The last smash from the infernal werewolf gives Albrέkt pause, bringing a hiss from the vampyr's half helm.
Enraged he swings wildly, seeking retribution...
:
... but the cleaving blow is easily avoided by the cunning lycanthrope.
Umurn notes his opponent's anger, and the opening it leaves. He presses the attack, but only his last blow does more than ring off the vampire's armor.
"Yield!" he snarls as his mace dents Albrέkt's armor.
Albrέkt runs a gauntlet'ed hand over the dent in his breastplate, then smiles;
"Vunderbar... You are impressive Höllenwolf, but I am nicht ready to yield yet..."
From his fingers green flame flickers, wreathing those areas where Umurn hit in sickly fire... ... mending and healing the damage wrought.
:
The vampyr chuckles dryly;
"Ach. How remizz of me. I schud share Urgathoa's blessing..."
He reaches for the infernal priest
:
:
Umurn growls and pulls back. He could press on... but they are not aiming to kill one another here.
"I yield," he states, lowering his weapon, though keeping a wary eye on the vampire. "I knew there was more to you than the blade.
Albrέkt salutes Umurn with his blade before sheathing the weapon;
"Bravo Höllenvulf. To even hold your own againscht ein Unheilgen Kreiger des Blassen Prinzessin izt impressive..."
The vampyr chuckles dryly at his fellow undead's comment;
"Magicks höllisch vud nicht make a difference mein Kleine Schwester... Perhapz next time he schud fight you little vun?! "
"Perhaps." Umurn did not make it clear which of the two he was replying to. "I look forward to seeing how you fight when you intend to kill your target."
With that, he nods to both of them, then turns to go to his quarters. It wouldn't do to stay in a wounded state like this, not when an attack could come at any time.
Farholde is quiet this week. No new adventurers arrive in town. Elise (head of the white ravens, the other knot in town) approaches Baron Vandermir and has a much more successful meeting than your own previous introduction. The pair hit it off fabulously.
In other news, the sisters of Saint Cynthia-Celeste post a 500 gp reward for information about the whereabouts of one of their order who has gone missing, one Sister Marta Dian.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sariana joins her brother on his trip to Farholde, drinking her fill in a long series of small bites. However unlike Albrekt she soon returns to the Horn, employing all of her considerable skill in stealth and knowledge of the teleporting thrones to return without attracting much attention. With this achieved she floats in mist form through the great fortress, intent on observing their new werewolf companion - her brother may not see it, but the wolf was cunning and blessed by a dark god. He would bear watching.
Almost every time Sariana checks in on him, Umurn is engrossed in some form of training--sometimes combat practice, sometimes studying magic or the teachings of Asmodeus, other times engaged in various exercises to build his strength, and a few times even taking some of the fortress's guards and drilling them on combat tactics. He seems almost determined to push himself to the point of exhaustion every day, then a little bit further. A few times he stops to sniff at the air, frowning, but if he detects his watcher he gives no sign.
The only breaks he takes from his relentless schedule are to eat, sleep... and at midnight, when he goes to the temple of his dark god and pays his respects to his master.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Xanos rarely came out of his laboratory. He was punctual, meeting with the members of the Knot who were present each night for their debriefing.
His presence was felt almost constantly. Severed hands ran throughout the horn delivering messages and checking guard positions and entry points. His undead horde watched passersby carefully from behind the arrow slits. The haunting melody played by one of the hands never stopped. Instead it simply moved around. One skeleton carried the lyre tirelessly, played by a severed hand that scuttled across the surface of the instrument like a musical spider. Where the song went, the Horn changed. Walls smoothed and thickened. Doorways damaged by the Victor's attack a lifetime ago repaired themselves. Traps and tunnels dug themselves in the catacombs. New walls and rooms formed. The entire mountain soon bore the subtle mark of the ancient necromancer.
In Farholde ,Albrέkt assumed a variety of guises...
As the dverg merchant Edensor Hochmettle, he presses the flesh and flashes the coin to secure a quantity of mithril required for his smithing operations.
Then as the stooping old sage Opa Langenschlaf he attends the local cemetery, grumbled intent to research the legacies and dead bloodlines of the local families and petty nobles.
During the daylight hours he holes up in a tavern room, and latterly in a sequestered crypt the brute breaks open...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Unbeknownst to the werewolf his observer considers him with something approaching approval. His relentless drive to improve reminds her of her own training in the Monastery of the Three Eyes. If only he was not infected with wolf blood. And the worship of the Gods... None the less she continue to observe the wolf with respect and a careful eye - her Bruder might have been content to overbear him with physical might and his many vampiric gifts, but to Sarianna the wolf had come off better.
That didn't mean that she'd let it happen again though...
