Try as he might, Dellan can't get the voice back, but he is certain that it was his mother. Maybe she is still with him, but something about the Boneyard prevents her from manifesting as normal. Eventually he drifts off again, and his sleep is mercifully dreamless.
-------
The next day -- or, more accurately, the point at which you are all fully rested -- arrives. Kishokish greets you with a smile; he seems as if he has recovered all of his strength. "Where are you off to now?"
Ray still seems distracted from yesterday. "Salighara's Scriptorium, right? Know anything about it?"
"S-scribes, as I recall. Master Umble said they were... er... s-sanctimonious? I think that's the word he used. I h-hope any requests Salighara makes do n-not require writing. M...my penmanship is atrocious."
"Ah. Salighara. She's a grumpy sort. She built the Scriptorium on the Dead Roads for the privacy they provide; she's not happy about the responsibility of operating a way station, but travelers are infrequent enough that she accepts it. On the bright side, she should be eager to get you your stamps so you can be on your way." He thinks for a moment. "If I remember correctly, the Scriptorium is about eight hours' journey by foot. Is there anything else I can do for you before you depart?"
Argus shakes his head. "Y-you have been generous and gracious b-beyond the call of duty. Thank you, Master Kishokish." He bows deeply, leaning on his glaive to do so. He nods to the others and moves toward the door, waiting for everyone to say their goodbyes.
Ray nods distractedly. "Yeah. Uhm. Thanks for everything." He wanders toward the door.
Bob flutters his wings. [color=blue]"Weird being home again, and... not feeling right. You know? Anyway. Later, cuz."[/color]
|
Dellan steps up to Kishokish hesitantly. He doesn't know what to say. He feels strongly that he was in the right in his argument with Ray yesterday. But his mother's words burrow under his skin to twist and squirm there, like a living sliver, or a tick.
In the end, he can think of nothing to say, so he bows clumsily and follows the others without a word.
Your eight hours of travel on the Dead Roads feel like days. The road extends beyond the horizon; there are no turns, no elevation changes, no scenery other than the mist on either side of the road. There aren't even any holes or cracks in the road to indicate that you are making progress.
Finally, you see it: Salighara's Scriptorium. This sprawling wood-and-stone structure looks like a misplaced university building, with a grand entry on the southeast corner and a tall tower to the northwest. A path from the road leads directly to the entry.
Outside the Scriptorium, a dour humanoid with purple skin and a lower body wrapped in a cocoon-like husk. She notes your arrival and approaches you. "Good day, travelers. I am Salighara, a scholar and scribe of no small repute among the esteemed psychopomps." You begin to introduce yourselves in response, and she holds up a hand. "I know quite well who you are." She looks at each of you in turn. "Argus, the holy warrior. Raybin, the malcontent with mind powers. Amanteia, the hopeful sorceress with an imaginary friend. And Dellan, the confused follower of our Lady. Yes, I'm afraid I know much about you and your exploits here in the Boneyards. And if I might hazard an educated guess, you seek to leave the Boneyard and return home to your world. To do so, you need my approval.
"I know why you would want to leave -- Mictena has set her sights upon you as abominations. She wants to see you well and truly dead. I know all this because, frankly, she told me. Mictena came to me a short time ago, explaining that I would be well advised to see you slain. I’m a creature of logic and process, and Mictena’s pleas were more impassioned than logical. In fact, I outright refused, insisting that I had more critical work to do. She was not well disposed to that response.
"My current field of study is dreams, and how mortal dreaming intersects with their fates and their desires. Don't assume I'm going on a tangent here -- my conversation is scrupulously intentional, you'll see. My chief assistant and associate researcher, Mrs. Pedipalp, had been using my research equipment for her own studies into nightmares -- things that terrify mortals. I wouldn’t abide by it, and although I knew she coveted my Dream Gate, I’d assumed her distractions were mere... frippery.
"Well, after I declined Mictena's offer, it seems she went right to Mrs. Pedipalp. The rattletrap ousted me and appointed my assistant. My assistant! Mrs. Pedipalp is now master of the scriptorium, my staff, and my Dream Gate. An outrage! Well, her time as my assistant is finished. I will make this deal with you -- if you enter my scriptorium and dispatch Mrs. Pedipalp in whatever manner you see fit, I will give you the stamps you need to continue on your journey home."
Salighara is a viduus psychopomp. Viduuses occupy the many libraries and scriptoriums of the Boneyard, where they catalog the comings and goings of extraordinary souls: their lives, deeds, deaths, and secrets. Existence holds many mysteries, and those mortals who had brushes with the extraordinary have their tales and confessions recorded by these semi-cocooned scholars and added to the volumes of the Boneyard's expansive libraries. Although pretentious in the extreme, viduuses prove quite knowledgeable about many historical and planar secrets, and what they don't know they generally have a decent idea of how to research, potentially summoning assistants from across the planes to aid them.
