"I fully agree that he has murdered Amnayel." Nosoi replies. "But I am not concerned with the morality of it. Pharasma allows both good and evil to follow her tenets. Perhaps counter to popular notion, if neither can work together without killing the other, than it is unfortunate that Amnayel was brought back at all. It only continues the cycle of strife. Amnayel is less risky in that she will never violate Pharasma's tenets of never raising the dead, but she is more risky in the long term by her crusade against all she deems as evil. This upsets the balance, and fate will push more towards evil in order to counter her. This is where I am concerned regarding your outlook, Gabriella. I am concerned that you are a hunter of evil, not unlike Amnayel."
Tumbaja Mountain lies on the northern edge of Jolizpan Forest, near the Mildanesi Mountains. The pyramid is approximately 30 miles northeast of Jolizpan. You travel through the forest, following an overgrown path alongside the Jolizap River. This takes a little over a day of travel.
A large multi-tiered pyramid made from a dark blue stone veined with red streaks stands in the soft earth of this expansive clearing. The pyramid sides sink deep in the ground, suggesting a larger structure beneath. Flights of stairs rise along the four sides of the pyramid, each rising to its top level. To the west of the pyramid, a few old stone posts rise a few feet from the dirt.
An enormous skeletal creature floats around the pyramid, keeping a watch for intruders. An ornate crown rests on its head, but its body is small and atrophied, dangling grotesquely from its neck. Strange gases cling to its nightmarish form. As it notices you, it lets out a shriek and moves to attack!
The thing casts a spell on itself, moving swiftly as it flies closer.
Tzitzimitls resist weapons except for magic bludgeoning ones. They are immune to cold and electricity and resist fire and spells. They can convert positive energy into negative energy and fire beams of electricity and force from their eyes, and they wield powerful magic, including the ability to use wail of the banshee!
"What is that?" Allie asks warily, looking to her sister for answers. She unleashes a burst of vampiric power across the group, making sure to include Nosoi and Rascal.
"A Tzitzimitl, though incomplete. It is immune to many things, and is resistant to spells. It can convert positive into negative energy. Beware its eyes that shoot lightning, and its spellcasting of Wail of the Banshee." Nosoi answers, having studied beside Ulrich for so long.
"I can feel Ulrich's presence. He is near."
------------------------------
Spells Prepared
------------------------------
0th (at will) Detect Magic, Mending, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
1st blood money x4, ray of enfeeblement x2, shield x1
2nd blindness/deafness, blood transcription, darkvision, knock x2, gust of wind (2slot)
3rd disable construct, displacement, keen edge, vampiric touch, magic weapon (greater), nondetection, ray of exhaustion
4th deathless, dimension door (2slot),
5th blood boil, quickened sure casting x2, quickened true strike, siphon magic
6th ether step, dispel magic (greater), heightened bestow curse, repulsion, wall of silver
7th control undead, finger of death, limited wish x2
8th heightened control undead, horrid wilting, undead anatomy IV
A Wall of Silver erupts between the Tzitzimitl and the rest of the party.
"You haven't held us up at all."
Amnayel nods in understanding to Allie when she asks permission to take a feather from the fallen wing. Afterwards, she stands silently waiting for the group to prepare themselves. Once they depart and throughout their journey, she will not speak unless spoken to. Her responses are kept brief and does not remove her armor for as long as there are others around.
When they arrive and are met with a tzizimtl, Amnayel's instincts take over and she has the urgeto fly up and meet it in combat. Flinching, she remembers that is going to be possible so she draws her sword into her hand and creates a rally point underneath of Gabriella.
Gabbi rises into the air to hover above the group as she declares a judgment on the manifestation. A spell follows to draw divine energy into herself. She calls out the creature's strengths and weaknesses.
As you bolster yourselves with magic, a wall of shimmering silver appears before the tzitzimitl. Undeterred, the creature flies on through it, shuddering slightly as the magic lightly damages it. But it doesn't slow, closing to within 40 feet before opening its skeletal maw and unleashing a terrible, soul-chilling scream! The obol protects Gabbi from the powerful necromancy spell, but not so Allie or Amnayel!
Allie falls to the ground, blood streaming from her ears and eyes.
"Gabbi... help me..."
Gabbi screams out in rage as she feels her sister's life slipping away. Her rage is channeled through her weapon sending blazing arrows blasting into the undead creature.
Amnayel steels herself against the attack and is quite easily able to defeat its attempt to kill her. She looks over and sees Allie failing to fight throat the magi. Groaning "No! Allie!" and opens up the conduit to her life essence that she has used to save Gabbie's life several times now.
Channeling the death magic into her body, she circumvents Allie's death as she is about to collapse.
The magic knocks the wind out of her and she gasps loudly for breath, unable to even scream in pain. She calls on the powers that Arshea has givne her, hoping that they will respond in this new body. As she draws her hand down her body, thankfully the positive energy flows back into her. After she takes a deep breath, she channels more positive energy to help get her back on her feet again.