The knot busies themselves with their various schemes for another week. Nothing much of note occurs, but you do receive a note from the White Ravens. It reads, “New adventurers in town calling themselves ‘Brendam’s Breaker’. They have been broken. No further difficulties. -- Z"
While things were quiet on your end, you can't help but notice that this last batch of adventurers arrived from out of town.
When the Knot next gather to plot and discuss the progress of the ritual Albrέkt seems unusually animated;
"Fellow mitglied of Der Knotten. Der Blassen Prinzessen hast spoken to me. Der final schtep in Der Übergang beckons to me."
He smiles wistfully;
"I must prepare mien Krypta... Schtock das Speisekammer vith flesh und blut to suztain..."
The towering vampyr tastes the air, through jagged fangs;
"Vhen I am in erstarrung do nicht dizturb me... it vud nicht be vise, nor zafe. Rest assured vhen I emerge it vil herald a neu epoche!"
Another message arrives from the seventh knot:
To the Ninth:
A new group of adventurers are in town – they are too visible to attack directly. They assault the Horn soon, unsure of the exact time of arrival. They mentioned something about the ‘center eye’. Third level entry?
Traya DeMarco – the leader, a sorceress of some sort.
Hassan J’raaq – a strange foreign barbarian with red skin, horns and a large curved sword.
Tasker Twelve-Knives – half-orc knife specialist, a weakness for pretty women
Posca the Merchant – dwarven cleric of a god of merchants, greedy above all else
-- Z
|
|
"Leave a gold trap for the cleric then." Sarianna says, appearing as if from thin air as the group gathers to digest the news. "Behind a portcullis maybe to split him from the rest? I can distract the orc well enough and Mein Bruder will relish this 'Hassan'. I assume you can handle a sorceress?" She asks Haruk and Xanos with a well judged touch of insolence.
"Or perhaps he can be bribed to switch sides, or even merely abstain, if it comes to that."
At the news of the incomers Albrέkt nods slowly with a jagged grin;
"Vunderbar. Zey vill serve as minn sustinanze for Der Übergang."
Umurn's only answer is a toothy, hungry smile.
Xanos nodded. "As before, I believe we should let them in, monitor their progress for a time, then cut off their escape. Perhaps we can entice them to one of the upper entrances to test those defenses."
Albrέkt leers and nods;
"Der dritte level. Zhat izt mien. I vil vait for zhem... All vil be butchered schud zhey kom knokking."
Umurn positions himself near the interior stairs on the 'main' floor, ready to go down or to the door depending on where the attack comes from.
Xanos had no idea how long it would be before the adventurers showed up, so he remained in his lab trusting that their perimeter defenses would let him know when the right time to ready himself was.
At some point, four adventurers climb up the main stairway to the horn. They notice the wall blades trap outside the main entrance and start to disable it.
Umurn makes his way to the room at the end of the hall beyond the entrance.
The Daemonic telepathy alert system notifies everyone in the horn as soon as the adventurers cross the threshold. Up in the sanctum, Hextor uses the Eyes of Vetra Kali to maintain a Clairvoyance view of the intruders and happily tells everyone listening what the adventurers are doing.
Xanos casts Stoneskin on himself and leaves his lab, headed for the entrance.
Allow them to gain entry. Keeping them from escaping is our highest priority. the wizard's voice came through the Message spell he maintained on the Knot.
Higher in the Horn, a sickly coloured gas hovers... almost unnaturally waiting...
:
Haruk opts to remain in the observation room with the wraiths, watching for the time being.
Molasbar also waits in the observation room, hoping to gauge how formidable the interlopers are before he is forced to engage them.
The half-orc curses as the blade cuts into him. "Damned thing just went off."
After dealing with the trap he takes out a bottle and drinks it.
The Party is on high alert and moves slowly forward.
Xanos continued his walk from his laboratory, casting another spell as he went.
The putrid mist begins to solidify until it is replaced by an ironclad vampyr.
The towering wretch sneers, flexing its long clawed gauntlets...
"Ich habe immer Hunger .. Bring zhem tu our feazt..."
When the scouts tell us the assault is imminent, Molasbar goes to the third floor. He opens the door between 3-1 and 3-9 and stands in the doorway. He watches between the teleportation circle and the illusion covered balcony. If an intruder gets past the illusion or knows about the teleporters and gets to the circle, he'll be ready to engage them. If he gets a telepathic message that he is needed somewhere else, he can go to the teleportation circle and get as close to the hot spot as possible.
The party moves forward, stopping at the floor trap, where the half-orc moves to disable it.
Umurn schools himself to patience, only his twitching tail betraying his rising need to hunt, to kill and eat, to taste the hot flesh and blood of his screaming prey...
