd worn since Ballentyne.
It was the first time Molsabar, Rose and Sariana had ever seen what he really looked like. He was taller, nearly as tall as Albrekt. He was lanky, but with broad shoulders and surprisingly impressive muscular definition. His skin was very dark, but with a lack of natural hue that left him looking ashen. His eyes were rimmed in red, and unearthly pale. His cheekbones were high, but his nose was broad and his lips full.
He wore pale grey robes that only highlighted his unhealthy looking ashen skin. They hung open at the chest displaying white tattoos of cryptic script that seemed to slide away when the eye tried to focus on them.
The entire effect was like looking at a man who out of place. Like an evolutionary fork that had disappeared in ages past.
And he looked like he was dying.
|
Sariana hisses inside the room, like a scalded cat. "This taint must be removed - kursed Sun God! I will bring one of my tribe - Their blood should break his hold in this place!"
Sariana suits actions to words, returning to the boggart caves far below. There she searches out the shaman and asks whether the former chief had any confidants or children. If so she takes one of them as returns them to the shrine as a sacrifice - if not she picks one of the scrawny and less useful boggards.
Xanos stared at the shrine from the doorway, reading the inscription. He sneered, looking disgusted and unamused at the pretentious shrine.
"Not everone." he said, his voice full of ice.
"Yeah yeah, Mitra is wonderful, Mitra is best, boring. That stupid sun has got to go."
When Sariana moved away, Molasbar commented "Pretentious, arrogant lot. But then, we already knew that. I imagine Rose could desecrate this place and remove the taint. I doubt murdering a minion would accomplish much other than improving her mood."
Molasbar tried not to stare at Xanos as he took in what the half-orc assumed was his true appearance.
"I believe offering a living sacrifice to Asmodeus or another evil god will suffice as a means of desecrating the shrine." Haruk explains.
Albrέkt first eyes the shrine's inscription with a sneer
Then when Xanos reveals his true form, the towering wretch moves to before him, curiously tasting the air around the necromancer, before grinning with an approving nod;
"Old Vun. New Vun? Taller.. Ja... but taste schtill of sterben! "
When first Haruk mentions a sacrifice to Asmodeus, then Rose adds her own diety to the mix, the huge vampyr's features darken.
He moves toward the priest addressing her akin to how a cruel adult would mockingly placate a child;
"Fräulein... Zhis place is nicht for your Hure Königin. If we sacrifize it vill be to Der Blassen Prinzessin. Der Goddess of Death und Un-Death! Nicht some mere fallen engel..."
Hure Königin = Whore Queen