Argus considers for a moment. No doubt the others hold their breath; the last time such a quandary came up, the paladin very nearly walked off to die alone in the Boneyard. He shocks them, then, with his response. "A travesty to be s-sure. A m-military must also be run with efficiency, and cannot be ef-ficient if subordinates are scheming behind their superiors' backs for im-magined slights. We will offer Pedip...p...palp the opportunity to turn herself over for judgment. If she does not, we will remove her forcibly. I m-must make one request, however, as my goddess demands it. If w-we convince her to give up this foolery and turn herself over, you w-will be merciful in your judgment of her and allow her to atone. I s-suspect it will not be an issue, as she sounds... unreasonable. B-but I must have your word, nevertheless. Should you agree, we will see this done, by my word."
Normally Ray would roll his eyes at this time, but instead he doesn't seem like he entirely realizes what's going on. He stares blankly at the imposing facade of the Scriptorium.
Salighara shrugs. "I admire your conviction, Argus, but I frankly do not care what is done with Mrs. Pedipalp. Kill her, or don't, but return my Scriptorium to me so that I may continue my work in peace, and I will give you my stamp. Simple as that."
She pauses, then a little smirk crosses her face. "Nice speech, though."
Argus is frankly sick of these psychopomps. Kishokish is the only one thus far to show a shred of anything resembling kindness or empathy, and he's beginning to think that he's either a fluke or simply acting under the unspoken laws of good hosting. Every other psychopomp has either used them to their own ends, shown a distinct lack of morals of any sort, or promised to outright kill them "just in case." This place is absolutely abhorrent.
He shakes his head in disgust and turns toward the Scriptorium. "Has she b-barred this entrance?"
|
|
Dellan looks from Argus to Saghira, then shrugs. No point in arguing it, especially if the paladin is taking her response as assent. He wonders if he'll stay with them after this--assuming they all make it out of the Boneyard alive, that is. He's having a hard time arguing for it, at the moment.
He always prided himself on being practical about his... "arrangement" with Pharasma. He works in Her service and performs Her will in payment for being allowed to return from death. That was, after all, the message drilled into his head by Priestess Reylina. He lives now only to serve Her will, for it was She who allowed his return to life and She who gifted him his powers. But everything they've seen here makes him wonder why he continues to follow Her, powers be damned. She allows such horrid acts to be committed by Her servants, and does nothing to protect people. Maybe he should abandon the magic She gave him and walk away from Her, just let the disease spread until it kills him. He'd be dead, but at least it would be on his terms. He finds himself more and more resentful of the gifts She granted him.
He snorts. "Gifts." He's quickly growing tired of calling it that. He wonders what it's like for Argus, following a goddess who actually gives a s$++ about you.
You are supremely arrogant to think you know the will of Pharasma.
Typical uplifting gem from Mother. Why did he miss her while she was gone, again?
He's just so tired. Tired of all of it. He's almost ready to just lie down and let Mictena kill him. He knows, though, that it isn't an option. The others still need him to get out of this place, and part of him--maybe a larger part of him than he's willing to admit--hates them for it.
Salighara shakes her head and opens the door for you. "Frankly, I think she wants you to come in. Always a bit of a sycophant, Mrs. Pedipalp. I don't reward the behavior, personally, so now it seems she is trying to catch Mictena's favor by ensnaring you."
Two wooden doors, deeply carved with images of quill pens and open books, stand to the east and west of this entry hall. The double door to the west has frosted glass windows that reveal only shifting shadows behind them. To the north is an alcove with several empty coat hooks. Another door stands to the south, and a sharply angled hall leads to the southwest.
Salighara smiles sweetly. "Any more questions before you enter?"
Ray finally seems to come back to reality a bit. "Uh. Yeah. Any idea what she might have cooked up to ensnare us with? Guardians roaming the halls? Et cetera?"
Argus ignores the jibe and glances around the outside of the building.
Amanteia gives Argus a weird look as he tastes the door jamb, then takes a look around herself.
"Argus, leave some for us!"
Salighara considers Ray's question for a minute. "As I mentioned, she has been studying nightmares, so you should question everything you see. The Dream Gate would allow her to manifest ... things in this plane. I don't know what you will find in there, but I don't imagine it will be pleasant."
Ray nods. "Nightmares are old hat for me. If I die of fright, well... Nothing new there."
He walks away, leaving the others scratching their heads at the nonsensical statement. He focuses his psychic energies into his eyes, extending the effect with the metamagic rod, then hands it to Amanteia so she can do the same with her mage armor. He then scopes out the doors to see if there are any surprises.
Neither the western nor southern door is trapped or locked.
Ray shrugs, then draws the hammer and his blasting rod.
Argus nods and mutters, "No reason to an-n-nounce our arrival. Let's go in the b... back door here."
He swings open the southern door and cautiously steps inside.
Argus opens the door to find a small room, furnished with only a single stool. Its purpose appears to be for a valet or attendant. As the door opens, a small wooden humanoid flops out onto the floor, blood leaking from many tiny wounds.
This is a wyrwood. It is a young race of constructs that freed itself from its creators and stole the notes on how to create more of themselves.