Xanos walks into the first floor temple where most of the rest fo the Knot was lying in wait.
"We may be able to kill them in the choke point," the tall wizard said without preamble. "Shortly they will reach the door to the entry chamber. Once they are through it, my followers will activate a dropping portcullis similar to the ones in the caverns. Once they are trapped in the entry chamber, I would very much recommend not entering to engage them there. Anything in that room will not enjoy the experience."
He did not stop where the rest were gathered. Instead he headed for the throne.
"I will be positioning myself behind them. Once they find themselves in a murderhole, I suspect they will attempt to escape the way they came. They will run the gauntlet right to me. Anyone capable of flight is welcome to join me."
Over the course of the next few weeks you capture or eliminate several groups of would be adventures, aided by the timely warnings of your allies in town. With each success the quality of the competition seems to grow.
At dawn on the 111th day the sacrifice is be performed.
The second heart is cut out and placed in the bowl beside the statue. The first heart, black and shriveled, still beats in the first bowl sustained by black magic. A voice echoes throughout the Sanctum -- the same alien and malevolent voice from the first prayer. This time it says (in Abyssal): “Tezathra Vo” -- “I see” and the three eyes in the statue of Vetra-Kali flare with green light.
The Horn trembles and once more a great beacon of green light erupts into the dawn sky. The suns rays are barely seen that day. All across this region darkness blankets the land for the entire day. Today the sun has failed. Vetra-Kali’s return to his dominion draws nearer.
A few weeks later, the horn is assaulted by the best prepared party of adventurers yet. The group is exceptionally cautious and extraordinarily well equipped to deal with the challenges they face. You are victorious, but there are losses among the minions. On one of the fallen adventurers you find a journal and a bunch of papers. The papers appear to be the ramblings of a madman, but contain details regarding the party's make up and prowess, including your names and sketches of your faces. The last entry of the journal is of particular note.
What an interesting development today. We were approached by a so-called holy man full of talk about visions and angels and so forth. He claimed these spirits had driven him to stop the wickedness going on in the Horn and to rally us to our “destiny”. Mentioned us almost by name the angels did! I’m flattered.
He delivered us his pitch and then gave to us an immense pile of information about the place. Really he did everything but gives the keys to the front door.
Of course I don’t accept such gifts without a fair degree of skepticism. I had Vethia trail the “Holy Man” and our fears turned out to be justified. She saw this angel-speaker slip into a side alley and transform back into a dark haired and much younger human.
My tracker followed the human through the streets of Farholde and saw the young man rendezvous with a strange white haired woman with a white raven on her shoulder. He called her “Z”.
They didn’t say much to each other. All he said was “It is done. The Ninth is finished.” I am unsure exactly what that means, but clearly we are being used in some sort of double-cross between various factions of the cult that occupies the Horn. Ah, evil-doers. They never change.
So, they want us to be their assassins, eh? Well, its a job we don’t mind doing. We’ll be cautious about this information obviously. But I think it’s likely to pan out. They wouldn’t want their dupes to fail after all, would they? Of course, when we’re done, I think we’ll pay the “holy man” a little visit as well. Vethia is pretty sure the woman in white must be staying in the nearby inn -- “The Auld Briarhall” in Auld’Irey.
What a piece of work is my elven tracker! She tracked a shapechanger through almost a half mile of city, managed to eavesdrop on a private guarded conversation and reported back without even a ripple of trouble. Hah! Remind me to give that girl an almost even share of the treasure!
Tomorrow we attack the Horn. I can feel it my bones. This is the big one! After this, I just know that our wee little band will never be the same.
Umurn snarls as he finishes reading the journal entry. "Betrayal? Do they so fear our success they would jeopardize the entire plan to stop it?"
He snorts. "If they were going to betray us, they should have made certain it would work. Now the question... how do we wish to repay them?" He smiles broadly, showing off his fangs.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Xanos pulled out the small clay seal which would summon Tiadora when broken. He set it on the table.
"They die, of course. Fist though, the Cardinal should be made aware of the treachery of the allies he provided us."
Albrέkt sneers as the treachery is revealed, then gives a curt nod at Sariana's affirmation.
"Ve vil dekorieren Farholde vith zheir blut und fleisch..."
The hulking vampyr eyes the seal intensely;
"Hold. Vhat if Der Kardinal vas implizit in zheir verrat ? Vhat zehn Old Vun?"
"Then he will lie to us," Xanos shrugged. "Either way, he will have to call for their death."
Haruk is also vexed at their betrayal, but likewise cautions Xanos. "Perhaps it might be best to find out some information before we going summoning our benefactor. I could disguise myself, and see if I can figure out who this 'angel' is, and maybe learn about bit more about why 'Z' wanted us dead in the first place."