Ulrich hustles a bit closer, then sclices his hand to fuel his wish magic. He stares down the Tzitzimitl, then lunges towards it with only his soul, leaving his body dead behind him.
Allie rises, shakily, to her feet and hammers the creature with a beacon of divine fire!
Allies and Ulrich’s spells falter against the powerful undead’s resistance. Gabby scores three hits against it, drawing its ire. Its eyes flare with power as it fires crackling beams of energy from them!
"You will fall before the divine wrath of the Lady of Bones!" Gabriella shouts out at the creature.
Ulrich gets a little closer and prepares to cast Dispel Magic (greater) if it attempts to cast a spell.
Allie touches Amnayel on the back briefly.
"Thank you." She says, giving the paladin a gentle push towards the creature.
And fall the creature does. It crashes to the ground, festooned with arrows, the glow fading from its eyes as its animating spirit departs.
Amnayel nods to Allie, takes up her sword as she charges to the fallen creature. As she closes the distance, she swings her blade in one strong stroke and seperates the head of the creature from its body before falling to one knee to catch her breath again, breathing heavily.
Pushing herself back to her feet, she walks slowly back to the group, dragging her blade on the ground as she does so. When she reaches them, she expends some more positive energy to heal herself.
She places a hand on Allie's shoulder and asks "Alessandra, are you alright? Are you injured in any wa-"
The paladin stops talking mid-sentence when she catches sight of Ulrich approaching. She tightens her grip on her blade, her fingers subconsciously tightening around Allie's shoulder.
"I'm fine." Allie replies, not needing to turn around to tell why Amnayel is suddenly gripping so hard. She reaches up and turns the armored head towards her.
"Ignore him. I need to thank you. I'd have died if you didn't do that for me. I owe you my life Amnayel, and what you did was the action of a truly good person. Remember, you are who you are inside. Not what you are outside."
She spins on her heel to meet Ulrich at a distance from the group. "I hope you're here to apologise." She says bluntly before turning away once more to deal with her sister.
"I'm sorry." She says quietly as she hurts Gabbi for the greater good. "I didn't want to go, but it was so loud, so many voices."
Ulrich reaches earshot of the group by the time Alessandra speaks to him. A slight trail of blood flows from his hand. With a touch of his hand to the periapt around his neck, Ulrich's wounds lessen.
He takes off his plague mask and awaits judgement.
Gabbi hardly even flinches at her sister's painfully healing touch, her attention focused on Ulrich as he approaches. With another cry of rage, her boots carry her to stand in front of him. Her voice trembles, but her hands are steady on her bow as she draws back to unleash the same fury on him as she did on the tzitzimitl. The drawn arrow sizzles with readied divine wrath aimed at Ulrich's heart.
"You have one chance to convince me to let you live, necromancer," she snarls, the tension in her body strung as tight as her bow.
The changeling listens to Allie speak and isn't sure how to respond, so she doesn't. She stares at Ulrich, awaiting an apology she know will never come.
Did it even matter if he apologizes? What then? Moot. He will not apologize.
Amnayel, for her part, is surprised at the camaraderie she receives from the twins. She wasn't sure Gabriella had it in her to take up sides against Ulrich, though whether or not she proceeds to kill him was yet to be seen.
When Gabriella takes up her bow and arrow, she sheathes her blade. The inquisitor's judgment would do. For now.
Ulrich's eyes flit back and forth between Gabriella's eyes and the tip of her arrow. He grits his teeth, and a well of anger surges through him. Blood vessels constrict across his body, and his hand drips blood again. He loses control over his tears as they run over his frayed beard.
Amnayel's mind splinters. Her heart yearns for revenge, for his death, the necromancer must die!
She would not be wrong, to want this mean dead for what he has done to her. She wants this creature destroyed before his soul turns to the dark side and evil overtakes him. No one would argue should she kill him herself or plead for Gabriella to end him.
And yet, she cannot. This is not who she is. This is not what she stood for. She cannot allow it.
Amnayel steps forward to Gabriella and puts her hand on the inquisitor's arrowhead. "No. He has surrendered, you cannot kill him now. Let him live. I accept his apology."
She removes her hand, turns and walks away to be by herself in the distance. She falls to her knees, sobbing, keeping her back to the party. She folds her hands and begins to pray for her Goddess to kill her and remove her from her duty.
Gabbi stares at the man. Wishing for all the world that she could see past simple truth and lies and into someone's soul, but that gift has not been given to her. Allie can see that her sister teeters on a pinpoint of decision. A breath passes. Another. Still the bow creaks under the tension. Another breath.
The arrow vanishes and Gabriella lowers her bow. "You'll find no absolution from me, necromancer," she says in a dead voice.
Turning her back on the man, Gabbi walks away. She seeks out the paladin and lowers herself to the ground. She doesn't speak any words, but pulls the woman into her arms and holds her, gently rocking her back and forth.
Ulrich is... a bit surprised, but he doesn't push his luck. He takes a seat in the shade until the rest of the group is ready.