The wounds appear to be bite marks.
This creature is made from wood; why does it bleed?
Ray puts out an arm to stop Dellan from entering, ignoring the oracle's angry glare. "Hold up. Wyrwood are wooden constructs; why is it bleeding?"
Argus frowns. "G-good point. An illusion, p...perhaps?" He reaches out with his glaive and gently pokes the body of the wyrwood to see what happens.
The moment Ray realizes the wyrwood shouldn't be bleeding, he stops seeing the blood. However, Argus (and everyone else) continues to see blood -- including from the nick that Argus created with his glaive -- even after Ray points out that it shouldn't be bleeding.
Curious.
Argus shrugs. "W-wood or not, it still bleeds."
Ray looks from the wyrwood to Argus, scowling. "No it doesn't. It's an illusion. Look!" He points at the bloodless corpse.
Argus shakes his head, then looks reproachfully at Dellan. Whatever the oracle did to him clearly caused the occultist to regress.
Ray briefly considers arguing, then decides not to bother. They clearly won't believe him. He's used to that.
Now that the illusion has ceased, he moves in and hunkers down over the body, scouring the room as well, looking for any more idiosyncrasies.
Amanteia seems unimpressed. "For what it's worth, I see the blood too, but Salighara just told us we would see weird things we can't explain in here. Let's move on."
There is nothing else interesting here.
Ray shrugs and moves down the narrow corridor. "Wanna see where this goes before any more doors," he mumbles, watching the floor and walls as he goes, looking for more unpleasantness.
Argus nods and follows close behind, glaive at the ready. He still isn't sure what the point would be of making a corpse bleed that doesn't normally bleed. It seems frivolous.
You follow the narrow corridor to the west. It open up into a large, dim room, which contains a dozen wooden desks topped with hinged lids, each with stacks of paper and well-used inkwells. The desks are arranged in neat rows. A lectern stands at the front, facing the desks. Spider webs stretch from desk to desk and up to the walls and ceilings. A hall leads out to the east, while wooden doors stand in the north and west walls.
A hideous humanoid creature stands at the lectern. It has spiderlike fingers and an enormous wicked grin. It glares menacingly at Ray (who is the only one who can see it), then dissolves into a swarm of spiders and exits underneath the western door. A split second later, more spiders spill out of the desks in this room and begin approaching.
The creature at the lectern was a nightmare ettercap. It is a bizarre, distorted caricature of a normal ettercap that has an unnatural link to the most terrifying parts of the Dimension of Dreams.
These are scarlet spiders. Their bite carries an easily resistible poison that saps strength. Individually, they are easy to kill, but there are a lot of them.
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Ray (27/27 hp)
Spider #5 (0 damage)
Spider #6 (0 damage)
Spider #7 (0 damage)
Spider #8 (0 damage)
Spider #9 (0 damage)
Spider #10 (0 damage)
Spider #11 (0 damage)
Spider #12 (0 damage)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Spider #1 (0 damage)
Spider #2 (0 damage)
Spider #3 (0 damage)
Spider #4 (0 damage)
Argus (40/40 hp)
Bold may act.
"Scarlet spiders! They'll poison you!"
Amanteia can barely see the spiders through all the traffic in front of her. She unleashes a couple of missiles, sending the first at #12 and the second at #11.
The first missile slams into #12 and it stops in its tracks, leaking greenish fluid from a cracked exoskeleton. #11 takes a hit and looks terrible, but is still advancing.
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Ray (27/27 hp)
Spider #5 (0 damage)
Spider #6 (0 damage)
Spider #7 (0 damage)
Spider #8 (0 damage)
Spider #9 (0 damage)
Spider #10 (0 damage)
Spider #11 (3 damage)
Spider #12 (dead)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Spider #1 (0 damage)
Spider #2 (0 damage)
Spider #3 (0 damage)
Spider #4 (0 damage)
Argus (40/40 hp)
Bold may act.
Bob says, [color=blue]"Nope,"[/color] and flies away.
Ray steps in and to his right, wondering what the Hells that freaky spider-guy was, and with a focused effort of will, sends out a burst of fire from the tip of his blasting rod.
Ray's gout of flame incinerates three of the spiders, leaving only tiny piles of ash. The survivors scuttle towards Ray.
- #5 crits! falls to Ray's AOO
- #7 hits
- #10 misses
- #11 hits
Four of the spiders rush at Ray. He kills one, but two manage to slip by him and find patches of bare skin to bite. #7's poison takes Ray by surprise, sapping a bit of his strength .
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Ray (25/27 hp, 1 str damage, poisoned [3 rounds])
Spider #5 (dead)
Spider #6 (dead)
Spider #7 (0 damage)
Spider #8 (dead)
Spider #9 (dead)
Spider #10 (0 damage)
Spider #11 (3 damage)
Spider #12 (dead)
Dellan (34/34 hp)
Spider #1 (0 damage)
Spider #2 (0 damage)
Spider #3 (0 damage)
Spider #4 (0 damage)
Argus (40/40 hp)
Bold may act.