Allie, having checked that no-one she cares about is hurt, takes Rascal a little way away to watch for any more approaching enemies and give at least a pretence of not being interested in the reunion of Ulrich and Nosoi.
She confidently expects a telling off that will echo through the ages.
Amnayel falls into the inquisitor's hands (as much as a heavily armored paladin can fall into ones hands without crushing them) and lets herself be rocked gently by the dhampir while sounds of sobbing echo from within her helm. This continues for only a few minutes until she starts to sniff and clears her throat. "Thank you for your comfort, Gabriella. I will fine to travel again in just a moment."
When you are ready to proceed, you climb to the top of the pyramid. A stone building stands upon the flat top of the structure. A wide doorway stands in each of the building’s four walls, and a large hole in the floor of the building’s interior allows access into the pyramid below.
A wide walkway encircles a large opening that leads to a larger chamber below. A great, withered tree extends from the floor far below through the opening and rises just through the broken ceiling above. The tree’s dry, brittle branches reach out and meld with the stone, which seems to be the only thing that keeps the dead tree standing. A hallway extends out from each corner of the walkway into rooms beyond. Alcoves in the northern and southern walls hold staircases that lead to the floor below.
"Thank you for what you did for my sister," Gabbi says finally in a whisper. She gives the woman an extra squeeze and then leaves her to compose herself.
She makes her way to Allie. Her face is haggard and tear-stained, but she smiles when her eyes meet her twin's. A hand reaches up to touch her cheek before pulling her in for a desperate kiss. The dhampir is shaking as her arms hold Allie close.
~~~~
Before climbing the pyramid to enter the structure, Gabbie casts a couple of spells on herself in preparation. Once inside, Gabbi picks a direction and moves that way.
A large stone table stands in the center of this room, with a stone chair at either end. A pair of stone tablets rests on the table, each covered with writing that glows with a dim light. A large mirror hangs from the center of the north wall, reflecting the table and its tablets. The corpses of several warriors wearing torn jaguar pelts over damaged armor lie scattered about the room. These must be the Golden Claws, the Jolizpani soldiers sent to try to defeat the undead dragon Istravek before your arrival. Their equipment has been ruin and has no value.
The two tablets are each variants of a codex of conversation. Unlike normal codices of conversation, these tablets can’t duplicate other books, only similarly sized stone tablets. Further, the tablets don’t have typical pages; instead, the user “turns a page” by tapping the right side of the tablet to advance the recorded text or by tapping the left side to move back through the text. The writing on the tablet glows like a candle and is legible even in the dark. The two tablets are currently filled with the agonizing screams and desperate last words of the Golden Claws.
Gabbi spares a glance at one of the tablets to see if there was anything of note spoken.
Aside from the record of agonizing death wails, there is nothing of note on the tablets.
Amnayel stands stoically beside the twins as they look over the tablets.
Ulrich casts a myriad of spells before entering the pyramid, draining a significant amount of blood in the process.
Allie waits until the group actually enters the pyramid but then, seeing what's inside doesn't allow anyone to leave until she has cast her spells.
"That way?" She suggest, pointing to the first exit on the left. "Work our way round nice and quickly before the spells wear off?"
Moving counterclockwise, you look in the southwest room. Several stone benches are stacked against the southern wall of this room. Two small stone tables sit beside the stack and a large mirror rests against one of the tables. There doesn’t seem to be much of interest here.
To the southeast, the floor of this room is shallowly indented, like a large bowl. Eight large mirrors line the walls at slightly different angles, each reflecting the others.
As you look around, a ghostly man in a feathered headdress and robes manifests! He scowls angrily. ”You must release me from this chamber! I failed to stop Istravek the first time, but by Cihua Couatl, I will not fail a second time!”
"We're here to stop him as well." Allie says carefully. "Perhaps we could help each other? Do you know where we can find him? What are his defenses? Does he have allies to call upon? Rushing straight into battle will not help us if we are unprepared."
”He is in the Mountain’s central chamber, just down those stairs! He is powerful indeed. He killed me and all of the Golden Claw warriors without even flinching! If his teeth and claws were not enough, his breath can melt flesh from the bone and he wields powerful spells. Only holy weapons can harm him, and most magic doesn’t even give him pause! I was not prepared the first time I faced him, but this time, we will destroy him! But I cannot leave this chamber. All I see is my failure reflected back at me no matter where I look!” The ghost gestures to the myriad mirrors.
"Thank you sir. We will be glad to fight alongside you." Allie says with a bow. "Please excuse us a moment." She turns around and drops into common once again.
"Apparently Istravek is 'just down the stairs' in the central chamber. If we make final preparations now and move the mirrors we could fight him with a significant ally on side." She suggests.
Amnayel stays silent, but nods her head agreement to Allie's plan.
Yes, surely we can ally with the undead against a greater foe. I see no reason why anyone would disagree. Ulrich thinks to himself while trying to maintain his composure.